Hogan's Birth Story

My oh my!  Well, as you can imagine a lot has been going on since my last post!  Hogan was born on September 17,2012 at 2:48PM.,  He weighed 9lbs 2oz, and was 20 1/4" long. He is Amazing!! The love I feel for this tiny human is immeasurable.  He is perfect.  We had a rough start, but things are doing better...but I am getting ahead of myself.  I want to share Hogan's birth story with you.  So...here goes:

Introducing Hogan David!

We arrived at the hospital bright and early at about 6:45AM that morning.  We registered, and were taken up to my room, met my nurse and were asked to fill out some paperwork before I got changed and comfy.  About 10 minutes later our nurse came in and notified us that the surgical tech had called in sick and that my surgery (scheduled for 9:30AM)  would be postponed until later that morning when someone could come in to cover their shift.  "Ok...no problem"   Well..."later that morning" turned into "later this afternoon" to "maybe not today"  UGH!  With optimism in mind, my nurse had me change into my gown at about 10:00AM and got me all hooked up to the fetal monitor and got my IV started (which took 3 people and 6 pokes before they got it in...yowch!)  My doctor was in and out the entire morning and early afternoon checking on me and making sure that everything was going okay and reassuring me that my baby would be born that day since he knew how anxious I was to meet Hogan.  SO...at about1:00 we are confirmed that my surgery would be at 2:30PM.  EXCELLENT!
At 2:30 my nurse came into my room, collected me and my husband and we started the anxious walk down the hallway to the O.R.  I kissed Jason, and said "see you in a few" since he had to wait in the waiting room until I was all prepped and ready to go.  It was SO hard leaving him there.  I was nervous, I knew he was nervous, and he was the one person that I desperately wanted with me.  As soon as I stepped into the chilly stark Operating Room I started bawling.  I got scared and extremely nervous.  The nurses were great though and helped me calm down and get situated on the Operating table so I could get my epidural.  Let me tell ya...those fuckers HURT when they are getting put in...(crying ensued once again)  SO...anyways, they get me all prepped...put the curtain up and then Jason was right next to me "Thank God!"  I could feel them touching me, but I felt no pain.  After a few moments, I felt this "whoosh" feeling (like a balloon deflating) and seconds later we heard our sweet baby's first cries.  Jason and I both started crying immediately while my doctor joked "Congratulations!  It's a 3 year old!"  Jason went over to be with Hogan while they were cleaning him up and doing all the good stuff that they do to babies after they are born.  I LOVED hearing those cries and coos from the other side of the room and I desperately wanted to scoop him up and cuddle him.  Hogan and Jason then left to the recovery room while the doctors finished up whatever they were doing down there.  They slid me over to a hospital bed and wheeled me down the hallway to the recovery room.  They brought my sweet baby boy over to me and I was able to nurse him for the first time.  I LOVED that once he heard me say "hey baby" he looked right at me like "hey, I know that voice".  I was in heaven!  Especially once I was able to suck on some ice chips since it had been like 15 hours since I had anything to drink.  I spent the rest of the day snuggling him and visiting with family that stopped by to say hello and meet the new little one.

In the bilibed

That night after our nurse had taken Hogan to the nursery to get his first bath and do a few tests, she came back in and told us that his bilirubin levels were slightly high and that they would have to keep an eye on it especially since we were coombs positive.  In other words he was slightly jaundiced.  The next couple days went by just fine.  Of course lots of visitors and lots of cuddles.  The night before the day we were going to be sent home, our nurse checked his bilirubin again and the levels were higher...also he had lost almost a full pound, had a slight fever and his blood sugar was low.  All of these together landed my poor sweet baby in the NICU.  He was put under bililights, and put on IV fluids and antibiotics.  This was excruciatingly painful for Jason and I to sit helplessly by while our poor little mad felt so dang crummy.  I just thank God that it happened while we were still in the hospital.  So...my doctor just let us hang out for another day (until Friday) since my insurance paid for up to 5 days in the hospital.  Friday I was discharged, but Hogan was still in the NICU. Luckily our hospital is awesome and we were able to just stay in our room until he was discharged so I didn't have to leave my precious boy there alone.  Friday afternoon he was able to be in our room, and Saturday we got to go home!  What a nerve wracking week!!

Jay, Hogan and my doctor Dr.H

 It has been 3 weeks since we have been home and things are going about as good as they can be.  I am battling a slight case of Post Partum Depression, and of course we are exhausted from lack of sleep, but other than that...I am so incredibly happy, and I can't imagine life any other way.  I am SO deeply in love with this baby boy.  But he is calling me from his bassinet right now...just in time.  So, I must go.  Take care!



In Strength, Love & Faith, Thanks for Reading, Charity