Well it certainly has been a while since my last post! A lot has happened since December 5th when we were decorating our tree and only had one child! :)
My due date for Gavin was January 21st, but I had a c-section date sceduled for January 14th. Gavin, however, decided it was time to come out early and suprised us by coming about a month early! The day after Christmas, December 26th! We were quite suprised and "not ready" at home with the nursery and such, but so pleased to have him here earier than expected. I was thankful I didn't have to go through those most uncomfortable weeks right at the end of pregnancy! That was a bonus! :) Some of you may not have heard the story so I'll type it out just in case you'd like to hear it...
We had a wonderful Christmas morning here at home with Taden and enjoyed opening up presents with him. (Little did we know what the next day held for us!) Rather than rush through the opening of presents, we took our time and played with each toy for a bit before moving on to another present - it took 3 hours since we kept stopping to play, but was fun! After getting ready for the day, we loaded up in the car to head to my parents house. We had such a nice time visiting and being together and of course, eating a yummy meal & opening presents! Late afternoon I wasn't feeling the greatest so I went and laid down for a little while. I though it had to do with my gestational diabetes and my sugar level being "off" with the holiday eating I had been doing :) Looking back now, I think that's all it was, unless it did happen to be that my body was getting ready for going into labor??? We left mom and dad's house that night and by the next morning when I got up, I just wasn't feeling 100%. I had made plans to go "after-Christmas-shopping" for the good deals with my mom and Marci, so I got ready and proceded with my plans.
On a side note....we still hadn't finished Taden's room upstairs, let alone move him up there, and hadn't even begun Gavin's nursery downstairs where Taden was still sleeping. Scott had planned to work on it a lot over the Christmas break b/c he didn't have as many responsibilities with work, so it freed him up to have some time to devote to the rooms. So we thought!
I went shopping with the girls and dad watched Taden so Scott could do painting. When we got to the first store, I told mom in so many words that if I didn't start feeling better, maybe I was in labor!?!? We ended up going to a few stores (I wasn't ready to go home just yet - I had been looking forward to shopping!) :)But it got to the point where I needed to come home, so mom and Marci brought me home. I laid on the couch for an hour keeping track of what maybe(???) was contractions? I wasn't sure. After an hour of that I got off the couch and was convinced it wasn't really anything. There wasn't a certain pattern to the contractions, it was all over the place as far as how far apart they were and how long they were lasting. I just wasn't feeling good. But I didn't think I needed to go to the hospital. After a while I actually started spotting and that made me nervous and decided right away to go to the hospital. Still uncertain if I was in labor or not, I had decided to have them check my intestins out if it turned out that I WASN'T in labor, b/c something just "wasn't right".
When we got to the hospital it turned out I was dilated beteen a 1 and a 2. I was ready to go back home at that point b/c I had been dilated at a 2 for a while with Taden before I went into labor, but they wanted to keep me and see if things changed. And as you can guess, things DID change :) When they checked again, I was a full 2 and the doctor said they could go ahead an do the c-section. I wanted to wait a little longer to see if things progressed further since my experience with Taden was that I stayed at a 2 for a while. I didn't want to rush a c-section if it wasn't needed yet. Plus I think I needed some time to absorb what was going on! :)Who'd have thought that this was it! So they let us wait a little longer and then checked again and I was at a 3 so we decided to go ahead with the c-section. AT 8:39pm Gavin Blaze Davidson was born! The nurses in the Operating Room were taking bets on what Gavin would weigh - he arrived at 6lbs 13oz, 19 inches long They said if he had gone to full term he cold have been a 10 pounder! He was considered a preemie but a good size one for being almost a month early. Taden was 8.8 and I remember thinking he was so small, so to have a 6 pounder, really seemed tiny. Just a side note about his size... some of you mght know this about me, but I've always liked small, tiny, cute things and it just occurred to me this week how cool it is that God, who knows me inside out, gave me the pleasure of having a tiny baby, knowing that I like tiny little things. It's just awesome how God takes interest in even the little details of my life.
