Atticus' birth story... a little late...

Note to reader:  So I was looking through my blog today and found this post I wrote back in July but never actually posted to my blog- it was saved as a draft.  So here it is... a little late, but definitely worth posting!
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Ok, I realize I'm W.A.Y. late posting these pictures from Atticus' birth and writing about all the details from a semi-complicated pregnancy with him but sometimes it's better to be late than never do it, and in this case scenario, I'll settle for being late. Besides, 5 years from now, heck maybe even one year from now, *(or 7 months later--- as I'm reading through what I wrote back in July, I've already forgotten most of these details about my pregnancy and delivery) I may not remember half these things, so for that very reason, it's nice to have all the facts written here on our family blog.

Let's begin with this lovely pregnancy picture Noah took of me at 36 weeks.  My belly was HUGE!!! So were my cheeks and my double chin. GOODNESS!

Everyone always asks me how much weight I gained with this last pregnancy... my honest answer, I don't know, but enough to know that all those cookies (gluten free of course) and all of the popsicles and ice cream I craved and ate, I probably added some unnecessary poundage.  I've been pregnant 8 times in the past 6 years (3 of those pregnancies were short pregnancies, ending in miscarriages)--- I think it's fair to say my body probably thinks it needs to store fat for the next baby---but surprise surprise, I'm not looking to have another baby a.n.y. time soon- if ever again- we'll see about that later... I've been working on trying to shed all 34 pounds of baby weight I've put on over the past 6 years and I'm telling you, it's. NOT. easy!  Sometimes I really wonder why I wasn't blessed with those same miracle genes women like Heidi Klum got?!  To be tall and skinny... what a dream!  Anyhow, it will come.  I'll loose the weight.  I'm down right determined; just please keep in mind next time you see me, DO NOT offer me chocolate or ice cream, as those are both two of my indulgences.

I had to laugh as I was sorting through pictures and found the following one. Ian had taken this snapshot of Noah, just after Noah took my picture.  I had a good belly laugh looking at it as it reminds me of something from the movie Zoolander!

Alright let's address the nitty gritty facts about this last pregnancy. We found out at 17 weeks that we were expecting another boy.  I was excited!  Really!  I'd thought about it during the weeks leading up to the ultrasound and decided it would be SUPER fun to have another boy. It's not every day that you see a family of all boys- 5 for that matter, and all of them only a year or so apart in age.  I was actually shocked though with how many family and friends were terribly disappointed the baby wasn't a girl... i.e. my father in law. He REALLY wanted another granddaughter! I can't blame him.... Everyone already knows we make uber cute boys--- a daughter of ours would be stinkin' ADORABLE!  But if these people had only bothered to ask me or Spencer what we wanted, they would have known we were happy with it being another boy! We really only wanted the baby just to be healthy- whether it was a boy or a girl.  I'd had a miscarriage at 12 weeks in May of 2010, shorlty before my pregnancy with Atticus, so early on, during the first and second trimester of my pregnancy with Atticus, I was terribly concerned I might miscarry again.  Something interesting we learned later on during this last pregnancy was that it may not be just a coincidence that Spencer and I have had all boys.  My children's pediatrician suggested the theory that there's a good probability all 3 if not at least 1 or 2 of my miscarriages were indeed girls...  because two of our boys, Noah and Bentley, both have Hypotonia and a yet to be determined underlying condition- Hypotonia is a weak X-linked genetic disorder- and because I have some form of Celiacs Disease and I've passed it onto some of my children (Celiacs is also a weak X-linked disease)- the X chromosomes we pass onto a girl fetus are both weakened, which in the end could very well result in the termination of the pregnancy-i.e. miscarriage.  I thought what he'd suggested was interesting, and honestly, I'd been thinking sort of the same thing since my last miscarriage in May of 2010.  I felt for sure, when I was pregnant those 12 weeks with that baby that the baby was a girl.  My mother in law felt the same way, but she didn't tell me that she thought so until my pregnancy with Atticus and my nephew, Eli (Tricia's son), who was only 10 at the time, told Tricia that he felt like the baby I miscarried was a girl too.  This really surprised both me and Tricia because neither of us even KNEW that Eli had known I'd miscarried let alone had even been pregnant! Either he was very observant OR he felt prompted by the spirit to tell me the baby I had lost was a girl.

