Porter Rock Davies
March 30, 2011
4:16 pm
6 pounds 7 ounces
18.5 inches long
Now, for the LONG story of how this all went down.
When I was 16 weeks along, at my ultrasound/routine check we found out my Blood Pressure was significantly elevated, at 20 weeks it jumped to over 150/100 and stayed there! We thought that my BP was attributing to my constant throwing up (literally at least ten times a day, every day). My doctor's put me on BP medication and told me to take it easy. Initially the medication definitely helped. I felt much better, had more energy, etc. About two weeks later though, my pressures shot up again to over 160/110. At this point, my doctor's put me on strict bed rest (this is when I was just under 26 weeks along).
Over the next 10 weeks, it was a constant battle of keeping the baby inside of me, and keeping me from having a stroke and/or seizure. Thankfully, I happen to go to the best OB's in town (literally, they really are the best, I'm not just saying that) and thankfully, they happen to know and love me since we have many family connections. They honestly took such amazing care of me, and over the 36 weeks I was pregnant, I was apparently a big topic of discussion at the clinic as they were all doing massive amounts of research trying to figure out what was wrong with me since I wasn't showing classic signs of PIH and Pre-eclampsia.
Anyway, on Monday, March 27 I had a routine NST (Non-Stress Test) and OB Follow Up with Dr Jacob. When I went into my NST my pressure's were hanging out around 160/105 and wouldn't go down. When I went back to my appt with Dr. Jacob he said, "Well Bec, your labs kinda give me and excuse to call this thing, but your pressure definitely does. Let's get you over to Labor and Delivery." They had been planning on inducing me at 37 weeks because of my pressure, but at 36 weeks and 3 days they sent me over with the plan that I would be induced that evening.
That night I was told by Dr. Gamette that he wanted to just monitor me over night and see how I did. My pressures stayed around 150/100 all night, so in the morning all the Doctor's met and agreed that it was definitely time to call it quits. At this point it was my health that outweighed the chance of the baby being in the NICU. They started me on Cytotec to help my body get ready for labor. That evening I was planning, once again, on being induced. Dr. Gamette came on call and told me that rather than inducing me that night, that he wanted me to get a good night's rest and they'd induce me first thing. I wasn't super happy at that, I'd been stuck in bed for months, and a hospital bed for two days. It turned out to be a huge blessing.
Wednesday morning, bright and early, Dr. Rees started me on my last round of Cytotec. At 10:00 they came in and used a "torture device" as we've now started calling it. I won't go into details but let's just say it was AWFUL! I have had a lot of pain in my life, I have never experienced anything to that level. It made me go from a 2cm to 4+cm VERY quickly in a very unpleasant way. After about 5 minutes of the pain I called for my epidural (I could have kissed him if I wouldn't have been in shock). I was so weak from the pain that I literally couldn't move. He and Dustin had to move me to the edge of the bed to do the epidural.
At 10:30 they started me on Pitocin to get my labor going. A few couple hours later they checked me and I was at a 5+ and 90% efaced.... we were happy with the progress and were planning on a few more hours. Little did I know I went from a 5+ to 7+ and 95% efaced in an hour, then from a 7+ to complete and a +2 station (meaning he was basically crowning) in a matter of less than an hour.
Me right before I went into full blown shock- literally. I was shaking violently, they had me on full oxygen, and I had many heated blankets on. I went into shock because he descended so fast that my body couldn't tolerate it. His heart rate kept dropping very badly too because he was in distress from the fast progression... hence the oxygen.
I then pushed for literally 12 minutes.... Dr. Rees came RUNNING through the doors (Literally sweating) and goes "nothing like a run up the stairs to get you ready for a delivery! Where's my boots? Where's my gown? Let's do this!" (Apparently he got the call that he had to get there NOW, so he booked it as fast as he could up 5 flights of stairs! Love that man). When we were waiting for a contraction he started styling Porter's hair! It was hilarious!!! Then one contraction, I pushed, and then we were gonna wait for another one and he goes, "Bec just push once for me really quick." So I did, and he was out!!!
Thanks to my intolerance for anesthetics, I had gotten 3 doses of my epidural, one of which I got right before they realized he was crowning. So I didn't feel a thing! It was awesome!
Literally 5 seconds after he was born! I can't even describe how amazing that felt to hold my baby!
I can't tell you how big of a sigh of relief Dr. Rees and I both shared when he came out screaming. Because he was preterm we were so concerned about lung development. This is when they were first listening to him breathe. They noticed his breaths were labored and called the NICU team, but after a minute he seemed to breathe easier so they called the team off.
