Saturday, July 25, 2009

Izzy.


Well we came home from the hospital the next afternoon. We could have stayed another day, but we had already been there a long time and we missed our Erin. So I think we made it home around 5pm and grandma brought Erin home.




Erin was very very happy to be home, but she had been throwing up all day. She wasn't running a fever and was fine inbetween vomitting episodes, but she couldn't keep anything down.

Izzy was jaundice and they wanted us to make it back to see a doctor for her on Friday to check her bilirubin levels. We were able to make an appointment here in town so we didn't have to make the hour drive, which I don't think I could have done anyway.

So three days after giving birth we head downtown to get Izzy checked out. First off let me say that the pediatric area in the clinic is amazing! They have a little TV, a place for the kids to run around, a huge aquarium with the coolest fish, and crayons and pictures to color everywhere. Erin had a great time there and played with a bunch of kids.

The downside to this trip was that my husband, who had been doing an amazing job of being a daddy of two so far, got into work mode and kind of autopilot and just found some place to park on the street without giving much thought to it. Now I had no idea where the building was so I just went with it. I figured that the closest building that we had parked by was where we were going. Imagine my suprise when he walked right past it. He carried Izzy in the baby carrier and I was pushing Erin . . .slowly, in the stroller. It was blazing hot out and it turns out the the building wasn't anywhere close to where we parked. I muttered all kinds of hateful things under my breath directed towards my husband. Out loud I asked what the crap he was thinking, I just pushed a baby out three days ago!!! When we finally made it to the building there was a parking ramp. . . under it!!!!!! I was furious and I let him know it!

The pediatrition that we saw for Izzy was from South America so when she said "Isabella" it sounded musical. She said that Izzy looked really good except for the jaundice and that she definately wanted to get a blood draw and check the levels. As long as she was under 15.5 on the scale we wouldn't have to put her in the hospital to be under the lights they use to help babies process the bilirubin. So I left Scott and Erin to play in pediatrics while I took Izzy downstairs to the lab. Turned out that her levels were 12.5 and that they wanted us to come back the next day to possibly check her again. However, I wasn't worried. My milk was already in and she was eating great. There were lots of wet diapers so I felt confident that if anything her levels would go down by the next day.

Safe to say that I made my husband walk to the car and bring it back to the building and promise to park in the parking ramp the next day. The appointment the next day went well, the pediatrition that we saw wasn't worried and Izzy had gained another ounce from the previous day. She said if we were worried to bring her in on Monday. So we did not have to do another blood test and poke her little heels anymore.

I have to say that parking in the ramp was much easier than walking a mile!

More of the adventure to come when I get some more time, and my internet stops hiccuping!

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

My Birth Story. . . Part 2.


Almost two weeks later and I think I may finish the story this time.

So since I was a generous 5cm dilated and was staying at the hospital we of course. . . did more walking. We stopped walking to get some dinner and then I decided to spend some time in the whirlpool. After I was done in there we relaxed in the room for awhile. I found that the best thing for me to keep the contractions coming was to stand and sway.

My midwife came back around 7 pm and was going to check my cervix again. I was at a generous 6 this time so she decided to break my water. I was nervous because when my water was broken with Erin some really REALLY painful contractions started nearly immediately. After my water was broken my midwife and husband sat there looking at me and the monitor waiting for the same thing I was waiting for. .. pain. It didn't happen.

I decided I wanted to get on the birthing ball for awhile and see if that helped Izzy drop some more and encourage my cervix to open. My midwife gave me a great back massage after I got on the ball and then left and gave me an hour for my contractions to pick up. Well one hour turned into two and then they started the pitocin. My contractions were starting to finally pick up after 2 hours, but since I had been there for over 24 hours already my midwife didn't want me to be in labor forever, hence the pitocin. They turned it up ever 30 minutes until I was contracting at a decent pace.

I stayed on the birthing ball for a couple of hours and did well breathing through the intensifying contractions. My midwife came back in and told me they wanted me to climb into bed and lay on my side to encourage my sunny-side-up baby to rotate. So I relaxed in bed and fell asleep between contractions when I could.

Getting closer to 2 am and my contractions started to get very painful and I started having some that I wasn't doing such a great job breathing through and mostly moaned through. One of these was pretty loud and my husband bolted out his chair and ran over to me. My nurse also came back in and I had a few more that were not nice, so I asked her what else I could have besides an epidural. You see I wasn't sure how long this new phase was going to last. With Erin is lasted two hours and it was horrible! My nurse said she had to check me first and I told her to jump in in between contractions, and there wasn't a lot of time in between contractions anymore. She declared me an 8 and went to get the meds. When she asked me how much I wanted I was a little perplexed because I didn't know the dosing of Nubain. Silly nurse. She said I could have 5mg or 10mg. I told her 5mg because narcotics and I aren't the best of friends. She waited for another contraction and started to push the meds. I felt a little tingly and warm, but as far as pain relief. . . nothing.

A few more minutes passed and this intense bearing down pressure appeared out of nowhere! I grunted to the nurse "I have to push!" which caused her to run for my midwife. I had ahold of my husbands thumb and shirt and was letting out some pretty loud noises. Everyone (and I'm not sure who "everyone" was) was busying themselves in the room and my midwife asked me if I wanted to roll onto my back. I quickly said no through my moaning and grunting. So people helped me hold my legs up and my midwife starting asking me if Erin had a lot of hair when she was born. Apparently she could see the top of Izzy's head already!!! Keep in mind I pushed for two hours with Erin. Some more grunting and people saying stuff to me, which I could hear none of over the top of my own voice, and Izzy's head was out. Then with one maybe two more pushes she was out because it hurt A LOT to get the rest of her little body out of my body and I wanted that over as soon as possible!!!

