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Tuesday, June 26, 2012

June 1 - Caleb is 5!

Hello world. I know I've been a stranger but talk about a crazy couple of weeks! A lot has happened for Caleb in the past few weeks and I am excited to share it with you but first I'd like to take a blog and celebrate the reason we are here right now. So this time I would like to tell you a very special story. Caleb's birth story!

I found out I was pregnant barely seven months after Jon and I got married. Due to some medical problems I was told that being able to get pregnant would be very difficult if not impossible for me let alone carrying one. Imagine my suprise when I got sick while taking some homecoming pictures a few months later. I thought I had the flu but to appease Jon I took a test. He was on duty so I called a girlfriend of mine and expressed my "Oh holy crap you won't believe this".

An insane amount of tests and a few doctors appointments later it was confirmed. My so called slim to none chance became a very real possibility after all. Needless to say I was scared out of my mind. Here I was hundreds of miles away from everyone and everything I ever knew and pregnant.

The second month of my pregnancy I started having some heart palpitations. That resulted in a brief amount of time with beta blockers to regulate me.

After that hiccup the next few months of pregnancy seemed to float by with me calling my mother for any and all sort of comfort I could. What can I say? I have always been a mommy's girl and everyone knows it.

When I was around 34 weeks things started happening. I would get headaches and I was starting to swell. The doctors dismissed it as me being young and stupid and paranoid but I had a niggling feeling in the back of my mind. At my 35 week appointment they noticed a spike in my blood pressure but said it was nothing. I believed them. A few days later Jon had his re-enlistment ceremony and I had no clue how bad it was starting to look to everyone else. To me I looked normal but I looked at my belly in the mirror everyday but to those who worked with Jon they could see I was starting to struggle. Not only was I struggling I was starting to swell.

That day after we walked back over to the company building he worked in his Captain called me into the office and asked what was going on. She had them bring me something to prop my feet up on because they were huge. When told to take my shoes off and rest for a minute while someone brought me some water and a cookie she noticed my feet and ask if I was feeling ok.

As gently as I could I pried my shoes out of my feet and propped my feet up. I explained to her about my nagging headache and swelling and my inablility to get the people at the OB clinic to take me seriously. Lucky for me she did. She called the head of the OB clinic and explained a few things to them and ended up getting me an appointment for the day after the next with the doctor I was supposed to be seeing all along.

We went home and later that night I ended up with a migraine bad enough that it ruptured several blood vessels in my eye and on the right side of my face. My vision started to blur and I got scared so we took ourselves to the maternity ward. After a couple of hours of monitoring they gave me a shot of morphine for the headache and sent me home with a test I was to bring back the next day. I brought it back to the next day and went about getting a couple of baby things before my appointment the next day.

I went in and sat down and waited for the doctor. He came in the room took one look at me and asked if I had done a 24 hour test for them. I said I had been given one after I was in the mother baby unit for that headache the day before yesterday. He said hang tight I need to check those. Less than five minutes later he came in and told me to take myself to the mother baby unit I was being induced effective immediately.

My blood pressure was so high I was in stroke range and the protein count had been well over 4,000 two days ago. For my safety and the babies he had to come now.

I did what I think everyone does when they hear something like that. I called my mother. My sister immediately found a way to get her to me and promised me she would be there. Satisfied I went upstairs and the REAL fun began.

Three hours after being hooked up to pitocin, magnesium, and anti biotic they gave the first dilator. Twenty minutes after that they upped the magnesium. Two hours after that they forced the dilator more. Fast forward two more hours and they remove it. My blood pressure was barely under control.

Then the pain started. I was panicking because I wanted my mother and I was forced to lay in one position and not move a muscle because it could have disastrous consequences for the baby and I.


Fast forward three more hours and the pain had reached a point that I was becoming one of those crazy ladies who lose their minds and lose their verbal filters. I heard a collective sigh of relief as my mother finally got there. What can I say, I wanted my mother and I wanted her right then. There was no way I was doing this without her. In fear of being phsycially maimed if he came much closer my darling husband took a chair in the farthest corner and let her do her thing.

It just kept getting worse. After 5 failed tries they finally got the epidural in and 2 hours after that it failed. It worked on one side and I felt like I was being ripped to shreds. I was in the throes of contractions that lasted on average about 3 to 4 minutes long.

It only got worse. My blood pressure started climb even higher and my liver and kidneys stopped funtioning as effectively. By that point I was 23 and a half hours into hard labor. That was when the real fun started.

The spots started an hour later. My pleading started half an hour after that. An extra half hour later I started demanding they either take him out or give me the scalpel and I would. Something was wrong and I could feel it.

It was almost an hour later when they finally realized through the menagerie of monitors I was hooked up to that I wasn't joking. I was wheeled into an OR a few minutes later.

After figuring out that I wasn't joking about being able to feel them cutting me open they knocked me out and a couple of hours later I came to in the recovery room. I learned it had been touch and go for me in the OR and because I was touch and go so was Caleb. I had been right something had been wrong.

I had a classic case of pre-ecclampsia that had gone into full blown toxemia. It had severely affected my liver and kidneys who were decreasing in function. That, as well as the stress of prolonged labor, had added an extra stress to my heart. I had nearly died on the operating table.

Caleb Aaron was born at just over 36 weeks via emergency c-section at 1532 on June 1st 2007.  He weighed a whopping 8 pounds 5 ozs and was 21 inches long. He was beautiful to me.

Due to the circumstances of his birth my health didn't allow me to hold him for the first time until he was 5 days old.  We were discharged a couple of days after that. The rest as they say is history.

So there you have it. The birth story of one of the biggest miracles I was given. He has been marching to the beat of his own drummer ever since. I would like to share a few pictures of that journey with you.

23 weeks. . belly pop!




29 weeks.  .my baby shower with my neice Rachel



34 weeks. Jons promotion ceremony


36 weeks..  .Jon's re-enlistment ceremony. 2 days before I was induced





My very first time holding my baby. He was 5 days old.




Meeting his grandfather (far left) and his great grandfather (middle). He was three weeks old.





So there you have it. Caleb's birth story. Every single second of the day I fall more in love with this perfect little miracle God gave me. I usually leave off with an Autism quote or fact but this time I want to leave you with one of my favorite pictures of my little man.




He was about 8 month sold here and had pneumonia. Despite being sick he smiled at me all day every day. Bless his little bones he does that to this very day. He always has a ready smile and an open heart for everyone he meets.

I cannot believe my little man is 5 now. It seems like yesterday that I brought him home. Being him mother I have always said this but these last months have made me realize that I am not the only one who sees it now.

This beautiful special little boy is meant for great things. Happy 5 years my wonderful little man. I look forward to the next ones!

Until next time blog world we are marching to a different beat

One very blessed mommy