Proud Daddy bringing him over to me
First family picture!
My amazing friend and Doctor, Scott Rees.
I can't even say how much it meant to me to have so many doctor's invest so much into my care. Dr. Rees came by and checked on me and hang out with Dustin and I many times throughout my stay in the hospital, especially that day.
My sister happened to be at Valley OB working that day doing NST's. I guess every few minutes Dr. Thorpe would come in and say "Jen just so you know, the baby's doing great!" I guess the whole time he was working he had my monitor pulled up on his computer so he could monitor how things were going for me. He just kept saying, "He looks great! But it's Bec we're really worried about." Anybody who knows Dr. Thorpe knows how busy he is and how hard it is to even get in to see him. I can't even tell you how much it meant for me to know that he was having a constant watch over me to make sure I was ok. It gave me such peace knowing that if anything went wrong, I would have 5 VERY incredible doctors running through my door to get me and my baby taken care of.
Woo hoo! We were VERY happy with his weight!
During his stay in the "well baby" Nursery.
At this point we found out that his O2 levels kept dropping to an unsafe level. They called a Respiratory Therapist to come check him out, and while he was there Porter did great! Then he left.. and he started tanking again. A few minutes later it was decided that for some reason his body just could not sustain breathing on their own, so the NICU was called and they came down and grabbed him and us and rushed upstairs.
This is a photo of them getting all the CPAP stuff on him. Initially they tried just putting him on a CPAP for an hour and then taking him off, but his Respiratory Rate was through the roof, and his O2 just wouldn't stay up.
When they first got him all hooked up to the CPAP, Dustin and I were standing there watching. A few minutes later I could feel my blood pressure shooting up, I got really sick incredibly fast. So I decided to head back down to Mother/Baby to get myself taken care of for a minute. My nurse came right in and started getting me taken care of. I was texing Dustin constantly at this point for updates, and thankfully my sweet parents were there sitting with me. I kept getting these sad updates like "They can't get the tube in his lungs, it just won't go in. Please, please pray for him." and "I'm so glad you aren't here right now, you would be crying. This is so sad." As they were intubating him. At first after some X-rays they thought his lung was leaking. After a few tests they ruled that out.
They then had to intubate him to give him a treatment called Surfactant, which goes in a completely opens the airways that are stuck shut. Apparently it is a brutal treatment and really scary for the parents to watch, but my sweet husband stayed right there by his side.
This is him hooked up to the CPAP after the Surfactant treatment, his levels stayed in the "Normal" range for the most part. When they took him off the CPAP the first time though, they tanked within a matter of minutes. At this point we were told to be prepared, that he would most likely be spending some time in the NICU.
I had many people tell me how amazing I looked after my delivery because I was up and walking within minutes. Clearly, they didn't see me when I was watching my little boy gagging on tubes and struggling to breathe. I cannot even describe how helpless I felt watching him struggle constantly. He would cry out but we couldn't help him. It was awful.
I cannot even describe how grateful I was at this point in time for the Priesthood. Dustin gave Porter a father's blessing, knowing that he would most likely be staying in the NICU.
Poor little guy kept trying to pull out all the tubes and wires. The nurses kept joking about how stubborn he is and they'd say "He's a fighter, he's gonna do well here!" The stubbornness may or may not have come from his mom... I'm just sayin...
Breaks my heart to even look at these photos.... But after 6 hours in the NICU, they took him off the CPAP again. The nurses were standing there, just being ready to hook him back up instantly. None of them thought he would go even a couple minutes without needing it again.
Ten minutes passed, then fifteen, then twenty. After 45 minutes they call the neonatologist over. He watched the monitors very closely, checked his lungs constantly, and after a few minutes he looked at us very happily and said, "He is doing remarkably well. I think you will be able to take him downstairs. Let me go get everything ready so he can go down." They continued to watch him for another 30 minutes almost, but everything was great! His Respiratory Rate would occasionally jump into the 60's and 70's but it would resolve itself within 30 seconds.
I truly cannot even describe our relief, our gratitude for modern medicine, and more than anything our gratitude for prayers and the power of the Priesthood at that point in time. I have never felt so helpless in my life watching my little boy struggle, but I had the most overwhelming feeling of peace and comfort. I knew everything would be ok!
Back Row: Uncle James, Josh (Welcome home from Iraq Josh!!! He just got home a couple days ago), Kristy, Morgan, Bradly, Jason, Devin Justin, Kurt, Mya, Chelsy, Michael, Austin, Bop, Gramma Cindy.
