The Birth of our Son Micah Kato "Mikato" Drake Dreith!

The day Micah was born. I woke up that morning thinking if only I can make through one more day I will 37 weeks pregnant and full term. I had been having trouble keeping my blood pressure down and I was having protein levels in my urine. Possibilities of Hypertension were hovering over my head too. I had tried upping my consumption of protein, being on bed rest and acupuncture. My midwife Jeni came over that morning and took my Blood pressure. It was a scary 160/110 she and I made a plan to have her intern Christina come over and check my B.P. later that afternoon. So I spent that morning watching T.V., playing on the computer and eating lots of protein. Jeni made an appointment for me to get more acupuncture. When Christina came over around 1p.m. She checked my B.P. and it was still elevated. She checked my urine and there was still too much protein leeching out of my body. So we went to Jeni's office and did a more thorough check. Tory headed to the office to meet us there. I had brought our hospital bags. After much thought and conversation we decided to go to Boulder Community Foothills Hospital to get me stabilized and see what else we could do for the situation. I was having back spasms from a vertibrae being out. I was also experiencing minor contractions and was dialated to 1 cm. but no effacement. Baby was at zero station. We got to the hospital and got me checked in. My B.P. was still elevated. They drew some blood and started an I.V. buff cap. We got to talk to the on-call OBGYN. He got my blood labs and gave it to me straight. He told me that we could go ahead and induce labor and that it would maybe take me several hours or days. He said that even if I was induced there was a 50% chance that I would have to have a C-Section anyway. He oreded an ultrasound. So I was not ready to give up. I asked to talk with my midwife and husband about the situation. We talked about all the pros and cons of the situation. I said that I would like to talk to the anesthesiologist before I would consider a c-section. We did the ultrasound and decided to go ahead and find out the sex of the baby. So during the ultrasound we found out that our baby was gonna be a Boy! They measured his head and body and thought that he was small for his gestational age and guessed his weight to be about 4lbs. 11ozs. So at that point the reality of my situation became more clear. We talk to the anesthesiologist about the difference between a spinal, an epidural and a general. At that point I asked myself if I could make it through labor and delivery feeling the way I did. I remember feeling completely run down, tired and just up to risking my life and our baby's life. My health was deteriorating and I could have a seisure and risk my baby's life and health. Tory, Jeni and I made the decision to go ahead with the c-section. This broke my heart because I was set on my home birth and my ability to be a strong woman and birth my precious baby. I felt like I didn't have that ability to do what I so desired. I was devistated with the situation. They started me on an antibiotic to reduce my risk of having any infections. They got me ready for surgery. I felt numb and beat mentally and emotionally. We entered the operating room and I recieved a drug to help me relax into the situation. When they gave me that drug I went from nervous to feeling like the room was spinning and I might have had about 20 margaritas. Then the anesthesiologist started to do my spinal. He numbed my back and then put the needle in my back which I still felt. the thought of that memory still makes me kinda queasy. Moments after the spinal I was all tingley and felt like someone had put me in to some sort of unnatural trance. I kinda still felt them put in my catheter. I mentioned that to the anesthesiologist. He said to give it a few minutes and tested to see if I could still feel anything below the spinal. At that point I could only feel pins and needles in my feet. Shortly after that I felt tugging and movement, but not like I was in my body. Pretty soon I heard them say that baby was out and he was fine. Tory was with me the whole time. When baby went to get checked out my mom came in and was with me while they sutured me. I got to kiss my son and love on him for about 5 minutes after Tory cut his cord. When Tory went with Micah my mom stayed with me. I then heard what sounded like a staple gun. It turned it was a staple gun. They got me all closed up and rolled me out into the recovery room. I laid there and shook uncontorlably for a long time. My whole support crew was there with Tory and Micah. So that was My mom, Tory's mom and dad, Tisha, Jeni and Christina. We found out that Micah was 3lbs 13 oz. 16 1/2 inches long. His head was 12 1/2 inches circumference. I eventually got to sit up and breast feed my son. I laid in that recovery room for a what seemed like a long time. We were taken to the NICU. Our room was an adjoining room to Micah's NICU room. They laid me in bed and I stayed there for the next 2 days. I had to have help getting up and getting to go see Micah. Someone else had to change my pads and clean my genital area. When I did finally feel everything the pain was unbelievable. I had a catheter in for about 2 days. After 4 days and lots of progress I was discharged. We were able to stay with Micah in the hospital until he went home. The room was considered Micah's and we are his parents so we could stay as long as Micah had stayed. After 10 days here Micah is back to and just above his birth weight. we may still be here for about another week or 2. He needs to gain weight and hold his own body heat. Be able to have a good oxygen level and be able to consume all of the breast milk on his own. I am still experiencing some Hypertension and elevated Blood Pressure. Which means that my milk production is slowly coming in. I am hopeful that I will able to produce enough milk for Micah by the time we get to go home. I am pumping so that he can consume my milk in addition to donor milk. I love breast feeding with Micah and learning how to be a great mom. The lactation consultants are concerned that I am not producing enough milk yet. My feet are still swollen and I am still taking Vicodin for the pain. Today is the first day that I have noticed leakage from my breasts which makes me think that my breasts may start producing more milk. I will continue to write about this experience so as to be able to get through it all emotionally. I still feel like someone put into an induced dream like trance and when I woke up I had not abdominal control, lots of pain and a beautiful, Handsome baby Boy! I feel like I was supposed to be able to labor and feel the contractions and feel my baby take the passage through the birth canal. I feel like I was robbed that whole experience. I still have the option of being able to do that with the next child. My OBGYN Dr. (Dr. Plotnick) told Tory and I that the chances of Pre-Eclampsia were 30% if Tory and I have another baby together. I hope that I can a have healing experience with our next baby. Don't get me wrong I love Micah and I would do it all over again if I had to but I hope that I can have a natural child birth the next time.

