Saffron Aiyanna is here!

A little behind on this announcement, but I didn't have access to the internet at the hosp. We went for a growth scan Monday the 2nd to find out she had not grown in the past 3 weeks. She was still at 3lb 12oz per ultrasound. My blood presure had been 200/120 for most of two weeks as well. So Maternal Fetal Medicine decided she needed to be born. As we had been planning a home birth this was dissapointing, but obviosly needed. Also not having planned on birthing that day we were totally unprepared and an hour from home. We initially started to head to the hosp my prior ob was at, but upon them calling and finding out that the baby would likely transfer to a bigger hosp (the one mfm was located at and we had just left) we decided to go back there. Upon arrival and triage the Dr. came in and disscussed our options with us pushing strongly for a c-section due to the baby's size and gest. age (35weeks 7 days). After disscussing the pros and cons with her and the neonatologist, and my midwife we chose to do a trial labor as long as she could handle it. I did have one of my midwife's labor asst. there the whole time so that was nice. I was put on Magnesium and pitocin around 6pm on Nov second. We labored all through the night, on no sleep from the night before due to a hosp stay for blood pressure. At around 6am I was exhausted as was my husband, and being unable to even sit up, or any other position but lying down in bed do again to my bp, I decided to get anepidural, things were not progressing very quickly and didn't seem to go well at this point... Upon getting the epidural my bp bottomed out, I almost passed out, and her heart rate was affected. The Maternal Fetal Med Dr. just coming on duty strongly recommended c-section, and would not turn pitocin back on due to her stress, although she had regulated with it off. I chose to see what happened with it off and after a short time my contracts continued to space out and I still was 5 cent and only 50%. I elected for the c-section as I knew the best effort had been given and didn't want to stress her more. This did terrify me as when I had my prior c-section I felt the entire surgery and I voiced this to the anesthesiologist. I told him I would do it all over again that way rather than go to sleep. The next hurdle to cross was the fact that I was on Mag, and would be on a different floor, High Risk, than the baby upon bitrh. She would not have to go to NICU barring complications, but would be in Continuos care nursery. The policy was mother had to come there for feedings etc. And of course I was bed bound for at least 24 hrs post delivery. I did fight and convinced them to bring her to me for feedings and let her nurse in recovery as well. All this barring complications of course.

The c-section went smooth and very quick. She came out screaming and in great shape. her apgar scores wer 8 and 9. She did not need oxygen or any other initial intervention. She was born at 10:15am at 3lbs 9oz and 17.5 inches long. As soon as I got to recovery the tough little cowgirl she is latched and nursed 5-10 mins!!!! They let her stay with me for about an hour anda half before taking her to CCN. They then moved me to high risk. She was great that day and into evening, although the neonatologist did put her on Iv fluids for sugar regulation and she was in an Isolet for temp maintainance. The neo also wanted me to supplement my breast milk with ahuman milk fortifier made by similac which I refused as I wanted no foriegn substances in her and felt my milk was best thing for her and could sustain her. I did pump and feed with a bottle at times to ensure my milk came in as fast as possible and she got as much as possible. The neo didn't seem to have any faith at all in breastmilk sustaining preemie babies and continued to show concern and daily pushed for some type of supplementing. I however stood my ground as she was continuing to thrive and shock all. By Saturday I was scheduled to be released and she was thriving and gaining wieght. She did have one Apnea spell, but self recoveredd. The Neo said we were running out of Iv sites for the fluids and since my milk was in and she was doing way above how they expected her to she was going to stop iv. So much for breast milk not being good enoughhuh! She maintained her sugar levels well and as long as I could get her to maintain a minimum volume to sustain her 3lb 9oz wieght they would not intervien with a supp or feed tube.

10 mins beforeI was to be released my blood pressure again spiked and I was having visual disturbances so back down to high risk and a second dose of magnesium. That hit me hard and made me feel horrible, but we plugged on. She continued to nurse well taking less and less from the bottle  and I was throwing milk pumped away left and right! By sunday even they were weaning her isolet temps down. and by monday she was out and in room temp thriving! I was released monday and parent overnight room was avail so I stayed at the hosp with her. She was allowed to spend a good chunk of the time in my room at this point and continued to amaze the staff. They finally were giving her and me some credit for her toughness and her achieving things much faster than most babies like her and still purley on breast milk!!!! Even the lactaion consultants there were pushing for some type of intervention, it amazed me how little faith the staff had in the bosy of mother and baby working together.

 

She was release yesterday, 11-11 at a wieght of 3lb 13 oz and eight days of age. UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!!! Statistically she should have spent another week there!

 

We are doing great at home and loving her to bits!!

