Happy Birthday Cody!

 

We had so many pictures of Cody that I just decided a collage was the way to go. The one of me and Cody is right after he was born and weighed. The boys came in that day as well, but I think the ones of them are the day after Cody was born. Then I added in Cody's 5 week photo in the little red wings outfit. No one ever believes he is 5 weeks old! And to calrify we were not trying for a girl, in fact I was done with babies. Zach felt we had one more little person to complete our family and had to do quite a bit of convincing to get me to go along.

Oaky so now for my little blurb about Cody. As the post before says he was not a normal pregnancy. I honestly can't say anything could have been done to prevent it, but at Elmendorf AFB there were so many babies due that the philosphy was a healthy, non smoker, non drinker, etc. type patient didn't need to be seen every month. Well I fit right in that catagory so they saw me every 6-8 weeks! At 27 weeks I had not gained any weight and my belly was not really getting bigger so they did an ultrasound. I really learned how inaccurate ultrasounds can be! That particular one said I had little to no water! They didnt't tell me this until I had been home a few hours! So I was called and told to get to labor and delivery immediately. That was really noT fun call to get! Well I had water, that was not the big issue. Cody was just really really small. So doctors went back and forth. First it was send her downtown, deliver and we'll see if he lives. Oh that was nice! Then it was no lets see how things lookes like in a week or two. Finally the only civilian doctor the clinic had was asked to do an ultrasound and see what he thought. He determined that I was healthy and Cody was healthy so leave things alone. Every week this doctor did an ultrasound and if he saw any gain on weight, then things were fine. Well the day of my due date, Oct 27, the ultrasound showed Cody was about 6 1/2 pounds, but the doctor said it could be a pound or so off either way. The next day Cody was born weighing in at 5 pounds 12 ounces! By the time we left the hospital he was just over 5 pounds. The civilian doctor ended up delivering me becuase the one working in L&D went to a meeting downtown! I told her I wasn't going to be there long enough for her to go to the meeting, but she said she thought I would be a while. Within the hour they were cancelling all of the other doctor's appts and calling him in!

Cody was much smaller than the doctor had hoped and initially had trouble breathing, but all in all he was fine. The doctor said that my placenta wasn't near the size it should have been and for Cody to survive was really amazing. Zach was funny becuase after Cody was out he said "Can you believe this is the third baby with no pain killers!" He always said he was proud of me for that. I did argue over the IV, but lost again. I am RH negative so really don't have a choice in the matter and of course I am pale so they assume I will be anemic. Everyone that saw Cody thought for sure he was a premie, but nope, he was day late! It was really funny becuase the same day an almost 11 pound boy was born! So the nurses would go do his vitals and then come to us and always say "holy cow he is small!" One nurse was afraid to do much with Cody, it was pretty funny. Cody did have to be on the warmer the whole stay becuase he was not holding his temperature and we almost didn't get to go home on time. Instead of keeping him, they decided to do weighins frequently. That was fun in the cold winter of Alaska!

Zach and I were both relieved that Cody came out fine. Zach was gone for just about all the drama of the last 8 weeks so sat in Japan worrying his baby would be born without him and not be healthy. I tried to downplay it to people and somewhat to Zach beucase I felt it was my responsibility that Cody was not growing fast enough. We love our little Cody and although he has brought extra stress and drama from the beginning we wouldn't trade him for anything. He has come a long way since the doctor told me at 27 weeks pregnant he may not make it and even further since the doctor told us he has autism and may not talk until Kindergarten! He has continually proved everyone wrong and like Ms Letnes said he may end up being a famous rocket scientist or something one day. Nothing can stop him now!

Happy Birthday Cody! We love you and all you bring to our family. Zach said within minutes after you were born "That's it, he's what we've been waiting for, now our family is complete." and I couldn't agree more!