Happy Birthday Ezekiel....

When the time finally came for Ezekiel's birthday it came FAST!!! Although the nurses kept telling me that I still wasn't in labor and the the contractions were inconstistant I knew something was happening. I basically had to beg my nurse to check to see if anything had changed because they were not allowed to check me "just because" because my water could potentially break and they didn't want that to happen... at 2:00 am I was asking for some pain meds because I just wasn't going to be able to sleep if these "contractions" didn't stop... at 2:30 am I was pushing the button for the nurse because the meds weren't doing a thing.... at 3:00 am she got permission to check me HA! I was complete! Ezekiel James arrived at 3:24 am with only 4 pushes... and I had no epidural!!!!







My precious baby boy surprised us in more than one way! Not only did he gain more than a pound in that 2 weeks I was in the hospital weighing 5lbs 12 oz. But he didn't need ANY help breathing! And to my excitement he didn't look like an alien (My biggest fear of having a preemie... haha)!

Unfortunately he hadn't mastered the suck, swallow, breath process and had to have IV fluids and a tube put in his nose for feedings and I was forced to have a new best friend.... the PUMP..UGH! He did so good those first few days surprising all the NICU nurses and Dr. Hoffmeister. He started to take his bottle well and then his jaundice levels increased causing him to have to have treatments which unfortunately made him exhausted and slowed his desire to eat and then came the NG tube again. But after 11 days and the help of a wonderful nurse named Katy who pushed my baby and the doctors our little Ezekiel got to come home!

To all moms and future moms out there... never take forgranted the day that you got to come home with your baby from the hospital. I speak for myself and for other moms who have experienced this on top of being an emotional mess from just delivering a baby, having to leave the hospital and not getting to take your baby with you is one of the most awful feelings in the world and I was blessed to have a baby that was considered "healthy". Even after spending 2 weeks in the hospital before Ezekiel was born, the day that I got to go home was not a joyous occasion and no one prepares you for such an event.

Here I am 3 months later and I am so thankful for my healthy baby boy and how unless someone told you his story you would have never known that he was born premature.

Ezekiel James...

This is a little late coming but to be honest its been a rough couple of months at the Cuff household... After a fairly easy 31 weeks of pregnancy our little Ezekiel James decided he wanted to grace us with his presence early and very unexpected.

After enduring a weekend of what I thought were just Braxton hicks contractions Brian finally talked me into calling the Dr. and we ended up going to the hospital for an hour of observation. Little did I know that It would be 2 weeks before I would get to breath fresh air or walk outside. An hour goes by and they decide to do a little test to see if I was going into later and to my Doctors surprise I was already there. I was half way done with labor! Dilated to 5 cm and 100% effaced there was no going back and unfortunately for my I was going to get to stay in a hospital room until this little baby of mine arrived! No big deal right just have the kid and go home in 2 days..... Nope!

Because I wasn't even 32 weeks yet I had to get steroid shots in hopes that they would help mature Ezekiel's lungs. I also had to be on an IV because I hadn't been tested yet for Group Strep B and had to be put on antibiotics "just in case" I was positive. You see at 32 weeks of gestation a babies lung are not quite ready to breath air, nor are they ready to eat like a normal term baby. I had to meet a NICU Dr. who told me that my baby might get to stay in the hospital for a couple of months because he most likely only weighed about 4 lbs and would need help breathing, eating, and developmentally would be behind other babies because he just wasn't finished growing. Talk about being an emotional wreck!!!!!! All that on top of being freaked out about delivering my first child!

No one at the hospital was able to give me an estimated day of delivery... They said he could arrive in 2 hours or 2 weeks... What we did know is that for every day he didn't come he would have to be in the NICU for 2 less days! So we got to wait.... and wait.... and wait....

Last Prego Picture

This is all I got to do....

My home for a few weeks...