NICU Week 1

Never did we imagine we'd have a baby who needed to stay in the NICU. I had a healthy pregnancy and delivered pretty much on my due date, with no interventions or complications. 

I liked my birth experience and hope to write about it after I express my thoughts and feelings about where we're at right now. Niko wasn't breathing after he came out, my midwives started CPR and EMS arrived quickly and took him to Mckay-Dee.

He's been there a week now. He looks so different from when he first arrived. He started out with cooling therapy, where they use a blanket with water running through it to cool down the body to 91.4° to slow cell development in order to prevent brain injury. That was done for 72 hours. We weren't able to touch anything other than his hands or feet because we couldn't raise his body temp. They said it's painful, like being out in the cold of winter. It was heartbreaking seeming him cold and not being able to nurture him. They slowly warmed his body up over a 7 hour period. Seeing him warm made everything feel better. He was more colorful and plump. After they warmed him They started feeding him breastmilk through a feeding tube.

He's had some air leakage into his chest cavity. They released air from the right side with a needle. That didn't work on the left so they had to put in a chest tube. They said it's painful so he was being sedated with morphine. They took the chest tube out, but had to reinsert it because x-rays showed more air leaking. They're hoping to remove the chest tube again and for good on Friday. 

A big milestone was being able to completely wean him off  of the ventilator Thursday. He is now breathing on his own, but is being given oxygen. 

It seems like they don't really say when he'll be out because, 1) I guess they can't know for sure and 2) they don't want  to get our hopes up. For some reason I thought this would be a couple of days kind of thing, but it's looking much longer. 

They aren't getting positive results that he has an infection, but his lung inflammation and some other protein test is coming back high so they are giving him an antibiotic in case he does have infection in his lungs. They started that Tuesday and it has to be administered for 10 days, so we know he'll be there at least that long. In order to discharge he has to be breathing on his own, eating on his own, maintaining his body temperature and have no changes in his heart rhythms. 

I've wanted him home so bad, I never thought of how scary having him home might be, always worrying if he's breathing. Jose is very vigilant at night checking on Che to make sure he's okay, I can't imagine he'll get any sleep with the new baby. 

He's still really sick, they say, but he's making good progress. Once the chest tube can be removed they'll do a MRI to see how is brain is looking. He could have brain damage from lack of oxygen. I'm scared to hear the results, but I know the brain is powerful and can heal. I'm also grateful my son is alive no matter what disabilities he may have in the future. 

Here are some photos of his milestones. 

 Within the hour after he was born. 

Midwifery

I cannot pinpoint in my timeline when I became interested in midwifery, but I think it had to have been back in 2010 when I studied abroad in Guatemala. For some reason I feel like it was before this, but it couldn't have been because I had no reason to be thinking of child birth. 

Part of our trip was learning about the indigenous Mayan culture. We stayed in a Tz'utujil village where we did a Mayan cleansing ceremony. I was such a dumb youngster back then that I remember trying to hold in laughs while the shaman swatted my friends with plant leaves. Now I'm so interested in that stuff. 

We learned about the local comadronas or midwives. Form what I remember people in the village have different gifts or callings and being a midwife was one of them. If  a baby was born en caul or still enclosed in their amniotic sac it was a sign that they had the gift to help deliver babies. Midwifery in Guatemala is a hands on learned skill. While on this trip an 8 months pregnant mama-to-be went with us. A local midwife did an examination of her belly for our group. She confirmed that the fetus was about 8 and half months and I swear she said it was a boy. The parents weren't finding out until it was born and it turned out to be a boy. I was fascinated and talked to one of my new friends about it. He told me that his son was delivered by a midwife in our city back home. I had no idea and this opened a whole new world for me. I think this was the first time I ever heard about natural childbirth too, because that was the mom's plan.

Since then I've always scheduled my yearly check-ups with local midwives to get a feel for who I'd like to be my midwife when the time came. 

