Merry Christmas everyone.
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Merry Christmas
Just a quick post from early Christmas morning. It's almost three and we're up, feeding Hannah and pumping. I'm not sure we'd change a thing.
Merry Christmas everyone.
Merry Christmas everyone.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Four months later......
Hannah is now four months old. We had her four month well-baby check-up today. She is doing just fine. Her weight is up to 15 pounds 12 or so ounces. According to the nurse, she's 24 inches long, but I don't believe that number. She was 24 inches long in October, so I will probably measure her at some point in time this week and go with that number. We talked her napping schedule (short naps are okay), solids (we could start now, but that tongue thrust reflex is still hanging around so we're gonna wait), bottle size and nipple flow (follow her cues), and walking/crawling (start thinking about baby-proofing, but we should have some more time). She got two shots and handled them like a trooper.
Christmas is coming! We've picked up the gifts, and even though Matt thinks it's silly, I will be wrapping them. Yes, it's less about her and more about us this year, but I don't care. I want the pictures of her first Christmas. The tree is up and decorated.
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As mentioned above Christmas is coming, so I'm planning to post pics of Hannah with her presents.
Along a sadder vein, I feel the need to acknowledge the shootings in Newtown, CT that occurred last week. I was deeply saddened by the events both as a teacher and as a parent. It's devastating to think something like that could happen in my school to my students, and worse yet to worry that it could happen to my little girl. It's enough to make you want to homeschool!
Sunday, November 18, 2012
3 Months
I think we hit our three month growth spurt and I think we won. By won, we all eventually returned to a normal food and sleep schedule.
In other news:
-If you let her hold onto your hands, she'll pull herself up. She's been putting her hands in her mouth more (OMG.... the drool) and refusing the pacifier on occasion as well.
-She has a lot to say, especially when you are on her level and really looking in the face. She chatted with grandma and great-grandma today when they visited.
-She's consistently sleeping from around 9ish until sometime between 5am and 7am. If she wakes up earlier than 5, she's really good about going back to sleep right away for a few more hours, and the earlier it is during her normal window, the faster she goes back to sleep. Although a lot of times, if she wakes up after six or so, it's more like a nap than an extension of the night. She's sleeping well though.
-She is also starting to express her displeasure in ways other than immediate screaming/crying. She will do some angry-sounding talking, then it kinda sounds like yelling, then finally escalates into screaming/crying.
-We're also getting waaay better at reading her cues as to what hungry-crying is vs. sleepy-crying.
-And she's developing a eat-play-sleep-(sometimes)play-eat pattern. It's amazing how she's kinda set a schedule for herself. Which is good because I'm lousy with schedules.
We still don't like bathtime but it's gotten slightly better.
Three months old! This was a rare smiling moment during the last few days of three month growth spurt fussiness.
Sitting up while playing. She's doing a good job of pulling herself up from a reclined position as long as she has your hands to hold on to.
Super cute. This picture makes her look a whole lot like Matt when he was a little kid.
In other news:
-If you let her hold onto your hands, she'll pull herself up. She's been putting her hands in her mouth more (OMG.... the drool) and refusing the pacifier on occasion as well.
-She has a lot to say, especially when you are on her level and really looking in the face. She chatted with grandma and great-grandma today when they visited.
-She's consistently sleeping from around 9ish until sometime between 5am and 7am. If she wakes up earlier than 5, she's really good about going back to sleep right away for a few more hours, and the earlier it is during her normal window, the faster she goes back to sleep. Although a lot of times, if she wakes up after six or so, it's more like a nap than an extension of the night. She's sleeping well though.
-She is also starting to express her displeasure in ways other than immediate screaming/crying. She will do some angry-sounding talking, then it kinda sounds like yelling, then finally escalates into screaming/crying.
-We're also getting waaay better at reading her cues as to what hungry-crying is vs. sleepy-crying.
-And she's developing a eat-play-sleep-(sometimes)play-eat pattern. It's amazing how she's kinda set a schedule for herself. Which is good because I'm lousy with schedules.
We still don't like bathtime but it's gotten slightly better.
Three months old! This was a rare smiling moment during the last few days of three month growth spurt fussiness.
Sitting up while playing. She's doing a good job of pulling herself up from a reclined position as long as she has your hands to hold on to.
Super cute. This picture makes her look a whole lot like Matt when he was a little kid.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
A real post
I mentioned in my last post that I needed to update with a real post, so here goes....
It's amazing how quickly the time is flying by! I mean, we started November last week and on Thursday, I will have been back at work for a month. Tomorrow is also our anniversary.... seven years. Wow.
Hannah is over two and a half months old. At our last doctor's appointment, about a month ago, she weighed 11 pounds 12 and a half ounces and was 23 inches long. She is in the 83% for both of those numbers. She has quickly progressed through her 0-3 month clothes and is wearing mostly 3-6 month stuff now. She doesn't really fill them out, but she needs the length.
