Our little Blakey has been with us 4 weeks now and what a sweet, sweet baby he is. Isaac is absolutely in love with his baby brother, and affectionately refers to him as “brother” or “his baby.” We’ve been corrected when we’ve called him by his name and have been shushed or told “NO,” when we go to pick him up. If it’s not obvious enough, Blake will be sure to have a protective older brother.
Blake’s pregnancy was a lot different than Isaac’s. I experienced a lot more nausea than the first time around, which only Gatorade (preferably light blue), seemed to subdue, at least partially. Cravings were basically all things sweet just like with Isaac; mostly chocolate, especially Reese’s and chocolate milk. I also carried him a lot lower, which made me feel like I started showing much sooner, but to other people I didn’t look as far along as I was. Carrying him lower meant not having nerve pain in my ribs, which was great, but it brought a whole lot of pelvic pain. I also had round ligament pain, which is probably one of the worst pains I’ve ever experienced.
As most of you know, we weren’t sure he was going to make it full term because of the hiccup we had when I was 35 weeks. Catching the stomach flu wrecked havoc on my body and I had to go to the hospital to be monitored after bleeding and having some contractions. It made me so nervous that he wasn’t going to hold on, but our little guy stayed put! Since he was smaller than Isaac at birth anyway, I bet he would have been so much smaller if he came 4 weeks earlier, which could have resulted in NICU time. I’m thankful for all the small miracles and blessings that took place throughout my pregnancy to get him here safely.
But man, what a day we picked for Blake to come into this world! The Corona Virus (COVID-19) was just barely becoming more prevalent in the US. Schools were still in session, businesses were still functioning like normal, but the topic of the virus was a constant center of communication. In the 12 hours I was in labor there were significant changes to life as we know it. My mom almost didn’t come for Blake’s birth for fear of possibly spreading the virus since symptoms don’t manifest right away. Thankfully she came anyway and I’m so grateful for that. But as they sat there receiving update after update, regarding schools closing and church closing, the reality started to sink in that this was a lot more serious of a thing than we originally thought.
The morning of March 12th, Austin, my mom, Isaac, and I got up early and prepared everything to go to the hospital. We dropped Isaac off at my in laws and headed in. When we arrived at the entrance we were stopped by someone asking if any of us had any flu like symptoms in the last week. Then we made our way to Labor and Delivery. The night before, when the hospital had called to confirm my induction, they told me we couldn’t have visitors under 18, but siblings could still come. However, as we were checking in that morning, they informed us that they had changed it that day to no visitors under 18 period. Even with understanding the reasoning, it was sad to let go of the idea of the boys meeting each other at the hospital and having that first picture as a family of 4 there.
We arrived just after 7:15 that morning and shortly after that I was hooked up to an IV and the Pitocin was started. Austin and my mom settled in to make themselves as comfortable as possible. The nurse anesthetist, who actually happened to be someone from our ward, Brad Beckstead, came in a little bit later to discuss the process of the epidural and to have me fill out the forms. I wanted to hold on and push myself a little before getting the epidural because I told him I didn’t want him to come back to church and tell everyone I was a wussy. Haha But really I didn’t care too much about what anyone thought because I knew I wanted the epidural, I just wanted to see what my pain tolerance was. So he told me to let him know when I wanted it and left. Ressia, my nurse, told me that they had contacted Dr. Adams and he was going to come later to check me and break my water.
Every 15 minutes Ressia would up my pitocin 2 going from 0 to 20. As the morning progressed I started to feel the contractions off and on, but nothing too crazy. Around 10:30-11 my mother in law Karen came to join the campout. Dr. Adams came in sometime that morning to check me and break my water, but after checking how dilated I was he said I would need to progress a bit more before he wanted to break my water. He told me he thought I probably wouldn’t deliver before 5, but if I could get him out of the office to deliver he would get me something. I told him I like cheesecake 😏 Another funny thing to note, with Isaac I was allowed to drink and have ice chips. However, Dr. Adams gives the nurses strict orders to only let his patients have ice chips. You can bet he got an earful from me! I jokingly told him I wasn’t going to pee on him and his reply was that he wasn’t worried about that- he didn’t want to be puked on. Karen and I stuck it to the man though because she brought me a water bottle. Haha, she worked with Dr. Adams many times over the last 5-6 years as a labor and delivery nurse, so we had a good time messing with him. I only took a few sips and didn’t puke on him, so don’t worry.
Between 11 am and 12 noon the contractions started to get a little more intense so I said I wanted to make it to noon and then I would ask for an epidural. Apparently Ressia has mentioned to Brad that I was feeling about ready for the epidural because right about noon he came in, cart ready for me. Haha I may have only been at a 4 at that point, but the pit was pumping. And I felt completely justified in my decision 😜 the epidural didn’t take long to place and get set up and I soon started to feel the familiar tingling sensation. This time around I was able to move my feet and legs enough to make myself comfortable, which was a drastic difference from the complete dead weight from the waist down that I experienced with Isaac. After that I was feeling pretty good and was able to doze off here and there.
Two hours after getting my epidural they checked me again and I was still at a 4 and 70% effaced. This was discouraging for because I really wanted to have him in the afternoon instead of late at night like Isaac. I was feeling fine, occasionally I had chills off and on that caused me to shudder, but my body was taking it pretty good. I started to feel more pressure down at the cervix though and knew he was prepping to come out. Sometime around this time they also broke my water. I should have taken better notes 😜 also, another interesting thing that happened this time around was extreme itchiness! Every square inch of my body that I could feel at that point made me so itchy I wanted to crawl out of my skin. It was nuts! Eventually I was given Benadryl which helped a little bit, but also made me really sleepy.
