Camden's First Week Home

Wednesday, March 26th, 2014

Shortly after arriving home, Camden quickly took a nap in her little lamb bouncer. I was so happy she liked it. The vibrations and soothing music helped I'm sure. Now, we all know they say "sleep when the baby sleeps" but this just seemed impossible for Tommy and I. We took this time as a chance to get settled back in at home. From unpacking the hospital bags, doing laundry, and tying up all the loose ends around the house from when we were last home! I was also able to fill out Camden's baby book since everything was fresh in my mind! To this day I still love looking at my baby book my mom did for me, so I want to be sure to write down everything I can for Camden to read when she gets older! We made our first grocery store trip! I had to get my prescriptions  filled, and we wanted to get a few things to get us thru the week at home for food! Our friends Jessica and Kyle brought us dinner. Tommy was craving 5 Guys! (Seems more like Tommy was the pregnant one with all his cravings!) This was the first chance Kyle got to meet Camden since Jessica stopped by the hospital after work Monday. It gave us a chance to all catch up, tell of our experience and reminisce to their experience 6 months earlier with their daughter Ava. They also brought us some PINK newborn stuff. So Camden could finally look like a girl :) Sleep went pretty well that night surprisingly. Woke up for diaper change and feeding and went back to sleep!

Thursday, March 27th, 2014
ITS CAMDEN'S DUE DATE!! We had her first pediatrician appointment this afternoon with doctor Stephen's. This was our first time having to get her ready for the day and content in her car seat before leaving. So we weren't quite sure what time we needed to get everything started. Of course we get her in car seat and ready to walk out the door when we hear a little tooting action going on. She needed a diaper change! Thankfully, Camden loves car rides. So even though she was a little fussy putting her back in, the second we laid her car seat canopy down and got going down the road, she quickly feel asleep. Arriving at the doctors office, I was handed a pile of paperwork to fill out! Its a little weird having to write someone else's name on forms you are used to having to fill out for yourself. "Camden, Ash! You're writing these for Camden!" I had to keep telling myself. Tommy got some business from one of the receptionist after seeing on our insurance card he works for Checkered Flag. She said her and a friend were looking for specific cars and asked for a couple of business cards. (Mind you, since being born, this is the 3rd time this little girl has gotten daddy some business oppourtunities!) They were very quick to call us back to a room, I was very impressed. Tommy had to undress her and take her to a scale to check her weight; 6 pounds 13 oz, same weight as she left the hospital. Only lost 3 oz, which she will need to gain back by her 2 week appointment, April 9th. Soon, Dr. Stephens came in and examined Camden. She kept saying what a perfect baby she was! Made mommy & daddy proud. The exam was quick, she asked us a few questions, and asked if we had any. Told us her height and weight were in the 25th percentile, and head circumfrence was in the 50th. So everything was great! The exam was over before I had time to finish all the paperwork! We set up her next appointment and were on our way! Then we stopped at Tommy's work to introduce her to her Checkered Flag family! Mom and Dad then came to the house and we left to head out to Moyock, NC. Camden's first out of state trip! We were going to my Aunt Linda's house because family had just gotten in town from Ohio, the Gresh's, and they were all dying to meet Camden! I forgot how long that drive can be! Can't believe I did it twice a day!

Friday, March 28th, 2014
We woke up early today because we wanted to make a trip to Burlington & Kohl's to try to find a dark, or black, outfit for Camden. We had my Uncle Fred's funeral the next day, and wanted to find her something to wear as well. We ended up finding a pink dress with a navy blue jacket at Kohl's! We then headed to my parents house, where family from both sides were meeting for lunch since my Aunt's work sent food over. Camden was able to meet so much more family! The Millinger's from my Mom's side, as well as the Limpert's, Seymour's, Gallardo's, and Sandrock's from my Dads side! Camden got some new girlie outfits from Grandma and Grandpa as well as from her Great Aunt Patti & Great Uncle Terry! Yayy more girl clothes! We got to the funeral home at 5PM as the family all had an hour to themselves before open to other guests from 6-8PM. Camden was great, slept majority of the time, and was being passed around from arms to arms. I must say its a little scary when its your kid. I was constantly following her around seeing whose arms she was in now! She was able to meet even more family and close family friends! We headed home at 8PM, and it was time for Camden's first bath. She was NOT a fan! I am sure when we can submerge her a bit more it will be warmer for her and she will enjoy them. I hope so anyways, I know I love my baths!

