Labor was really fast and intense! I had no signs of labor on Wednesday, went to bed as normal, and awoke with a start when my water broke at 1:04 am. I hopped into a quick shower while Brant rounded up our bags, and by the time we got to the hospital at 2 am, contractions were about 1 min apart and very painful. I immediately asked for the epidural, but the nurse checked me and said I was already completely dilated so not eligible for an epi. I got one dose of IV pain meds, which worked not at all, but we had to make it work! On the next contraction, I was pushing. I pushed for 2.5 hours, and then he was born! Total labor time was about 4.5 hours. It was a truly amazing experience...completely surreal. When they placed him on my chest, a nurse came in, opened the blinds in the birth room, and said, "it's a beautiful sunrise!" there we were with our minutes-old baby, watching the single most beautiful sunrise I've ever seen in my entire life.
The first day was so wonderful - he latched on pretty well, and we just cuddled and loved on him all day. Then it got complicated. They discovered that I was indeed positive for a common bacteria called Strep B. It would have been treated simply with antibiotics in my IV during labor, but it takes four hours to be effective, and my labor had been so short there was no time for the antibiotic. They tested Grayson's blood, and it showed that he was fighting an infection of some sort by the fact that his white blood cell count was elevated and continued to elevate over a 12-hour period. If he had contracted the Strep B from me, then it could turn into a very serious illness, so they decided to take preventative measures to head off any problems. He was immediately taken (around midnight) to NICU at a neighboring hospital, as the one I delivered in didn't have a NICU, and they started IV antibiotics. We had to be separated that night, which was very hard for me but necessary for his health. I was discharged the next morning to go be with him. We spent the day in NICU, and determined that he was healthy aside from the need for antibiotics, so because I'm breast feeding, they gave us a family room in pediatrics for Brant and me to sleep and care for him here at the hospital. They discontinued his IV fluids and antibiotics Sunday morning, and we were going to be discharged, but then they discovered he has high levels of bilirubin, meaning he's jaundice, so we were kept one more night doing a UV bed treatment. They tested his blood this morning, and his levels haven't come down enough to go home just yet, but they'll test again this afternoon. We're hopeful the light bed works enough to get us home tonight, but it may still be tomorrow. He's a trouper, and I'll be glad to get him home where he won't have any wires hooked up, and he can sleep in peace without being tested and poked. It's so incredibly hard to see all of this happening to my tiny perfect son, but I know he's getting great care and will be just fine very soon.
On a happier note, Grayson looks a whole lot like his daddy! Brant is the sweetest daddy - completely involved in the whole eating, burping, diapering process, and helping me get sleep when I can. He adores his boy, and his gentleness and doting love is the most amazing thing...my two men are magnificent! I'm a very lucky lady. My heart is full and completely content.
More photos to come...
