Parenthood

Goodness! I am not sure what I expected, but this is pretty difficult.

Right after S was born, we had family in town. Our families stair stepped but we had company constantly for more than 2 weeks, save a couple of hours between outgoing and incoming flights. With all the company, we had some difficulty establishing a routine; well that and the fact that we have a newborn and she is resistant to routines. With all of this it took me almost two weeks to finish her birth story. Needless to say, I haven't really had time to write blog entries, heck I haven't hardly had time to shower!

The little angel is sleeping at the moment, so I wanted to take a minute to write.

First, as a first time mom, I had quite a few "rules" that I absolutely-positively would not break. Surprise, surprise. I broke them.

A lot of people buy Rock-n-Plays with the intention of their newborn sleeping overnight in their room. I didn't because RnPs are only approved for "supervised sleep" (aka naps) and are not recommended for overnight sleep. So when the Pack N Play bassinet didn't work out for S, we moved her directly to her crib. We were able to keep her in her crib for about a week or so, but then she would wake up immediately as soon as we would lay her in it.

Every night, I've continued to try to put her down in her crib, but she won't stay asleep in it longer than 30 minutes to an hour. So every night, Mr.A will bring her swing upstairs, put it next to my side of the bed and S will sleep there. Talk about a device that is not approved for overnight sleep. Sigh. Oh well, it works and allows us all to get at least a few hours of sleep during the night.

Another rule I made was that I would never nurse S in the side laying position in bed and absolutely would not bring S into our bed. Broken x2 and simultaneously. I did this out of desperation and surprise, surprise, I feel asleep while she was nursing. Thankfully Mr.A was awake and put her back into her swing, but then panic ensued when I awoke and couldn't find her. Double sigh.

This whole being a mom thing is not easy, and anyone who says it is, is a lying liar who lies. S is a pretty good baby. She isn't incredibly fussy, but does often turn into a werewolf at night and usually has one or two meltdowns before finally falling asleep. We've really had to adjust our schedule around her this last month changing our bedtime from around 9:30 every night to around 11:30 or midnight. I am just hoping that in the next month or two we can establish a better nighttime routine so that I am able to function when I return to work.

Birth Story

Mr. A and I went to our 39w appointment on Monday, December 17^th and met with Dr.R. Since baby girl had been measuring 2-3 weeks ahead throughout the majority of my pregnancy, and her movement had slowed significantly in a short period of time, he was uncomfortable waiting too much longer for her arrival. He checked her heartbeat on the Doppler which was perfect. He was happy with my progress, being at 3cm and 80% effaced and stripped my membranes.

We scheduled baby girl’s induction for Tuesday morning, December 18th at 5am.

Tuesday morning, Mr.A and I arrived at the hospital, checked in, completed some paperwork and prepared to get the show on the road. I was hooked up to the monitor right away, which showed sporadic contractions. They hooked me up to the IV to begin fluids and started Pitocin around 6:15.

The Pitocin worked pretty quickly, and I began to have more consistent contractions around 7-8 minutes apart. At first they were more of a tightening feeling with little pain. I could talk and laugh through them without issue.

0700: The nurses switched and I met my new nurse, Edwij (ed-weej – it is French). I was a little apprehensive at first since I adored my first nurse, but Edwij was such a sweetheart it didn’t take long to realize that she was pretty awesome.

0745: My contractions were 3 minutes apart, but still not very painful. At this point, Mr.A and I thought that the height of the “mountain” on the monitor signified the intensity of the contractions. Since some of my “mountains” were fairly high, I was pretty sure that I was a rock star with a high pain tolerance, handling difficult contractions with ease.

Edwij came in to show me some instruments that they may use at some point throughout the day and explained the IUPC. The IUPC is a monitor about the diameter of a pipe cleaner that could be inserted into my uterus and measure the intensity of my contractions. This is when I realized that the external monitor couldn’t and wasn’t accurately showing intensity.

0900: My contractions were beginning to get stronger and I was starting to have back pain. Dr.R came in to check me and break my water. At this point, I had been having contractions of some variety for about 3 hours and was hopeful when he checked that I would have made at least a little progress. Nope. Still at 3cm. Edwij increased my Pitocin and the doctor stated that he wanted it increased every 20 minutes.

After my water was broken and the Pitocin increased, contractions became significantly more painful and were coming around 2 minutes apart. I really wanted to wait until I progressed a bit further to ask for the epidural since I had heard that it can sometimes stall labor.

1023: My contractions were becoming more and more painful, and were only about 1 minute apart. It was becoming more difficult to breathe through them since they were so close together and I wasn’t getting much rest between them. I decided to give in and ask for an epidural.

Edwij explained that they would need to push 1000ccs of IV fluids before the anesthesiologist could place the epidural so it would likely be 40 minutes to an hour before the anesthesiologist would come in.  

