# My Valentine baby



## JAJuly2013

My 4th child was born on Valentine's Day at 28 weeks 1 day gestation. 

At 26 weeks 1 day, I woke up around 4 am to go to the bathroom and realized fluid was trickling down my left leg. I hoped it was urine, but I knew it wasn't. 
I wasn't having any contractions but I knew if my water had broken I would be at risk for infection. So we went to the hospital where they confirmed my water had broke. I was admitted and given steriod shots and all sorts of IV meds. 

Things were going smoothly for a week and a half. I showed no signs of labor. On my 2nd Thursday at the hospital I began bleeding. Immediately I was surrounded by nurses and doctors. Since my IV had been removed the day before they rushed to get another IV back in. I was monitored closely for 24 hours but the bleeding slowed and there were no signs of labor. They performed an ultrasound and said the bleeding was probably due to uterine irritation because there was fluid between my uterus and the amniotic membrane. Friday I started to have Braxton hicks contractions. They were coming often but not painful.
Fast forward to Saturday afternoon and the bleeding increased somewhat and the contractions began to get uncomfortable. By 9 pm they hurt and were coming about every 10 min. 
I tried to get some sleep but the contractions kept waking me up. I let the nurse know and they gave me some IV meds to calm down my uterus and ease the pain. Two hours later I was in obvious pain so they gave me morphine. That allowed me to relax more in between my contractions but did nothing for the pain. Finally around 1:30 in the morning I was in so much pain all I could do was cry and moan. Thr nurses checked my cervix and I was dilated to 4 cm. All hell broke lose and it became very chaotic. I quickly called my husband to tell him I was in labor. 
The nurses had put in an order for an epidural but my labor was progressing very quickly. 10 min labor I was dilated to 6 cm. By the time the anesthesiologist arrived I was dilated to 8 cm. He said the epidural would take too long so they gave me a spinal. It worked instantly! It was so nice to have some relief!! I delivered my baby 10 minutes later with one push. He weighed 2 pounds 11 ounces and was 14 inches long. He was able to breathe on his own but they got him to the NICU quickly to further asses him. 
Meanwhile my placenta didn't want to come out easily and when it did, it came out in pieces! The doctor had to manually go in with her hand over and over again to get all of the placenta out. 
After that all was great. My recovery was fairly easy. I barely had any cramping and I bled mildly for 2 weeks. Even though I have been pumping around the clock since my son's birth my period arrived exactly 4 weeks after he arrived. Bummer. Lol
I'm currently 7 weeks postpartum and just had my 6 week check up. My baby boy is still in the NICU but he is doing very well. He weighs 5 pounds 12 oz and is 17 inches. He is on a CPAP but not for much longer. Once that is off we will introduce the breast to him and let him start trying to nurse. I'm looking forward to that!


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## Bevziibubble

Congratulations! What a little fighter he is :cloud9: Well done :)


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## Babybump87

Aww he’s beautiful ! Congratulations ! 

He is so brave as are you ! Wishing you all the best and hopefully he will be home soon. !


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## xxmyheartxx

Aww huge congratulations x


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## stw93

Congratulations!! He is so darn cutie! My one year old had a NICU stay and during it it honestly felt like forever and now I look at her and I can hardly remember what we had to go through to get her home! 
Congratulations again Mumma!! Enjoy that sweet baby!!


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