The Chronicles of Kadon

                Well, it was bound to happen. After my ultrasound appointment on Wednesday we were told everything was fine and dandy, baby was looking good, cervix was long, and they didn’t even think they needed to see me anymore. After my specialist appointment I was told my cervix was closed and everything normal. I started feeling pretty cocky. I’d make it at least another couple weeks.

                At least, that’s what I was thinking until I was walking to my vehicle around 5:30pm after spending the afternoon at the Neerlandia centennial celebration. I just started feeling strange. Menstrual crampy, uncomfy, strange. But it wasn’t the first time it had happened, so I went home and put my feet up. I told Sheldon I was feeling crampy and wouldn’t be picking the beans or the raspberries.

                We headed to Sheldon’s parents house for supper. I was still feeling strange. After supper I went to my usual place on the couch and put my feet up. In hind sight, everyone said I was acting weird. Chelsey kept raising her eyebrows at me. When I asked Sheldon if he was going to be working at home that night, I guess I raised suspicions. This wasn’t the first time I had felt a little off, but maybe inside I knew something was brewing.

                We went home and I returned to my chair and started shelling peas. Sheldon came in periodically to check on me.

                “Do we need to go to the hospital?”

                “I don’t think so. Not yet.” I replied. “They aren’t contractions yet. Just a constant ache.”

                Around ten o’clock, they had become irregular contractions with a rise and flow to them. I was packed and ready to go so we decided to head to the hospital just in case. After all, I was supposed to be very paranoid about my body and leery of contractions that lasted over an hour.

                “We’ll just go and get an NST done and then we’ll be able to come home and relax knowing everything is fine.” I informed Sheldon.

                I could tell he was barely refraining from rolling his eyes, but he just nodded. Whatever. I’m good at denial.

                AN NST at the hospital showed an irritated uterus with some contractions. My doctor was away (of course.) so another doctor came in and did a test to determine if I was at risk for preterm labor. He also checked me.

                “I was just checked Wednesday.” I informed him, “They said I was tightly closed.”

                “Well. You are definitely not closed. You are two centimeters.”

                “TWO. TWO centimeters?” I spluttered, “Did you say two?”

                The ambulance was called to escort me to the Royal Alexandra Hospital. Even if I wasn’t truly in labor, the doctor didn’t want to take any chances. In the meantime, my contractions worsened, I was given a shot of steroids for Tater’s lungs, and the test to determine whether or not I was in preterm labor came back.

                It was negative.

                Strange.

                Sheldon shook his head at me, “You can’t follow any rule in the book, can you?”

                I shrugged, “Maybe I’m not in labor.”

                See? Denial. It’s like a gift.  

                I was still going to the Royal Alex, regardless of the test. (Thank goodness)

                Sheldon decided to follow us in rather than ride with us. I had to concentrate to make it through contractions at this point. “Have fun meeting your kid at the hospital when we get there.” I said, only half jokingly.

                We loaded up and were on our way. I don’t really know why ambulances aren’t built with shock absorbers in them, but we made it there and soon found our way to a delivery room specialized for early deliveries. I was checked again.

                Still only two centimeters. I didn’t know whether to cry or be happy. They decided to give me morphine to try to manage the pain, lessen the contractions, and hold off delivery for enough time to give me a second dose of steroids.

                I enquired hopefully after an epidural. At two centimeters dilated with the amount of pain I was in and them wanting to hold off delivery, I was wanting some relief. And I had heard they can slow down labor. Win, win, right?

                “We only give epidurals once your labor is progressing.” I was told.

                Of course. 

                “The morphine should help.” They said.

                IT DID NOT. Morphine is useless. USELESS. It gets your hopes up and does not deliver. At all. I hate morphine. Stupid morphine. If anyone offers you morphine for pain, just slap them.  

                After an hour of contractions that were killing me, I was checked again. Guess what? Five centimeters.

                “Oh.” They said.

                YES. Oh. I KNOW. At this point I’m starting to lose my cool. The labor wasn’t really any worse than Rory’s was, but I was having an awful time concentrating. I couldn’t focus. Fear and anxiety were attacking me, and I was starting to heave sobs during contractions which was making them unmanageable. You know what you need during labor? Focus and regular breathing. You know what you don’t have when you are terrified another baby is going to die? Focus and regular breathing.

                “Let’s get you that epidural.”

                YES. LET’S.

                He came quickly, that Dr. Angel who gave me the epidural. I was slightly terrified I was going to move and become paralyzed, but at the time, I was thinking it’d be worth it anyways. It went in without mishap and I was able to calm down knowing relief was on the way. But of course… so was Tater. By the time my epidural kicked in, it gave me about 15 minutes of relief before it came time to push. They broke my water and two minutes later, Kadon was born.

                I held my breath as I waited for them to say something.

                “It’s a boy! He’s fine!”

                A boy. I waited, wondering what my reaction would be. Turns out, I love little boys!

                Sheldon followed them as they took him into an adjacent room to stabilize him and hook him up to his I.V. While I was getting stitched up Sheldon came back and forth telling me he was okay and doing awesome. They didn’t even need to help him breath.

                They brought him out to me, all bundled up, and I got to hold him for a good ten minutes before they took him to the NICU.

                And so, The Chronicles of Kadon began.

                Kadon Benjamin Bryce Blum was born at 5:20am, at the Royal Alexandra Hospital. He weighed 5 lbs, and was 19 ½ inches long. He was born after 7 hours of labor and two minutes of pushing.

                On Sunday he was put on CPAP for a little while because they took too long getting him caffeine to help him stay alert. The CPAP came off the next morning. Right now he has a feeding tube, which was moved from his mouth to down his nose on Tuesday. He has an I.V. for fluids like TPN that are bridging the gap until his milk intake is all he needs. My milk has come in and he is getting fed my milk every three hours, with the volume increasing every third feed. At the moment he’s getting about 30 milliliters. We are also doing some nuzzling, and Kadon has already done some impressive nursing. He just has to be in the mood. His latch is awesome and he is quite the little sucker when he wants to be. Most of the time he likes to latch and then take a nap and then flip out when I take the breast away, but latching is half the battle and we’ll get there.  That’s basically what we will be working on while at the NICU. Breastfeeding and growing.

                He was under the lights Tuesday and Wednesday for his biliruben. He came out from under them this morning.  He may even be transferred from an isolette to just an open cradle in a day or two because he can maintain his own body temperature very well.

                By Saturday he should be on full feeds and his I.V. will be able to come out and all he’ll have will be the feeding tube. He started gaining weight back yesterday. He started off at 2260 grams, went to 2100, and is now at 2160. We’re going up!

                He’s perfect. He is so, so cute. He looks exactly like Sheldon. He loves his cuddles and snuggles. I can’t get enough of him. I’m so happy he’s here and okay. I can’t wait to take him home!