Asher Kendon Saez

Asher was born on May 16, 2011 at 5:02 p.m. and he weighed 4 lbs 15 oz.  

Here's how he got here:

I went in for my weekly check up at 10:45 a.m.  

I had been feeling nauseous all weekend so I was going to talk to my Dr. about it.

Well the appointment gets started and the nurse took my blood pressure.  I could tell it was higher than normal.  Then my Dr. comes in and looks at my chart and asks me, "Have you been getting headaches?" "No.."

"Have you had and changes in vision?"

"No.."

"Have you felt any contractions"

"No.."

"Huh."

Now, I'm starting to freak out a little bit.  Then my Dr. checks me and I was dilated to a 5! So she sent me up to labor and delivery.  I get there and I'm all checked in and waiting in triage.   The nurse hooked me up to the heart rate monitor and the contraction monitor.  She kept asking me if I was feeling any pain or contractions and I kept tell her no.  I was really freaking out now.

It had been about 45 minutes since my Dr. checked me at my appointment to when they checked me again in triage.  Well in that 45 minutes I had dilated to an 8+.  Needless to say they got me into a room pretty quick after that.  

Once I got into my room they asked if I wanted an epidural and I didn't know if I wanted one because I couldn't even feel my contractions that I was apparently having, lol. But then they told me they were going to give me pitocin to see if the contractions would get stronger so I'd know when to push, so I got the epidural.  I probably could've done without it because I couldn't feel my contractions until the last hour and then they didn't even hurt.

Even though I dilated pretty quick, Asher's head wasn't down far enough so I pushed for about 2 hours just to get him down farther.  Then he was turned facing up so right as they were about to get the tools to turn him in my next contraction I was having my contraction and he turned. Dodged that bullet! Now it was time for some real pushing.  I pushed for an hour about every 2 minutes and I was exhausted and so was the baby.  He was so close but we were both so tired that I couldn't get him out and they vacuumed his little head.

We got to hold him for about an hour and then they came to give him his bath and test his blood glucose.

They told me that I would have him in my room about 10 minutes after I got there. 

Well, we waited and waited and waited and finally my husband called me and told me that Asher failed his glucose test and that they were going to feed him again and test him in an hour.  An hour went by and I got another call that he failed the test again and that he would be going into the NICU.  I was devastated but I knew that would be the best place for him and he wasn't as bad as the other babies that were in the NICU for other reasons.  It was so hard to see all the wires attached to him and the little IV in his hand and head.  It was an emotional roller coaster the next four days.  He would have a good feeding and they'd lower his IV drop, then he would have a bad feeding and have to raise his IV again.  Every time they lowered it, we'd get our hopes up only to have them raise it again.  I just wanted to take my baby home.  I was discharged on Wednesday but Asher wasn't ready to come home yet so they let me and Kendon stay in an empty room on the 5th floor.  I was so glad that we didn't have to leave him up there all by himself.  

On Thursday morning Asher started to do really well and they said if he kept improving we could take him home on Friday! We were so excited, but I was cautious because I didn't want to get too excited.

Well, he kept improving and we got to bring him home!

Asher is 6 weeks old today.  He eats 4 oz everytime.  Finally fits in his newborn clothes, sleeps for 5 hours at night, and weighs 7 lbs!

We are so grateful for all the nurses that took care of me and Asher.  I am grateful for the technology we have today that helps so many little babies that need that extra help. And I am grateful for Asher's stay in the NICU.  This experience has brought Kendon and I closer and we love the feeling Asher brings to our little family.

Pictures coming soon!