Anyhow, our children's pediatrician suggested that I discuss the matter with my OBGYN, which of course I did at my next follow up appointment, and after conversing with him, my OBGYN was convinced that our pediatrician's theory was probably true.  He advised me to consult with our geneticist, especially if Spencer and I were ever to decide to have another baby after Atticus.  He also said, even if we don't decide to have any more children, we still ought to return for a follow up visit with the geneticist to have him review our children's medical histories and see if they can determine now WHAT that underlying cause and condition is that Noah and Bentley have along with their Hypotonia...  It's been almost 3 years since our last visit with our geneticist, perhaps I SHOULD schedule an appointment--- it would be interesting to hear how he has to weigh in on the whole "baby girl" talk--- personally I don't think it's IMPOSSIBLE for us to have a daughter of our own, but I have always felt like there's been a REASON, a medical reason, for why we haven't had one yet. It would be nice to consult with the geneticist again because I realize genetic testing has come a L.O.N.G. way since our last visit and I'd be curious to know if they've made any new discoveries to properly diagnose Noah's underlying condition (Bentley's condition has been more mild than Noah's).  I'll have to see if I can call and schedule an appointment tomorrow for September. **(NOTE TO READER: I still haven't called to schedule that appointment.  How horrible am I?!  I'll put it on my "Things to do" list for tomorrow.)  Anyhow, I'm not sure any of that made any sense... it took me a long time to fully understand what the doctors were saying myself--- I mean really, it took me nearly a week alone just to understand the whole mumble jumble mess about XX and XY chromosomes! I do know one thing though--- it may medically be difficult for Spencer and I to have a daughter, but a while back, while I was pregnant with Bentley (our 4TH child), I saw something- nothing extraordinary, just a family kinda similar to mine, and I had the overwhelming feeling- scratch that, it wasn't a feeling, it was a confirmation telling me that one day, Spencer and I WOULD have a daughter... she'd be our last.  That's why I said, a couple of paragraphs above, that we MAY try again at a later time (I'm still young and I need to give my body a rest) to have one last baby.  Trish brought to my attention something during my pregnancy with Atticus that I hadn't ever really considered--- she'd asked me in theory, if I was actually having a daughter instead of our son, Atticus, would Spencer and I ever try to have any more children???  I told her "No"... because I've always felt since that experience while I was pregnant with Bentley, that a daughter would COMPLETE our family.  Tricia then pointed out, if I were pregnant with a daughter, instead of Atticus, I'd never have Atticus and he would never have his chance at life here on earth as part of our family.  Her point was very interesting and there was real truth to it.  My Heavenly Father has always intended to make Atticus part of our family--- we'll just have to wait some time to see if we ever decide to have another child and if that last child will be a daughter.

