It's been a whirlwind of a beginning!

As you all know, Evan was born on March 19th. He was born a seemingly healthy baby who just liked to sleep a lot and was a finicky eater. We (and the doctors) chalked it up to my being on magnesium for so long during labor and then having a c-section. He lost quite a bit of weight (11%) in the hospital, but then he started eating better.

We were released to go home on Tuesday March 22nd and he was doing much better. Still VERY tired. Rarely opened his eyes. We had a doctor's appointment two days later to check his weight and he had gone up 2 and a half ounces from discharge. We were excited he was gaining weight. The doctor said his reflexes, etc... were all normal.

Fast forward to Friday the 25th. We get a call from the pediatrician and she told us that the results from Evan's newborn screening had come back and Evan may have a condition called Maple Syrup Urine Disease (a 1 in 185,000 genetic metabolic disorder). She told us to watch for him to refuse to eat and to become completely unresponsive. They couldn't do further testing until Monday because the labaratory they needed to send his labwork to was in Oregon and doesn't accept labwork over the weekends (Go figure!)

Over the weekend Evan wasn't eating well, but he was still eating. He was still reacting and crying when he was wet/hungry. He still only opened his eyes a few times a day.

On Monday, we took him to have his labs run and then got a call that our pediatrician wanted to see him again. We took him right in and she did her exam. Reflexes still looked normal. Weight had stayed the same, but wasn't a major concern because he was still in the window of time where some babies lose weight after birth. We left the appointment feeling pretty good.

We got home and Gary ran to the squadron to take care of something. I got a call that the geneticist our pediatrician had spoken with wanted to see Evan right away in the ER. He was calling the ER to tell them that we were on our way. I called Gary and my mom and I met him at the hospital.

Evan was almost immediately taken back to a room. He was no longer allowed to feed orally and was put on an IV with high levels of glucose. They took at least 10 viles of blood and took a urine sample. My poor little man was being poked and prodded like crazy. They ended up putting two IV's into him for precaution.

The geneticist said Evan's reactions were good, but things were still not seeming normal and he wanted to admit him to be safe. So...up to the General Pediatric Unit we went. They continued with his glucose and monitored him closely. The geneticists were very good about explaining everything to us. Right now it was a waiting game to see how his labwork looked. The local labs all were coming back normal. No infection.

Come Tuesday, my mom had to leave and we were still waiting on results to see if he had MSUD or if it was something else. Gary took my mom to the airport and a friend came to sit with me so I wasn't alone. The geneticists came in during this time...we had an answer. The geneticists started to talk and I started to cry. Stef just stood up and held my hand and the doctor's told us the news....Evan does indeed have Maple Syrup Urine Disease. His little body can't break down protein and will never be able to do so. He will be on a special formula for life and has to eat a special diet along with it. His proteins need to be weighed to avoid having an episode that could put him back in the hospital.

At this point, we are still in the hospital trying to get him on the right mixture of formula. He is being fed through a feeding tube and has a central line pumping glucose into his body. It is so hard to watch my baby with all these cords and wires attached to him, but he is slowly starting to react more every day. He has even started to open his eyes a bit more for a bit longer each time.

Right now it is a waiting game. His reactions and pupils are showing us that he is still showing normal neurological signs. There is always a chance that with the high levels of amino acid in an MSUD child during an episode that this could change. Please pray that he doesn't have any neurological damage. Although we would love him just the same with any issue he may have, we have our hands full with him as it is.

We are waiting for the formula for him to work and for him to essentially "wake up". Although he wakes up, he is not fully awake with eyes wide open when he is. Once he "wakes up" we will push the bottle with his new formula and when we can get him completely on oral formula we will be able to go home. It could be a few days from now or it could be a couple weeks from now. We sit and wait. The doctor told me he has NEVER seen a child not wake up. He told me that he guarantees Evan will wake up but it's just a matter of time. So we sit...and we wait....and we sit...and wait.

Please pray for our little man that he wakes up soon and we can get things in order to go home. We know we will be dealing with this for his entire life, but we are ready to have our baby at home.

If you're more curious about what Maple Syrup Urine Disease is, just google it. There is a lot of information out there

Evan's Birth Story

On Friday morning, Ma rch 18, 2011I ate breakfast at 9:15 and at 9:45 while watching tv I felt what I thought was discharge. But it kept coming. I got up to go the bathroom to check and felt a lot of fluid between my legs. I went to the bathroom and fluid kept coming. I assumed my water had broken, but didn't want to jump the gun so I went upstairs to put on a pad and the fluid just wouldn't stop! I woke Gary up and then called the doc who said to go ahead and go to L&D. Since I wasn't having regular contractions, she told me not to rush, but that I needed to go in. I took a shower, made sure I had everything I needed and we headed in to L&D.

