Austin Michael Jorgensen

To those of you that read my blog but don't follow us on social media, our little Austin is here!  He obviously arrived earlier than expected and the past week has been a whirlwind, which is why I haven't gotten an update posted until now.

We went to our scheduled NST on Friday the 8th expecting it to be a regular checkup but when we learned that my AFI (Amniotic Fluid Index) was only 3.5 we knew we wouldn't be going home.  When the Sonographer left the room to get the doctor, Logan and I both agreed that we wanted this baby delivered since it no longer seemed safe to keep him in utero.  The doctor came in and completely agreed that I needed to be induced so we headed straight for Labor and Delivery to get things going!  

I was anxious to be checked so we could see if I had made any progress on my own because I knew we could be in for a long labor if we had to start from ground zero.  They got me hooked up to everything and then checked me and said I was roughly 50% effaced and dilated to a "fingertip".  I wasn't as worried about being dilated as I was about my cervix being thinned.  They started me on a really low dose of Pitocin to see how Austin would handle it and to start thinning my cervix.  They didn't want to use other medications or methods to thin my cervix because they were worried Austin wouldn't be able to handle it because he was so small. They got everything going around 11:00am and by 9:00pm that night I still hadn't made any progress.  I was contracting and dilating but my cervix just wasn't thinning.  They decided to use a foley balloon to thin my cervix and by this time we were anxious to make some sort of progress so we were all for it!  Putting that foley balloon in and inflating it was no fun!  I was a bit bummed when they said it would take 12 hours for the balloon to do its job because I knew we'd be in for a long night.

Logan a I did our best to get some rest throughout the night, which was pretty uneventful.  Austin was handling everything very well so there wasn't any concern about him at this point.  By 9:00 the next morning I couldn't wait to get the balloon out.  Not only was it uncomfortable but I was anxious to see if it had thinned my cervix at all.  When they took it out and checked me I was only a bit more effaced (probably 60%) but I was dilated to a 3 so that was encouraging.  They brought a resident in to break my water hoping that would speed things up but she struggled getting it broken.  After a few minutes of messing around up there she was finally able to break it but said that we didn't see/feel a rush of fluid because mine was so low.  Now that my water was broken they decided to turn up the Pitocin and really try to get things going.  **I totally forgot to mention above that I had gotten my epidural a long time ago, shortly after we were admitted to labor and delivery, so I was quite comfortable.**  The hours slowly creeped by and I was steadily dilating but my cervix just wasn't thinning.  By this time I had also started to bleed so that was worrisome.  Austin was doing really well still but when the nurses said: "We'd rather have you not bleeding but it's not the end of the world." that still freaked me out.  By this time it was probably 1:00pm and nothing was changing so I asked them to call my doctor.  Because my doctor typically works at Riverton only, he told IMC that they could make all the decisions during my labor and that he would come as soon as I was ready to deliver.  Even though I wasn't ready to push, I wanted him here to give his take on everything.  They reluctantly called and he was more than happy to come check out the situation.

The minute he walked in the room we all felt 100x better!  He checked out my bleeding and assured me that everything was okay and then decided to check me himself even though they had just done it before he got there.  As soon as he checked me he had a confused look on his face and said: "Have they not broken your water?"  I couldn't believe it.  We had sat around all these hours and the reason I hadn't been progressing was because the resident never really got my water broken.  My doctor got his little tool and within 5 seconds my water was broken and sure enough there was a giant rush of fluid.  I know med students have to learn and practice somewhere but one thing I love about Riverton hospital is that it's not a teaching hospital so you only have to work with your doctor.  Okay, enough of that.  

As soon as my water broke, things progressed much faster.  Within two hours I was fully dilated and this kid was sliding right down the birth canal.  They quickly got us to the OR (I had to deliver there because they needed to pass him straight through to the NICU) and after 3 or 4 pushes our little Austin was here!  They put him right on my chest and I couldn't believe how TINY he was!  We knew he would be small but my goodness, he was extra small.  He let out a few little kitten cries and after letting me kiss his head they passed him through the window to the NICU.  A couple minutes later one of the nurses poked her head through the window and announced that he was 3lb 8oz and 17in long.  We were in love with our tiny guy!

Everything from here on out was quite a whirlwind.  They got me cleaned up pretty fast, took us back to our room in Labor and Delivery, and told us that we would be able to go see him on our way to my room on the floor.  Unfortunately when we were ready to see him they called to say they were still working on getting his lines in so we needed to wait a bit before going to the NICU.  Not too much later they took us down to see our sweet boy and wow, that was pretty tough.  Logan and I knew Austin would need a bit of help when he was born and when they told us he was on CPAP for his breathing we still weren't too worried but seeing him was another story.  We both had immediate flashbacks of everything Eli went through so seeing Austin was far more difficult than we anticipated. 

Not only did he have a breathing mask on, but he also had bili lights surrounding nearly every inch of his body and multiple lines for IV access so the only part of his body that we could really see were his little feet. Austin is considered IUGR (Intrauterine Growth Restriction) because he's so much smaller than a typical 34 week baby.  The original theory was that my placenta wasn't functioning properly, causing him to be little but my placenta looked normal after my delivery.  Our theory is that Austin's growth basically stopped when he became so anemic in utero.  Up until my 29 week appointment, he was measuring a few days ahead at every growth scan but after that he was always measuring behind and never really measured past 30 weeks.  30 weeks is the first MCA scan that showed he was anemic but remember we put the transfusion off for a few weeks after that.  I'm sure his body was using all of its energy to get blood to his organs when he was so anemic that he didn't have the energy to focus on his growth.  We have no regrets about the decisions we made during my pregnancy and we know there was a reason he was supposed to be born when he was so we're just thrilled he's here and finally thriving!

Austin has been in the NICU for 1 week and has made wonderful progress.  He now only uses a nasal cannula to breathe, has graduated from the bili lights, hasn't needed a blood transfusion, and is quickly regaining his birth weight!  It's hard to put a timeline on when he might come home but our goal/guess from the beginning was one month.  If that's accurate then he should be home in 3ish weeks!

It feels so good to be a family of 4!  We feel Eli with us constantly and know he is taking the night shifts at the hospital when Logan and I can't be there.  We are so proud of Austin and all of the progress he is making but we can't wait for him to come home!