Theodore James

Theodore James Jones
August 19, 2014

9:30 pm

7lbs 1 oz

19" long
Height: 35%
Weight: 28%
Head Size: 66%

Our baby is here!!!  It is crazy to me that not only is he here, but he is over 3 weeks old!  Everyone says the time will fly, and they are not kidding.

Theodore James made his arrival on August 19, 2014.  I woke up that morning feeling crampy about 5 am, and by 6 am was having contractions about every 2 minutes.  I got ready and Nate and I went in to my doctor appointment that was at 9:30.  I told her what was going on, and she said "Maybe you are in labor!"  They put me on the monitor and sure enough, every 90 seconds I was having relatively big contractions.  They watched me for a while and decided this was it--it was time to head over to the hospital!  Chelsea was there for her 37 week check up so she came in and wished us well as we went over to check in.

Just after checking in Nate gave me a blessing.  I'm so thankful for this husband who is a worthy priesthood holder who was able to do that for me.  He blessed me that my body would be responsive, that I would know what to do, and that we would be able to hear and trust the words of our doctors.  He blessed our little baby that his body would be safe during this process and that he would arrive here with no complications.

Within a couple hours I was hooked up to monitors, IVs and who knows what else, and my doctor had come in and broken my water.  Our little guy had pooped in the water sack, so we were a little concerned about meconium aspiration.  They watched my contractions and decided they weren't strong enough, so started me on pitocin.  After about an hour they came in and said they had been watching the baby's heart rate and that he wasn't responding well to the contractions, so they decided to turn off the pitocin.  For the rest of the day, they would start it and turn it off over and over as my body wasn't having hard enough contractions but little Theodore wasn't dealing very well with them when they came hard.  By 4 pm I had been in labor almost 12 hours and was only dilated to a 3, and that is when they started talking about the possibility of a C-Section.  I was shocked to hear it--in all my months of prepping for labor and delivery I had never actually considered that it might happen that way.  I'm so grateful for a doctor I trust who I know had the best interest of me and my baby in mind.  I'm thankful for the words of the blessing Nate had given me, to hear and trust our doctor, and the reassurance that Theodore would be ok.  We waited a few more hours, but with no strong contractions happening on my own, the pitocin stressing the baby, and no dilation, it was looking pretty grim for a vaginal delivery.  Theo had never dropped and my doctor was concerned his head was not fitting through my pelvic opening, but there was no way to know that for sure.  On top of that we were starting to worry about the meconium and how long Theo had been in stress.  At about 8:30 we were prepped and ready to head in to the OR to get this little guy here via C-Section.

Nate went with me and watched the whole thing.  Once they had me all prepped and were ready to begin, I started to cry.  It was such an overwhelming feeling to know that this was it, that in just a few minutes I would have 2 children.  That all the aches and pains and sickness and just plain going crazy for the last 10 months and the stress and anxiety of the last 12 hours had all led up to this, and that in a few minutes I would be holding my little baby.  I knew then that it was all worth it.  That is why women get pregnant more than once.  That is why we forget all the aches and pains and sickness and going crazy, because at the end of it we get the most perfect little baby straight from heaven placed in our arms.

It was a crazy experience to watch the C-Section from the looks on Nate's face.  I was mostly with it, but was SUPER concerned with the fact that I couldn't feel my legs and was hating the blood pressure cuff that was going off every 60 seconds.  Nate was a champion and held my hand and squeezed my shoulder as he watched them deliver our little guy.  He told me "he has chubby cheeks!" and then they passed him through the window to the nursery to clear out his airways.  I've never been so scared in my life when he wasn't screaming and crying, I called out "He isn't crying!"  My doctor told me it was better he wasn't crying because they needed to clear his airways, and assured me he would be ok.  Sure enough, a few minutes later we heard him announcing his arrival and making sure no one would forget it.  Nate asked the doctor if the issue was the shape of my pelvis and Theo's head not fitting, and she said it was and that he was "stuck like a cork in a wine bottle."  Once he was good to go they took Nate to go see him, and he came back with this picture of our little boy:

Oh, those chubby little cheeks and dark hair--I was so in love so instantly!  Stitching me up and finishing up the surgery seemed to take forever--I just wanted to see my little guy.  When we were finally done and they had finished cleaning up Theo, they brought him to me for the walk back to our room.  Oh, what a perfect little man!  The first thing I said when they gave him to me was "He looks just like Ryan!"  I can't describe exactly what it is, but his little mouth and nose just look so much like his brother.  I feel like Theo is the link that binds our clan together--we now all share common DNA. 

My dad brought Ryan up that night even though it was late.  I sat and watched Nate introduce Theodore to Ryan.  I watched them sitting on the other side of the room and just cried at how much I love these boys of mine.  My parents and Ryan stayed for a little bit and then went home to get Ryan to bed.  

Just after they left the NICU nurse came in to check on Theo again, and was a little concerned about his oxygen levels.  They decided to be safe they would take him to the NICU and monitor him.  If his O2 levels came up within 6 hours of his birth he wouldn't have to be admitted.  Nate went with him and my nurse took me to my recovery room.  I was exhausted and still a little foggy but just kept staring at the pictures of him.  Nate would text me updates from the NICU and I tried to get a little sleep.  At 3:30 am, 6 hours after he was born, his oxygen was still a little unstable, so they admitted him to the NICU.  Nate came back to my room and 3 hours later wheeled me over to feed him.  It was hard being in a different room, because I was starting to be in more pain and needing to rest and lie down, but wanted so badly to spend as much time as possible holding Theo, changing his diapers, and feeding him.  Nate was amazing at bouncing back and forth between our two rooms and taking such good care of both of us.

He had a few days in the NICU to watch his lungs, during which he was on oxygen and an IV antibiotic.  Luckily he didn't develop a full fledged infection and didn't need the full 10 days of antibiotic.  We were so happy when they weaned him from the oxygen and he got to come stay with me!  They surprised me with that news one night after Nate had left to come home with Ryan and I was planning to be there alone.  What a joy it was to have my little babe with me!

Ryan is the best big brother we could ask for and just adores his little brother.  He has been watching out for him from day one and loves him so much.  It makes me so happy to see them together!

Welcome to the world Theodore James--we've waited a long time for you!!