First off, let me tell you how much I love this tiny guy. He is the sweetest baby. I think I must be one of the lucky ones because both my babies have been soooooo snuggly and so sweet. He is a great sleeper and a feisty eater. He scrunches up his little nose and wiggles his head back and forth while he growls... this is how he tells me he is still hungry. He nuzzles his face as close to my neck as he can when he lays on my chest. I love when he holds on to my fingers with his tiny hands. He always responds to mine and Allens voice when we talk. He is perfect and I couldn't be happier. I feel like the luckiest mom in the world to have such a perfect little family. I love my babies and my husband. Okay okay enough...
The story..
I had been to the doctor on Wednesday February 2nd. My doctor did a group B strep test and checked my cervix. I was dialated to a 2. I was 34 weeks and about 5 days. It takes a few days to find out if the test is positive or negative and I had an appointment scheduled for the following week to meet with my doctor.
35 weeks. Karlee was born at 35 weeks. I started thinking a lot about what it would be like if our baby boy was born at the same time as Karlee. It made me so nervous and worried that we would have the same scary, emotionally draining experience that we had when Karlee was born. I wanted so so so badly to have a happy, fun, exciting experience. I envied people who had a baby and the doctor handed the tiny person to their mommy and then the mommy and baby snuggled and got to know each other for the next two days before they were sent home. I wanted to be able to snuggle and hold and feed and be with my new baby soooooooo bad.
I started having some really strong uncomfortable contractions at about 8pm. They lasted until about 8AM. I didnt time them... I was trying to sleep. This lasted 3 nights. On Monday, I had contractions All day long. There was a big snow storm coming in and the air pressure is probably what started the contractions. I was having a really hard time concentrating while I was working and my legs kept falling asleep. When Allen came home from work I told him it was time to start timing my contractions and just see if they were even close together or if I was just being a sissy.We timed them while we ate dinner... they were about every 4 minutes. Then, one of them was like 7 minutes so Allen told me I was fine and I just needed to go get some Ice cream. ???? okay. So we went to Jakes over the top and met Allens family for Ice Cream. I was uncomfortable and miserable and I enjoyed every bite of my butter-finger oreo shake. Then, I decided I would go take a bath at Allens mom's house to try and stop the contractions. I didn't fit in our own bath tub because the water wasn't deep enough to cover my belly.
I went to her house and started a bath. I relaxed for about 20 minutes when I noticed I had started bleeding in the bath tub. I had a little panic attack but then reassured myself that everything was okay and got out of the tub. I talked to Wendi (Allens mom) and she said she was happy to go sit at my house while Karlee was asleep so we could go in and just get checked out. So I went home, talked to Allen, and got our stuff ready. Allen didn't really know what to think but im pretty sure he thought it was a false alarm and we were going in for nothing, but he was very sweet about it and made sure that I felt like we were doing the right thing. I was super annoyed and very unsure. I didn't want to be that women who shows up at the hospital 5 weeks before my due date and be told that I was having tiny little braxton hicks contractions and I should go home. When Karlee was born, my water broke in the night so I knew I had to go to the hospital. I hated that I had no idea what was happening this time. It was snowing really hard by now. We timed the contractions on the way into salt lake and they were every 3 minutes.We checked into labor and delivery at about 11:45PM . The girl at the desk made me feel dumb and treated me like she thought I was just wasting her time. They were really busy and only had a couple open rooms.
We could tell they wanted to hurry and get me out of there asap. They hooked me up to the monitors and checked my cervix. I was dilated to a 3-4 and the baby was low. My contractions were consistent every two and a half minutes for an hour while they monitored me. 
They came in around 1:15 to check me again and i hadn't changed too much. She said I was probably a full 4 but the baby was low and she could feel his head putting pressure on my cervix with each contraction. So she was not comfortable sending us home yet. They monitored for another hour. The contractions picked up and and felt a lot stronger. They were still about every 2.5 minutes. They came back around 2:40 and checked me again. I was still about a 4 but she said I had to stay. They baby was too low and there was no sense sending me home to just have me come back in 2 or 3 hours.
Okay, so we are staying. What does this mean?
I told Allen to go home and let our dog out to go potty and to get himself some comfy clothes, his tooth brush ect. I sat in the bed and thought about what was happening.
Baby is coming today. I tried not to think about too much more then that. Just, baby is coming today.
