1 Week Birthday

I can’t believe it has been one week since Braxton showed us his sweet little face. In some ways it seems so much longer than that because our lives have changed so much. The days are flying by and the nights drag on with little sleep. Braxton is so adorably sweet and good during the day—squirmy and hungry at night—and we love him so much! Feeding is getting easier and less traumatic for both of us as each day passes. He is getting cuter every day! Here are some of his 1 week old pictures that we took this morning:

For an update on me, I am still in a lot of pain from the C-section and am starting to get impatient with the length of the recovery period. Sometimes I try to increase the time between pain pills because I am feeling okay when the time to take one rolls around, but when I start feeling the pain come on, it is too late and I am sobbing by the time it takes effect. I am also frustrated because I still can’t pick my own baby up out of the crib, get myself dressed, or get up out of a chair without help. I am so grateful for how patient, understanding, and helpful Brian and my mom are with helping me. I really could not do this without them. Despite my physical pain, I love this new life. I love my baby and my new little family so much and having Braxton in our lives has brought me and Brian closer together.

Bringing Home the Baby

Yes, I watched plenty of TLC episodes of this show during the last few weeks, but it has not prepared me for the craziness of the last few days. It has been a rollercoaster of emotions to say the least. Some days are so great—Braxton is so sweet, eats a lot, and he lets us get lots of sleep. And some days it seems like EVERYTHING has to be difficult at the same time. Friday was a wonderful day. I was feeling so much better, Braxton let us sleep almost 7 hours between feedings, and he actually started sucking on his own (we had been using a syringe to feed him). However, Saturday he started to get jaundice and had to be put under the lights. Here is a picture of him with his little goggles that he took off literally every 10 minutes:

He was miserable and it seemed like my recovery pain was getting worse so very little sleep was had that day. We checked out of the hospital on Sunday and we had another really good day. Brian was excited to sleep in our own bed since this is what he has been sleeping on for the last few days:

Braxton loved being home and it was so nice to ‘do our own thing’ without nurses/doctors coming in every 10 minutes telling us what we were doing wrong and need to do better. His jaundice levels also dropped significantly and they told us they had changed their minds about bringing the light bed home. No more lights! We were all thrilled. Here are some pics from our departure and homecoming:

Tasia (our cat) wasn’t sure what to make of the new little, noisy mover. We took our first ‘family’ picture. It looks like Tasia is ready to attack, but she was just looking and it was actually really sweet—the camera didn’t capture the moment. She is curious and is SO happy that we are home. She didn’t like our parents taking care of her without us there. She also was very unhappy about being locked out of the ‘action’ during the night and whined at our door every time she heard us talking.

The first night at home was just like I pictured the first night to be—sleepless and miserable. We are exhausted today running on maybe 1 hour of broken up sleep and hoping for better nights ahead. I am getting around the house better than I thought I would and feel good today despite the exhaustion. Oh, and just for those who are comparing, here is the picture of me after coming home from the hospital in the same outfit—so much better!

Braxton’s Birth Story

We checked into Orem Community Hospital on April 21, 2009 at 9:15 pm. After getting set up, they placed the cervadil at 11 pm, which was not a gel like I thought it was. It is actually a little clear packet of medication on a string that is absorbed into the cervix to help thin and soften. We then settled in for what we thought would be a long night. It was not to be, however, and my water broke at 2 am.

I got my epidural at 4 am and the only problem up to this point was that the epidural only worked on my right side. They finally came and fixed the epidural by pulling it out a little at 8 am just in time for them to start the pitocin. I dilated very quickly and was at 10 cm by noon. The doctor was concerned because the baby’s heart rate dropped every time I contracted. At this time we talked about a cesarean, but after they stopped the pitocin, the baby’s heart rate leveled and the doc decided to let me push. Let me tell you, pushing was not bad and I could have gone a lot longer, but after an hour the baby’s heart rate started to deteriorate again. The doctor thought something may have been wrong with the positioning or a cord in the way, so he decided it was too risky to continue pushing and ordered an emergency cesarean. Here is a picture of Brian all suited up for the delivery:

Unfortunately, all the pictures of the surgery are on my dad’s camera--who has already gone back to Idaho. So, they will be posted later if they aren’t too gory. The cesarean ended up being an extremely difficult one with complications. Despite 5 years of working at a vet clinic, Brian says he has never seen two full grown men tugging at a body the way they were mine. I even heard one assistant say that it was the ‘coolest’ c-section she’d ever seen. Usually it takes only a few seconds after the cuts to remove the baby. However, it took several minutes of digging—literally up to their elbows inside me—to get this kid out. In the process they ended up ripping the inside cut on the uterus very close to some important arteries. It took over an hour to stitch and staple me up and they thought they may have nicked one of my ureters with a stitch. Ureters are tubes that connect the kidneys to the bladder. This led to some radiology tests this morning to see if they needed to do another surgery to fix a ureter. They actually wanted me to lie on my stomach on the table. If I could have laughed without sobbing in pain, I would have, and told them ‘absolutely not’. Although the tests were not very clear, it was decided that there was most likely not a blockage and only a small chance of a leak. So, to my relief, no additional surgery for now, but we’re keeping a close watch for any ‘strange pain or bleeding’ . . .kind of difficult to identify because of all the other strange pains and bleeding going on as this is my first delivery. Hopefully, all is well.

Despite all the complications, I am feeling a little better as every hour passes and our main concerns now are helping me move around a little and teaching the little guy how to breastfeed. After months of non-stress tests and concern over the baby’s health, in the end we have been blessed with a perfectly beautiful and healthy baby boy. We think he has Brian’s ears and my nose, and are amazed at the size of his hands. Here are the stats and some pictures:

Name: Braxton Eric Lulloff

Born: April 22, 2009 at 1:39 pm

Weight: 6 lbs. 9 oz.

Length: 19.5 inches

We are headed to the hospital.

Well, it is all about to start. We are heading to the hospital to get induced tonight. The plan is to start cervidil tonight and then potocin in the morning. So, hopefully we will have a little bouncing baby boy tomorrow. This is a picture of my three week progression. The pink ones were from the last two Mondays because we thought we were going to get induced. The purple is tonight, and there won't be a fourth.