Patrick James Hummel

Patrick's 1st week pics

36 wk Check Up

On wednesday Feb. 22nd I had my 36 wk check up with Dr. Neidhart. We got in and got my weight checked and then we headed back to the room to check my blood pressure and get on with my first internal exam. The nurse checked my blood pressure and said it was high and that she would talked to Dr. Neidhart before she came in to see us. I was a little worried at first because I also had some wicked swollen feet and legs and have seen some spots in my vision. So back came in the nurse and she said Dr. Neidhart wanted to do a non-stress test to see how the baby is doing. Well they hooked me up and I had to squeeze this button when I felt the baby move...well after 10 minutes or so they unhooked me and put me back in the room so I could wait to talk to Dr. Neidhart. They checked my blood pressure again and it was still pretty high. Well about 10-15 minutes later Dr. Neidhart FINALLY CAME IN. She sat down and even before she said a word I was ALREADY FREAKING OUT...she told me she apologized for the appt taking so long but with all my symptoms ranging from my high blood pressure, my swollen feet, headaches, spotty visions and pains in my side I had Severe Preeclampsia and that we had to go straight to the hospital for an induction. Mind you I just barely got started on my bag for the hospital and Patrick's bag was as ready as it could be! Alright now my heart is racing....how could I let my self get this sick!!! So before we left she wanted to do an internal exam and do a quick ultrasound to see if he was head up or down. With a quick exam...I was completely closed up and he was head down. We quickly headed over to the hospital but before arriving we called our parents. We arrived to the hospital at about 5:30 and headed up to the birth suites and they got me in to a triage room and got me all hooked up. After about 2 hrs and several phone calls to our family and our bosses telling them what was going on we finally were admitted to our birth suite. I was most excited to use the shower....after daydreaming about it after our Tour of the hospital the Sunday before! Thank goodness we got that tour in before our induction. So they had me on magnesium to lower my blood pressure or at least try because my blood pressure was elevated the whole time in the hospital. So the next day the doctors check me and I was still closed up so they decided to put this balloon inside and eventually it would get bigger and dilate me and then would eventually pop out. A few hrs later they started the pitocin and then about 5 hrs later possibly more the balloon FINALLY pooped out. About 15 minutes later the on call OBGYN came in and checked to see how dilated I was and I was at 3...really only 3! During the next contractions...mind you I could feel them yet, he broke my water at about midnight and then I took a little snooze. After a hr or so of sleeping I finally could feel the contractions. I went about 2 hrs with contractions coming 1 after another and then I was ready for that epidural! Then the anesthesiologist came in and gave me the epidural. After I was given the epidural things started to get a little bit more scary because my back started to bleed where the catheter was put in. After all the bleeding stopped, I was finally able to get some much needed rest. I awoke about 9:30 and the nurse checked me and I was fully dilated. Thank goodness...mind you I was already exhausted since I had been in the hospital for over 30 plus hrs. Then after 2 hrs of pushing and an extra snip to help get him out...our baby boy Patrick James Hummel arrived. Patrick arrived on Friday Feb. 24th at Noon weighing 5 pds 10oz and measuring at 17 1/2 inches long. Well after weighing him and checking in on him they finally allowed me to see the little boy I had carried for 9 months. After a few minutes being able to kiss him and look at him they whisked him away to the NICU because of all the magnesium in his system. After being all stitched up...I had quite a few visitors. After about 30 minutes of visiting I needed some sleep and food but since I was still high on magnesium I had to wait 24 more hrs to eat. Neal was able to go visit Patrick while I slept. Mind you I havent ate since wed feb 22nd at 2 or so in the afternoon...so this new momma was a HUNGRY BEAR!!!! Finally at about midnight my blood pressure went down enough that I could finally eat something and drink some fluids. After a few bites of the nasty turkey sandwich and a few sips of diet pepsi I was able to finally use the restroom with out having to use a nasty bedpan. After using the bathroom I was whisked upstairs to our family care suites....mind you we werent truely a family because little Patrick was down in NICU and not with us :( The next morning I was finally able to meet and hold my little boy. He was definately worth all the pain! Sunday afternoon I was able to leave the hospital but little Patrick had a few more days in the NICU. Monday Feb. 27th Neal and I spent about 8 hrs visiting Patrick. We learned how to give him a bath, taught me how to breastfed and just gave us alot of info on our little boy. Patrick latched on right away and we have been doing very well breastfeeding since we started! On tuesday we waited for the phone call to tell us wheather or not we would be able to take our baby boy home. After noon I was too impatient and called the NICU and they gave us the go ahead to come get him! Well after a quick pump we headed over to Target to get some last minute stuff before we picked him up. We arrived to the NICU and a certain little boy was ready to eat...so we tried another round of breastfeeding before we were ready to discharge him. A few hrs later we got him ready in his cute going home outfit. So after 4 days in the NICU we were ready to take our baby boy home to meet his kitties!