Pregnancy

So I am about 22 weeks or 5 1/2 months pregnant. I have felt like I should be journaling. My midwife also suggested that I at least take some time to write about how I am feeling each day. I love being pregnant and sometimes I dislike it too. It is fun to know that I get to have to honor of carrying my children. This is my first pregnancy. I have decided thus far that I am under the care of a midwife. We will be doing a home birth. Also that we will not be doing an ultrasound unless it is medically indicated. I am under the care of Dr. Brandon Lundell, he is a chiropractor, naturopath, and acupuncturist. So far the worst thing I experience is headaches. In the first trimester I had nausea and vomiting. Since being in my second trimester I have the occasional headache, acne and mood swings. One thing I want to remember is that I didn't even know for sure that I was pregnant until I was about 8 weeks along. Although my due date is totally subjective. I had gone off birth control at the beginning of October. I had a normal period, did not go back on birth control. I had another period about 2 weeks later. So the earliest I could have ovulated and conceived would have been the beginning of November. I feel like I might have conceived closer to Thanksgiving. By Christmas I was definitely pregnant. So my Due date is kinda up in the air by about 2 weeks. Currently I am due around August 4th, 2010. At this point I feel like I am having at least 1 baby girl (no scientific or medical proof). There is a strong feeling of twin girls. Either way I will be very happy with a healthy baby or babies. I feel that I already have a bond with my baby or babies. I know that this will be the most amazing experience ever. Tory is so excited to be a dad that he would rather just be a dad than work. Problem is I am so excited to be a mom that all I want to do is be a mom. So we are looking at how would that be possible. What can we do to work at home and make money? Most importantly we will love being parents and I have no doubt that we will both be great parents. I am still so in love with my husband and I am already in love with my baby or babies. My passion these days is being a great parent. I look forward and know that we will figure this out and We will be awesome parents. Our children will be unique and beautiful.

St. Thomas Experience Day #2

The second day I was very emotional. All of the changes were finally hitting me. We both were somewhere neither one of us was comfortable with. So we decided to go see what it was really like. We found a cute little irish pub that served breakfast. That was a good breakfast and it helped lift our spirits. After that we went down to the Ferry, which was only like a 3 minute walk. It was $5 per Person one way. So $20 round trip. We rode the ferry across to St. John. We walked around on the beach right by the ferry for a while, talking about how many things are not what we expected. Also that we were disappointed in some things that we had already experienced. We both did not like the condo that was provided for us. We both felt like Eric (the owner) was a bit rude and very distant compared to how he was over the phone. From there we decided, why not visit a nice beach and go explore some. We took a taxi to Trunk Bay, the taxi cost $6 per person. Admission to Trunk Bay was $4 each, because it is National Park Preserved area. Exploring that beach was nice, but also our first experience of tropical rain and tropical (nasty) Mosquitoes. About an hour after we arrived at the beach, we got rained out and eaten to almost insanity, so we left. Another $6 per person on the taxi to get back to the Ferry. Too far to walk and the road is not safe to walk on. So we take the ferry back and return to St. Thomas late afternoon. We talked about going over to Fatboys to introduce ourselves. We re-introduced ourselves to Chris the Manager. Then Introduced ourselves to the two people that were there for the Kitchen. Only one person works in the kitchen at a time, so were just there during a shift change, got lucky and met them then. We met Joe and Kelly. Both very nice people. Shortly after that the other person working in the kitchen arrived, he was new so in training. Tory talked to Chris for a bit while I chatted with the kitchen staff. Tory found out that he needed to make a schedule for the next week. So the Joe and I joined to conversation. We all talked about who is available when and when shifts start and end. From there we went back to the condo to change and find a place to eat. At this point Neither one of us remembers where we ate. I think it might have been Pizza at a Local bar. At this moment that is what I remember of Day #2

