Baby Simon

Dan and I have been unable to properly stay in touch with our friends and loved ones who have offered their concern for us and Simon, and I finally have a moment to put some words down.

I had gestational diabetes my entire pregnancy, diagnosed at 13 weeks. I was obsessive about managing my blood sugars and following the orders of my doctors. Diabetes can cause issues with the placenta so I was under the care of multiple doctors. My ultra sounds had all been normal, baby a great size, and no complications.

I went to my ultrasound on Wednesday, a week before my due date and 5 days before my scheduled induction, and the placenta had stopped producing fluid, so there was no fluid around the baby. They told me to go straight to labor and delivery. Since he didn't have any fluid, his heart rate kept dropping. The first intervention was a cervical balloon to make me dilate enough to put an amnio fusion in, which I described as a hose that would pump water around the baby so he could tolerate the delivery. That part worked! But my labor went like wild fire and within minutes of the balloon being removed, contractions started fast and hard, and his heart rate was all over the place. There were a few times they started prepping me for a c-section.

I made quite a scene during delivery because they couldn't give me an epidural until things got more stable. The doctors were amazing and gave me every last opportunity to avoid a c-section, even though I was screaming, thrashing, and crying in pain. I finally got an epidural, but it was time to push 30 minutes later. We had to slow labor down again because baby wasn't tolerating the pushing. 2 hours later, they gave me 3 chances to push him out or it was c-section time. I literally begged every angel to attend to me in that moment because this was my only chance, and Simon came out on the second round of pushing. What a relief and miracle!

Together with the help of Dan, doctors, and nurses, I delivered a 5 lb. 4 oz. baby at 5:30 AM on Thursday morning. The placenta was 1/2 the normal size and that explains the small size of Simon, and a combination of the diabetes and the placenta caused his own pancreas to have some issues. They took him straight up to the NICU because he had blood sugar in the 30's when he was born.

He was put on an IV drip to regulate his blood sugars until his pancreas "resets." As his blood sugars improve, they decrease the sugar water in the IV. They hoped he would be strong enough to eat on his own. Feeding after feeding wasn't improving his sugars and after a couple of days, he was so weak, we couldn't get him to even open his eyes or his mouth to eat.

They put a feeding tube in on Saturday morning, but we have still been starting with nursing, then bottle feeding him my milk, and then pumping the rest of what he needs through the feeding tube. It's quite the process! They had to put a new IV in his head today and that was tough to see.

Today was a huge milestone. He had his eyes open and was alert while Dan went to the hospital to feed him. Yay! They have decreased his IV drip and we hope that in the next few days he'll be completely off the sugar drip and then we can focus on him eating on his own.

He is currently in his own little penthouse suite with the jaundice therapy going strong, so we can't hold him anymore, but we might be able to hold him again in the next day or two.

Many of you have called, texted, and sent your love and concern. Dan and I haven't even had a chance to call our siblings to talk yet as we've had so many things to do within the three hour window of pumping, feeding, holding, and then repeat. But we are SO grateful for the love and concern of all of our friends and we have greatly appreciated every single text, call, and message. Keep them coming!

He is the sweetest little baby and I just can't stand putting him down. I could hold him all day and all night. We are so grateful that we live within minutes of the hospital. Today was our first day home and now that he is "un-hold-able" until the jaundice is better, we can take a breath and give an update.

We have had a few moments of fear, stress, and worry, but we are mostly just going with the flow of things and keeping our spirits and energy positive. I've had a few moments of looking at my sweet baby and feeling so helpless and wondering how he is coping, and breaking down, but Dan and the amazing NICU staff has been there every step of the way.

We hope he will be home within a week if not sooner. My heart goes out to all my other "NICU MOM" friends. WOW! You really can't explain what it's like to go through watching your baby get fed through a tube, have an IV in his hand and then in his head, and be hooked up to all those monitors.

Thank you again for all your love, support, and prayers. We are doing great and can't wait to bring our little nugget home.