Better late than never!

Yes, I know we are a day late, but so be it. Here are Baby Girl's one week old pictures. I stole this idea from two other blogs ( I hope they don't mind!).

I should have the birth story and hospital stay up tomorrow.

But for now:





And here are the new shoes daddy bought me to go running with mommy. They're Wee.boks.

The Hospital Stay

What would begin as uneventful, would turn out not to be so.

We tried to nurse right after she was born, and every so often after that. Babies do not acquire their suck swallow reflex until about 37 weeks gestation. So we were two weeks shy of that. But, we kept trying. And everything a baby does burns calories, especially breastfeeding. Because of this, we gave her some formula. We started the formula 14 hours after birth. She was taking about 15 ml's every three hours. (30 ML's is an ounce). She was weighed at midnite, and her weight had dropped to 5 lbs 10 oz. Not good. Especially since she had been eating formula. The pediatrician came in the next morning, and was obviously concerned about the weight drop. So, we were told she would be weighed again at noon. If she had not gained 1/2 oz, she would need to go to the NICU. Well, when she weighed again, she had dropped another 2 oz. She was now at 5 lbs 8 oz. We were told they would contact the pedi and let us know. Well, they came at 3 pm Saturday to take her to the NICU. This was extremely hard. DH had gone to walk some friends out, and I could not get a hold of him, and these people do not wait. I felt absolutely terrible 1. that she was gone, 2. that I could not get him to tell him to come back.

We are told that we can go down to the NICU at any time, we just can not stay. We opt to go to feeding time, so that we can "feed" her. She has to have a tube put in through her nose down into her stomach to be fed. The tube coming out of the nose has an attachment that hooks on to a "bottle" that high calorie formula is put into, and drains down into her stomach. Walking into the NICU for the first time, simply broke us down. You never realize how much something like that is going to affect you until it happens. It makes me tear up now as I write this. After her first feeding we go back to the room, and sit. We finally come to the conclusion that this is best for her, and that is what is important. They feed them every three hours on a schedule with no deviations. There is no holding, touching, or playing with them. They are only held during feeding time. This helps reduce the number of calories they are burning in order to help them gain weight.

They weigh her again, and it is 5, 9. She has done well with the tube feedings overnight, so they decide to try the bottle feeding once again. At 6 that night, the lactation lady comes to meet with us in there and show us the supplemental nursing system. We weigh her just before this, and she is down again, this time to 5, 6. DH and I decide, no breast feeding attempts until we can get the weight issue under control. I am still pumping and we are giving her everything that comes out, but we are supplementing with formula. She is given strict instructions that she must take no less than 35 ml's a feeding, but we are to offer her 45. Most feedings go well, with her taking between 40 and 45. She is only given 20 - 25 mins to do this. If after that time frame, she is not finished, she has to wait until the next feeding. This may sound mean, but they burn so much energy trying to feed, prolonging the time doesn't help matters.

She does great with her feedings and we are discharged on Monday at a weight of 5, 7.7. As you can tell from the picture posted earlier, she was just as happy as we were to be leaving the hospital.

Birth Story

I had to go back and read what I wrote last Thursday (the morning before going into labor that evening). Quite entertaining to think of all the plans I had.

So I get home from work that evening, still having mild cramping every 10 - 12 mins apart. No big deal. I eat leftovers from our wonderful dinner the night before about 5:30. It was fish and crab cakes. About 6:30, I started having diarrhea. And lots of it. I decided in between bathroom trips we better go ahead and go get the remaining items needed to pack our bags for the hospital, just in case. I thought the stomach upset had come from the leftovers (yes, still in denial at this point). We get almost to the store, and I am not feeling well again. my parents house is nearby, so we decide to take a detour over there, so I can use the bathroom and feel better. I am starting to feel nauseous at this point as well (yes, I am still blaming it on the leftovers). At my parents, I start to feel a lot of pressure down there. It seems to be more on the pubic bone than anything. I just assume baby girl had moved into a different position.

I decide I better call the nurse and ask her opinion. She suggests coming in to be checked due to the pressure. So, just after 8:00 pm we leave for the hospital. On the way there, at 8:18, I have my first real contraction. OMG!! I could not get comfortable. Little did I know it was only going to get worse. These were NOTHING compared to the mild cramps I had been having the last 24 hours. I start timing contractions, b/c they do not seem that far apart. Well, 3 mins to be exact. We get to the hospital, and you would think a woman in labor, would be rushed off the L & D floor. Whatever! You have to fill out your name, ss #, give them the insurance card. And yes, I did pre-register. One of the ladies made the comment, "you didn't pre-register". She is lucky I was in so much pain. Then another woman found my file. Good thing. So, they call the L & D floor, and tell them I am on my way up.

We get up there, and there are about 10 nurses standing around. Not one, ask to help me. I speak up and tell them I think I am in labor and need to be checked. (Apparently still in denial). I am leaking fluid like a mad woman at this point. The nurse then tells me to clean myself down there, pee a little in the toilet, and then the rest in a cup. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! I politely ask her, did she expect me to get all the fluid off of me before attempting to pee in this little cup? She said no. Good thing. It is now 8:45 pm, and my water had broken, but I am only a fingertip dilated. From all of our labor classes and internet info, I am thinking we are in for a long night. Don't first baby's take 14 - 16 hours? Isn't the longest laboring time between 0 and 3 cm's? I told the nurse I was nauseous feeling and she gives DH two of those little puke trays. Well, I have never puked so much. In between puking, DH has to combine trays to give me something else to puke in. It was all over me, him, and the bed.

