Our Christmas Gift

God has blessed us with an early Christmas gift, our precious son. Nathan Gerald Schwandt was born to us on Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008 at 5:00 pm, weighting 6lbs 1oz and 18"long.

The Birth Story

I woke up to my alarm at 5:40am on Tuesday, December 2nd. As usual, I emptied my bladder and proceeded to the kitchen to get my cell phone, which is set with a 6:07am alarm so that I can cuddle on the couch with my doggie and make sure I don't fall asleep and miss work. As I grabbed for my phone, I felt two "wets" and thought, What the heck did I just pee? As I returned back to the bathroom, the thought crossed my mind, Did my water just break? Well, it had to be that cuz I couldn't stop the flow, if ya know what I mean... So I started yelling for Tom, LOUDLY, cuz he sleeps with ear plugs. He had just gone to bed (works 2nd shift) about 2 hrs prior to my water breaking. Once I got his attention, he opened the bedroom door and although he was speechless, the look on his face said, What the heck is your problem? All I said was, I think my water just broke and he said Are you sure you're not just peeing? I was sure. Boy, was I sure! Neither of us could believe this was happening. NOW? Really? Oh-my-gosh-we're-going-to-have-a-baby!! A little ironic how Monday is when I got the call from my Dr's nurse telling me I tested positive for Group B Strep (see post just below here) and I was instructed to call the office if either I was having contractions 7-10 mins apart OR my water broke, whichever came first. Ha, did that instruction come at the perfect time or what?! So, I called and woke up the on-call nurse, who confirmed it certainly sounded like my water broke and instructed us to enter at the ER entrance. I had my hospital bag only partially packed, so I quickly threw in things I had on my list-to-pack. I wasn't having any crazy contractions, no more than I was before, so on our way we stopped for gas since the truck was on "E". I wanted to eat my muffin, but withheld (afterthought--wish I hadn't). We checked in at the ER at about 6:30am and were brought up to our room.

Once in our room, the nurses put monitors on me to watch contractions and the baby's heart rate. They also did a test to ensure my water had broke and it came out positive. Since I was only dialated 2cm, I was put on pitosin to urge along those contractions and dialation. I had already decided I would get an epidural and the nurses told me I'd have to get the whole bag of fluids in me before the epidural could be put in. As the contractions got much more stronger, we took a walk around the floor, came back, got the catheter placed, the bag of fluid pushed through, and then the epidural came. I knew I'd have to be super still, and I was worried cuz I could only get thru the contractions by vigerously moving my legs around. While getting the edpidural placed, Tom, the nurse and the anesthesiologist were all encouraging me and telling me how perfect I was doing. The nurse commented she wished they had video taped it to teach other people how to be super still. I only got thru the 2 contractions I had while all of this was taking place was because of my loving husband's encouragement and reminding me to breathe through them. He was so great and I couldn't have done that without him there holding his hand listening to his voice. The acutal epidural didn't really HURT, it was just trying to be a perfect statue so nothing would go wrong while having painful contractions. After the epidural was placed, Tom and I both took an hour nap. Mind you, Tom is running on like 2 hours of sleep on top of a bad cold!

Hours went by, I was feeling SO MUCH better and the nurses continued to check dialation. Finally, I was fully dialated, confirmed by Dr. Kaldas, but the nurses were having a difficult time getting baby's heart rate, so we tried an internal monitor which slips right under the baby's scalp. Still the heart rate was irregular, and Dr. Kaldas wanted to install one on his own cuz he thought maybe the nurse hadn't done it correctly, but still the heart rate was irregular. Baby was at +1cm (above the cervix), part of his head was bubbling through the fully dialated cervix, but he wasn't coming down like he should be. Each contraction was putting strain on him, causing the irregular heart rate, so an emergency c-section was called for. They quickly rushed me in the O.R. (I'll save the gory details and pain of the surgery), and a few minutes later Nathan Gerald Schwandt was born!!

The look on Tom's face when we both heard that first cry was priceless. I'm sure my face looked much the same. Oh my gosh, we have a baby! Tom immediately said how perfect he was and took pictures of him as the nurses wiped him off, swaddled him and handed him over to Tom. Tom brought our precious little miracle to my face and I kissed him, with tears coming from my eyes. Our precious bundle - how amazing! Tom was a natural, instantly, at holding him so perfectly. If you know my husband, he always passed on holding our friend's babies for fear of breaking them. But he said holding our own precious son was so much easier.

Since Nathan was born at 36w 5d, he is considered pre-term (a.k.a. preemie). Because of the irregular heart rate, an EKG was done immediately which came out perfect-- no hole in his heart and no more irregularity. His vitals were montiored closely the entire time of our stay, and Dr. Berg, his physician, came to check him over and with another EKG to be safe, and it still looked good. The only concern she had was him being high risk for jaundice. He had some yellowing and discharge from his eyes, so Dr. Berg ordered more Erythromycin to be put in his eyes 4 times per day. That's the stuff they put in a baby's eyes after they are born. After just one more dose of the gel-stuff, his eyes were much better and Dr. Berg later came in to say his 2nd heel poke test came back good and his eyes looked good. So far so good, and no billy bed!

Here are the pictures I know you've been waiting for...

Nathan Gerald Schwandt

6 lbs. 1.1 oz. 18" long

born 5:00 pm Dec 2, 2008

PS - Tom even cut the umbilical cord. Days ago he wasn't so sure he could do it, but he did and I could tell he was proud!

The name NATHAN means "gift from God". I like meanings of names, and I find them special, so we wanted to pick a name we liked, and with good meaning. The meaning of Nathan is perfect, especially for our miracle gift and we hope that he will never forget that.

GERALD is Tom's dad's first name, and Tom said from day 1 he wanted his son to have his dad's name for his son's middle name.

Proud MOMMY

Proud DADDY (with a cold)