Declan Dean

So we got a little surprise on Sunday! Last Thursday I went into the doctor and the NST showed that I was having some regular contractions so the doc checked me and I was dilated to a 4. He told me that we could expect to have a baby in 1-2 weeks so I went home and was just taking it easy trying to keep him in there as long as possible. Then on Sunday during sacrament meeting I started having some pretty painful contractions (the ones before hadn't been painful) so we skipped out on sunday school and relief society and headed home to lay down. After another hour of contractions I called the hospital to see what they recommended and they told me to come in so they could check and see what the baby was doing. Well we got there at about 11:30 and I was dilated to a 6 so they just hooked me up to some moniters and waited to see if I had any changes in dilation. After about an hour I was in pretty severe pain so they gave me an IV and put in some pain killers to help with the contractions but when they checked me a couple of hours later I still hadn't changed at all. Dr Leavitt decided that even though I hadn't changed that I was in actual labor and broke my water to get things moving along. Thank goodness for that because I was finally able to get an epidural and man do I love that thing! We went into the OR at 10 and Declan was born at 10:31PM. He was 8lbs 12oz and 21 1/2 in long. He was 4 1/2 weeks early! They took him immediately into the NICU and started working on him because he was having trouble breathing. He was hooked up to a C pap which forces oxygen down his nose to keep his lungs inflated and had a tube put down his throat to help release air. He was also given an IV to help with low blood sugar (and later for antibiotics and feeding). They were able to take him off the C pap yesterday and remove the tube from his mouth so now he just has the nasal canula and the IV in. He started bottle feeding today and we were able to hold him for the first time which was amazing. We don't know how long he will be in there but he is doing really well and we just love having him with us and can't wait to bring him home!