Our second precious son, Jonah Caleb, was born on Wednesday, January 25th at 3:50pm. He weighed in at 6lbs, 7.5 ounces and was 19 inches long.
It's funny to think that my last blog post I was just writing that I had 20 days until my due date....ha ha, guess God had other plans :-)
For my own memory, here's the recap of his birth story:
I went in for my weekly well baby checkup on Tuesday, Jan 24th, and because of my low fluid levels the week prior, my doctor wanted to do a non-stress test and another ultrasound to see if my fluid had increased. So Peter, Benjamin and I headed over to the hospital for the "quick tests."...
It was lunch time and Benjamin was tired and hungry so I told Peter to take him, get him some BK nuggets and put him down for a nap then I'd meet him at home when I was done. So Peter and Benjamin went home.
Apparently though, I was having contractions and though I couldn't feel anything, our baby boy's heartbeat was dipping sort of irregularly and not just with contractions so it was causing concern for the nurses and doctors. So that, coupled with the fact that he wasn't super active when they gave me an ultrasound, caused my doctor to call me and tell me that I wasn't going home that day.
Um......what did she just say? At this point, it was a bit overwhelming because I was hearing that my baby's heartbeat wasn't quite normal and I was alone in the hospital room being told that I'm not leaving without a baby. Y.I.K.E.S. I called Peter, crying, and told him that instead of putting Benjamin down for a nap he needed to call our friends to have them watch him because I needed him back at the hospital. We were going to have a baby sometime in the near future.
That afternoon/evening, they just monitored his heartbeat and had me change positions to try to make him happier. I was put on an iv and our doctor told us that we should rest that night but we would start pitocin in the morning slowly to see if our little guy was going to be able to handle stronger contractions. If not, we were going to have to have a c-section. I really, really didn't want a c-section so Peter and I prayed and tried to sleep that night, which if you know me, didn't happen at all.
At 5am we started pitocin and it wasn't too long after that that they stopped it because Jonah was not happy with the contractions and his heartrate was being strange. So we waited while doctors consulted each other about the situation and we were given the option of just going ahead and having the c-section or trying the pitocin one more time to see if we could have him naturally
So I got hooked up to the pitocin, and he was actually handling the contractions well.....until they realized they forgot to actually hook the pitocin into my iv and I was just contracting on my own. Ha! So I got hooked up on pitocin and it was a few hours of thinking he was doing great, with thinking he was going to have to come out via c-section. They also decided to monitor him internally which was oh so fun. They broke my water then decided to put more fluid back in which caused the internal monitor to loosen and need put back on. Again, more fun. Needless to say, I had tubes and wires e.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e and I could hardly move. It was pretty uncomfortable that's for sure!
(I think the smile may have been just a bit forced in the picture!) :-)
I decided to get an epidural despite the fact that it didn't work for me with Benjamin. And like it was with Benjamin, I felt a bit of relief for about 45 minutes to an hour then I could start feeling some pain again. It was getting a little stronger and Peter was on his laptop on the couch in the room when all of a sudden the contraction pain was crazy hurtful and I told him I needed him to come sit with me. (stupid-epidurals-that-just-don't-work-for-me) I told the nurse the pain was completely back and she went to go see if the anesthesiologist could come help "fix" my epidural. He came shortly thereafter while I was having terrible pain from the contractions. He was there trying to check the epidural iv thingy, and I was asking him (okay, maybe I was half yelling at him in exasperation) why it was not working. I was starting to panic a bit because with Benjamin I pushed for 1 1/2 hours and I really didn't think I could go through that long of time with this amount of pain. There was no relief between contractions, it was mis-er-a-ble. Then all of a sudden, I told the anesthesiologist "nevermind! he's ready to come out." He left quickly, the doctor checked me and said yep, he's ready. I had progressed from a 6 to a 10 in about 45 minutes which is why it kinda hurt......alot. I was in such horrific pain but Peter got me through it and in 2 quick pushes he was here. A pediatrician friend from church was there to help deliver the baby and she stood by my head and counted to 10 while I pushed and that helped me focus enough to push him out quickly since his heartrate was dropping. When he was delivered, we instantly heard crying and I cannot even begin to tell you what RELIEF Peter and I both felt. It was like the biggest weight had been taken off our shoulders and we were soooo overjoyed and sooooo grateful to God for the safe delivery of our Jonah Caleb. He scored 9 out of 10 on the newborn screening test and his lungs looked great, despite being a bit over 2 1/2 weeks early.
I hadn't eaten in over 24 hours and hadn't slept much but I couldn't contain how joyful I was that our boy was here, he was okay, and we didn't have to have a c-section. The elation and joy and contentment and peace I felt was amazing. God is so good!!
Peter got to cut the cord (that is our pediatrician friend from church!)
we were seriously sooooo happy to see our adorable son!
we couldn't believe we had made it through the "high risk labor" and our baby was here. We did it!!
in love with our perfect addition to our family!
our doctor giving Jonah a great review!
our doctor took such wonderful care of both me and Jonah. What a blessing!
could I be any prouder of a mama?!?!?!
it was fun to watch my husband bond with another son!
we could just stare at him all the time!
father and son :-)
Jonah ate very well in the hospital. Okay, so maybe mommy ate very well :-)
24 hours later they did put him in the isolette machine to try to prevent his jaundice from getting worse, which broke my heart because I remember how miserable that was with Benjamin.
