Sorry for the delay!
I left you at the getting ready to push part. It was fast! The new epidural was working well and I was super numb. I was a little worried that I would have trouble pushing, since I have heard several stories of women needing to have some feeling to push. I guess I am not one of those people;o) I pushed four times with the first contraction. She had me rest/let things stretch through the second. I pushed two or three times with the 3rd contraction and he was out! About 5 minutes! They laid GB on my stomach to clean him off a bit and let the blood in the cord stop pumping before R cut the cord. The look of amazement on the guys' faces as they watched their son being born and interacted with him for the first time was priceless and exactly the reason I did this<3 While GB got cleaned up and checked over, the midwife massaged the placenta out, cleaned me up and put in a couple of stitches.
There are no words to describe the happiness I felt as I laid there watching these two wonderful men achieve their dream. I think my favorite part was watching them watch their son get his first bath and check by the nurse. DH got some great pics of the guys in those first moments:o) It brought back memories of the day we met our sweet DD and all of the emotions involved in embarking on the journey of parenthood:o)
The guys did their skin to skin time with the little man and I got lunch. After about 2 hours, the nurse brought in this crazy contraption that she made me stand in to take me to the bathroom to get cleaned up and ready to move upstairs to our post-partum room. It was ridiculous! I totally could have walked, but I guess they want to cover their butts. Ugh! We went upstairs and got our rooms next to each other. They wanted to put me in that contraption again to get from the wheelchair to the bed, but I eventually convinced them I could stand up and turn around. They made me take a walker to the bathroom, which was also ridiculous, but, luckily, my stability convinced the nurse that I didn't need that either. Phewf!
We tried breastfeeding, but GB was too tired from his ordeal and just wanted to sleep, so we eventually went to pumping and feeding via syringe. The next morning, DH went home to take over DD watch, so my mom could go to work. He took her to the park and then to visit me. I didn't realize how much I missed her until I was left alone and had time to think about it. When they came, I took a shower, then the OB came in, talked to me for a few minutes and said she would discharge me. GB and I both did well and were discharged 25 hours after the birth.
Monday, May 27, 2013
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Labor
Let me just start this part by saying that I never had a high blood pressure reading the whole time I was in the hospital. It stayed around 130/80 for the first part and 120ish/70-80 after I got the epidural. Insert raspberry to my stupid blood pressure here;o) Luckily, everything worked out well, but grrrrrr!
First up, was the boring and tedious process of admitting me. Then, pitocin was started and you can follow most of the progression through DH's real time posts starting here.
I really love the way Kaiser and my particular hospital handle labor and delivery. We were all really happy with the way everything was handled. It was definitely slow going in the beginning, but we just chugged along. Getting those tiny changes after several hours was really discouraging, but we were reassured several times that progress was being made and we just needed to be patient. I knew once we got to the 5 cm mark and could break the bag of water, we would be home free, but getting to that point was looooooooong.
At Kaiser, you never know who will deliver your baby. Each doctor has about one hospital shift per week, so whomever is on duty is who you get, which is a bummer when you love your doctor, but, in reality, it is really about the nurses and the doctor plays such a small role. With DD, my doctor recommended requesting the Certified Nurse/Midwife, which I really liked, so I did the same this time and we really liked all of them. They provide a much more relaxed and personal approach. They have fewer patients, so they can spend more time with you and it just seems that they have more laid back demeanors, which is comforting to me.
We all got some sleep throughout that long night. T found a fold out chair in one of the waiting rooms to sleep on, while R and DH took turns sleeping on the couch/padded window bench in the room.
Anyway, we finally got to the magic 5 cm mark where the midwife had said she would break my water, but no go. She said there was a lot of fluid in there and GB's head was "floating", instead of being firmly on the cervix. The problem with this is that, if she broke the bag, she was afraid something (like an arm or the cord) would end up stuck between the head and the cervix. The good news was that the bag was really taut and she was pretty sure it would rupture, naturally, very soon. She was right! Within half an hour, it did just that, and then the proverbial shit hit the fan!
