Oaklee's Birth Story (Part Two)

Bear with me, this post is going to be a looooong one.

It was such an amazing feeling to finally be able to hold my baby girl in my arms. She was finally here and I could not believe it! 

After the doctors held her up and we were able to hear her weight and height they began to take the placenta out. This feeling I will never forget!

It started to feel like my doctor was putting his hand all the way up to my lungs! I remember looking over at Zack and the anesthesiologist and saying, “I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe!”

The anesthesiologist was amazing and kept telling me that everything was okay, that I was doing great! But I kept insisting that I couldn’t breathe (I literally thought I was going to die).  But after what felt like 3 minutes (was actually 30 seconds) the doctor was done and they began to stitch/staple me back up (stitched on the inside, stapled on the outside). 

After the C-section was over they wheeled me into a recovery room where I could not wait to hold my little girl! It was close to midnight at this time and my mom & sister were still at the hospital waiting to see baby! The nurses were kind enough to let them sneak a peak in the recovery room so they could take off for the night.

In the recovery room they let me know I had a pretty bad fever (from an infection). I was FREEZING and shaking (from being cold and the epidural) and asked for a blanket but they wouldn’t give me one because of how bad my fever was (I think it was a lot worse than they were telling me). I just kept asking for a little blanket even just a little corner on my feet and they kept saying no. L haha

After a few minutes they finally wheeled my little girl in and I was able to hold her! That was one of the most amazing moments in my life! You go all those months dreaming about what your baby is going to look like and here she is, in your arms and you can’t put into words the feelings that rush through you.

I instantly told Zack she looked like him. And I put my finger in her hand and she grabbed on to it. I’d been dreaming of that moment for months as well.

I held her for a little while and then it was Zack's turn. I could tell he was nervous and a little grossed out (she still had blood on her). Haha It was such a special moment to watch your husband become a daddy and together, in a matter of minutes you become a family of three. I pray those memories never fade.

They finally wheeled me back to my room after my fever started to go down. I remember begin in no pain at all just really thirsty, and again they wouldn’t let me have anything (wanted to make sure I didn’t throw up). And after a VERY long day Zack and I went to sleep.

10-15 minutes later they came in and woke me up to feed O and give me some ice chips to suck on. Ice chips that tasted like they were sent straight from heaven I was so thirsty. Haha

Oaklee was a natural at breastfeeding and latched right on and ate her little heart out. I was so relieved that it was so simple. I was a bit nervous for that part.

That night we all slept great.

The next day our families came out to visit and see Oaklee. She also got her first bath and we were able to dress her up in a cute little outfit.

The next morning the doctor came in and said the morning checkup on Oaklee didn’t go to well. They noticed her breathing had become rapid and he ordered an x-ray and would be back to give us an update but that for now she would need to stay in the nursery. Zack didn’t think too much of it and thought that everything would be fine. After all, she was doing so great the day before.

A little while later the doctor came back to let us know that they found a small hole in Oaklee’s lung and that it had begun to collapse (technical word for this is pneumothorax)… They also noticed that her blood cells were showing that she was getting an infection. And to top it off they thought the infection was from inhaling meconium. Zack and I were left really confused and not sure how to feel…

Later that afternoon we were allowed to go in the nursery to see her. That was really hard for me… To see our little girl hooked up to so many machines and having to have an IV. I cried and Zack kept telling me it was okay, and to stop crying (he isn’t very good with people crying).

We were told that Oaklee would need to stay in the hospital for another few days to make sure her lung was healing and that they could finish the full round of antibiotics. Honestly I remember feeling devastated that something was wrong with my baby. I hate when things don’t go as planned and it was hard to take in that we wouldn’t be able to take our baby home when we thought we would.

Luckily the hospital was AMAZING and gave us a room on “hotel stay”, which meant that they would give us a room to stay in, for free! That took such a huge weight off my shoulders knowing that I would be close to Oaklee through it all.