Like with all of my pregnancies, I had really horrible morning sickness- if you want to call it that... I called it "All day sickness".  I've had the same OBGYN with all of my pregnancies, so my doctor gave me a prescription for Zofran immediately- even before my first doctor visit because he knows just how bad the sickness with each pregnancy can get... a daily dose or two of Zofran curbed a lot of the sickness, but I still vomited at least once, if not twice every day and felt nauseous all day long for my first two trimesters.  By the beginning of my third trimester, I didn't have to take Zofran as often--- I could usually skip taking it in the morning or even for a day or two---this was the.first.time.ever during any of my pregnancies, I was actually feeling pretty good... which is a good thing, because life was busy and I didn't have time to be stuck in bed feeling miserable and sick, because at 27 weeks, my doctor informed me that the baby had a condition called Single Umbilical Artery (not sure what is is? Click here)... Apparently the tech person who did my 20 week ultrasound made a note of it on my medical chart for my doctor to see but NEVER told him about the condition (which she should have done) so the condition was overlooked for several weeks until he stumbled across the note in my records when I was there getting my Rhogam shot.  OOOPS! My doctor didn't want to alarm me but he explained that with the condition, we might face some challenges... i.e. the baby may not grow properly, or he'd be born prematurely, or he could have a heart condition or other anomalies, or he could have Down Syndrome...  He also told me I should definitely take it easy... I smiled at him and laughed on my way out the door... like that would EVER be possible! Did he forget about the 4 little guys back at home he delivered for me, who all needed my help each and every minute of the day?! A baby with a Single Umbilical Artery immediately requires more monitoring, so I had to be back in my doctors office every.week. for Fetal Stress Tests and ultrasounds... I didn't mind the visits knowing that my baby was being closely monitored and it was nice to have 2 or 3 hours alone at the doctors office just to read books I'd downloaded on my Nook, (my father in law Les always watched the 4 boys for me during my doctor visits- yes, he's pretty much a Saint!); at times I would become impatient with the Fetal Stress Test because Atticus wouldn't move much (to be honest none of my babies move much while I'm pregnant with them) so after 40 minutes of waiting on him, the nurses ALWAYS had to come into the room where I was sitting and shock him with this little device to get him moving some.  I also had to visit a M.F.M. (maternal fetal medicine) doctor down at Utah Valley Regional Hospital so they could have a better look at the baby's heart and other internal organs to make sure everything was developing like it should.  Everything looked good, but the M.F.M. was concerned given my other children's complications at birth and the fact that two of our boys have Hypotonia.  Atticus was growing really well, which was a pleasant surprise given the fact that he had the single artery in his umbilical cord, however he had A LOT of extra amniotic fluid, which isn't usual for most babies, especially babies with his condition, so the M.F.M. warned me that the high fluid levels could indicate possibly one or two things... One, that he could have Down Syndrome and two, that he could also have Hypotonia like our other two boys have and possibly have respiratory distress at birth and need to stay in the NICU for sometime under oxygen.  AWESOME!  Not really.  Here I was under the impression for 27 weeks that my baby was healthy yet suddenly in the last couple of months before my due date I was being told he could have all sorts of things wrong with him... I think it's fair to say I was growing concerned AND slightly distressed!  The M.F.M. also warned me that the placenta was lying low, lower than usual, next to my cervix, (not enough to consider it Placenta Previa- though it was partial) so she warned me and my OBGYN that I might want to consider having a C-section because I was at risk for hemorrhaging. GREAT! These were NOT things I wanted to, nor was I ready to hear!  She advised me to take it easy--- again, great advise but not so easy when I had 4 little ones to care for back at home.  At my 34 week ultra sound, Atticus had turned and was head down in preparation for D-day, but then when I went back in the following week, at 35 weeks, he'd turned again and was breach.  At my 36 week appointment he still hadn't turned back into position, head down, so my doctor explained the possibility of one of two scenarios playing out during delivery: A. Either the M.F.M. specialist or he could try and coax the baby into the head down position by kneading a lot on my stomach the next week but this is potentially dangerous and can put a lot of stress on the baby- not to mention a lot of pain for e OR B. I could have a C-section... I was supposed to tell him my decision the following week at my 37 week appointment but I didn't need to because the day before the appointment Atticus turned into the correct position. Whew! I was relieved, because truthfully, I wasn't a fan of either of my two options.


My due date with Atticus wasn't until May 9TH, coincidentally Ian's 4TH birthday, but my doctor suggested that I be induced early, at 38 weeks, due to the baby's condition and because I had been loosing strength and feeling in both arms, my hands and my fingers since my 29TH week of pregnancy.  My doctor told me he thought it was the onset of Thoracic Outlet Syndrome (click here to read more about it). I was extremely uncomfortable through out the day due to it and could.not.sleep at all because of it. There were times I'd want to move in bed but couldn't because I had no use of my arms--- either I couldn't feel them or I couldn't lift them.  I had a couple of incidences driving home from my doctor appointments in Orem, in which I felt like pulling the car over along the side of the freeway because my arms were so terribly weak; it was even too much work to hold them up on the steering wheel.  Talk about inconvenient!  Especially since Bentley still wasn't walking on his own yet at that point and relied on me to pick him up and carry him every where! My doctor said it would only get progressively worse and could possibly do some serious nerve damage if gone untreated; treatment isn't a possibility while pregnant so my only option was to be induced early and see if that alleviated some of my symptoms.  Truth is, it didn't... well at least right away it didn't.  I was actually scared to hold Atticus immediately after I delivered him because my arms felt incredibly weak... I made Spencer help me cradle him in my arms till some feeling came back... of course it didn't help either that I'd had the epidural shot and my body was still sort of numb because of it.  My doctor told me to give it time, a couple of weeks and see if my symptoms improved... they did, but not in just weeks, it's taken nearly all three of these past few months to loose the symptoms.  At times, my fingers will still just go numb- regardless of whether I'm laying down or not or whatever I may be doing, but I have full strength back in my arms and the loss of feeling in my hands and fingers doesn't happen as frequently as it used to.  THANK GOODNESS!