Edwij offered me a pain medication in the interim called Phentanol but said that it would make me and baby sleepy. I didn’t like the thought of baby being affected by the medicine, so I declined.

1045: After several very painful and some overlapping contractions, I gave in and asked for the Phentanol. Edwij administered it through my IV and it took affect pretty quickly. It helped take the edge off the contractions while I waited, but unfortunately the relief only lasted 20-30 minutes before it wore off completely. Even more unfortunate than that, shortly after it was administered I began vomiting.

1130: Anesthesiologist came in and epidural was placed.

More vomiting.

1200: Epidural is a success and I feel very little pain from the contractions! Edwij came back in to insert my catheter and check my progress. I was happy to hear that I was 5cm; finally some progress!

12:15: Both legs felt like they were 500 lb tree trunks and I needed help from Mr.A and my mom to change positions at all. I was vomiting again and also realize that my left leg is completely lame and numb.

1230: Dr. R came in and stated that he wanted to insert the IUPC to measure the significance of the contractions and would also check my progress. Dr. R was happy to see my progress, now at 6cm. He said he estimated that she wouldn’t arrive until late evening based on how I had progressed thus far.  

From 12:30 until 2:45, I just hung out with my mom and Mr.A. I was comfortable and would occasionally ask if I was having a contraction because I could feel the tightening feeling in my belly. I continued to get sick intermittently.  

3:00: I started getting a little uncomfortable and began having some back pain. I wondered if things were progressing since I was feeling different.

3:15: I am going to quote Mr.A’s notes directly. “Dr. came in and checked, apparently baby is ready to go! All the barfing helped push baby down. The team is being assembled.” I am officially 10cm and ready to push!

3:20: Edwij wants to try to practice pushing while we wait for the “team”. Mr.A (who said he would never look) sees the head, she is crowning! Edwij calls the nurses’ station to assemble everyone while we waited for the Dr. to return. Edwij makes me stop pushing and wait.

3:49: During the second push, Dr. R had to stop me because he wasn’t prepared for her to come so quickly and needed to reach for something.

3:50: Healthy baby girl born with lots and lots of hair! She is 8lbs even, and 20.5 inches long.

The nursery nurse was wonderful and gave me my slimy, perfect baby girl immediately just as I had wanted. I began crying instantly. I couldn’t believe that this beautiful baby girl was mine. They let Mr.A and I meet our baby girl for the first time, and evaluated her while she was on me skin to skin.

I ended up with a second degree tear from the birth, maybe from my quick transition and delivery.  Dr. R continued to work on me while Mr.A and I met our beautiful, teeny, tiny daughter for the first time. It was so emotional seeing our perfect little girl. It is an incredible feeling knowing that we somehow created something, someone, so perfect and also that she somehow fit inside of me.  

Baby girl still didn’t have a name until late that night when Mr.A wanted to send his official “she’s been born” picture/text to our family and friends and needed to know her name. We had discussed a few possibilities leading up to her birth, but I had not wanted to decide until I saw her.

Our beautiful, perfect daughter's name is Samantha Grace.



My birth experience and recovery were/have been much better than I anticipated. The contractions are seriously no joke, but once I got the epidural I was good to go.

The only negative things about my experience were the vomiting and the fact that my left leg went completely numb from the epi and it took quite a few hours to wear off. Because of this I needed a lot of assistance shifting in bed, moving at all and going to the bathroom. Mr.A saw and learned a lot more about human anatomy, birth and pads than he ever wanted to know, but took it all in stride.

Progression of d'Bump (3.0)

I've officially made it to 9 months pregnant!

It is so funny looking at my old clothes and pictures of myself throughout this journey. It is hard to believe I was ever as small as I was, and even harder to believe I will ever be that size again.

For reference, here are the First Trimester and Second Trimester pictures.

Without further ado, the THIRD TRIMESTER photos of my baby bump:

7 Months:

 

8 Months:

 

9 Months:

 

36w Appt

Yes, we are in weekly appointments now. This shiz is getting real, fast!

I had my 36w appointment today. I am happy to report that I am only up 1 pound from my last appointment and being that Thanksgiving was during that 10 days in between, I am pretty darn proud of that! That brings me to a total weight gain of 32 pounds.

My GBS swab from last week was negative, meaning I won't need to worry about having IV antibiotics during labor, which is nice.

Belly is measuring at 39 weeks, BP was down to normal at 112/60, baby is still head down and her heartrate is at 140.

I had another internal check and have progressed slightly from last week. The only thing is, baby is still at -3 station, meaning she is extremely high up. I am planning to sit/bounce on my exercise ball quite a bit over the next couple of weeks to encourage her to come down on her own.

