Baby H: Birth Story Pt 3

After Lane was out, they took the baby to the warmer to check him over real quick. I was able to turn my head and see (kind of) and then they eventually brought him over to my face so I could see him. John held him and we got our first family picture. I had an ugly cry. (Seriously so bad. I am not a crier. I NEVER expected to cry when the baby was born- at our wedding we just stood there and cheesy grinned at each other.)

After we got our pictures and I was cleaned up, they took the baby to the warmer and John followed him to the nursery for the first tests and weighing, etc. I was wheeled in my bed back to the delivery room to recover.

Then.. I laid there.. For hours? With nothing.

In the birth class, it was very clear that the hospital is very pro-breastfeeding and the baby is brought to mom ASAP for skin to skin to to attempt breastfeeding. I had nothing. I was laying in the room by myself staring at the TV and watching Family Guy at this point. It was awful. Not what I expected at all.

Eventually John came back and told me that Lane was having trouble breathing, He was doing a fast breathing thing and needed to stay in the nursery. We had no other information. I had no baby.

Around 11 or 12 we decided that we needed to let our parents know that the baby was born. We had been trying to wait for more (positive) information about the baby, but it had been a long time since we told them the surgery was going to happen.

Shortly after we called them, I was brought to a recovery room for the rest of the stay. (I was starting to be able to wiggle my toes! YAY!) At this point, John was back and forth to the nursery. He couldn't get any real information and the nurse's just told us to sleep.

WHAT. I can't go to the nursery since I have no legs, have an IV and a catheter and I can't get any information about my newborn baby! Obviously since I hadn't even held him yet, they were bottle feeding him formula. When I was first checking in, they had me fill out a form about breastfeeding, etc.- yes, we are breastfeeding, no pacifiers, if formula is needed, please use a cup not bottle. I still have no idea why he needed the formula and why they wouldn't let me try to breastfeed, or even pump for him.

I did not do much (any?) sleeping that night. No one ever came to give us any sort of update about the baby. John was turned away from the nursery. We had nothing.

Wednesday

Around 5 or so AM the nurse came in and I had another ugly cry about the baby. I hadn't seen my baby other than the couple of minutes in the OR! I hadn't even held him yet! She volunteered to take my ipod and take some pictures of him in the nursery and try to get an update for me. She came back with the pictures and told me he was still having trouble breathing/regulating his breathing. I asked if skin to skin or anything would help.She went back and came back to me with the baby.

We got to do skin to skin and latch him for about an hour or so and then Lane was taken back to the nursery. At this point (though we didn't find out until later), he was taken and officially admitted to the NICU. We only found out because John went back to check on him later and Lane was not where he used to be.

At one point in the morning, the NICU pediatrician came in and started talking to us about stuff as if we already knew.. UM NO. NO ONE was telling us ANYTHING TYVM. It turns out, they had given Lane an XRAY... yeah, no one told us. I understand that things might have had to happen quickly, but as his parents it would have been nice to at least have been notified... I was just so stinking frustrated.

One of my friends mentioned getting a pump to start pumping since we weren't able to breastfeed yet so I could start to establish a supply. DUH. WHY had no nurses or anyone mentioned this to me yet!? I was not thinking clearly and I would have thought someone would have thought to help us with this since EVERYTHING we had filled out since we checked in said we were going to try and breastfeed!

Around 3 pm they took out my catheter and let me wheelchair to the NICU. Then one of the nurses yelled at me for touching him.Cue another ugly cry. His breathing sped up when I was touching him- apparently the touch can make the babies over compensate or something? I don't know.. she could have been nicer. Again- so frustrated- I was a new mom and seeing my baby for the second time and everything I did was wrong, not helping, and I had no idea really what was wrong or going on.

The rest of the day and night was filled with trips back and forth to the NICU (walking now!) to touch the baby and get updates.The nurse in the NICU that night was SO DIFFERENT than the day nurse. She asked if I wanted to hold him as I was just staring (because touching was apparently a no-no). UH YES PLEASE! Once I was holding him she asked if I wanted to try breastfeeding. AGAIN YES.