Finally around 5 pm I had progressed to a 6 and my new nurse, Denice, thought he would be coming soon. I posted on my Instagram stories that I was ready for him to come so I could snuggle him and eat! Priorities 😂 Dr. Adams came back in around 6 pm to double check where I was at. He went to check me, turned to the nurse and asked what she said I was at again. When she said a 6 or 7 he said, “Oh no, she’s about a 4.” I literally was about to lose my crap when he cracked a smile, chuckled and said, “You should have seen your faces”! 😠 so not funny! I told him he was lucky I couldn’t kick him! He said he was going to go over and check on a patient at Mt. View and then he’d be back because he didn’t think it would be much longer.
Around 6:30 pm they checked me again and I was at a 9+!! This baby was coming!
Blake Glenn Blatter was born at 7:09 pm weighing 7 lbs 7 oz and was 21 inches long. I was shocked that he was so little!! I knew he was tall, but I had no idea he would weigh almost a pound less than Isaac. And he had beautiful dirty blond hair. He was absolutely precious and so handsome 😍
As a nurse was getting ready to hand him to me he pooped- typical Blatter boy. Once he was cleaned up they handed him to me for skin to skin. I hadn’t cried up to this point but holding him and recognizing that I finally had him in my arms safe and healthy was so special. He kept making the funniest faces, like a grumpy old man, and would only open his left eye. I noticed that he seemed to be breathing weird though so they checked him out and sure enough he had fluid in his lungs. They weighed him and measured him and had some NICU staff check on him to make sure he was good to go. Dr. Adams stitched me up in no time from tearing while all of this was going on. Eventually they gave Blake the all clear and he got to be held by his daddy and nanas. I’m so grateful they all got to be there and to have their wonderful support! It meant the world to me that I wasn’t forced to do it all alone.
Karen headed out first to go relieve Mark, my father in law, until Austin could come get Isaac. Austin grabbed me a bagel sandwich from a shop at the hospital and I swear that was the best sandwich I’ve ever had! Haha Within a couple of hours of giving birth I was up and had been moved to a recovery room. Just before 10 pm Austin and my mom headed home to pickup Isaac and get some rest, leaving little B and I to ourselves. We had a great nurse, Jazmin, who made sure to get me set on some meds and attend to our needs.
Blake and I just got to snuggle and hang out for a while. He seemed so chill and so little All of my other siblings and my dad has gotten to see Blake over FaceTime, but my brother wasn’t home from his spring break so I waited until he made it and we got to chat for a bit. That was really cool. Just after midnight I asked Jazmin to take Blake to the nursery so I could get a couple of hours of sleep uninterrupted. I woke up about every hour but was about to settle back to sleep. By about 5:30 am I wanted my baby back so Jazmin went and got him for me. I wasn’t really able to sleep much beyond that, to be honest. I remember getting really hungry though and breakfast wasn’t until like 8:30 so Jazmin brought me some yogurt to get by. Haha it was around 6 or so that my pain really started to peak. And around 6:45 I was able to get some heavier drugs (I get that it’s not for everyone, but I’m all about taking the drugs when I need them).
I met my other nurses, Janelle and Brighton, a couple of hours later. Brighton was in her last week of orientation so Janelle was just overseeing Brighton’s work. Both were extremely sweet and wonderful to have. They were very attentive and listened to what I wanted, which was really refreshing. They took Blake out for me while I showered and did all of his vitals then.
Austin took Isaac and helped out his dad in the morning and then left him with my mom when he came later. Besides that I mostly just hung out with Blake and did the routine paperwork and check ups. Our friend Lexie came to visit for a little bit, which was really fun. We were really hoping they would discharge us that night so the boys could meet and I could sleep in my own bed so we were just waiting on Blake’s pediatrician and for the 24 hours to be up so Blake could get his final check up. Austin left to go get my meds from the pharmacy and my mom and Isaac so they could be in the car when we got discharged.
Finally around 10 pm we were able to break out! Seeing Isaac recognize who Blake was incredibly heart warming and one of my favorite moments. Isaac was infatuated with him and as soon as we got home tried to pull him out of his car seat. He was so excited to hold him and even if he didn’t know his name, he knew he was brother and that’s all that mattered. My heart was full ❤️
In the days that followed more craziness ensued outside in the world, but there was so much happiness and love here. Some of our sweet friends, Bekah and Garrett, came over to meet Blake. My dad was also able to fly in for about 24 hours and meet him before flying home with my mom. That meant so much to me that that was even possible. After my parents left we had delicious meals provided by the Stuart’s and our sweet friends the Dykes and Scoresbys. Our neighbor and friend Laura brought over the cutest outfit and met him.
In the weeks that have followed we have since been put on a stay at home order to flatten the curve of the corona virus spreading. We’ve only left the house for Doctor’s appointments or to take a walk. Speaking of doctors, Blake’s pediatrician did discover a tongue tie that has since been clipped and seems to be helping him eat a little better. He also has acid reflux so he’s on meds for that. He still spits up quite a bit, but seems to be taking more in so hopefully he’ll start gaining more weight to be at a healthy one.
It’s been hard not being able to celebrate with more friends and family and to postpone his blessing, but the amount of love and support hasn’t been stopped. It’s crazy to watch the world slow down at the same time you do. The adjustment hasn’t been the easiest by any means, but I’m so grateful to have this time, in this unique circumstance, to spend with my sweet family. The Lord has truly blessed us and I am eternally grateful and humbled to have been entrusted with another sweet spirit of our Heavenly Father’s.
