He's Here!

2/6/16

My new favorite picture of Laura! Breathtakingly beautiful!!!

Hunter David Lemke has arrived...a full week past his due date, but he's here and healthy!!!  He was born a week ago already, on January 30, 2016 at 5:51pm.  He weighed a whopping 9lbs 9oz and was 21.5 inches long.  We've had a busy week adjusting to a chaotic house with late night feedings and Erica trying to help us do everything with Hunter!  So, grab a cold or warm beverage and a few Kleenex if you're a sap... Without further ado, here's the story of Hunter's arrival:

Last Thursday night, we had our regular doctor's appointment.  Our doctor told us to call the birth center in the morning so we could go in and get monitored to make sure everything was ok with baby since he was 6 days over due at that point.  Not knowing how long it would take to get the appointment, I went to school on Friday morning waiting for Laura's call telling me when the appointment would take place.  At about 9:30am, Laura called saying the birth center wanted us to come in soon so we could get Laura and baby monitored.  We arrived around 10:30am and got Laura hooked up so we could monitor baby's heartbeat and gauge whether or not Laura was having contractions.  It was immediately clear that his heartbeat was great and that she was also having small contractions, even though she couldn't feel them.  Surprisingly enough, Laura was having contractions every 2-7 minutes!!  This was a shock to us because they tell people to go to the hospital for delivery when contractions occur every 3-5 minutes! An ultrasound was also done and revealed that he was looking good and that he was "still a boy!" as the ultrasound technician told us!  About 4 hours after we arrived at the hospital, they sent us home and told us to come back on Monday morning to be induced if nothing happened over the weekend.  So, Laura and I left, and headed to Cosetta's for a great mid afternoon meal since we both didn't have lunch.  After our short date, we returned home and packed up Erica and Laura's parents (who came into town Wednesday) and headed to the Mall of America to "walk it off" and see if we could get the baby to come out!!!  We walked around for a while, had dinner and made plans to go to Woodbury for some shopping the next morning...

Laura and her baby bump (a week over due!) as we left the hospital for monitoring. 

A monitor measuring baby's heartbeat that we could see as well as hear!

I woke up Saturday morning a few minutes after 6:00 to Laura calling me from the bathroom.  "Dan!  I'm bleeding!" I sprung out of bed with a heartbeat far exceeding normal!  Laura was scared as to what was happening, and I was terrified.  When Erica was born, Laura's water broke at home and there was no blood.  This was a different story.  I know blood from mommy during pregnancies aren't a good thing.  I sped into high gear trying to tidy up the bedroom and bathroom while Laura took a quick shower.  A couple minutes after she hopped in, I was helping her get out and dressed so we could head to the hospital.  I ran down stairs to tell Laura's parents that we needed to go to the hospital right away and that they'd have Erica for the day.  By the time I was back up stairs, Laura was waiting at the door with her coat on and ready to go. 

The drive to the hospital was the longest and most stressful 10 minute drive of my life!  The roads were pretty empty at that time of day.  Along the way, Laura started to have some cramping and contractions that she could definitely feel this time.  When we got off the highway and into downtown St. Paul, we hit several red lights in a row.  I was making the mental decision in my mind that I might be turning the red lights into stop signs...and then the light turned green, and the lights for the next few blocks turned green at the same time, and I stepped on it!  We pulled into the parking ramp outside Children's Hospital and parked in the 15 minute spots saved for soon-to-be-parents like us.  We made it to the check in desk to find the world's slowest and lackadaisical receptionist ever!  This middle aged lady probably wouldn't have sped up nor reacted any differently had I lit a blow torch under her ass!  She calmly and slowly handed us a consent form to sign (just like we had yesterday) and then she had to put some stickers on the damn papers and blah blah blah...without a care in the world that we were visibly terrified and that Laura had a beach towel wedged between her knees.  Several times, she chuckled at herself and her seemingly inability to get anything done right and fast.  Finally, (I was polite about it) I said, "Hey, we need to hurry this stuff up because she's bleeding pretty badly and we need to get seen NOW!"  The lady said, "oh dear" and without speeding up, finished her tasks and within a minute, some 45 minutes after I woke up, a nurse brought us back into the triage area where we had spent all day the day before. 

