Big Sister

Since Henley was in the NICU all but four hours of his stay, Jayden was unable to see him until the day he came home. "Dr. Jayden" was able to come by to see her mommies though on Monday, the 18th. I was so happy to see you. Even though it was one night, I missed my little girl!

Since Henley has been home, you have shown him nothing but love. You are a great helper!

Henley has arrived!

It was father's day and we had celebrated with my dad for lunch earlier that day and we were then at MeMe's house to celebrate with Heidi's dad and grandfather. We ate an early dinner and were eating dessert when my water broke. I was certain that's what had happened so we had MeMe watch Jayden while we went home and got our things together to head to the hospital. As it was with Jayden, the contractions started coming on the drive to the hospital and got more intense the closer we got.
          By the time we got to St. Vincent's and I was checked, I was 6cm and contracting about every 5 minutes. I was put in a room and 2 nurses started the process of admission paperwork and entering information into the computer. It got to where I couldn't answer the questions during the contractions, so I just held onto the side rails of the bed and took deep breaths. The nurse had already drawn blood and we were waiting on that labwork to come back to make sure I was good to go for an epidural. The nurses were getting the room ready and Dr. DeRosier had not been by yet. At this point, everyone thought they had a little bit of time to prepare for this delivery. At this point, I had a strong urge to pee and knew that I wasn't going to be able to get up from the bed easily. I was in some pain and had an IV in my arm. I told the nurse that I needed to pee and she told me I wasn't about to get up. I told her that I had to anyway and apologized (lol).

          By now, my parents knew what was going on and they were calling. My mom called and I told her my status and the Dr. walked in. I told my mom I'd have to call her back. Dr. DeRosier checked me and at some point either I or Heidi asked about an epidural and that's when I heard the worst..."You're not getting an epidural, you're about to have a baby." So, I was already at 10cm and ready to go! The rest of the room was NOT ready to go. About 5 nurses and Dr. DeRosier scrambled to get things ready and I assumed the position as I whined to myself and Heidi that I couldn't do what was about to happen. I couldn't believe we didn't have enough time to get the epidural. This was in fact, my worst fear...giving birth and feeling every single bit of it. Our outspoken and hilarious nurse, "Barbie" was to my left and held my hand and told me it would feel like a "ring of fire." She was so right and I don't think I will ever forget that feeling. Heidi was to my right comforting me and coaching me along the way.
        As I pushed, Henley's shoulders were stuck and Barbie had to take both of her fists and push on my stomach to force him out. That was the worst pain of it all because that was the biggest part of him. One more push and he was out and I immediately felt relief! I laid my head back and waited to hear him cry out. Heidi hugged me and I couldn't believe it was done.

         Henley Lane Robinson was born on June 17th at 7pm. He weighed 8 lbs 9 oz and was 20 inches long.  We were so happy to finally hold you and see your precious face. We love you!

The labor was quick and sometimes when that happens, you little ones swallow a little amniotic fluid on the way out and it messes with your breathing. Unfortunately, this happened and you were making a grunting sound every time you breathed. While it sounded cute to us, it represented a problem to those medical professionals around us. Around midnight, you were taken to the NICU to be watched. Since you were having trouble breathing, we couldn't feed you by bottle or breast, you had to be hooked up to an IV for your fluids and you were given antibiotics also by IV in case there was an infection in your lungs. We were told you would need to be on those for the next 72 hours and it was then that I knew we wouldn't be going home together. This made me sad, but I knew it needed to be done to make sure that you were going to be ok. Your mother and I heard at least 2 code blues during our stay at the hospital, so we were never too far from a reminder that it could be much worse.               I was released on Tuesday, the 19th and we stayed as late as we could so that we could see you when visiting hours resumed before going home for the night. Seeing you there in the NICU and knowing that we were going to leave you was hard. I hated it.

We were told on the 20th that you would be able to come home the next day so we could stay with you in the family room of the NICU that night. We were so excited that your bloodwork came back ok and that we were one step closer to getting you home and that you were healthy. That wednesday night, we stayed with you in the NICU and got pizza delivered. It was nice to have you to ourselves but know that helpful nurses were right next to us in case we needed them.

You had one last procedure ("pencil sharpening" as nurse Barbie put it) to be done the next day before going home and your jaundice levels were checked. Your jaundice levels had to be checked again by Dr. Russell but thankfully, we never had to put you under the lamp. We were free to take you home on June 21st, 2012.