What a week it's been! An update on Will, Allie, Mommy, and Daddy...

Wow...what a week it's been! Since Will's arrival last Tuesday, the 18th, we've had several ups and downs, but I'm happy to report that in general, things have been going well and we are all doing great. I know that many of you know the stories of the past week, but I thought I would fill in a few details of our journey and also give updates on how Will, big sister Allie, and Mommy and Daddy are doing.

Will

Well, Will has definitely had a his share of ups and downs this past week. He has truly caused worry and concern for his Mommy and Daddy, but has provided more joy than anything else. Will was born by C-section (surprise!) on Tuesday, 8/18/09, at 5:53pm. Unfortunately (and for reasons that are still not completely clear to us), I did not get to see Will until 9:30pm that evening. I'm told by the hospital staff that they always try to get the babies to the moms within the first hour after delivery for that critical first breast feeding. I was in surgery for an hour after Will was born, but I'm not sure why Will didn't get to come see me for the hour and a half that I was in recovery. Regardless, by the time that I got to see Will, he was sound asleep. When Will began to stir for the first time, I grabbed him up and tried to breast feed him, but he wasn't interested. The entire first night and the next morning I kept trying to breast feed Will but he would never latch good and would not suck. He was very lethargic and sleepy and never really woke up completely. It wasn't until later on Wednesday that I finally got the message clearly to the nurse that he was not feeding AT ALL and had not eaten since his delivery. She appropriately became concerned and called in a lactation consultant. The next 3 days were filled with many visits by lactation consultants, trying to breast feed, feeding Will breast milk and formula with a little cup and/or syringe, checking his blood sugar several times to ensure that it wasn't too low, weight checks which always revealed a weight loss, evaluation by a neonatologist (pediatrician who specializes in sick/high risk newborns), and blood tests to ensure that he didn't have an underlying infection that was causing his lethargy.

During those first few days, we barely saw Will's eyes. He was rarely awake enough to open his eyes, and he essentially never woke on his own. We always had to wake him to try to eat. Needless to say, these first few days were scary for us. We decided quickly that it was most important to get food into his belly, regardless of the method, so by Thursday we began bottle feeding Will a mixture of breast milk and formula while still trying to get him to latch to the breast without success. By Friday, the day of discharge, Will had gone from 3360 grams (8 pounds) to 3270 grams (7 pounds, 3.3 ounces). We were instructed to bring Will back to the hospital on Saturday for a weight check, as the pediatrician at the hospital did not feel that he could wait until Monday for a weight check at his pediatrician's office. At the Saturday weight check, David and I were sure that Will would have gained weight as we had been getting as much milk/formula in him as we could. To our dismay, we learned that Will again had lost weight and was down to 3255 grams (7 pounds, 2.8 ounces). He had now lost just over 10% of his body weight and had reached the level where the pediatricians become concerned about a baby's ability to feed adequately. We were instructed to feed Will as much as he would possibly eat, and to bring him back to the hospital on Sunday for another weight check. So, we fed and fed and fed all day Saturday and Saturday night. At the Sunday weigh in, we finally got a piece of good news. Will had gained 65 grams (2.3 ounces) and was up to 3320 grams (7 pounds, 5.1 ounces). This was excellent news for us as babies are typically expected to gain .5-1 ounce per day and Will had gained over 2 ounces in one day. We left encouraged knowing that Will had a visit at his pediatricians office on Monday for another weight check. We continued to feed him as much as we could and on Monday also got more good news...Will gained another 13 grams (.5 ounces) and was now up to 3333 grams (7 pounds, 5.6 ounces). No more weight checks for Will until his first visit with his doctor which is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 3. Thank goodness!

Since Monday, Will has continued to feed well. He's also starting to act more like a typically newborn baby as he is staying awake for a couple of hours during the day, waking when he is ready to eat, and fussing and crying while we change his diaper. As crazy as it sounds, I am so happy to hear that little guy cry! It tells me that he actually has the energy to cry and has finally turned the corner and is on his way to being a strong and healthy baby.