Pumping is going well. I'm freezing almost as much milk each day as I put into her bottles. Eventually I know that she'll start drinking more, but for now, I'm able to freeze a ton. So much in fact that we now own a chest freezer. There just wasn't enough room in our fridge freezer so my parents bought us a small chest freezer for our anniversary. We are still happy with the decision and I am thrilled to be able to provide so well for her.
Hannah is beautiful. She gets complimented daily, and as she grows, she is getting more and more adorable and beautiful. Her smile just lights up her whole face and it's impossible to be angry or annoyed with her when she grins. Her eyes seem to be staying blue. They are just gorgeous.
She still does well when we take her out in public, but occasionally she gets unhappy in the car. If she's unhappy in the car, she will cry whenever the car stops like at a stoplight, but as soon as the car starts going again, she's fine. It's really funny.
We have been dealing with colic, and it's been rough, especially since I've gone back to work. She starts fussing around 6ish and it goes until at least 11. There are brief respites, but it's a pretty constant whining and crying and fussing, even with the pacifier. Things are getting better though. We've had several evenings recently without more than a few moments of fussiness, and some slightly earlier bedtimes, so there is hope. Up until recently, Hannah has been operating on a college schedule: bedtime around midnight, wake for food around 6, sleep more until 10 or 11. Some naps in the afternoon, then a fussy party from 6 until she goes to sleep. But things are slowly progressing. Tonight, in fact, she was asleep before 10. Granted, we turned back the clocks last night, but it would still be before 11 without it. Friday night she also was asleep before 10. Last night it was around 11.
We have been dealing with quite a bit of spit-up. Hannah is what they call a 'happy spitter'. She spits up a lot, but it doesn't seems to make her uncomfortable until afterward when she's messy and wet. It got so bad that we called the on-call pediatrician about a week after my last post. From that conversation, we started adding rice to her milk and it has made a huge difference. She still spits up quite a bit, but it is not near to what it was. We occasionally have meals where it's worse than others, but for the most part, it's not nearly as bad as it used to be. We own A LOT of bibs and A LOT of burp cloths. And she goes through a lot of clothes.
Wubanub is still her favorite pacifier, but she also likes the purple ones she has. With regards to the NICU stay that I referenced in my last post, Hannah spent two days in the hospital for jaundice. When they sent us home on the 17th, we had orders for one final bilirubin test since her levels were higher than they would like, but not high enough to treat. On Saturday, her levels had jumped so they wanted her to come in for treatment. We spent Saturday night, all day Sunday, and most of the day on Monday hanging out at the hospital. We were able to stay in a family room in the NICU wing so we got to see her every three hours. I was allowed to nurse for 10-15 minutes then she got a bottle of formula and eventually pumped milk. The big goal was to get her peeing and pooping to get the bilirubin out of her system. She was quite dehydrated which was part of the problem. She wasn't getting enough to eat since my milk hadn't come in, but no one suggested supplementing. While we were in the hospital, we got lots of one on one attention from lactation and I started pumping as well. She responded really well to treatment, and we were down to only one light by Sunday afternoon in the hopes that even if levels were still high on Monday, they could send us home with a bili-blanket. By Monday, even that wasn't necessary. We had a final test on Tuesday the 21st and her levels were continuing to drop without treatment.
Unfortunately, she developed a dependence on the bottle that we weren't able to break once we got home. She continued to need the bottle after nursing regardless of how long she would nurse. That was part of the reason I decided I wanted to stop nursing. It was not the great bonding experience I had hoped, Hannah didn't seem to respond well to it, and I spent a lot of time feel like I was a failure. I felt much better once I started pumping and we started bottle feeding.
Hannah still doesn't really like bath time. I think it's just going to take time and practice to get her used to it. I can't wait until she likes it as much as we do. She is still super cute afterward, with her fuzzy post-bath hair. And she smells good too....
She still likes tummy time, but with the spit-up issue, we're not doing it as much as we should. She's doing a great job holding her head up and we're practicing sitting in her bumbo chair. She easily focuses and turns her head to look when she hears voices. She likes to watch the TV or the computer screen when they are showing something brightly colored that's moving. She also likes to look at ceiling fans. She has a couple of toys that she enjoys reaching for, and she likes her rings on her car seat.
Obviously, I have gone back to work. I've been back for almost a month now, and it's going well. I spent just less than a week doing observations and getting my room ready. The kids started on a Friday, but I was missing half my students so it wasn't a good representation. Monday, when everyone was there, and my two new kids started, things were definitely more exciting. It's a very different experience, but I'm enjoying it. My bosses seem pleased with the job I'm doing as well. It's a little weird to kick my boss out of his office twice a day to pump, but it's working well.
Overall, we're doing okay. Still figuring things out but we're doing well as a family of three.
Drive-By Photos
A post of pictures.
