Brayden Hancock Heaton

Monday April 27, 2009 I woke up about 6 am having contractions. I had a dr's appt. that morning at 9:15 and was anxious to see if my body was doing anything. I was still having contractions but they weren't very consistent. When my dr. checked me I was dialated to a 3-4. Being I was at a 2 for 3 weeks now I was quite pleased. I was told if I could get my contractions at a steady pace and not stop I could go ahead on in to the hospital. At 2pm I called Kory and asked him to come home and get ready to go. By the time we got the kids settled at a friends house and made it to the hospital it was about 3pm.

I was immediately taken back to a triage room where I was hooked up to monitors. This triage room determines whether I would be sent to Labor and Delivery or sent home. The monitors showed that my contractions were every 5 minutes and I was still only dialated to a 3-4. I let the nurse know that at home walking around the contractions would be 2-3 minutes, just sitting doing nothing the contractions would stay about 5 minutes. She was about to let me out of bed to walk around when for some reason there was a shift change. The new nurse came in as I was getting out of bed. When she heard I was 37weeks to the day she said "absolutely not, your still too early I want you laying here doing nothing to see if we can get the contractions to stop!". So for the next hour I layed in the triage room not able to do a thing. My contractions were still about every 5 minutes. However after laying there for an hour when checked I was now dialated to a 5. The nurse went ahead and sent us to Labor and Delivery. The anesthesiologist was soon called and I soon received the epidural. By 6pm I wasn't feeling anything and I was dialated to an 8. My doctor was called, when she got there my water was broken and then we played the waiting game. Brayden Hancock Heaton decided to make his entrance at 8:21pm.
He weighed 8 lbs. even and was 20.5 inches long. Not to bad for a baby born 3 weeks early. Kory cut the unbilical cord and I was able to hold Brayden for the 1st time. Being it was much later then expected Kory took off to pick up the kids and get them home and into bed. His plan was to bring the kids back up early the next morning. Brayden of course was soon taken from my chest to be wiped down and measured and all the other things they do to a new born. When he was taken from me he soon started to cry and didn't stop. After just a few minutes of crying Brayden began grunting and heavily breathing. He was taken to the nursery to be monitored a little closer. It wasn't very long after he had been taken to the nursery that a pediatrician was called. Brayden was soon put on oxygen and hooked up to several machines monitoring things I had no idea they monitored.

After several hours of different tests and x-rays it was discovered that Brayden had very wet lungs. More tests were ordered but we wouldn't know anything definite for several more hours. As a per caution knowing that phnemonia was a possibility he was started on some antibiotics through an IV.

Tuesday mid morning he had another chest x-ray done which showed no improvement. A neonatal doctor from Phoenix just happened to stop by. After Brayden's pediatricain consulted with this specialist it was decided the best thing for Brayden was to be taken to a NICU down in Phoenix. By 3 pm the paperwork was started for me to be discharged and Brayden to be taken to Phoenix in a bright yellow helicopter. Kory waited for my mom to get here from Utah and brought her and the kids up to see there new baby brother. Unfortunately the kids had to stay behind the glass to see him. Kory was able to hold him for the 1st time and give Brayden a blessing before he was taken to Phoenix. It was a hard day for me. Brayden was hooked up to so many machines that he had to stay in the nursery. I spent most of my time sitting in a rocking chair next to him. He was struggling with his breathing so much that I was told not to try nursing him. He was getting nutrition from his IV. Holding him seemed to put him in more distress so I was asked not to hold him either. I was able to sit by his bed and rub my finger along his arm or touch his head.

The helicopter finally made its appearance at 7:30 pm. The kids were able to see Brayden again on the way out of the hospital. We all sat in the van and watched as our newest addition to the family was flown to Phoenix. Due to the time I decided to go home and follow Brayden the next morning.