Laura sat on the bed and they brought out the monitor again and within a minute of being in the room, we heard the best sound in the world...the heartbeat of a baby inside mommy's belly!!!  It was as if the weight of the world had been lifted off our shoulders, and it felt like I had taken a breath for the first time since I woke up to the fear in Laura's voice!  Within a few minutes of hearing the heartbeat, they did some quick checks and told us that her "water broke with blood"...which apparently, isn't too rare and not a huge scare to nurses and medical staff that deal with babies being born every day...but to a guy like me, it was the scariest moment of my life.  Additionally, they confirmed that Laura was indeed in labor (no shit, right?!?!) and by 7:45 they moved us into a delivery room just down the hall. 

They got Laura into bed and around 8am, they checked her out and found she was dilated to 6cm (she was only 2cm at the doctor's office on Thursday night!) and all indicators were she was almost ready to have the baby!  We couldn't believe it when they told us this.  By 8:15, Laura was hooked up to an IV to get fluids going into her and shortly thereafter, an antibiotic was plugged in as well.  At 8:45, our doctor arrived for her first look.  She asked that the IV fluids be sped up and that the room be readied for a baby to be born!  At this time they also ruptured the "bag of water" a little more to help the process move along.  For the next hour, we sat in the room as Laura endured more painful contractions, while the IV bag looked like a waterfalls going through the tubes!  I didn't know IVs could pump fluids that quickly!!!  In the background of the room, the most soothing sound in the world was playing through some speakers...baby's heartbeat! 

Our delivery room, with the baby machine on the far wall to the right of the curtain 

Laura resting, and still as beautiful as ever, despite being hooked up to all of the machines. Seeing her like this again was the toughest part of the hospital stay for me!!

By 9:45, another check revealed baby's head to be lower than before.  By this time, Laura was not having a good morning!  With Erica, she had small contractions and couldn't feel them much.  With Hunter, she was having more powerful contractions and was in lots of pain.  We talked for a bit and Laura decided she'd sign up for an epidural.  By 10:10, the anesthesiologist has arrived and stuck the IV in Laura's back and she was settled back into bed.  Modern medicine blows my mind!  My amazing wife, takes it 10 steps further because of what she endures as a mom!  I'm not sure of the whole process because I couldn't watch, but from what the doctor was saying, there's a few numbing shots given in the back and then the insertion of the main catheter (I thought that went somewhere else?!?!) into her spine...and she barely squirmed!  I would've been in tears, cursing up the guy with the needle and crying for my mom if it were me...but she's a trooper!  Once that was in and she was beginning to relax a bit more, Laura's day got slightly better without the pain and discomfort.  Moving forward, as long as the Epidural was in, we'd be rotating Laura from one side to the other in her bed.

By 12:25pm, our doctor was back to check Laura again.  This time she had progressed to 7cm and baby's head was even lower than before.  The doctor wanted the progress to move quicker, so she recommended starting Pitocin to get Laura's body into high gear.  The Pitocin started around 12:50 at a dose of "2" and would increase by 2 every hour until her body was having the contractions needed to get her body fully ready to give birth. By 2:15, the Pitocin was increased to "4" and our doctor needed to leave.  She told us she'd be leaving us in good hands of a colleague of hers.  I think we were a little sad that she wouldn't be there for Hunter's birth, especially after she delivered Erica. But we understand that doctors can't hang out in the hospital all day waiting for a baby to arrive, especially when they have a life of their own they need to tend to.

Monitoring baby. His heartbeat is the blue line on top, while Laura's contractions are the green line on the bottom. 

Laura thought it was entertaining to know  a monitor placed on her toe caused her sock to glow...even through all the blankets on her!!!

My gorgeous wife!

