Baby Cal

Yes, I am still supposed to be pregnant.  My due date was May 26th, but the baby boy in my tummy was apparently very impatient and decided to arrive two months early on Monday, April 2nd. 

On March 29th, the Thursday before the baby was born, I called my OB because I was having a small amount of bleeding (actually nothing out of the ordinary for this pregnancy) and he said I could wait until my appointment the next morning to check out what was going on.  I didn't think much of it since I'd dealt with this throughout this pregnancy, so I decided to take a walk down the street to the park with the dog on her leash and the kids riding their bikes.  The kids were playing for a while when I suddenly felt a gush of liquid and immediately thought I was having an episode of heavy bleeding like I had been to the ER for earlier in my pregnancy.  I rushed to gather the kids and dog and headed to the park bathroom (yuck).  Much to my surprise, I discovered in the bathroom I was covered in clear liquid rather than blood.  When we walked back to the park, I felt another gush and my pants were now soaked down to my feet!  Lila noticed what was going on and said "Mommy, you need to get to a bathroom, quick!" With every step I took, I felt another gush of liquid.  At this point Lila bragged to Miles and me, "I didn't potty MY pants!"

By this point, the only explanation I could come up with is that my water had broken.  I called Byron and told him he needed to come pick me up ASAP because there was no way I could make it home with two toddlers on bikes, the dog, soaked pants, and liquid gushing out with every step.  If you've ever seen a 3 year old and a 2 year old riding bikes, you know riding just one block can take 20 minutes.  The park is also right next to a Little League Field and there were games going on so there were also people everywhere, making the whole situation even more stressful.  I called my OB and he told me to go to the hospital right away.  By this point, I was very nervous because I knew your water can only be broken for a short period of time before you have to deliver the baby and I didn't know what kind of complications a baby born at 32 weeks could encounter.

When I got to the hospital they confirmed that yes, my water had broken and hooked me up to monitor contractions.  Although I could barely feel them, I started having contractions every 3-5 minutes for several hours.  They put me on magnesium to stop contractions and as a neuro-protector, antibiotics to try to ward off infection since my water had broken, and was given the first of a set of two steroid shots to speed up development of the baby's lungs.  I was now seeing a perinatologist my OB referred me to and he let me know that they would try to hold off the baby's delivery at least until the steroid shots were effective in three day's time, and then let the baby come whenever my body decided to deliver him up to 34 weeks at which point they would induce me (at that point, the risk of infection because of ruptured membranes outweighs the risk of the baby being born prematurely).  I was shocked they could hold off on delivering the baby for weeks after my water broke since I always thought the baby had to be born within 24 hours.  Later as I scoured the internet for info I found out that some people stay on bedrest for months with broken membranes and deliver almost full-term!

I was put on hospital bed rest and just started praying the baby would make it at least until Saturday night so the steroids could take effect, but also hoping to make it all the way to 34 weeks to give him time to develop in the womb as much as possible.  My family and some great friends visited, brought treats, and mostly kept my mind off of worrying about the baby over the next few days.  A neonatologist also visited and gave me the stats for babies born at 32 weeks at their hospital: 100% survival rate (ok, nothing's 100% she admitted... 99.9%) and 0% for a bunch of other diseases and disabilities she rattled off.  The baby might need help breathing, would be put on antibiotics because of the possibility of infection since my water had been broken for so long, and he would probably need help learning to eat.  I felt SO much better after talking to her.

Monday morning I was taken off magnesium and my nurse warned me I might start having stronger contractions.  She was right.  I told my nurse my contractions were starting to get stronger, so she decided to hook me up to a monitor to check out was going on.  She came in after 3 or 4 contractions a few minutes apart and suddenly they started coming without any break in between.  I told her I thought the baby might be coming and texted Byron, telling him to get to the hospital NOW.  Even though my water had been broken for four days, I couldn't believe I was in labor when the baby wasn't even supposed to be born until the end of May.  I was quite uncomfortable at this point and couldn't do much other than the low moaning my doula had used to help me focus during my labor with Miles.  Byron got there just as the hospital staff rushed in a gurney to transfer me to the labor and delivery floor.  The doctor checked me and said I was complete (10 cm)!  I was totally shocked.  I had been asking for an epidural because I was VERY uncomfortable and thought this was just the beginning of my labor.  I had wanted an unmedicated birth because I had such a good experience with that when Miles was born, but once I realized the baby could be coming so early I knew I would be VERY stressed during the labor and would probably need help to relax.  When the doctor told me I could push on the next contraction, I realized I definitely didn't need an epidural, let alone have time for one!  I was once again shocked how fast everything was happening and asked the doctor if he was sure the baby was coming now, which he answered in the affirmative.  I was in the labor and delivery room for about 20 minutes before he was born.  The nurse literally barely had time to get my pants off!  It was around a two hour labor.

Calvin Kent Halsey

4 lbs. 8.8 oz

17 3/4 in

Calvin was born crying vigorously (a good sign because he was breathing great) and Byron said the nurses in the NICU commented that he was doing so well, he didn't know he was early.  He's never needed any help breathing and hasn't had any real setbacks so far (keep your fingers crossed!).  The little cast-like thing you see in this picture is just a stabilizing thing for the IV he had for the first few days after he was born (no IV anymore!).

He was actually a really good size for a 32 weeker.  The doctor said he was on the same 9 pound curve as Miles : )   Surprisingly, his footprints aren't even that much smaller than Lila's as a baby (taken when she was a few weeks old--on the right).

We used to call Lila "pirate eye" as a baby because she would always open just one eye.  Here we have Pirate Eye Jr.:

As you can probably tell by his skin color in the pictures above, he had a little jaundice, so he had to go in the baby tanning bed for a couple of days.  Pretty much all preemies get jaundice, as do many full-term babies.

I just love baby smiles!  He was only a couple of days old in this picture.

First time back together as a family!  My mom watched the kids for a whole week after I went on bedrest and Cal was born (and she's actually watching them again right now--she's a life saver!).

It was SO good to see them again!

Cal's middle name Kent is my dad's name.

Like father, like son.

The only thing keeping him from coming home at this point is that he needs to eat a certain amount of milk every 3 hours to get as many calories as he's supposed to.  Preemies don't have a ton of energy so they tucker out quickly and would rather sleep than eat, so whatever he doesn't eat at each feeding they put down this little tube straight to his stomach.  He didn't even cry when they put they put the tube in--what a champ!

More baby smiles : )

Lila can't wait for him to come home.  She never wants to leave when she visits but keeps getting upset that he won't open his eyes or wake up : )

Super Grandma who's been watching Lila and Miles forever!!!

Today Cal finished his full 40 mL bottle by mouth for the first time.  Go Cal!!!!  Just look at how tuckered out he is after that marathon bottle.

This has definitely been the biggest trial of my life just because it's so hard to have your little baby away from you for so long and to have your family separated, but we are SO grateful Cal is doing so well and hasn't had any real problems so far.  We know the Lord was watching out for us by helping Cal hold off until the steroid shots took effect (we've been told that makes a huge difference for babies his age) and helping him make such huge progress in under two weeks.  He's already over 5 lbs--that's more than 1/2 a pound gained!  We don't have an exact timeline for when he'll be coming home, but we're praying it will be very soon.

We LOVE our new little guy and can't wait for us all to be together.

P.S.--I really REALLY REALLY hate pumping!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!