But luckily 24 hours later his levels were low enough and we left the hospital Friday, January 27th around 6:15pm. We were soooo ready to get home!
this is the same "coming home" outfit that Benjamin wore but it definitely swallowed up Jonah.....ha ha, pun completely intentional :-)
Our amazing friends watched Benjamin the first 2 nights while we were in the hospital. I'm pretty sure Benjamin would move in with Jeremy, Kristen and his friends if I would let him. What a huge blessing to know he was being taken care of.
Peter's parents drove from Idaho on Wednesday and they were actually able to hold Jonah late that night around 9:30pm. It was special to have his grandparents hold him that first day. They went and picked up Benjamin in the morning and watched him for us until we got home on Friday night. Again, not having to worry about Benjamin's well being was such a blessing! The rest of the weekend was spent enjoying the cooking of GongGong and enjoying having Poppy play with Benjamin while Peter and I tried to get some sleep when we could. They left Tuesday morning, but we were so grateful for the help those first days!
I have so much to post about our life with 2 boys the past couple of weeks, and I'll do that on a separate post. I wanted to remember all the details of Jonah's arrival so I can look back and remember that while the control freak in me couldn't believe he was coming early, God protected him from potential harm and provided a great doctor that was able to see what they think was an umbillical cord that was cutting off bloodflow at times. All the anxiety and stress of the "early" delivery was so worth it to see our sweet, precious baby boy and know that he was here and safe.
How GREAT is our God!
I decided to get an epidural despite the fact that it didn't work for me with Benjamin. And like it was with Benjamin, I felt a bit of relief for about 45 minutes to an hour then I could start feeling some pain again. It was getting a little stronger and Peter was on his laptop on the couch in the room when all of a sudden the contraction pain was crazy hurtful and I told him I needed him to come sit with me. (stupid-epidurals-that-just-don't-work-for-me) I told the nurse the pain was completely back and she went to go see if the anesthesiologist could come help "fix" my epidural. He came shortly thereafter while I was having terrible pain from the contractions. He was there trying to check the epidural iv thingy, and I was asking him (okay, maybe I was half yelling at him in exasperation) why it was not working. I was starting to panic a bit because with Benjamin I pushed for 1 1/2 hours and I really didn't think I could go through that long of time with this amount of pain. There was no relief between contractions, it was mis-er-a-ble. Then all of a sudden, I told the anesthesiologist "nevermind! he's ready to come out." He left quickly, the doctor checked me and said yep, he's ready. I had progressed from a 6 to a 10 in about 45 minutes which is why it kinda hurt......alot. I was in such horrific pain but Peter got me through it and in 2 quick pushes he was here. A pediatrician friend from church was there to help deliver the baby and she stood by my head and counted to 10 while I pushed and that helped me focus enough to push him out quickly since his heartrate was dropping. When he was delivered, we instantly heard crying and I cannot even begin to tell you what RELIEF Peter and I both felt. It was like the biggest weight had been taken off our shoulders and we were soooo overjoyed and sooooo grateful to God for the safe delivery of our Jonah Caleb. He scored 9 out of 10 on the newborn screening test and his lungs looked great, despite being a bit over 2 1/2 weeks early.
I hadn't eaten in over 24 hours and hadn't slept much but I couldn't contain how joyful I was that our boy was here, he was okay, and we didn't have to have a c-section. The elation and joy and contentment and peace I felt was amazing. God is so good!!
24 hours later they did put him in the isolette machine to try to prevent his jaundice from getting worse, which broke my heart because I remember how miserable that was with Benjamin.
But luckily 24 hours later his levels were low enough and we left the hospital Friday, January 27th around 6:15pm. We were soooo ready to get home!
Our amazing friends watched Benjamin the first 2 nights while we were in the hospital. I'm pretty sure Benjamin would move in with Jeremy, Kristen and his friends if I would let him. What a huge blessing to know he was being taken care of.
Peter's parents drove from Idaho on Wednesday and they were actually able to hold Jonah late that night around 9:30pm. It was special to have his grandparents hold him that first day. They went and picked up Benjamin in the morning and watched him for us until we got home on Friday night. Again, not having to worry about Benjamin's well being was such a blessing! The rest of the weekend was spent enjoying the cooking of GongGong and enjoying having Poppy play with Benjamin while Peter and I tried to get some sleep when we could. They left Tuesday morning, but we were so grateful for the help those first days!
I have so much to post about our life with 2 boys the past couple of weeks, and I'll do that on a separate post. I wanted to remember all the details of Jonah's arrival so I can look back and remember that while the control freak in me couldn't believe he was coming early, God protected him from potential harm and provided a great doctor that was able to see what they think was an umbillical cord that was cutting off bloodflow at times. All the anxiety and stress of the "early" delivery was so worth it to see our sweet, precious baby boy and know that he was here and safe.
How GREAT is our God!
Praise God for this blessing. My wonderful friend I have been waiting to hear this story. I love you and I love those first pictures of you and Peter with Jonah, you got me crying there, such joy. So excited for you, I can imagine how stressful that was for you, but your grace and trust through it proclaims our God's Goodness! And it makes my heart so happy to see Dr Kosmala there with you!
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