At 3:30pm, we met the doctor would deliver Hunter and she placed an internal monitor in Laura in order to better monitor baby's heartbeat.  Additionally, the Pitocin was increased to "6" to get the contractions we needed to get her body ready for baby!

At 5pm, our delivery nurse, Sheri, who had been with us since we arrived 11 hours earlier, came into the room.  She had been monitoring outside and quickly pointed out a slight drop in baby's heartbeat, but that it had recovered almost immediately on the monitor (it appeared as a slight valley in comparison to his steady heart rate).  Another check on Laura revealed her body was ready to deliver, and as Sheri guessed when she came in, the dip in the heart rate was Hunter's last movement inside Laura as he dropped and got himself into the final position to be delivered.  Sheri called our new doctor and told her we were ready.  Sheri also asked Laura if she was willing to do a "practice push" to see if she was ready.  Laura shook her head yes, and Sheri quickly responded that she was indeed ready!

Our nurse, Sheri, with the baby machine ready on the left as Laura is getting herself ready to push as soon as the doctor arrives. (The clock says 5:25, within 10 minutes of this picture, she was pushing!)

By 5:35, our new doctor arrived in the room (appearing not much older than Laura and I) and the 3 of us were getting ready to help Laura push.  The doctor asked if I wanted to cut the cord. "No no no!  No no!! Not unless you want to scoop me off the floor and use some of these monitors on me, because I'll pass out!" Sheri and the doctor laughed. We watched the monitor to see when the next contraction was coming.  As Laura's body began contracting, we told her to start pushing...

The first series of 3 pushes went great and Hunter began moving along...The second series of pushes at the next contraction moved him even further, and got the doctor and nurses moving even faster!!! At this point, the doctor was able to see that he had pooped a little bit inside Laura as she was pushing.  The doctor looked at me and calmly said, "there's going to be another nurse from NICU (Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit, located directly next to the delivery ward in the hospital) coming in to help just incase it's needed." I few seconds later, I saw that nurse walk in and she prepped the big machine where Hunter would be taken to for his first checks after birth.  I looked down at Laura and gave her some words of encouragement. When I looked up, there were a couple more nurses in the room than before, and in the next 30 seconds, the room had at least 6 nurses from NICU, Sheri, and the doctor!  I must've been distracted and looked a bit stressed or worried because as the next contraction was coming on the doctor asked, "can I get nurse on the other side?" I was quickly relieved of my leg-holding duty and shifted closer to Laura's head.  She began to push for the last time. The doctor gave a few last words of encouragement for another push, and there he was! 

At 5:51pm, a short 15 minutes after Laura started pushing, Hunter cried within a second of being placed on Laura.  We knew right away he had a good set of lungs on him as he screamed and cried!  They toweled him off and placed him high on Laura's chest.  He was equally as adorable as Erica. And our first glimpse of Hunter and few moments with him were precious.  The feeling and emotion of seeing your child for the first time is the best in the world and words simply can't explain it.  A few minutes later, a nurse took hunter to the baby machine on the side of the room and did the initial checks and screens.  I left Laura's side and followed Hunter to the side and watched.  The nurse spoke loudly so all staff in the room could hear the results.  She then did the measurements..."weight is 9 pounds, 9 ounces." I responded equally as loud, "Holy shit!" We knew Hunter would be big. I guessed for weeks that he'd be over 9lbs, and as the due date came and went a week earlier, I knew he'd be a bit over 9lbs, but I never realized he'd be over 9.5lbs!  He was almost 3/4 of a pound heavier than Erica (she was 8lbs, 14oz!!!)!!!  The nurse finished her measurements, indicating he was 21.5 inches tall (the same as Erica) and his head was 14.5cm around.  I asked if he was looking good and if he was healthy and she said we indeed had a very healthy baby!  For the second time that day, I exhaled as more weight was lifted off my shoulders!

The first picture of Hunter!

