Charley's Birth Story

Charley Ray Moltz was born at 5:31 am on September 23rd, 2012. He weighed 5 lbs 14 oz and measured 17 3/4 inches long. Charley came 5 weeks premature. 

I have to write this down now before I start to forget things. Already my days are blurring together! 

Late saturday night after a long and productive day I started to feel bad. I can't tell exactly what time it started but I do know that it was midnight when I realized that it was contractions and I needed to time them. Once I realized that, I timed them and they were 8 minutes apart in the beginning and not too bad. I figured (being 5 weeks too early) that they were braxton hicks (false labor) and tried to ignore it. They got more intense though and so I started to worry and when I timed it again they were 5 minutes apart and getting more painful. I told Ben I thought we needed to go to the hospital. In hindsight I wish I had gone sooner but being that it was middle of the night and we had to call my aunt to come stay with kids, I wanted to be sure I wasn't crazy and also IT WAS 5 WEEKS TOO EARLY!!! By the time ben drove me up to the hospital I was fairly confident I was in labor. I told the admitting nurse "I'm pretty sure I'm in labor and I'm only 35 weeks so I need not to be". They took me upstairs and got me hooked up to the monitors and checked me. Not only was I in labor but I was already dilated 5 cm. I burst into tears when they told me that. I kept saying "but he's not ready, he's not ready".  The Dr's and nurses did their best to reassure me that 35 weeks wasn't really too bad early and that Charley would be great and that if not they had an excellent NICU staff on hand and so forth. 

They gave me a magnesium shot to try to space my contractions or slow down labor. They said it could give me a couple more days, could give me no more than another hour but that it would slow down the labor process. Welllllll my contractions never went away completely but they spaced out for 45 minutes and then they came back HARD & FAST! By the time I realized, ok this is happening & it's happening NOW and I am in PAIN and asked for my epidural....nope I was already dilated to a 10, I was complete and ready to push. It is still surreal to me how fast everything went. 

Charley was born at 5:31 in the morning and he came out yelling and unhappy.  They took him over to be worked on by the NICU team immediately so I never got to hold him or really even see him in the delivery room. Ben took a couple pics though. 

 Unhappy little boy. I know buddy. That's how I felt too!

The next time I heard anything, a very tired and ready to go home Dr. came to my bedside with a HORRIBLE bedside manner and told me that Charley was doing ok but he had been intubated, given a shot in his lungs & would probably be in the NICU for 4 weeks. Did I have any questions??? 

UHHHH WHAT? Insert some more crying. Lots of confusion and then the tired doctor, with the purse on her shoulder, slowed down and explained what was going on better. Charley had respiratory distress which was completely normal for a baby born at this age but that from here he would need to get stronger to breathe on his own first, then be able to take tube feeding, then bottle feeding before he could go home and the feeding takes longer to get with babies that are this age because they are working so hard on their breathing that the Suck, Swallow, Breathe, cycle is hard for them to get sometimes. But she did back off and say it could be as little as a week in the NICU it could be 4 but they quote you until the time the baby would have been due. 

Ben & I had loads of family & friends who came up to the hospital within the first 24 hours and we didn't even have a camera yet. I hadn't packed a hospital bag. So THANK YOU to everyone who came up to the hospital and brought stuff, we appreciate it so much! Unfortunately I don't have pictures but don't feel bad....I don't have pictures of my parents, ben's parents, my brother & SIL...Plus I look as tired and emotional as I was. 

 With the Dale Cox family

With David & Kim

 So this is what Charley looked like the 1st time I saw him in the NICU on day 1. He was intubated and pretty heartbreaking. 

 Look at those little teeny feet. Love him so much. 

Day 2

 On day 2 charley looked much more comfortable and he was breathing much more comfortably. They removed the intubation tube on day 2 and went to a CPath machine. 

 The nurses actually took this picture of Charley for me in between taking his intubation out and putting the CPath on so that we could see more of his face. Although his face is VERY red & swollen here. 

 With the Cpath. Ok this IS better than being intubated. It's less invasive, it means that he needs less help. However; to me this looks more scary and I was NOT a fan. 

Ben brought the kids up to the hospital to see me on day 2. Aiden was confused & sad that he couldn't see baby charley but he was excited to visit still. 

 Playing with my oldest blessing!

 Love this kid!

 Miss priss immediately stole my water & of course didn't want to take any pictures. Lil stinker!

Me with 2 of my 3 blessings! Can't wait to get a pic with all 3 and also ben too! 

                                               

Miss priss are you already lacking attention??

Day 3 and Charley can get the awful Hannibal Lechter mask off. He goes down to just needing a nasal cannula. 

 Again in between the change, trying to get a picture of him without all the gear. 

 Just the nasal cannula. Better. 

 This is the 1st day I saw my baby start to open his eyes. 

 Love this beautiful teeny baby so much

 Daddy & Mommy with Baby Charley

 This night (day 3) is when I was discharged from the hospital. Talk about heart breaking. I had to go home & leave my baby in the NICU. Lots of crying this night. I have no words to explain how awful that feeling is. I wouldn't wish it on anyone. 

Day 4 in the NICU and Charley got ALL respiratory stuff OFF! 

 See how his little cheeks are all bruised and swollen from all the junk they had on his face. Makes my heart hurt :(

 I saw more eyes on day 4 and was able to tell that they are in fact baby blues like his daddy & siblings! 

 and day 4...lets mark it down...

 That's how long it took for my 3rd child to be tired of my picture taking. Come on charley your brother & sister entertained the pictures for much longer before getting frustrated with me!!! :)

 Such a sweetie pie. 

 Gigi visiting with baby charley 

 Look at that sweet almost smile!

Day 5

 Day 5 = a bit jaundiced and Charley got to spend some time catching rays on the bilirubin blanket. The biggest thing about day 5 though was that Charley's umbilical central IV line came out of his tummy!!! which means...

 Mommy got to hold him for the 1st time!!

 Insert even more tears!!

 Cannot tell you how much I longed to hold him!

 I spent the rest of the hours on day 5 just holding & looking at my beautiful baby. Soooo good for a very tired & emotional momma's heart. 

That brings us up to now. Obviously I will continue to document Charley's stay in the NICU but please please if you are reading this pray that Charley's stay in the NICU isn't much longer. We so want to bring our baby boy home. Aiden is very ready to meet his baby brother. I'm sure hallie is too. Ben & I want to be able to hold him whenever we want. Most of all I just want him healthy & home with the people who love him.  Come on Charley!! Grow, Eat, Breathe! We love you so so much!