As I laid on the operating table watching to my left, the NICU nurses were taking care of Gavin, cleaning him up, etc. I will say it was a bit unsettling how long they were attentive to him and how quiet he was. (Taden came out screaming and Gavin came out and cried a little bit, but then was quiet) I remember asking a couple of times if Gavin was okay. I didn't realize the severity of what was about to take place and the nurses were calm and such so I didn't feel alarmed. At that point I don't think Gavin was doing too bad, they just decided to take him to the nursery for a little while to keep an eye on his sugar level. (They did this with Taden too so I didn't feel alarmed at them wanting to do the same with Gavin.) While the surgery was being finished on me, Scott went with Gavin and the nurses to the nursery.
When the doctors were finished with me, I was taken to recovery where my parents met up wth me. Scott was still with Gavin at that point, I thought, but he was actually experiencing a scary moment. After a little bit, Scott walked into recovery where we were and had a serious look on his face. I asked if Gavin was doing good and he said "No" and tarted tearing up as he told me what was going on. On the 5 minute walk from the O.R. to the nursery, Gavin had crashed and was grunting to breathe. His sugar level was un-detectible. He was barely breathing on his own so they put a "c-pap" on him as Scott watched and then rushed him to the NICU (Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit). Scott was left standing in the nursery, not knowing what had just happened. Talk about shock. You just don't expect that as a parent, those kinds of things happen to other people, ya know? A nurse saw him standing there and went over to him and explained what had just happened. Then Scott came to where I was in recovery and told me about it. After I was realeased from recovery (an hour and a half or so after surgery) they took us up to see Gavin. I asked the nurse what we could expect to see and she gave us some details. He was in an isolette (those see-through cribs with 2 holes in the side were you reach your hands in to touch the baby) and had an IV as well as tubes in his nose and a tube coming out of his mouth. I will say I think the Lord prepared me or something b/c I didn't lose it when I saw him. We had seen pictures of our close friends sweet baby when she was in the NICU 2 and a half years ago so I think that kind of prepared me for what we might see when we saw Gavin for the first time. We couldn't hold him at that point, but we could reach our arms in and touch him. We took in all that we could in those moments, holding his feet and hands, rubbng his cheek, telling him mommy and daddy were there with him, telling him we loved him, etc. The nurse said we could go get checked in to our room and then come right back if we wanted to. But if I wanted to come right back, I had to be able to get into a wheel chair (I was in the bed from recovery since the surgery had just taken place) So, we left, got checked in to a room and such and then got a nurse to come help me get out of bed for the first time and try getting into a wheel chair so we could go back up to Gavin. 5 hours after surgery, I was up there in a wheel chair. I didn't get out of bed that quick with Taden but I hadn't needed to b/c he was in the room with us. With Gavin, I was determined to get in that wheel chair no matter what, I was going to do it. We got up there and received WONDERFUL news. The nurse had gone on her break and when she came back, the c-pap was off of Gavin and he was breathing well on his own!!!! Either the c-pap (tubes in his nose) had fallen off or he had ripped it off ( a good sign when a baby fights it). Praise the Lord for good news. Praise the Lord we didn't have to go days on end worrying, it was only a few hours of critical time. Each time we went to the NICU we continued to get good reports. At first they had mentioned he may have to be in the NICU till his due date, meaning we would have to go home without him. Then they said maybe a couple weeks, then they thought maybe a week. It ended up that Gavin got out of the NICU after 3 days and moved into my room and was discharged WITH me on the 5th day. What a blessng!!!! There had been talk with my doctor ahead of time as to what would be best, a VBAC or a c-section and I am so thankful we went with the c-section b/c that meant I was in the hospital for 5 days and able to have easy access to Gavin whenever I wanted, without having to drive back and forth from our house and such or make other arrangments to stay at the hospital. (they have a special room that mothers who have been discharged can stay in if there baby is still in the hospital, but it's a room with several beds and no privacy if it's being shared at the time you are needing it too) With a VBAC I would have only been at the hospital for 24 hours and we wouldn't have been able to take Gavin home with us. We praise the Lord that Gavin made a complete recovery and is "healthy as a horse". Thankyou God!