I was starting to feel the contractions! At first, I thought maybe we were getting close to 10 cm. I pushed the happy button they give you with the epidural, but the contractions kept getting worse. We called the nurse, who called the anesthesiologist to put a booster dose in the epidural. He said to give it 10-15 minutes to work. 5 minutes later, the nurse came in and could tell by my pain level that something wasn't right. About this time the puking started. I don't know if it was the pain or the epidural booster medicine, but it sucked! The nurse called the anesthesiologist back, who started the fun of trying to figure out if the epidural was working at all. He did this by having me compare the coldness of ice on my face and tummy. It felt the same, which indicated it wasn't working. At some point, the midwife came in and was trying to help me. By this time the contractions were lasting about 90 seconds and were coming back to back. It was BAD! The midwife checked my cervix, just to make sure something crazy hadn't happened with the water break and because they won't do an epidural at 9 cm. I was at 6 cm. Eventually, it was determined that the epidural had come out of its place. The anesthesiologist said he could put in a new epidural, but I had to sit completely still for 5-10 minutes. Easier said than done when I was in so much pain:o( This is when DH came to the rescue and suggested doing a dose of the IV narcotic to help take the edge off of the pain, so I could sit for the epidural. Brilliant idea! The IV drug worked very quickly. I felt pretty dizzy and it felt like things were moving in slow motion, but I was totally OK with that. The anesthesiologist was able to get the epidural in quickly and he added a boost of whatever they had put in my IV and things were good:o)
We were able to rest a little more and about two hours later, I started feeling the tell-tale pressure with each contraction. I knew with DD that I had labored down a bit after I was complete and it felt like it hadn't been very long and I didn't want to cry wolf, so I tried to focus on what I was feeling and waited for 3 contractions with the pressure and then we called the nurse, who called the midwife. She checked me and said something to the effect of, "OH, babies head is right there, don't push, don't move." I don't know what everyone else was thinking, but I wanted to do a happy dance! And the nurse and midwife scurried to get ready for delivery. . .
First up, was the boring and tedious process of admitting me. Then, pitocin was started and you can follow most of the progression through DH's real time posts starting here.
I really love the way Kaiser and my particular hospital handle labor and delivery. We were all really happy with the way everything was handled. It was definitely slow going in the beginning, but we just chugged along. Getting those tiny changes after several hours was really discouraging, but we were reassured several times that progress was being made and we just needed to be patient. I knew once we got to the 5 cm mark and could break the bag of water, we would be home free, but getting to that point was looooooooong.
At Kaiser, you never know who will deliver your baby. Each doctor has about one hospital shift per week, so whomever is on duty is who you get, which is a bummer when you love your doctor, but, in reality, it is really about the nurses and the doctor plays such a small role. With DD, my doctor recommended requesting the Certified Nurse/Midwife, which I really liked, so I did the same this time and we really liked all of them. They provide a much more relaxed and personal approach. They have fewer patients, so they can spend more time with you and it just seems that they have more laid back demeanors, which is comforting to me.
We all got some sleep throughout that long night. T found a fold out chair in one of the waiting rooms to sleep on, while R and DH took turns sleeping on the couch/padded window bench in the room.
Anyway, we finally got to the magic 5 cm mark where the midwife had said she would break my water, but no go. She said there was a lot of fluid in there and GB's head was "floating", instead of being firmly on the cervix. The problem with this is that, if she broke the bag, she was afraid something (like an arm or the cord) would end up stuck between the head and the cervix. The good news was that the bag was really taut and she was pretty sure it would rupture, naturally, very soon. She was right! Within half an hour, it did just that, and then the proverbial shit hit the fan!
