Joshua Lincoln Bartlett

July 14, 2011 at 4am (almost on the dot) I woke up, needing to use the bathroom. In the back of my mind I thought my water had broke, but being early anxious to have this baby I figured it was just my imagination and a weak bladder from being 9months pregnant.  Went back to bed and laid there praying that the Lord would let me know what to do. At 4:20am I was positive my water had broke! Whoo hoo! I woke  Justin up and told him to get Lexi out of our bed and then I called the doctor. She told me to get to the hospital and we would do the C-section as soon as possible. I was so happy this happened early in the morning, since you can't eat or drink anything 8 hours before the surgery. I was good to go. I called my brother and he came over to watch the kids while we went to the hospital.

5:50am my doctor called my cell phone asking where I was and if I was on my way. I was just down the street from the hospital. Once we got to the hospital, I had soaked my clothes, and I knew that if this wasn't my water, then there was something wrong and I still needed to be at the hospital.

At 6:15am they told me they were getting me into the Operating room at 6:30 for a 7:30 delivery. It was rush rush rush. As I was sitting in the operating room, I started to get very nervous, that continued when they started to put the spinal in my back. PAIN!!! They hit my nerve four times and the pain was insanely painful. Once they got that done and I was numb and I was able to calm myself down they started working on me.

Baby Joshua was born at 7:32am. As he came out he started screaming and peed all over the doctor. Everyone laughed. She held him up for me to see and he looked HUGE, I started crying instantly. So relieved it was over and he was here.

The next few hours were a blur, but so wonderful. Unlike my first pregnancy, I was able to spend time with my newborn. He had some blood sugar issues, that we had to deal with, but after the first hour, he was doing great. Justin and I had some good quiet time before Tony, my mom and the kids showed up. Shortly after that Tony and Justin went to get my dad from the airport. The next visitors were Duane, Dolly and Martin. The next day Laura brought me lunch and then Jessica, Melanie, Zach and Ewan came to visit.

I begged the doctor to let me go home after two days, only because my hospital stay was terrible. The nurses were so noisy at night, playing music and talking, that I couldn't sleep. Plus the hospital beds are not very comfortable.

During the next two weeks, we basically stayed at home while I tried to heal and we got use to having a new baby. Alexis didn't want to kiss her brother or touch him for awhile. Jeremiah on the other hand couldn't keep his hands off. He constantly would say how he loved his baby brother and he wanted to see his baby brother. He would always remember his baby brother in his prayers too. (Alexis is much more loving to her brother now).

On Joshua's 2week birthday, he was admitted into the NICU for jaundice and weight loss. His lab work looked so bad that the doctors thought he was a very sick baby. But when they interacted and examined him, they all said he looked great. After 2 days, a resident doctor came in and told me that we would need to stay until his lab work got back and until he was back up to his birth weight. At an ounce a day, that would keep us there another 5+ days. Literally 5 minutes later the Attending Physician came in and talked to me a bit and then said he was comfortable sending us home as long as I kept supplementing and that I would take him in to see the doctor on Monday. I said "Yes Sir" - okay not really but I was happy to do anything to get us out of there. I was so happy that he came in and talked to me, because if he didn't I am pretty confident we would have been back into the hospital on Monday for weight loss. After he did some calculations, it was evident that he wasn't eating enough. Everyone had told me that he needs 1.5-2ounces each feeding. I was pumping at least that much, so everything seemed okay. HOWEVER, Joshua will not eat every three hours, he would be happy to go six hours, luckily I can wake him and get him to eat after four hours. That's where the calculations come to paly. I told this to the doctor and he took out his calculator and said "okay, then if he goes every 4hours then he needs 3ounces each feeding, to get back up to birth weight. I don't care how long he goes as long as he gets enough" Thus far he was only getting the two ounces every 4hours… not enough.

We are home now, and go back to the doctor tomorrow. Hopefully he gets to stay home. He will need some more blood work and check his weight again.