Will and Grandma

Will and Granny

Will's first bath

Allie

I'm happy to report that Allie has done great with her new little brother. The day of his delivery, Allie was at her favorite babysitters, Ms. Dee. Because of the surprise C-section and somewhat urgent nature of the delivery, Allie ended up spending the night with Ms. Dee. She did great! On Wednesday, Daddy picked Allie up and took her to the pediatrician for he 15 month appointment (and shots!). After that appointment, Allie got to come to the hospital to meet Baby Will. Although she did say "baby" when she saw him, she wasn't terribly interested in him. She was more interested in her Granny who was also there in the room. Allie went home with Granny on Wednesday afternoon and stayed there until we picked her up on Saturday. When she first saw Will this time, it seems as though she thought he was one of her baby dolls. She banged him on the head rather hard. We had to get her one of her baby dolls to carry around so that she wouldn't come bang on Will. Since then, she has really been very loving to Will. She laughs at him and says "baby" every time she sees him. She is interested in him and wants to touch him and pretty much always touches him softly. She likes to point to his nose while saying "nose". She's also interested in his passys and his bottles, but she doesn't try to take them from him. We just tell her that those are baby Will's and that she has to get her cup or her passy instead of taking his. She has yet to fuss about wanting his things and not being able to have them. The first time Allie heard Will cry was when we were changing his diaper. She got so upset about him crying and started crying herself. Daddy had to take her outside to cheer her up again. I'm not sure if she was worried about him or if the crying scared her, but fortunately she hasn't cried again when hearing Will cry....thank goodness! That could have been challenging!

Mommy

I suppose that I've done well following the C-section. The recovery is not nearly as bad as I anticipated, or at least the pain is not. I do have some tenderness and pain in my lower abdomen, and I can tell that my abdomen is weak. I have almost no abdominal strength right now. Actually, the most pain that I've experienced has been in my back, but the high dose Ibuprofen and Percocets have helped with that!

The most difficult part about my recovery has been that I cannot lift Allie....for SIX WEEKS! Well, that's what they tell me. I'm not sure that that's realistic, but it's been a week and a half so far and I've managed not to lift her yet, thanks to Daddy, Grandma, PaPa, Granny, and Ms. Dee. Allie has been shuttled from grandparents houses to Ms. Dee's house as much as possible over the last week, and when she's not there, one of them is here at our house with us to keep me from having to lift her. Allie has actually done well with this, probably better than Mommy has....I miss holding her! In addition to not picking up Allie for 6 weeks, I also can't drive for 2 weeks. Fortunately my ban from behind the wheel ends this coming Tuesday....only a few more days to go!

Daddy

David has done GREAT since Will's arrival. He's been a true champ by taking over 99% of Allie's care because I'm unable to lift her. He shuttles her around almost every day between our house and Grandma's or Ms. Dee's. He's also graciously gotten up for each and every one of Will's night feedings. Because of Will's breast feeding difficulties and the resulting requirement to attach myself to the breast pump each time Will is having a bottle, David gets up at night and heats Will's bottle and feeds him while I engage in the glorious pumping activities. Thank goodness because this process takes ~45 minutes with both of us, and would take twice that long if I had to feed Will and then go partake in the pumping. Meanwhile, David continues to go to work and spend as much time there as he can each day. I know he must be tired, but he's handling it fantastically and with a smile on his face :-)

I think that sums up our week! Like I said in the beginning, we've had our ups and downs, but all in all, we've done great. I am so happy to have this new little guy in our life, and David and I feel like the luckiest two people in the world. More adventures to come!

Nikki

Will's arrival....What a whirlwind of a day!

Wow! What an exciting day!