I was starting to feel the contractions! At first, I thought maybe we were getting close to 10 cm. I pushed the happy button they give you with the epidural, but the contractions kept getting worse. We called the nurse, who called the anesthesiologist to put a booster dose in the epidural. He said to give it 10-15 minutes to work. 5 minutes later, the nurse came in and could tell by my pain level that something wasn't right. About this time the puking started. I don't know if it was the pain or the epidural booster medicine, but it sucked! The nurse called the anesthesiologist back, who started the fun of trying to figure out if the epidural was working at all. He did this by having me compare the coldness of ice on my face and tummy. It felt the same, which indicated it wasn't working. At some point, the midwife came in and was trying to help me. By this time the contractions were lasting about 90 seconds and were coming back to back. It was BAD! The midwife checked my cervix, just to make sure something crazy hadn't happened with the water break and because they won't do an epidural at 9 cm. I was at 6 cm. Eventually, it was determined that the epidural had come out of its place. The anesthesiologist said he could put in a new epidural, but I had to sit completely still for 5-10 minutes. Easier said than done when I was in so much pain:o( This is when DH came to the rescue and suggested doing a dose of the IV narcotic to help take the edge off of the pain, so I could sit for the epidural. Brilliant idea! The IV drug worked very quickly. I felt pretty dizzy and it felt like things were moving in slow motion, but I was totally OK with that. The anesthesiologist was able to get the epidural in quickly and he added a boost of whatever they had put in my IV and things were good:o)
We were able to rest a little more and about two hours later, I started feeling the tell-tale pressure with each contraction. I knew with DD that I had labored down a bit after I was complete and it felt like it hadn't been very long and I didn't want to cry wolf, so I tried to focus on what I was feeling and waited for 3 contractions with the pressure and then we called the nurse, who called the midwife. She checked me and said something to the effect of, "OH, babies head is right there, don't push, don't move." I don't know what everyone else was thinking, but I wanted to do a happy dance! And the nurse and midwife scurried to get ready for delivery. . .
Sunday, May 19, 2013
The Back Story
Back to where I left you hanging. Sorry about that!
After Tuesday's appointment and some discussion, R & T changed their flight to Saturday, since it looked like making it to the 15th (their original arrival date) was decreasingly likely.
Thursday (the 9th) morning, I went to have my blood pressure checked again. Honestly, it was pretty much the same as my appointment Tuesday, except I didn't get weighed. The nurse took my BP twice, did the urine dip and asked me a thousand questions checking for symptoms of a bigger problem, but came up with nothing. The nurse then reported to the doctor, who came in, listened to GB's heartbeat and checked my cervix. The two BP readings were 128/90 and 127/87; still on the high side, but a little better than Tuesday's. My cervix was 1.5 cm dilated and 0% effaced. Dr. K wanted to keep an eye on my BP and I was instructed to come back Monday morning for another check.
After Thursday's results, we were even more convinced that the change of R & T's flight was a good idea.
R & T arrived Saturday night and we had some time to hang out Saturday night and they came over for Mother's Day dinner Sunday and met my parents. It was really great to get to spend some casual time with them before GB made his grand entrance:o)
Monday morning (the 13th), R and T accompanied me to my BP check appointment. The two readings were 142/98 and 137/95. Dr. K came in and we listened to GB's heartbeat and my cervix was a tight 2, but 50% effaced (making progress!). She stripped my membranes, hoping to encourage my body to go into labor. At this point, Dr. K wanted GB out. We had made it past the 39 week mark and my BP seemed to be continuing to creep up. She called the hospital to check that they had room for us and they did, so she told us to mosey in that direction. Dr. K did a great job of answering the guys' questions and making us all feel comfortable that this was the right decision.
The 3 of us must have been a sight, as we were each on the phone the second we left the building. R and T alerting their families and me calling my mom to come watch DD and DH to let him know what was going on. Then, back to my house we headed. The guys had to go back and pack up their hotel room, as they would be moving into an apartment Tuesday, while we prepped to be away from home for a couple of days. DH and I grabbed some lunch and we got to the hospital around 12:30 pm and the guys got there about 1 pm. And here I will leave you hanging. . .;o)
After Tuesday's appointment and some discussion, R & T changed their flight to Saturday, since it looked like making it to the 15th (their original arrival date) was decreasingly likely.
Thursday (the 9th) morning, I went to have my blood pressure checked again. Honestly, it was pretty much the same as my appointment Tuesday, except I didn't get weighed. The nurse took my BP twice, did the urine dip and asked me a thousand questions checking for symptoms of a bigger problem, but came up with nothing. The nurse then reported to the doctor, who came in, listened to GB's heartbeat and checked my cervix. The two BP readings were 128/90 and 127/87; still on the high side, but a little better than Tuesday's. My cervix was 1.5 cm dilated and 0% effaced. Dr. K wanted to keep an eye on my BP and I was instructed to come back Monday morning for another check.
