Surprise Mommy and Daddy!

On 12/17/08, around 8:30 PM, I noticed some blood in my urine and per the request of my Dr., we made a trip up to Labor and Delivery to have things checked out. They hooked me up to a machine to monitor contractions and the baby's heartrate and everything looked good. They ran a few tests and it was determined that I had a urinary tract infection (UTI) and immediately started me on some antibiotics because UTIs are a common cause for premature labor. I had been having some problems since the previous Thursday, which once we found out, all pointed to a UTI. They discharged us around 11:30 PM and we went back home. At 2:30AM, I started having some severe abdominal pains that were coming and going and per the request of my Dr., AGAIN, went to Labor and Delivery to make sure I wasn't having contractions. They hooked me up again to the machine that monitors contractions and the baby's heartrate. Everything looked really good with the baby but I was having pretty consistent contractions. They gave me an IV for some antibiotics/fluids, as well as two shots of Tributaline to help stop the contractions. They were able to successfully stop the contractions, so at 10:30AM, they discharged me and said if I started having contractions again to come back in. Around 3:30PM that afternoon, I started having major contractions that were 5 minutes apart and lasting approximately 1 minute. We immediately headed back to Labor and Delivery again. When we arrived, they determined that I was definitely in labor (they guessed 5-6 centimeters dialated, fully effaced) and they admitted me to the hospital. They attempted to stop the labor, but I had progressed too quickly. My Dr. called the NICU team and they started to prepare. The labor went by so fast that before we knew it, Austin Matthew Sutten had joined us. He cried shortly after and all the doctors and nurses said that was a good sign, so it eased our tension. They briefly brought him to me so that I could touch him and then they whisked him away to the NICU and Ramsey followed.

This picture was taken shortly after he arrived in the NICU. That is my finger that Austin is holding.