A sweater from mommy!
One-month wiggles!
Sitting up, playing with my owl from Aunt Ace
Two month shot!
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Quick post
Hannah is officially one month old. Man, where did the time go? At our last doctor visit (a week and a half ago), she weighed 8 lb 13 oz and had grown to 21 inches long. She's quickly outgrowing her newborn clothes, and is quickly growing into her 0-3 mo stuff. Unfortunately, the weather is cooling so the 0-3 stuff is needing to be layered since it was all summer stuff. Oh well...... It's hard to find time to post as often as I would like since her schedule seems to change day to day. Some highlights:
-We've stopped breastfeeding, and I am pumping exclusively. I still haven't completely processed all the factors leading up to this, but will probably post about it in the future. So far, things are going well and I think it is the best choice for us.
-Hannah is able to focus on faces and will occasionally track items in her field of vision. I think it's a matter of getting it the right distance away from her face so that she can both focus and track.
-As mentioned above, we're quickly outgrowing our newborn clothes.
-Hannah is objectively adorable. As in, our complete and utter belief that our daughter is adorable is not due to parental bias; the general populace agrees. We accept compliments on her behalf every time we go out with her, often more than once or twice.
-Speaking of going out, Hannah is amazing when we go out and about. This is due to her undying love and affection for her car seat. She mellows quickly when placed in her car seat, and usually falls asleep quickly once the car is moving. She will stay asleep until a bit after we get back home. The other night, she slept for almost an hour and a half after we get home. But in general, she behaves well when we're out. If she's not sleeping, she eats her food quickly and then is content to chill with her wubanub (pacifier).
-We have found that she is soothed by a pacifier. I hadn't wanted to use a pacifier, but if we hadn't chosen to introduce it her second, the nurses in the NICU would have given her one when she was there. I still need to write up a post about our NICU stay, but yes, Hannah was in the NICU for 48 hours.
-Hannah eats like a horse and is pooping and peeing like a champ.
And here are some pics:
Hannah is slowly getting used to bathtime. Matt and I love how cute she is when she's snuggling after the bath; we're working on ways to keep her warm and comfy during the bath so she doesn't cry the whole time.
This is a post-bath picture. Everyone says she looks like Matt in this shot.
Hannah is really strong already. The doctor actually commented on it when we were there. She seems to like tummy time. Luther often comes over to check things out when she is doing tummy time. She can pick her head up for periods of time and will turn her head toward the sound of our voices.
My kid has monkey arms like her daddy.
Snuggles with mommy!
Matt's family came to visit over Labor Day weekend. Here is Hannah with his dad;
His mom;
His brother;
Hannah wanted me to know I had taken enough pictures already.
The owl toy in the picture was a gift from Matt's sister. She will grab at some toys when she feels like making mommy happy.
This is our troublemaker face. She's just so gosh darn cute you can't be mad at her!
Snuggling with mommy after bath time.
Luther investigating what Hannah is doing. She was watching the Packer game with daddy.
We are completely in love with our little girl and even though we have days where she doesn't sleep and is fussy all the time, we wouldn't trade it for the world.
-We've stopped breastfeeding, and I am pumping exclusively. I still haven't completely processed all the factors leading up to this, but will probably post about it in the future. So far, things are going well and I think it is the best choice for us.
-Hannah is able to focus on faces and will occasionally track items in her field of vision. I think it's a matter of getting it the right distance away from her face so that she can both focus and track.
-As mentioned above, we're quickly outgrowing our newborn clothes.
-Hannah is objectively adorable. As in, our complete and utter belief that our daughter is adorable is not due to parental bias; the general populace agrees. We accept compliments on her behalf every time we go out with her, often more than once or twice.
-Speaking of going out, Hannah is amazing when we go out and about. This is due to her undying love and affection for her car seat. She mellows quickly when placed in her car seat, and usually falls asleep quickly once the car is moving. She will stay asleep until a bit after we get back home. The other night, she slept for almost an hour and a half after we get home. But in general, she behaves well when we're out. If she's not sleeping, she eats her food quickly and then is content to chill with her wubanub (pacifier).
-We have found that she is soothed by a pacifier. I hadn't wanted to use a pacifier, but if we hadn't chosen to introduce it her second, the nurses in the NICU would have given her one when she was there. I still need to write up a post about our NICU stay, but yes, Hannah was in the NICU for 48 hours.
-Hannah eats like a horse and is pooping and peeing like a champ.
And here are some pics:
Hannah is slowly getting used to bathtime. Matt and I love how cute she is when she's snuggling after the bath; we're working on ways to keep her warm and comfy during the bath so she doesn't cry the whole time.
Snuggles with mommy!
Matt's family came to visit over Labor Day weekend. Here is Hannah with his dad;
His mom;
His brother;
And his grandma.
Hannah wanted me to know I had taken enough pictures already.
