At this point Aaron is still in Baton Rouge and I am completely not expecting to have a baby. I have nothing prepared and I am all about being prepared and have my duckies in a row. Well this is when God reminds me that He is in control and if Caleb is coming then I need to trust Him. I called the nurse on call and she advised me not to even think about coming back to Baton Rouge because they have no electricity. I should stay and get to the nearest hospital if conditions worsened. I knew at this point I had to go to the hospital...ok that was going to take an hour to get to so we better get on the road. I packed a small "just in case bag" and my sister drove me to Monroe to St. Francis Medical. I called Aaron at work and told him that we were headed to the hospital so he needed to not get too involved at work and be ready to get on the road when I needed him.
We arrived to the hospital somewhere around lunch time and the on call Dr. came to check me to see if I was going into labor. Dr. Wilson (the greatest man!!) made me feel so comfortable because he knew I was in a chaotic situation. As soon as he checked me he immediately said you are going no where and we will have a baby today. With me being at 32 weeks he started me on medication that would make me feel terrible but hopefully stop the contractions. I watched to hours tick by and I knew the contractions were getting stronger and Caleb was well on his way out to meet us. All the family came over to wait after they realized we would have a baby that night EXCPET Aaron...yes Aaron! I kept him updated and he took off work at lunch to go home and get packed to head north. 4:00 rolled around and he was still trying to get the house in living condition from the storm. Our electricity has come back on that day and no one had been there for days to get the refrigerator or freezer cleaned up. He wanted to get it all cleaned up before we had to be in the hospital for a long time. He is such a sweet heart but really...I am in labor and he needed to be there.
So I am in full labor pains with no medication to help it. I got all the way to 8cm
and Dr. Wilson knew there was still no way of stopping Caleb so I FINALLY got an epidural to rest for a little while. We had been visited by the NICU team to let us know that Caleb would go straight to the NICU and what he would have to encounter for the first 48 hours and what we would expect before seeing him. At this point there was just so much going on that it all seems like a blur. Aaron did get there just in time for delivery.
At 11:29 with one push Caleb Aaron Hill was here. His little cry was so sweet and soft because he was small. He weighed 4 lbs. 5 oz and 17 inches long. I was able to look at him and say hello and then he was off to the NICU. What a precious little gift God gave us on Sept 6, 2008.
Most of the family came into to give their congrats and I was completely exhausted. I had to wait until I could walk on my own to leave the delivery room to get to see Caleb in the NICU and finally get to eat. I had not eaten for over 12 hours and I was hungry by that point now that things had settled down. Around 2:30 a.m. I got to eat some crackers and get to see my precious angel. My mom stayed with me that night while Aaron took Cayden back to my parents' house to spend have some daddy/Cayden time.
To see him for the first time with all the wires and monitors was very overwhelmin
g but I had complete peace all over that it was all ok. That was my baby laying there that I could not touch but he was in good hands. The doctors and nursing staff there at SFMC where so good and very compassionate. This was their job everyday to care for these small babies but they treated every parent like they were their first. We always knew what was going on and at what stage Caleb was at everyday. For the first 2 days were the most critical to get his stomach cleared out of all the medication that I was on that tried to stop the labor. As soon as his stomach was cleared then he was able to start getting a little bit of bottle.I stayed in the hospital for 2 nights and then we were able to move a couple of blocks away to stay in the Ronald McDonald House until Caleb was able to go home. I had only heard about the RMH on t.v. but never knew much about it but now I have all kinds of love for the RMH. We will always support this group. They have touched so many lives and it is completely operated by volunteers. It was no Hilton but we are so thankful that we had somewhere to stay to go back and forth to the hospital for all visitation hours. I wanted every chance to spend with him and love on him. Caleb stayed a full 22 days in the NICU and was finally strong enough to go home. These are some other pictures taken while we were at the hospital and the RMH.
He had to wear shades to protect his eyes from the light for the jaundice. He was such a good sleeper...so good he would rather do that than eat. I was able to feed him for the first time with my milk in the bottle. It took a lot of energy for him to suck from a bottle.
Cayden was a great Big Brother and he didn't even know it. He knew something was going on but not sure what. He never was able to see Caleb until we went home. We made time in the day to take Cayden out to a local park and play to give him some mommy/daddy time. He loved
every minute of it.He was finally able to hold his baby brother at his house.
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