Dylan Randall Corning

Dylan Randall Corning

Born September 28, 2009

8:18am

5 lbs 12 oz 19 in

Big sister Lily's first reaction to meeting her baby brother

Dylan and Daddy



Our first photo as a family of four

Mommy and Dylan

Lily holding Dylan

We arrived at the hospital at 5:45 this morning for my scheduled cesarean section at 37 weeks 1 day. After some brief paperwork, we headed into Triage, where I was hooked up to the monitors and prepped for surgery. They drew some blood for labwork, started my IV, and of course took my blood pressure. My blood pressure was high, 147/95, but it was still acceptable. After being in triage for awhile, they took my blood pressure again, only to find that it had gone up to 170s/110s. Another repeat measure showed 170s/100s. This was a big surprise to everyone because I've had such great blood pressure throughout the entire pregnancy. Since my blood pressure was so high, the doctor asked for a urine sample; it showed that I was spilling protein in my urine -- that means that I had preeclampsia! God has perfect timing. If I had to develop preeclampsia, the day of my scheduled delivery was certainly the best day for it to happen!

Since we were already there to deliver the baby, the preeclampsia diagnosis didn't change my treatment plan too much. But it did mean that I have to get magnesium in my IV for 24 hours after delivery to prevent siezures. So we went to the Operating Room, where the magnesium was started in my IV and the anesthesiologist administered my spinal block. The combination of the mag and spinal made me quite nauseous. Dusty was brought into the room after I was settled on the operating table, and surgery began. Dylan was born at 8:18, crying loud and clear. When the nurse first showed him to us, my first thought was how big he looked! He weighs 5lbs 12oz, and he's 19in long.

The nurses cleaned him up and brought him over for Dusty to hold him. We oohed and ahhed over him for a couple of minutes before the nurse took him to the nursery so he would be able to stay warm. (The operating room was very cold - I was shaking.) While the nurses were transporting me from the OR to the recovery room, Dusty stopped by the nursery and found out that Dylan was being given a small amount of supplemental oxygen due to low saturations. It is common for a slightly early baby born via c-section to have some excess fluid that didn't all get squeezed out during their trip down the birth canal. So Dylan was breathing a little rapidly and needed a little bit of oxygen. The hospital's policy is to allow babies like this to stay in the regular nursery for up to six hours; if they haven't improved enough to no longer need oxygen by that time, they have to go to the NICU. Well, Dylan did great! He improved quickly and was able to come to my room at about 11:45 this morning.

We had a great surprise in all of that - one of Lily's old primary nurses from the NICU was the transport nurse who took care of Dylan in the regular nursery today! It was really nice to see Nurse Laura again, and of course we knew our baby was in good hands. Nurse Heather, another of Lily's primary nurses, came to visit us today as well.

Dylan has been a sleepyhead all afternoon. He would rather sleep than eat, which is normal for the first 24-48 hours. He had his circumcision done a little while ago, and the doctors told us that he didn't cry at all!

Lily loves her baby brother and enjoys holding him; she's also very interested in how we take care of him, like when his diaper needs to be changed. I think she's going to be a fantastic big sister. I am feeling fine. I'm not allowed to get out of bed because of the magnesium, but I've been able to move around in the bed fairly easily, shifting weight and moving Dylan around. I'm not in any pain; the pain control from my spinal block is supposed to work for about 24 hours, and the nurse also had me take some Motrin this evening to take care of any inflammation or additional pain that may sneak up on me. The magnesium will be stopped around 8:30 in the morning, and that is when I'll be allowed to get out of bed and start moving around.

We are so very blessed by this new little boy!

Thank you all for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers today - we really appreciate your love and support.