The owl toy in the picture was a gift from Matt's sister. She will grab at some toys when she feels like making mommy happy.
This is our troublemaker face. She's just so gosh darn cute you can't be mad at her!
Snuggling with mommy after bath time.
Luther investigating what Hannah is doing. She was watching the Packer game with daddy.
We are completely in love with our little girl and even though we have days where she doesn't sleep and is fussy all the time, we wouldn't trade it for the world.
Monday, August 27, 2012
Amazing
I have the most amazing husband. Ever.
Dressing Hannah at the hospital.0
Snuggling. Yes, she was jaundice. All is good now.
Snuggling at home with Luther (he's adjusting to the new noisemaker rather well).
Waiting for the doc at our last blood draw.
Watching Matt with our baby makes me melt. I've always loved him a whole bunches, and even though you hear people say all the time that they love their spouse more after the baby, I thought that was silly.
They weren't being silly; I was for not believing it was possible to love him that much more for being an awesome husband and an amazing father,
Watching Matt with our baby makes me melt. I've always loved him a whole bunches, and even though you hear people say all the time that they love their spouse more after the baby, I thought that was silly.
They weren't being silly; I was for not believing it was possible to love him that much more for being an awesome husband and an amazing father,
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
She's Here!
Hannah Louise arrived at 1:16 pm on Wednesday, August 15th. She weighed in at a normal 7 pounds 3 ounces and measured 20 inches long. She is absolutely gorgeous and we are totally in love with her. Matt has cried more times since she was born than the entire time we've been together.
Hannah is wonderful.
Labor and delivery were NOT. I had initially wanted to go as naturally as possible with my labor and delivery. Seems like life had other plans.
Mom and dad came up with the crib and changing table on Saturday. Over the course of Saturday through Monday evening, I slowly lost pieces of my mucus plug with the biggest piece on Monday night. Sure, I could have suspected something but since people around here had been losing pieces for weeks with no results, I didn't.
I went into labor on Tuesday evening. Driving home from training for work, I was frustrated about HWC training and felt some irregular contrations in the car. I'd had an on-off slight backache during the day, but those were my first contractions of the day. Once I got home, I got even more annoying news and cried at DH. It seemed like an odd reaction, but I've been crying more often anyway. I felt like I had a little more discharge than normal, but again dismissed it.
Until we got to McDonalds. The plan was to eat dinner, pick up some groceries, and then DH would drop me off at knitting. After arriving at McDonalds, I got out of the car and felt a slight flow of liquid. Enough to make me go to the bathroom quickly to make sure that I hadn't peed myself. Didn't smell like pee, but it pretty much stopped after I went to the bathroom so I put a few pieces of toilet paper in my underwear and sat down to eat. In the back of my mind, I wondered, but didn't want to spoil dinner by discussing the possibilities. Following eating, I stood up again to a similar but slightly larger little gush. I told DH we needed to go home rather than the grocery store, and that I was having some odd discharge. We drove home, and when I got out of the car, there was an even bigger gush. It was enough that I had to change my underwear and pants. I threw on a pad and sat down to see if I would continue to gush or if contractions would start or figure out what was going on. Contractions were mild, irregular, and not particularly noticeable, but when I got off the couch after about half an hour, I had another gush. I decided it was time to call.
I eventually spoke with the midwife on duty. I told her that I was gushing when I moved or stood up, and that it didn't smell like urine and felt slightly slippery. She told me to come in. She told me later that she was already pretty sure that my water had broken because I answered all the questions that she was going to ask before she even got a chance to ask them.
So we grabbed stuff and headed out to the hospital. I was pretty sure my water had broken, but since my contractions were so irregular, I didn't think we'd be admitted. I was wrong. Just in the 20 min I was in triage, my contractions became steadily about 3-5 minutes apart. I was also 3 cm dilated so technically, I was in active labor at that point. It was around 8:30/9:00ish when we were all set up in our L&D room.
I got hooked up to an IV to get my first dose of penicillin for my Group B strep and Matt ran home to get a few things that we forgot. I watched some TV, and Matt got back sometime after 10. My contractions had started to pick up in intensity and were still about 3-5 minutes apart. Nothing I couldn't handle.
The nurse had told me as had the midwife that orders had been put in for both an IV painkiller and epidural in case I wanted them. I told the midwife I didn't want them offered to me, I wanted to ask for them. That wish was definitely granted. They just let me know at the beginning that they were in the system so that they wouldn't have to track the midwife down to get an order for them if I asked for them later. It would take about half an hour from me asking for an epidural for me to actually get one so I was glad that we weren't adding additional wait time on top of that.
After an hour or so of intensifying contractions that were getting closer and closer together, I threw up for the first time. Puking during a contraction is THE WORST. Fortunately the only place I could get comfortable was in the corner of the bathroom, leaning on the handrails on either side of the toilet, so when it happened I was somewhat ready and didn't have to go anywhere.