While I was pregnant with Atticus I craved cookies, bananas, yogurt and popsicles like a mad woman!!!  I also craved ice!  Oh my gosh, ice was like manna from heaven!!!  I didn't like crushed ice--- I preferred to crush it on my own with my teeth!!!  It drove Spencer nuts!  Sometimes I'd wake up in the middle of the night and grab a glass full of ice to eat--- Spencer would have to put a pillow over his head just to sleep because he couldn't bear to hear the sound of me gnawing on the ice. I don't know what it was about the ice, but I can honestly tell you, up until the minute I delivered Atticus, it's all I craved, but immediately afterwards, I didn't have any desire to eat it.  Is that cRaZy or what?!  My doctor later told me it probably was due to low potassium levels in my body (that would explain why I also ate bananas all the time like I was a monkey) and because I had extremely low iron levels.  Ahem, what?!  I didn't know my iron levels were low--- no one cared to tell me... or I think what probably happened is it was overlooked with all the other concerns we had regarding my pregnancy.  That explains though why I looked so ghastly pale in all of my pre-delivery and post delivery pictures!  My body this last pregnancy with Atticus was just a mess--- probably all thanks to the pneumonia I had... full blown pneumonia, not just walking pneumonia like I thought it may have been... I took a few chest x rays at the hospital in March and after being sick nearly all month long and couching up blood, the doctor confirmed it was full blown pneumonia!  He was shocked I hadn't gone into the E.R. on my own.  I told him I felt like death but I couldn't decide whether I was just miserable because I was pregnant or if it was because I was really sick.  Anyhow, antibiotics seemed to help clear up my lungs--- but even now, months after my delivery, I think I'm still grappling with regaining all my strength and energy.  

Because I was being induced at 38 weeks and not the standard 39 weeks, I had to have an amniocentesis the day before D-day to make sure that Atticus' lungs were mature...  to be completely honest, I didn't really know what the procedure would entail.  I knew it involved a needle, however I didn't know before hand that the needle would be quite so BIG--- and no, I'm not exaggerating, it was HUGE!  I also didn't understand before hand that the needle would be going directly through my belly without an ointment to numb it... OUCH! It burned!  Luckily the procedure was over pretty quickly. The lab ran a test on the fluid and confirmed it was okay to go ahead with the delivery the next day, April 26TH.

We left for the hospital the following morning later than we should have... we were supposed to be at the Orem Community Womens Center for delivery by 7:30 but we didn't get out the door from our place until just after 7.  We were doing pretty good on time, until Spencer stopped to help a stranded motorist at an intersection, push his car off onto the side of the road...  it was just then that the snow began to fall... yes, that's right, SNOW!  It wasn't just falling--- it actually looked more like a blizzard driving along Pioneer Crossing.  The freeway was jam packed so we took the State route to Orem.  The snow tapered off into heavy rain by the time we hit Pleasant Grove and it continued to rain till we arrived at the hospital.  Ridiculous!  If I remember correctly, I think it has rained every day I've delivered one of my children. I've heard somewhere before that rain is a sign of good luck--- does that mean my children have brought our family luck?!  I'd say so.

