Welcome Maxim Andrew

Maxim Andrew entered this world 10 weeks early on June 25th at 2:36pm.  He was quite the surprise to his mommy and daddy.  It was a very long and scary time, but he is here and I couldn't be more excited to have him.  Here is how everything happened.  (There might be some graphic detail in the post, sorry but I want to share the full story.)

On Monday night around 8pm I started feeling light cramps, like menstrual cramps, so I thought is was braxton hicks.  I was not too worried about it.  Around 10pm diarrhea kicked in (which is a nice sign of labor), but I didn't let that worry me either because of all my IBS issues.  As the night went on the pain slowly started to get worse and of course I never slept.  I also didn't want to call the doctor in the middle of the night to worry anybody or be that pregnant lady that makes a big deal out of nothing.  I just laid there in bed through the cramping thinking I would call the doctor in the morning.  Around 3am Andy woke and said enough is enough and I had to call the doctor.  I really was more worried about bugging somebody than my possible contractions, but I gave in and called.  The nurse on call told me to get to the hospital just to get checked out especially since I was having dark colored discharge that day.  That was another sign for me to worry, but again I wasn't worried about it. After I got off the phone with the nurse I doubled over in pain.  That is when I realized this has got to be contractions as I couldn't move nor talk.  I started to panic, worry and cry as we got in the car to head to the hospital.

We arrived at the hospital at 4am and since our hospital tour was in two weeks we had no idea where to go.  Nobody was around at 4am so we found a worker down a hallway and she was kind to direct us in the right place.  We finally arrived at the women's triage and they got me in a room immediately and told me I was having contractions, but not to worry as they will stop them.  They were very confident as they do this all the time.  There is three ways to stop the contractions and they first started me on a shot.  That tamed them for about 15 minutes, but then we were back to square one.  They gave me another shot and I had the same result.  They also gave me a shot in the butt of steroids just in case I had to deliver that would help make the baby's lungs stronger.  They "checked" me and said I was dilated at 1cm.  I kind of freaked because I am not supposed to be dilated at all.  They were so calm and affirming me that they do this all the time and they stop contractions all the time that I started to calm down and not worry anymore.  Since the shots did not work they stepped it up and gave me two pills to stop the contractions.  After some time we noticed this was not working either.  They "checked" me again and found that I am now dilated at 2-3cm.  I was trying not to worry and the fact they were so calm made me not worry.

Since the pills did not work it was decided to start me on magnesium sulfate.  I got checked into the hospital and they moved me to a more comfortable room where they started me on magnesium sulfate.  This was the last option to stop the contractions.  They said this has to work and would keep checking on me.  As I lay in bed experiencing every second of contractions all I wanted was for them to stop since I couldn't get an epidural.  I ended up throwing up due to the pain of the contractions.  It was crazy as I projectiled into the garbage can next to my bed.  I honestly underestimated these contractions.  Before this I figured I would go into labor with a laid back attitude and if I need an epidural I would get one, but if I don't then I won't.  Holy cow!  I was not prepared for the pain at all.  I laid there thinking that if we get these contractions to stop I will have to come back to the hospital in a few weeks and do this all over again with the pain, but at least now I know what I am getting myself into. 

Again, I got the news the magnesium sulfate was not working and they were going to up the dosage and check me at 12:30 and if I dilated to a 4 or more then I was in active labor and we had to proceed with delivery.  Andy headed home to let the dogs out since we figured we had a little over an hour.  At noon the nurse was in my room when I had two really bad contractions that went all the way up my back.  The nurse was worried and "checked" me to find out I was dilated to a 5-6 and am now in active labor.  They needed to stop the drugs, get me an epidural and start the delivery process.  I asked how long it will take me to get to 10cm since Andy was not back yet and the nurses were scrambling like crazy.  They said a normal person would be about 7 hours, but since I kept progressing rapidly through all the drugs she was guessing about 2-3 hours tops.  I text Andy immediately and told him to get back fast.  While he was gone I got my epidural and the pain finally went away.  I sat in my bed as I watched the chaos around me.  The nurses were going crazy to prepare me and the room since I was not in a delivery room.  My doctor was there getting ready and Andy finally arrived just after 12:30.  The next two hours were a blur from all the chaos going on.  My good friend Kim arrived at 2pm to say hi, but little did she know on her way there that she would be in the room holding a foot while I push out baby Maxim.  About 10 minutes later they had me start to push.  Andy was on one side with a leg and Kim was on the other side.  My room was filled with my doctor and many nurses waiting the arrival of my premature baby. 

I pushed through three contractions and baby Maxim came out.  I am going to guess it was about 15 minutes or so of pushing.  It felt like forever.  Even though I had the epidural I felt Maxim crowning and let me tell you, that was extremely painful.  I didn't know if I could keep doing this as it hurt so bad.  I had my doctor, Andy and Kim all guiding me on when to push so I just kept pushing.  Everything happened so fast that I didn't have time to think too much about the pain.  My water broke during the first push and that was insanely crazy.  I had no idea how messy that was going to me.  Plus, when Maxim came out the amniotic fluid all came back at Andy, Kim and I.  Andy just missed getting hit, but poor Kim got messy.  It came back at me, but the nurses had me cleaned up in minutes. 

They plopped Maxim on me for two seconds before they swooped him away to the NICU.  Andy followed him to the NICU while Kim hung out with me in the room.  That was nice because it went from complete chaos to dead silent and if Kim wasn't there it would have been difficult to be left alone in the room.

Maxim Andrew was born at 2:36pm, weighed 3 pounds 6 ounces and was 16 inches long.  We did not have a name picked out for him when we headed to the hospital, but we did have a list of options.  Once we realized we are probably going to have him that day we started to review our options and decided on Maxim. 

I did not start my Monday thinking this was going to happen.  I did not think Monday night that I was going into labor.  I did not think Tuesday morning that we would be having our precious baby boy, but we did.  I couldn't be happier to have him in my life.  Now that he is here I can't imagine our lives without him. He is so precious and sweet and it's hard on mommy that he is not home with us.  I am taking it one day at a time as I watch his progress and look forward to him coming home.

Andy getting ready to cut the cord.

No pictures please, I just had a rough day!

I couldn't be any happier.

So sweet!