Monday, March 03, 2008
Sunday, January 27, 2008
So...NEW BABY!!! We made it. We went for our non-stress test last Wednesday, and were told to come back again on Thursday, Jan 17 as there were small concerns with his heart rate. So when we saw the OB that afternoon, he also scheduled an ultrasound for Thursday while we were at the hospital. On Thursday, the same results happened with the non-stress test, although they were not too concerned about it. Then I waited around the hospital for 4 more hours until they could fit in my ultrasound. Thank goodness our OB showed up to see it himself, as we have had some weird ones recently with mixed opinions of what they were showing. It seemed that I still had a complete previa, and he decided to book me for a c-section on the morning of Tuesday,January 22. I went home and called people to let them know when the baby was coming, and my mom made her arrangements to arrive on Monday.
I couldn't sleep that night. Found out some terrible news in the afternoon, and had problems clearing my mind. So I was reading from 2am on. At 4am, I got up to take a couple of tylenol and a Tums, and went back to bed to read. And then, at 4:40am, I started to hemorrhage. I have to say, I was terrified. I got to the bathroom in time (no blood in the bed) and N brought me the phone for the ambulance. Then I called my mom so she could start her trip. And although time felt as though it was standing still, the ambulance attendants said I called 911 at 4:43am and I was in the case room at the hospital at 5:00am. The nurse did her best to soothe me (N had to take CW to his Aunt's house, so wasn't with me yet) and my doctor and OB arrived just before 5:30. They took me down to the OR, gave me a spinal, and our beautiful baby boy was born at 6:11am. They were so fast that I didn't even need a transfusion, and didn't lose my uterus! N arrived at 6:14, they were just weighing and wiping off the baby, and as soon as he heard N's voice he stopped crying. Born January 18 at 6:11am, 35w, 6d. He weighed 6lbs, 4oz and scored 9, 10 and 10 on his APGARs. (Hopefully that's the right spelling)
I was in the recovery room until 8.30am, so didn't see him again until just about 9am, but he latched like a pro and continues to do so. He's such a great little nurser, the nursery staff couldn't believe it. I guess he was hooked up to heart monitors for the first day or so, and had an EKG done as his resting heart rate would drop to 85, but it resolved itself and the paediatrician told me when we were discharged that he was no longer concerned about it.
We did need to stay in the hospital a little longer than last time, but it was because he was so early, and lost quite a bit of weight. But they eventually decided that since he eats so well, and takes so much at each feeding, there wasn't anything I could do at the hospital that I couldn't be doing at home. And so on Tuesday night (the day he'd been scheduled to be born) we got to come home. He weighed 5lbs, 4oz, the same as his brother did when we brought him home. And by the next morning he'd gained 6g! Right now he weighs 5lbs, 11oz, so he's thriving so far.
And me, well I'm recovering better than I ever thought possible, especially based on my last section. I've already been out to the shops twice! I can't believe what great care I received at this hospital, and I will eventually be sending them a letter, just to let them know how much I appreciate all the wonderful nurses there. (sorry if it sounds like I'm gushing)
So...that's it for now. Big brother is loving the baby, even if he's still not quite got a grasp on what "gentle" means. And eventually, he'll even have a name!
