Saturday, July 30, 2011

2 week update for me and baby

So Susan is 2 weeks old today. It seems like its been years and also seconds since she was born. We are coping.

Grammy Pammy is here this week. She is cleaning like crazy and doting on the baby. She is constantly on the move and I just feel like laying down with the baby.

We have had a few visitors. 2 coworkers came over to see the baby and bring us dinner (both meals were greatly appreciated). One good friend came for lunch. Next Wed Eric goes back to work, and Grammy Pammy leaves. It will be me home with the baby all day by myself. We will have to see how that goes. I am a little nervous.

I had my two week check up. The Dr looked at my scar. She said it looks good, I just have to work on keeping it dry. Its healing nicely. I can now drive and start carrying the car seat and baby. That means I can go out now. I am not homeward bound. The midwife gave me an apt for next Friday just in case I am still a mess. I am gonna see how this weekend goes before I determine if I need help.

This just didn't go the way we were hoping for. In a day or two I will post about how breastfeeding didn't work. Susan is all formula now. I am still upset about this. But that is for later.

She had her two week checkup on Friday. She is 7lbs 11oz (almost her birth weight). The Dr was VERY happy. She is completely healthy. I am lucky. She is an absolutely wonderful baby!

Tomorrow we head to the beach. We will be at Sam/Sarah's house. Sarah is going to do our newborn photos. I am excited to see what she does.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Delivery

I am going to add/update details of this post but thought I would lay out how things went for my induction.

Labor did not go well for us. I checked into the hospital at 7am and they had me take a cervix softening pill at 8am to see if that would get things going. After 4 hours I was only 1 cm. So they started a pit drip. 2 hours later I was still at 1cm. So the dr broke my water (in that small amount of space). It hurt so bad, every cervix exam was worse than contractions! After about 2 more hours (with them upping the drip continuously) I was still only at a 1cm. I still hadnt asked or needed an epi. I was making it through the contractions and they just kept upping the pit drip. Things got worse at some point. They turned to drip up so high I ended up having an hour long contraction (it was one right after another with no break). My blood pressure had dropped and Susan's hr was going all over the place making the dr very upset. I was at my breaking point by then. I told the dr I needed something for pain. (that was a hard decision to make) They wouldnt let me get nubane due to baby's hr not being steady. So I got an epidural. I know I needed it but it was the start of my failure feelings. The dr took 30 mins trying to get the epi in. But once it went in, I started to actually feel better. they had to turn the pit drip off completely because the contractions werent helping her progress at all. After the epi went in, I went from a 1cm to a 4 within 30 mins. But baby was still all over the place in terms of her heartrate (like dropping super low then rising up too high for their comfort).

The dr finally came in about 10:30pm, and said baby had crossed her comfort threshold and we had to get a c-section. My blood pressure was still very low and I really had not much clue what was going on. I could not stop shakign and threw up a few times before surgery. Bf sat with me the whole time in the surgery room, trying to make me feel better about things. He was so scared the whole time watching all that was going on with my. He said he has never been so scared in his life. He still cant imagine what I was feeling. Surgery went quick. She was perfectly healthy coming out. She weighed in at 7lbs 12oz and 21 inches long. She was born at 21:58. The anesthesiologist told us she was a beautiful baby. He was super nice and very wonderful to me in the surgery room. He talked me through the surgery. I love her so much but the whole process made me feel like I am a complete failure. I also think it was a matter of Susan letting us know she was NOT ready to be delivered. She fought EVERY procedure they did.

But in the end I had a beautiful daughter.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Due date has come and gone

So now I am sitting here 2 days after my due date. I have been pretty frustrated with this baby. Why is she still inside my belly? Doesn't she realize that I am so uncomfortable and miserable. No, she is blissfully unaware. She is just doing her own thing. She is trying to figure out when she is ready.

Dr apt on Friday felt like a major bust. I was barely 1 fingertip dilated. My cervix was thinned to 80% though. But the Dr commented that it felt like she was sitting on my back, and she is not really pushing down on my cervix at all. So I have been ordered to do a lot of walking.

Today we went to the Nats game. I walked around the stadium at least twice. I had a great time, but the way home was so awful. I just ached everywhere. Since getting home, I laid down and tried to nap. I have had some contractions on/off all night. But they are still random. I have felt like I need to clean and straighten my house (so I have been). Maybe these are all good signs!

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Weekend Roundup

UGH... Its Tuesday and I am at work. I was hoping baby would make some kind of progress and I would be at home this week, but no luck. But at least this is my last week of work.

I spent the weekend mostly laying on the couch either sleeping or cross-stitching. I am trying hard to finish the baby sampler but just not sure it will be finished in time. I don't think I will have a lot of time to work on it after she comes.

I got so hopeful on Sunday (ok not really but its was progress comparatively). I had 6 contractions (of course this was over the coarse of the whole day, so doesn't actually mean much). They weren't really long and only 2 were anything I would remotely describe as painful.

Saturday I spent some time in the pool with my friend Jamie. It felt really good. Just nice to have the water supporting my stomach instead of my own body. Sunday, we went and had Indian food. I found this carry-out type place and it wasn't too bad. Eric said that if I had taken him there the first time I told him about Indian food he would have been more willing to go eat! He liked the place so much better than any other restaurant we have been to for Indian food. I ordered too much but had some good eating on Monday!

Monday I went to Eric's work to see the fireworks. It was our first time seeing the fireworks together in our 2.5 years together. We had a fantastic view from the roof of his work. It was really special. He sat with his arms around me, and I really felt like it was a special family moment for us. And the fireworks were awesome. They shot some off that were heart shaped. It was really cool.

All in all, good relaxing weekend.

Friday, July 1, 2011

39 weeks!

I am totally on the home stretch at this point. I am ready to pop her out, but unfortunately she is showing very few signs of being ready to move out. Well... she has like 14 days to move out or she will get evicted.

Facts about 39 weeks fetus:
The average baby is about 20 inches (51 cm) and weighs about 7.5 pounds (3400 grams).
The baby has reached its final birth position.
It will be cramped inside your uterus for much movement.
Your baby will continue to punch and kick but lower in your abdomen, under your pelvis.
The head is about 4 inches (10 cm) in diameter.
Most of the baby's downy coating of lanugo has now disappeared.

I will post the 39 week shot (including the dreaded bare belly pic) tonight after work.

Eric has been super attentive this week. He has gone up to lay down with me every night and even rubbed my back/hips for a bit. It's a huge help and provides some much needed relief.

I had a crazy dream last night. I felt my water break and I told my mom that I thought I was in labor. She called the paramedics and they came and tried to tell me that I had to go to a different hospital. They said that my current hospital was too far away. Then my sister showed up with her kids. She said mom had called her. The paramedics told me to go in the bathroom and try to poop. It was just a really weird but very real feeling dream. When I woke up, I rolled over about to wake up Eric. I was so sure it was time to go to the hospital. Then reality hit me. Mom is not here, and that was my alarm that woke me up. My bed was not wet. So ugh! That meant getting up and going to work.

Yesterday I got some good news. I found out that my STD will cover 2 weeks pre-delivery in addition to the 6 weeks post delivery. So I am done working next Friday (if she doesn't decide to come sooner). I figure that week after 40 weeks is up, my Dr apts will go up a little. this will also let me get some rest and not wear myself out (like I feel like I am doing right now). At least its a 3-day weekend that starts in like 1 hour!