My sweet baby boy!

It happened! Noah Daniel Baily was born May 4th, at 4:51pm. He was 5lbs 2oz 19 inches long. 4 weeks early.

This was the first picture taken of Noah, and the first time I got to see him. It's funny to look back at this picture and see how swollen he was! So Thursday the 3rd I went into the doctors for a routine appointment. In the past they were worried about my blood pressure, but the Monday before it was 132/80. Pretty darn good for what it was. So I was expecting about the same. I thought going into the appointment that I would be in and out like the last 2 weeks had been. They were really busy that day so it took an hour before I got to see the Nurse. She was surprised they hadn't checked my urine for proteins, got my blood pressure or weigh me yet. So she said we'd do that real quick so I could get out of there. The first sign was that when they check my pee they dip the strip in, and then dump it and toss it out. This time she dipped it, checked it, and then took it out of the room with out a word to me. I was tired at this point so I didn't even think about it. Then she came in weighed me, and then checked my blood pressure. 168/111 WAY too high. Not a good thing. She had a nurse take some blood and then said that she'd be right back, told me to kind of rest and she'd be back to check it again. I could hear her outside the door talking to another nurse, she was asking the other nurse to try to get Dr. Allred on the phone. She came back in and checked my blood pressure again. Still not down. By this point I knew they were going to put me back in the hospital. Needless to say I was not very happy. The nurse went out again to talk to Dr. Allred on the phone. I could hear her say that my blood results came out ok, but I was spilling protein in my urine and my blood pressure was way too high. And then she said "I agree, I will send her up there right now." GREAT! They are sending me up to the hospital! Well, even though I was supposed to go right up there I came home and got Daniel from school. I also grabbed a few things like my body pillow and etc. Luckly last time my mom was here she helped me pack my hospital bag so that was already in the trunk of the car. Then we got lunch real quick, and it was off to the hospital. Daniel stayed with me till he had to go to work and then came back after. When I first got there they told me there was a possibility that I wouldn't even have to stay the night... Ha! That didn't happen. My BP didn't get and better so I did stay. The next morning Dr. Allred came in to talk to me. His exact words were "Ok so you have sever preeclampsia. As of right now it's not effecting baby, but it will soon. So would you like me to break your water and we try a vaginal birth or schedule a C-section?" I think he assumed the nurse had told me that I was going to deliver today. At that point I was still thinking I would be going home! Thank goodness that night before Daniel and I had discussed what we would do if they wanted to deliver him early. We decided that if the Dr. thought I could go a vaginal birth and he was confident it would be ok we'd do it, and if not we were ok with a C-section. Well, Dr. Allred was worried about my preeclampsia turning into eclampsia which causes seizures. He checked me and said that I wasn't dialated at all and he thought it would be better and safer to do a C-section. So we agreed and he scheduled it for that afternoon (because he came in right after I ate breakfast and you can't have food in your stomach for that) at 4. When they brought me into the OR I was terrified. I was scared and all I wanted to do was cry. I didn't, but my whole body was shaking really bad. All the people in there were so sweet to me. One of the nurses brough me a couple of flannel blankets that felt like they were just pulled from the dryer. And another nurse hugged me while they gave me my spinal block. When they laid me down I was just starting to get numb. They hadn't put the screen up and they opened my legs (I swear) as wide as possible! They started cleaning off my belly and other area's, and the thought ran through my head at that moment "I don't want to do this anymore! Please let me go home!" I guess I got a little scared... haha At this point the medication they gave me made me nauseous and I started dry heaving... not fun when you are numb up to your chest and can't really control your heaves. The anesthesiologist was very nice to me holding a barf bowl up to my face and using one of those sucker things that they have at the dentist to get the droll coming out of my mouth. Since I hadn't eaten since early that morning there was nothing to come out. And they were able to give me some anti nausea medicine so right when I was feeling better Daniel was let into the room. He said when he got there I was already open! I had no idea (Thank Goodness!) It was so much better to have him there. He came right over, gave me a kiss and after he sat down he stoked my cheek to comfort me. I can honestly say I have never felt so comforted in my life. Litterly in a matter of 2 minutes of Daniel sitting down they were telling "Dad stand up if you want to see your baby born!" And he did just as they were pulling him out. All I remember after that is Noah started to cry and then he was out of the room. I tried to look back behind me to the door to the NICU where I knew they would be bringing him, but I couldn't see that far back. So I didn't get to see him. Daniel said that when they pulled him out he was blue and covered in nasty. My doctor told me later that the cord was wrapped around him twice so it was a real good thing we decided on a C-section first.

These were the first pictures taken of Noah. Daniel was allowed to follow him into the NICU when they were cleaning him off, weighing and measuring him and etc. When I later saw the pictures I just couldn't believe that he was my baby and I got to keep him! I just can't describe the feeling when you get to see your baby's face for the first time, after you have been dreaming about it, not only during your entire pregnancy, but for me since I was a little girl. He looked nothing liked I expected, but also it is so amazing to look at him and see features that are from Daniel and some from me. After then closed me up they put me in a recovery room where Daniel soon met me there. I was actually amazed by how fast my spinal block wore off. But again the medications that they gave me a nice side effect. My face got super itchy, they gave my benadryl to stop the itching, but it didn't work, so they had to give me another medication. I, without knowing, scratched the heck out of my face. The next day it stung really bad. They also had me on this medication called Magnesium Sulfate to prevent seizures and other things. This medication gave me the worst blurred/double vision and just made me feel terrible in general. Because i was on this medication they almost didn't let me go see Noah that night. But my Doctor, bless his heart, told the nurses to let go. Unfortunately I don't remember a whole lot about that visit. I do remember being so drugged I was having a really hard time feeling any sort of bond with him. (Don't worry it didn't take long after that night)

This is when I got to go see him on Saturday, Noah was 1 day old. I was feeling a bit better. The drugs I was on still made me have double vision, and I couldn't eat anything without throwing it up until later that evening. But it was so wonderful to be able to go down to the NICU and see and hold my baby. On Sunday evening they discharged Noah from the NICU and let him stay in my room! He was attached to a "Billi Blanket". He was a little Jaundice so he needed that special light to get his billirubin count down. He looked like a little glow worm!

The next day we got to go home!!! Noah was so small he didn't fit his cloths or car seat very well! So cute! Needless to say I was still in a lot of pain, but was so ready to be out of the hospital and be home!

Noah, now 2 1/2 weeks old, is slowly but surely getting bigger!