First picture of mommy and Hunter as they snuggle a few minutes after he was born 

Holding Huntwr for the first time

Our little man, after his first feeding

After his first checks and measurements were done, Hunter was placed back on Laura for some snuggling as the doctor finished up on the business end.  A short time later, we coached Hunter to latch onto Laura for the first time as he began to feed.  It wasn't until after this first feeding when I held my son for the first time!  Holding your kid for the first time is such a great feeling!  My eyes teared up again and we took a short walk around the room.  I told him how happy we were to meet him, and I informed him that he'd be grounded for the foreseeable future because of all the heartburn and discomfort he caused his mom over the past 2 trimesters!!!  I returned Hunter to Laura for some more snuggles and resumed my duty as "Communications Specialist" as I did with Erica, and began sending the first texts to family and friends telling them of Hunter's arrival.

Some 2 hours after he was born, Hunter was in mommy's arms in a wheel chair as we made our way to our recovery room where we'd stay for the next 2 days until we were sent home Monday morning.  Around 8:45pm, our parents arrived at the hospital. I met them in the lobby and walked them all to the baby ward and brought Erica in the room first so we could spend some time as a new family of 4.  She was a little shy when she came in, but was super excited to see mommy!  She sat next to Laura on the bed for a couple of quick pictures.  At some point, she saw Hunter's toes sticking out of the blanket and she began playing with them with her fingers.  She giggled as he squirmed in response.  She asked some questions, but generally seemed indifferent meeting her little brother for the first time.  She seemed mostly excited just to see us for the first time that day.  She was up way past her usual 7:30ish bedtime and getting a little grumpy!  Our room was pretty small compared to our massive delivery room, so I went to the lobby and brought may parents in to meet Hunter.  As Grandma Barb held Hunter for the first time, I figured we could squeeze a couple more people into the room so I went to the lobby and brought Laura's parents into the room to meet the little guy as well.  For the first time in his busy little life, Hunter was passed around the room and everyone had a chance to hold him.  Many pictures were taken.  At some point, Erica saw his nose, and with one finger, she poked it softly and said, "BEEP!" as we often do with her nose at home.

In the wheel chair and headed for the recovery room

Erica meeting her little brother for the first time

First Lemke Family (of 4) Photo!!

After a short visit, Hunter's grandparents and big sister left and headed home, while Laura and I settled in for what would be the first of 2 fairly sleepless nights in the hospital.  For the next 2 days, nurses would be checking on Laura or Hunter nearly every hour.  Unlike Erica, Hunter slept a lot in the hospital (except, of course, overnight!).  Laura was able to take a couple of baths to soak. I was able to finally get a shower.  During our stay, our parents came for another visit on sunday, but had to keep Erica away because she woke up sunday morning with a cold! My parents brought Granny with them so she could meet Hunter. DD and Uncle Jorj came to visit, along with Tim and Kari. Additionally, our delivery nurse, Sheri, came to visit and check on us!  It's funny that after 12 hours with someone and being a part of a huge life-changing moment, Sheri felt almost like family too! 

Granny holding Hunter, her second great-grand child

By 9am Monday morning, our nurses were going over the last few items on a checklist to make sure we knew how to care for our baby (sadly, we only had to say "yes" or "we know" to satisfy their questions...no wonder so many kids don't stand a chance with their lousy parents once they leave the hospital and show up as little turds in school 5 years later!!!).  I went for the car seat still in the parking lot and brought out an armload of gifts and belongings.  I came back, put Hunter in his car seat and headed back to bring the car around to the front door, as Laura and Hunter were wheeled outside to be picked up.  We clipped him into the car, and we were on our way, bringing home our second child!!!

Dressed in camo and ready to go home!!!

Thanks for checking in on us and reading this entry in my Daddy Diary!  We appreciate all of the kind words, texts, phone calls, cards, meals and hugs sent our way over the past week when Hunter arrived, but also for all of the support given to us during Laura's pregnancy.  It certainly wasn't an easy one for her, and we're all glad it's over...but I've reminded her a few times while Hunter snuggles in her arms, that her misery at times seems like it was worth it...

My distraction as I blog this morning...