Zeke's Birth Day and Today

At 2 am on Monday morning, I started contracting, not a suprise. The doctor checked me at 3 am and I was dilated to a 2. He said that I had to go to labor and delivery so I am thinking so what. Then he says you can have an epidural whenever you get ready since you already are feeling the contractions, so I decided maybe they weren't kidding this time. By 5, I had my epidural. By 6, I had some spots that weren't numb and were called hot spots, which don't get numb. By 7, i was dilated to 4 and by 8 I was dilated to 10 and ready to start labor. At 8:39, Zeke came out screaming and boy could he get loud. They put him over in the bed and started checking him out. They called Dustin over to talk to him. They told him that he was breathing on his own and was looking good, but that they had a few ortho issues. His left side was very constricted in utero and his left arm is missing from the elbow down. His left leg also appears to be turned outward, but they aren't sure if it is because his hip is out of place or if it is just his foot. They take him out of the room to be admitted to the NICU. The nurse brought him over for me to look at and told me he was 4 pounds 1 oz and 17 inches long. Once he was gone, Dustin and I got some much needed time alone. We talked about how glad we were he came out screaming and he explained to me what the doc had told him. We both thanked God for our little blessing and then we decided that we should tell the family before we went upstairs to see our little man. We told our parents and they informed the other visitors we have that our boy had a couple of problems. When we got to the NICU we were overjoyed to see he still was breathing 100% on his own. He was happy and healthy from what they could tell. I spent the next few hours in my room with family while Dustin took each one in and out of the NICU to see him. Dustin was completely exhausted so we decided to go in together and visit with Zeke alone. It was wonderful to get to be together as a family, we both even got to hold him. We came back to the room and after the family left we crashed. I woke up several times to call the NICU and each time we heard good things. He started eating 6cc's of formula every 4 hours last night at 8 pm and has been doing that ever since. We are so excited about that too.

Today has been another good day for him. We woke up and tried to get to his first feeding this morning but there were too many people in and out of our room to make it! The resident came in first thing this morning and said I had to go home and I asked if I could stay one more night, because I hadn't walked that much the day before and would feel more comfortable. He told me I had to get back to the real world and that wasn't happening, well guess what he is a resident and he has a boss. When the attending came in I was sure to tell him what the resident had said and he said he wasn't letting me go home today anyways. I was thrilled because there was still so much to do and learn before I would feel comfortable going home. We saw several doctors in the NICU today. The first was a ortho pediatrician. He explained the xrays to us. The left arm has the ulna, but not the radius bone and he has mobility so that is a really good sign. His legs are not dislocated, they will ultrasound his hip joints in 6 weeks to determine if they are growing incorrectly or if it is just his feet that are. If it is his feet, he will be put in a series of braces from 2 months of age to 10 months of age to straighten them out. If it is the hip, he will wear a brace for that too, didn't say how long on that. Then we saw a geneticist who told us that he was going to do ultrasounds on the abdomen and brain, and get a cardiologist to do an ECHO and compile that with our history to determine if the problem is genetic but he believes it is not from initial review. He believes that since the arm forms before 21 weeks that it is not due to the PPROM. He said the blood flow was restricted to the arm and that is probably why it didn't continue to develop. He said we were lucky because the blood flow could just have easily been restricted to the head or legs or any other body part. He said our boy was lucky, but I say he is just meant to be! The cardiologist did an ultrasound of his heart and had all normal findings. They have an IV in his head so they haven't done the brain ultrasound yet. They hope he will be able to eat enough not to need the iv soon. Tonight he is having trouble digesting his food. His tummy can't digest all the food they are giving him because he isn't stooling quite enough. So he throws up at every feed. They decided they needed an accurate measure of intake/outake so they put in a feeding tube, this will also keep him from aspirating if he throws up. Now that he has seen all his doctors he is in a closed bed to keep him warm and quiet, this is a good thing, the open bed is for babies that are at high risk for problems.

We will be going home tomorrow, how you go home and leave your baby here I am not sure. We will figure it out together just like we have everything else. God has pulled us past every obstacle and I know he isn't about to stop now, he is so AMAZING and so is our miracle baby. My momma always said I would never know how much she loved me until I had a child of my own and she is so right, the love of a child is more amazing than I ever imagined. Please keep remembering all of us in your prayers. Zeke is a fighter and I can't wait to see him again in the morning or in the middle of the night if I want, lol! Sorry it took so long to post, we have been doing so much and are exhausted.