Tanner's Story

This is mainly for myself so i can remember how Tanner decided to come into this world. It's really long with lots of details...probably too much information but if you'd like, feel free to read!

Sunday May 23 I woke up feeling somewhat nauseous. Kelly usually goes to church meetings at 7am til about 10am but decided to call and let them know that he wouldn't be there so he could stay home and help out with Keaton since I wasn't feeling well. Have I ever mentioned what a Saint my husband is?! So I stayed in bed and about 9am I was laying down and a felt a warm gush of liquid come out of me. It felt exactly like my water breaking but I looked down and noticed it was about 2 plus cups of blood! I yell for Kelly and the calm person he is, or portrays at the time he crabs Keat and all his "stuff" and we head out to the hospital.
I cannot even begin to express the feelings we were having on our way. We had our little year and a half old buddy just going along with whatever we were doing, me bawling, and Kel trying to calm me down even though I knew he was just as scared as I was. Kel kept telling me, whatever is suppose to happen will happen, which did give me a little bit of reasurrance. At that time I think we both felt so so grateful for the gospel and the plan of salvation. That if somethig were to happen to our little angel, we knew everything would be okay. When we got to the hospital they quickly got monitors put on my tummy and the BIGGEST sign of relief when we saw baby Tanner's heart rate and everything with him totally normal. Now to where in the world did all this blood come from?! And to top it off, we weren't the only ones who couldn't figure it out! The nurses kept asking me a million and a half questions as to what could have caused this. After about 2 hours of monitoring me and questioning they ordered and ultra sound. Finally some answers. So apparently i had placenta previa and had no idea. So my placenta was covering my cervix completely. They told me that moment that I would have to deliver by C-Section. I guess what happened when I had a gush of blood I was contracting which dilated my cervix and as that dialated some of my placenta gushed out. So the placenta was completely covering where Tanner should be coming out. If I was to go into labor on my own, I would deliver my placenta then my baby, which would cause the baby to die. So my mind was going a million different places as to what to think about this, but of all things I guess a C-Section wouldn't be too bad, people have them all the time.
So they admitted me into the hospital, took some vile's of my blood to have on hand in case I lost too much and needed it and then informed me that I would be on complete bed rest there until the baby is born. All I could think was HELLO, I have 6 weeks left! I kept thinking of the MILLION things I still needed to do including my MILLION hair appts I had set for before I have the baby, plus i've got an 18 month old at home! To top it off my parents had just left on a trip to Florida and would be gone a whole week. We didn't want to ruin their trip, but we called and let them know what was going on.
They gave me a dose of steroids right away that was suppose to help boost the baby's lung development in case we needed to deliver so early. The nurses were hoping we could wait to deliver at least 2 days to get the baby at least 2 doses of the steroids. I kept contracting all day which the nurses were nervous about because the more I contracted the more likely I was to dialate and lose more placenta. There is medications to stop contractions but apparantly they would cause more bleeding so that wasn't an option. So we didn't know what to expect, a few days up to 6 weeks at the hospital. We decided that Kel should get some good sleep at his parents house where Keaton was staying so he went there and I told him i'd call if something was happening. Well suprise...4am the next day, Monday the 24th the same water breaking feeling and lots more blood! I kinda freaked since Kel wasn't there, so I called him right then and he headed down. The doc came in and said lets you prep right away. So there we went...Kel got there, I got an epidural, put Kel in funny white clothes and we headed down. It was the strangest experience ever! The last time I delivered I was in a warm room with a curtains, wall paper, and surrounded by family. This time around it was Kel and I, 4am, getting an epidural without painful contractions, cold room, huge bright lights, and a million strangers all decked out in their surgery outfits. It totally felt like what you see in the movies. Within an hour Tanner was born. He weighed 5lb 4oz and was 19in long. He came out crying which we were so grateful, they brought him around the corner to let me peek at him then took him right away to the Newborn ICU. It was a few hours before they even let me see him and when I did, they wheeled me in and let me peek at my baby boy. He had an IV in his head and tubes and monitors everywhere. It was hard to see him like that, but we knew he was in good care!
He had to have a little help with oxygen that first day but after that our little champ figured it out and was breathing on his own! His lungs were underdeveloped so he wasn't strong enough to eat on his own. They started me on a breast pump right away to get my milk supply going. Since Tanner didn't have the energy to eat, they fed my milk to him through tubes. We couldn't nurse yet because it took everything he had to try and eat so he burnt more than he got. Eventually I got to hold him and let him get the experience of latching on. They had me pumping 8-10 times a day which was not fun at all! I had to set my alarm to wake up and pump...I really really don't mind waking up to a baby crying needing some food, but to wake up to stick a pump on me, not cool!
After a week Tanner was stable enough to move to Nursery B in the NICU unit. It was a lot calmer and a lot more pleasant place to be. In Nursery A there are constant alarms going off and life flight came and went a few times, just a scary environment. My parents finally made it home and was able to meet their week old grandson! By this time I was already released from the hospital and we started on 2 feedings a day. We were blessed enough to be able to stay with the Redd's so we had a live in babysitter for Keat so I could come and go when I needed to. It was a very slow process of teaching him to eat. The goal to go home was to get at least 75% of his feeding from me. What he didn't get they fed him through a tube. We weighed Tanner before we fed him and after, and the scales they have can calculate how much he got in a feeding. This was so good for me to see because with Keat I never knew how much he was getting and we had a bad nursing experience. It was also frustrating because one feeding he would do great and gain really well and others his numbers were really low. After we got consistent with 75% of what he should be getting we got to move to 3 times a day. This was tough. Not only because we had to go back and forth 3 times a day, but we had to space it out and let him sleep in between feedings so it didn't wear him out. This took the longest for him to get, but with the help of fabulous lactation nurses we eventually got it and moved on to 4 times a day requests. I just hung around the hospital and when Tanner woke up and wanted food they called me and I fed him. Luckily my sister ended up having her baby and was in the hospital so I had her to hang out with all day. We were so excited to get our boys here just 2 weeks apart. The only sad part was that she and baby Treyton beat us home.
The final test was 2 overnighters so the next day they booked me in a room and had me do 2 full days requests. By this time Tanner was a champ and did very well, so after 3 weeks of craziness we finally go to come home Sunday June 13th. Keaton was spoiled by grandma and papa but was so ready to come home. It has been so fantastic to see my two boys bond. Keaton loves Tanner to pieces and is a GREAT help. He gets his diapers and wipes and helps put in his binky. Since we've been home Keaton takes his good 3hr nap while I get time with Tanner and for myself. Tanner is fabulous and wakes up only once, maybe twice a night. We are so blessed to have such wonderful kids!