Jeff and Lindsey: Introducing: Tyce Thomas Christofferson!

Well... 41 weeks 6 days came with no baby...

I actually started having some stronger contractions around 4 or 5 in the morning that day, February 11th. I was still able to doze but I was more aware of them than any contractions I'd had thus far. From about 7 on they started coming more often, like every 10-15 minutes, but only lasted 20-30ish seconds, so nothing real consistent, but it made me feel better about induction day!

(Our view of the Timpanogos Temple where we got married from our L&D room on the 4th floor.)

The hospital (American Fork Hospital) called around 9:30am to see if I could come in at 10:30am. Only an hour to load, drive up, get Shad dropped off, checked-in, etc Luckily Momma C was able to meet us at the hospital to pick up Shad.

Once we were checked-in, clothes changed, and on monitors Michelle came in and decided to start me right off on a low level of pitocin. I'm still not sure why she chose that first since that was what we were trying to avoid all along... it still kind of bugs me. But the Pit was set really low, at level 2, so it didn't force very hard contractions at first and then my water broke on it's own about an hour later. I was actually really happy that they didn't have to break it- also helped me feel like it was the right time. (Even though the Pit might have helped with the contractions to get it to break...) Not long after that the contractions became harder and more consistent, but I was handling them over all with the help of Jeff and the nurse Missy giving counter pressure on my lower back. I tried sitting on an exercise ball and leaning against the bed, I also tried kneeling on the bed facing the wall with my arms resting on the back of the bed. Even though I was hooked to an IV (I had to be on an antibiotic for a positive Strep B test) and monitors I was able to move around some and the nurses were awesome.

Around 7pm Michelle checked me again and I was only dilated to 4cm and still 60% effaced so she decided I needed to be back on the Pit. (This makes it sound like they turned it off.... I'm not sure that they did, I think they left it low at 1 or 2 most of the day, but either way she wanted to turn it up to level 4.) At this point I decided it was time for the epidural, because the contractions were harder with the Pit and I was getting pretty exhausted from trying to cope. And then for some reason they turned the Pit up BEFORE I got the epidural, so the contractions became even more hard/ intense and I was not coping well at all. In fact sitting on the bed in indian style trying to hold still while hunched over on the bed while the anesthesiologist put the epidural in was pure hell. That is NOT a good laboring position... fyi. But then when it took effect and Jeff and I were both able to relax some. I definitely have a love-hate relationship with epidurals...

I think we both dozed some, me especially when on my right side and my left leg resting on this support thing so my feet were shoulder width apart. It was awesome. But unfortunately baby's heart rate would dip during harder contractions, especially when they tried to switch me to my left side. He liked my right side, kinda funny.

Around midnight they said I was fully dilated and and effaced so around 12:30am they had me start pushing during contractions. I was actually really surprised with how hard it was for me. I felt like I had no force behind them, which I assume was due to the epidural. I was told ~~annoyingly~~ repeatedly to push harder or push different. So finally they decided to turn down the epidural so I could feel what I was doing more. Otherwise he might not have made it here without C-Section, or so Michelle said. I guess he had a really hard time getting around my pubic bone. An hour or two of that pushing was just to get him that far. It was the strangest thing when they told me they could see his head... Jeff even said, "I can see his head, he's right there! And he's got dark hair!" I didn't believe him, I thought it just looked dark cause it was wet. It hurt like crazy to have him just sitting there in between contractions. Finally, after 16 hours including 2.5 hours of pushing...

Tyce Thomas Christofferson!

2/12/14

3:03am

9 lbs 1.2oz

20 1/4 in

As soon as he came out they had to cut the cord and take him right over to get his mouth, nose, and airways suctioned out because he had a bunch of amniotic fluid in his lungs. I was really bummed I didn't get to hold him immediately, but I did get to touch his little back briefly. As they handed him off to the next nurse.

They got him suctioned, cleaned up a little, and did his apgar test. He initally scored a 5, but then scored a 9 five minutes later. They wrapped him up and brought him over to me telling me I could hold him for a minute but they needed to take him downstairs for some tests. when they handed him to me he seemed to be doing better right away. I started talking to him and he perked up a little and looked right at me, like he recognized my voice. It was THE COOLEST moment. Because he seemed to be doing better they unwrapped him so I could hold him skin on skin. I loved it. Even though my tears were being sewn and there were numerous nurses and doctors in the room (they had a whole team prepared for an emergency c-section) it still managed to be an intimate moment. I tried to feed him and he actually did latch for a few minutes.

