28 Weeks and Impatient

So most of you know by now that we had our beautiful baby boy, Braxton McKay Rucker, on March 7th, 2010 at 1:59 PM. He weighed 3 lbs 3 oz and was 16 1/4 in long! He was born 1 day shy of 11 weeks early. Here's the story of what happened that day....

I woke up at 7:30 AM with some pressure and cramping in my lower abdomen. I didn't really think anything of it at first. I thought maybe he was in a weird position or maybe I ate something weird or perhaps it was just Braxton Hicks contractions (hmmm.. how fitting!) I decided to not wake Jesse and go downstairs since it hurt to much to lay down. After about 30 min, I realized man, these things are just not getting better and the more often I looked at the clock, the more I realized that they just seemed to be happenening every 5 min ON THE DOT! I, of course, just still didn't think anything of it. I mean, I was only 28 weeks, thats way to early for serious contractions, right? (WRONG!) By 9:30 Jesse had come downstairs and asked me why I was awake so early. I told him I had been having pains every 5 minutes but I was going to wait until my mom got out of church at 11:00 to ask her opinion. Jesse kept telling me I should call the doctor or just go to the hospital but I didn't want to be one of those annoying patients since I had just had to call him the month before when I went to the hospital the last time. I started getting ready for church... that was interesting I could barely stand everytime I had a contraction but I was determined to do my hair and shave my legs. 11:30 rolled around and I finally called my mom. I told her I was having what I thought were contractions 5 minutes apart for the past 4 hrs. Her words were to call my dr. I did. Dr. Mikel told me to go to ob/triage. I considered packing a bag incase I was in labor, but nah, most likely they were just gonna send me home, right?

Jesse and I left for the hospital and told my parents we would call them once we knew what was going on. ALL of my family was going to be in a baby blessing that started at 12:00PM. So we arrived at the hospital 10 min later. They began hooking me up to monitors and getting my health history and the nurse said she was going to check me to see if I was dialating, etc. She did and said man, the baby is really really low, then she said and you are dialated to a 5 or 6. I looked at her and said are you kidding me? She wasn't. I looked straight at Jesse and began crying..out of fear, happiness, shock, etc... I told him to call my parents. I think he tried every single extended family member and NO ONE would answer cuz they were all in church. They hooked me up to meds to try to stop the contractions and called my doctor, who just happened to be at the hospital already. He came to check on me not 5 min later and I was already dialated to an 8-9. Now I really started freaking out. I mean I was totally not ready for this. I wasn't due for another 12 WEEKS! I was so scared. Jesse was scared. He got a hold of my parents who rushed down to see us. He then called all his family etc. Everything was happening so quickly... hooking me up to things, giving me medicines, asking me if I had questions. Umm hello, I was in so much shock I couldn't even think of any questions. Everything was a question.

They wanted to transfer me to Banner Desert to deliver because they deal with high risk pregnancies and preemie babies. But they didn't have time. There just happened to be one of the states best neo-natal specialists with his team at the hospital seeing someone.(how cool is that, its like everything was happening for a reason) He came down to talk to me and they were there the whole time to be ready to take care of Braxton. I started panicking... I had been having horrible contractions but now the thought of actual labor pains, all I wanted was an epideral and I thought it was too late to have one. I wasn't even going to ask. Luckily Jesse did. They wheeled me to the delivery room, rolled me on my side and started giving me an epideral. I serioulsy thought Jesse would have passed out since he hates needles. But he did great and held my hand. By the time they rolled me back over and got me settled it was time to start pushing. I had no clue what I was doing... I didn't even have time to sign up for childbirth classes. But Dr. Mikel and Jesse helped coach me through it. In between pushes, we talked about Keeping Up With the Kardashians and other random stuff. Kinda random,but it kept me calm. I probably pushed for only 10-15 minutes and only tried to give up twice (Jesse wouldn't let me) and then he was here! Seriously, did I really just give birth to a little boy. It all felt like a dream and I was going to wake up any minute. But this was REAL!

Tears of happiness and fear swept over Jesse and me. The neo-natal team began working on Braxton. They were trying to get a tube down his throat to help him breathe just in case. I heard him make a couple noises which made me feel somewhat better. They actually let me hold Braxton for a minute. (I guess normally they don't let you cuz the rush them back to the NICU unit)I was so happy, scared, excited, worried and most of all in COMPLETE SHOCK! To sum it up, contractions weren't horrible, labor wasn't bad, and I basically feel completely fine. A little sore and tired, but I can't really complain. I am just glad to be home with my husband and know that my baby is in the best place he can be right now.

Braxton was transfered to Banner Desert Sam last night by air vac, where he will stay for the next 8 weeks or so. They say everything looks good. His vitals are good and he was actually a better weight and length for his age. He has a tube to help him breathe (even though he is breathing on his own, its just to make things easier for him) They also are giving him fluids and he will soon start taking milk, slowly. He was a little swollen because he wasn't urinating but I guess that changed tonight. The nurses say he keeps peeing through his diapers and they have to keep changing the sheets. That little stinker! But its a good thing. He also ripped his breathing tube out... but the good thing he was breathing on his own and it means he's trying to fight it. Its so hard being away from him. All I do is cry when I am there because I can't hold him yet and its so hard seeing him all covered in wires with iv's and in an incubator. But its for his own good. I know he is in great hands. We just keep praying that he will get healthy and strong quickly so that he can come home to us... even though we are completely unprepared and have NOTHING! At least we have all the time he is in the hospital to get his room decked out and get him all the gear he needs! We love Braxton so much and can't wait to bring him home. We want to thank everyone who has visited us, called us and prayed for us. It means the world. We love you all and can't wait for you all to meet our Baby Braxton.