4.23.2010
Garytt's First Bath
Garytt did not enjoy his first bath too much, but he is nice and clean now! He is sleeping better at night, which is very exciting, and mom has been working on a few "lessons" during the day(working on his vision/tracking and playing with his little baby alligator). Garytt had a big day today when he visited Justin's work (the Office of Student Financial Aid at the University of Kansas). Everyone seemed to enjoy his company and it was nice that Garytt did not get fussy the whole time. We are now preparing for more busy weeks to come as we will have a baptism, family visitors, and so much more!
4.13.2010
4.03.2010
Our Little Glow Worm
Two days after Garytt was born, Jennifer was discharged from the hospital. However, the doctors wanted Garytt to stay at least another day to observe him since he was considered premature and was not yet 48 hours old. After checking his bilirubin levels (jaundice) on Sunday (March 28th), Garytt was released from the hospital with lab orders to check the bilirubin levels again the next morning. So, we loaded up, strapped him in the car seat, and headed home.
After the first long night, we headed back up to the hospital lab to get Garytt's bilirubin checked again. As soon as we got home, we received a phone call from the doctor that his bilirubin had dramatically increased overnight and she wanted him admitted to the NICU for phototherapy treatment. At first, the doctors were telling us he would need to be treated for 3-4 days. That's not really something new parents want to hear, but we wanted him to get better. Luckily, the hospital allowed us to board in the maternity ward, so we didn't have to be too far from our new baby. After learning that this treatment was fairly common for premature babies, we were able to find a little lighthearted humor in Garytt's new cool shades.
Garytt responded very well to the treatment and was actually discharged for the second time after only being in for a day. The orders upon discharge were for him to remain on phototherapy on a smaller home "bilibed." This proved to be a bit of a challenge as Garytt did not like to sleep much on the bilibed. However, we did get a few shots of our little glow worm.
After re-checking his bilirubin levels the next day, we were happy to learn the home treatment was no longer necessary.
After the first long night, we headed back up to the hospital lab to get Garytt's bilirubin checked again. As soon as we got home, we received a phone call from the doctor that his bilirubin had dramatically increased overnight and she wanted him admitted to the NICU for phototherapy treatment. At first, the doctors were telling us he would need to be treated for 3-4 days. That's not really something new parents want to hear, but we wanted him to get better. Luckily, the hospital allowed us to board in the maternity ward, so we didn't have to be too far from our new baby. After learning that this treatment was fairly common for premature babies, we were able to find a little lighthearted humor in Garytt's new cool shades.
Garytt responded very well to the treatment and was actually discharged for the second time after only being in for a day. The orders upon discharge were for him to remain on phototherapy on a smaller home "bilibed." This proved to be a bit of a challenge as Garytt did not like to sleep much on the bilibed. However, we did get a few shots of our little glow worm.
After re-checking his bilirubin levels the next day, we were happy to learn the home treatment was no longer necessary.
4.02.2010
Labor & Delivery
So, the past few days have been quite busy. It's hard to believe our little Garytt is already a week old! Anyway, we thought we would play a little catch-up and give you an idea of what the last week has entailed, starting with labor and delivery.
Thursday, March 25th
4:15pm - Jennifer's water breaks on her way home from work. She calls me at that time and says, "I think my water broke, but you don't have to leave work yet." Yea right. Well, I grab my stuff and interrupt the boss on my way out of the office to tell her we might be having a baby. Little did I know how quickly the next few hours would fly by!
4:45pm - Jennifer gets home first and is more certain that her water broke. She calls the doctor and they tell her to come into the hospital, but there's no big rush. Jennifer tells them we would be there within the hour. We started packing all of our stuff up (luckily, we had just packed most of our hospital bag two days prior thanks to Jennifer insisting it be done that week). I thought we had a little more time for all this! Jennifer was concerned that the doctors wouldn't let her eat anything once she was admitted, so she grabbed some pop-tarts to eat in the car on the way to the hospital. It was actually a very calm drive, as Jennifer wasn't feeling any contractions yet.
6:00pm - We arrived at Saint Luke's Northland Hospital in Kansas City, MO and were taken to what we like to call the "holding tank," but they call the triage room. They confirmed that Jennifer's water broke. As they prepared a labor and delivery room for us, we began calling immediate family to notify them that we would definitely be having this baby within 24 hours. At the time, the nurses were convinced it would be more like 6:00 a.m. before Garytt would arrive.
6:30pm - Jennifer gets hooked up to all the necessary monitors as well as the dreaded IV. Jennifer has a healthy fear of needles, so she wasn't too excited about getting the IV. And it didn't help that on the first try, the nurse blew the vein (I think she might be recovering from that injury more than delivery!). Jennifer still hadn't felt any contractions, so the doctor said she would give her an hour or so and if labor had not progressed, they would have to augment. We weren't too excited about that since we've heard from people that augmenting/inducing labor can be more painful because the body's natural hormones haven't started taking effect yet.
7:30pm - Jennifer's labor was not progessing on it's own a Pitocin drip to augment the labor was started.
8:30pm - Just as the K-State game began, Jennifer started feeling some minor contractions. Jennifer's parents were able to be in the room with us at this point to watch the game and bring me dinner. (Poor Jennifer just had ice chips for the rest of the night.)
