Crew Allen Merrick

Our baby is here!

Crew was born Thursday, August 27th at 1:59 pm. He weighed 5 lbs. 11 oz. and was 19 inches long. My water broke around 2:30 am that morning- after Austin had just taken 2 Tylenol PM's because he couldn't sleep...what a fun drive for him to Boise! After being admitted and still having no contractions, we started Pitocin around 7 am, had an epidural (the BEST thing ever!) around 9 am, and was fully dilated around noon. We started pushing around 12:30 pm and finally got him here at 1:59. I was exhausted. The last few moments before his debut got a little tense- his heart rate dropped and he was just not coming very smoothly- they called in the vacuum to help him out on the next contraction, but somehow (with the help of a great team) they got him out. Things got a little interesting after this- Crew came out very blue, but they got him breathing very quickly, they realized he was breathing way too fast and was not adjusting to life very well. NICU was called in 4 minutes after he was born, they arrived at 7 min., and Dad and Crew were off to the NICU about 15 min. after he was born. Not very fun for Mom, but I knew he was in good hands. 3 hours later I finally got to hold my baby and we were told that he had suffered Respiratory Distress Syndrome. He was basically breathing too fast, and they had him regulated before I even got to the NICU. He never had to have oxygen, and has been great ever since. After that we had a few glucose problems, which lead to a jaundice problem, which lead to Crew being "fake baked" for two days under the lights. We were finally released Wednesday to come home- a very long awaited day! 6 days in the NICU was more than enough for me. The stress of being there was hard, but as Austin and I looked around us, we realized how lucky and fortunate we were to have a healthy baby boy that would only be there a few days. It was quite the experience and some of the things we saw would break your heart.

Crew has truly turned into our miracle baby. The doctors are absolutely amazed that we made it to 37 weeks, a number no one thought was possible. And I can’t believe I made it on the couch for 16 weeks!! He was worth every minute and we are just so happy to be home. We are completely in love with our little boy!