Aizen's Birth Story

This will undoubtably be an extremely long post and emotional so just bear with me but I am finally going to share Aizen's birth story!

It all started the week before; I was having contractions at random times so I tried everything to try to naturally induce labor... walking, squats, pineapple juice, spicy food, everything expect castor oil. After all this I was sure we would meet our baby boy soon but then at our doctors appointment on Monday, we found out I progressed from the week before not not much... :/ But there was hope still! Dr. Taylor decided to strip my membranes since we were 39 weeks & 3 days (not to mention she knew I going crazy waiting on our little fellow). Well that was all my  body needed!! By 9 o'clock that evening I was having contractions every 8-6 minutes apart! Knowing the contractions needed to be stronger and closer together, I decided to try to get some sleep. LOL... sleep definitely didn't happen. From 3-3:45 am I timed the contractions and they were 5 minutes apart!! That's when I decided to get out of bed. I read all the information the doctors office had given me about labor and called the hospital and spoke with Dr. Taylor who told me to relax, keep timing the contractions and try to take a warm shower to see if it eased the pain so I did just that! It was after I took a shower that I decided to wake Robby up. I didn't want the poor fellow to freak out so I tried to very calmly tell him we needed to get ready to head to the hospital. Want a man to immediately wake up? Apparently all he needs to hear is "We need to get ready to go to the hospital, I'm in labor"! They'll pop right outta bed lol. We left the house around 5; stopped at Jack's for drive thru breakfast and the convenient store for me a Dr. Pepper and Robby a Redbull since we didn't know how long labor would be so we wanted to be prepared!
We arrived at the hospital a little after 6:30, by this time contractions were about 3-4 minutes apart! We met our labor & delivery nurse, Brittany, who in our opinion must be the best nurse ever. Literally, she was amazing! Since Dr. Taylor had been on call the night before we found out that Dr. Adcock would be our doctor; we were perfectly fine with this because Dr. Adcock was our second choice to deliver anyways. It wasn't long before Dr. Adcock came in to check me and decided to break my water, weirdest feeling ever! Labor really started to progress then. I wasn't getting a break between contractions and they were extremely strong so I decided to go ahead and get the epidural. I had the best anesthesiologist and Nurse Brittany was there with me so I barely felt a thing. Soon after I got the epidural we found out I had a hotspot on left side so I had to have a "boost". It wasn't long after we took care of the hotspot that our families started to show up. During this time we got some very exciting news, Dr. Taylor was going to come back to just to deliver Aizen! We were so thrilled!!  Dr. Taylor had been with Robby and I throughout our entire pregnancy so it really meant a lot that she was making a special exception for us. Our families didn't get to visit long before we needed to be checked again. Much to everyone's surprise, it was time to push!! At first it was just Nurse Brittany, Robby and I pushing. It was actually just the environment we had hoped for! It was very calm and I had the best support system with Nurse Brittany coaching me and giving me encouragement through every step and Robby giving encouragement (and kisses) with every push. 20 minutes into pushing it was time for Dr. Taylor and the rest of the nurses to come in. Even after the room was full of nurses, it still remained a perfectly calm environment and more encouragement coming from Dr. Taylor. 10 minutes later, our perfect angel Aizen Kemp Winslow entered the world on September 1, 2015 at 12:31 pm weighting 8 pounds 1 ounce and 21 inches long!!
Now here starts the real story... As soon as Aizen was born we were allowed to do skin to skin after they weighed and measured him but not for long. There were several times the nurses had to take him over and give him oxygen  during this time. Robby got to hold him for the first time, which completely melted this momma's heart, but then they started telling us that Aizen had fluid on his lungs and was having trouble breathing... They told us he needed to go to "Transition", an area were babies re taken to determine if the baby needs to be taken to the NICU or if the baby can stay with mom in her room. The nurse was very reassuring and looking back I realize she was trying her best not worry Robby and I too much. Before we left the delivery room our families were allowed to come in just to see Aizen for the first time; no one was allowed to hold, touch, or take pictures with a flash for fear of stimulating him and making him breathe harder or gasp for