Josiah's Birth

On Friday February 10th I was walking down the stairs carrying one of the kids' school books and my favorite sock monkey coffee mug. There was a box of baby wipes sitting on the stairs about half way up waiting to be carried upstairs. I stepped on it and then tripped and fell down the bottom half of the stairs. When I started to fall I leaned backward so that I didn't hit my big pregnant belly on anything. I succeeded in not hurting my baby belly however I twisted my knee and ankle so badly that I thought I was going to be sitting at the bottom of the stairs until Thomas got home! After a few minutes I was able to make it to the couch. The kids were so cute taking care of me. Adah told me to put a band-aide on it and Nate brought me a glass of water (pretty sure he got the glass out of the dishwasher that was NOT clean, but I thought it was sweet). I called my midwife and she said as long as I did not hit my belly and Josiah was moving well and I was not bleeding that I was okay. So my knee was in pain but I the baby was fine, I could deal with that. Oh, I was still pretty bummed out that my coffee mug was broken in this fall, but oh well!
Sunday morning when I got up I noticed that I had spotted just a little bit. I watched the over the next couple hours and there was nothing else so we got ready and went to church. Between services, I went to the restroom and realized that I was suddenly bleeding quite a bit. Trying not to panic I went and told Thomas we needed to go to the ER.
Since I was 34 weeks, they sent me straight to L&D to be monitored. I was not there for very long. They monitored Josiah's heart and movements, made sure I was not contracting and checked to see if I was dilated. I was only 1/2cm dilated so they sent me home and said to follow up with my midwife at my next appointment (which was Wednesday).
Well the rest of the afternoon I kept bleeding so I decided to call my midwife in the morning. So Monday morning I left a message for my midwife and got the kids ready to take Nate to his appointment at his gastroenterologist. As we were pulling out of the drive way, I got a call asking how soon I could get to my midwife's office for an ultrasound. Of course I went immediately.
Thomas met me there and we went back for the ultrasound. As soon as the tech put the transducer on my belly, my heart started racing. My amniotic fluid was low. Very low. I started to realize that this baby would be coming early. After seeing Chantal (midwife) we figured out that I was leaking fluid. I did not realize it b/c every time I was feeling the fluid leaking, I was bleeding too so I thought it was just blood. She started telling me that I need to go to the hospital and one of the doctors in the practice she is with was going to be called in to help decide my treatment, but one way or another, I would not be leaving the hospital until I had the baby. The doctor called in was Dr. Bruce who I knew a little because she had done my d&c last spring.

At this point panic was setting in. I called my mom to come help with the kids and then my sister to let her know what was going on. They were both very comforting and told me he would be fine, but of course I was still having a hard time accepting that he was coming early than I was ready for. Having worked at OB offices for several years, I know how early is too early for comfort and in my opinion I was a week and a half too early for MY comfort.
Monday was a blur. We got to the hospital around 9:30 or 10 and a sweet friend saved the day by taking the kids until my parents could get there. I starting having contractions pretty soon after getting to the hospital and had them all day 6-10 minutes apart with the exception of about an hour and a half when they stopped. We were basically told that it was going to be wait and see. They didn't want the baby to come early if he didn't have to but we needed to watch for signs of infection since my water had broken and there was bleeding. So basically if I did not go into labor on my own, or show signs of infection, we were going to wait it out until Saturday and then induce. I was not thrilled about possibly spending ALL week in the hospital but I wanted what was best for the baby.
The neonatologist came in to see us since it was very unlikely that Josiah would not have to go to NICU. He was so nice and we grew to love when he was the doctor that was there during our NICU stay. Late that evening Dr. Bruce came in and said that she had talked to a perinatalogist that suggested she give me magnesium because there are studies that she is protects a preemie's brain. I had expected that they would give steroids for his lungs because that is just what I had seen done with preterm labor at work. Apparently now however studies have shown that steroids don't really help after 34weeks and I was 34 and 2 days. I was a little discouraged by this because I knew that magnesium is what they give to attempt to stop preterm labor (I was given a lower dose though) and it was supposed to make me feel hot and dizzy and miserable AND I still could not eat until AT LEAST in the morning.
So the only meal I had eaten in over 24 hours was a bowl of cereal that morning, I had been having contractions all day, I knew Josiah would be early but didn't have a clue when he would come or what kind of shape he would be in, and the thought of being there all week waiting and wondering was not sounding so great.
Thomas and I both got very little sleep that night since I was contracting and he was sleeping in a chair. Then early the next morning, Valentine's day, the contractions suddenly got more painful and closer together. It happened so fast that it is such a blur. I had not decided if I was getting an epidural or not, mostly because I was curious. That curiosity was fading fast so I was considering just some iv pain meds but the nurse said that if I was within 2 hours of delivery they did not want to give iv medication. When they finally got the okay to see if I was dilating (they were trying not to check often because it would risk infection) I think they said I was a 5? I honestly don't remember but they did say that they thought I was going to be delivering soon. At that point I said yes give me the epidural. The anesthesiologist was there in about 10 minutes and about 10 minutes after that I had the epidural and was starting to have some relief. The nurse kept telling me to let them know if I felt like I needed to push. She had barely left the room when I sent Thomas to get her.
I remember that Dr. Bruce had come by and knew that I was about to deliver but she let my midwife be the one to deliver and was just on stand by on the floor if she was needed. The previous day I had 2 ultrasounds. One estimated that Josiah was 4lb 9oz and the other said 4lb 11oz. I kept praying that he would be 5lbs. I am not sure why I felt that was a magic number but I just wanted him to be big. He was so little (compared to my 8lb1oz Nate) that is only took 2 contractions and 4 or 5 pushes for him to be born. He looked so tiny when they put him on my chest, but he was screaming and I was so happy to hear that noise! He only stayed on me long enough for Thomas to cut the cord and then was given to the neonatalogist and his team that were standing next to me. He was 5lbs 1.5oz! I was SO happy that he was 5lbs! I guess all of the protein I made sure to eat paid off! ;) They checked him out and cleaned him up and let me hold him for what felt like seconds before they whisked him off to NICU.
After having probably 7 medical staff members and Thomas in the room during the birth, it felt insanely quiet when they all left except for my nurse who was cleaning up and taking care of me (and giving me a menu, PRAISE GOD). Thomas went with Josiah to NICU and I told him just to stay with the baby I had done this before and would be fine on my own.

This is the precious few moments I got to hold him before he went to NICU.

I could hardly wait to get upstairs to NICU! Thomas was sending me pictures and updates on how our little Valentine was doing. This is pretty much the end of his birth story. Now the NICU story begins...