The Hubbard Family: Welcome Pryce!

Welcoming Pryce!
(Warning: very long & detailed post...it's for my memory one day) :)

Tuesday, April the 8th started out as an ordinary day. I got Parker & Presley off to school & headed home to rest. The past week my doctor had me coming in every 2-3 days for blood work so she could keep an eye on it since some things had started to change. My blood platelets had been low since about 30 weeks & I had started to feel bad right around 31 weeks. I told my doctor around 33-34 weeks that I had a bad feeling about things, I recognized I was feeling the same I had with my first pregnancy but she just said to me- "oh I think you just don't know how it feels to be this far along..." I was pretty upset about that since I recognized I was feeling the exact same symptoms as before but I trusted that with them checking my blood work they had a watch on things. I knew when the nurse called me the week before he was born asking me to come in for more blood work (I had just been the day before!) that things must have been starting to change. Sure enough, my liver enzymes were increasing and that combined with the low platelets & anemia is the combination for what I had in my first pregnancy- HELLP Syndrome (a pre-eclampsia variant) I was beginning to get frustrated driving in to the doctors office every couple days, combined with feeling sick. I was really counting the days & sleeps to my scheduled c section at 39 weeks- and that was a first because I had really enjoyed this pregnancy & I knew it would all be over in the blink of an eye. :) All that "plan" changed on that Tuesday, the 8th (37 weeks 5 days pregnant) when I was home resting that afternoon. I started feeling worse & debated if I should tell my doctors office. My friend Kim urged me to put a call in so I decided I'd send them an e-mail since I was already scheduled to see them for more blood the next day. To my surprise the nurse called & said they wanted me to come in right away. Based on how my previous appointments had been (seemingly pointless, ha!) I wasn't expecting anything of this appointment. I sat at my appointment texting a couple of friends complaining about my waste of time at my doctors office, haha, when I heard my doctor on the phone in the hall say- "yes I agree with you" I knew she had been talking with a specialist about my blood work & when I heard those words I knew it was about me. In came my doctor & she said- well it's time to deliver you, I'll get it set up and get you over to the hospital. In sat my panic- right now?! Can I go home to get some things? Because of course I hadn't expected anything of this appointment so I didn't bring anything with me, including my husband! Nope, she was getting me set up at the hospital at that moment. With a cell phone battery almost dead I quickly dialed Eric...with no answer of course- ahh! I next called my mom to update her & then got back on the phone trying to reach my husband which seemed to take forever. :)
The nurse walked me over to labor & delivery and they got me set up in a room.

I thankfully reached Eric & he was on his way, a little in shock. A few minutes later my dad arrived & was in the room with me as they prepped me for surgery. The most dreaded words I heard were- we're going to start the magnesium sulfate now & you'll get the largest dose now before surgery. Oh I had been down the road of magnesium before & was reallllllly hoping to avoid it but they didn't seem to care ;) - it is not a fun drug at all!
I of course didn't have my camera, a photographer with no camera & the upcoming birth of a child, just torture I tell you! Thankfully the nurse loaned me a cell phone charger & I carefully gave Eric instructions of all the pictures I needed him to take with my phone in the OR of Pryce once he was born ;). The time of being in the OR and the waiting for them to let Eric come back in seemed to last a century & it was about that time that my thoughts drifted to...why did I do this? Ha! I was terrified but also so incredibly excited to finally meet my baby boy!! I laid there anxiously awaiting to hear my sweet baby cry! Parker & Presley only had a tiny short cry because they were born pre-term, I was looking forward to & hoping for the long, loud newborn cry from Pryce! Eric kept me updated and I'll never forget the look in his eyes as he first saw Pryce come out, the same look I saw when he first saw them pull out Presley and then Parker- a look of love, astonishment, joy, excitement- just wonderful. It seemed to take forever before the brought him over for me to see him but when they did, I saw my sweet blessing. :)

Hi world!

Pryce David, 7 lbs 8 oz of heaven

They then let me know that he was going to be taken to the NICU, SIGH, because they thought he had some fluid in his lungs. They assured me they didn't feel he would be there very long.

Here he is during his short NICU visit, he thankfully was only there a few hours before the fluid worked its way out.

Once I got in recovery I had a rough time, which was new to me because I did not have this struggle after p&p were born. I lost too much blood & because of this my blood pressure sank- big time. I remember feeling as if I could just close my eyes and sleep, and also that I couldn't breathe! The put oxygen on me and that helped a little, I started to feel scared! They were injecting me with meds to get my blood pressure up but they wanted my body to do it on it's own. Around this time they shut off the magnesium sulfate IV- I guess maybe it was making things worse, whatever the reason I was glad it was being turned off! It wasn't long before my body was doing better & I was able to go to post-partum.
It was around midnight that I heard the squeak of a cart being pushed down the hall and I said to Eric- "they're bringing him!" & sure enough in came my baby boy!
There's no greater feeling

The next few days we spent in the hospital & sadly we didn't get to have Parker & Presley come up to meet baby brother because they ended up getting sick- bad timing- but they sure loved meeting him at home!