When she was out I said "Thank you!" over and over and completely forgot that my baby was here! The nurses had me turn over onto my back and put her on my stomach and cleaned her of a bit and we just snuggled. She was born at 2:10 am and was 6 lbs. 5 oz.

She nursed great right from the start, had only a little trouble with jaundice, and so far has been a pretty calm baby. Which I would say that we deserve after Erin, with her screaming for 6 months. Now all my updates can be about the new baby!

Sunday, July 12, 2009

My Birth Story. . . Part 1.


Finally. . .
So we get settled into our room a bit and they put my IV in because I was GBS positive and they wanted at least two doses into me before I had Izzy. I also changed into my charming hospital gown. After the IV was in I grabbed the pole and Scott and I started our laps around the L&D floor.

We made countless rounds around that place for the next 30 hours. . . yes it would be 30 hours later before Izzy came.

As we were walking the contractions were still coming and they were intense enough. I felt a lot of pressure in my lower back and my midwife believed that was due to Izzy being in the "sunny side up" position. That meaning the back of her head was pushing on my lower back, and she eventually needed to turn face down to make it into the world.


The midwife we checked in with was done with her 36 hour shift at 8pm and the midwife that I had seen for all my appointments was on for the next 36 hours. She suggested that since it was getting late to rest awhile and if I was able to get some sleep for the night. She didn't want to push things too fast because I was early and they needed to get at least that second dose of antibiotics in.

I was able to sleep pretty well for the night. Contractions woke me up here and there and nurses came in to give me a new dose of antibiotics every 4 hours. At about 2am Scott and I were awoken by emphatic screaming from the delivery room next door. And I'm talking about the kind of screaming that you see in movies! Then she started yelling about the baby coming out and then we heard the baby cry. No joke. . .she screamed probably 7 times at most, then we heard the baby cry.

So since we were awake and the kitchen was open, I ordered some food. I got pancakes, hashbrowns, and a slice of ham. The pancakes were gross, hashedbrowns were good, ham was okay. And then I went back to sleep.

In the morning my midwife wanted to check to see if I had dilated at all during the night, then put me on the monitors to monitor how many contractions I was having and decide what to do next. When she checked me I was a little over 4cm, so there was some movement and then I was having contractions every 4-5 minutes still. So since there was some change in my cervix and I was still having consistent contractions she decided to keep me until the afternoon and see if anything changed.

Commence more and more walking. Eat lunch. More walking. Midwife checks me at around 1pm. I was SURE she was going to send us home. I thought she would check me and I would still be at 4cm and she would send us home. However, I was 5+ and she said she could not send me home. Also that she had talked to the OB on call and that they felt okay about breaking my water once I made it to 6 cm. . .

And now we break for me to get some coffee and breakfast before the mini-squish wakes up and wants more milk. With a birth story that spans 30 hours, you knew it was going to have to be told in parts.

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Installment #2



I have a few free moments since Scott took Erin to the grocery store with him and Izzy is only grunting here and there and thinking about waking up to eat. . .

The Friday before turning 36 weeks I had my mom come for a few days to help me with some stuff around the house and with the garden. Scott had hurt his back severely enough to be off work on workers-comp and was unable to assist me in much of anything.

I had found a post on Craigslist for someone needing to get rid of some straw. . for FREE! So I enlisted my mom and our truck to get a load and use it to drown out the weeds in the garden. We picked it up and worked on it the next two days a couple of hours each day. We had enough to cover the rows and such and a little around the mounds of cucumbers, melons, and pumpkins. Another load of it could have been used, but we were too tired to get more.

We tackled that on Friday and Saturday. On Sunday we took it pretty easy. My mom and I were talking during Erin's nap and as I sat on the couch I though I was noticing that I was getting contractions more than normal. So at 2pm I started timing them. Sure enough they were coming between 4-5 minutes apart. Not painful, just happening. I timed them for the next couple of hours and they kept up, but I didn't want to call in yet until they started to feel different because last time for Erin we got to the hospital and then they stopped. . . . So another hour or so of contractions and they started to intensify so I called in to Labor and delivery and they asked how long it would take me to get there and I let them know an hour, which sounded like they were a bit worried about, so they told me to come in now.

Scott then scurried about grabbing bags of stuff and packing it in the car as I was breathing through some contractions and trying to calm our near 3 year-old because we were leaving. The ride was uneventful besides the contractions thankfully and when I got there and was checked I was nearly 4 cm. . . and there I leave you because the squishy is full-on hungry and awake now!

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Installment #1





Last time I left off I was only fingertip dilated and going to go visit my dad. Izzy is now two weeks old so I figure I've got some catching up to do. . .







However, I don't have time to do it in the detail that I would really like to. One, because I know lots of people love birth stories. Two, I have a two week old and a three year old and don't have the time. If I didn't at least get started now I would put it off forever. So I need to do installments and hopefully tell the tale coherently enough.


I came home a day early from my dad's because I had a worrysome episode one evening and did not want to give birth early away from my care provider. I was having way too many contractions for my own comfort level. I was very careful the whole next week I was home because I would not be able to stay with the midwives if I went into labor before 35 weeks.






At my 35 week appointment my midwife and I were very pleased to see I had made it that far without incident. She checked my cervix again and I was a little over 1cm dilated and 50 % effaced. She thought I would make it to 37 weeks no problem. And that is all I have time for. . . this time. Pictures are from our Kenosha trip.