Once that subsided, I stumbled my way back out to the room and told the nurse that I wanted to try the IV painkillers. Unfortunately, Hannah had other ideas about that. Her heartbeat, when monitored, was not responded appropriately to my contractions. It wasn't following the normal increase/decrease pattern. After almost an hour of monitoring, the midwife told my nurse that I could get an epidural, but she didn't want Hannah dealing with the IV painkillers since they would make her super sleepy. By now it was almost midnight, and the contractions were significantly stronger and only a minute or so apart. At least that's how it felt. I hardly felt like I had time to recover between them. Some of them, I never actually came down from. They would peak, drop about half way back, then peak again; these contractions were really long. I asked for the epidural. They got me started on rush fluids and I was also due for my next dose of penicillin. The pain was intense, but not on my belly. It started in my very low abs and spread to my thighs, hips, and back. I couldn't move due to the IV, so I had to make do with moaning.
It took over an hour and a half to get finally get my epidural. The anethesiologist kept getting called, and then went to the room that had called him after mine. Eventually though the woman in there needed further interventions and other doctors were called so he was able to come to my room.
The epidural itself wasn't bad, and it helped quickly. Unfortunately, it didn't work as well as we were all hoping. I had significant drops in blood pressure following the insertion as well as throughout the rest of my delivery. Also, within a few hours, I was having severe pain in my low abs and left hip. They told me I could hit the bump button every ten minutes up to three times and if that didn't help, they could give me a boost on the epidural. We did that once, and I ended up needing the boost.
The boost helped me get another hour or two of sleep, but the pain returned around 7:00 AM. We followed the same protocol: three bumps then a boost. But this time I had a different anethesiologist. Turns out the epidural wasn't set properly for my height/weight and the bumps were set at every 20 minutes, not every ten. So I wasn't getting the right dose at all. No wonder the pain kept coming back! That got straightened out and I felt much better.
Around this time, the nurse checked to see how dilated I was. I was only at 5 cm. I couldn't believe it. After all the contractions, I had only gone from 3 cm to 5 cm in 9 hours! My midwife was concerned and we had our only c-section conversation. They did a blood type and cross to make sure they knew my blood type in case I needed the c-section and/or a transfusion for some reason. It was decided to add a bit of pitocin to my IV drip since I was due for another round of penicillin anyway.
So the pitocin started and in less than an hour, I went from 5 cm to 9 cm. Everyone was very impressed, and decided that my body heard us talking about c-section and said NO WAY. Baby girl was still really high, but the midwife, nurse and I (in a very small role) decided to start pushing when I was complete. Depending on how that went, either she'd be born or we would take a break to labor down, a term I'd never heard before. It just means that I would wait until my body moved her down on its own. My midwife was hoping that we wouldn't need to do that since they like to deliver within 24 hours of your water breaking.
Baby girl had one moment where we were concerned. They wanted to make sure that I was alternating sides, and Hannah didn't like it when I rolled onto my right. Her heart rate dropped and the nurse called for emergency help to get me rolled onto my hands and knees. I couldn't feel my legs AT ALL, so she needed help to roll me. Fortunately, just getting me onto my left side was enough and things were okay. They did insist that I wear an oxygen mask for the vast majority of the rest of my delivery.
I was complete by 10:45 AM and we started pushing. At first, it was weird since I couldn't feel anything down there and had no idea where to push, but eventually I figured it out. Over the next two and a half hours, feeling in my legs began to return and my hips burned every time I pushed. I also continued to wear the oxygen mask whenever I wasn't pushing. We got to a certain point and my midwife told me that come hell or high water, I was going to give birth vaginally. Either I'd push her out or they would use instruments if necessary since the doc who specializes in assisted deliveries was on call. In the end, I didn't need help; I pushed her out on my own.
On the final major push, I was actually told to stop mid-push. Turns out, the cord was wrapped around her neck. That's probably what kept her from dropping on her own. It wasn't super tight, but it was enough they couldn't just slip it over her shoulders and it had to be cut before she could finish coming out. It wasn't the final cut, just a cut to unwrap her. Once she was out, I reached down and pulled her up. I got to be the first person to call her her name, and I just cried. I know I pushed the placenta out within a minute or two, and I know they checked to make sure that things were clear in my uterus, but I was so focused on the beautiful child in my arms, it didn't matter. She didn't cry right away and was slightly blueish, but perked right up, and I cried when she cried for the first time. So did Matt.
I had a slight tear on the inside that needed one stitch and no tearing on the outside. My midwife said I did a great job following directions as she was crowning and being pushed out. It was tough to not push through the contraction and to stop pushing when I could feel she was RIGHT THERE was killer. But it all worked out.
