Our Stay at Methodist Germantown Hospital

Day One After the birth of our beautiful daughter a lot of things happened really quickly. The nurses came in my room asking about my Strep B test results. I had no idea what my results were, because I had just taken the test the previous week. Since I had her at 5:30 in the morning my doctor's office was closed. As a precaution the pediatrician decided to put her on antibiotics through an IV. I was so sad to see my baby with her hand bandaged up where her IV would stay for the next three days. When the office finally opened we found out that my results were positive for Strep B. I didn't really know what that meant other than it could harm her. In most c-sections though the baby is not exposed but some doctors still treat the newborn just to be safe. After this sank in I realized there are definitely worse things that could of been wrong. A few hours later the pediatrician came back in our room with more news. I started to get really worried, because we had already seen the doctor once. The news was that she heard a murmur while listening to her heart and she wanted to get a cardiologists in to do an echocardiogram. So, Dr. Kevin Stamps was called in, and he found out that she had or has two holes in her heart. One is called a PFO and the other is called a VSD. I surprised myself when I heard this information, because I did not cry. I realize now that it is because I was in shock. Dr. Stamps was so thorough and sympathetic. He drew an illustration explaining her condition and comforted us. He said that the VSD is so tiny that it should not get larger and will likely close before her first birthday. He said that there are no symptoms that will be caused by this due to its size. My next question was, what is a PFO. He said that a PFO is a hole in the heart that failed to close after birth. It is open at birth in every child so that the infant can make the transition from being in amnionic fluid to breathing in oxygen. After the first breath the hole usually closes. In almost all cases having a PFO does not need treatment and will not cause any harm. Even though he did an amazing job explaining all of these things, I was still a worried mommy. Being worried however accomplishes nothing, so I decided to hold my baby close, say a prayer, and hand it over to God. After all, the baby I was looking at, feeling breathe on my chest, grunting like crazy was perfect in every way. The rest of the day was spent with family and loving on her and Axton. Day 2 I started to retain a lot of fluid and decided to keep the compression bands on my legs to help with the swelling as well as reduce the risk of clots. I was very sore of course, but I was better than I was after the spinal block wore off. The first 12 or so hours, after the spinal wears off and the catheter is removed, are the worse. The pain of having to stretch your body out after being cut open is indescribable. Then, having to sit on the toilet until you can actually pee is worse than walking! Anyway, so the second day was better. I made myself walk around as much as possible in order to heal faster. I have to say the staff at this hospital is the best. They made me feel confident and made sure we were taken care of at all times. I only had to press the call nurse button when I needed help going to the bathroom. We had a few friends that brought us food which is always appreciated during these times. Lindsey even took Axton home with her so he didn't have to stay there over night. We are so thankful for good friends. Another perk for me was being able to call in room service. Brandon went to the cafeteria, shopping, and local restaurants to eat. Day 2 was looking good and we were all preparing for our trip home in a day or two. Aimree's pediatrician came by again and didn't have any different news. No news is good news to me. Day 3 I was feeling a lot better but was even more swollen and my milk started coming in. Aimree was nursing pretty good and we were off to a great start. Axton was even taking it well. He wanted to know why she was eating my booby lol. Needless to say we discussed what she was really doing and he understood, I think. All three of us laid in bed together for awhile. Axton and I even napped together while she was getting her last round of antibiotics. We walked around the entire floor to exercise and  get out of our room. Aimree was having a car seat safety test done while we walked. She had to be monitored for an hour while buckled in her seat. She passed with flying colors. She also passed her hearing and vision tests. Day three was a good day. Day 4 Time to go home! Our time here was great, and we were very excited to be going home to start the new chapter in our lives.

Aimree Reese Westmoreland

Brandon and I are happy to announce the birth of our baby girl, Aimree! She was born on February 22 at 5:30 A.M. via c-section at 36 weeks 4 days. She weighed 6lbs 8 oz, was 19 1/4 inches long and her head was 12 1/2 inches around. Even though she was a little early, we couldn't stop being excited and a lot nervous. I delivered early due to an irritable uterus which causes continuous contractions that are sometimes, very often actually, painful and consistent. Sometimes they will cause your cervix to thin and dilate, other times it only causes annoying contractions. From 27 weeks to 36 weeks 4 days my contractions didn't let up. At first they were not painful, just uncomfortable, but as I got bigger the contractions did too. My first doctor/hospital visit was right before Christmas. I went in for contractions every 4 minutes apart. My earlier post explains that visit. I had to go in two more times for the same thing before they did the repeat section on the fourth visit. I was not thrilled about having surgery, because I knew what was coming...PAIN! The doctor on call that night was Dr. Lazar at Methodist Germantown. He was not my doctor, but he was who took care of me at all of my hospital visits. Although his patient bedside manner isn't as sweet as my doctor's, he did a good job and made sure we were taken care. The pain was not as bad this go round thankfully. The nurses and staff at Methodist Germantown were amazing and made all the difference in the world in our experience.

Terrible at Updating!

Some people are born bloggers and others are not.. I have found that I am not a born blogger. I have no clue how people find time to update their blog everyday or even every week but kuddos to them. I am trying to accept the fact that I do good to get myself dressed lately lol! Anyways, I will be updating as I get time on the latter part of my pregnancy and the birth of my beautiful daughter Aimree Reese Westmoreland. Until then, here is a sneak peak at my angel.