St. Thomas Experience Day #1

So this is my way of keeping the memories of our time in St. Thomas U.S.V.I. So lets start from the beginning.
We arrive in the St. Thomas airport around 9:30 pm and claim all but one bag. We go let American Airlines know it didn't arrive. With the luggage we have we catch a taxi to our destination. Fatboys is the Restaurant we will be working at and we are supposed to meet our boss there. As we are riding to the restaurant I feel many mixed emotions. Sadness that we are away from home, tiredness from traveling all day. A little anxiety, the taxi driver is a little on the crazy side. We arrive in front a building that looks pretty nice. I see a sign for Fatboys, but not sure where it is actually located. we unload all our luggage, 5 suitcases at this point. We decide to try the stairs over to the left because everything else is closed. We arrive at the top of the stairs to a picture on the door in front of a very fat man jumping into the water with a shark under him saying, "oh man now I have lost my appetite!" It kinda cartoonish, sorta funny. We walk into the bar suitcases in hand. We know from conversation to ask for Chris. Okay so we meet Chris he offers us free food and drink and says " Eric will be here soon". (Eric is the boss man) We eat and the food is good, but we are tired so well wouldn't taken much for us to say it was good. We had margaritas and waited, and waited. Getting close to 11pm and we are tired, still no Eric. So Tory asks Chris if he can call him cause we are waiting for him to show us the Condo we will be living in so we can rest after a long day of travel. Eric finally shows up 11:45 ish with his business partner Zach. Okay so I personally don't mind that they had, had a few drinks, but they drive up beers in hand. We load up our luggage and head up the hill behind Fatboys. Lug all of our bags up to our Condo and stand and talk for a bit. We admit that we are really tired and ask if we can talk tomorrow. Eric says " I am leaving on Friday so I will be busy, just ask Chris any questions you may have. You don't have to work until Monday unless you want to. The schedule is covered until then. So at this point I am thinking why was it such a big deal to get us down here so quickly if he is leaving on Friday? I brush it a side and figure it will be okay and to not worry about the little things. Zach and Eric say goodnight and we start to settle in. We find our pillows and crawl into bed. So looking back at that day as I tell it, I see that the "Red Flags" start popping up early in this experience. At the time I just felt generally concerned but nothing was sounding really bad yet. As I continue on this Chronicling of our adventure the "red flags" pop up more often and then eventually tip the scales of Cons versus Pros. Stay tuned there will be more!

In Shock!

Today, Tory and I got laid off from Sunrise Ranch! We are both in shock, but in some way sort of expected it to happen. Things we are grateful for; Tory accepted a job recently from Panera Bread. He starts that job Tuesday, just in time! I am still doing Massage as long as I get Registered before June! I will be searching for a job to replace Sunrise Ranch. I feel kind of complacent about the whole situation at this moment! I refuse to let this keep Tory and I from getting Married! So many people let money run their life and decisions. We are working on just making it through each day! On the up side we have our tents rented, our port-o-lets rented and Tory's Doublet ordered! I am going to go enjoy the rest of my day! stay tuned for the next episode of life as we know it!

Beginning Entry!

I have created this blog to help me keep my sanity and keep others updated on what is going on my life while Tory and I plan our wedding and continue to live real life in the mean time!
Today as I get ready to leave to go do a massage, of course as I do. I decide to create a blog and not have much time to put anything on it! SO here is the short version to start out on this journey. We started planning our wedding in Oct. 08'. So I think in my head that we have plenty of time, which we do, but I am a procrastinator. I inevitably wait to do thing way too long. On some thing I started way too early which turns out to be a good thing. So far we have reserved a great location, some how by miracle have wonderful friends that have agreed to be our attendants, One of our friends has a father that does Photography and has agreed to shoot our wedding Pro Bo no! For which I am so excited and grateful! Starting on my dress, which my mother has so graciously offered to make, as is one tradition in my family that I am following! With Holiday cards I sent out Save The Date cards and other than that we have all of the rest to do! As time keeps ticking we will do our best to keep up with all the rest that needs to be done. My goal for my next blog is to write about real life outside of wedding planning!