I realize I never mentioned where I gave birth, hence the title :) Anyway, here is a continuation of the clinic stay. (Here, hospitals and clinics are different things. Hospitals are state run and usually sketchy. Clinics are private and so generally nicer.)

Let's start with Sunday night. I didn't appreciate Sunday night. Nurses are constantly coming in to check your vitals and palpitate your stomach to facilitate uterine shrinking and postpartum bleeding. OUCH! Plus side, my one nurse the first day was Gloria. Even though I only had her one shift, I won't ever forget her because she's Mormon! :) Thanks to Google Translate, I asked her in the middle of the night if I'd be able to see my baby the next day, which she said yes to. It's hard to give birth and not see your baby until 24-ish hours later.

Monday morning, Carmela came to the clinic to pick up Matt so he could pick Henlie up from our friends' house. Christina is also pregnant and was having her mid-pregnancy ultrasound that day. Matt also went to our house to pick up some supplies, then Carmela and Henlie played at the clinic for a little bit. I was missing my little girl! After a little while, Carmela took Henlie. They went and played with her grandson, Sebastian.

Monday morning, I was put on a liquid/bland diet for breakfast, which was goo and anise tea. I've never been a tea/infusion person, but I've had way more teas than ever before since moving here. (Had some tea for flu symptoms while I was pregnant as well. Not very yummy.) 



They told Matt they wanted him to go to the nursery. I was jealous. They had done x-rays of his stomach and chest, and they looked good. They had done infection screens, but they came back negative. (Infection in mother or baby is the typical reason for premature labor. Neither of us had an infection...) They also started turning down his respirator. They started feeding Andrew to see how he would take it, and we looked into finding a breast pump. I didn't bring mine because I had no intention of using it... oh well. Another friend from the ward offered to lend me hers, and since the other option was buy another brand new one, I took her up on her offer. Oh yeah, they don't have a hospital grade pump. Or any pump actually. Also, you know the giant diaper pads? Yeah, I got some because someone had left some, but you have to bring your own of those too. Pretty much nothing is provided, including baby diapers, not that we found out about that until later. Apparently they had some to use still from other people.



That morning, they removed my catheter and told me they'd take my IV out when the current bag was done. In reality, I got another one or two smaller bags before they took it out. They eventually got me up out of bed and helped me shower. Then I got to finally walk down the hall to the nursery to see Lil Dude :)

Matt and I had talked about names and I had researched some name meanings Sunday night. I felt Lil Dude was strong and a fighter, so I looked up names with those meanings. On Nameberry, Andrew came up under fighter and Drew came up under strong. Fortunately, Andrew was a name on our list. I talked to Matt about it, and he was okay with it. Then he asked about a middle name, so I went back to our list and saw Guy paired with a different name. I asked Matt, and he was okay with it. (Guy is my Grandpa Wilson's name.) I decided I wanted to actually see my baby before the name was finalized and announced, though.

I was so excited to see my Lil Dude (the nickname we'd been using on Facebook since he had no name :)) His head was kind of blue and the rest of him was very red. It was painful to watch him try to breathe because his little chest was so concave. They opened his incubator and let me touch him.





After we visited the NICU, we officially announced his name on Facebook, Andrew Guy Biggs. My diet got upgraded as well, so I got some actual food for lunch :) I also ended up with another IV, this time in my right arm, because my doctor, Dr. Quispe, wanted to give me some iron. Every time he sees me, he thinks I'm too pale. Sorry, I'm white. lol I also started pumping in the afternoon. Pumping with Andrew went a lot better than pumping with Henlie. Perhaps because that's all I was doing for him, where with Henlie, it was mostly just at work to replace what she ate while I was gone. (In theory. It took awhile to build up the store.)


We also had other visitors. McMillens came by, and Eliza had made us cookies. I was super happy when my diet was upgraded to the point I could eat them. They were yummy :) We also were visited by the Relief Society presidency. Although, I couldn't tell you which day they came :) Carmela's other daughter, Estefani, also came by, I think Monday. She gave us some goodies, including hand-me-downs for Andrew and a princess dress for Henlie, which she LOVED.

That night was more of the same, only less crappy in terms of nurses. They also told me I didn't have to wake up in the middle of the night to pump, so I didn't. For a very long time. I only pumped occasionally in the middle of the night.  Usually it was because I woke up anyway, so might as well...

