Hospital Drama - Bringing Home the Baby.

Khloë Isabell Clemens

As many of you know, I am now officially a mom. Crazy stuff.. We were so excited for Tuesday the 19th to roll around because we were scheduled to be induced at 7:30 am. For an induction you have to call the hospital an hour before your arrival to verify that they have a room for you. Unfortunately for us.. everybody decided to have their babies that morning haha. So we were told to call back at 8:00 which turned into 9:00. We were already frustrated at this point and hoped we would be admitted before noon. Finally they had a room for us and we began the induction around 12:30-ish. After ten hours of labor we popped little miss Khloë out in 23 minutes (the fastest birth for a first time mom my doctor has ever seen). You go Khloë-bug. :]

Spencer watched the entire birth, which is gross to me but he said it was pretty cool. He also got to cut the umbilical cord! Our little girl was born at 12:25 am on 4-20-2011, weighed 6 lbs and 12 oz, was 19.69"  long. We really didn't want to have her the 20th seeing as it's national pot day, but we were so happy to finally have her it didn't end up being that big of a deal. 

She was such an easy birth I didn't end up tearing. I had a small cut and I thank her for being such an easy delivery. The worst part of delivery happens after the baby is OUT. They have to press your stomach really hard to get all the blood clots out. I had an epidural and this seriously almost made me cry. 

The first night was amazing. She slept in our room next to my bed and I couldn't keep my eyes off of her. I'm sure I got about 6 hours of sleep during our 3 day hospital visit. The next morning they had to take her to the nursery because her body temperature was low and her glucose wasn't high enough. We could go in and visit her any time we wanted and I was in there every three hours to feed her. It didn't really hit me until that night when she wasn't in our room..

I kept hearing babies crying and I was so sure that it was Khloë. I was already a wreck from lack of sleep and just started bawling my eyes out because our baby wasn't doing so hot. I went into the nursery and she had been coughing up blood, had an IV in her tiny hand AND a feeding tube. I lost it. I think every nurse back there gave me a hug and told me everything was going to be alright, but when you see your baby like that it's the end of the world.

What ended up helping me was my sister-in-law Natalie. She told me her son had the same problem when he was born, he was an early baby as well. I look at Mac and he is healthy, happy and amazing. The pediatrician in the nursery knew I was freaking out and was doing everything possible to get her healthy so she could be back in our room. I'm sure everybody in the nursery was thinking they should raise my medication doses hahaha. 

The next night I went in around 1:00 am and she was under a light. Her belly ribbon levels were borderline Jaundice and they were just being careful. Luckily, I kept it together this time haha. 

Family helped out so much while we were in the hospital and even now, after we are home. Khloë is a healthy baby. :] I know that she needed all the hospital attention and I am so glad she got it and is doing great now. She is the cutest little thing and honestly, an amazing baby. I love her so much and I love my husband so much. Thank you for getting up with her in the night to let me sleep. I am such a lucky girl, in more ways than one.

I'd also like to say Happy late Birthday to our nephew Luca, who was a stillborn on 4-22-10. We love and miss you. You're always in our thoughts and prayers. We can't wait to meet you someday.. <3

Where do cows go when they want a night out? To the moo-vies! Bahahaha!

I have never been one to keep a steady journal. I have about six unfinished journals dating as far back as the year 2000. Impressive? I don't think so, Pathetic? Indeed. I figure with an online journal I can write about once a week and still feel pretty dang good about myself. But now.. what to write about? It's not a question of having something to write ABOUT necessarily, but something that is internet appropriate, friend appropriate, and family appropriate. 

As many of you know I am happily pregers. We are 36 weeks today and will possibly be induced at the end of the week, if not then the beginning of next week. (We set the date tomorrow) Now that is something to blog about. We started out with an extremely easy pregnancy. I had morning sickness twice, I was rarely nauseous, I was working and I was healthy. But then badda-boom badda-bing, blood pressure issues. To all the mothers out there who have had preeclampsia, I feel you. To those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about (I didn't until we were high risk for it haha) Here is the short version.

pre·e·clamp·si·a/ˌprē-iˈklampsēə/

Noun: A condition in pregnancy characterized by high blood pressure, sometimes with fluid retention and proteinuria.

Pretty much, when you have high blood pressure your blood vessels constrict. I know many of you are thinking "Duh, Britt. I wasn't born yesterday." But the problem is, our placenta is primarily made up of blood vessels. So if that constricts.. it's bad for baby. Very bad. It causes the placenta to separate from the uterus. Gross, I know. Untreated preeclampsia can progress to eclampsia, a life-threatening situation for both mother and fetus which can bring on a coma and seizures. My friend had her son at 32 weeks because of preeclampsia. We have been lucky to have held out for so long but our doctor doesn't want to push it, hence the induction. 

I am so grateful to all our supportive friends and family. We can't wait to bring our little Khloë Isabell Clemens into the world. I know the bed rest will have paid off in a couple of days. Thanks to my amazing husband who has the patience of a saint. I'm sorry for the mood swings, the endless crying and the keeping you up all night. You are truly amazing and I am extremely lucky.

*Just a little FYI, to get the "ë" on her name you just have to hold the alt key and on the numeric pad push 137. There, you can say you learned something new today. :] I hope you all have a fan-freaking-tastic day and weren't too bored with my preeclampsia lecture!

Keep your head up mamma cow, it's almost over.