Thomas got a chance to meet some family members for the first time. Grandpa Dean and Grandma Doris came over and spent the day with us. They got to see their grandson, they helped us around the house, and then made us a really nice dinner.
And once I was feeling well enough to leave the house we went to see Great Grandma Puz in the rehab center where she was recovering from some health issues. Great Aunt Jo Ann and Great Uncle Dean came to visit while we were there as well.
Click HERE to read Thomas' Birth Story and see all the pictures.
We would also like to invite you to attend
Thomas' Welcoming Party
on June 3, 2012 at 2 PM
at The Bingham House
15911 SE 322nd Street
Auburn, WA 98092
This is NOT a baby shower. All are welcome, men, women and children.
But if you are sick please stay home. We can set-up another time for you to meet Thomas.
This is a potluck, so bring your favorite dish and help us welcome Thomas to this world.
We will send reminders about the party with more details as we get closer.
RSVP via email dani.puz@gmail.com or call
Eric 206-769-7339
Dani 206-890-6562
People have been asking what we need and what they can get us.
We are registered at Babies"R"Us and Target.
We have a lot of baby clothes, but if you want to give us clothes please buy 6-9 months or older.
If you have already bought us a present please do not buy us another one.
We are already enjoying the wonderful gifts that you gave us.
The hospital pictures are available for viewing on their website.
You can order keepsakes from there. Do NOT order any pictures.
We have ordered the CD and can email you a digital copy
of the pictures for you to print somewhere cheaper
http://www.our365.com/BabyPhotography.aspx
Customer Number: 822901385728940
Password: Thomas
If you want to keep track of Thomas and see what is going on with our family you can sign up to follow this website and it will email you when an new post is added. Look for that option in the right hand column on your screen.
After waiting for what seems like forever, Thomas James Bingham has arrived.
I found out I was pregnant on the morning of July 15th, which was the Friday morning of Strawberry Festival. Eric and I wanted to wait a little while before telling anyone to make sure everything was OK with the pregnancy. I had my first appointment at 7 weeks and they determined my due date as March 18, 2012.
So we decided to tell our families. And at 12 weeks we announced the news that there was a bun in the oven.
And at our 20 Week Ultrasound we found out we were having a little boy. We also found out that it looked like he could be 12 days early and looked pretty big. So we prepared early for him to arrive, and were surprised when the due date came and went.
On Tuesday, March 20, Eric and I went to our routine check-up at the OB office. They checked everything out and I was 3 centimeters dilated, which was not surprising because I had been having mild contractions since Saturday, but they were too spread out and week to be considered true labor.
So the doctor stripped my membranes to try and encourage labor since I was past my due date and they had estimated he was somewhere between 7-9 pounds already by 38 weeks. My doctor told me if I did not go into labor I would be induced on Friday, March 23.
So we went home after our appointment and I started having contractions throughout the day. They started to get closer together and stronger. Starting at around 6:30 PM I was counting contractions at less than 5 minutes apart and were feeling a little stronger. So we go into the car and headed to Valley Medical Center in Renton. Contractions slowed down a while we were in the car so we were hoping that we didn't get turned away at the hospital.
When we arrived they said I was at 4-5 centimeters so we were good to stay. We met our first nurse Kali, and she checked us into our room which was ours for the duration.
Unfortunately contractions were not picking up as fast as they were before. We walked the hallway and tried to get them going again, but the doctor wanted to start us on Pitocin to speed things up.
I really didn't want to do this because I have heard it can make contractions more painful and sometimes make the whole process longer. But since it was then early Wednesday morning and our doctor would be doing the same thing on Friday we didn't want to leave the hospital and come back.
So we started the Pitocin and it got things started a little but I was not making enough progress so they decided to break my water. After they broke my water things started to happen faster. The contractions were pretty hard and painful at that point and unfortunately with the Pitocin I had to stay right next to the bed with all the monitors and stuff on me. I could stand up and move a little but the nurse had to hold the monitors in place while I did that to keep getting a reading on Thomas.
When they told me after 13 hours and at least 3 hours of hard labor that I was still only at 6 or 7 centimeters and it could be a quite a while till I was ready to start pushing I decided I was so exhausted and in too much pain to keep going. Not to mention that I was puking throughout the entire thing. I couldn't even hold down ice chips. So I went for the drugs. At first they gave me something though my IV to see if that would be enough because I still wasn't sure about getting drugs. It was fine at first but it didn't last very long so I decided after another couple hours that I would just get the epidural. Of course after that I was in pretty much no pain and just slept.
My family was patiently waiting in the waiting room for Thomas to arrive and Eric kept having to break the news that it would be a while longer.
So finally at 21 hours in I was 10 centimeters and ready to push. At that point my epidural was starting to wear off. I told my nurse and she gave me extra small doses but it was not enough. But at that point I was more concerned about getting him out so I just suffered through it. After 3 hours of pushing and only making minimal progress the doctor decided that his head was shifted in a position that was not allowing him to come out. My guess is that he was so long and I have such a short torso that he couldn't position quite right. He was jamming his feet into the left side of my ribs the entire time I was pushing so I think his head must have been tilted a little to the left. The doctor said that it had been too long and I need to have a C-Section.