What an amazing story!  Congratulations on your little "cowgirl" (so cute).  Very inspirational story, thank you for sharing!!! :)  It is proof that moms know best.  She is gaining weight better than most term babies that are breastfed.  Amazing little girl you have!  Can't wait to see pictures if you decide to post them.

WOW! You are such a strong women! good on you for sticking to your guns....and congratulations on the arrival of your little girl! Well Done

Congratulations x, but your post makes me angry, how dare they try and push for other suppliment, there is nothing better than mothers milk, why dont these stupid doctors understand. Im glad you stuck by your guns, good luck x

I can't get my pics to upload here, but I have a few on my blog and will be frequently adding more, Feel free to check it out!  http://midasvalley.blogspot.com/

 

Yes the push for "extras" was very aggrivating. I would no sooner turn one thing down and they would have another to throw at me. I must say in their defense they do see the worst very frequently, likely much due to the supp. and formula, and although they had no faith in breast milk they were not argumntative, they had no argument when I had facts to show benefuts, they did do thier best to support my choices, and didn't do anything behind my back. I will post a timeline of her hospital stay along with the things they wanted to do in case someone else is in the same boat! I strongly believe that things turned out as they did because they needed to see what results can be if mother and baby do "exclusively" breast, and minimalinterventions are used! Someday another baby will come around and maybe mom wont have to fight so hard because they now know it CAN work!!! 

Here is her timeline in the hospital and all the details of what the Dr wanted for her. Hopefully it will be of some help to someone else in the same situation. Tues 3rd. - not maintaining glucose levels or temp, so in Isolet and I had to choose between supplemnting with formula or IV fluids. Of course I let them put an IV in. They gave her straight fluids and Dextrose is all. She was feeding every 3hrs. Wed 4th - Dr. concerned about calorie and protien intake and suggested adding human milk fortifier to brest milk. I told them no as it is still formula based and a dead substance to sit in her gut increasing her risk of infection, among other reasons. I suggested using Donor milk if need arose to increase calpories and protien, but the Dr. bulked at it saying she was not a canidate for it and it was too expensive! Hello, if she needs it she is a canidate and who cares what it costs she has insurance! Thurs 5th - Up to 3lb 12oz, crediting gain all to IV fluids, not breastmilk! Bilirubin good level Still pushing for calorie and protien increase. Lactation consults. also pushing which was even more frustrating than the dr as they are supposed to have faith in breast milk. My midwife came to visit and talked to one of the lact. consults. She mentioned that they were pushing this calorie protien issue, yet were not giving her anything in her IV to boost it. Also that we could skim donated milk or my milk to increase calories and fats.... The Lact. said that if I was against the HM fortifier that we could use Alumentum, DUH, thats formula! Fri 6th - Concerned they are running out of IV sites and won't be able to use fluids soon. They suggested a breast milk based fortifier that is frozen concentrated breast milk with all the "good" stuff pulled out. They had never used it before! Also mentioned using a feed tube to increase her volume. After discussing with my midwife I decided against using it because it still has additives, mainly Iron and lipids, Double Iron concerned me and lipids are to new to have good evidence for. Funny thing was that she had been aking 13 ml per feeding and the feeding following this discussion she took 60!!! Talk about showing the Dr up! Sat 7th Fluids removed and a minimum volume set at 28ml per feeding. She was back down to birth weight. Agreed to use tube if needed but not as a prevention, but never needed it. Bilirubin up to 11 so she spent the day under lights. Also had an apnea spell in night but self recovered. Sunday 8th - Maintaining glucose on her own, still in isolet for temps. Up to 3lb 10oz. Amazing Dr! Bilirubin down so no more lights. Began weaning Isolet temps down. Monday 9th - Out of isolet in my room for a few hours at a time, maintaining temp on own. Up to 3lb 12 oz. Tues 10th - Down an oz due to maintaining temp on own. Nursing great! Wed 11th - HOME I hope this info can help someone else in a similar situation. My advise is that while Drs. do their very bes to do what is right they are too worried about what might go wrong and jump to intervention as a preventative not using it as needed. I would encourage all to have a back up plan they are confortable with in case something does go wrong, but to not anticipate things going wrong. Babies and mothers bodies know what to do they know what they need, breast milk is made specifically to that babies needs, protien, calorie, antibodies, all of it! Trust the body, trust your gut feeling, even when it contradicts the drs, your gut is usually correct! Have faith and stand your ground.

 Wow what a story, congratulations hun, glad u stood your grounds. Glad you and baby are doing well x

Wow, what a story! You are a strong mama for sure! Glad to hear that you are both doing so well. And, can I just say how awesome you are for sticking to your guns about breastfeeding?? Just goes to show you that mothers know best, and doctors aren't always right!