As most of you know, I have been very anxiously awaiting the arrival of Baby Will. Well today, my wish somewhat unexpectedly came true. As I went to my doctor's appointment this morning at 39 weeks and 1 day pregnant, I was secretly hoping that she would tell me just to walk on over to Labor and Delivery and get ready to have a baby today. For the past 2 days I have had excrutiating pain in my lower back, and I've noticed that Will was not quite as wiggly as normal. In addition, when listening for Will's heartbeat today, my doctor could hear it and determine that the rate was normal, however it was pretty quite and the monitor wouldn't give an official reading where the probe was placed very low on my abnormal (note: foreshadowing!). Given these concerns, at the end of the visit my doctor asked me to go over to Labor and Delivery for monitoring. Based on the monitoring they would then determine if all was fine and I could go home and wait it out, or if there were concerns they would go ahead and induce labor today. There was also a third option: everything could look fine on the monitoring but they could also potentially go ahead and induce labor today if I wanted. This option, of course, was the one that I was hoping for. So, off I go to L&D making many phone calls along the way. Allie was safe and sound at Ms. Dee's house and was set up to spend the night if needed, so no worries there. David arrived at the hospital just as I was finishing registration and they were preparing to take me back to the triage room. When we got to the triage room, the nurse hooked me up to the monitors and asked me several medical history questions and then left saying "the doctor will be in to see you soon". Yeah, right! Two hours later, the OB resident came in rolling her portable ultrasound machine. The first thing that she did was to take a quick look at Baby Will and be sure that all was as they expected with his positioning. I happened to mention that we had not seen him since the 20 weeks ultrasound so I was excited to take a peak at him. The resident commented on how low the baby's head was and she was trying to figure out which way he was facing. She was having a hard time getting her bearings straight, so she decided to take a look over the rest of my abdomen to see if she could get her orientation. Well, guess what!!!!!! Baby Will was not head down, but was instead in a frank breech position meaning that it was his round little booty that was so low in my pelvis and his head was up under my right ribs! Now, this was a complete shock seeing as how my doctor has felt his "head" during my cervix exam the last two weeks.....uhhhh, I guess she was wrong! Of course, he could have recently flipped around and tricked us all right here at the end, but I'm thinking the stinker has been this way all along.

Now, the resident, David, and I are all very surprised. The resident calls the attending and asks him to come in and confirm what she has seen. Of course, he does, and proceeds to tell me that we will be having a C-section this afternoon. I'm thinking, ok, we've got a few hours to make all of our phone calls, get Allie situated and get everyone here to the hospital that wants to be here. But no....the attending goes on to mention that I am apparently now in active labor with contractions that they are seeing on the monitor every 6 minutes and I will likely be having a C-section in the next 30-60 minutes...just as soon as they can draw some labs and get the anesthesiologist in to meet with me. Ok, now I'm in complete shock! No time to adjust to this dramatic change of plans. Fortunately, as I am explaining to the attending how we were really hoping for a few hours notice, the resident checks my cervix and they learn that I am only dilated to 3cm. I haven't progressed as far as they suspected, so we will be able to take an hour or two of time to get the surgery arranged. Whew! Now I have a glimmer of hope that we can "take care of business" before I get wheeled into the OR.

All goes well with making the arrangements that need to be made for the evening. Allie will stay at Dee's house tonight and my mom made it to the hospital about 20 minutes before they wheeled me back to the OR. I must say that delivering a baby via surgery in a sterile operating room while literally having your arms and legs strapped to a table like someone undergoing lethal injection is not my idea of a pleasant experience. It's not that anything went wrong with the surgery, I would just prefer to go through a bit of labor, get my epidural, relax for a few hours and then push the little guy out the way that he was meant to come out! However, once Will arrived and I heard that precious cry, none of the shock and surprise of having a C-section mattered. The tears began to flow and all was right with the world again.

Will arrived at 5:53pm weighing 8 pounds and measuring 19 inches. He has dark brown hair that seems to have a little wave to it just like Allie's hair did. I must say that, because of the C-section, his head is a beautiful round shape as opposed to Allie's alien-looking cone shaped head that resulted from her travel down the birth canal.

So far, Will is doing fine. It's now 4:16am on Wednesday morning and he's sleeping well (along with his Daddy!) while mom suffers from adrenaline exposure and can't sleep. He hasn't decided to breast feed yet although I have been trying every hour. I must say, however, he is a champion pooper!

Sounds like we'll be in the hospital for 3 days, so I'm expecting that we'll get to go home on Friday. Recovery for me will be quite a bit different from my experience after delivery of Allie. From what I've been told so far, I cannot drive for two weeks, cannot lift Allie, and have to greatly limit the stairs that I climb. All of those things will certainly be challenging!

For now, enjoy the couple of pictures and video below. I'm going to try to get some rest and may even try to put the computer away for a couple of days and enjoy this time with my wonderful husband and our precious new baby boy, William David Ledbetter.







Nikki

Will's first birthday....in video!

Ok, so I realize that I'm posting this video months after the fact, but hey, better late than never! This is a great video of our little man, and just wait til you see him discover the joy of birthday cake near the end of the video. It's definitely worth watching!



Nikki