- I might have to adjust/update this a little later, I'm just trying to get something up now so people will stop asking about it. ;)
I couldn't sleep that night. Found out some terrible news in the afternoon, and had problems clearing my mind. So I was reading from 2am on. At 4am, I got up to take a couple of tylenol and a Tums, and went back to bed to read. And then, at 4:40am, I started to hemorrhage. I have to say, I was terrified. I got to the bathroom in time (no blood in the bed) and N brought me the phone for the ambulance. Then I called my mom so she could start her trip. And although time felt as though it was standing still, the ambulance attendants said I called 911 at 4:43am and I was in the case room at the hospital at 5:00am. The nurse did her best to soothe me (N had to take CW to his Aunt's house, so wasn't with me yet) and my doctor and OB arrived just before 5:30. They took me down to the OR, gave me a spinal, and our beautiful baby boy was born at 6:11am. They were so fast that I didn't even need a transfusion, and didn't lose my uterus! N arrived at 6:14, they were just weighing and wiping off the baby, and as soon as he heard N's voice he stopped crying. Born January 18 at 6:11am, 35w, 6d. He weighed 6lbs, 4oz and scored 9, 10 and 10 on his APGARs. (Hopefully that's the right spelling)
I was in the recovery room until 8.30am, so didn't see him again until just about 9am, but he latched like a pro and continues to do so. He's such a great little nurser, the nursery staff couldn't believe it. I guess he was hooked up to heart monitors for the first day or so, and had an EKG done as his resting heart rate would drop to 85, but it resolved itself and the paediatrician told me when we were discharged that he was no longer concerned about it.
We did need to stay in the hospital a little longer than last time, but it was because he was so early, and lost quite a bit of weight. But they eventually decided that since he eats so well, and takes so much at each feeding, there wasn't anything I could do at the hospital that I couldn't be doing at home. And so on Tuesday night (the day he'd been scheduled to be born) we got to come home. He weighed 5lbs, 4oz, the same as his brother did when we brought him home. And by the next morning he'd gained 6g! Right now he weighs 5lbs, 11oz, so he's thriving so far.
And me, well I'm recovering better than I ever thought possible, especially based on my last section. I've already been out to the shops twice! I can't believe what great care I received at this hospital, and I will eventually be sending them a letter, just to let them know how much I appreciate all the wonderful nurses there. (sorry if it sounds like I'm gushing)
So...that's it for now. Big brother is loving the baby, even if he's still not quite got a grasp on what "gentle" means. And eventually, he'll even have a name!
- I might have to adjust/update this a little later, I'm just trying to get something up now so people will stop asking about it. ;)
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Here's just a quick update while I am actually at the computer...
35 weeks! No date for a c-section yet. The OB says it's still very important to weigh the risks to me against the risks to the baby, and at the moment I guess there is still too high a risk that his lungs aren't developed yet. Well, I guess that was last week, so we'll see what he has to say on Wednesday when we see him next. He has added weekly non-stress tests to our other tests, to make sure that the baby is still doing fine. The ultrasound showed that my fluid is a little low, nothing like how low it was with CW, but lower than it would be normally. But other than that, it looks like everything is coming along well with the little guy. So, we're still waiting. And it's still hard.
N is being amazing. He does all the cooking, laundry, housecleaning, toddler lifting, gets up with him in the night, works, and takes care of me. He also baked a banana bread last Sunday as a friend was coming to visit me on Monday. And he's doing it all with a smile on his face. I'm sure it's just to make sure that I don't feel worse about it all than I do already. I can't believe how incredible he's been about everything. Even when I wake up crying, he's still my rock. I am a VERY lucky person.
All the preparations are just about finished for the baby. I have to say, nesting is really difficult to do when you are on bed rest. I try and organize my lists so that he has to make the minimum trips out, but still. My husband is a man that doesn't like shopping at the best of times, and now he's out (at this very moment) rooting through baby stores trying to get the last things on my lists.
Friends brought our co-sleeper up from the coast last weekend (so I can finally stop worrying about where he is going to sleep when we come home from the hospital), and it was SO nice to see them. I think both of us realized how much we miss just socializing with our friends. It doesn't really happen that much here. I have friends that come to visit, but he mostly just sees people from his work, and now that he's working from home... Well. Hopefully once I'm back on my feet again we can get out and meet some more people.
Anyway, that's it for news. Now I have to get back to laying down before he comes home and catches me still at the computer.
35 weeks! No date for a c-section yet. The OB says it's still very important to weigh the risks to me against the risks to the baby, and at the moment I guess there is still too high a risk that his lungs aren't developed yet. Well, I guess that was last week, so we'll see what he has to say on Wednesday when we see him next. He has added weekly non-stress tests to our other tests, to make sure that the baby is still doing fine. The ultrasound showed that my fluid is a little low, nothing like how low it was with CW, but lower than it would be normally. But other than that, it looks like everything is coming along well with the little guy. So, we're still waiting. And it's still hard.
