My baby boy...he was born Sept 10, 2009 weighing 7 lbs 10 oz and 20-1/2 inches long. The sweetest little dumpling I had laid my eyes on in a long time. The best little gift.
I had a long pregnancy. Lots of drugs to sustain it, including an injection I had to give myself daily, plus frequent trips (almost weekly) to Peoria, 1-1/2 hours away, for Echocardiograms on little Finn's heart. Because of an antibody in my body, Finn could have acquired it during pregnancy making him viable for heart problems. Thankfully nothing ever "came up" and today he is 2 months old and very healthy. I'm very, very thankful.
I had a scheduled c-section. It was scheduled for the 17th but because of the cord being wrapped around his neck (and other pregnancy problems) my doctor decided taking him early was best, but they had to make sure his lungs were developed. I had an amniocentisis and sure enough, his lungs were perfect-o. So they took him at 47-1/2 weeks. The c-section went fine and I got to hold my little baby right away in recovery (I never got to have that with my other c-sections). Then the further recovery went well and I was released from the hospital in just 2 days. Record time for me. I had a minor headache when we left but I was told it was from the spinal anesthesia and that it would go away. So home I went.
That day my headache got worse. The next day it was even more agonizing...the worst headache of my life...so bad I could not function. It was a 10 on the pain scale. So, I called my doctor. They sent me back to the hospital to the ER. Before they could give me a "blood patch" (which was the cure-all to spinal headaches where they inject your own blood back into the hole where the anesthesia needle went into the spinal cord creating a "block" to any spinal fluid leaking out where it wasn't supposed to be), they had to give me a CT scan to make sure there wasn't any other underlying cause. Well, just my luck, something else came up. And it was blood on my brain. I had a brain hematoma. To hear those words, you cannot even imagine the thoughts running through my head...the pain in my heart and the emotional roller coaster I imagined I was to embark on was frightening.
To make a long story short, the blood on my brain did not grow. (Thank God.) However, my headache was not getting better. I ended up having a blood patch, and after a day of rest, the headache finally finally started to go away. I then got to go home!!! What a wild ride.
I'm so incredibly thankful for the prayers and the ANSWER to prayer. You don't realize how lucky you are until you experience something like this. I was able to go home and get back to being a momma. Nothing fancy in that, but it is the absolute best job in the entire world. It really truly is.
So Finley...he hung in there with me on my wild ride. The kids stayed back with grandparents (thank you, grandparents!). Today, we're back to being a normal family...a new family of 5. I love it. We all love it. Finn has really fit in perfectly. The missing piece to our family puzzle had been put into place. We are now complete and on with our beautiful thankful lives we go. My family and I...we are truly blessed.
Here are some photos...some from Finn's first few days of life to some more recent ones. And of course a few of my other cuties, Noah and Maia. Thanks for reading "my story" and I hope you enjoy. Make sure you come back...I'll be posting a ton more in the next couple days. Lots of love ~ Val
My kiddos at the hospital with their big bro / big sis shirts on. :)
Maia helping mommy out with feedings. She thinks she is a mommy, also.
Happy Halloween from my little pirates!