air he couldn't get. While in Transition, family member were allowed to go in by two's with Robby to see him. I was the only one not allowed because well, I was recovering too. It wasn't long before we got the full explanation; while most babies receive an extra squeeze during the birthing process, Aizen was born faster and didn't get the extra squeeze he needed so the fluid he had been inhaling and swallowing during the pregnancy was still on his lungs. This meant that he couldn't get the air he needed into his lungs and needed help and monitoring, he needed to be taken to the NICU. At this point they brought Aizen into my room for me to see him one more time for a few hours since I was still recovering and it would be a bit before I could see him again. This was my breaking point. I was terrified and heartbroken that my baby wouldn't be with me. But I knew the doctors were going to do what was best for Aizen. I knew he would have plenty of people praying for him and God would heal my baby.
From that moment on, the only time Robby left Aizen's side was when the nurses or doctors needed him to and then he came to check on me. he went 36 hours without sleep and even then he only slept for 3 hours when I could go to Aizen's room. I couldn't have made it through this if it weren't for him. He was there for both me and our son. He is already, without a doubt, the best daddy ever to our little guy and the best partner I could ever hope for.
Aizen's treatment started with him wearing an oxygen hood, an IV of antibiotics just in case he had any kind of infection (they took cultures everyday but wouldn't have the results for 72 hours) and gave him the nutrients he would normally get from milk, a tube in his mouth that was helping remove some of the fluid on his lungs, and lots of monitors. We weren't allowed to hold him at first but we could touch his hands, that may sound small but for brand new parents who wanted to only be floe to their baby it was a lot! After a little more than 24 hours they removed the hood!! That same day we were allowed to "feed" Aizen the colostrum I had pumped. Since he still had fluid on his lungs and couldn't quite breathe steadily, we had to feed him by dipping a q-tip in the colostrum and rubbing it on the inside of his cheek. On our second day they removed the tube from his mouth, were allowed to finally hold Aizen and Robby fed him his very first bottle!! Soon, Aizen and I breastfed too!! I was discharged on time so Robby and I officially moved into Aizen's room. We got the news late that evening that Aizen's X-rays were finally clear and the fluid was gone!! AND the cultures were all negative so he no longer needed an IV either!! Our prayers had been answered!! Unfortunately our little man couldn't catch a break, he had jaundice and needed to be placed under a special light to help. He got to come out to eat and to be changed but that was it. He spent a little more than 24 hours under the light before his levels were low enough to get the news we had been waiting for... on September 5, at 4 days old we were finally going to take our sweet baby home!!!!!
During our stay at Brookwood, Aizen and I both had the absolute best nurses ever. The nurses made sure to tell us what was going on and let Robby and I be completely involved. Robby and I were allowed to change all his diapers and feed him every bottle after the tube from his mouth was removed. We cannot thank the nurses and doctors enough for what they did for our son or for us during those 4 (5 total) days. We also want to thank everyone who prayed, sent positive thoughts and supported us through what was by far the hardest but best time of our lives. We appreciate every one of you more than you know!
Now to the fun part... LOTS of pictures!! :)

Our last selfie just the two of us!

Daddy holds Aizen for the first time!

Our very first photo of the three of us!! 

We were having a good conversation

Aizen's first bottle

Aizen's first time in clothes and in a regular crib! Here you can see he had a bit of jaundice.

All my hopes and dreams and prayers came true when he was born. He is perfect.

This was the one night Robby was able to sleep through the night but I stayed up all night... Luckily for me I got to be between both my wonderful guys! Robby is on the couch to the left and Aizen was asleep under his light on the right.

Going home outfit!! Thanks Aunt MayMay for the awesome onesie!!

Our little family of three finally ready to head home!

I still think I had the best view being able to see both my handsome guys!

Thank you again to everyone who has supported us, prayed and sent positive thoughts for our title guy during this difficult time. We really do appreciate each and every one of you mire than you can ever imagine! And if you made it through this entire blog post, you're awesome and thank you so much for reading!!! 

XOXO