Quick Announcement: Fargo Baby Shower

The Fargo baby shower will continue as originally planned, an open house style shower at Amanda’s house from 10 - Noon on Saturday Sept 15.

Owen’s Big Day!

On Sept 11 2018 at 5:01 in the morning, baby Owen made his grand entrance into the world at 3 lbs 4 oz. He was 16 inches tall. Owen came 10 weeks early.

We knew Owen would be coming early, but he came earlier than we expected. On Saturday, Jessica didn’t feel well, and she knew that something was up. On Sunday, Jess started to have some contractions. That evening the doctor and nurses started her on a round of Magnesium Sulfate, which helped with Owen’s neurological development, and also acted as a muscle relaxant. By 2 AM, the contractions had stopped thanks to the muscle relaxing properties of the mag. An unfortunate side effect of mag is that the mother feels like she has the flu. Poor Jess didn’t sleep but 45 minutes on Sunday night.

On Monday morning, after 12 hours, the nurses stopped the mag. After only 1.5 hours, her contractions started again. The doctor said that her body had a chance to stop labor with the help of the mag, so if it was going into labor again, then we should just listen to her body. All day on Monday, Jessica’s labor was not progressive, meaning she wasn’t dilating (she was at a 1 all day). There was a chance that it would lead nowhere and Owen would have more time to come to term. However, things changed Monday night/Tuesday morning.

At 12:30 AM, Jessica’s water broke (yes, she had a ruptured membrane before, which was why she was in the hospital in the first place, but it was just a small leak). The doctor checked, and she was still dilated to a 1, so the doctor and nurses weren’t yet convinced she was in active labor; however, I was convinced, so I called in Jessica’s mom. Jessica’s contractions were much more painful after her water broke, so her nurse, Anab, gave her a dose of Morphine to help with the pain. Unfortunately and interestingly, the morphine had no effect for Jessica.

Somewhere around 2 AM, the nurses moved us to a labor and delivery room (much larger, and has all the supplies for labor and delivery). We asked if that was confirmation that she was in active labor, but still, they did not know. The charge nurse, Megan, examined Jessica and said she was dilated to somewhere between a 1 and 2, but that his head really close. She predicted that when/if Jess was fully dilated, that it would not take long to give birth. She also made it sound like she thought Jess would dilate quickly as well, although I don’t know what she was basing that on.

I suggested to Jess that if she waited, and things went quickly, she might miss her opportunity for an epidural. At this point Jessica’s contractions were really painful, and she hadn’t slept since Saturday night (it was Tuesday morning). She decided to do an epidural on the advice of one of her favorite nurses Karin. Usually an epidural is administered when you are dilated between a 4 and a 7. Jess asked for an epidural while she was dilated to a 1 because she was absolutely exhausted [I want to make it abundantly clear that Jess is incredibly strong and didn’t “wimp out” early or even “wimp out” at all]. We were hopeful that the epidural would allow her to rest. Another side effect of epidurals is that they slow down labor. The epidural procedure started at 2:40 AM, and she got her first dose at 3:00 AM.

After the epidural, everyone started to relax a little more. With a first baby, active labor normally takes 14+ hours, and who knows how long it would take with an epidural. There was also the possibility that the epidural would stop labor completely. Anab kept popping in to the room to keep Owen on the monitors (his heart rate, as well as the pressure in Jessica’s uterus). He was being a little stinker, and was hiding from the monitors. Anab was having a hard time finding his heart rate, so she told Jessica that she would have to wait until he was on the monitors for a time before she could put in the Foley catheter (with an epidural, you can’t walk to go to the bathroom, the Foley catheter empties your bladder). Jessica told Anab, “Its okay, if I pee the bed its your problem anyway!” She finally got the Foley catheter in around 4 AM.

At some point, I had laid down to take a nap (but I never fell asleep), it was somewhere around 4:15 AM (this is where things get a little fuzzy). Jess had had the epidural for an hour and 15 minutes and the Foley catheter for 15 minutes, and she told Anab that something felt a little different. Anab called in Megan and Jess told her the same thing. Megan called in Dr. Pandolfo, who upon doing an exam, exclaimed, “Its time to push!”.