After Thursday's results, we were even more convinced that the change of R & T's flight was a good idea.
R & T arrived Saturday night and we had some time to hang out Saturday night and they came over for Mother's Day dinner Sunday and met my parents. It was really great to get to spend some casual time with them before GB made his grand entrance:o)
Monday morning (the 13th), R and T accompanied me to my BP check appointment. The two readings were 142/98 and 137/95. Dr. K came in and we listened to GB's heartbeat and my cervix was a tight 2, but 50% effaced (making progress!). She stripped my membranes, hoping to encourage my body to go into labor. At this point, Dr. K wanted GB out. We had made it past the 39 week mark and my BP seemed to be continuing to creep up. She called the hospital to check that they had room for us and they did, so she told us to mosey in that direction. Dr. K did a great job of answering the guys' questions and making us all feel comfortable that this was the right decision.
The 3 of us must have been a sight, as we were each on the phone the second we left the building. R and T alerting their families and me calling my mom to come watch DD and DH to let him know what was going on. Then, back to my house we headed. The guys had to go back and pack up their hotel room, as they would be moving into an apartment Tuesday, while we prepped to be away from home for a couple of days. DH and I grabbed some lunch and we got to the hospital around 12:30 pm and the guys got there about 1 pm. And here I will leave you hanging. . .;o)
Thursday, May 16, 2013
The stats
I promise I will do a birth story soon, that includes more details and my feelings about that loooooong 24+ hours. For now, the stats and a pic.
Mr. Gummi Bear was born May 14th at 10:55 am after about 22 hours of labor and 5ish minutes of pushing. He was 7 pounds 10 ounces and 20-1/2 inches long. We were both released from the hospital after about 25 hours and are doing well. T & R are falling more in love every hour and I am feeling great! Below are some pics that were taken just minutes before our jail break;o)
Mr. Gummi Bear was born May 14th at 10:55 am after about 22 hours of labor and 5ish minutes of pushing. He was 7 pounds 10 ounces and 20-1/2 inches long. We were both released from the hospital after about 25 hours and are doing well. T & R are falling more in love every hour and I am feeling great! Below are some pics that were taken just minutes before our jail break;o)
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Update: recovery
Andrea is doing well. She is feeling much better than she did after we had Haley. Second time around is easier.
At this point, I will sign off and let Andrea do a detailed post in the future with all the bells and whistles y'all are wanting to know.
Thanks for following us on this journey and all of your support you sent our way.
David
Everyone is healthy
Everyone is happy and healthly. All of the other details are for the proud parents to share first.
Update 1007
Andrea is doing fine. The epidural is doing its job. They just took some blood but otherwise wait and see.
Update 809am new epidural
We just had a new epidural put in and some IV drugs to help with getting it in.
Update 730
Contractions are very strong; the epidural doesn't seem to be working. There has been some vomiting.
Update 715 contactions and epidural
Andrea just got an epidural booster shot. Hopefully, it will work in the next few minutes. She is really feeling the contractions and moaning through the pain.
Update 655 water break
It appears that Andrea's water just broke. The epidural doesn't seem to be working all that well anymore. Things might start to get interesting soon.
Update 618am
Andrea just got checked and she is 4.5 - 5cm, and 90% effaced. Pitocin is running at 15 ( apparently some elves were upping this while I was half a sleep). Baby Top Secret is "floating" so they don't want to break the water for fear that something other than the head would come down first.
500am update
No major changes. Just a quick good morning to the early risers. Andrea has been able to get some rest. T found a semi comfortable place to sleep for a bit in one of the waiting rooms. R and i have been taking turns laying down on the couch in the room.
Every couple of hours someone is coming in the room disturbing everyone. The routine is rest for a bit, rotate Andrea, have a different nurse visist, fix concraction monitor - then repeat.
Update 215am slow slow slow
Andrea was checked and she isn't at 5cm yet and isn't completely effaced yet. I have a feeling it will be a while.
Update 1238am
Lights turned down and once the blood pressure cuff stops turning on and off Andrea will try to get some rest. The rest of us are being entertained by tablets and phones.
The next update will be when something interesting happens. Until then, happy resting.
Update 1214am 5/14/13
The epidural is in and appears to be working. Hopefully she will get checked soon as well.