I watched some tv and the contractions got a lot stronger. Allen left at about 4 AM to run home and get some food. I started to get really uncomfortable while he was gone and I decided to get my epidural. Around 5 am they came in and did my epidural. Allen was still gone but I didnt really care. I was just ready to try and relax and hopefully get some sleep. I was really happy with the epidural. I was more numb on the left side but I could still move both my legs around. Allen came back and I was feeling pretty good. My contractions pretty much stopped but I was dilated to a 6. They were not concerned about my contractions stopping because baby boy is so early they were just going to let him take his time. So, I just rested, slept a tiny bit, watched tv, text messaged my family to let them know where we were. Then, 7AM, was the nurse's shift change. I got a new nurse, she was not very friendly at all. Actually, she seemed pissed off that she had to be at work. Usually nurses tell you everything they are doing, like everything. They walk in the room and say "Hi, Im (nurse name here) I will be your nurse for the next few hours. I am going to check this and give you this blah blah blah" Before I just kind of thought this was whatever and didn't really care what they were saying but, when I got this new nurse, she just didn't talk at all. She rolled her eyes at the doctor after everything he said. She would just lift up my gown and do her business and not tell me what she was doing or why. She would just stare at my with her grumpy face. Allen was asleep on the futon during all of this so I was trying to wake him up with out telling the nurse that she was scaring me. Anyway... enough about the nurse.
7AM...
Nurse 1 left and nurse 2 arrived, "grumpy nurse"
New nurse came in to check me, All the sudden while she was in the room getting things situated, the baby's heart rate dropped. It dropped super low. It was supposed to be up somewhere like 120-160 but it was like 60?? I dont really remember the exact numbers I just remember it was way way lower than what they wanted it to be. They decided to break my water and start pitocin. It was time to speed things up because baby was not happy. Baby's heart dropped again and then they could not find it at all on the monitor. They decided to hook up a little monitor that connects right to the baby's head internally because the external monitor was not able to find his heart rate. Once they got this hooked up, baby's heart was even lower..... then it came back up a little.
They ran the pitocin for an hour and came back to check me.
8:30 I was dilated to a 9+ Dr. Ward was on his way.
Dr. Ward arrived at 9AM.
Baby's heart dropped again.
This time he dropped so low they decided that the cord was around his neck and it was time to get him out. Dr Ward walked in and said, Push, lets see if we can get you to a full 10. I pushed, and he said okay. You have 20 minutes to get him out or we will take him out.
At this time, Allen had gone down the hall to go to the bathroom and get a drink. I was a little panicked told Dr. Ward he had to wait for Allen to get back. So ... I called Allen and told him to hurry up.. the doctor is here and Im pushing ... your going to miss it!!!! Allen came back to the room... and I pushed again. Baby is not doing good. We couldn't see his heart rate at all. Another contraction came and I pushed again. Out came baby boy!
Zane was born at 9:21AM
The cord was around his neck twice and Dr. Ward cut it off and away went baby. I saw him for a tiny second as he was handed off to the NICU team. I am so thankful for the technology we have and that my doctor was able to tell the cord was around his neck and they were able to get him out quick with out any problems. Im so happy my little man is safe.
I didnt really know what to think and I was just trying to stay calm. Allen stayed with baby and I got stitched up.
I had a small internal tear and two small external tears. Ouch. I guess thats what I get for begging the doctor not to do an episiotomy and just let me try to get him out on my own. 1 tear would have been better than 3. my bad.
Zane was taken by the NICU team because his lungs were not working properly. They did some kind of breathing treatment for 15 minutes to try and help his lungs fill up with air. I wasn't there but Allen was video taping it ... and from what i could hear the doctor saying, his lungs just needed to be inflated, "like a balloon" and then once he had air in them, he should be able to breathe regularly.... and it worked after 15 minutes they decided his lungs were fine and he didnt have to be on oxygen.
They watched him and did test (I dont really know what tests) and then about an hour after he was born, they brought him back to me. I was shocked. I had totally prepared my self for them to say that he was too tiny and they were taking him to the NICU and I wouldnt get to see him until my Epidural wore off.
I was so wrong. This little man is so great. When they handed him to me they told me that I needed to keep him warm, and keep him eating. If his blood sugar, temperature, and breathing stayed up they would let me take him home, if he had any trouble at all, they would take him to the special care nursery. They had my do skin to skin right away and try to start feeding him.