We didn't arrive too late--- besides, I called the hospital before hand to warn them that we might be late--- I didn't tell them it was partly our fault though, I just told them that it was due to weather and traffic, which in part WAS the truth.  We got settled in our room, I answered a million questions about my health and finally by 10'ish I got my Pitocin ; we started to count down the minutes/hours till it was time to push... I can't remember when I requested an Epidural--- I think I did it early on because I didn't want to wait for the pain to set in.  It took the anesthesiologist 3 failed attempts before on the 4TH try he got the Epidural in the right place; once the Epidural was in, getting through my contractions was smooth sailing!  I didn't reach a 10 until nearly 2:30p.m.  By that time, my Epidural was wearing off and I was in some serious pain!!! It was too late to up my pain medicine so I had to just bear with it till my doctor arrived so I could start pushing...  my doctor's office is just around the corner, so in between delivering babies, he's usually over on the other side of the building in his office seeing patients...   I was READY to deliver Atticus and all 6 or 7 people who were on call to be in the room and help with the delivery where there too, ready and waiting...  the baby's heart rate started to drop about half an hour or so before it was time to push; it happened just after my doctor broke my water, so the nurse had to rush back in and put fluids back into the birth canal to cushion the baby so it could help stabilize his heart rate.  Consequently for some reason or other, my blood pressure also got dangerously low at the same time the baby's did, so they had me on oxygen for delivery... I felt horrible! Not only was the pain medicine wearing off,  but I was getting really itchy all over my body (it's an after effect of the epidural wearing off); I felt sick and threw up a couple of times (this always happens to me without fail every delivery) and I felt incredibly light headed...  I started to sense some panic in my room, with the staff rushing around me.  I could kinda tell that something was really wrong and after the nurse had paged my doctor, oh 15 or 20 times, she finally called him and told him to get over to my delivery room STAT!  While we waited for him, I felt like passing out a couple of times; I rather jokingly asked the nurse and staff if any expecting mothers had ever done that just as they were about to push--- the answer was "NO... and you better not be the first!"  Everything around me was getting blurry---panic was setting in. I was scared and worried; worried that something bad was going to happen to me... I just didn't feel right and I couldn't describe it in a way so that Spencer or my nurses could understand me.  I just knew that something was terribly wrong. Right about then, my doctor arrived. He said something to the nurses and staff in the room but I couldn't understand what it was he said--- I didn't understand the terminology, but I could read by the look on his face that he was surprised and concerned. He instructed me to push, and on my 3RD weak push, Atticus was out.  He was screaming bloody murder!  I knew by the set of lungs on that kid that he didn't have any respiratory/breathing problems like our other boys had when they were born.  What a blessing! Upon delivery, my doctor realized I had an abrupted placenta, otherwise known in the medical field as Abruptio Placentae (click here to read about it). It only happens in 1% of all pregnancies world wide with a 20-40% fetal mortality rate... It's also the leading contributor to maternal mortality.  My doctor told me my placenta was thrashed!  I had lost a lot of blood during and after the delivery so they kept me on Pitocin for 4 or 5 hours POST delivery to help my uterus contract faster, making it less likely for me to hemorrhage.  I still cry thinking about my delivery.  The abrupted placenta explains a lot!  It explains why my back hurt like hell and why for weeks, when I just thought they were terrible contractions, why my stomach felt like it was being ripped apart (really it did!  If you've read the last book of the Twilight Series, Breaking Dawn, it describes how when Bella was pregnant with her half vampire baby it felt like she was being ripped apart from the inside out--- yeah that would explain how I felt); it explains why during delivery the baby's heart rate dropped and why mine was dangerously low too... it also explains why I felt like passing out or like I was going into shock and why my iron levels were so low!  The crazy thing is, there was no way of telling that I had an abrupted placenta until it came time to deliver, especially in my case because I didn't bleed.  Ultrasounds can't detect it, fetal stress tests can't detect it... it just happens and you don't know until D-day.  I know angels must had been watching over myself and Atticus that day--- they were with my doctor and nurse too, helping them make the right decision.  One wrong move could have been disastrous... If the doctor had delivered Atticus and pulled him out with the umbilical cord below him, he would have bled out... on the other had, if when delivering Atticus the doctor pulled him out below the umbilical cord, all of the blood from the placenta would have rushed into his lungs making him choke... thankfully, the doctor thought wisely and kept him level with the umbilical chord when he delivered him... only a little bit of blood made it into Atticus' lungs--- for the first week of life, he'd cough it up. It was pretty nasty and stained ALL of my burp rags.

I think of the miracle that took place that day in the delivery room and my heart is full of gratitude.  Doctors had prepared us to expect a sick child at birth, but by God's hand, Atticus Gideon Campbell was born healthy and strong.  We've been told by a number of doctors that we were extremely lucky--- with the abrupted placenta, we could have lost Atticus, or worse yet, my own life.  They've all agreed that if I had waited even another week, until I was 39 weeks, to deliver Atticus, chances are he would have died in the womb.  It's remarkable how God works. I am thankful today for his miracles- particularly my own tiniest miracle, Atticus.

 The self family portrait...

 This picture below cracks me up!

We didn't have too many visitors while we were in the hospital...

the boys were all sick-

Noah had pneumonia only a couple of days before the baby was born...

...but Grandma C. picked Noah and Cohen up from our house,

to sleep over at her house so my mom wouldn't have her hands too full watching all of the kiddos,

so on their way to her house, they swung by for a couple of minutes just to meet their new brother. 

 Cohen REFUSED for about the first week to meet Atticus.