Monday, May 13, 2013
Update 1116pm contractions
The contractions a definitely getting stronger and they are close together. Andrea is breathing through them and doing a great job. The shift change is taking a while, but we called the nurse and requested some food and an epidural.
Update 1052pm epidural?
Andrea is thinking she is about to call uncle and request an epidural at the shift change at 11pm.
Update 858
Lights down low, movie quietly playing, trying ti get some rest. The guys are out at dinner.
Update 817pm
Contractions are good. The pitocin has been lowered to 9ml/hr because the contractions are progressing nicely.
Update 704pm
The midwife just checked Andrea. She is 2.5cm, and 60 effaced. We are making slow and steady progress. The mid wife predicts an early morning baby.
David
Update 621pm
Andrea has had hospital food for dinner, some meat thing with potatoes, green beans and a salad. I had a burger for the cafeteria. The guys haven't eaten yet.
The pitocin was upped to 8ml/hr.
We have also been enjoying every alarm in the room going off recently.
Update 436pm
Contactions are a little more regular, andrea is feeling them more. We might try walking around.
David
Update 358pm pitocin
Not much happening. We are watching Sweet Home Alabama, and the pitocin was just increased.
Checked in at hospital
Hello, I am david, Andrea's husband. We have checked into the hospital and we will be updating the blog as things progress. We will be updating things from a phone so spelling and spacing might be a little screwy.
This morning andrea had a 930am appointment to check her bp, which was still high do the doc sent us to the hospital. We have checked into the room and are going through all the admin and check in stuff.
Andrea just had her bp checked and it was normal.
T&R are here.
David 126pm
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
38 week appt update
Not quite what I hoped for, but truckin' along.
Stats:
Weight: almost 11 pounds gained
Urine dip: trace protein
BP: 142/92 and 128/88-90 (more info about this below)
Uterus: 38 weeks
GB's HR: 140ish
Cervix: 1 cm dilated, 0% effaced
GB is still head down, feet to my left.
Looking at the stats, my BP has been creeping up for the past couple of months, so I wasn't too surprised when it hopped over the "high" mark today. Although, the Dr. says this is a normal progression for pregnancy, minus today's result. They want it to be 139/89 or lower, so I was just barely over that threshold. The OB was very happy that the top number came down when she did it, but she still wasn't happy with the bottom number. I only had trace protein in my urine which I have had several times during this pregnancy and is no biggie. The concern about the BP is that I may have or may be on my way to having pre-eclampsia, which the only cure for is delivery, which, at this point, is a totally viable option, since GB is just fattening up now. So, Dr. K sent me to the lab. They are checking my liver function, kidney function and platelet counts. If the labs indicate I have pre-eclampsia, I will be sent to L&D tonight to have a baby. If the labs are normal, I will go back to the OB Thu to have my BP checked again.
I feel fine and have none of the other symptoms of pre-e, but I have a feeling this little guy is coming out or being evicted within the week.
Lab results just came in and everything is within the normal range, except my white blood cell count is a smidge high. I will update after I hear from the Dr. hopefully, soon.
Update: Just got the email from the doctor. Labs are normal, BP check on Thursday:o)
Monday, May 6, 2013
38 weeks
I have had lots of family and friends checking up on me:o) It is actually quite funny. I tell them all the same thing. I am still pregnant and I feel fine. There is nothing else to say. And I promise, I won't leave you hanging. DH and I both have the Blogger app on our phones and we plan to post updates about labor and delivery to this blog in live time. We did it with DD and it was a huge success! Could be any day now, could be two weeks from now; your guess is as good as mine:o)
How am I feeling physically? I am feeling pretty good, finally:o) I have had some very minor swelling in my hands and ankles (no more wedding ring for me). My hip is a bit sore, as the relaxin hormone does its job preparing my joints to relax for birth. I have had some round ligament pain and moments where it feels like GB is playing drums on my cervix. I have been having some cramps. It kinda feels like menstrual cramps. I guess they are contractions (some might call them Braxton-Hicks). They are very minor and very infrequent. A little annoying, at times, but no biggie. My boss said that he looks like he "dropped" between Tue and Thu last week. That would be good because it means his head might get "stuck" where it belongs:o)
Doctor's Appointment: My next appointment is tomorrow. I will let you know what Dr. K says.