Possibly the scariest moment of my life came next- as he was nursing (no problems latching!) he started gagging and then wasn't breathing. I panicked and the nurse came over and suctioned his mouth and then said she needed to suction his STOMACH. I couldn't watch. The sound was horrific. The baby was gagging and crying. I was crying. Ugh.

Even after all of that, she let us come back all night every three hours to bottlefeed him what I had pumped and then formula.

Thursday
Thursday was just back and forth to the NICU for feeding. In the morning, the NICU pediatrician said we could try breastfeeding for 5 minutes only before feeding what I had pumped and then the formula.

The NICU started Lane on antibiotics on Thursday also, saying that he needed them because I had been group B strep positive. My understanding was that only I needed the antibiotics but the doctor said he needed them as well. They hadn't started the antibiotics until late Thursday because even though the chart said I was positive, someone said I wasn't. Just another stupid miscommunication/bad coordination. The antibiotics needed a certain amount of time, so that meant we definitely weren't leaving Friday.

Also- giant snow storm that had Maryland all in uproar. It was actually kind of surreal being in the hospital for the whole storm.

Friday
Friday was Valentine's day. At this point our days were just on repeat. In between our NICU visits, we took advantage of the hospital's cable and watched a lot of TV- the Olympics especially.

Late Friday morning when we went to the NICU for Lane's feeding, he had been removed from the warmer since he was able to maintain his own body temperature. He was still on the monitors though (heart rate, pulse, lungs). The move to an open crib was still progress though!

John went home to check on the house and shovel out our driveway since we were expecting to go home on Saturday at some point. We also wanted to make sure we had heat still! Our awesome neighbors had already snow blowed the driveway! John also stopped at the grocery store for more bananas (LOL) since we were plowing through them in the room.

When he came back, he came into the room... with Lane in his crib! And Lane had flowers for me too. It was the first time we were almost like a normal delivery. Lane was still on (mobile) monitors, but we had our baby in our room with us and we could feed him and do what we wanted with him.

Friday night's NICU nurse was awesome. She gave us the baby for the whole night. We had to bring him back by 5 AM-ish for shift change so no one knew he was out of the NICU. LOL. It was so nice to have Lane in our room all night and night have to haul to the NICU to feed him every three hours.

Saturday 
Saturday was our day. I had to be discharged since I had reached my 4 day insurance limit. I was just praying that Lane could leave with us. I couldn't imagine leaving him at the hospital.

We got to keep Lane in our room (with the doctor's approval this time!) all morning and late morning the doc came in and told us that he would be discharged with me!! We were only waiting for the pediatric cardiologist to come from Northern Virginia to evaluate him (the NICU doc was concerned about Lane's circulation, especially since I had open heart surgery as a baby- even though we had already had a fetal echo and everything was fine). The cardiologist didn't get to the hospital until around 3 pm, so we just had a lot of waiting around all day. The cardiologist ended up being the same doc that did Lane's fetal echo. It was awesome. As soon as we got the all clear from the cardiologist, we were outta there!

Also- just thought I would throw this in there- 38 week pictures :)

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Baby H: Birth Story Pt 2

John had loaded all of our bags into the car, moved the carseat and base from my car to his (we hadn't installed the base in his car yet- our inspection wasn't for another week!). We got in the car and looked at each other. Then  John turned on the CD player- Metallica's Enter Sandman came on. Any Hokies recognize the significance of this- it is played before/as the football team comes onto the field at all of our games. It is a big GET PUMPED song. LOL. I (again) almost started crying.

Once we got to the hospital, we went to the front desk (bonus for delivering during the day- we didn't have to go through the ER) and they told us to go register. That took a lot longer than I expected it would, especially since while I wasn't having an emergency c-section, it was definitely a little more urgent than a planned surgery. Eventually we were escorted upstairs to the maternity wing.

