I spent most of the day he was born waiting for my labor to progress and trying to rest and nap while I could. I will spare you the details, but I will share that I pushed for 1 hour and 1 minute (I want credit for every minute!) and our son entered the world at 5:56 PM.
I can't say enough good things about the nursing staff and my doctor, who helped me have the delivery I wanted. We were told its unusual to labor over 24 hours after your water has broken and I labored for 30 hours. I cannot thank my doctor enough for being patient with me and letting me labor for as long as I did so I could have the outcome I wanted. The nurses were so encouraging, supportive, and excited to see if Baby B was going to be a girl or boy (as most parents already know the gender before delivery).
Our son didn't have a name for the first two days of his life. Picking out a boy's name and packing the hospital bag were all on the "to do" list we didn't get to because he decided to come two weeks early. But he was in good company, the Royal Couple also hadn't decided on their son's name for a few days after he was born.
We named him Cole Parker and decided on his name around 10 AM on Thursday morning, the day we were all supposed to be discharged. Minutes after finally figuring out his name, Cole's doctor came in to tell us that his billirubin levels were still too high and he needed to go to the special care nursery. It made it hard to celebrate finally naming your son when you have take him down to the special care nursery to spend the rest of the day and night. But I am forever grateful to his doctor who made sure Cole received the best care possible and also made sure we were taken care of as well.
My heart goes out to every parent who has to deal with their baby having a health complication. I can look back now and say that jaundice is a treatable problem and I knew his stay in special care was temporary. But taking him down to the special care nursery, knowing we would have to leave him there, was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. As a mom, I spent 9 months picturing how the first few days of my child's life would go and this wasn't how I pictured it.
On Friday morning, we received the good news that his levels were coming down and that he would be discharged. It was such a good feeling to have him back in the room with us and know that we could finally go home. After Matt packed up the car, we were wheeled down and headed home to be a family of four!
 |
| Cole - 1 Day Old |
 |
| Cole under the billi lights |
 |
| Getting ready to head home as a family of four! |
 |
| Daulton showing Cole how to play XBox |
