Evan is 2 weeks and a bit of a trouble maker

It's been quite a week around here. Last Sunday, we noticed that Evan was breathing faster than a newborn should. I called the on call pediatrician and she said to take him to the ER. Apparently urgent care isn't set up to handle the little bitties. At the ER they monitored him forever. His vitals were all perfect except for his respiration rate. The ER doctor called down a pediatrician from the children's hospital. She finally came and checked him out. She agreed he looks perfect other than the breathing. She called the neonatologist. They finally decided to send us home to follow up with our pediatrician.

Tuesday we saw our pediatrician. His weight was up to 9 lbs 6 oz. Someone tell him to stop growing so fast. His pediatrician ordered a chest x-ray. Not fun on such a little guy. Tuesday evening the pediatrician called with the results. His lungs looked great. But his heart looked large. She refers us to a pediatric cardiologist for an echocardiogram.

Wednesday morning we talked to the cardiologist and set up an appointment for Thursday morning. Wednesday evening, we started to worry about the color around his mouth. Was it blueish or just white? If it weren't for everything else going on I probably would have chalked it up to typical newborn weirdness. But given everything else, back to the ER we went. They decided to admit him for observation and do the echocardiogram in patient on Thursday. His umbilical cord "tag" fell off while we were in the ER.

Newborn with adult sized electrodes

his tag fell off between this picture and the one above

It was midnight before they finally sent us to the children's hospital wing. Then they had to do all all the intake stuff and then they wanted to draw blood to check for some metabolic issues. It took 2+ hours to get blood. It was not pleasant. We finally catch a few hours of sleep. Derek leaves to take Maya to school. At some point I talked to the pediatrician. Derek returned. The cardiologist got stuck in traffic. Finally get the echocardiogram around 11. His heart looked perfect. We were discharged around 2:30 with instructions to follow up with his pediatrician the following day.

Infant sized electrodes

Friday we had his 2 week appointment already scheduled for Friday morning. He was 21.5 inches (90th percentile), 9 lbs 11 oz (82nd percentile), and his head was 38 cm (97th percentile, up from 34.5 cm 50th percentile at birth). His pediatrician commented on his weight gain and head growing faster than expected so we should keep an eye on it. We still aren't sure what's going on with his. His pediatrician is out of the office for the next two weeks so she brings in her colleague to get to know Evan. He words were something like "I don't want anyone to freak out when they see him". So that's comforting? At this point we still don't have an explanation but have ruled out many of the most nasty cause. After our appointment, our pediatrician and her colleague were apparently discussing Evan and what to do next. Or pediatrician called us in the afternoon and asked us to bring him back for a CBC. The colleague called Friday evening with results. Still no answers.

Introducing Evan Martin

tldr version: Evan Martin was born on 5/12. He was 8 lb 6 oz and 20 inches long. His two big sisters are in love.

Long version: Friday (5/12) was my due date. I woke up a little before 4 to use the bathroom. Before I got up I coughed and felt a gush. I thought that I had just peed myself since pregnancy is glamorous. I went to the bathroom and notice some blood. I don't think too much of it since I'd had a cervical check the day before (was dilated to 3) that had caused some bleeding. I got back in bed and contractions start. They were uncomfortable and around 7 to 10 minutes apart. Around 7, the contractions slowed way down. I took Maya to school, did a mother's day activity with her class, made arrangements for a friend's mom to take Maya to girls scouts and then home. The whole time I'm concerned that my water is going to break dramatically in front of 23 kindergartners. I got home a little after 10 and the contractions pick back up again. Nora and I had lunch. I called my ob at 11:30 and he said to head to labor and delivery. I called dh and he headed home from work. We got to triage around 12:30. I went to the restroom to get changed into a gown and when I stood up I left a puddle on the floor. I was dilated to 6 and yes my water was in fact broken. We moved to a room and got settled. I walked around, sat on the ball, watched a movie, tried to nap. The contractions continued but didn't get much stronger. Around 6 pm, I was still at a six. The on call ob wanted to start pitocin. My contractions were starting to get more painful at this point so I requested that we wait an hour and check again before augmenting. My nurse agreed. After an hour, still not really any progress. A new ob was on call and she was also pushing the pitocin. I decided to get the epidural and pitocin at this point because I was in pain, exhausted, and just wanted him out safely. After a very short time on a low dose of pitocin, my contractions were back to back and strong. LO's heart rate was decelerating with each contraction and he was showing other signs of distress. I was stuck on my left side because that made him the happiest.  At some point, they turned off the pitocin. It was finally go time. Then the ob got a phone call and left. She finally came back and lo was born at 10:58 pm after about 4 pushes. He had a nuchal cord and that is why he was showing signs of disress. They untangled him and put him on my chest. He immediately peed on me. The ob gushed about how perfect his umbilical cord was. They took him to try to get him to cry more and clear out his lungs and to measure him. He was 8 lbs 6 oz and 20 inches long (a full pound heavier and inch longer than Nora and 2 lb 5 oz and 2 inches up on Maya). I get him back for skin to skin and he nursed beautifully. He didn't get a name until mid morning Saturday. He's named after my dad and Derek's brother.