Zane's Story

Thought I would add some details here on Zane's first 1.5 weeks of life, since it's been a bit of a journey for us. It started out short and sweet with his birth after only 9 hours of labor. I had been noticing slight contractions on and off all night, which was nothing new for me, with my irritable uterus, but when I got up at 6 am on 12.8.08, my water suddenly flooded out everywhere. So, I woke Michael up and we began to make plans for Terran and Jessie. It was so convenient that it happened in the morning. Our friend Megan was able to come get Terran and Michael took Jessie to the kennel. All the while I was helping to get things ready for everyone and noticing that my contractions picked up when I was moving around, but slowed down when I was sitting. We talked to our doula several times and the doctor's office told us to go to labor and delivery right away since my water had broken. But since things weren't very intense still, we took a short, very slow walk and then headed to the hospital. We got in at about 10:30 and I had to keep walking when they would let me to keep things going. The contractions started to intensify and I was 7 cm dilated, so we decided it was time to use the spa room. I only spent about 10 minutes in the tub before the contractions got pretty strong and about a minute apart. Then it seemed time to rush back to our room before he popped out (since the room was on the other side of the wing). Luckily they had a wheel chair waiting for me. When we got back I was 8 cm dilated and we decided to try the shower. It seems like I was only in the shower for a minute before I felt like I needed to push. The walk back to the bed was the longest 8 feet in my entire life, even though Michael was helping me the whole way. Somehow I got back on the bed, pushed for 25 minutes and out came Zane. They put him up on my chest and there he stayed for over 2 hours before we finally let them weigh him, etc. He promptly peed all over the place immediately after being put on my stomach. He was 7 lb 1 0z, 20 inches, with a 13.5 inch head circumference, so a little smaller than big bro Terran who was born around the same stage (38.5 weeks). Oh, Zane made his way into the world at 3:15 pm on a Monday. His first name means beloved and middle name Sion (after my grandfather) means highest point. It was a wonderful, beautiful birth and he ties with Terran of course for being the cutest little guy we've every seen. Unfortunately my doctor acted like a completely unprofessional jerk during the delivery, so things are a little tainted with that memory. But that is another long story, which if you want to hear it, I will be glad to tell you now that I've recovered from my extreme anger at her (but am still very mad). 

Megan and Carson brought Terran to the hospital early that evening to meet his new little brother, whom he seemed excited over for all of 30 seconds. He asked to see his feet and then noticed the shiny stool in the room which looked fun to spin around.  

We stayed in the hospital until Wednesday afternoon and returned to pick Terran up before his nap from Karen's house. So we thought we had settled in finally as our new family of four but the world had other plans for us. We thought Zane's temperature was a little low on Thursday so we took him to our family doctor where he was weighed, etc. Temperature was fine but since he had lost some weight and was a little yellow, the doctor said he wanted to do a quick recheck the next day. Friday morning I noticed that he felt hot and we found that his temperature was 100.7. So we told the doctor at our morning appointment and were sent for blood testing at a lab. Luckily we were able to leave Terran with Ellen for that because it's the following Friday and Zane has still not left the hospital. After a failed attempt at a lab to draw enough blood from his heel, our doctor called back saying we should go to the ER for a full workup. At the ER we found out that infants 29 days or less have to get the full workup for a fever over 100.4. So, we had to go through the horrible process of watching him get a catheter for a urinalysis, an IV, a blood draw, a spinal tap (which I could not watch since I was freaking out at that point) and a chest xray. Then we were told he would be admitted to the hospital for 24 hours of monitoring, then it changed to 48 hours to wait out the test results. While Michael was back at the house getting Terran ready to stay with Megan, Paul and Carson once again, Zane and I got to go on a bed ride through the hospital to our new lodging in pediatrics. Why I couldn't walk there, I have no idea, but it was a humorous relief in this horrible situation. Friday night and Saturday were really awful for us as we didn't know what was wrong with Zane and he constantly moaned loudly as if he was in a lot of pain. We took turns holding him and dealing with the tangle of cords and tubes attached to him. On Sunday afternoon, the doctor told us the final results showed that he had a urinary tract infection from 2 different bacteria. He said we were very lucky we had brought him in when we did because those infections can be fatal in newborns and he wouldn't have made it without the antibiotics. Pretty darn scary thing to hear about your precious little baby. Luckily he only told us after the fact that on Saturday he was close to transferring him to the ICU. So, we have to stay in the hospital for 10 days of IV antibiotics since they can't be sure that newborns get enough of the medicine orally. At the time, that sounded like an eternity, but we've made it a week now and will get to go home on Monday. Jenn (my sister) graciously decided to come out for 4 days to help with Terran. She just left this afternoon, but now Susan (Michael's sister) is coming on Sunday. My mom is coming out right after Christmas too. Then Jenn and Todd are coming back after New Years. We couldn't have made it through all this (not to mention the 5 weeks of bed rest previously) without all the help from our wonderful friends and family. Times like this make me realize just how lucky we are. So, that's the story so far. We can't wait until our whole family is back in our little house together, just in time for the holidays.