Saturday, March 29th, 2014
Today was the emotional day. Again we had to plan out when to wake up to be sure to give ourselves plenty of time to get ready, as well as Camden, and be at the funeral home by 10:30AM. I must say, we did pretty well. We were one of the first ones to arrive! I had told Tommy I didn't want to take her out of the car seat and let anyone hold her because I wanted her to sleep throughout the service. Of course though, she is a 5 day old and woke up shortly before the service started. Thankfully Tommy was able to calm her down and get her to go back to sleep. We sat on the end in case she woke back up, we could make and easy exit. But believe it or not, she slept the whole time. I was so proud. From there, we headed to the cemetery, where again, slept thru it all! We had a celebration of his life at the Moose Lodge. We got a few more gifts of outfits for Camden from her cousins Angela and Tiffany! Mom and dad enjoyed a few drinks and again, Camden slept! We had an early night that night, which was great since we had been on the go since we got home from the hospital! Camden fell asleep in her swing this time, Mommy got a quick nap on the couch, and we made dinner and watched some DVR'ed shows! While Tommy was changing her diaper later that night, he called me in her nursery to find her cord stump was gone!! We searched and searched and finally found it in her onesie! I debated with myself as whether or keep it or not, but I wasn't sure how well that saved, or if people even did that. So I decided to throw it out!

Sunday, March 30th, 2014
We already said today was going to be pajama day! And thats what it was. Tommy did leave once, to get me some krispy kreme donuts!! Yes, even after pregnancy, the craving is still there!! The four of us (Tommy, Camden, Punky & myself) just had a lazy day! Watched movies, took naps and ate! It really was a wonderful day!

Monday, March 31st, 2014
Camden is a week old!! And it's also Tommy & my 2nd wedding anniversary! We didn't do too much today since Tommy had to go into work to deliver a car! It ended up taking a little bit longer than expected, but Camden and I managed to make it thru! We had chicken alfredo for dinner brought over by Wendy earlier that day. We drank the bottle of wine that was in our time capsule and read our love notes to each other! Tommy's note was great! Very sweet and from the heart! He also got me two necklaces. An aquamarine charm that matches a ring he got me the year before. And a mother and child charm, which was my 'push gift'. We had looked at it months ago, I was so happy he remembered! Camden is somewhat on a 'sleep schedule'. She likes to wake up at midnight, usually no matter what time she goes to sleep. Going back to sleep after this feeding isn't usually an issue for her. Its when she wakes back up 2-21/2 hours later that is the problem. She gets her diaper changed, and fed. And then she is AWAKE! I have been leaving the light off in her nursery when I go in to change her, since I read the bright light can give her the notion its time to wake up. But that still doesn't seem to help. She usually gets changed twice, and feeds twice (not full feedings however) before finally going back to sleep two hours later. Hopefully we can get this figured out soon, since Tommy is not back at work! Its almost impossible for him not to wake up when she does!

Tuesday, April 1st, 2014
Today was Camden and my first full day home just the two of us. I tried the whole "sleep when the baby sleeps", but that only worked til about 12:30PM. When she woke up for that feeding, she was able to go back to sleep, but I wasn't. I watched my usual daytime television, and wrote out my birth story (which you can read in the previous post). Tommy was scheduled to work 8:45AM-6PM, but got caught up selling a car, and didn't get home til 9PM. As tired as he was, he was so excited to spend time with Camden. So I cooked dinner while they got their bonding time in! I told Tommy to go ahead and fall asleep. It took me a little while longer. Camden's sleep schedule was about the same! But we are working on it!! And we got no April Fool's prank pulled on us all day!! :)

My Birth Story

I started having contractions at 12:30AM, Sunday March 23rd, 2014. I laid awake from a few hours to see where the contractions would go; whether they'd get worse or go away. Timing them was difficult for me because I couldn't quite tell when they ended. Tommy woke up around 3:30AM and I told him I had been having them for about three hours. I didn't want to wake him when they started because I knew he wouldn't be able to sleep either. By 4AM, three and a half hours of contractions, I decided to call my doctors office to page the doctor on call. By 5AM and no call back, I called again. 6AM rolled around and decided to call the hospital to get advice on what to do. In my previous doctors appointments I hadn't been dilated at all, only effaced. But my contractions weren't going away, or easing up at all after now six hours. So after talking to the nurse, we decided to head to the hospital to get checked out. I got dressed and told Tommy he could shower before leaving. OH MAN, its getting real. Bags had been packed for weeks, so in the car they all went. I always said I wanted to stop and get food before going in, because I knew it would be a while before I could eat. But with my contractions and a little bit of nerves, I had no appetite.

