Our lil prince couldn't wait!

Well Parker Dean has arrived a little early!! Even though he was born early we are all doing great and have already come home.

Birth date: 8/31/10
Original Due Date: 10/3/10
Weeks Pregnant: 35 weeks and change
Weight: 7lbs 1oz
Height: There is some debate I didn't hear his height till later on. His crib card and a bunch of info sheets said 21" Well, on the video the nurse measuring him right after his birth said 19 3/4".

Birth Story:

Saturday 8/28
I hadn't been feeling very good starting the Saturday prior to his delivery. I felt like I was coming down with a cold. I was very exhausted, increased agitation, and I was having a big increase in pressure. I really didn't think much of it, I thought maybe I just did a little too much that day and should take the rest of the day easy. My cervix just had been checked by my OB and I was completely closed.

Sunday 8/29
My symptoms were getting worse and I began to have contractions closer together(5 minutes apart) and they were becoming stronger. I called the on call doc at my Ob's office and he told me to come into L&D to get checked. I asked if I could just increase my Nifedipine. He said to try that out and if it didn't work to come in.

Monday 8/30
Monday rolls around and my contractions had become better but the pressure in my pelvis was so bad walking was getting almost impossible. I decided to go to bed and sleep it off. By this point I knew something was off but I was just hoping that sleeping would help things. I also drank lots of water to ensure I wasn't dehydrated.

Tuesday 8/31
3:00am Tuesday morning rolls around and I awaken by contractions that were worse and closer together around 2 minutes apart. I felt at times they were right on top of each other. I wake up Nolan and we get Vanessa into the car and head to L&D. I knew something wasn't right but I thought they would just give me a shot to stop them like they did last time. Well as you know this didn't happen. I was given shots of terbutiline but instead of stopping the contractions they would slow them down but made them stronger with each dose. I went from closed to 2cm, then 3cm. Finally they tried to give me an oral dose and again I dilated to 4cm. I started to have some bleeding and some major pressure. At around 8:00am the nurse said, "OK, you're OB said you're having this baby today!" Honestly, I was shocked. We had a lot prepared at home but no bags, nothing with us. We waited for awhile as they prepared a room for us. About 9:00am they wheel us into a new room and said they will start the epidural immediately. I initially wanted an all natural birth but by this time I was so exhausted from the past few days, I gave in and said OK.

The epidural

The epidural was scary! About 45 minutes after they put in the epidural I get extremely nauseous, dizzy, the room is spinning, and I'm about to pass out. Parker's heartbeat drops to 60bpm and apparently my blood pressure is crashing. The room is instantly filled with tons of Dr's and nurses. They gave me ephedrine to help raise my blood pressure. They are turning me all over, at this point you could have probably heard a pin drop, as they are waiting to see if Parker's heartbeat comes back up. What seems like forever, his heartbeat does go back to normal. I'm not joking when you hear "sighs" from everyone in the room. I was terrified, and I felt unbelievably horrible.

Breaking the bag of waters

Once I made it just past 5cm dilated the on call OB broke my bag of waters and from here everything went fast. Within another 30 minutes I was 7cm and a call goes out to my OB to let her know the baby is coming. She gets stuck in traffic but is close.

Ready to push & no OB!

All of a sudden we hear this beeping sound and it's the epidural machine saying that it's empty. This happens about 4:15pm. The nurse leaves to get more of the medicine but returns and I tell her that I'm feeling so much pressure it's painful. I keep dilating about 1cm every 15 minutes and by 4:40 I'm ready to push but my OB is not here and the on call OB is delivering next door. I was told to not push and I use every ounce of remaining energy to hold back pushing. I have to hold through two huge contractions and it was horrible. Finally my OB runs in and says no more holding back, I push through 3 contractions and Parker is here. He was born at 4:54pm.



NICU

Since Parker was a late Preemie we had extra staff in the room. Lot's of different people from the NICU waiting to see if he is breathing good, alert & moving. They tell me that there is a 50/50 chance at this gestational age that he will have to spend time in the NICU. Well Parker was having none of that, he comes out kicking and screaming. The NICU checks him out and says he is breathing perfectly and that he will not need the NICU. His apgar is 8/9. He was a little blue in the extremedies which is why he was given that score.

Birth Photos