This pregnancy I decided to go with Rebecca Vance in Layton because I liked her and she was close to my work so I could easily make it to appointments on my lunch hour. I saw her 3 times before pregnancy and 3 times during. I remember during my first prenatal appointment I asked her if she had any doula recommendations and she replied that she couldn't even remember the last time she delivered with a doula present. I thought that was odd, but didn't worry too much. I also asked her if she would let me squat birth and she said that was fine but she had to do what was best for me and the baby. I understand that completely, but I still felt uneasy. After briefly mentioning this to a natural childbirth educator she told me to continue asking questions to see if she was the right fit for me, but ultimately I needed to trust my instinct. 

While reading Ina May's Guide to Childbirth she hit the nail right on the head for me. "There are two distinct ways of thinking about pregnancy in the US, the midwifery model and the techno-medical model. Midwifery is female-centered, birth is something women do--not something that happens to them. The midwifery model of care recognizes the essential oneness of mind and body and the power of women in the creation of new life." Yes, and yes, that is so my thinking too. The model also conceives pregnancy and birth as inherently healthy process and each mother and baby as an inseparable unit. Emotions of the women have a very real impact upon the well-being of the baby.

On the other hand, the techno-medical model is male-derived and a product of the industrial revolution. The model assumes the human body is a machine and that the female body is a machine full of shortcomings and defects. Pregnancy and labor are seen as an illness, which in order to no be harmful to mother or baby, must be treated with drugs and medical equipment. That mean, drugs, cutting you, rushing you, and not acknowledging any mind body connection. I'm not going to get worked up and write any more about the techno-med model. If you want to read more check out Ina May's book.

After reading a portion of the book that explained how many midwives work for large hospital practices where the techno-medical model is the rule; therefore the midwife is constantly pressured to follow the techno-med model rather than a true midwifery model. Reading that I instantly  knew that was probably how Becky's practice was and it wasn't going to work for me.

Previously I had had a yearly check up with Christy Francis and had read through her blog. I thought it was pretty neat she had a blog and I actually sent her inquires about topics I wanted to hear more about and she either wrote a post about it or personally emailed me back. Now where can you find a practitioner that does that.

I started seeing Christy at week 21. I like that she does ultrasounds on every visit. I know there's controversy about that, but I like seeing my little guy. Christy was able to answer my question of which hospital will likely be able to suit my needs and wishes of having a natural birth. So far I'm feeling good about the birth team I'm putting together.

In the future I'd like to go to Chris Miller who specializes in home births, but for our first one my husband feels more comfortable being at a hospital in case we need medical attention. Also the downside of home birth or at the birthing center is we'd have to pay for it out of pocket, insurance won't cover it.

Kaleb Daniel

My new cousin Kaleb came into the family early Friday morning. Sunday my parents, tia Chelo, Cecilia, and I drove up to Rexburg, ID to meet him and congratulate the new parents. It was a fun little day road trip. Distance is a challenge, but good thing for FaceTime. Hopefully we can make it up more often to visit the Olivas family.

Friday May 3, 2013 * 1:40 AM * 6 lbs 14 oz * 19 inches

 

Marcelo James

My cousin Stephanie and her husband Marcelo welcomed their son, Marcelo James, into the world Sunday.  I teared up hearing the news. I finally met him today, and he is the sweetest thing. He looks a lot like Steph, soon we'll see if he has her hazel eyes. 

Sunday April 28, 2013 * 6:37 PM * 6 lbs 9 oz * 18 1/2 in

Baby James & Me

Uncle TJ

TJ, James, Steph, Pila

Related posts Double Baby Shower & Baby Announcement 

River Silas Martinez

He's finally here! Jose's best friend and wife announced on April Fool's day that they were going to be parents.You can imagine how hard that was to believe, but after Natalie refused a drink we knew it had to be true, because WHY would Natalie refuse a drink?

I know we were all meant to be friends, we have such similar views on child birth, babywearing  breast-feeding and circumcision, which makes me feel good to know that I will have their support when our time comes. They decided not to find out the sex of their baby until he was born. They planned an at home water birth, but after being in labor from Monday morning until Friday morning River was finally delivered by cesarean.

It's amazing how you can love someone you've never met. Jose and I can't wait to meet the new addition to our family. I hope it doesn't make us baby hungry.

Milk Drunk! My favorite picture so far.

Having a baby is hard work 

Nap Time

Abuelito Pepe and his new grandson