Calvin was breeched and born via c-section about two weeks early. He was pretty lodged in my ribcage prior to the surgery and had his shoulder pushed up into the side of his neck. This created some flat spots around his head that concerned us. He's had to continue physical therapy where our PT monitors his neck strength and head shape. 

Since the day we brought him home, he had a hard time sleeping straight and staying at midline. We do tummy time multiple times a day to strengthen his neck and he enjoys lifting his head to look around and play with some toys! We also used a head shaping pillow by BabeBayLife from Amazon to help him lay flat. Head shaping pillows have a concave hole that helps relieve pressure on the head and neck. It helps full out and shape their heads. The one we used above is made of soft memory foam and comes with an extra pillowcase which makes it super easy to take off and throw in the wash! This head shaping pillow keeps him in place and helps him sleep! 

We were getting really tired of being at the hospital and were ready to leave as soon as they would discharge us. Since I was up and moving just a few hours after surgery, I was going stir-crazy being in the room the whole time. We were there for a total of 2.5 days. Prior to getting discharged, our nurse bathed him and helped get him ready to go home. We put actual clothes on him for the first time and loaded his itty bitty body into the carseat! I had a surge of emotions run through my body! I was excited to be going home and in our own bed but I was so scared that we didn't have a nurse to help us. Prior to this point, the nurses or my husband did all of the work. All I had done was feed our baby! All I did was look in the rearview mirror the whole way home. I couldn't believe we finally got to bring him home with us!

We got home and introduced the dogs to him. I'm so bummed I didn't get a good picture of Pepper with him! My husband had gone home the night before with a swaddle that Calvin was in and had the dogs smell it to familiarize his scent. When we got home, they were both so gentle and curious. It didn't take long for them to follow us around with him. 

Calvin now has two big fur-sisters to watch after him!

Everything was a breeze throughout my pregnancy. I didn't have any morning sickness or crazy spurts of pain. It was pretty mellow up until the end. Around 30-ish weeks was when I started getting pretty uncomfortable. My feel would swell up just by standing for a few minutes and I was running out of breath just walking a short distance. I started getting weird sharp pain and discomfort periodically. 

I left work on Friday, August 30th to my regular 38 week check-in where my OB did an ultrasound and found out he was breeched. She sent me over a few doors down to get a full ultrasound and measurements done. They found out that I had low amounts of amniotic fluid and scheduled to head to triage the next day to do a Cephalic Version to try and flip him. The doctor did another AFI (amniotic fluid index) and said it was too dangerous to try and flip him because my fluid level was too low and the chances of him flipping was too slim since he was pretty big. If they attempted to flip him then I could've went into labor that day and if he didn't flip then I would've had an emergency c-section. So we basically had to keep coming back to do another ultrasound, fetal monitoring and measurements of baby boy. 

Now the thought of having a c-section was pretty daunting but it was a sure relief that it would be a scheduled surgery and the risks for complications were low. Baby boy continued to grow and I was getting really uncomfortable. We were ready to meet him! I went to see my OB on Wednesday, September 4th and we found out that I basically had no amniotic fluid left so she sent me to the hospital to do a c-section since he was still breeched and practically lodged into my ribcage. We got to the hospital and they hooked me up so we could monitor his heart rate for a few hours. It was nice to just listen to his heartbeat the whole time! When my OB was done at the clinic, she met us at the hospital and we were ready for surgery. They rolled me into the surgery room around 5pm and got everything prepped. 

I'm a HUGE baby when it comes to surgeries, blood or needles. They made my husband wait outside of the room until they had everything prepped and I was on the table. I started panicking and hyperventilating when I sat on the surgery table getting ready for my epidural but my nurse was the best. She sat down in front of me, propped my legs in her lap, held my hand and calmed me down. When the anesthesiologist got ready to poke my spine, she pinched my hand super hard so I would focus on that pain instead. The epidural was the weirdest feeling because it kicked in so fast! I was numb before I he finished talking and they quickly laid me down. Once I was on the table, they let my husband into the room. I was amazed that I couldn't feel anything except some pressure. At one point they were tugging and pulling things around where my body was moving around but I didn't feel a thing. It only took about 10 minutes for baby boy to come out. They lowered the curtain and he was a chunky baby! They cleaned him and swaddled him up. I cried when my husband laid him next to me.  They took another hour to stitch and clean everything back up and I was ready to go to my room. 

Once we were in our room, the nurses helped unwrap him and get some skin-to-skin time and feed him. He didn't have any issues latching- thank goodness! I will say it did hurt and take some time to get used to. Nurse after nurse came to check in on us and monitored us. It only took 6 hours before I was up and walking around! 

The whole scheduled c-section was very organized and stress free! It was the best decision for the situation and I was so relieved to have had such a great experience at the hospital. My nurses were all amazing and helpful and baby boy arrived healthy!