I don't know where else to put this, but Henlie stayed at Leslie's house Monday night. Night 2, second house. :)

Tuesday was also more of the same. In some ways, I'm glad Andrew was in the NICU because it let me heal from my c-section. In others, it was really weird to not have my baby in my room. Mostly we played on the internets, watched TV, and entertained visitors. Oh, and I pumped every 2-3 hours and took milk to the NICU. Then I'd go back to pick up my pump so I could do it again. Fun times...

Andrew made some poop Tuesday morning.  Good news for his digestive system :) He also looked better in terms of color when I got to visit him. He got to hang out under lights for jaundice a lot too. They also switched him to a CPAP since he was acting like the breathing tube was bothering him. He had more Xrays to ensure all of the gasses were going where they should, and they were.

Later, Carmela and Leslie brought Henlie and Sebastian over. Henlie saw the orange juice sitting on the table still. She grabbed it and brought it to me. She remembered it was for Mommy :) I asked if she was going to take care of Mommy, and she said yes :) 


Henlie stayed with us for the afternoon. Daddy had been missing his little girl. Mostly she watched cartoons and snuggled her daddy, or she stole his phone to play with. She also got to see Andrew through the NICU window. He had his blue lights on. It was helpful because she could tell which baby was ours. For a long time after that, he was her "blue baby brother." That night, she stayed at Abby and Rob's house. Night 3, third house. She had a blast, I'm told.  Actually, she was really good for everyone, or so they all told us.

Tuesday was our last night at the clinic, and so we got to have "cena gourmet," or a gourmet dinner.  I'm not cut out for gourmet :) They had a list of options for everything that we got to order off of.  That night, they brought in a fancy table and chairs. Even though we'd both ordered water, they gave Matt a small bottle of wine. He had them take it back :) My food was alright, but Matt's wasn't very good.

It was also St. Patrick's Day. Lucky for me, the shirt Matt brought me was green haha.

Wednesday morning was spent getting ready to go home, mostly. Matt said we had to be checked out by 11 am, otherwise they'd charge us an extra day. In typical Peru fashion, it took forever. But since it was on them, not on us, we weren't charged. They actually had us checked out in the system on time I guess.

There were more check-ups Wednesday morning. Dr. Quispe came to check on me. My feet and legs were swollen. I'd not had swelling after delivery with Henlie, but I learned it was perfectly normal to go 2 weeks with swelling. He prescribed me some pain pills and iron pills. He also gave us an update on Andrew. There was a valve between his heart and lungs that wasn't closing, but he said it should heal on its own as he grew.

Before we left, the NICU told us that they were running out of room for my milk and to find milk bags because they don't take up as much space. Not gonna lie, I was proud. In fairness, my baby hardly ate anything at all.... but my milk came in full-force. They actually had to stop him eating for a bit because he had some stomach discharge, so I really got ahead in the milk storage department. In fact, I still have a freezer full and I've not been saving any for quite a while now.

Carmela kindly took us home from the clinic. She drove nice and slow, which was great for my non-existent core muscles. (Oh, I totally got a girdle/belly band thing too, which was awesome while I needed it :))

It was pretty weird to go home without the baby. It was also hard on all of us just the upheaval of it all. While Henlie did well at so many people's houses, she was all out of whack when she got back to us. It took weeks for her to sleep well again. It was also super hard for me and her because I couldn't lift her at all. For weeks, Matt had to change her because I couldn't get to the floor to do it. She had to be so careful around my stomach. Matt really stepped in and did awesome at being Mommy and Daddy because even though I was there, I was pretty useless between C-section recovery and constant pumping.

Anyway, that covers the rest of my clinic stay, and this post is already super long, so I'm cutting it off :)

March 15th started like any other Sunday. We got up. We got ready. We went to church. We stopped by the bishop's offices and talked to Brother Hovenier about blessing the baby in the States when we go visit. While we were waiting, I felt pressure and squatted in the hallway trying to find relief. Being so soon after church, it was probably about 11:45am. We chatted for a few minutes and then called a cab.

On the way home, I had some other contractions.  I've never experienced Braxton Hicks, so I thought maybe that's what was going on.  Except one hurt really bad.  Like I had to grab the seat of the cab, bad.

We got home and I went straight to bed to see if resting would help the contractions subside. It didn't. I googled early labor and how to stop early labor. Google told me that if contractions came within 10 minutes of each other, it was probably early labor and you should call your doctor. I wanted some lunch, so Matt made me a grilled cheese. During this time, I had 3 contractions with 10 minutes or less between them, so I called Dra. Brocker. She told me she wasn't near and to rest to see if they would go away. (Yes, I had just told her I had been doing that... There is still a language barrier, even though she speaks English.) She told me ultimately I had to decide if I wanted to go into a clinic. I hung up feeling like it was a useless conversation. Matt came in and I told him when I was finished with my sandwich, I wanted to go in, so he needed to pick a clinic.

