Mitchell&Company: July 2015

Here we are! I laugh because I remember it took me awhile to write Collins' birth story as well. I had a friend say I've been waiting to read an update on Porter what are you busy at home with two kids :) We are adjusting that's for sure!

I'll get right into it. On Thursday June 25th I had my usual appointment with Dr. Font. Collins and I usually grab some Starbucks breakfast and head over. However this morning Marty didn't have to be into work until later so to give me a break he stayed at home with Collins allowing her sleep in a little too. So off I went, in pajama pants a tank and braided pigtails with a hat... Classy I know. Listen I wash my hair once a week and this day just happened to be day 7 so the braids were a must :) I was hooked up to the monitors around 8am and Porter was cooperating as usual moving about. After my NST I went to the ultrasound room where I meet with the Dr. He does his thing and I'm on my way. As he was doing my ultrasound he asked if I would be ok coming in to the hospital on Saturday for another NST. Thinking about our busy day I agreed to it figuring I could go early in the morning sometime. Things went silent and he continued the ultrasound. He said your fluid is low. When it gets below a 5 that's when we worry and you're at a 4. Still oblivious I said oh yah so now what. He said let me call Dr. Khater. You're gonna have this baby within 24 hours. Immediately I got hot and just stared at him. I was only 35 weeks and 4 days. I asked is anyone else really hot! I couldn't believe it and I'm pretty sure was in shock because nothing crossed my mind other than I need to take a shower! Of course I was unable to go home and pack anything or get anything ready, I needed to be monitored until delivery. Because of my blood thinners I needed to wait 24 hours after my last injection which was around 10pm the night before. So my csection was schedule for 10pm that night! I called Marty and said hey you ready for a baby. Dead. Silence. He thought I was joking. I said I can't come home either so you need to get Collins packed for my moms and get my stuff your stuff and Porters stuff all together. Keep in mind it's only 845am so we have plenty of time however I didn't want to be alone too long in the hospital.

Making my way to the hospital I begged the first nurse I saw to allow me to shower! Which they did, however I was given one tiny bottle of baby shampoo and a baby comb. Ouch. That went over well. Still in shock I think I was finally admitted and hooked up to the minitors. Given my IV and told that I could not eat or drink anything for the rest of the day. Are you joking!! I left a delicious smores treat from Starbucks in my front seat just waiting for me after my appointment. Legit no water, not even ice chips. I was able to get one round of steroids for his lungs hoping that would work in his favor when it was time to be born. Around 10am I was fully admitted and now it was the waiting game. All the while assisting Marty with getting the entire family prepped. Lots of texts with lists were sent back and forth and finally I think he got it all :). I of course hadn't said bye to Collins or had any last minute time together so I wanted her to come see me before it was go time. Marty, my mom and Collins all made their way around 1230pm or so. Collins of course had no idea what was going on but she was very concerned about her mama. We were able to hang out for a couple hours before she was done hanging out in a hospital.

The waiting was horrible. Especially with nothing to eat or drink and just watching the clock slowly tick on by. By 8pm I was a ragging bitch. Begging for anything a sip of water, one small ice chip. Instead I was given the sour drink to help soothe the acids in my belly before the section. NICU spoke with us about how it would be quite possible that he would need to spend some time there because of his lungs. The last 4 weeks in the womb baby's lungs really mature and they grow what is called brown fat which is what keeps us warm. Unfortunately Porter wouldn't be getting either since we were 4 1/2 weeks early. The anesthesiologist also came in to speak with us about my spinal. Those don't scare me, I'll take one right now actually :) Then finally Dr. Khater came in. That's when I lost it and started crying. My nerves got the best of me. Khater reminded me that everything was going to be ok and we were going to get through this and meet our son! When he left the room that's when Marty got the brunt of my concerns and crazy. It was the same freak out I had before going back with Collins. I just have this feeling as if I can't do this and I legit think about what's about to happen and don't want to. I told him there has to be another way I'm so scared! I luckily am able to calm down and close my eyes and take a breather. That's when my nurse came to get us. It was finally 10pm!

I walked my big butt down the hall to the OR and got onto the table for my spinal to be administered. Barely felt it, the numbing shot was the worst part. Dr. Khater waited maybe 20 minutes before poking me to see if I felt anything and of course I didn't. I will say this csection was a bit harder than with Collins. I needed a bucket because I felt like I was going to throw up and my chest felt like an elephant was sitting on top of me. The anesthesiologist took great care of me though and made sure when I felt like that he took care of it immediately. After what only felt like a few minutes I heard the baby is out! And heard him crying! Khater showed him to me over the curtain and the first words out of my mouth were Marty he's bald! Haha I guess I expected him to come out with a full head of dark black hair like Collins. At 1037pm weighing 5lbs 8oz and 18 inches long Porter Thomas Mitchell was born! They were able to bring him over to me so I was able to see him and talk to him but then had to take him to the NICU because he was working too hard on breathing and needed some oxygen. Marty was able to be with him the entire time while I was being stitched up and sent to recovery. I definitely didn't get the skin to skin like I wanted immediately and I wasn't even able to feed him until 24 hours later. Thank god I was on medication or else I would have been a lot more upset at that time. I knew he was in good hands though.

I wasn't able to see him until that next morning once the spinal wore off. It was the longest 10 hours of my life. My poor little baby was hooked up to oxygen, and an IV. It was terrible seeing him like that. Going through what I did with Sloane and Knox was definitely the hardest two deaths I've ever gone and am going through, however I do not know how parents get through NICU life. Porter needed to stay for exactly a week. He was off of oxygen within 12 hours and off his IV within a few days. I was discharged on Monday once he was finally able to stay in my room. Convenient huh. By the grace of God St. Joes has what they call a nesting room. It allows parents to stay in the hospital free of charge to be close to their baby in the NICU. Luckily for me breast feeding moms get seniority over anyone else and also lucky for me nobody else needed the room. So it was ours, well mine because Marty had been going home to make it as normal for Collins each night. Porter was eating using a syringe of my breast milk and then I would try and nurse. Being so small it's harder on them to work so hard for milk and having to maintain his temperature was also taking a lot out of him. The reason why we were there for a full week was because he was slowly gaining weight and it was hard to keep his temp up. Slowly but surely he was able to maintain that and gained some weight back. Leaving the hospital finally that following Thursday was the best thing for me because the room I stayed in was practically a jail cell, however wonderful because I was able to stay with my baby :)

We are all adjusting now at home and I cannot believe Porter is already going to be a month old on Saturday. We went to the doctor last week and he was a whopping 5lbs 15oz so he's gaining but just cant break that 6 pound mark yet :) But as much as he is on the boob I'm pretty sure he will be beefing up in no time. Collins is the best big sister. It took her a bit to get used to him but now that she knows he's here to stay every morning the first thing she says, after mommy of course is Porter! Where's Porter! It's the cutest thing.