I was weighed and brought to a room to change into a gown. Then I was stuck in bed. My nurse hooked me up to my fluids and eventually antibiotics (due to my heart stuff and I was group B strep positive). Then we just had a lot of sitting and waiting (and starving! I hadn't eaten since 7:30 am!).. My doctor came in and told me it was probably going to be 5ish when I went into surgery- once that came and everyone could get assembled it would be go time. The anesthesiologist came in at one point too to review the spinal with me (ugh). Other than that, we did a lot of TV watching (the hospital had cable!). Somehow, we haven't had cable for over a year, yet every single episode of My First Place that came on, I had already seen. Awesome.

Also- apparently I was having impressive contractions. The nurses thought it was crazy that I had no idea.

I also spent a lot of time reading the room service menu- I hadn't eaten in SO LONG!

After a lot of watching the clock, it was eventually 5 PM. And nothing... 6 PM came and someone came in and told us that there was someone else who was delivering twins and they needed to make sure she could have her c-section first, so I was pushed back more. Probably closer to 7 or 8. More waiting.

 

At 8:30, they came in to get John dressed in his scrubs. The anesthesiologist and a nurse got me out of my bed and walked me to the OR. John had to go in a side room and scrub while they did my spinal. That was the worst part- ugh. The spinal freaked me out SO MUCH. I HATED IT. I hate puke and the doctor told me that a lot of people puke, so I was petrified of that. I was trying to do positive visualizations to make myself feel better (beach in St.Lucia, and running and crossing the finish line) but the dang nurse kept talking to me! LADY LET ME BE IN MY OWN HEAD!

Eventually (it felt like YEARS!) the spinal was in and they laid me down. Pretty quickly I lost feeling from my chest-ish (?) down. I HATED IT. I can't say that enough. I kept feeling like I needed to fidget/wiggle my legs, etc. and I would try and couldn't. I eventually kept just telling myself to not even try because that freaked me out more.

John came into the OR and was told to stand by my head. They tested me to make sure the spinal had taken effect. I did feel something, but I think it was just more pressure than pain. Then... there was a lot of tugging, an awful burning smell (John and I both thought it smelled like the dentist when they sand down your teeth?) and more tugging. It felt gross. I just couldn't think about what was going on. I honestly have no idea how long this all went on for- I tried to just zone out.

Soon the doctor and nurses were saying that they saw the legs and they knew the sex. They asked if John wanted to say what it was- YES PLEASE! He wanted to confirm first though, so he looked over (yup- saw all the guts) and then looked at me and told me it was a BOY!

I was.. shocked. I wanted a boy but had convinced myself it was a girl (so I wouldn't be disappointed if it was a girl?). The doctor's asked the name..we told them the name and they asked if there was a middle name- I looked at John but he had forgotten which middle name went with which first name, so I called it. Haha.

Lane Vincent was born at 9:07 PM on February 11, 2014. He weighed 7 lbs 5 oz and was 20.25 inches long.

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Baby H: Birth Story Pt 1

Now you see why I never had a 37 week post until now?

On Tuesday 2/11, at 37 weeks exactly, John and I went to the perinatologist for one last ultrasound to confirm that the baby was still breech before scheduling a c-section. For all of the ultrasound appointments, we were lucky enough to schedule them for 7:30/8 AM and then we had a little ritual of stopping at Dunkin Donuts and then heading our separate ways to work.

This ultrasound showed what we expected- the baby was still breech despite my four chiropractor appointments, laying upside down, etc. The baby seemed to look fine- we saw it practice breathing, etc. Once the tech left and the doctor came in, they discussed the baby's fluid levels- they had been low 3 weeks earlier (7/8 out of 20- anything above 5 is "normal"). Today the tech measured them at 7ish again, but when the doc went to measure, he only could find 3 or 4.