This was the only thing I really wanted to avoid but they were not giving me a choice. At that point I could feel all the contractions and told them if they were going to do a C-Section hurry up and give me more drugs. Rather than giving them to me in the room they decided to wheel me into surgery first and move me around a few times before giving it to me. Meanwhile I am screaming and crying because the contractions really hurt and moving around really shoved on his head. Then they decided to give me a spinal instead of just giving me more epidural medication through the tube that was already in my back. So they are asking me to hold still, stop crying and take deep breaths. As if that was so easy.
So they finally got the needle in and I started to feel numbness. What they did not explain to me before they did this is that some times the spinal can be kind of high and can pretty much numb your entire body. I was only expecting it to numb my from the chest down. Instead it pretty much put me in full paralysis. I could not open my eyes. I tried to talk but nothing was coming out. And my breathing was so shallow that I thought I was going to die but could tell anyone about it. They put oxygen through my nose. I was trying to tell them that I had a stuffy nose and couldn't breath through my nose but when I opened my mouth it only came out as a whisper. The anesthesiologists were not looking at me so they didn't know I was trying to say something. Finally Eric, who was watching me and understood what I was saying and they put a full oxygen mask on my face.
As far as Eric can tell me the surgery went great and the baby did fantastic. I could hear what was going on but I was kind of having a panic attack so I only remember bits and pieces. I am not really sure of what happened the next couple hours but here is what Eric tells me.
They got the baby out and he took his first breath at 9:08 PM on March 21, 2012. They cut his umbilical cord and a nurse took him and cleaned him up and then of course he pooped. Then she handed him to Eric and he held him and said "Welcome to the world Thomas James Bingham". He brought him over to me but I couldn't open my eyes.
The doctors fixed me up and then they wheeled me back into our room and Eric helped push the baby in the crib back into the room.
The family was brought into the room. Grandma Doris and Uncle Tony got to hold him. Unfortunately Grandpa Dean and Uncle Wes had to go home because Thomas took so long to arrive. Then the nurses put medicine in his eyes and gave him a couple shots. He then pooped again shortly after being back in the room.
I started to gain consciousness when they had moved us out of surgery and back into our room. I remember them trying to give me instructions and I would tell my brain to something but nothing happened. I would tell them that I was trying but my breath was so shallow that my words were only coming out as a whisper and I could only speak a couple words at a time.
At one point I was crying in pain and they were telling me to breath deep. I was trying to tell them that breathing deeply was hurting my incision. I am not sure why the were having so much trouble managing my pain medication. Maybe my body requires more medication than other people? Finally they understood that I was in pain and gave me some relief. I started breathing deeper and the spinal started wearing off. They kept trying to hold the baby up to me but my eyes would only stay open for half a second. I asked them not to weigh and measure him till I could open my eyes.
Finally at 2 hours after he was born I could open my eyes and they did the weighing and measuring. His weight was 8 pounds and 11 ounces. He probably would have weighed more but after 2 hours and 2 big poops that is what he weighed. He was 19.7 inches long and his head was 14 inches around.
It took a little more time for the rest of my body to regain function but after it did everything was just fine and at that point I was right on track for a normal C-Section.
The rest of our hospital stay went great. I was really excited when the nurse said I could eat if my stomach was up to it. It had been about 30 hours since I had eaten and I had puked more times than I could count, even while pushing. So I was really happy when I was able to keep down my soup. I had pain and swelling but nothing more than you would expect.
Thomas did fantastic. He passed all of his tests with no problems. He did have a little jaundice but not enough to worry about. He had a minor set back when he got his circumcision. He didn't go pee for the next 24 hours, but after that he made up for it really fast. They were nice enough to wait till I could get out of bed and watch them give Thomas his first bath.
They had me get up and move around and we did take a walk around the hallway for 10-15 minutes which was a little challenging for me, but I survived.
Other than that it was a lot of testing and check ups. We spent a lot of time getting to know Thomas and asking questions about being parents. And the time in between we watched the entire Lord of the Rings Extended Version on my laptop.
Eric did an amazing job of changing Thomas and soothing him as I was stuck in the bed most of the time. And I was in charge of constant feeding, which didn't take that long for the both of us to get the hang of. They had great lactation consultants at our hospital. It was kind of weird being there for so many shift changes. I could not even tell you the number of nurses, residents, doctors and consultants that we talked to while there. And at every shift change we had to explain our scenario again as not all the time would the information get passed on to the next shift. But we were very grateful to have so much help. Our favorite nurse by far was Kali our first nurse. We ended up having her for two shifts and she was there during the birth. She was so great at being patient and understanding and did everything she could to try and help me avoid the C-Section.
They decided to keep us an extra night because we delivered so late at night, but we were actually kind of glad to have the extra time.
