Our NICU Experience

In my post about Boston's Birth Story I mentioned that Boston was born with a fever and that she was in the NICU. I have decided that I need to write down my experience in the NICU. I have told many people about it but I haven't had the chance yet to sit down and actually explain what it is like to be a NICU parent.

DISCLAIMER: Even though Boston was sick she wasn't that sick and we never worried that she wouldn't make it through her NICU experience, and we understand that we don't fully understand what it is like to have a very sick baby in the NICU. I just wanted to get our story written for us and for Boston in the future so she knows what it was like for us.

That was the longest week of my life. The first few days were really hard for us both, but having the support of our families made it so much easier. I was happy to have my parents there because they knew exactly what it was like to have a baby in the NICU, and Devin was glad his mom was able to come down and be a support to him, both during Boston's birth and our NICU experience.

The hardest part was that Boston was attached to all kinds of cords and was under a heater because she couldn’t hold her body temperature on her own. Her daddy was scared, this was his worst fear the whole time I was pregnant and he was having a hard time with everything. The doctors quickly let us know what the plan was for Boston. She had an infection and it needed to be treated with antibiotics for at least 5 days, (it ended up being the full 7 days). They didn’t know how or what kind of infection it was so they ran some tests to try to find out. They were constantly poking her and drawing blood, so that they could figure out what it was that made her sick. On the second day in the NICU Boston was having some trouble with her reflux and she spit up enough that she started to choke and was unable to breath, they put her on oxygen, even though she didn't really need it.   Things seemed like they would never get better. Devin was stressed out and really felt that we needed to give Boston a blessing that she would heal and things would start to look better. So after being at the hospital for about 3 days Devin asked his Uncle Allan, and his cousin Bryce who had just returned home from an LDS mission, to come to the hospital and help Devin give Boston a blessing. As we were sitting in the NICU waiting room eating our dinner,I was starting to feel alone, because my parents had just left that morning. I distinctly remember sitting at the table across from Devin and he looked up and kind of slightly smiled and said "Look who is here." I turned around and I could barely hold back the tears when I saw my grandma and granddad Garvis. It still makes me cry just thinking about seeing them right when I really needed my family. I instantly felt a little better and realized that I wasn't alone our families were there to support us even if they couldn't be with us the whole time. The blessing was beautiful and exactly what we needed. In Boston’s blessing Devin said that she would begin to feel better and that she would be removed from all of the cords that bound her. After that blessing we all headed up to my room and Allan and Devin gave both me and Devin blessings. Each blessing was very comforting and exactly what we both needed to hear. Devin's Uncle Allan gave Devin one of the most inspired blessings I had ever heard. It was so beautiful and the spirit was so strong. I could feel Devin starting to feel better before the blessing was even over. I don't think Allan knows how grateful I am that he was able to do that for Devin. He needed it and it was so perfect. I am so glad Allan was able to do that for him.

Things quickly started looking up. Boston was taken off of the oxygen and by the end of the next night she was no longer receiving IV sugars to keep her blood sugar up because now she was eating enough. She was finally in a regular bed instead of being under the heater bed. It was all getting better. Everyday the doctor would say that she was looking better and that soon we would be able to take her home. Things got so much easier after that. It was hard to not be at home but we worked around that. I spent every moment that I was awake down in Boston's room ( I think I annoyed the nurses), and every break Devin got from work he was right there with me. It started to seem like we would never get to go home, but finally on Tuesday September 10, 2013 we got to bring our beautiful girl home. It was so wonderful to bring her home! We love her very much and have no idea how we ever lived without her.


 (the pictures are not in order I was too impatient to try to fix that)

daddy giving her a bath

She was a little jaundice so she was under lights for a day

Finally going home and she isn't so sure about it. hahahah. Oh I love her!

The Birth Story of Boston Michelle

FINALLY I am getting around to finishing up Boston's birth story. I know how important it is to document events like this in our lives but I don't love calling it a birth story even though that is exactly what it is, I guess it is just weird to me to call it a birth story. ANYWAY... Here it is the story of how our beautiful baby came into this world. (Don't worry I am not going to give any gross details)