Matt called a cab and we tried to get Henlie ready. She had been watching George on Netflix for not that long and did not want to stop. I was freaking out. After all, I was only 28 weeks. There was begging and praying. We got to the clinic (Clínica Ricardo Palma) and had to enter the ER from the back because they were doing some construction. They had me sit while Matt got us checked in. At some point, I figured we'd be having the baby that day, although I still hoped they'd be able to stop labor or at least give me a steroid shot to help Lil Dude's lungs. The only way I could deal with the pain was to push some, so by golly, I did.

By the time they got me back and checked me, I was a 10, so they wheeled me right up to Labor and Delivery. Matt had to stay outside because he had Henlie. No one spoke English. As if the situation wasn't scary enough, right? Try doing it in another language. Not fun.

They broke my water, and it was glorious. There was nothing for the contractions to push against so there was no more pain. A nurse checked me and found I had placenta previa, or the placenta was presenting first. I learned later that Dr. Quispe (the doctor there that day, and thus my default new OB, which I'm okay with. I like him better than Dra. Brocker, even though he only knows a little English.) wanted to still try a vaginal delivery because sometimes the baby and the placenta can come out together.  However, his arm was in the way. Oh, and I started bleeding. 

Want to know what happens when you start bleeding? The poor nurse gets to shove two fingers up there and push hard to try to stop the bleeding. Not exactly the most comfortable thing in the world. They started to prep me for a C-section. Fortunately, the OR was next door. Guess what? Matt still had Henlie, so he couldn't go in. Guess what? No one spoke English still. Terrifying.

I remember thinking, "No, I don't want a C-section." Of course, I had deduced I was bleeding and therefore probably needed one. It was a quick turnaround between C-section resistance and resignation. Then my thoughts just turned to my baby, hoping that he would be alright.

As they prepped, I could see a little in the reflection off of the light. Then they put the drape up. I thought, "I want to see! Wait, maybe I don't?" The anesthesiologist asked me (in English) if I'd eaten. I said yes, then I got drugs in an IV I don't remember having placed. And then I was out. I know scheduled C-sections don't use general anesthesia, but I was very glad I was completely out. I don't think I could have handled being awake. Of course, if it had been scheduled and not emergency, that would maybe be different.

I woke up later in a recovery room. Matt was able to come in for a minute. Our friends from the ward who actually live near us had taken Henlie for us. I don't recall if he gave me an update then or later when I was in my room. Anyway, I felt like they rushed him out, and I went back to sleep. I awoke at 6:30pm when Dr. Quispe came to check on me. I was unsuccessful at going back to sleep after that. Instead, I watched the hours tick by on the clock and tried to communicate. I asked for Matt, but he was no longer there. Between Google Translate on the nurse's computer and the husband of the woman who ended up next to me, we got a little communication done. Pretty sure I was an emotional wreck. I know I cried. I couldn't speak. I was all alone and I had no idea how long I'd be staying there.

They did finally transfer me up to my room, where I was greeted by Matt, César and Carmela Hooker (Matt's old mission president and his wife. We have adopted them as our Peruvian family, or they adopted us? whichever :)), their son Aaron, and Lee Engle from our ward. It was so nice to see so many people there to support us. I think it was like 9pm or something by the time I got to my room. I asked Lee and César if they'd help give me a blessing, which they did. We visited for a bit. Matt checked on Henlie, and she was asleep at the Tidwell's. They said she could stay for the night, but Christina was getting her mid-pregnancy ultrasound the next morning, so we had to pick her up by like 7am. Carmela offered to get Matt to pick Henlie up. Everyone left and I updated Facebook ;)

Matt had posted a few updates to let people know what was happening. We were kept pretty busy the first 24 hours or so checking all of the new comments and seeing the FB likes pour in. We received so much love, support, and prayers from everyone back home and here.

Matt had taken one picture, and that was all I had been able to see, which sucked. Matt informed me they had to start him breathing, but other than that, he was doing pretty well and was stable. 

So, March 15, 2015, we welcomed Lil Dude into the world. He weighed 2 lbs. 15 oz. and was 15.75 in. long with an APGAR of 5, 7. His measurements put him at 30 weeks, so that is what the clinic figured his gestational age at. He was born at 2:50pm. (For those who kept track, that's 3 hours from the very start of labor to his delivery in the OR. Henlie was fast, but not that fast.)

More of the story to come later.