A few days had passed and the doctor came in daily to give us an update and everyday it seemed like nothing was improving. He said the hole was healing, but slower than they thought and the infection was staying the same. They had tried to take her off Oxygen to see how she would do and she kept failing the tests, so the nursery she stayed.  He let us know that she would need a few more days.

Since we stayed at the hospital they called me every time she was hungry to come down to the nursery and feed her. (She was still able to breastfeed, thank goodness. Having that time with her made everything feel a little better). That ringtone on that phone in the hospital will forever haunt me. Haha Sometimes I hear people have it as a ringtone on their cell and it instantly gives me chills.

As far as recovery went for me, I was starting to feel the pain of everything hit me at once. It was really hard to get out of bed and walk down to the nursery several times a day but they let me know walking was the best thing I could do. Getting out of bed and standing up felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest and I could not breathe! I was gasping for air every time. Zack would look at me like I was crazy! It would take me a minute or two to finally catch my breath. The worst part of it all was I felt like I had to poop sooooooo bad (like you have no idea how bad) and I just couldn’t. It was the worst feeling in the world. Haha (tmi?) I believe three days after my C-section they came in to take out my staples. It felt like a little bee sting, not bad at all until they noticed that my skin had grown over one of the staples. I can’t even begin to explain how painful getting that out was. That and the poop pain were worse than labor. Not even kidding.

Back to Oaklee. The antibiotics were finally finished (at this point we had been in the hospital for a week and one day) and the last update we heard was that she would most likely be able to go home once they were complete. At this point Zack had been going to work during the days but spending the night with me and making sure I had food. Zack is a pretty closed person and doesn’t do well in situations like this (I don’t think anyone in his family took what was going on very well. We all wanted answers and weren’t really getting them) so work became his safe place.

The day had finally come and we were ready to see how she did off Oxygen so that we could finally go home and begin our life! The doc came in and said she had failed the oxygen test again and that he wanted to keep an eye on her a little longer… We weren’t going home.

I was crushed. I had spent what felt like an eternity in the hospital and wanted to go home! The next few days were hell. I started to come down with a cold (I believe from literally doing nothing but sitting in a bed all day) and everyday Oaklee kept failing every oxygen test they gave her. Now it was coming up on two weeks and they let us know that more than likely they would be sending O home on oxygen because that was the only thing holding her back. This wasn’t ideal but we were happy to be able to take our baby home. The only thing was Oaklee needed to pass the car seat test.

She needed to be able to spend 30 minutes in her car seat without her oxygen dropping and we would be able to go home! I was honestly so nervous for this because she had failed all the other tests and when I was in the nursery feeding another family’s baby had just failed the test and they were upset that they wouldn’t be going home. I didn’t want to feel that disappointment anymore.

They planned on doing the car seat test that afternoon during her nap. 30 minutes had passed and the phone rang… Oaklee passed the test! I was so grateful that we were going home!! The home and hospice came to show us how to use the oxygen at home and in the car. We packed up our stuff and buckled up our little girl and were on our way! I remember stepping outside for the first time in 2 weeks and noticed the trees had blossomed.

It was the greatest feeling in the world to drive off with your baby. We were finally able to take our baby home and start our life together. The first few days were stressful with the oxygen and I have to admit that I checked to see if she was breathing a million times a day but I was grateful to hold and snuggle her at home.

Oaklee spent another 2 weeks on oxygen and then was cleared to finally come off (the day she came off of oxygen I checked to see if she was breathing 2 million times). Haha Oaklee is doing amazing now! She is such a happy baby and enjoys smiling at everyone! She is so smart and independent! She is such a blessing and I am so thankful she is okay. She’s a strong little girl. 

I on the other hand didn’t heal how I wanted to. I have diastasis recti and melisma on my stomach (I will do another post on how I am overcoming this). But it doesn’t matter much to me because I got my little Oakers (her nickname) out of it. She is the light of my world and I could not imagine life without her beaming smile. Zack and I love her to pieces!

I wanted to say Thank you to everyone who helped us during this time. Family, friends and hospital staff. You made it so much better and the kind and encouraging words and visits really meant the world to us. So thank you again!

Until next time.

Love Always,

The Crazy Collards