After confirming everything else, the doc turned to us and asked what we were doing that day. John had his notebook in his lap and was making lists of stuff to buy for the addition construction. We looked at each other and said we were about to go to Dunkin and then work. The doc said, "No you aren't." Both of us assumed he would just want to do a little more monitoring to see if they could find more fluid since the tech had seen more.

Then the doctor said, "What do you think about having a baby today?" Um cue me pooping my pants. We were expecting to have another couple of weeks!

The doctor explained that at this point, the baby was 37 weeks (basically full term) and had done basically all of the developing. With the low amount of fluid there was more of a chance of the baby squishing the umbilical cord since there wasn't much to keep it floating off of the cord.

The doctor actually sounded pretty urgent and wanted me to get to the hospital ASAP. I had a cheese stick and coffee in the car on the way to the appointment at 7:30 am though and before the surgery I wouldn't have been able to eat for 8ish hours, putting us at a 4-5 PM delivery time. While the two of us sat there staring at each other freaking out, the doctor called my doctor and left messages for her. After that, the peri sent us on our way and told us that my doc would call me to give us any details.

So.. I got back in my car to head home instead of to work. (Good thing we had done all of my project hand offs the day before!) I called the office and my boss to let them know that I wouldn't be in (LOL) and John headed to his office to get his work computer. I called my mom (no answer) and then my dad to let them know that yep.. today was baby day.

On my way home, the doc called me and told me to report to the hospital between 12 and 1 PM. That gave me like 3 hours to do whatever I needed to at home. Once I got there, it was a mad rush of random spot cleaning and packing. Luckily, I am an anal list maker and had lists for what we needed to bring and what I wanted/needed to do before going to the hospital. Those couple of hours passed in a blur of shaving my legs on the tub edge, and scrubbing the tub as best I could at the same time, sweeping/swiffering, washing dishes and running the dishwasher, changing the bed sheets, etc.

We also paused right before leaving to take this picture that turned into the 37 week picture.

Soon it was 12 and we were ready to make the 20 minute drive to the hospital...

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37 Weeks

(Spoiler alert- the baby has been born! I am just now catching up on these posts and a "birth story" is to follow! This post was for the week of 2/9- yep, a month ago.)

How far along: 37 weeks (missed 36 weeks- we had a big snow storm and lost power for several days..)

How big is baby:

 

A winter melon- what is a winter melon!?

• He's practicing some skills: inhaling, exhaling, sucking, gripping and blinking.
• He's getting his first sticky poop (called meconium) ready for his first diaper.

Stretch marks/belly button: Yes stretch marks, belly button is still an innie (though barely..)!

Sleep: Not so hot. I'm wicked uncomfortable in bed and it takes a lot to flip/flop around and readjust myself. PLUS I have to pee so much.

Diet/Cravings/Aversions: Nothing really... still a big fan of Swedish fish, Berger cookies and Reese's Puffs, but those could just be because I am a fatty in general, not necessarily cravings..

Movement: Yep. Not as much- I think Baby is running out of room.

What I'm loving:  This is my last week of work... crazy. I am going to be wrapping up all of my projects/handing them and all of my brain power off to others and clearing my desk.

Symptoms: I am huge. I feel a baby moving. Etc.

What I'm looking forward to: Having a a week and a half or so off at home to clean and organize before the scheduled c-section. I have been keeping a running list of things I want to tackle/deep clean.



How I'm feeling: Coming to terms with a c-section. I had a fourth chiropractor appointment to try and flip the baby and nothing is happening. I have an ultrasound on Tuesday to check the baby's presentation and then at my OB appointment Thursday we will formally schedule the c-section, probably for 2/25 or 2/26. I prefer 2/26- an even number and it is more visually pleasing :)

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35 Weeks

Dog tail photobomb.

How far along: 35 weeks.. holy crap.

How big is baby:

 

According to The Bump- a cocount!

• Now, his hearing is fully developed, and he responds best to high-pitched noises.
• If it's a boy, his testes have probably fully descended.