I did have a lot of questions for the doctor this appointment.
- I asked about the protocol if my water breaks.  I would really like to labor a little while at home and shower etc before going in, she said I should call immediately, but that I would likely have the ability to stay home a little while before coming in.
- I also asked about the epidural and whether or not I would be allowed to move around after getting it. She said no. I guess this means that I really should labor a good while before having it placed, so I have the ability move about.
- C-sections: How long can I labor before they would push me for a C? She said it depends. If I stall for more than 4 hours and they do not see any progress, they would likely move for a C. Also, obviously if baby is in distress and they need to get her out. Also, I asked if my hands/arms would be strapped down. She said no.
- I asked about immediate skin-to-skin. She said as long as baby is crying/healthy they will give her to me immediately.
- Also we discussed post-baby birth control. I let her know that I did not want to go back on BCP, and know that with breastfeeding it will limit my options greatly. I told her that since it took us such a long while to get pregnant, and we aren't opposed to another pregnancy we would likely just see what happens. She agreed, thankfully.

Overall, a great appointment. Everything looks perfect, baby girl is healthy and I am getting ready for D-day.

35 Weeks + Growth Scan

On Friday, Mr.A and I went to the OB for my 35w appointment and growth ultrasound. We had not seen baby girl since 28 weeks, so I was excited to be able to see her again.

Goodness how things have changed!

Earlier in the pregnancy, they could just put the wand on my belly and *BAM* there was an entire baby. Now, she is so big, and so crammed that the tech really had to move the wand around to determine which parts were which. She was very fast with her measurements of the head, femur, belly circumference, and fluid levels. So fast in fact, we really didn't get to see much of anything at all and didn't get any pictures.

Baby is measuring around 6.5 pounds (estimated, so give or take a pound), is head down, fluids look good and she is still ninja kicking away.

We then met with the OB that I love to review everything and have my first internal check. She was happy with baby's measurements, and is measuring around 2 weeks ahead which matches my belly measurements.

Then Dr.C did my first internal exam. Before she did, she warned me and said, "Try to relax, it isn't going to be pleasant. It may feel like I am trying to pull your tonsils out." She wasn't kidding. That was not fun at all!

Before telling me anything about my dilation or effacement, she said, "You need to make sure baby's car seat is in the car and your and her hospital bags are packed and ready for D-day".

Cue momentary freakout! It was almost as though she were insinuating that baby was coming very VERY soon.

As it turns out, my internal exam showed that my body is preparing for the "big show". She said that my progress is good and she wouldn't be surprised if baby were here a bit ahead of schedule in 2-3 weeks.

Holy moly, it is really happening. We are going to have a baby!

The Nursery is FINISHED!

Today, I am 35 weeks along meaning we only have 35 days to go until our estimated due date.

Thankfully, we've been blessed with the most wonderful family and friends who have been so incredibly generous and we now have everything we could possibly need.

As I posted a while back, I made the crib skirt, covered a small pillow and reupholstered my Grandmother's glider. Mr.A worked very hard painting the nursery (against his will of course!) a couple of months ago. I am so happy he took the time to do it early, since it took a while to get the fumey smell to dissipate.

Though it was slightly boy-ish, we re-used Mr.A's childhood furniture in the nursery. The only minor change I made to his desk and dresser was spray painting the dingy brass handles a deep chocolate brown. We were incredibly thankful that everything is so solid that it could withstand years of abuse and still look perfect.

The only furniture we were left to purchase was the crib and mattress. My mother-in-law surprised us and purchased the crib, mattress and bedding accessories. She came to visit and helped us put everything together as well as putting up the wall decal we ordered to complete our owl theme.
Without further ado, baby girl's nursery:

34 week update

I had my 34 week appointment last week. Unfortunately my BP is creeping up and although it isn’t textbook high, it is high for me. Generally I am in the 100/60 range, and am sitting in the 110/80s right now. Again, nothing to be alarmed about, but they do want to make sure it doesn’t go too much higher.

I am officially up 30 pounds which is hard to grasp. The doctors are happy with that since I was small to begin with, but want me to gain no more than a pound a week from here on out. I will admit my sweet tooth has gotten the better of me throughout my entire pregnancy and I really need to watch that in the coming weeks.

My fundal height (aka belly measurement) was measuring at 36-37 weeks last week. Since I have been consistently 2-3 weeks ahead, they want me to come in for a growth u/s this coming Friday. Mr.A was around 6lbs and I was around 7 when we were born, so I am hoping that maybe I just have a lot of fluid in there and my baby girl isn’t going to be a 10+ pounder. That is a little scary to think about.

Otherwise baby is happy and healthy, ninja kicking away. She is still sitting very high up, though I feel as though she has shifted enough to give me a little relief from the pain in my upper abdomen.

Sleep is becoming harder and harder for both me and Mr.A. I apparently snore like a banshee these days and he is too nice to wake me. I am also getting up to use the restroom 3-5 times per night and always have a difficult time falling back asleep. I am considering banishing myself to the guest room in the coming weeks so that at least one of us is getting a full night’s sleep, but I haven’t pulled the trigger yet.