We got to the hospital at shift change, so it took us a while to get checked in and get things going. Thankfully two nurses at the nurses station were able to help up and as soon as she could, got us into a triage room. Our first nurses name was Kelly. She had me change into a hospital gown and did a cervix check. I was effaced as I had been, but only 1cm dilated with steady contractions. So as a protocol, we walked the halls. She said Dr. Morgan was the next doctor on call and she was going to grab him to do a check on me as well. About 20 minutes into our walk, we ran into Dr. Morgan in the hall. He stopped us, gave me a 'tap' on my tummy and asked what was going on. After explaining the situation, and knowing my due date was only four days away, he decided we were going to have this baby today!! YES! We did not want to be sent home and do this all over again! We went back to our triage room (the walk made me have to pee!) and waited for Dr. Morgan and Kelly to come back in the room. It was around 11:30AM, and after examining me, he told Kelly to get me set up in a room. And we sent out the announcement. Baby Suggs was arriving today!! 

Unfortunately things started slowing down from here. 1:30PM and we were finally in our room, Room 19! It was HUGE! Tommy and I were really happy because on our walk, we noticed how small some of the open rooms were and figured we would end up in one of those. Mom and Dad arrived shortly after and Tommy went to the truck to bring up all of our bags. Kelly got me all settled in and started to hook up my IV to get the fluids and pitocin going. Of course though, I have horrible veins, and can never get an IV on the first try. So it took a little while for that. Dr. Morgan came back in to check on us around 5PM and broke my water. (Not as bad as I was imagine it being. Didn't even feel a thing!) I was about 2-3cm at this point. My contractions were already getting stronger before he broke my water. Tommy liked looking at the monitor and telling me when they got really strong. AS IF I DIDN'T KNOW!! ha. But my water breaking kicked those contractions into high gear. I was feeling the next contraction before the one before it even finished. I was in constant pain now, with no relief between. It was time to call in for my epidural. I was very happy with myself that I lasted as long as I did!

Everyone had to leave the room except for Tommy. It was 7PM, so again we were at shift change. So I had two nurses administering my epidural, and my new nurse, Kathy in to relieve Kelly. The epidural was more uncomfortable than anything. The position I had to sit in, the feeling of the pressure on my spine between my vertebrae, having to sit extremely still all while keeping a look out for ringing in my ears or a metal taste in my mouth, among other things. On top of the fact that this was the first time I was in an upright position since my water breaking. Not fun feeling like your peeing yourself haha!

Then things got a little scary. I wasn't really sure what was happening and the epidural was starting to sink in. They couldn't find the baby's heartbeat on the external monitor. They came and put the oxygen mask on me and moved me from side to side to side. Finally, Kathy decided to put an internal coil on the baby's head. They found the heartbeat, but it was very low. Around 65, when it had been around 140-150. Again, she moved me from left to right, trying to get the baby comfortable to help raise its heartbeat. Took a few minutes, but everything got back to normal. Mommy and baby's heart rates were fine. They had kicked my pitocin down, thinking that and the epidural was the cause.

Kathy was now our nurse, and told me to try and get some rest. She knew I had been up since Saturday morning (it now being 8PM Sunday night). She said I would need the energy when it came time to push! Now we're just playing the waiting game. In my room was Tommy, Mom, Dad, my sister Jessica, and best friend Sable. Kathy came in every 30 minutes to move me from side to side, and I was able to get a new naps in. Once I fell asleep to her moving me to the left side, and what felt like a blink, woke up to her moving me to the right side.

