SETH!!!
Seth was born on April 11th, seven weeks early. I will give you a very shortened account of his birth. Max was 3 weeks early, Simon 6 premature, and Jack 3 weeks early. I had such hard pregnancies with all of my first three babies. I contracted the whole time and the doctors worried about premature labor, but with Seth I felt great. I had hardly had one contraction. I was able to exercise the whole pregnancy.
Two days before he was born I had a doctors appointment and everything was great. We really questioned the doctor about it, because Shelby was leaving on the 11th on tour to the remote jungle. This was a tour that he had to take because it was so remote and specialized that no one else could run it. We were reassured that everything was fine. That night Seth dropped and when I walked it felt like he would fall out of me.
The next day I contracted all day off and on. But I thought that it was just the beginning of a long couple of weeks before he came. I contracted non-stop for two weeks before I had Jack. On the 11th Shelby got up at 5 am to get ready to go to the airport and I was having painful contractions. I walked into the bathroom and asked Shelby what I should do if I had the baby while he was in the Guatemalan jungle. I think he just blew me off because I contract so much during my pregnancies. So he left for the airport.
Around 8 am the contractions weren't going away, and they were fairly regular and really painful in my back. I called a lady in my neighborhood that worked as a labor and delivery nurse if she thought I was okay, given my history of contractions. She nicely told me "honey I think you should go in and get checked." So I called my sister and apologized, but asked if she would go in with me to get checked, even though I knew they would send me home. So she came over and we fed my kids and her son breakfast, put them all in the car and drove them to my sister-in-law in Salt Lake. Then we drove to the hospital that my doctor worked at in Salt Lake. The whole time I was contracting but still thought going in was a waste of time.
I got checked in at labor and delivery, the whole time letting the nurses know given my history of contracting and having only had one previous premature baby, that I was not in labor and I was wasting their time. They hooked me up and didn't come and check me for over an hour. Then they came in and talked to me about having a c-section (my fourth c-section) that day, I was contracting like I was in active labor and they knew I was in labor without checking me. When they did check I was already 4+.
So I called Shelby, he was just getting ready to get on the plane. I told him to get over to the hospital because we were having a baby. He took a taxi to the hospital, when he came in he looked, well I can't describe it, I have never seen a look on anyone like this. Confusion, stress, panic, fear, worry about his clients who were on their way to Guatemala without him.
Around 3:30 pm we had Seth. Shelby spent a few hours with Seth then left in tears because he had to catch a red eye and then take a helicopter to rescue his group in the jungle. My sister spent the first night with me in the hospital. Then I spent the next 10 days alone in the hospital. 5 days in the maternity ward recovering from the c-section and the 4 inch whole in my bladder that my doctor accidentally made during the surgery. Then 5 days in a room next to the ICU. My other 3 boys were shipped up to my brother and sister-in-laws in Wyoming.
Seth struggled. He didn't even wake up for 2 days. He was so swollen and puffy. He was vented to breath. He had imbalances in chemicals. Once he was off the ventilation he stopped breathing and had to be resuscitated. He wasn't even receiving any tube feedings for the first 4 days, only I.V. nutrition. He was doing so much worse than Simon did in the ICU. Simon was in the ICU for 10 days and I felt like Seth would be there forever and the nurses and NNP kind of felt he would be there for 3-4 weeks.
After the first day I walked into the ICU every 3 hours for cares. I changed his diaper, took his temp, and either talked to him and patted his back or when he was well enough held him. The first 5 days I skipped one care at night and then after that I was there around the clock. At 5 days Seth woke up!! Everything changed. He seemed hungry. They gave him a Binky and started tube feeding him through his nose. The nurses wouldn't let me even try to nurse him. I insisted on being able to hold him as much as I wanted and doing kangaroo care, skin to skin. 6 days I insisted on trying to nurse. They were against it but didn't think he would be able to latch on anyway. But he did. Then Seth and I worked together to get him home. I came in a nursed him at every feeding whether or not he was able to complete a full feeding or needed the tube to supplement. His body gained strength and at 8 days he was eating only through nursing. At 8 days Shelby came home. At 9 days my other boys came home. Then amazingly Seth and I came home at 10 days.
Seth and I spent the next 2-3 weeks at home in my room. I was recovering from 10 days of a catheter and terrible surgery and Seth was growing and gaining strength.
Thank you to all of my family, friends, and neighbors for all of their help during this time. Thank you for the meals, for taking my kids and all of the other kindnesses. I want especially thank my sister Jen. She came over nearly every day for weeks to make sure I could sleep and recover.
This was the best of 2008! My last baby! What a miracle, I am so blessed!