On a lighter note, Scott had just finished painting Taden's room the very day that I went into labor, but we hadn't moved the furniture into place or settled the room yet, let alone start on the nursery b/c we had t stop and go to the hospital!!! Here we were having our baby Gavin and didn't have his room ready! :) "Oh well", we thought, "he'll be in the bassinet in our room for a little bit anyways". Our parents came to our rescue and did all the room settling and painting, washing of baby clothes (they had been in storage bins in ouir basement), dishes and such while we were in the hospital! Mom even hung my new curtains in the living room that I had gotten for Christmas and Scott's mom and brother took down our Christmas tree for us - family was SUCH a tremendous blessing!!! When we got home, everything was done, with minor things for me to finish up. Scott and his dad had put the crib together and Scott had put the crib bedding in the crib. It was just so nice to come home to all of that being done and not having it still to do. Just being able to "hibernate" for those first couple of weeks in our home was wonderful - so nice that we didn't come home to the disaster that it was left in when we left for the hospital! Our parents also helped out immensely with Taden, taking care of him completely for us. I had planned to write out some details and line things up with my parents for the day of the c-section, but as you can guess, it didn't get done since Gavin arrived early! Good thing Mom already knows Taden's schedule and what things he likes to eat and such, I didn't have to tell her a thing :) Scott's mom and dad also looked after Taden and were such a help! I had wanted Taden to experience sleeping in his new room for a while BEFORE Gavin came along, but it didn't happen that way, so his first experience was without us there to tuck him in, but Scott's mom was so sweet and stayed in the room with him for about an hour that first night until he was comfortable wih her leaving the room and he's done great ever since! Up until this point, Taden had still been using a soother (pacifier) - we were putting off weaning him from it, but while we were in the hospital he weaned himself and hasn't missed it one bit! So that was super nice to not have to put any time and effort into weaning him b/c he did it himself! What a big boy :)
Now that we are home, we are adjusting to things as a family and finding a "new normal" routine. We love our boys and are really enjoying them! I will say I am finding it is definitly more work having 2 kids now and there is less "me-time" :) It seems we do laundry almost every day to keep up with it, but Taden has become quite the "helper" and helps us with it :) As a mom, I think the biggest adjustment for me is being needed by two and trying to keep up with that, yet still squeeze in some "me-time". Some days go really well and others not so much :) Some days I get one of the boys settled or occupied and then the other is up or crying or whatnot and I find myself going back and forth between the two. When naptime comes, sometimes I need a nap too! :) But then sometimes I find myself feeling like I don't want to "waste" the time by napping when I could be doing other things. Scott has been such a help and such a blessing, he's a wonderful husband! He's done dishes, cooking, laundry, help with the boys, etc. Taden is adjusting to being a big brother and I won't lie, it hasn't gone perfect :) He has really sweet moments with Gavin where he'll rub his hair or lay down next to him or let Gavin hold his finger, give him a kiss on the head, etc. But there have also been...how shall we say it? ...some "brotherly moments" where we've had to step in :) Overall, things are going really well though.
I have had "update blog" on my to-do list for a while but it just hasn't had quite the priority as other things have had since having 2 kids :) I finally got all the pictures downloaded on our computer and had planned to start updating our blog another day, but before I could, our computer crashed and lost all the pictures! Praise the Lord Scott had told me not to delete them off our camera yet, so I still have all of the pictures and can re-download them. I would have been just SICK if I had deleted the pics off our camera, it's not like you can "re-do" your child's birth! I will post pictures as soon as I can, but not today :) At least for now, I was able to catch up and get up to date. Next I will post pictures and then hopefully it will be easier to keep up to date. Time will tell. Thanks for being patient!:) And thank you to all of you who prayed for our little Gavin, what a blessing to be able to call on friends and family and know that they are praying. Until next time....
something I can do.
13 years ago
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