Jaxson. 09.06.11

2 of 3: Happiest Days of My LIFE!

17 Weeks

20 Weeks

25 Weeks

7 Months

8 Months

Just a few days before I had my little one!

I was going in for a normal 34 week check up, but little did I know, I would be looking into the eyes of my beautiful little blonde hair, blue eyed baby boy by the end of the day. 

On the evening of Sunday September 4, 2011 I began to have serious contractions. I was really nervous because I knew that my due date wasn't until the first of next month. I called my mom and dad and told them that I needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible. I was in serious pain. The hospital that I had been attending was about forty-five minutes away, so needless to say it was a pretty rough ride to the hospital. 

When I arrived at the hospital the nurses and doctors hooked me up to a stress test machine to test out how far apart my contractions were. When I had first got there the contractions were about four minutes apart which meant that I was supposed to be having my son that night. The doctor was nervous about that, so that night they just calmed me down and brought the contractions completely down. I had my normal 34 week check up in only a few days, so I had decided to wait it out and talk to my actual doctor on Tuesday.

I woke up Tuesday morning feeling a little odd about something but just couldn't figure out what was making me feel that way. I drove over to Nephi and remember just praying that everything would be okay and the sick feeling I had in my stomach would go away. When I had got into the check up room Dr. Bailey came in and listened to the heartbeat and then measured my stomach. When he had measured me he had said that my stomach was a little too small to be 34 weeks along. After that Dr. Bailey sent me in to have an ultrasound done. While I was in having the ultrasound done, I received the news that no mother would want to receive. The umbilical cord was wrapped around my baby's neck and he only weighed 4 pounds. The thing that was rather weird was a month before this ultrasound they had measured the baby to be 4 pounds then too. So, over a month time frame, the baby did not gain one single ounce. 

After the ultrasound I was sent back down to Dr. Bailey's office. When he received the news that my baby was only 4 pounds he was super worried. Dr. Bailey had mentioned to me that the baby could not be receiving food because the placenta might have died or something else was going on. He wanted to then send me down for a stress test to see how the baby's heartbeat and activity was doing. With all this going on, I was just absolutely terrified. I didn't know what to think. Was my baby going to be okay? What did I do wrong? How will this all turn out? They started to do the stress test and I knew immediately that something was wrong because nurse after nurse and doctor after doctor kept coming in my room. From then on, I knew I needed a miracle. 

After the stress test was finished, Dr. Bailey came in and had explained to me that all the stuff he said earlier was true. The umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck and the placenta had died. My baby had stopped receiving food for who knows how long. The words that I remember most was when Dr. Bailey had said, "Ashly, we are going to be delivering that little boy of yours in 20 minutes. We will be doing a C-Section and we need to get him out quickly". I was honestly so terrified at that moment. I was all alone and didn't know even what way to turn. I had blood being drawn in one arm and an IV being put in the other arm. All I could think to do was call my mom and tell her to please come over as fast as her and my dad could. Within 5 minutes I was in a hospital gown and all ready to go the operating room minus one more little step, the epidural. This is something that I had been dreading the whole time I was pregnant. In came the anesthesiologist and there it was, that nasty big needle getting ready to go in my back. After all of the scariness of the huge needle and the pain of it, it only felt like a bee sting. 

It was off to the operating room and I wasn't quite sure how to feel again. I was nervous for the procedure and anxious to just get my little boy there. To be honest, I didn't feel a thing other than just a little bit of pressure. It all seemed real easy, then my shoulders went numb from being strapped down to the operating table. Me being the clown that I am, I asked the anesthesiologist to massage my shoulders. He said I was his first patient to ever ask for that to be done. I was completely embarrassed but he said I could definitely blame it on all the morphine. When my baby was finally delivered, it wasn't good news. He didn't look okay and health wise, he wasn't okay. I didn't get to see my baby when he was delivered. He was taken out of the operating room immediately.

I was then taken to the recovery room. To me, that was the worst part. My feelings were so up and down, I just wanted to see my little boy and hold him. I was also starting to be in a lot of pain while in the recovery room. Finally I was in there long enough that the nurse took me out to my hospital room. While being wheeled out to my room, I was greeted by all of my family. It definitely made me realize that family is everything. Being greeted by all of them made me feel a little bit better then how I was feeling. Now all I could do is lay there and wait to see my little boy. An hour of laying there, my baby's pediatrician came in and had explained to me that my baby was 4 pounds 6 ounces and only 17 inches long. That was really little for a baby to be. He had also explained to me that he had breathing and blood sugar problems. The next step was for them to transport him by ambulance to the Newborn Intensive Care Unit at Utah Valley Hospital. 

Later on that night, I was finally able to see and hold my son, Jaxson. Staring at my beautiful blonde hair, blue eyed boy was the most amazing feeling I have ever experienced in my life. He was perfect to me and I had never been more blessed in my life. Throughout this whole day I was unsure of my feelings but at this moment in life I knew one thing was for sure, I absolutely loved being a mom. I didn't care about the pain I had experienced or all the scariness of the day. My son was finally in my arms. 

Jaxson ended up spending about a month at the NICU before he was able to come home. I ended up spending every single moment with him at the hospital. I never wanted to leave his side. Today he is doing amazing and is as healthy as ever. If you were to look at him, you would never know that he was a premature baby. I am so blessed to have him in my life. He is mine and will forever be my little boy.