Weight Gain: 10 pounds total!
Sleep: DH hasn't been sleeping well and it was been warm, so I have been sleeping OK, but definitely getting up more frequently.
Mood: I am feeling excited about what is in front of us. R and T seem to be getting excited and making preparations for this little one. The end is in sight!
Movement: I feel kicks and punches all over. Most of them are higher/in the middle-feet, knees, bottom. Occasionally, I feel punches to my cervix, which is a weird feeling. GB seems to have 3 main active periods, one an hour or so after each meal. He must be feeling a little squished in there because the movements are definitely less fast and less frequent.
Exciting Moment(s): PBO was signed by the judge last week. We got our digital copies on Thursday and I got my certified copy from FedEx today!!! R&T should get their certified copy tomorrow and we will be golden. Let me just say, big sigh of relief! This was pushed too close for my comfort, but it worked out:o) We are ready.
Milestones Achieved:GB has really plumped up. He weighs about 6.8 pounds and is over 19 1/2 inches long. He has a firm grasp and his organs have matured and are ready for life outside the womb. (Source: thebump.com)
Next Milestones/What I am looking forward to: Stuff is ready for the hospital, but not quite in a bag, yet. My parents are lined up to watch DD at the drop of a hat and we have 50 (maybe only 4;-)) different phone numbers to get a hold of T or R. Looking forward to tomorrow's appointment and then the big day is eminent. I can't wait to find out what GB's top secret name is and see him put in the arms of his loving daddies:o)
How am I feeling physically? I am feeling pretty good, finally:o) I have had some very minor swelling in my hands and ankles (no more wedding ring for me). My hip is a bit sore, as the relaxin hormone does its job preparing my joints to relax for birth. I have had some round ligament pain and moments where it feels like GB is playing drums on my cervix. I have been having some cramps. It kinda feels like menstrual cramps. I guess they are contractions (some might call them Braxton-Hicks). They are very minor and very infrequent. A little annoying, at times, but no biggie. My boss said that he looks like he "dropped" between Tue and Thu last week. That would be good because it means his head might get "stuck" where it belongs:o)
Doctor's Appointment: My next appointment is tomorrow. I will let you know what Dr. K says.
Weight Gain: 10 pounds total!
Sleep: DH hasn't been sleeping well and it was been warm, so I have been sleeping OK, but definitely getting up more frequently.
Mood: I am feeling excited about what is in front of us. R and T seem to be getting excited and making preparations for this little one. The end is in sight!
Movement: I feel kicks and punches all over. Most of them are higher/in the middle-feet, knees, bottom. Occasionally, I feel punches to my cervix, which is a weird feeling. GB seems to have 3 main active periods, one an hour or so after each meal. He must be feeling a little squished in there because the movements are definitely less fast and less frequent.
Exciting Moment(s): PBO was signed by the judge last week. We got our digital copies on Thursday and I got my certified copy from FedEx today!!! R&T should get their certified copy tomorrow and we will be golden. Let me just say, big sigh of relief! This was pushed too close for my comfort, but it worked out:o) We are ready.
Milestones Achieved:GB has really plumped up. He weighs about 6.8 pounds and is over 19 1/2 inches long. He has a firm grasp and his organs have matured and are ready for life outside the womb. (Source: thebump.com)
Next Milestones/What I am looking forward to: Stuff is ready for the hospital, but not quite in a bag, yet. My parents are lined up to watch DD at the drop of a hat and we have 50 (maybe only 4;-)) different phone numbers to get a hold of T or R. Looking forward to tomorrow's appointment and then the big day is eminent. I can't wait to find out what GB's top secret name is and see him put in the arms of his loving daddies:o)
 |
| 38 weeks |
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Poll
I am too lazy/technology challenged to set up a fancy/official poll. I figure we can have a little fun guessing when GB is going to make his grand appearance. In a comment below please place your guess for as many details as you would like. My doctor has hospital duty on May 21st, so, unless my cervix is closed up tight, we will likely induce then, if we make it that far. Therefore, I highly recommend choosing a date between now and the 22nd.
Birthday
Time
Weight
Length
Birthday
Time
Weight
Length
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