Once it hit Monday, I told Sable she didn't need to stay. She had a little one to get home to, and I knew I had a stubborn baby in there. She is a Sams after all! Around 2AM I woke up from a nap extremely nauseous, sweaty and uncomfortable. Kathy said she was going to check my cervix again because that was usually a sign things were progressing. I was finally 10cm! It was time to push! Dad left the room, but didn't make it too far. He sat right outside the door! Pushing starting around 3AM. 3 sets of pushing, 10 seconds each, for every contraction. Contractions that were about 1-2 minutes apart. Before I knew it, it was 530AM and Dr. Morgan arrived back at the hospital to check on me. He said we needed to get this baby out. We were going to try pushing and use forceps and a vacuum for 15-20 more minutes, but he was also going to prep the OR for a C-section if the baby still wasn't out. MY HEART DROPPED. I could feel my face get red, I just wanted to cry. I had been in labor for over 24 hours, pushing for 3. The last thing I wanted was to get a C-section. Before I knew it, my room was full. Doctors, pediatricians, nurses everywhere. I had Tommy to my left, Dr. Morgan in front of me, Kathy to my right and Mom and Jessica close by. Two more contractions of pushing is all it took. 6:02AM I heard a baby cry! Next thing I heard, "It's a girl!". I lost it. I couldn't help by cry. Tears of joy of course. They put her on my chest, Tommy cut the cord. They took her away shortly after and got her cleaned up. They did her APGAR score; 8 at one minute, 9 at five minutes. She was perfect. Weighing in at 7 pounds even, 19 inches long. She had mommy's long legs. Dr. Morgan and all the nurses were asking what the name was, but I said I wouldn't announce it until my dad was there. Once the room cleared a bit, and we were both cleaned up, my dad was able to come in the room, and baby girl and I got some skin to skin time. Dad got his first look at his new granddaughter! I told Tommy he could announce her name!

Camden Dixon Suggs

I was feeling a bit hot and nauseous again, so Tommy fed her her first bottle. She downed it! Then a nurse gave Camden her first bath while Tommy looked over her. He was IN LOVE. The way he looked at his daughter was breathtaking. After her bath, Camden laid under a heat lamp to help regulate her body temperature. Which gave Tommy and I a chance to nap, and everyone else headed home. Shortly after, we were moved to a new room. Room 30, which was a new room in a wing recently added to the maternity section of the hospital.

Unfortunately, after moving rooms, I received the news of my Uncle Fred passing away at noon. A huge mix of emotions running thru my body at this point. But I knew I had to try and stay strong for Camden. And Tommy helped with that as well. We had lots of visitors her two days. The doctors came in regularly to check on me to see how my body was progressing, and come Tuesday afternoon we were given the option to leave that night. But we decided to stay and take in all the help and learning experiences we could. And were we glad we did. The nurse Jordan came in later that night to take Camden to the nurse for some tests and to check her vitals. Apparently Tommy and I were sleeping so soundly, she didn't want to wake us, or leave Camden, so she brought her back to the nursery. She had to come back an hour or so later and check my vitals, and told me Camden was in the nursery and doing well, and could leave her there for a few hours so Tommy and I could get more sleep. Whenever I was ready for her to come back, to just call her and she'd bring her right back. I hesitated. I wasn't sure what to say, I wanted to wake up Tommy and ask him what he thought, but then realized that would contradict the whole point. So I said no problem, and got more sleep. We woke up at 5AM Wednesday morning and were ready for her to come back! We just had cuddles until the doctors came in later that morning. Dr. Bertolino came in and discharged me. Said she didn't need to check my tummy anymore since  Dr. Wilkes the night before was ready to discharge me then, and I was up and walking around no problem! We just had to wait for the hospital pediatrician to discharge Camden. She said after looking at her feeding log, she just needed to see her have one more 30mL feeding before we could leave. Of course, Camden wanted to sleep. So it ended up taking us an hour and a half to get thru that feeding. We were ready to go home! All the tags got clipped off, and Camden was removed from the system so we didn't set off any alarms upon leaving. We changed Camden into her going home outfit we brought, which was a teddy bear onesie that was the first outfit I had bought. Even though it was newborn, Camden was swimming in it! The nurse helped us get her situated in her car seat. Tommy loaded our bags, and the nurse wheeled Camden & I to the truck. I sat in the back with Camden and Tommy said he felt like he was driving on ice. Oh being new parents. We arrived home Wednesday, March 26th at 12:30PM!

My whole birthing experience was amazing! Sure it was a lot longer than I would have wanted, with a few scares along the way. But having Tommy & my family by my side, along with amazing nurses and doctors, helped make it a very memorable experience that I wouldn't trade for the world!