Suddenly the room was abuzz. Megan called in the delivery team, Dr. Pandolfo left the room briefly to get a gown. I helped a nurse (I don’t even know who she was) to get our bags off of the table that they needed for the delivery. The NICU nurses arrived with an isolette. As best as I can remember, in the room was Jess and I, Amanda, nurse Anab, nurse Megan, Dr. Pandolfo, 2 other delivery nurses, and 3 NICU nurses.

I don’t know what time it was when the room was ready, the table was broken, and Jess started to push. Its a funny thing that no one ever tells you how to push until its actually time, but Jess did amazing. Soon I could see his head and the room was getting excited. They asked Jess if she wanted to feel his head; she was horrified at the thought, so she didn’t! I don’t think she wanted to know exactly what was happening down there.

At one point Owen’s heart rate dropped low and Dr. Pandolfo warned us that it is a sign of distress, and she would only allow 2 more pushes before she would do an emergency c-section. Jess didn’t get Owen out in those 2 pushes, but luckily his heart rate rose again and Dr. Pandolfo wasn’t worried anymore. At 5:01 AM, Jess gave one more hard push and Owen was out. Immediately he was crying, which is a great sound to hear from a 10 week early baby. They quickly clamped and cut his cord and took him to the isolette. I gave Jess a kiss on the forehead, and she promptly pushed me away and told me to go check on our son. I don’t remember what the NICU nurses told me at that moment, but I know he was breathing, crying, and very squirmy. They wiped him off, swaddled him, and took him over to Jess. I gave her one more kiss on the head, and then Owen and I went to the NICU.

Very soon after we got to the NICU, the NICU doctor, Dr. Mutchler, got in. He told me that Owen was doing well, and that he was just going to do a quick exam and that he would meet me back in the room. When I got back, Jessica had already delivered the placenta, and because of her interesting situation, they packaged it up and sent it in for some labs.

Dr. Mutchler came and talked to us in the room and said that Owen was doing great. The steroid shots that Jess had during the last few weeks of her pregnancy really helped his lungs to grow strong. Dr. Mutchler didn’t give us an exact time frame for when Owen can leave the NICU and come home with us, but he estimated before Halloween (6.5 weeks away). That sounds much better to us that the usual answer of “well… we typically shoot for the due date” which would have been November 18th (10 weeks). At 5:30 AM, Dr. Mutchler’s alarm went off on his phone. I guess we woke him up early!

Since he has been in the NICU, Owen has had lots of excitement. His Biliruben levels have increased, so he is now under a bili light. He pulled out his IV, so they gave him a PICC line. His PICC line started to pull out a little, so just yesterday they replaced it with one in his other arm. His central nervous system is not yet mature enough to regulate his heart rate fully, so every once in a while his heart rate will drop low, just like it did during labor, and then he is able to get it back up again. If he ever is unable to get his heart rate up, they will give him caffeine to help with that, but so far, he has been great. His weight has dropped from his initial 3 lbs 4 oz to 2 lbs 14 oz, which is to be expected. He should start to gain weight soon. He loves to kick, he loves skin to skin with Jess and I, he loves to suck on pacifiers and swabs of Jessica’s milk. Jess has been pumping while at his bedside, and I’ve made it a point to read to him daily. I’ve started him young with Astrophysics for Babies, Quantum Physics for Babies, and Thermodynamics for Babies, as well as some of my childhood favorites such as The Diggingest Dog and Who’s My Mother. We miss him tremendously, but we know he is where he needs to be.

Jessica was discharged from the hospital on 12 Sept 2018, only 1 day after giving birth. She could have stayed another night, but she was anxious to come home after being in the hospital for so long. When she plopped down on our bed, she said, “I’ve never been more comfortable in my entire life!”

We are so grateful for all the wonderful nurses and doctors at Essentia Health, and for all of our supportive friends and family. We love all of you, and we will keep you updated on Owen’s journey through the NICU.