Jonah's First Day

I suppose most babies by now are enjoying the warm embrace of their parents, wrapped up tight in blankets, and content with being passed around friends and family members.  But Jonah gets the special treatment and has the best cardiologists, neonatologists, surgeons and nurses working around the clock to keep him healthy.  

Stacie was moved from labor & delivery to a postpartum recovery room just down the hall (and still close to NICU).  The room is a little smaller and I get a poor man's lazy boy to sleep in, but at least there is a shower.  Her fainting spell took quite a toll, but Stacie is feeling better and is much more alert than before.   Around 8:30pm, Mr. Schwab and I drove down the street to get burgers and Italian beef sandwiches from Portillo's.   Stacie originally requested McDonalds, but the least we could do was raise it up a notch after the day she had.  Wolfing down a good burger definitely brought her back to life.

Before dinner, I did take Mr. and Mrs. Schwab over to the NICU to visit Jonah.  There are rules.  1)  Must scrub arms for 2 minutes from fingers to elbows.  There is even a finger nail pick.  2)  Gown must be worn.  3) Only 2 visitors at a time and 1 of those must be a parent.  4) All cell phones must be turned off.

Mr. Schwab and I went first.  The nurse taking care of Jonah immediately overwhelmed me with medical jargon.  That's all right, I told her she would have to repeat all this to my wife the RN.  I could see Jonah intubated and other various tubes and cords running all over his body.  He's hooked up to a good handful of computers, all displaying different graphs, lines, numbers, beeps and blinkies on the monitors.  Other than that, he looks really good.  He looks bigger than 6lbs 11oz, he has blond hair, and he already needs his nails trimmed!
The nurse explained that he would be getting an echo cardiogram tonight and that the cardiologist could discuss the results asap.  Well, the cardiologist fellow just stopped by our room and spent a good 30 minutes talking with us.  The first impression of Jason was awesome (just like everyone else we've met here).  Although he basically confirmed much of the same diagnosis that was discovered inutero, he was very optimistic of Jonah's overall condition.  Jonah's sats (i.e. oxygen saturations in the blood) we're high, which means he has too much blood circulating through his lungs and not enough circulating throughout the rest of his body.  By intubating him, they can better control this.  He's on Prostaglandin to keep the PDA hole open.  He's on Fentanyl and Versed to keep him sedated and comfortable.  Also, we had to sign our first consent form for an invasive procedure.  They were hoping to use the umbilical artery to draw blood, however the artery clamped down before they could insert the catheter (which is normal).  So as an alternative, they will do what's called a femoral line in his groin tonight.

So Jonah's first few hours in this life have been unique to say the least.  Thank God we can sleep tonight knowing he's a fighter and he's in the best of hands.  Tomorrow, our goal is to get Stacie into a wheelchair and wheel her over to visit Jonah in the NICU.  I will also work on getting pictures posted, but I forgot the digital camera's USB cable back home - guess we all have to settle with cell phone quality the next couple days.

He's Here!

Wow.  That was indescribable.  Stacie did awesome - I love her so much.  Things moved really quickly since the last post.  The epidural again started to wear off on the right side and she struggled with the pain - luckily they gave her a little boost, but she was completely dilated and around 3:30 she was ready to push.  At 4:31, Jonah entered this world vocal and full of color.  The room was filled with doctors, residents, nurses - seemed like organized chaos.  As they cleaned Jonah up behind the curtain, we just waited to hear more crying - and every now and then Jonah obliged.  Meanwhile, they continued to work on Stacie for another 45 minutes or so as she did tear.  Finally they brought out Jonah all wrapped up, and we got to hold him for a couple minutes.  He's 6 pounds, 11 ounces.  We snapped a couple photos before Jonah was rushed to the NICU.

It seemed like forever to stitch Stacie back up, but by the time they were done Stacie was so exhausted she passed out and gave us a little scare.  They hooked her up on some oxygen and told us her vitals were fine.  Color eventually came back to her face and she regained consciousness.  Now she's just resting.  They gave her some food, but she doesn't have enough energy yet to eat.

It was an awesome day - and so far so good - it couldn't have gone any better.  Thanks again for all your thoughts, prayers and support.  We love you all!

Hopefully we'll get some updates on how Jonah's doing soon.

8cm!

Last exam showed some good progress.  8cm...next check in 2hrs unless she starts feeling like she has to push.  Had a brief pukey-pukey from the epidural and the contractions are still painful on the right side.  Other than that, she's hanging in there and in a good state of mind!

Baby Steps

Not a whole lot to update. The epidural seemed to only numb her left side. Her right side was getting more painful with each contraction. The anesthesiologist came back and tweaked it a bit. She's doing much better now. They also examined her again...5-6 cm...slowly progressing. Next exam will be around 2:30-3pm.

Brian and Allison (Stacie's brother and sister) just stopped by to give us some company. We're starting to get a little stir crazy. Maybe a coffee and some fresh air is in order.

Epidural In, Water Out

Epidural is in.  They kicked me out of the room, but Stacie said it went very smoothly.  They also broke her water.  She is comfortable -  the epidural has taken the weight off and will also allieve her chronic calf /leg cramps.  They are not increasing the Pitocin since they are content with the contractions.  She is still 4-5cm dilated.  Overall, they're happy with how things are progressing and are saying she is in a good place.  

We got the iPod playing in the room and just enjoying the calm before the storm. 

Morning

We actually got a few hours of sleep last night.  The Pitocin was working quickly, so they decided to slow it down because they wanted the full pediatric cardiology team on hand.  I guess some were on call overnight, but it's better to wait until everyone shows up at the office.  Otherwise, I think Dr. Davis would have been right on with his ETA.

Now we're waiting for the doctors to come in and tell us their game plan for the day.  Stacie is feeling the contractions now....I would say every 2-3 minutes.  She is 4cm dilated.  They'll probably increase the Pitocin and then the epidural will follow shortly.

Will post once we know more.

We're Here

Got the call around 7ish that we could come into the hospital between 9 and 10pm.  We showed up fashionably late, in classic Schwab fashion, at 10:20pm.  Luckily they were still cleaning and getting our room ready, so we didn't get into any trouble.

First, the nurse and resident checked Stacie's cervix, and, to our surprise, she is 2-3 centimeters dilated and 70% effaced.  This means she does NOT need the medication to help "open the door", instead Stacie is ready for the Pitocine (the hormone that induces labor).  In fact, she is already getting the Pitocine as I write this.  The dose starts low and they increase every 15-30 minutes until the contractions are 2-3 minutes a part and intensify. 

They are telling her she can get the epidural at any point now, but I think we are waiting until the Pitocine kicks in and she starts to feel moderate pain.  From a timing perspective, we feel like we just skipped a good 12 hrs as we were not planning on the induction process starting until tomorrow mid-late morning.  Instead of starting the induction process Friday morning, we could be in the middle of delivery.  The nurse says Pitocine effects everyone differently, making it unpredictable when labor will really start, but Dr. Davis predicts we could be in labor by 8-9am. 

The room is nice, it seems spacious and I have got a nice couch/cot thing that has some sheets and is actually quite comfy.  However, I don't think we will be sleeping much tonight (it's already 1:46am) since we have the nurse checking in every 15-20 minutes. 

I will try to keep the updates flowing, but the internet has been a little tricky here, so no promises. 

Rob