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April 30, 2006
Welcome!
Baby Will joined us last Monday, April 24. He was 7lbs, 2oz and 19 3/4 inches long. A perfect little baby. In all ways.
The contractions from Thursday continued as-in for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Annoying but not at all hurting. Sunday night they became hurting around 10pm. I wasn't sure if it was the contractions, though, or the 3 burritos I had for lunch. So we waited. I never slept and at around 5am we decided that this was it and that we should leave for the hospital before morning traffic really started. I called and the on-call doctor explained that my doctor was out of town until "midday". She said I should go to the hospital and see what the word is. If I'm too far gone, she'd do the c-section. If it could wait, we'd wait for my doctor.
We got there and they checked and I was 2cm dilated, so we knew these were "real" contractions doing something. But certainly not unbearable, so we waited. I got the IV of fluids, the monitor hook up and all that. Everything was fine, but I still couldn't sleep through the contractions. I'd looked forward to the one thing being different this time was not being in labor for 24 hours before the c-section- instead, I was in labor for… Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday… four days before the c-section. HA. Nothing ever works out as planned.
But it was all fine and at 1pm they rushed me to the surgery room and it was the scariest next 40 minutes of my life. The bright lights, people with no faces (masks on) rushing and saying things that made no sense, telling me to move here, do this, grab by knees to my chest and push my head down (um… YOU try doing that with a baby in your belly). Then going all numb and being sure that my knee is bent and raised on the right side. When I was told it wasn't and that your brain just remembers where it was when it went numb, I almost panicked. To FEEL that for sure my leg is in a certain position and then hear it's not… weird. Luckily, the anesthesiologist told me how to not panic about the breathing thing like I did last time. To refresh your memory, when they did this to me with Signa, I suddenly felt like I couldn't take a breath. He told me to put my hand to my face and I'd feel the breath coming in and out. That got me through it all.
That and hearing Will cry after they yanked and pulled him roughly from my body so that my whole body jerked this way and that. Then seeing his little face. Oh my God. He is just stunningly beautiful.
Our hospital stay was long and arduous, but thank heavens my mom stayed with me most of the time. Signa had a really hard time being left even with Gramma, so Marc stayed with her and Mom stayed with Will and me. Signa loves her baby brother, but really can't wait until we are all better and able to go out together as a family. It's hard on her to just be with one of her parents- she likes doing stuff with BOTH at the same time.
Soon… anyway, we had some issues with Will's weight, but that worked out just fine and he's perfect now. I was grateful to the lactation consultants who helped me figure out what to do to appease the pediatrician and get the job done right at the same time. I have learned that it's rare for a pediatrician to be supportive of breastfeeding. So that is my new cause- find one and switch to him or her. Immediately. I have some recommendations, so I'll call tomorrow.
As to Will's personality, he is beautiful. He hasn't cried except for getting changed (cold wipes) and going to the doctor's office. And the obligatory first cry- which they actually were saying they wanted him to cry more- if they just knew that's not his thing. He is alert so much and nurses perfectly and is a wonderful little baby man. I'll leave off with some pictures.
Posted by Debbie at 12:29 PM | Comments (3)
April 22, 2006
Almost Only Counts in Horse Shoes (or something like that)
Thursday afternoon at work, I started having the same ol' "practice" contractions that I've had for months, except that they were perfectly timed every few minutes. I went home a bit early to see what happens and by 7:30pm when they were still about 8 minutes apart consistently, we left for the hospital.
When we got there, Labor and Delivery was full so we were put in a recovery room and they hooked me up to an IV of fluids and put me on the baby monitor. Yep, I was having contractions and yep, the baby is fine. We were there a couple of hours and the fluids did not change the contractions.
So they sent us home and I was to rest all day Friday. Today is Saturday and I can say that since Thursday afternoon, I've had these supposedly fake contractions every 6-10 minutes all day and all night. But it doesn't matter until they hurt (these don't hurt- they just make my tummy feel super tight and then wake the baby).
It's all very confusing to me, as I know if this were a regular delivery I'd ignore these, but I thought that since I had to have a c-section they would want me to be there at first sign of anything. To me, this is not normal and is a very clear sign. But not to them, so I continue this amazingly boring rest and we'll just see what happens.
My poor mom ditched her dinner date with her friend to rush to the hospital and took a day off for nothing. Not to mention how much it will cost for that IV and monitoring... Ugh. Yes, it will be HURTING when I go in next. No more wasting time and money!
On the upside, the baby is doing great through all these contractions, so he's more than ready whenever the doctor is.
Posted by Debbie at 09:38 AM | Comments (1)
April 14, 2006
Easter Bunny
Signa, our tomboy girl, picked out fancy clothes and shoes and we went to see the Easter Bunny at the mall. She did amazing and wasn't at all afraid (unlike last year when there was just no chance in hell she was going to get anywhere near him). She brought him a card that she made and waited patiently in the long line.
Afterward we went for drinks (apple juice) at Nordstrom and pretended it was a tea party. We did some clothes shopping and then met some friends for lunch and even though she missed her nap and had two bowls of chocolate pudding, she did terrific and I had such a nice momma/little girl day.
Posted by Debbie at 04:09 PM | Comments (1)
April 13, 2006
Proud Moment
While Marc was driving:
Signa: "What does (mumble) mean?"
Me: "What did you say, Signa?"
Signa: "What does (mumble) mean?" Louder and annoyed.
Marc: "What is that word you are saying, Signa? We can't understand you."
Signa: (super slowly and loudly) "Sssssssss pah ah nnnnnnn k. What does spank mean?"
How proud we are that she has no idea. But the other proud part came next. "How do you spell it?"
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Other conversations with her go much like this.
"Momma, do you like mud?"
"Sure, I like mud."
"Why do you like mud so much?"
For everything. She'll ask if you like it and then you have to explain why if you say yes. If you say no, it's the end of the freaking world. "You don't like mud? Momma doesn't like mud, Dad. Why doesn't Momma like mud? That makes me sad that Momma doesn't like mud. Worms live in mud. Momma should like mud."
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Oh, and if you bang your foot on, say, a toy vacuum cleaner and yell about it, she will cry and get really upset until you show her that there is nothing really wrong permanently. However, if you are in the hospital with tubes coming out of your arms, she will just be excited to see Unkee.
Posted by Debbie at 03:23 PM | Comments (0)
April 10, 2006
Signa-isms and Pictures
I'm finally feeling better and even went back to work today. I am sorry for the long absence, but there isn't much to write about when you feel like death warmed over. Whatever that means.
Anyway, some cute Signa things. As she herself noted, "I'm using my 'magination an awful lot lately." And she is right. She took a bath a few weeks back and in it, too her pretend pet frog, Gobio, to the movies to see Roger the Talking Flamingo. She was especially impressed with a song from this (imagined) movie called, "Soap Wash."
And then in response to Marc sighing and getting tired over something, "Daddy, why don't you sit down and relax?"
She is growing up and getting so funny. I know there are 100,000 other things that I should have been writing to keep up with her, but we just wrote notes when we could and I'm better at just doing it every day or two. I'll try to be better now that I'm well, but soon (any moment/hour/day/week) Will will be coming and so I'll probably lose track again for awhile.
Oh, and pictures are up! Here: www.mascotmanor.org/Pictures/mar06/index.htm
Posted by Debbie at 08:54 PM | Comments (1)