The Felixtionary: December 2011

This blog is a long time in coming because I have yet to master a good time schedule with two little ones.

Zackurie Brent Felix was born on November 22, 2011. He was a whole pound smaller than his older sister, weighing in at 8 lbs. 3 oz. The two share the same length of 21 in.

Zane and I made he decision to be induced on Monday (21st) because I could barely walk and was in so much pain. So at my regular appointment that day, we decided o forgo the tripping of my membranes and scheduled the elective induction for 7:00 a.m. the following morning. November 22 was a cold and wet morning. Zane allowed me to drive because it wold be he last time in quite a while. To get to the freeway we had to pass over two bridges. ON the second one, which curves slightly, I felt the back tires sliding onwards the roadside barriers and suddenly I lost control as we hit more black ice. The car swung completely around and we stopped pointed correctly in the homeward lane. Thankfully no one else was on the road at the moment. Terrified that we might hit some more black ice we traveled onward slowly.

We reached the Orem Community Hospital without a further problem.

I was quickly admitted, introduced to my nurse (Allie - who was celebrating her own birthday), and hooked up to the pit drip. We waited patiently for the anaesthesiologist to come give me an epidural. He arrived... and I was quite surprised how painful it was for him to give me the drugs. Eventually it was in and I was beginning to feel it. I was loopy and happy for a while; then I was loopy and tired.

Getting all set up and ready to go!

Noon came and went (which one midwife said was "the" time) and although I was sleepy I was getting upset. My cervix wasn't dialating... By around 3:30 pm I realized I was feeling a lot more pain through my contractions. So I pushed my "extra boost" button. After a moment I realized my feet were tingling. That's what happens when the epidural is first put in. I was feeling all sorts of pain as the medicine slowly started to crawl up my legs. After 20 minutes, I pushed my button again. Shortly after I did I realized my pain was coming from a need to push, and I was trying not to. Although I was still not completely numb, I had Zane go get a nurse for me. He returned with my midwife, who had been monitoring my progress. She said I was almost dilated fully and allowed me to push if I wanted. Suddenly my doctor was frantically putting her gloves on and 3 mn. of serious pushing later, Zack was here! He was born at 4:45 pm.

As a side note: my water was never broken and unaccounted for.

The breathing expert took Zack shortly after he was born and began inspecting him. I could tell something was up because they were taking quite a while. That's when they explained Zack was grunting, which means his lungs aren't open fully and would require some time on a pressurized air mask. So, I probably held him for a total of five minutes before he was whisked away to the nursery. Zane went with, and I didn't get to see either of them until around seven o'clock when I was wheeled into the nursery.

Zack on the air mask...

Our little man!

Taking a peek at the world!

We had our first visitors that night, and we were able to get our first family photos!

Adella inspects the new addition.

Our first family picture!

Zack didn't get to have his first bath until 24 hours after his time on the air mask because the doctors wanted to make sure his lungs were fully open and ready for the crying. Zane spent the second night at home with Adella, so I went with and watched Zack get his first bath.

Cleaning up his hair!

The first bath!

Look at how light his hair color is when it is just washed!

Sadly, Zack had low blood sugar levels which meant we couldn't leave until Thanksgiving Day. Then for the first few days after arriving home, we had to go have Zack's jaundice levels checked. Luckily, after a few days, Zack's billy-Rubin levels decreased and we were good to go.