Baby James

On April 20th at 3:53pm, we welcomed James Dale Simpson to our family. He was 5lbs 9oz and 19 1/2 inches long.

James was born 2 1/2 weeks early. The doctor saw that I was measuring small and had an ultrasound done. During the ultrasound, they estimated James' weight at 4lbs which was 4 weeks behind schedule. They also looked at the fluid and blood flow. The fluid was barely okay but the blood flow to the baby intermittently backed up the umbilical cord which is apparently pretty dangerous. My OB brought me in the next day for a non-stress test to see how the baby was moving. James aced the test. But that didn't stop us from having to be induced the next day. We were left scrambling to find people to watch our kids in the middle of the night and the next few days. Lucky for us, our families really stepped in and helped us out. It was a great blessing!

All throughout labor we were worried about how James recovered from contractions. He handled it pretty well until the very end when we were waiting for the doctor. With every contraction his heartbeat would plummet and there were a couple of times we were holding our breath until we heard that heart beat again. My nurse was seconds away from calling the doctor on duty and having HIM deliver James. I think if she could have delivered James herself, she would have. But my OB got there just in time and two pushes later, James was born. It was the easiest delivery I've ever had. But he's also the smallest baby I've ever had!

They took James' vitals and discovered his blood sugar was 17. Normal range is 80-120. Low is below 40. Dangerous is below 20. If it's below 20 there is risk for brain damage. They wisked him off to the nursery for further evaluation. Michael went along and directed the ensuing melee. They admitted James to the Continuing Care Nursery in the NICU where they put in an IV with glucose and monitored his blood sugar for the next week. We struggled to nurse, and switched to pumping when that didn't work. Once he had milk to drink, he started eating well and his blood sugar stabilized. They did tests on his platelets, which dropped, and for other issues that might cause low blood sugar. Basically they attributed it to his being IUGR or Intra Uterine Growth Retardation (meaning his growth was stunted in utero). After a 8 days they sent him home. Yea!!

We are SO happy to have James home! It was definitely an adventure but one that we don't want to repeat.