We started off our day with some more yummy breakfast in the restaurant (complimentary buffet).  The hotel has a "kids club" thing that provides activities for the littler guests throughout the day.  We were actually leaving to head back to Tacna that morning, but we thought we could fit in some art time at 10am, since Henlie kind of wanted to do it the day before.  

We headed down to breakfast and then back upstairs to finish packing our things.  We headed over to the kids' area at 10am. Unfortunately, Chile seems almost as bad as Peru in timeliness, and there wasn't even anyone there.  So, we went "sploding" again around the grounds and then headed back for some second breakfast.  Okay, mostly I was thirsty and in need of water, but Henlie decided she also needed a roll and some milk :)  

The kids' club is right next door to the restaurant on the outside, so we were able to keep an eye on how things were progressing.  Around 10:30am, they were pretty much ready to go, so we relocated over there.  This day, they were painting rocks, so they had gone to collect some rocks.  When they got back, Henlie picked out a rock and Daddy helped her paint it.  


She also got to learn to wash her brush between colors, which she did pick up on, but she still needed Daddy's help to actually get it clean :)





She loved painting her rock.  Not that she had anything in particular in mind....just had fun painting multiple colors all over her rock.  She looked at me a couple of times and said, "I painting, Mom!"  So cute :)



Our favorite staffer helped haul our luggage downstairs, and we said ciao and loaded into the car.  The drive was very uneventful, although the border lines were much longer to wait in, and it was hot.  But we eventually made it out of Chile and back into Peru and continued driving back to Tacna.


We opted to get a hotel in Tacna (Gran Hotel Tacna) for the night and fly out again early Friday morning.  Tacna is pretty ghetto.  Alas, we weren't so lucky with our hotel in Tacna as in Arica as they pretty much made us wait until normal check-in time to check in.  Okay, we maybe were able to check in about 15 minutes early.

Anyway, being back in Peru, we knew we could get snacks and whatnot, and we needed some water and breakfast for the next morning.  They watched our luggage for us and told us where the nearest grocery stores were.  We walked down to the Plaza Vea.  It was fabulous.  Plaza Vea is like Peru's Walmart lol  I was so at home lol.  Matt, no surprise, hated it.  But, there is only one so it was kind of crowded.  Anyway, we bought some snacks (because we were hungry) and bought some cinnamon rolls for breakfast, along with some water.  Then we took a taxi back to the hotel (which was like S/.3 or something ridiculous like that.  Matt says he doesn't think he's ever paid less than S/.6 in Lima for a short drive.) and hung out in the lobby waiting to check in.

Eventually, we got checked in and checked out our room.  The room was decent, but toasty.  Fortunately, there was a fan.  I certainly missed the ocean breeze!  Then we decided to head to a local restaurant recommended by the hotel staff for some lunch/dinner.  



We walked a few blocks over to The Da Vinci Restaurant Cafe.  It was pretty crowded when we got there, but we found a seat.  Henlie totally fell asleep for a nap while we waited for food, and stayed that way until we were ready to leave.  However, the food was amazingly delicious and bigger portion sizes than we were anticipating.  We took the leftovers with us back to the hotel in case we wanted an actual dinner later. (We didn't - so much food!)  Matt changed his $10,000 pesos into soles at a street exchange and we walked back to the hotel, where we hung out all night watching TV.  Henlie ate Daddy's leftover fries and snacked on cookies for lunch/dinner.


The next morning, we were up bright and early (although not as early as our first flight!) to check in for our flight back to Lima.  I was very much ready to leave Tacna.  Our hotel was nice, but the area is less-so.  Our flight was at like 7:15am, and we got there at about 6:30am.  Aurelio had offered to pick us up and take us to the airport again, but Matt never got ahold of him.  Instead, we just had the front desk call us a cab.

Check-in was fun.  Lots of people were there waiting in lines before even the staff had arrived.  Tacna is a tiny airport with only one gate, so it wasn't too bad.  We got through and sat down.  They had a little cafe and gift shop, but their cafe only sold coffee and maybe a few pastries.  We already had our cinnamon rolls at the hotel (not as good as I was hoping :( ) and we don't drink coffee.....but we did kill some time wandering through the gift shop.  Henlie, more than once.  She went through with me, and then she made Daddy go through with her lol.


Eventually we got boarded and back on the plane to Lima.  The flight was pretty uneventful.  We got our stuff, got a taxi at the airport, and came home.  All-in-all, it was a pretty fun trip! Kind of annoying we had to take it, but we had a good time and got to visit somewhere we wouldn't have otherwise gone :)