I'm going to do a quick update that kind of covers the last 6 weeks but I'll try to go back and give more updates.
The weekend before I have birth I had a lot of timetable contractions but they stopped when I went to bed. Then Sunday night I laid for an hour to see if they would stop and they wouldn't. So I got up to get ready to head in. Went to the bathroom and saw blood. We left at 1140pm and first dropped leiland off at my good friends. Got checked in about 1am. I was 5cm, puking, shaking, unable to get relief in any position, and contractions were 1 min on 1 min break. No time to recover. So I got the epidural. It was light enough I could feel pressure with each contraction and to feel for pushing. About an hour after arriving they broke my water. Merconium was identified and they were going to have a team ready to suction when he was born.
At 3:24am Owen Eugene was born. 8 pounds 6 ounces and 20" long. He was suctioned with the bulb syringe and put on me. I got to say hello and Tim cut the cord (I think) then he was taken to the team beside me. He had his cord around his neck as well when he was born. They suctioned him, cleaned him, and he just wasn't perking up enough. They declared low muscle tone. He was taken to the nicu and put under an oxygen hood. He had a chest X-ray that showed particulates from aspirating merconium. He began antibiotics and they ran a culture to see if there was an infection.
I didn't get to see him, I didn't hold him or kiss him. I didn't even have a name for him. We were put in a room and we all slept some. When I woke they had brought breakfast but I wasn't very hungry. I wanted to see my baby. Tim went with him when first born and again after we woke. Once my catheter was out I wanted to go see him but I kept getting dizzy so they made me stay in bed. Eventually I got to go down and see him. I could barely stick my hand in to touch him. He was in an oxygen bubble with wires. I hated it.
Tim and I agreed he looked most like an Owen or a Landon. We let a Leiland decide and he chose Owen. Tim had brought leiland up around 4 to see me and grandma stayed with him in the room while Tim and I went to see leiland and take pumped milk in.
The next time we saw Owen he was in an open bed. It was improvement. The initial estimate was he would need to be in the nicu 1-2 weeks. An absolute minimum of 4 days because of the antibiotics. I had my heart set of the 4 days. It came and went and broke my heart all over again. I was discharged after two days. I stayed the extra to be close to him. The dr came in at one point and said he would most likely be there longer then they expected. I didn't know what that meant.
Owen had his iv removed. He had a feeding tube but it wasn't for a long time as he caught on quickly to his feedings. While for me it felt like forever anytime I'd feed him and he wouldn't finish and needed the rest through the tube. At some point he was moved to a "satellite" nicu that was in a room of the nursery bit was overflow. I liked that it was less crazy in there but could be lonely too.
Time went on and Owen was doing great except he just couldn't wean off the oxygen. They did an echocardiogram to rule out a heart issue and that was good. Then I requested another chest X-ray to see where he was at. He still had about 50% of the particulates in his lungs. About a day or two later the dr suggested he try a medication. It's used in preemies as well as asthma patients. Everything I read online - nothing came up in my searches to use theophylline for merconium aspiration. But I was desperate for him to be better. Within a day he was showing improvement. Within two he was off oxygen. Day 3 he was coming home. It was amazing.
Now he hated the meds and I had a love hate relationship with them. I love that they helped him get over the hump and bring him hope. However they turned my calm happy baby into a crying and fussy boy. He would go stiff bodies, scream, shake, and just seemed miserable on the meds. However now he seems more used to it.
18 days in thee nicu and my baby finally came home. Leiland welcomed him with open arms and seems to be doing fantastic with him this far.
Owen is pretty fussy. He doesn't burp well. He started puking a lot and seemed in pain. Every night like clockwork 5-10 he would scream. It's still his fussiest period but not as bad. He saw the dr one week after leaving the hospital and he was 9 pounds. I took him in last Thursday questioning if he was colicky, had reflux, or maybe issues with dairy. He was 9 pounds 3.5 oz. he barely gained in 2 weeks. It made me sad.
So she diagnosed him as being colicky. She also started him on Zantac. He took a dose that night, the next morning, he puked that day and hasn't since. We keep giving Zantac and he seems a ton better. I also haven't had dairy in a week. I'll reintroduce in a couple weeks.
Owen seems to burp better and fight more. He seems to be able to get the bubbles out. So yesterday was just a weight check for him and he was at 9 pounds 8 oz. he gained more in 4 days than the previous 2 weeks. This made me so happy I took him in rather than waiting.
So 6 weeks home and we are doing pretty good. He's only had one bottle since being home. He nurses fantastic and it makes me so happy he is doing well. Medicine 2x a day and he does good with it. He sleeps ok the majority of the days. Usually wakes 1-2 times at night to eat. Loves to cuddle me. He started smiling a little over 4 weeks. He coos and melts my heart and soul.
Overall life is going well. I'll try to include pictures tomorrow.