It only seemed like 15 or so minutes to me but Jeff says it was closer to an hour before they took him downstairs to the nursery. They decided to do bloodwork (CRP- to check for inflammation which can indicate infection, I/T to check WBC count which indicated infection, bilirubin, and band count- partical WBC.) They also could hear a slight heart murmur so they did an echocardiogram, capillary blood gas, and EKG as well as chest x-rays, and admitted him to the NICU.

The echo showed a PDA and atrial septal defect (ASD). (Which were sent up and read by Dr. Hoffman at Primary Childrens.) They said both should close on their own...

His I/T was .44 in his first blood draw at birth, and was .08 on 2/13/14 which is really good.

bilirubin levels are normal.

His bands (partial WBC) were 30-40 in his first draw, and 4 on 2/13/14, so much better.

CRP was 1.3 at birth, around 1 on 2/15/14, which is also good- going in the right direction.

I also ended up having a fever during the last few hours of labor which can indicate some kind of amniotic or uteral infection, so they had to treat us both for chorioamnioitis with ampicillin and gentamicin. (Me for 24 hours, Tyce for almost 72 hours.)

Our first day was filled with a few short naps and lots of SLOW trips down to the NICU (but at least I could somewhat walk! Or at least slowly shuffle/waddle... last time I couldn't even do that as early as hours after birth!)

(Right picture above showing our matching bruises from IVs missing veins...)

The first night he needed the CPAP off and on but then I fed him a bottle and held him for an hour at least without any oxygen and he did really well!

About 10:30am Thursday morning they took the O2 off and he didn't end up needing it the rest of the time we were there! They also had to switch his IV to his head, which looked really terrible but I was told, and my mom confirmed, that it is actually a better, more comfortable place for them and it did keep the cords more out of the way!

He has so much more hair that Shad did at birth! And it's so much darker too! After knowing how we both were as babies and seeing Shad I figured we'd have a bunch of blonde/ bald babies... I love his hair!

Jeff has lucked out with both kids-
It was the middle of March Madness when Shad was born and middle of the Winter Olympics when Tyce was born!

With Shad my edema seemed to go down once he was born, this time it seemed to flare up! Weird...

Shad and Momma C were our first visitors around 2pm the day he was born. Kids aren't allowed in the NICU, so we pulled the blinds so Shad could meet his baby brother through the glass.

We heard that it can help older siblings to get a gift from the new baby, so we picked him up a bouncy ball that lights up from Tyce.

This hospital has little entertainment bags for kids, filled with paper, stickers, crayons, etc. Shad loved the stickers. He put all these horses on the page and then took it down to show Dad and Tyce.

Jeff went downstairs to get some food and came back with a little treat for me on Valentine's Day! Yummmm....
It wasn't much of a holiday celebration otherwise but I think we had a pretty good excuse... ;)

Amy, Nikki, and Spencer came later in the evening the day he was born.

Jeff's parents and Shad came in the evening on Valentine's Day

My parents got into town on Sat the 15th

Cody and Jessica also stopped by one night (can't remember which) on their way home from Ogden. They brought us a few Culver's shakes (yummmmm.....) and peeked through the nursery window at Tyce. We went back to the room with them to chat for a little while before they headed home to put their kids to bed.

They discharged me Fri morning but wanted to keep Tyce another day because his blood sugar dipped pretty low when they tried to wean him from it. Luckily this hospital has a boarding/ room-in option for short-term NICU baby families, so we were able to pay $35 to keep our room for the night, which was really nice.

By Saturday morning he was doing really well. His sats had a few dips during the night which isn't great, but he had been able to keep his blood sugar up. The Dr. couldn't hear the murmur anymore, and his blood work looked good. Because his sats were still dipping here and there they said they normally would've kept him one more night but because Jeff works for Alpine Home Medical and is familiar with O2 and how to use a sat monitor, they decided we could discharge Sat evening!

Getting a bath and not loving it:

All dressed and ready to go:

I decided to use the same outfit Shad wore home from the hospital, to compare how well they fit it, and just for fun.

(He looks like such a little chunk here! We actually got a lot of comments from the nurses about how big he is... I guess it's not everyday you see a 9 pounder in the NICU...)

By the time we were finally discharged and out of there (we had to sit through a discharge class, sign paperwork, pay $, pack up, etc etc etc) it was 10pm! We probably should've just left Shad in Lehi one more day but I just wanted to be home with my family, so we picked him up and headed home. On our way home Tyce woke up and started freaking out so we pulled over so I could try to feed him, which was an adventure in and of itself, since I was sitting on a pillow, trying to be discreet which was near impossible, and since we pulled off onto an empty side road a police officer stopped to see what we were up to. So now I had bright cop lights shining through the windows at me... oh it was so not fun. But we made it home finally! I thought it was like 12:30am, but this picture below is time stamped at almost 2am! Either way we were all EXHAUSTED but finally all home together!