Tuesday September 3, 2013 at 2:48 pm my beautiful baby girl was born. Things leading up to her birth and her birth itself didn’t exactly go the way we planned, so I wanted to write about our experience so that one day when Boston gets older I can remember exactly how we felt and everything we went through. I am not going to give every detail on the blog but I have written about it in my journal just for my sweet girl.
Everything started on September 2, 2013. The whole night I was up in the bathroom I couldn’t get comfortable and I just couldn’t sleep. I was worried that my water had broken and I didn’t know it, and to top it all off I hadn’t felt my baby moving for at least 3 or so hours. So early that morning I called my parents and my doctor and decided that we needed to go to the hospital to check on our little girl to make sure she was okay. We got there and it turned out that what had happened was something with my meconium plug. This is something that had happened to my mom, so I was somewhat familiar with it, and I knew that was one of the reasons that my older brother ended up in the NICU. Well they sent us home and told us to come back later because I wasn’t dilated at all and my doctor wasn’t on call, I was, however, having contractions that I couldn't feel and according to the monitor they were about four minutes apart. So we went home, and I packed our hospital bag just in case she decided she was going to come later that day. At around 3 I could finally feel my contractions, they were not unbearable but this was the first time I had actually felt them and didn’t just see them on a monitor. The contractions were about 3-4 minutes apart still and my family was sure I would end up at the hospital that night. We went to dinner with the Cooley’s at Chuck-a-Rama and the contractions got stronger. By this point we were just deciding when we should go to the hospital, but I was so afraid that they were just going to send me home again and tell me that I should come back tomorrow when I was scheduled for an induction. So we just kept doing whatever we could to try to get her to come faster. We took a walk around our neighborhood, and Devin’s grandma’s neighborhood hoping that would induce labor and make it so they wouldn’t tell us that we would just have to go home. After our little walks we headed home. By this point my contractions were about 2 minutes apart and pretty painful. I was more than ready to head to the hospital but I was still worried that they would send me home again so I decided to read my book to distract myself for a few hours. I told Devin that when I finished my book we could go to the hospital. The contractions were getting harder and harder to ignore but I was determined to finish my book before we went to the hospital. So at midnight when I really just couldn’t take the pain anymore and the contractions were closer and closer together, and I had finished my book we headed to the hospital. When we got there and got all checked in and they checked everything out to see how things were going they told me I would probably have to go home. I just about died, that was the last thing I wanted to hear. I really didn’t want to go back home. I was in pain and it wasn’t going to get any better. About twenty minutes later they came in and told me they wanted me to stay because Boston’s heart beat would drop just a little bit right after I had a contraction and so they wanted to watch her until my doctor got there at 7 am. I was sad to hear that there could be a problem with our baby but I was relieved to hear that I could stay at the hospital. The contractions just got worse and worse as the night went on and at about 4 am I asked Devin to call my parents and tell them I wanted them to come up. I was in a lot of pain and I could tell that my poor husband was dead tired from the extremely long day he had had. My parents showed up at 6 am and I was incredibly relieved to see them and to let my husband sleep. Devin unfortunately didn’t get much sleep until way later in the day. At 7 am my doctor showed up! I was so unbelievably excited to see him and figure out when I was going to be able to get my epidural. The epidural was one of the best choices I made. I am a bit of a wimp and I was happy to get the pain meds. The doctor came in and checked everything and decided to break my water and not even thirty minutes later the anesthesiologist was in to give me my epidural. I was really scary at first but once he was done I was in heaven. I couldn’t feel my contractions and I was feeling much better. The doctor came in to check on me about every 2 hours to see how things were going and unfortunately nothing was happening. In fact Boston was moving further up instead of down like she should be. After the doctor checked me for the last time my worst fear was about to happen and I had no idea. The doctor woke both of us up and told us that I was going to have to have a c-section, because my cervix was not dialating and Boston was still having an irregular heart beat, not to mention the fact that she had moved further up since I had gone into labor. This had been our worst fear since the very beginning. Neither one of us wanted me to have a c-section. We were both so scared so before they took me down Devin, my dad, and little brother gave me a blessing that it would all be okay and that we would be able to get through this together, and that Devin and I would be able to raise our little girl, at the time I didn’t think that would be so comforting but in the days to come that was one of the most comforting things that was said. After the blessing they quickly wheeled me into the OR and started getting everything ready for my c-section. Luckily I didn't have to wait long because I already had my epidural. It all went by so fast but we were ready for our baby to get here. Everything went by even more quickly once I was on the operating table. I could feel the doctors pushing and pulling on my belly but it didn’t hurt. Then all of a sudden Devin stood up to watch them get the baby out. They quickly got her weighed, measured, took a temperature, and declared a time of birth and then wrapped her up so that Devin could hold her. By this point they knew that Boston would be going to the NICU at least for a little while because she was born with a fever, and infants should not have fevers, it is a sign of infection. Devin got to hold our beautiful 7lb 12oz, 21 inch long little girl, and since I was still on the table being stitched up he brought her over for me to see her. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. It was so wonderful to be able to see her. I just kept thinking she is beautiful and she had SO much hair! Well while Daddy was holding his little girl she stopped breathing and turned purple. The nurses took her and got her to breathe again and then Boston and Devin left. They finished stitching me up and wheeled me over to recovery. I had only seen her for a few seconds and now I had to wait an hour in recovery before I could see her again. I was very sad and very anxious to hold that sweet little girl who I had carried for 9 months. That hour seemed to be the longest of my life. My parents and Devin came in to wait with me and then when it was finally time for me to go to my room they wheeled me by the NICU first, so I could hold my little girl. Holding her was the most amazing thing. I knew I loved her from carrying her all that time but it is so different when you get to see your baby’s face for the first time, you can’t even imagine how much you really did love that little person. I didn’t want to put her down. I only got to hold her for a few minutes then they said I needed to get to my room and that I could come down later after they had gotten me checked into the Mother Baby Unit. It was all so surreal for a few days. Boston's pediatrician came and looked at her and decided that she would need to stay in the NICU for a few more days at least and to get some antibiotics. It was hard to believe that our baby was already here. It was so sad to know that we wouldn't be taking her home for a few more days at least, but it was absolutely wonderful to finally meet her.

The NICU was an experience all its own and I will write about that in another post, so look forward to that.