Introducing......

Hampton Cole Williamson

Born March 6, 2010

6 pounds 5 oz.

19 inches

What a whirlwind week of emotions this has been. Our little Hampton has arrived! He has had a rough start to life, but as of Saturday is now home with us. Well let me back up.....Last Friday night my mom (who was visiting us for the week) and I had just been on a major shopping spree for the house. Eric and I had settled down to catch up on the latest episode of The Office. It was around midnight (I couldn't sleep) when suddenly my water broke. A gush! With Everett I had questioned if my water broke because it was more like a trickle. Not this time....it was very apparent I was going into labor. Eric ran and got my mom while I called my doctor. The contractions then came on incredibly strong and about 2 minutes apart. We quickly packed and got to the hospital as soon as possible. After I got set up my OB came in and checked to see how dilated I was. I was already 7 centimeters! This baby was coming and quick! I sort of panicked because I really wanted an epidural. The doctor came and put one in however it didn't take because my labor was going so fast. So basically, I was going to have to do this without drugs. My OB kept encouraging me that it would be quick. Also, another fun fact-I delivered Everett the day I turned 37 weeks and I delivered Hampton the day I turned 37 weeks! Isn't that bizarre!?! Anyways, my whole labor from the time my water broke to the time I delivered Hampton was about 2 hours and I pushed for a total of 10 minutes!

Isn't he handsome? I couldn't believe 2 hours prior I was at home watching television and now I was at the hospital with a brand new baby! Well as easy as the delivery was, the rest of the week turned out to be a different story. Sunday we found out the Hampton's hemotocrit level was dangerously high. Hematocrit is the ratio of your red blood cells. A normal hematocrit for an infant is around 40-55. Hampton's was at 78. This can be dangerous because it can cause something called "sludging" of the blood. In other words, his blood was incredibly thick. This can cause a number of problems including seizures, stroke, respiratory, and cardiac issues to name a few. Thankfully, Hampton was asymptomatic of any of these but the doctors had to be extremely cautious. He also had an elevated bilirubin level which can be dangerous as well. On Monday, the day we were supposed to discharge, it still had not gone down much so they rushed him to NICU. I forgot to mention that on Saturday Everett was very ill with a stomach virus and ended up in the ER himself. On Sunday evening Eric and my mom caught it and were very sick as well. Craziness I know.
Here is Hampton sporting his shades while in a photo therapy box in the NICU. It was so hard to see him hooked up to all those wires. I don't think I ever stopped crying all week long.

One of his nurses found it so funny how he would get himself into these crazy positions. The treatment for his condition (called polycythemia) was increasing fluid intake through IV and photo therapy. We were thrilled to hear that by Thursday his hematocrit had decreased to 66. This meant he could continue photo therapy at home and be discharged from NICU. His bilirubin was still elevated however.

Eric loving on our boy-you can see that dreadful IV they had to put in his scalp! I was so happy on Friday when I took home a "wireless" baby! Every day this week we would visit the NICU about 3-4 times a day. Every time we would leave I would sob because I hated leaving him there. He was supposed to be at home with us! I am incredibly thankful though it was only a week. We had seen some families who had been there for months.

Everett meeting Hampton. This is probably one of the best moments of my life. Everett was thrilled to meet "baby." He just kept pointing at him and smiling at us. I pray they will be great pals.

One proud "Nonny" and her two boys. You can see the glow of Hampton's photo therapy blanket. We call him our little glow worm.

Our family of four finally under one roof! We had a doctor's appointment yesterday and Hampton's hematocrit level was down to 50! He is now within normal limits. The doctor did not see it fluctuating. His bilirubin is still high, but as long as he continues to eat and get plenty of fluid intake, it will go down. He is still on the bili blanket, but we are hoping tomorrow's doctor's appointment will bring good news so he can get off of that. We aren't exactly sure why all of this happened (there weren't any of the risk factors present that would cause this) but we are so grateful to the Lord that he carried us through and that Hampton is thriving and healthy. He is still our little red hot tamale, but as his levels go down that should correct itself as well. The Lord is so generous to us and continues to teach us through all of the trials we have gone through these past few months. He continues to give me opportunities to work out my faith and rely on Him.