While she was on my chest, they massaged the blood from the cord back into her before cutting it short. We stayed snuggled up together, skin to skin, for the better part of an hour before she had any of her weighing or anything done. It was an amazing time. Matt helped with the weighing and getting her into her first shirt.
I don't remember asking them to take her out or saying that I couldn't do it or anything like that. I just kept going and Matt was so supportive and encouraging. The nurses were great and I was thrilled that the midwife who'd been helping us with our trying to conceive journey was able to be the one to deliver her.
Hannah is wonderful.
Labor and delivery were NOT. I had initially wanted to go as naturally as possible with my labor and delivery. Seems like life had other plans.
Mom and dad came up with the crib and changing table on Saturday. Over the course of Saturday through Monday evening, I slowly lost pieces of my mucus plug with the biggest piece on Monday night. Sure, I could have suspected something but since people around here had been losing pieces for weeks with no results, I didn't.
I went into labor on Tuesday evening. Driving home from training for work, I was frustrated about HWC training and felt some irregular contrations in the car. I'd had an on-off slight backache during the day, but those were my first contractions of the day. Once I got home, I got even more annoying news and cried at DH. It seemed like an odd reaction, but I've been crying more often anyway. I felt like I had a little more discharge than normal, but again dismissed it.
Until we got to McDonalds. The plan was to eat dinner, pick up some groceries, and then DH would drop me off at knitting. After arriving at McDonalds, I got out of the car and felt a slight flow of liquid. Enough to make me go to the bathroom quickly to make sure that I hadn't peed myself. Didn't smell like pee, but it pretty much stopped after I went to the bathroom so I put a few pieces of toilet paper in my underwear and sat down to eat. In the back of my mind, I wondered, but didn't want to spoil dinner by discussing the possibilities. Following eating, I stood up again to a similar but slightly larger little gush. I told DH we needed to go home rather than the grocery store, and that I was having some odd discharge. We drove home, and when I got out of the car, there was an even bigger gush. It was enough that I had to change my underwear and pants. I threw on a pad and sat down to see if I would continue to gush or if contractions would start or figure out what was going on. Contractions were mild, irregular, and not particularly noticeable, but when I got off the couch after about half an hour, I had another gush. I decided it was time to call.
I eventually spoke with the midwife on duty. I told her that I was gushing when I moved or stood up, and that it didn't smell like urine and felt slightly slippery. She told me to come in. She told me later that she was already pretty sure that my water had broken because I answered all the questions that she was going to ask before she even got a chance to ask them.
So we grabbed stuff and headed out to the hospital. I was pretty sure my water had broken, but since my contractions were so irregular, I didn't think we'd be admitted. I was wrong. Just in the 20 min I was in triage, my contractions became steadily about 3-5 minutes apart. I was also 3 cm dilated so technically, I was in active labor at that point. It was around 8:30/9:00ish when we were all set up in our L&D room.
I got hooked up to an IV to get my first dose of penicillin for my Group B strep and Matt ran home to get a few things that we forgot. I watched some TV, and Matt got back sometime after 10. My contractions had started to pick up in intensity and were still about 3-5 minutes apart. Nothing I couldn't handle.
The nurse had told me as had the midwife that orders had been put in for both an IV painkiller and epidural in case I wanted them. I told the midwife I didn't want them offered to me, I wanted to ask for them. That wish was definitely granted. They just let me know at the beginning that they were in the system so that they wouldn't have to track the midwife down to get an order for them if I asked for them later. It would take about half an hour from me asking for an epidural for me to actually get one so I was glad that we weren't adding additional wait time on top of that.
After an hour or so of intensifying contractions that were getting closer and closer together, I threw up for the first time. Puking during a contraction is THE WORST. Fortunately the only place I could get comfortable was in the corner of the bathroom, leaning on the handrails on either side of the toilet, so when it happened I was somewhat ready and didn't have to go anywhere.
Once that subsided, I stumbled my way back out to the room and told the nurse that I wanted to try the IV painkillers. Unfortunately, Hannah had other ideas about that. Her heartbeat, when monitored, was not responded appropriately to my contractions. It wasn't following the normal increase/decrease pattern. After almost an hour of monitoring, the midwife told my nurse that I could get an epidural, but she didn't want Hannah dealing with the IV painkillers since they would make her super sleepy. By now it was almost midnight, and the contractions were significantly stronger and only a minute or so apart. At least that's how it felt. I hardly felt like I had time to recover between them. Some of them, I never actually came down from. They would peak, drop about half way back, then peak again; these contractions were really long. I asked for the epidural. They got me started on rush fluids and I was also due for my next dose of penicillin. The pain was intense, but not on my belly. It started in my very low abs and spread to my thighs, hips, and back. I couldn't move due to the IV, so I had to make do with moaning.
It took over an hour and a half to get finally get my epidural. The anethesiologist kept getting called, and then went to the room that had called him after mine. Eventually though the woman in there needed further interventions and other doctors were called so he was able to come to my room.