He is a little gremlin. He is an eater. He latched on right away. Anytime he would get frustrated at me for pulling away or something, he would start shaking his head back and forth and scrunch up his nose and make little growling noises. He is 1 hungry little guy. I am so so so thankful for this because Karlee was the opposite and I HATED trying to feed her. I was breast feeding and doing SNS supplement feeding also until my milk came all the way in. (SNS is where they put a little tube in his mouth while he is nursing and just pump a little extra milk into his mouth so that he would get enough calories.) We did SNS for 4 days and then my milk was enough to just let him nurse.
We stayed in the hospital for 2 days and 3 nights I had a blast getting to know my little guy. Karlee came to visit the 2nd day because she was still a little snotty and I didnt want her to get him sick. She LOVED him... until he started to cry and she got mad at him and told him, "no no baby shhhhhhh) She had fun with us though. I was pretty relieved at her reaction to him because I had been expecting it to be much worse.
The next day, Zane was getting a little yellow so they had to decide if they were going to send us home with billi lights or if they needed to keep him and just send us home. I hated waiting to find out what they would decide but after seeing a couple of the doctors it sounded like things were okay and at about noon they finally gave us the OKAY to go home... with our baby!!!!
Zane had to be on a billi light bed for 1 day, and then is levels stayed down for 3 days so we were done!
Things have gone really well since we have been home. We have had some really great friends and family bring us dinner and help out tons with keeping Karlee entertained and happy. Karlee has had her extreme jealous moments and her over excited and willing to help moments. She has thrown a couple dramatic fits, one where she hit baby, then felt so bad she sat and cried and said sorry sorry sorry and rubbed his belly better for about 5 minutes. (he was fine) She is a stickler about making sure he is wearing a hat. She does not like it when people take it off. She brings me different hats for him every few minutes. She loves to rub his blankets and say awwwwww Nane (zane). She really doesnt talk much but she has learned pretty much everyone's name that she see's regularly and then a few random things like, No, Zes (yes), Cereal, who is it, done, and dog. Maybe a few more but not many. Anyway, she is adjusting and loves to help brother Nane. (zane)
Zane is eating every 4 hours, he wakes up for about 30 minutes, then its back to sleep. He doesn't cry, unless he is hungry. He just sleeps and sleeps. He has gained all his weight back and is at his birth weight again. His doctor says he is doing great.
We will take him in for his two week appointment next week and he will also be getting the snip snip... Poor little guy. I hope the circumcision is not as bad as I am thinking its going to be. I dont like taking my babies for shots... this is killing me. awww he will be okay right?
Allen is so in love with this little guy. He loves to snuggle him and went and bought him a couple premmie pj's so he would be all set. Zane looks exactly like Allen. Their baby pictures are identical. Zane and Karlee look a lot alike except Karlee has my big forehead and hair line and Zane has Allens normal forehead and only a little bit of a calic like mine and Karlees.
Allen is obbsessed with taking pictures of him. He bought a new camera and is loving just snapping away at both Zane and Karlee.
We got to have Allen home for a full week. It was sooooo great. He helped me get everything situated at home and mostly took care of karlee. He took Karlee to the park a couple times before the weather got bad again. She loved it.
I am feeling really good. I am a little sore still, but its getting better every day. Mostly just all the stitches making me sore. I didn't sleep well at all in the hospital cause i was just uncomfortable, but it is getting better at home. Zane is such a good sleeper that I have been able to sleep inbetween feeding him and a little while Karlee naps. I have eaten pretty much everything I was dreaming about while I was pregnant. mmmm so nice to actually eat a meal and feel full and not barf and eat more than 2 bites. yum.
I was so happy that my legs didnt swell up this time. I got a little puffy in my hands and left arm but that was about it other than pregnant face. I have 5lbs to lose but luckily I fit back into most of my clothes .. just a bit tight now. I am excited about the next few weeks off from work to get to play with my babies and learn how to be a mommy to two.
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Karlee and Zane are in a contest to help us win a free family photo shoot with a local photographer who I love! you can help us win by visiting Jen Herem Photographys Facebook page. You have to "like" jen's facebook page, then go to her album titled, Cutest Kids Contest, and find both Karlee and Zane's Pictures and "like" both of them. The pictures are in alphabetical order so zane is near the end.
Click here to help us !!!
These are the pictures that your looking for!!!! Please help us I want to win soooo bad!
