Baby Silas

So in a sheer selfish act to avoid having to constantly explain what has been going on this past week I thought I would give you a post about our newest family member, Silas. 

For those who don't want the whole story here is the summary:

Silas Marlan Lyon

born February 6th, 2012 at 10:26

weighed 7lbs. 14oz.

measured 21 in long

For those of you who want the details, read on.

Monday Feb. 6th was the final date for the scheduled c-section. Many of you know that it was a long haul to get to that date which put me at 39 weeks and 1day. For about 3.5 weeks before the 6th I had basically been in labor. Contractions were pretty much constant ranging from 2 to 10 minutes apart. The baby was incredibly low, like I couldn't hardly walk, especially that last week. My blood pressure would spike and cause all the issues that come with that. I had been on narcotics just to function (and sleep) and to try to calm my uterus so as not to put me in the hospital with the contractions. Which made another issue of not being able to feel the baby much because of the narcotics. Got to love the catch 22.

Nonetheless we made it to Monday the 6th. I will admit I was pretty nervous. This was my fourth c-section and for some reason knowing what to expect just made it that much worse. My reaction to the spinal has been different with every kiddo and this one, well, lets just say I didn't yell at the doctor or puke like in the past, I just had a lot of anxiety and tears. I was on the OR table for about an hour before the procedure actually began. The doctor had some complications getting over. But we started **please note- some of the details concerning the birth are from other people as I had a blue sheet to stare at and didn't visually get to see what was happening** and at 10:26 is when Silas entered the world. Blue and silent. 

He tried to fool us at first and let out an initial squawk which had me hopeful. But then there was a bunch of whispering and quick footsteps and a lot of concerned eyes. I don't know how long the silence lasted. It felt like an eternity to me. My guess would be around 5 to 10 minutes that I didn't get a response from anyone when I asked what was going on. Jeff and my mom were there with me. They tried to reassure me but I could tell by their eyes that they were just as scared as I was. They had to manually oxygenate Silas, not entirely sure how they went about that, but he wasn't breathing on his own and was purple as all get out. The only thing I had to judge how things were going was watching my mom and Jeff's facial expressions and body language. Neither of which was good, despite what they would say to me. I guess when I see my mom, who is an OR nurse and had worked in the OB for many years, rock herself to relieve the panic, pick at her thumbs despite wearing gloves, and have a furrowed brow didn't really help despite her telling me that everything was working out. After far too long we heard a couple more squawks and people started to talk a little louder and the whispering wasn't as often. At one point I do believe that everyone working on me, besides one maybe two, was over with Silas and the team of doctors and nurses around him. When I looked over and no one was around it pretty much was the low point and I figured that the chances of loosing our little boy were a real possibility. The nurses did wonderfully with him and really kept themselves together. And after being told that he was a boy and that he had finally started to breathe without manual intervention they whisked him and Jeff and my mom away to work with him.

I had to stay on the table to finish up the procedure and I had also opted for a double tubal ligation, ie I had my tubes tied. During that time on the OR table very little was said by anyone, and if they did speak about anything other than asking for tools it was said in a hushed whisper. By the time they finished with me I don't think I had a tear left but my doctor put on a happy face and sent me out to the post-op recovery room where I had to wait until I could bend my knees. Gotta love anesthesia.  

While in post-op I was next to a little old lady who had been placed there because her recovery room was overfull. She was 93 (?) and very sassy. I don't think she saw me there because I am sure she would have said something. She was the little old lady that everyone giggles when she talks because the only allergies she has "are to doctors and hospitals" and tells the transport kid that he has a "cute butt" then proceeds to make jokes about the fact that she had to take out her teeth for the procedure and so forth. All this in a very loud-because-I-can't-hear-myself voice. Anyway, I got a kick out of it and it kept me preoccupied for the most part. That is until she got relatively serious with the post-op nurse about a little baby that was in the elevator before she was brought in and it was blue and purple and she wanted to know if everything was okay. That is when I found out I did still have tears left and the nurse was so kind as to call up on occasion and get updates for me.

When I could finally bend my knees they took me up to the nursery and I was able to see Silas for the first time. He seemed to recognize my voice and calm a bit which was comforting to me. He was on oxygen and monitors galore. The poor baby even had an IV, impressive on the nurses' part though. I only got the stay for about 5 minutes or so before they had to take me to my recovery room where I was stuck because for some reason they don't like anyone with a catheter and legs of jello walking to the nursery to see her baby. So, Silas was on oxygen and gaining color slowly in the nursery while I was stuck on my uncomfy hospital bed unhappy that I couldn't be with him. They worked all day with him, getting fluid out of his lungs and ensuring his oxygen saturation numbers were high. They finally started to ramp down his oxygen and work toward room air. By 7:00 the next morning he was finally able to come to me. The doc was impressed with his recovery and deemed it okay for him to stay with me as long as he was monitored often by the nurses. It was a long night and that was just what I needed to hear to make it all worth it. 

While we were there he had been on fluids for so long that getting him to eat was a bear. That mixed with the fact that he had to have his tongue clipped to allow him to be able to stick out his tongue. Until we realized that breast feeding was not enjoyable, nor effective. So, once that was done we were doing well in the hospital and learning to feed but then his jaundice levels ramped too high and they had to keep us a bit longer. So, while I thought we were leaving Wednesday we ended up staying until Friday morning enduring the blue lights and many a heel pricks. Oh, and I can't forget to throw in there a great surprise visit from my girlfriends with food and treats galore on Thursday night to celebrate my birthday. They are amazing friends and I really can't imagine if I ever would have made it through the last 9 months without them. It was so nice of the nurses to let them stay past visitor hours and even my doctors commented how great of friends they were when I was checked on the next morning.

All in all, we arrived home late Friday morning. Silas is healthy with relatively low jaundice levels. He can breath and has been pink ever since. I am recovering like anyone who had abdominal surgery does. Sore but happy for pain relievers. And while it was a bumpy first week of life we are very grateful that everything turned out OK. We have many people to thank for prayers and love. And doctors who have our endearing gratitude for all the work and stress we put them through. Over all it was an experience I won't forget but one that ended nicely.

Silas Marlan Lyon - 3 days old