Stretch marks/belly button: Same as last week.

Sleep: Fine. I even had one or two nights that I slept through! I do wake up all sweaty (which is a feat considering we haven’t had heat- just space heaters- all winter and it was in the negatives overnight this last week) with my hands wicked swollen. My knuckles actually have been hurting, which I am wondering if it is just the blood from the swelling settling in my knuckles.

Diet/Cravings/Aversions: Nah.

Movement: Yep. It definitely isn’t as jabby as I was expecting for this stage- more just rolly and soft. I guess there isn’t a ton of room for movement.

What I'm loving:  I am pretty meh this week. I guess I am loving the fact that everything is organized. The car seats are in and we have seat inspections scheduled. Now if only we had a dryer so I could wash and dry the baby clothes…

Symptoms: Same as last week... also add in crazy exhaustion. I am seriously more tired than first tri. 

Also.. I've been having some cramping. Nothing in waves or timeable, so I don't think they are braxton hicks or contractions.. just uncomfortable cramps. The OB checked and I'm not dilated at all either. 

I am swelling like crazy now too. The last few weeks I would be a little swollen (feet) at the end of the day.  Now? I take my shoes off at my desk at like 10 am and see the shoe indents on my feet. I walk around the office with no shoes and put my feet up in a chair across from my desk as much as I can. My face is also clearly swollen. Sweet. Hopefully this means I can blame some of the weight gain on water weight. 

What I'm looking forward to: Our new dryer should be delivered the week of 2/3ish. I can’t wait to wash and dry baby clothes and then feel so much better.

How I'm feeling: Blah. On Thursday we had a 34 week (+) growth ultrasound. It was supposed to be the last, but we found out that the baby is still breech. Also, the head is in the 95%+ while the rest of the body is normal (maybe slightly large) range. The fluid level is supposed to be between 5 and 20 (whatever the units are) and mine is 7-8 depending on who measured. So while the fluid is in the normal range, it is relatively low which does not provide much opportunity for the baby to move. They had us schedule another ultrasound in 3 weeks to check the baby’s presentation and if it is still breech, we will have to schedule a C section for 39 weeks-ish.

I am most likely not a candidate for a version (the doctors basically forcibly rotate the baby) due to the low fluid, so my options are some sitting exercises/stretches and old wives tales type things. 

Don't look too closely. I've given up cleaning due to construction.

I’ve also heard good things about Webster method chiropractors- checked at my doctor's appointment today and she is good with that, acupuncture and massage, so I am going to try the chiropractor ASAP. 

I had been recently getting into mentally preparing for birth and all that comes with it, and coming up with some sort of a birth plan/ideals, so this just feels like a kick in the pants.

Other than being blah about the baby’s position, I physically feel good. My pelvis/undercarriage gets sore/achy if I stand or walk too long, but duh, there is 5.5+ lbs of baby sitting on it and gravity is not helping things out.


And just for funsies... a comparison shot of 5 weeks, 15, 25 and 35. Yow.

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34 Weeks

How far along: 34 weeks

How big is baby:

The Bump says that I currently have a butternut squash inside of me.

• He's recognizing and reacting to simple songs, if you're singing them. (If you're not, start! He may find them soothing after birth.)
• He's also urinating about a pint a day.

Stretch marks/belly button: Yup.. still have stretch marks. I think they are kind of slowing down. It seems like there was one week that they all popped up and then since then there hasn’t really been anything new. Belly button is still an innie, though shallow.

Sleep: Okay. I am mostly interrupted by the need to pee and usually once a night I will need to take some Tums.. Heartburn itself doesn’t seem to wake me up, but when I wake up and need to pee, the heartburn is there and I won’t be able to get back to sleep without a couple Tums.

Diet/Cravings/Aversions: Nothing really. Maybe Swedish fish still. No real aversions either.

Movement: Yes, lots. Especially at night time after supper when I am just sitting on the sofa. I can see my stomach bumping around and wonder what the HECK it is doing in there.