At this point I want an epidural STAT! But they say you should wait until at least 5 cm to make sure it doesn't slow or stop labor progression. I had to wait until we could get all the info into the computer. The lady who checked me was warning me not to push even if I felt the urge. They get me into a room, start antibiotics and fluids. She gave me a stad.iol for the pain. What a joke that was. Before you can have an epidural, you have to get one bag of fluids in. By the time we got the epidu.ral, I was already 8 cms. By 12:30 am or so, I was fully dilated and ready to go.

Since we were trying to get the 2nd bag of antibiotics in before delivery, and the fact that I had had an epi.dural, we decided to labor down for a little while and see if baby girl would come down a little further and reduce the number of pushes. I was all for that. At this point, I really didn't care, I was feeling very little. My DH videoed the entire thing, and I am laughing while I am pushing. How do they expect you to push when you can feel anything? Its kind of like, you just pull your legs back, grunt, squeeze, and hope something happens. We started pushing about 2:30 a.m. and baby girl was born at 3:06. It was the oddest feeling when they pulled her out.

Daddy stopped taping for long enough to cut the cord. I was thinking he was going to be squeamish and maybe pass out, but he was a super trooper!

Since this is so long, I will detail our hospital stay next time. It includes a 2 day stint in the NICU.

Finally Home!

We got to come home today. I am working on the birth story and all that goes along with it. But for now, I will leave you with a picture from our ride home.

Baby Girl is Here!!!!

Ivy Makayla arrived at 3:06 a.m. on June 20. She weighed in at a whopping 6 lbs 7 oz and 18 inches long. Will post pictures later.

How much longer?

I certainly hope this weeks pictures work. The weight was 161 lbs and 41 1/4 inches. Yes, I now feel like a huge (insert whatever large object you wish) at this point. Bending over is impossible. Baby girl's behind is in the way of most everything I try to do. It even affects the way I attempt to sleep at night. When I lay on that side, I can feel more pressure on my ribs, b/c I am putting more pressure on her, and it moves her over. Very uncomfortable. I am sure she is thinking the same thing.





We went to dinner last night with my mom and dad and sister and her husband. We talked some about my mom going into labor. I was the first of two. By the time my mom got to the hospital with me, she was already 7 cm, and I was here in 2 hours. And I have always been in a hurry since then. My sister was a different story. My sister took 14 hours. And has been on her own time schedule ever since. Funny how that works. I am hoping for something in between the two. I think the two hours would scare DH a little much. But I also don't want to be in labor in the hospital for 14 hours either. So of course after all the labor talk, I dream about going into labor.

It causes a momentary "Oh Sh**" moment. But let me backup some. I had been having more cramps since about 3 that afternoon. That evening before bed, I told my sweet DH, the gates-o-fluid had seemed to open, and that was just gross. I don't think there is anything I hate more than not being dry down there. I am sure a lot of people are the same way. So anyways, I go to bed, it is a restless night again. On what seemed to be the 5th trip to the bathroom, lots of mucous has made its appearance. This is about 3 this morning. I immediately think, ok, cramps, fluid, mucous, I better get my crap together NOW. I can only HOPE that baby girls thinks this is funny and all a game, b/c we are NOT ready for her to get here quite yet. So, I have now decided that tonight when I get home from work, the preparations begin. Don't ask me how they are going, b/c I will probably say, I haven't done anything yet. Oh well. One day we will pack a bag. It may just be before we are leaving to go to the hospital.

And I have decided if my water for some reason decides to break in public, I am going to think "Woohoo, lets get this show on the road!". If it does happen, ask me later if I was mortified. Probably. But we can all hope can't we?

Doctor's appt

This was a much better visit than the last one. I wish the NP could deliver my baby. She is so much sweeter than those men dr's. I just don't like them. They have no bedside manner at all.

Baby girl measured correctly at 35 weeks. Mommy gained an astronomical 7 lbs in 2 weeks. My motto is "if your going to do something, do it 150%!" Well I certainly managed that one. And in big news, I am 90% effaced and baby girls head is 3/4 of an inch away. So in the doctors words, she is really low. She was not concerned about the mucous, as is her opinion, it is not an indicator of labor. It just happens as the cervis is getting ready, which as seen above is certainly happening to mine.

She said I need to try and eat as fresh as foods as possible to limit swelling. Which means lunch time will become interesting seeing as how I always eat a frozen dinner.

Last but not least, the peeing in a cup has become quite comical to me. Baby girls head is in my way of being able to wipe with my right hand. So, I "tought" myself to do it with the left. I am by no means ambidextorous, so this was fun. But then throw a cup in there, and it all goes down the tube (unfortunate for me, not literally). I am guessing baby girl has things pressed and aiming backwards on me at this point. Now that I think about it, I probably should have gone in from the back to try and catch the urine. Things you never contemplate (and thought you never would) become increasingly difficult if not impossible. SO for the next week, we will be practicing peeing in a cup. I know you all are jealous.

My next appt is with the unfun doctor in a week. I am hoping that by seeing him the most, he will not deliver my baby. We will see how that works out.