The epidural itself wasn't bad, and it helped quickly. Unfortunately, it didn't work as well as we were all hoping. I had significant drops in blood pressure following the insertion as well as throughout the rest of my delivery. Also, within a few hours, I was having severe pain in my low abs and left hip. They told me I could hit the bump button every ten minutes up to three times and if that didn't help, they could give me a boost on the epidural. We did that once, and I ended up needing the boost.
The boost helped me get another hour or two of sleep, but the pain returned around 7:00 AM. We followed the same protocol: three bumps then a boost. But this time I had a different anethesiologist. Turns out the epidural wasn't set properly for my height/weight and the bumps were set at every 20 minutes, not every ten. So I wasn't getting the right dose at all. No wonder the pain kept coming back! That got straightened out and I felt much better.
Around this time, the nurse checked to see how dilated I was. I was only at 5 cm. I couldn't believe it. After all the contractions, I had only gone from 3 cm to 5 cm in 9 hours! My midwife was concerned and we had our only c-section conversation. They did a blood type and cross to make sure they knew my blood type in case I needed the c-section and/or a transfusion for some reason. It was decided to add a bit of pitocin to my IV drip since I was due for another round of penicillin anyway.
So the pitocin started and in less than an hour, I went from 5 cm to 9 cm. Everyone was very impressed, and decided that my body heard us talking about c-section and said NO WAY. Baby girl was still really high, but the midwife, nurse and I (in a very small role) decided to start pushing when I was complete. Depending on how that went, either she'd be born or we would take a break to labor down, a term I'd never heard before. It just means that I would wait until my body moved her down on its own. My midwife was hoping that we wouldn't need to do that since they like to deliver within 24 hours of your water breaking.
Baby girl had one moment where we were concerned. They wanted to make sure that I was alternating sides, and Hannah didn't like it when I rolled onto my right. Her heart rate dropped and the nurse called for emergency help to get me rolled onto my hands and knees. I couldn't feel my legs AT ALL, so she needed help to roll me. Fortunately, just getting me onto my left side was enough and things were okay. They did insist that I wear an oxygen mask for the vast majority of the rest of my delivery.
I was complete by 10:45 AM and we started pushing. At first, it was weird since I couldn't feel anything down there and had no idea where to push, but eventually I figured it out. Over the next two and a half hours, feeling in my legs began to return and my hips burned every time I pushed. I also continued to wear the oxygen mask whenever I wasn't pushing. We got to a certain point and my midwife told me that come hell or high water, I was going to give birth vaginally. Either I'd push her out or they would use instruments if necessary since the doc who specializes in assisted deliveries was on call. In the end, I didn't need help; I pushed her out on my own.
On the final major push, I was actually told to stop mid-push. Turns out, the cord was wrapped around her neck. That's probably what kept her from dropping on her own. It wasn't super tight, but it was enough they couldn't just slip it over her shoulders and it had to be cut before she could finish coming out. It wasn't the final cut, just a cut to unwrap her. Once she was out, I reached down and pulled her up. I got to be the first person to call her her name, and I just cried. I know I pushed the placenta out within a minute or two, and I know they checked to make sure that things were clear in my uterus, but I was so focused on the beautiful child in my arms, it didn't matter. She didn't cry right away and was slightly blueish, but perked right up, and I cried when she cried for the first time. So did Matt.
I had a slight tear on the inside that needed one stitch and no tearing on the outside. My midwife said I did a great job following directions as she was crowning and being pushed out. It was tough to not push through the contraction and to stop pushing when I could feel she was RIGHT THERE was killer. But it all worked out.
While she was on my chest, they massaged the blood from the cord back into her before cutting it short. We stayed snuggled up together, skin to skin, for the better part of an hour before she had any of her weighing or anything done. It was an amazing time. Matt helped with the weighing and getting her into her first shirt.
I don't remember asking them to take her out or saying that I couldn't do it or anything like that. I just kept going and Matt was so supportive and encouraging. The nurses were great and I was thrilled that the midwife who'd been helping us with our trying to conceive journey was able to be the one to deliver her.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Quick update and pics
Matt and I spent much of today with my mom and dad, putting up stuff on the walls and assembling the new baby furniture. The load of baby sheets, changing covers, etc. is in the washer/dryer, and the last load of baby clothes is just waiting to be washed. Slowly, we are getting to wear we need to be. The pack n play is set up in the bedroom, just waiting for sheets and covers. I want to get the neat sheets on the crib and covers on the changing table tonight as well. I also want to get decorations hung up.
We still need to get the car seats set up in the cars to make sure that we're ready in that respect. And I suppose I should pack for baby girl and for myself.
But in the meantime, here are some of the maternity photos we had taken as well as the 3D ultrasound shots that we also got.
This last picture (above) is the shot we got prints of right away to send to our parents and grandparents. These pics were taken on my birthday which was two days before we were officially at 37 weeks.