What I'm loving: At my doctor’s appointment I was able to ask a couple of questions about delivery that I’d had and the doctor/practice seems to be on board with what I was thinking. Yay! I was nervous since I do lean a little more crunchy than typical and I wasn’t sure how it would play out with a standard OB office.

Oh.. and since my shower was Saturday (more below!) I feel so much more prepared! And my mom and I went to Babies R Us on Sunday and finished out some of the registry stuff that I wanted to buy (car seat!) so that pretty much all my baby purchases are complete. We are going to go to Ikea this weekend and get some small things too.

Symptoms: Movement (duh), had my very first (ever) bloody nose- it wasn’t gushing or anything, but definitely dripped out L I have had bloody snot (sorry) but not drippy like this. Needing to pee a lot, and… constipation (sorry, TMI?).

What I'm looking forward to: Ultrasound this week to see if baby is still breech. I think it might be flipped due to where I feel the hiccups, but who knows. Also- I only have 4 weeks of work left. WHAT. So crazy. I will miss my office and everyone in it, but some days when I am in traffic it is so nice to think about not doing that day in and out.

Best moment of the week: Um… my shower was freaking awesome on Saturday. Amanda and her mom did such an awesome job with a whole wintery theme.. It was a winter wonderland!! Milk and cookies (all my favorite cookies!), a full lunch and mashed potatoes with toppings! Mashed potatoes were my one BIG craving in first tri :)

 

I guess we can have a baby now...

 

How I'm feeling: Good.. just big and slowing down. My sciatica is all gone and I don’t have any weird aches and pains. My hands are still itchy, but not debilitating or gross looking either. Just plain eczema itchy I think. Never had eczema before, but I will take plain dry itchy over the other!!

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33 Weeks

How far along: 33 weeks.. Holy crap. I am huge. I just saw the size comparison from 21 weeks to 33 weeks when I was editing the picture. I am also swelling like whoa. Clearly.

How big is baby: 

 

The Bump: He weighs about 4.2 to 5.8 pounds and measures about 17.2 to 18.7 inches. And he may grow up to a full inch this week -- amazing.

• He's keeping his eyes open while awake.
• He's also starting to coordinate breathing with sucking and swallowing.
• His bones are hardening.
• And he's going through (more) major brain development -- that's one smart baby!

Weight gain/loss: A lot.

Stretch marks/belly button: Yes. stretch marks under my belly, sore belly. Still an innie belly button though!

Sleep: Ehhh. Okay. I get really sore still and have to pee a lot. It is so freaking difficult for me to get in and out of bed too, around all of my pillows, so it is a huge production and takes forever each time.

Diet/Cravings/Aversions: Nothing really. I have eaten a lot of Swedish fish. I've always had a sweet tooth, but second and third trimester have been crazy with the sugar and sweets.

Movement: Lots. Hiccups too. I am hoping that baby is head down now- it feels like the hiccups are down lower.

What I'm loving: I am kind of in a weird place- I love that third trimester is flying, BUT I also am freaking out and it is stressing me out.

What I'm looking forward to: Shower this weekend! I set up the bassinet in the bedroom too and made a few small changes so that we can hopefully accommodate the baby soon.

Best moment of the week: The massages/rubs that the birth class teacher made John give me. Ahhh I got hair rubs.

How I'm feeling: Stressed out. Frustrated. There is so much I want to/need to do but I can't. I just physically can't do as much anymore and I can't really ask John for the help either because he is always working on the house. So, stuff just doesn't get done- the house is a mess, dishes pile up, stuff doesn't happen for the baby. The piles of stuff around kill me and just seeing them is stressing me out. I spent the weekend trying to at least set up our bedroom so that I won't be stressed in there and there is at least a bit of space that I can feel okay bringing a baby into.

Milestones: As of yesterday, 1/14, my last day at work is in a month. WHAT!? So crazy.

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