Update on the St. Germains

Well you weren't going to get blog updates from Steven - he doesn't even read it - so now that I'm back online I can give you all the big update. Our little guy decided he had had enough of bed rest and in the evening on Aug 21st I started feeling cramping. Not realizing what was going on (I thought I ate too much at dinner) I went to bed but woke up about midnight really uncomfortable. Steven (who slept every night for two weeks with me at the hospital) made me call the nurse and the chief resident had me on the monitor for about an hour. The baby had dropped lower under my belly button and they couldn't pick up contractions but that was because I was still only 31 weeks so they were hard to find. They told me to try to relax and get some sleep but as the night went on the contractions got harder and harder so by 5 AM I think they were 5 minutes apart. They came in and I was brought over to Labor and Delivery by 6 AM and took my blood - it ended up that my white blood cell count went high so I might have had an infection so it was good that he decided to come early. I labored on for about another six hours until noon when they gave me an epidural which took a long time to put in - that is the worst part of the whole day in my opinion - I forgot to tell them I have a slight curve of the spine and once they realized that it went much better. After that I dialated really quickly since I was more relaxed. Steven was awesome through the whole thing. All morning he talked me through my contractions. The did put me on pitocin to speed them up when I was slowing down but they never got really any worse than they had been all night long.

Ian was quick to arrive. At 2 PM I was 7 CM and by 3 PM I was ready to push. After about 20 minutes of maybe 4-5 series of pushes he arrived screaming. Which was a good sign for a preemie. They let Steven cut the cord but wisked him over to the doctors who examined him. He got 8 and 8 on his APGARs and we got to hold him for a moment before they took him to the NICU. He's been there ever since. He weighed 3 lbs 14 oz and was 17 1/4 inches long. He was 31 weeks so he's going to be in the NICU until closer to his Oct 23 due date. We'll know more as each day progresses. I got to hold him first since I spent 2 weeks in a bed for him. Daddy got to do the first poopy diper later that day. I came home on Friday and we will get into a routine of going to see the baby each day.
For those of you that have been yelling for pictures - here is the best we can do. More will follow and those will show him with fewer cords and tubes - they have taken him off the CPAP (the big blue and white breathing tubes) while we hold him. He's not on oxygen it just helps him get more breathing in. He's still on antibiotics but they've started giving him 1 cc of my milk every four hours - that really isn't a lot I've realized!

I look a little scared of him here - but I've always been nervous around little babies!

Here is Ian in the NICU just after they hooked him up to all the monitors.The next day (Thursday) I got to hold him for the first time - he looks a little uncomfortable but trust me he zonked right out and had a good nap.Here is Daddy with Ian - again - slept through the whole thing on Friday afternoon - didn't even realize I had left the hospital!