Thursday, May 27, 2010

Brooke Noel Day 2

As many of you already know, we welcomed Miss Brooke Noel Holcombe into the world yesterday May 25, 2010 at 3:00 pm. She was 36 weeks gestation and weighed 7 lbs. 2 oz. and was 20" long. (if you didn't know, I make em BIG) I was induced due to several complications and the labor and delivery was super quick and smooth. The morning of the induction, they gave me a cervix softening agent around 9:15, gave me my epidural at 12:00 (was 2 cm dilated) and was 8 cm by 2:45. The doctor said the baby would be there within the hour, but 5 minutes after he left, I told the nurses to call him back because she was about to come out. Sure enough, I was right and had to wait on him to come back, after 1 push to get her head out and 1 push to get the rest of her body out, there she was! So blessed...

She was immediately taken to the NICU and has been there since. She is breathing on her own, but has needed a little assistance due to her prematurity. She is currently on CPAP which is a little oxygen mask that covers her nose and gives her a little extra oxygen. CPAP also has more pressure to help her lungs open up to their fullest capacity when she takes each breath.

When she arrived in NICU, her pulse ox was in the mid 80s and she was having trouble breathing. She also exhibited grunting which meant she was struggling a little to breathe. They have had her on 21-30% oxygen since she got there. She has since began periods of rapid breathing. They would like to see her BPM stay under 60 consistently and hers has ranged anywhere from 20s to 80s.

We had a conference with the neonatologist this afternoon and he said that her breathing issues are a result of her prematurity and she would need to stay in the NICU until she is able to breathe without assistance and keep her pulse ox in the 90s. This could take days or weeks, every baby is different.

They inserted a feeding tube today as she is not ready to feed by mouth yet due to her rapid breathing and fear of aspiration. She did very well with the tube and I am able to pump my milk and feed it to her through the feeding tube.

This has been a very difficult time for us as we have not been able to hold her and do all the things we were able to do with our other two. I was able to hold her tonight for the first time for over an hour! (boy, what we take for granted...) That was such a special moment for me and hopefully, we'll be doing a lot more of that over the next several days. We are all praying for strength and healing for baby Brooke and that she gets to come home sooner than later.

I am doing great. My sciatica and hernia pain is minimal since I delivered and I should be discharged in the next couple of days.

Savannah and Lucas are doing as well as can be expected. They have a full time nanny who takes care of them during the day and Brian has taken some time off work and tries to balance his time between all of us. Savannah especially doesn't understand why she can't see her or hold her. She is very anxious. Lucas is just having a hard time with all of the changes going on and not understanding why mommy isn't there. They both need your prayers... They've been crying a lot and missing us terribly. I know they'll be ok, but I feel like they need me and I can't be there right now. It's a hard situation for all of us.

We will be sure to keep everyone updated and would appreciate many thoughts and prayers sent her way. She is a miracle and she is fighting. We are so grateful as this could have been a lot worse. Welcome to the world sweet girl.


Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Pregnancy Complications

Well, I am almost 35 weeks pregnant with baby Brooke Noel! SO exciting! I am really counting the weeks, no! Make that DAYS (36 days and counting). It is beginning to seem a lot more real the closer we get that we will have 3 babies under the age of 4 come summer time. I love having my kids close together. Savannah and Lucas are so close to each other and having a girl first was a blessing. She is very "mother-like" and takes such good care of her brother. She is BIG help too! She can unload the dishwasher (the low stuff), feed the dog, do a load of laundry, bath herself completely and help with her brother, get herself dressed, get me anything I need so I don't have to get up, and the newest skill... she can buckle her own seatbelt! She cannot wait to be a big sister again... she kisses my belly all the time and lays on Brooke, talks to her, and loves on her all the time. Lucas is excited too. I think he thinks Brooke is in my belly button. HAHA, he knows who she is and prays for her every night. He loves babies and plays with Savannah's babydolls, takes care of them, feeds them, rocks them, it is so sweet! His girlfriend is baby Lauren down the street. It is true love for sure, shes a younger woman. hehehe!

Ok, onto my pregnancy complications. This pregnancy has been challenging to say the least. We almost lost her in the first trimester. I had a subchorionic hemorrhage in my uterus and they gave me a 60% chance of miscarrying. That was very scary, but she hung in there and the SCH was dissolved by 14 weeks. What a miracle! Since then, I developed severe varicose veins in my legs and other not so fun areas. I thought they looked pretty bad, but my doctor confirmed my thoughts in the 2nd trimester by saying they are the worst he's seen in 25 years of practice. They are REALLY ugly! Not just ugly, but very painful. They create lots of pressure, itching, burning, and lots of discomfort! In addition to these, I developed a hernia in my groin area that has grown to golf ball sized at this point. He thinks I have additional hernias as well in that area that are not as pronounced because of my pain level. To top it all off, I began getting a sciatica like pain in my third trimester that is debilitating. At this point, I cannot stand or walk without experiencing excruciating pain. Since I am in little to no pain while sitting, Brian hired a part time nanny last week who comes from 8:30 - 1:30. She is awesome! She helps me all morning and puts the kids down for their naps at 1:00 so I can sit and rest until technically 3 in the afternoon. I am so grateful to Brian for offering this help, as it was getting to be too much pain for one person to handle. My doctor ordered a lightweight wheelchair that arrived this morning. It is awesome! It is really going to help with the pain the next few weeks. I have to remind myself that it could be so much worse. Atleast the conditions I have aren't life threatening for me and the baby. Just pain for mommy!

Well, the kids are off with Amy (their nanny) all morning. They went to the Yellow River game ranch. I know they are going to have a blast! I miss those times with them, but I know this is short term. That's it for now...