Happy 3rd Birthday JT!

I can't believe 3 years ago you came into our lives! You gave us quite a scare, too!

JT was born on Feb. 26 at 10:03 PM weighing 6 lbs. 8 oz. and was 18 inches long! He was born via emergency c-section.

His birth story follows: I was having contractions every 9 minutes apart from Feb. 25 at 6:30PM. I had my routine Dr appt. at 5:45 on Feb. 26. I was still having contractions, but my Dr informed me NOT to call him until they were 5 minutes apart and were "belly-busters." T took me to the appt. where I was hooked up to the fetal monitor for a NST. I was complaining that the contractions were hurting and were only 9 minutes apart. Well, in the Dr's office I had a contraction. AFTER the contraction, little JT's heart rate dropped to about 70bpm. BTW-it is normal for a baby's heart rate to drop DURING a contraction, but not after. The Dr decided to check me. This was the first time I was getting checked. Keep in mind I was 40W5D!!! To my happiness and surprise, I was 3cm dilated, 90% effaced, and -1 station!!! WOOHOO! It WAS labor!!!The Dr sent me to the hospital to monitor the baby and to get me started on pitocin to regulate my contractions better. The time was 6:15PM.I insisted that my DH stop for something to eat since we didn't know when he would be able to eat next. As we made our way to the Burger King drive-thru, I tried to make calls to my mom, MIL/FIL, and sister to let them know what was about to happen.We arrived at the hospital at 7PM. I will speed up the story a bit now. My contractions and baby's heart rate were difficult to monitor with the external monitors. The Dr broke my bag 1 hour later to put internal monitors on me and baby. I was still 3 cm. Since JT had his first bowel movement, they also had to flush me out. Now I know what "leaking" feel like when your bag breaks LOL!I was given an epidural approx 20 minutes later. It took forever to get the catheter in the right place. I had to lie on my side because of the baby's heart rate. The Dr couldn't find the right spot so since the baby's heart rate settled, I was able to sit up and he found it. It took at least 30 minutes to get the epidural in. Once the epidural was in, the pitocin started. No sooner than the pitocin started, 6 people rushed into the room. JT's heart rate had dropped to 60 and I was getting rushed to the OR for an emergency c-section. JT was born and was screaming his little head off for at least 15 minutes! His apgar scores were 8 and 9. I am still sore from the c-section. I still find it hard to get around, but I am managing. After JT was born I nursed him (so I thought). We left the hospital and he had already lost weight and was down to 5 lbs. 14 oz. At his 6 day old checkup, he was down to 5 lbs. 9 oz. and was dehydrated. My milk still had not yet come in. I have since found out that this is common with early c-sections since you don't have the hormones running through your body. It would have been nice to know this before I felt like the biggest failure of a mom. Two days later we went back to the Ped Dr and JT had gained 10 oz. after being put on a supplemental feeding schedule with formula. Needless to say I am still waiting for my milk to come in, JT won't nurse at all now, and he is 100% formula fed. At 2 weeks, we was up to 7 lbs. 3 oz.! I am tired all the time because he is still playing catch up and wakes up every 2 hours to eat. This is much harder than I imagined, but worth it 110%!

And it is still worth it 110%. Happy Birthday to my little man!