The long story (#2)...

Hello, it's Gianina! I know many of you wanted to find out how the baby and I were doing so I thought I post the extended story of the events of last week. As you know, Talin (pronounced Tal-lyn) Isaiah was born at 8:18 p.m. on Wednesday, February 25, 2009. He weighed 7 lbs. 4 oz. and measured in at 19.25 inches. Much bigger than Little Ron when he was born!

It all started Monday night when I started having contractions. They were somewhat like the Braxton-Hicks I was having but a bit different. I told Ron earlier in the day that I wanted to go walk at the mall later on that night so we went about 7 p.m. The contractions were coming about every 15 minutes and I could barely walk when I was having one. Even though Little Ron isn't that old, I couldn't remember what it felt like before I went into labor with him so I started getting a bit nervous that these were the real ones. As we got into the car after a couple of hours, the time between them kept decreasing. When we got home, they were coming around every 7 minutes so we decided to call Oma (Ron's mom) and head to the hospital. I took a shower and made sure everything was ready to go and then laid down. When I did this, my contractions started coming every 15 minutes. By the time Oma arrived, we couldn't decide if I should go to the hospital or not so Ron and I decided to go walking again. Yes, that's right, we were the only people at Meijer around 1 a.m. (by the way, excellent time to go if you want to avoid lines :) getting groceries that we might need. While there, we tried to purchase some champagne (Martini & Rossi, our fav) for after the baby was born but after 2 a.m. in Illinois, no alcohol sales are allowed :( My contractions by this time had all but faded away and we were dead tired so we decided to go home for bed. After sleeping for a few hours, we got up and started a new day. I think I had maybe one contraction a hour so they never quite stopped and I was getting very tired and irritated that labor had not started by Tuesday night.

On Wednesday, I woke up and decided to take Little Ron to the gym so I could walk on the treadmill. I was determined that this would be the day. We ran a few errands after the gym and arrived home around noon. I started feeling contractions around noon and they started coming about every 15 minutes. These contractions were even different from the ones on Monday as it was definitely more of a cramping feeling. They weren't increasing in intensity but they did kind of take my breath away. I had a doctor's appointment at 3 p.m. that day so while Little Ron slept, I got my bag and a few other things ready and put them in my car just in case. When we got to the doctor's office, I started to feel the contractions more and became even more breathless. The doctor checked me and said that I had thinned out quite a bit and was only about 2 cm. dilated. He said that if I was 3 cm. they would keep me. At this time, I had been experiencing some difficult contractions so Dr. Shepherd decided to put me on the fetal monitor. He also said that he thought I would have the baby the next day and to take some castor oil in the morning. Although I might throw up and have to poop a lot, he said that I would definitely go into labor that afternoon. I was NOT a big fan of this idea so I am glad it happened the way it did.

After being on the monitor around 30 minutes and the nurse realizing that my contractions were really starting to hurt, Dr. Shepherd came back in. He told me to go over to Labor & Delivery where they would monitor me for another 30 minutes, then I was to walk for an hour and then have the nurse check me out again. So, I was hooked up to another machine starting to really, really feel the pain, while Ron and Little Ron were in the room. At this point, Little Ron was going crazy being trapped in the rooms :) After 30 minutes, we walked to the cafeteria to get something to eat as we were all starving. I could barely eat though because of the contractions so we decided to go back upstairs. When she checked me, she said that I was definitely 4 cm. all in the matter of a hour. So, that began the admission process. I also told the nurse that if she had checked me and I wasn't that far along that I wouldn't have been going home because it hurt too much! I then ordered the epidural and we were on our way to another room which was around 6 p.m.

Because I tested positive for Group B strep, they started some penicillin on me instantly so that I could get some doses in before delivery. Unfortunately, the baby came much faster than planned. The nurse practitioner came in to break my water around 7:30 but said that I was completely dilated and that if she did it, the baby would come instantly. So, they called Dr. Shepherd to come in to deliver the baby. He made it in very quickly and broke my water. I think I pushed around 5 or 6 times and then Dr. Shepherd pushed on my uterus and the baby's head popped right out! Definitely the easier delivery of the two. The last time I pushed for around 3 hours! So at 8:18 p.m., Talin was born. And then I wished the story ended there but unfortunately...

On Thursday night, a couple of nurses came in and said that they had to take Talin to the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). They said that his CRP level and white blood cell count was too high. They explained that it could be because I was positive for Group B strep and didn't get enough antibiotic before he was born. Ron and I were shocked. We talked to a few of the doctors to find out what was going on. Thank God Ron was there as he understood the lingo and made me feel comfortable about knowing what was going on. They were only going to keep him there for a day initially but when the labs came back in the morning on Friday, his CRP level went up again, however, his blood cultures were coming back negative for Group B strep. The doctor told us that he would be there at least until Sunday and would keep testing him. I was discharged on Friday so I was able to stay down in the NICU more. Ron went and stayed with Talin for a bit on Friday night while I was home with Little Ron. On Saturday, we went back and stayed most of the day. Luckily, his CRP and white blood cell count went back down on Saturday and the doctor told us that he would more than likely be able to go home on Sunday. The doctor thought those levels went up because of his circumsion and Hep. B shot that he had within his first 24 hours. They were also watching his bilirubin level as that was increasing too. I stayed with Talin on Saturday night and was able to nurse him as my milk finally came in. I left for a couple of hours on Sunday morning and then came back with Ron. They were ready to discharge Talin but we had to watch some routine videos about RSV, SIDS, car seats - much different from a regular discharge. Finally, around 1 p.m., we had Talin in the car and were on our way home!

So, there it is. The long story. It's been a wild ride the past few days but obviously worth the final result, we have a new, beautiful baby boy at home with us! Little Ron has been a great big brother. We were pretty worried how he would respond but he has been even better than we thought. He wants to give the baby kisses all of the time. He left to go to The Little Gym tonight and as soon as he came back, he ran into the living room looking for the baby. I don't think I can leave them alone together yet because he might gauge his eyes out being so curious but I can't wait until Talin is able to play with him! Ron's mother stayed with Little Ron from Wednesday until Friday which helped out so much! I don't know if we could ever repay her. By the end, she finally admitted that he wore her out! My mom helped out on Saturday which was great and let Ron and I go to the hospital for a longer time. If it were not for our family and so many friends who offered their help, I'm pretty sure we would be going crazy about now!