Everyone we've shown this picture to says that baby girl looks a lot like me. It will be interesting to see if she really looks that much like me when she's born.
I need to try to remember to have Matt take another bump shot tomorrow at 39 weeks. I feel like I've gotten a lot bigger in the last few weeks. In fact, one of my new co-workers commented yesterday that it seems like I've gotten bigger since we started training. It's only been in the last week or so that random people have started commenting on my pregnancy. It's fun, even if it did come later for me than some of the other people that I've been talking to.
Friday, August 3, 2012
I don't want the scary liver thing!
I scheduled a doctor's appointment for the afternoon of 8/1. Nothing really labor-related (although there have been lots of contractions lately, back pain, and tons of cervical stabbing pains). I had been having some crazy itchiness and when I called on Monday, they gave me some ideas of things to try, but said to call back if things didn't improve. They didn't. The itchiness on my arms got slightly better, but is still pretty intense just about everywhere else. So my midwife checked things out and took care of my 37/38 week appointment so I could cancel my Friday appointment.
So I went to the doc. I am not dilated AT ALL (despite gobs of contractions and cervical pain. boo.) Doc was not happy with the itchiness or with my weight gain (four pounds in five days) or with my puffy feet or with my blood pressure. It was not a good appointment. She is concerned about possible pre-eclampsia as well as this liver thingy that could be causing the itchiness. Scary liver thing.... won't really hurt me, but could result in the baby being stillborn if not taken care of early.
So we scheduled fasting bloodwork for Friday. Going for 12 hours with eating or drinking sucked. What was supposed to be a quick bloodwork and blood pressure check (they said max 15 minutes) turned into an hour and a half appointment so they could analyze my condition, poke at my feet (fat fat sausages!), check my eyes for yellowing and a urine sample. The real time killer was the fact that the receptionist who checked me in told me I didn't need to do a urine sample, so I went to the bathroom before my blood draw. Less than 15 minutes later, they decided that they needed a sample so we all sat around while while I chugged water to attempt to have to pee. My urine and blood pressure were okay; the blood pressure wasn’t as high as yesterday, but also not as low as it has been up to this point. I have doc’s orders not to wear tight shoes, and since all of my shoes are tight, I talked to my boss and they’re willing to let me wear flip-flops.
We’re waiting for the bloodwork results; three of the four were in this afternoon (and normal), but we're still waiting on the scary liver thing test. I am okay to travel to Chicago since it's not too far (Chicago yarn crawl is this weekend!!). I’m also supposed to stay off my feet whenever possible, elevate my feet, and keep an eye out for any other pre-eclampsia symptoms and let them know immediately. They did give me a script for something for the itch. I’ve taken two doses and while it's making it easier to ignore the itch, it's not really helping the itch go away.
Baby girl and I had a talk this morning about how as much as I am physically ready for her to make her arrival, it doesn’t need to be this exciting. We’ve had a mostly quiet pregnancy; I’m okay with that trend continuing.
Friday, July 27, 2012
Week 36/37
Quick boring appointment for week 36/37. No cervical check (yeah!) and the GBS test was nothing like I was expecting. They did do a quick blood prick for checking iron, but didn’t tell me the results. I don’t think that office as the lab on-site like the office over at the hospital. My blood pressure was slightly elevated, but I think that was because I found out when I got there that I was 15 minutes late. I had gotten my times confused so I was flustered when she took my blood pressure. No one seemed worried about it so I’m not.
I didn’t really like this doctor. I hadn’t seen her before, and she just didn’t come across as particularly friendly. Nice, pleasant, just not friendly. Granted it could have been because I was late, but she was just very clinical. I see all the doctors and midwives in the practice so I won’t see her again unless she’s on call when I go into labor, but I hope I don’t have to work with her again.
Anyway, baby’s heartbeat was 152. She measured me, but didn’t tell me what the number was. I did gain about two pounds which I’m guessing is a bit of baby and a lot of water. My feet have been puffy the last few days and while I got my wedding rings
on today for pictures, I’m thinking I may not try wear them again until after the baby is born. They’ll come off at the end of the day; it just won’t be comfy when they do.
I didn’t really like this doctor. I hadn’t seen her before, and she just didn’t come across as particularly friendly. Nice, pleasant, just not friendly. Granted it could have been because I was late, but she was just very clinical. I see all the doctors and midwives in the practice so I won’t see her again unless she’s on call when I go into labor, but I hope I don’t have to work with her again.
Anyway, baby’s heartbeat was 152. She measured me, but didn’t tell me what the number was. I did gain about two pounds which I’m guessing is a bit of baby and a lot of water. My feet have been puffy the last few days and while I got my wedding rings
on today for pictures, I’m thinking I may not try wear them again until after the baby is born. They’ll come off at the end of the day; it just won’t be comfy when they do.
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