N is being amazing. He does all the cooking, laundry, housecleaning, toddler lifting, gets up with him in the night, works, and takes care of me. He also baked a banana bread last Sunday as a friend was coming to visit me on Monday. And he's doing it all with a smile on his face. I'm sure it's just to make sure that I don't feel worse about it all than I do already. I can't believe how incredible he's been about everything. Even when I wake up crying, he's still my rock. I am a VERY lucky person.
All the preparations are just about finished for the baby. I have to say, nesting is really difficult to do when you are on bed rest. I try and organize my lists so that he has to make the minimum trips out, but still. My husband is a man that doesn't like shopping at the best of times, and now he's out (at this very moment) rooting through baby stores trying to get the last things on my lists.
Friends brought our co-sleeper up from the coast last weekend (so I can finally stop worrying about where he is going to sleep when we come home from the hospital), and it was SO nice to see them. I think both of us realized how much we miss just socializing with our friends. It doesn't really happen that much here. I have friends that come to visit, but he mostly just sees people from his work, and now that he's working from home... Well. Hopefully once I'm back on my feet again we can get out and meet some more people.
Anyway, that's it for news. Now I have to get back to laying down before he comes home and catches me still at the computer.
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Well, it's 33 weeks and counting. Saturday we'll hit 34. And we have another ultrasound on Tuesday which might give us a better indication of what we can expect going forward. Or not. The worst thing about this is still the waiting. For something to happen. And the fear that's attached to that.
Thanks for the comments on the last post, believe it or not they helped a lot, so I guess I'm glad I'm writing this stuff down. I'm just not at the computer much these days.
The baby is doing fine though, by all accounts. He's moving a lot still, which is good, but making me pretty uncomfortable. And as far as we can tell he's growing well. Again, the ultrasound will give us a better indication of that. And I'm really, really hoping that the OB will let us schedule an early c-section if the baby looks good. If we can get him out before I start a bleed on my own, well then I think that lessens the risks a fair bit. And I'm all for that.
Christmas was nice here, very quiet, but nice that we at least got to spend it at home with each other, and not in the hospital. Same with New Years. Quiet, but together, and that's the most important thing. Now I just wish that CW had more to do during the day, but there's not much we can do about that at the moment. And he probably doesn't know any better right now anyway. At least he's got a bunch of new toys to play with, and I can play blocks with him from the couch. I am beginning to get VERY sick of the couch though. But...it's better than the alternative, so I'm trying to stay as positive as I can.
That's it for this one. I can hear N and CW finishing in the bath, and he doesn't know I've been updating.
Bye for now.
Thanks for the comments on the last post, believe it or not they helped a lot, so I guess I'm glad I'm writing this stuff down. I'm just not at the computer much these days.
The baby is doing fine though, by all accounts. He's moving a lot still, which is good, but making me pretty uncomfortable. And as far as we can tell he's growing well. Again, the ultrasound will give us a better indication of that. And I'm really, really hoping that the OB will let us schedule an early c-section if the baby looks good. If we can get him out before I start a bleed on my own, well then I think that lessens the risks a fair bit. And I'm all for that.
Christmas was nice here, very quiet, but nice that we at least got to spend it at home with each other, and not in the hospital. Same with New Years. Quiet, but together, and that's the most important thing. Now I just wish that CW had more to do during the day, but there's not much we can do about that at the moment. And he probably doesn't know any better right now anyway. At least he's got a bunch of new toys to play with, and I can play blocks with him from the couch. I am beginning to get VERY sick of the couch though. But...it's better than the alternative, so I'm trying to stay as positive as I can.
That's it for this one. I can hear N and CW finishing in the bath, and he doesn't know I've been updating.
Bye for now.