I was in triage from about 10:45 until around 1:00. They tested right away and knew that it was my water, but we were waiting on the doctor who was in surgery. Unfortunately during this time, my BP kept going up and down. When the doctor finally came up and my BP went up again she said they would have to start magnesium to help it drop and keep me from getting into dangerous levels. Basically they decided I had mild pre-eclampsia. (Magnesium is an evil drug that will make you tired and hot and for some people it will make them sick, but it will keep your BP down)

They took me to L&D and started the magnesium. I was dilated to 3 and starting to have more regular contractions, so I asked if we could hold off on pitocin. The doc agreed, but said she would only wait a few hours. Well....SEVERAL hours passed and my contractions were getting closer together, but I was also starting to bleed a bit more (which I assumed was from my cervical exam). Around 7:30 a new doctor (shift change) came in and did my cervical check. He determined that I was only dilated to a 4 and we decided to start the pitocin. After this cervical check, I went to the bathroom and passed a very large blood clot. This scared me so I spoke to the nurse who spoke to the doctor. He figured we would just watch it. A few hours later, the bleeding had continued and I passed another large clot. The doctor came in shortly thereafter to check me and at this point I was still only at a 4 and the doctor was finding blood clots as he did his exam. The doctor spoke to us about the blood clots and lack of progress. He told us that the blood clots were a good indication of placental abruption (the placenta pulling away from the uterine wall). A full placental abruption would have been bad for Evan and could have caused me to have major hemorrhaging. He said with 6 cm left to dilate, there was too much time for my body to keep bleeding and decided the best option would be a ceserean.

At first I was upset about the c-section and when the doctor left the room I began to cry. The nurse was so sweet and held my hand. She told me everything would be okay. I told her I was scared and she said that she would be worried if I wasn't. When she left the room, Gary just held me and let me cry for a minute and then I got myself together and put myself at peace with having a c-section.

They got me ready, took me back and did my spinal. Then Gary came in all dressed with a cap and special outfit on. I only felt pressure during the surgery. Before I knew it, I could hear my son crying! It was the most amazing sound I had ever heard in my entire life! After a minute or two, they called Gary over to where they were checking Evan. Gary got to cut off the excess cord ( I guess the doc left a lot on when he cut the cord from me). When they brought Evan to see me I couldn't help but cry and kiss him! They told me his APGAR scores were 8 and 9 and I was beyond thrilled to hear he was doing so well.

Gary went with Evan to recovery while the doc stitched me up. He told me while stitching me that there were clots between the placenta and my uterus showing that there was definitely a partial abruption of the placenta. It was definitely a good thing we had the c-section done!

After they sewed me up, I joined Gary and Evan in recovery where they placed Evan on my chest and I got

to hold him for a good hour. They were able to tell me that he was born 7 lbs, 2 oz and 19 and 3/4 inches long. He was born at 1:39 AM on Saturday March 19, 2011! After recovery, they took us up to the maternal special care unit because I needed to be put back on the magnesium to make sure my BP didn't go up.

While in the hospital, Evan was SO tired that he wouldn't even wake to eat. I could barely get him to feed for 2 minutes before he would fall asleep and stay asleep. We tried everything from stripping him naked to wiping him with a wet wash cloth.  Nothing was going to wake this child! I think it was the magnesium that made him so sleepy, but the docs aren't sure. Either way, he wasn't eating well. He lost 11.5% of his body weight and they wanted us to supplement with formula. After a little bit of formula, lots of pumping, and nursing, his weight went back up a little to 6 lbs 5.6 oz at discharge.

Today, Thursday March 24th we had a doctor's appointment and his weight is up to 6 lbs 8 oz!!! YAY EVAN!  It was such a relief to hear that he was doing well and gaining weight! :)

That's it for now. We are going to go and enjoy our little family! :)

37 Week Doctor's appointment

Good news this week! I subbed on Wednesday and Thursday and those will be my last days of work until I find a full time job and childcare sometime after the summer. It was kind of sad to leave another school, but hopefully they will call with some full time positions. That would be ideal!

On Friday I had my 37 week doctor's appointment and everything is looking good! My Strep B test came back negative, which is super good news! (For those of you who don't know, that is a normal test done at this stage. If it comes back positive it would mean both baby and I would have had to have antibiotics during/post delivery).  My blood pressure looks good at 128/77 and Evan's heart beat was 140. (Typical Boy!) He is still moving around quite a bit, but the movements are a lot different than before. It's more like he stretches than really moves. I think he's running out of room in there!  The doctor did a cervical check and said I am dilated to 1 cm and my cervix is nice and soft. This is great news as it means the contractions I have had thus far are actually doing their job and my body is progressing toward labor on it's own! Hopefully this means we will not have to worry about any kind of induction as I would like to have as natural of a childbirth as I can handle!

