Keller's Story: Pregnancy, Labor/ Delivery & Hospital

KELLER RESOP REILLY -- AUGUST 23RD, 2009 -- 4 LBS 5 OZ, 17 1/2 INCHES

It's been a long time! Sorry for such a gap between my first post and now. As I mentioned, we had our son Keller Resop on August 23rd, 7 weeks early.

But I guess I should start at the beginning. This pregnancy was confirmed for us on February 26th (yes Anna - my sister's birthday) with an ultrasound...which I deemed necessary even after an at home test AND blood work had said I was pregnant. But indeed the ultrasound showed a little thing in there and we were able to hear a strong heartbeat. The ultrasound showed a 7 week old fetus...and doing the math, that meant I had gotten pregnant just 6 weeks after delivering Madison. woah. Also, it meant that I would be 24 weeks pregnant at my wedding...also a woah.

The pregnancy itself was very unremarkable...literally, it was pretty flawless. I had a bout with my asthma but it was very much unrelated to being pregnant and the wedding was awesome! I actually am glad I was pregnant since it forced me to not drink and I love having such a clear memory of that entire weekend.

A few week later (and don't worry we did training--swimming, walking, biking -- all summer for this) we did a tri-atholon! It was a 400 Meter swim, a 12 mile bike ride, and a 2 mile run (ok...it was a walk for me). I did finish though which I was proud of!

Now, from what I am told the tri-atholon is NOT RELATED to me going into labor early but on Friday August 21st, I traveled into the cities to visit with some Sigma ladies and work on a quilt for our good friend and sister Annie. I was also going to MN for my cousin Jenny's wedding that was Saturday. That night, I stayed at my real sister Anna's apartment and she jokingly asked if I needed a tarp put down in case my water broke...HAR HAR HAR very funny right? Well, the next morning I woke up with what I assumed to be a need to fart. I know, gross but really that's what it felt like! Then at around noon, as we were headed to my parents house for lunch, I realized as I drove that these "gas pains" were coming and going about every two minutes and lasting about 30-45 seconds. Seriously though, who would have thought it was labor?! I thought I had to fart! haha. Of course! I was having BrackstonHicks...the fake kind of labor pains...it had to be. So I continued on with my day not really worrying since I could feel the baby moving around/kicking I knew it wasn't like last time with Madison. Well, 8 hours later, after going to a wedding and the reception, these "gas pains" had turned into full blown contractions where I had to breathe thru them....so I decided to pass on the dancing and head back to Eau Claire.

Side note to this story, Broghan is in Chicago for a seminar thru all of this and getting hourly updates over the phone...I can only imagine the stress he is feeling at this point..

I had a birthing assistant meet me at our place and drive me to the local hospital. Once admitted and checked (it took about 2 hours) I was informed that no, it was definitely not Brackston Hicks..I was 3.5 cm dialated and fully ephased meaning this baby wants out and I was in labor.
It's now almost 2 AM and I have to make phone calls to both Broghan (to tell him to get his butt back) and my parents (to tell them I'm in labor, but don't panic). The hospital in the mean time informs me that they are not equipped to handle a 33 week old preemie, so I would need to be air lifted to Rochester, MN to deliver there. Broghan made it back to Eau Claire and to the hospital about 20 minutes before I left in the helicopter for Rochester. So he said hello quickly and turned right around, checked on Marvin and headed to MN by car. The helicopter ride wasn't nearly as exciting as I had hoped my first time up in one would have been with all the wires attached and those annoying contractions every few minutes. But I did manage to get a little shut-eye in between them so that was nice since I was starting to get tired going on no sleep.

So I get to Rochester and Broghan gets there about 30 minutes after me...yes, he may have been speeding...but the labor progresses, my parents & family show up and after a few more hours we finally get to the pushing. No drugs, no epidurals and no extra help, just 10 minutes of pushing and he was out! It goes by so fast, but really, I hope anyone who considers an epidural thinks twice...its totally worth it to feel everything and you feel SO INCREDIBLY GOOD afterwards! Seriously, its a better-than-sex feeling of euphoria...it's why we as women are lucky enough to get to be the ones to deliver our children!!

As for Keller, he came out screaming, probably pissed at us for having such a bright, cold room to welcome him with but breathing on his own. He was struggling though and sounded like a little lamb 'bahhing' with each breath. He was breathing on his own for the first 24 hours, but as that day dwindled down, he had to work harder and harder to get his oxygen.

At the 24 hour mark, we decided to intubate him and they topically administered a solution called Surfactant. This is a soapy substance that we all make naturally in our lungs to make breathing easier/smoother and I guess it's during this 33rd week of gestation that we really start pumping it out...therefore, Keller was missing that piece.

Also, he had a feeding tube inserted for obvious reasons. In the pictures, you can see lots of wires and tubes, but really its a breathing tube, a feeding tube and then general stat monitors for temperature, heartbeat, and breathing rate. He was allowed to be extubated once he was breathing beyond the pumps created by the breathing tube and was on room level oxygen. This only took 4 days to accomplish. The bluish glow in one of the pictures is the biliruben light. It is to prevent Jaundice which often happens with preemies. It's kind of of a neat deal since it's just a blue light, that's all. Nothing fancy and no drugs which we were happy about. The rest of Keller's hospital story is one of constant progress and growth. He was able to gain weight every day and his breathing improved as well. After 2 weeks in the Level 3 NICU in Rochester, Keller was transferred back to Luther Hospital in Eau Claire, just 1 mile from our new house! We spent the next two weeks driving back and forth from home to hospital and I spent MANY hours in their Special Care Nursery working with Keller on breastfeeding. We were lucky in a lot of ways with have a preemie, I got a lot of help learning how to breastfeed and how to care for Keller once he was home. I think a lot of newborns, who are born full-term just get sent on their way without much instruction to the mom's and dad's. Keller never needed any medications beyond the little bits of morphine he was given while intubated those first few days of life and has not received anything since. He's been a happy and healthy baby and as I've been told many times, a very GOOD baby too.