Welcome Baby Jackson

Jackson was born on Saturday, March 14, 2015 at 7:57 am. (That also happened to be Pi Day of the century!) He was 5 lbs 14 oz and was 17 in long.

Here's his birth story:

Our doctor told us from the beginning that he wanted our baby to be born in his 38th week due to my age and the risk of a still birth increasing the longer the baby is invitro.  So as it came time to pick a date for my c-section, I was looking at the dates in my 38th week.  Pi day was in that date range, and even towards the end of it so that baby could stay in as long as possible.  The only problem was that Pi day was a Saturday.  So I asked Jeremy what he thought about picking that date, if it was even possible.  He was all for it, so I called the person who schedules c-sections for my Dr and asked her about the possibility of having a scheduled c-section on a Saturday.  She had to get in touch with the hospital and get back to me.  When she did get back to me, she said that they only do one planned c-sections on Saturdays and that it was for 7:30 am.  When I asked her if Sat March 14 was still available, she said it was.  So we excited picked that date and waited for it to arrive.

The first two weeks of March went by so very slowly as we anticipated Jack's arrival.  I've never known when a baby was coming before, so it was very nice in some aspects, but made time go more slowly in others.

The night before we had him, I took my last pregnancy photo.  Here I am at 38 weeks:

 The next morning we got up at 5 so we could be at the hospital by 6:15.  The next hour and a half went by surprisingly fast as they checked me in, asked A LOT of questions, prepped me for my c-section, etc. 
I loved my anesthesiologist.  He gave my a play by play of what was happening behind the curtain.  I knew exactly when Jackson had been born, when the placenta was delivered, etc.  It was actually really comforting to know what was going on.  Since Jeremy's stomach doesn't do well around blood, he's always right by my head, behind the curtain as well.  So this was the first time I knew what was going on.
Little Jackson was gurgling during his first few cries, which had me worried, but I could hear the nurses suctioning him out, and within a few seconds, his cry was normal!  Since I can't see much during a c-section, that normal cry made me extremely happy. Jeremy was able to bring little Jackson over to me before they took him to the nursery.

Jeremy followed Jack and was able to keep in touch with me through texting.  While I was still in recovery, I found out that little Jack would be headed to level 2 nursery, which is that particular hospital's NICU unit.  His blood sugar levels were extremely low, which is a common problem since I had gestational diabetes.  I was just grateful he didn't have to be transferred to a different hospital!  They wheeled my bed into the nursery before they wheeled me into my room so that I could hold him for as long as I wanted to.

It took me a while before I was able to get back to the nursery to see him again.  The nurses wheeled me in to see him once that first day, and would have more often if I had asked, but it was too painful for me.  By the second day, with the catheter out and my IV gone, I got to go see him a lot more, which was oh so nice.  By day 3 his blood sugars were doing well enough they released him from Level 2 and he was in my room for a total of about 2 hours.  That was long enough for Aunt Emily and Aunt Tricia to come and hold him.  With him in Level 2, only Mom Dad, Grandma and Grandpa could hold him....  Not even Clara or Joe could be with him, but the nurses were kind enough to let us hold Jack up by a window so that Clara and Joe could at least see him.

However, after those two short hours in my room, his blood sugars dipped too low again, so he was back in Level 2 AND on bilirubin lights.  So I was back to not getting to hold him very often.  By day 4, I could head home, but since Jack's blood sugars were getting better, I decided to stay an extra day at the hospital so that hopefully we could all go home the next day together. 

The next morning, all his levels were above the cutoff, but all were just barely above the cutoff.  With what happened on Monday (Day 3,) the Dr didn't want to send him home quite yet.  So I headed home by myself on Wednesday.  As I would go visit Jack that day, his oxygen levels kept dropping while he was eating.  That is somewhat normal due to not breathing as deeply while he eats.  Since his oxygen levels would come up quickly, they weren't too worried.  But I got a phone call at 11 pm Wednesday night from the pediatrician.  Jack's oxygen levels had dropped during a feeding, but never came back up.  So they put him on oxygen, did an x-ray of his lungs, ran some tests, and put a feeding tube in him so that his little body could take a break from eating and hopefully get his oxygen levels back up.  So the next time I saw my little guy, he looked like this:

The only problem was that the test results were going to take 2 days to get back, and Jack would have to stay in the hospital until those results could come in.  He either had a bacterial infection or his lungs weren't quite as developed as a normal 38 week old.  They said that when mom's have gestational diabetes, a common problem is lungs that aren't quite developed as they should be.  So after two days, we found out that he didn't have an infection, so it must have been underdeveloped lungs. 
He was finally released from the hospital on Saturday, when he was one week old! When we brought him home, I noticed that Clara was keeping her distance a little.  I asked her if she wanted to hold him.  Her eyes light up and she said, "Can I?"  She was one happy big sister.

Little Joe is in love with Jack as well.  He wants to hold him more that Clara does. 

He even wants to help feed Jack "by myself!"

Cute sayings of Clara: "Mom, do you think Jack is made of puppies and rainbows?"  When I gave her a questioning look she said, "Oh people just say that when they think a baby boy is extra cute.  So Mom, do you think he's made of puppies and rainbows?" - Yes Clara, I do!

Cute sayings of Joe: "Baby Jack is soooooo cute!"  "Want to pet Baby Jackson."