Happenings with The Johnson Family: June 2011

And boy did she make an entrance!

Tatum Finley Johnson
June 7, 2011
7lbs. 14ozs.

On Tuesday morning I woke up having some pretty good contractions. They continued throughout the morning and but by about 1 pm they were getting a lot stronger and closer together. Layla and I were out running errands and I decided we better head home. Juan and I decided we better call someone to come pick up Layla and head to the hospital. We got to the hospital a little after 2:30. By the time we got there my contractions were about 3 minutes apart. I made Juan take a picture of me in the parking lot of the hospital because I was so happy to be in labor and was convinced I was going to avoid another c-section (he thought this was so ridiculous and was in "panic- wife in labor mode. That is partly why I am laughing so hard in this picture).

Things changed very quickly once we were inside the hospital. They wheeled me up to the triage area of labor and delivery and hooked me up to the monitors. Right away we knew Tatum was in trouble. Her heartrate was 213 which is dangerously high. The doctors and nurses quickly started me on antibiotics and lots of fluid. After 15 minutes her heartrate was still over 200 and the decision was made for an emergency c-section. I will spare the details of how un-fun the surgery was for me because it isn't important. Tatum was born at 3:53 pm and weighed 7lbs 14ozs.

She did cry right away when she came out but that quickly changed. I could tell from the look on everyones faces that something was definetly wrong. And she was no longer crying. They finally told me she was needing some help to breathe and they were going to take her out. Of course Juan went with her.
After they finished stitching me up I was taken to the recovery area. Juan showed up a couple minutes later which was another huge red flag for me. With Layla I was in the recovery area for a long time while I waited for Juan since they were doing baths, etc. Juan told me they had asked him to leave because they were needing to intibate her. Not long after the neonatologist came in and explained a little about what was going on with Tatum. They were pretty sure there was some type of infection and she had some blood and fluid in her lungs. He also let us know that they were going to need to transport her to another hospital that would be better equipted to take care of her. They wheeled me in to see her for a quick minute before she was air lifted to St. Josephs.

She stayed at St. Joseph's for 7 days. Poor Juan was running back and forth between two hospitals and shuffling Layla around to various places. He was so amazing and strong throughout this whole ordeal. I spent 3 hard and very lonely days in the hospital trying to recover enough to be able to get to see my baby.
Juan spent a lot of time at the hospital with Tatum. I truly believe he was a very important part of her recovery. He spent a lot of time doing skin to skin contact with her which they highly encourage in the NICU. He also brought books to read to her (the little engine that could....how sweet is that!).

This is Tatum's board....I love her likes...."when my daddy visits me!" So sweet.

Poor sweet Tatum had a really rough first few days. Lots of IV's, blood draws and needle pricks. She even had to have a lumbar puncture (spinal tab) to rule out meningitis. All of her tests showed negative and they weren't ever able to narrow down the infection. We do know that I was Group b strep positive which is a bacteria and is very common in pregnancy. Apparently the GBS bacteria did make its way into my uterus and the placenta tested positive for it (which is a very unusual thing to have happen and extremely dangerous). However Tatum's tests came back negative. We were so blessed and she made an amazing recovery. And so so fortunate that we got to the hospital and got her out as quickly as we did. Things could have been so much worse.

After 3 long days I was finally strong enough to get discharged from the hospital and make my way out to St Jo's to finally see Tatum. Being in the hospital and away from my girls was torture. I have only spent 1 night away from Layla in almost 3 years. And not being able to see or feed Tatum was extremely hard. I was so anxious to get to her.

We had so much help from our great families and friends. Papa Ron jumped in his car and made the trip out to help

Grandma Sharon made the trip

And of course spoiled Layla

Adam and Valerie and Peyton were in town and Layla had some serious fun with them. Trips to the swimming pool, Peter Piper Pizza and visits to parks. They were amazing help and Layla had a blast with Peyton.

The Henry's and Joycie were also so amazing and helped a ton with Layla even keeping her overnight!

Layla had a rough week adjusting to everything going on. Even with all of the fun and spoiling she had a really hard time. Mommy wasn't home, Tatum wasn't home and her little world was shook up quite a bit. Luckily kids are very resiliant and she is adjusting just fine.....so far. She is a really proud big sister and thinks when Tatum cries it's because "her wants her big sister."

Holding her baby sister for the first time

Such a proud big sister

A very tired mommy and my 2 beautiful girls

A few more hospital pictures

After a full seven days of antibiotics they decided Tatum was healthy enough to go home. We were so excited to go pick her up and bring her home!! She was discharged as a normal healthy infant with no follow up required!! We are blessed!!

Layla was so excited to ride in the car with her baby sister in the carseat next to her.

Daddy holding both his girls! Layla was so happy he could do this.

Loving holding my baby with no wires!!

After Tatum's ordeal we decided that we needed to give her a middle name that showed what a strong little fighter she is. We finally decided (after many days) on Finley. Finley is scottish (for Papa Bill) and means warrior. She is definelty our little warrior and we are so happy to have her!