About 10pm - Just as the game was getting really exciting, the contractions were getting much stronger, although not in a regular pattern. The nurses still thought we had a long night ahead of us becuase the contractions were not following a pattern. Jennifer was experiencing "coupled contractions," where she would peak on a contraction and start to come down but then peak again before the first contraction was complete. When I would tell her she was coming down from a contraction, she would say I was lying because she could already feel another one coming.
About 10:45pm - Jennifer was starting to get "very uncomfortable" (this was the term she used to prevent herself from thinking it was too painful...but in fact she was in pain) and the nurses started suggesting an epidural, even though this was not in our birth plan. Jennifer really did not want an epidural (again with the needle phobia). However, she was finally uncomfortable enough that she asked for the epidural. Unfortunately, the anesthesiologist was finishing up another procedure, so it would be a few minutes before he would arrive.
About 11:25pm - Jennifer had a strong urge to push but the nurse didn't think it was possible based on the last check. The nurse checked her again and agreesd and left the room with instructions not to push. The labor nurse and a team of other nurses scrambled into the room to set up for the delivery. We were informed that it was too late for the epidural...Jennifer was going to do this without any pain meds.
About 11:30pm - The doctor finally arrived and also scrambled to get into position. It was time to push.
11:50pm - Garytt Kort Brown arrived!! Jennifer did such a great job of pushing that it only took 20 minutes to deliver our baby boy. Did I mention that Jennifer had no drugs...like none?! I was able to cut the umbilical cord and follow Garytt over to the warming bed to watch as the NICU nurse cleaned him up. He weighed 7lbs 6oz and was 19 3/4 inches long.
The rest of the evening and the following few days are a blur. We will try to catch up on the blog in the next few days in between feedings and naps.
Thursday, March 25th
4:15pm - Jennifer's water breaks on her way home from work. She calls me at that time and says, "I think my water broke, but you don't have to leave work yet." Yea right. Well, I grab my stuff and interrupt the boss on my way out of the office to tell her we might be having a baby. Little did I know how quickly the next few hours would fly by!
4:45pm - Jennifer gets home first and is more certain that her water broke. She calls the doctor and they tell her to come into the hospital, but there's no big rush. Jennifer tells them we would be there within the hour. We started packing all of our stuff up (luckily, we had just packed most of our hospital bag two days prior thanks to Jennifer insisting it be done that week). I thought we had a little more time for all this! Jennifer was concerned that the doctors wouldn't let her eat anything once she was admitted, so she grabbed some pop-tarts to eat in the car on the way to the hospital. It was actually a very calm drive, as Jennifer wasn't feeling any contractions yet.
6:00pm - We arrived at Saint Luke's Northland Hospital in Kansas City, MO and were taken to what we like to call the "holding tank," but they call the triage room. They confirmed that Jennifer's water broke. As they prepared a labor and delivery room for us, we began calling immediate family to notify them that we would definitely be having this baby within 24 hours. At the time, the nurses were convinced it would be more like 6:00 a.m. before Garytt would arrive.
6:30pm - Jennifer gets hooked up to all the necessary monitors as well as the dreaded IV. Jennifer has a healthy fear of needles, so she wasn't too excited about getting the IV. And it didn't help that on the first try, the nurse blew the vein (I think she might be recovering from that injury more than delivery!). Jennifer still hadn't felt any contractions, so the doctor said she would give her an hour or so and if labor had not progressed, they would have to augment. We weren't too excited about that since we've heard from people that augmenting/inducing labor can be more painful because the body's natural hormones haven't started taking effect yet.
7:30pm - Jennifer's labor was not progessing on it's own a Pitocin drip to augment the labor was started.
8:30pm - Just as the K-State game began, Jennifer started feeling some minor contractions. Jennifer's parents were able to be in the room with us at this point to watch the game and bring me dinner. (Poor Jennifer just had ice chips for the rest of the night.)
About 10pm - Just as the game was getting really exciting, the contractions were getting much stronger, although not in a regular pattern. The nurses still thought we had a long night ahead of us becuase the contractions were not following a pattern. Jennifer was experiencing "coupled contractions," where she would peak on a contraction and start to come down but then peak again before the first contraction was complete. When I would tell her she was coming down from a contraction, she would say I was lying because she could already feel another one coming.
About 10:45pm - Jennifer was starting to get "very uncomfortable" (this was the term she used to prevent herself from thinking it was too painful...but in fact she was in pain) and the nurses started suggesting an epidural, even though this was not in our birth plan. Jennifer really did not want an epidural (again with the needle phobia). However, she was finally uncomfortable enough that she asked for the epidural. Unfortunately, the anesthesiologist was finishing up another procedure, so it would be a few minutes before he would arrive.
About 11:25pm - Jennifer had a strong urge to push but the nurse didn't think it was possible based on the last check. The nurse checked her again and agreesd and left the room with instructions not to push. The labor nurse and a team of other nurses scrambled into the room to set up for the delivery. We were informed that it was too late for the epidural...Jennifer was going to do this without any pain meds.
About 11:30pm - The doctor finally arrived and also scrambled to get into position. It was time to push.
11:50pm - Garytt Kort Brown arrived!! Jennifer did such a great job of pushing that it only took 20 minutes to deliver our baby boy. Did I mention that Jennifer had no drugs...like none?! I was able to cut the umbilical cord and follow Garytt over to the warming bed to watch as the NICU nurse cleaned him up. He weighed 7lbs 6oz and was 19 3/4 inches long.
The rest of the evening and the following few days are a blur. We will try to catch up on the blog in the next few days in between feedings and naps.
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