All looks good! Evan could be here any time now. We have 2 weeks and 5 days until his due date and the doctor said if I don't deliver by then we will schedule an induction for around 41 weeks. That means that within the next 26 days we will DEFINITELY have a baby! Hopefully he comes before his due date and we don't have to go that long, but either way, we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our baby boy! :)

36 Weeks Appointment

We had our 36 week doctor's appointment today.  Everything is still looking good. Evan's heartbeat was 150 at the appointment today and he was nice and active! The doctor says he is head down and facing my back which is the ideal position for childbirth.  My blood pressure was 112/80 today, so we are still doing well there, thank goodness. I had to have the Strep B test done today (a standard test to check for the presence of a bacteria) and since I was already undressed for that, the doctor asked if I wanted her to check my cervix. I told her to go ahead, but she said I am not dilating yet, but my cervix is starting to efface (thin) a little bit. So now it's just a waiting game...4 weeks until my due date! Can't wait to meet Evan!

34 Weeks

We had a doctor's appointment today. Everything is looking great! Evan has dropped which causes me more discomfort in my back and lower pelvis, but the doctor says this is normal as long as I am not having 4 or more contractions in an hour. Evan's heart rate was 140 today! Still nice and strong! My BP was 118/77 which is good! The doctor and I are both glad to see my blood pressure staying in the normal range. 

We are six weeks away from Evan's due date! I cannot believe how quickly the time has passed.  I get the feeling that I am going to miss being pregnant when he finally arrives.  Although, I will, of course, be overjoyed to have him to hold and hug and kiss! :)  Being pregnant has been an amazing experience. To love someone so much before you have even seen their tiny face and hands is remarkable. There truly is no love like the love a parent has for a child!

Although we are still 6 weeks from d day, the doctor has said that any time after 35 weeks, they will not try to stop labor. That means we could have a baby anytime after the next 7 days!! WOW!  Let's pray he holds out until 37 weeks at least, though as 37 weeks is considered full term and would mean his lungs should most definitely be fully developed. 

At this point, I have 5 doctor's appointments left. One is two weeks from now and then the others are all one week apart! I can't believe that's all the time that is left until we get to meet our bundle of joy! :)

33 Weeks Ultrasound

We had our 33 week ultrasound yesterday and things could not have looked better! According to the doctor Evan is weighing around 4 lbs 13 oz and should way about 7 and a half pounds at 39 weeks.  He was head down in the ultrasound, so let's hope that he stays that way! His heart looks great...the doctor kept saying his heart was a beautiful 4 chamber! :) His heartbeat was 134 yesterday.  The doctor told me that as the baby gets bigger and closer to being born his heartbeat continues to slow and he should have a heart rate around 120 at birth. (Just an interesting little fact).  He also confirmed that we are still DEFINITELY having a boy! Wish our little man would have let us get some good pics of his face, but he didn't. Instead he kept his hands covering his face and because of his position we didn't get any good pics.  Best news is that he is doing well and healthy, as am I! 7 weeks until due date! Woohoo!

32 Weeks and Counting!

I recently traveled to Chicago to celebrate baby showers with my closest family and friends. Boy what an experience! It was such a wonderful blessing to have had the opportunity to share some of my pregnancy and the excitement of our little one's upcoming arrival with everyone! We truly are loved and blessed to have so many people in our lives who love and care about us and can't wait for Evan's arrival!  After our baby showers, we are all set and ready for Evan's arrival...and then some! I don't think we'll have to pay for diapers for a while considering all the gift cards we received ... and what a big help that will be! 

Since my return to Albuquerque I have had a doctor's appointment and have scheduled an ultrasound for next week.  At my doctor's appointment my blood pressure was back to normal 110/73 and there was only a small trace of protein in my urine! A vast improvement from my last appointment! What a relief it was to get that news! We are super excited for the upcoming ultrasound. JR will be able to go with me and we will hopefully get some great 3D images of our little guy! 

 At home we are definitely ready for Evan's arrival! Diapers and wipes have been purchased and strategically placed around the house; clothes and blankets have been washed and put away in anticipation of his arrival; the pack n play, bassinett, and nursery are all ready for Evan's daily naps; the bouncy seat, swing, and mobile gym are all ready for play time; the car seat and stroller are ready to be put in the car to transport little man around! I still need to pack my bag for the hospital as everyone says I should do it now because time will pass more quickly than I expect! I am not so sure that the time can pass quickly enough as I am so full of anticipation for his arrival!