Isaac James Birth Story- Part 2
by nathanI woke Nathan and we had the stereotypical “it’s time to go to the hospital” moment. He, of course, was coming out of a deep sleep while I was wide awake and in gear to get going. While I was telling Nathan that my water broke, I was dialing the phone to call the hospital so we could tell them we were coming. I handed the phone to Nathan so he could talk to them while I went to the bathroom to change. Nathan was so out of it that he could hardly put two words together when the operator answered the phone. He managed to get transfered to the OB floor, but at that point he was making no sense. The nurse he was speaking with asked to speak to me! Poor Nathan. Anway, I told them who I was, how far along I was and that we were a half hour away and would be leaving soon.
Nathan grabbed his things and I went downstairs to tell Liz. I woke her and told her we were leaving to go have a baby and that she should come sleep upstairs in case the kids woke up and came into our room to look for us. Liz was a little disoriented too. As she came upstairs she asked if she should call anyone. I told her not to worry about it since it was 12:30.
Then we were on our way. By that time, Nathan was fully awake. My contractions were 5 minutes apart and not really that painful. As we got closer to the hospital, the contractions were about 3 minutes apart, but they weren’t very long. Nathan marvelled that we were actually going to the hospital and that we were going to stay until our baby was born. We weren’t going in hopes of being released in an hour. I was working on getting myself in a good mindset for dealing with labor. With the very real possibility that this could be another fast labor, I wanted to make sure I was ready. I concentrated on viewing the contractions as good things and relaxing myself as much as possible during and after each one. When we arrived at Ridgeview, we parked and entered in the emergency area since that is the only door open at that time of the night/morning.
By a little after 1:00am, we were situated in our labor room. The nurse hooked me up to monitor the heartbeat and the contractions. Then she checked me and said that I was at about a 0 station and was 3-4 cm dilated. I was happy to hear that my contractions were productive. Then she did a test to confirm that my water had broke. Maybe it was my low fluid levels that threw off the test because it came back negative. I wasn’t going to be sent home though. The monitor clearly showed that I was in active labor. She disconnected the monitors and told me I could move to a different position or walk around if I wanted. I was relatively comfortable and still sort of fearful of having the baby come too quickly. So, I decided against getting up and walking around. The nurse asked if I was going to want an epidural. I told her that I wasn’t feeling very brave so I did want one.
Nathan was great. He would rub my arms when I was having a contraction and try to distract me a little. I continued to focus on doing really long, slow breathing (like I was sighing or sleeping) through each contraction. I wanted to save my energy for when things got more intense. As the contractions got longer, closer together and more intense, I kept wondering why the nurse hadn’t started the IV yet or called the anesthesiologist.
Part 3 to follow.
Isaac is one week old!
by nathan
Isn’t he handsome? It’s nice to see his eyes!
Isaac is doing fabulously. He gets kisses all day long from Ethan and Audrey. They love him so much. Also, Isaac had his one week follow-up appointment with our doctor yesterday. As we were going to the exam room, a very pregnant woman was walking out of another room. She just sighed when she saw us. It was a “I don’t think I’ll ever be done” sigh and it made me smile. I felt sorry for her, but it still amused me a little. Isaac was up to 6 lbs, 8oz. That’s up 5 oz. from the previous day. He’s getting more awake and seems to have some more energy to nurse better. I’m hoping this means we can slowly wean off the extra bottling and pumping soon.
We’re getting a nice routine going and Isaac seems to be a pretty laid back baby as far as I can tell at 1 week.
Easing into a new normal
by nathanEthan is playing Lego Batman, Audrey is tucking in her dolly, and Isaac is napping. Nathan is at work and I’ve been on my own for about 2 hours. So far I’ve lasted longer than yesterday. Less than an hour after Nathan left yesterday afternoon, Ethan told me he needed to go to the bathroom. The next thing I know he was crying for me and telling me that he puked. Unfortunately, I was in the middle of nursing Isaac. So, I got up from the couch, with Isaac still attached and attempted to nurse him and hold Ethan’s bucket for him and console and clean him up at the same time. It was crazy. At least Audrey was still napping.
I’m so sleepy. Isaac has been sleeping so much during the day that we hardly ever see his eyes, but at about 9:00pm he is ready to be awake more. We’re working on getting his days and nights figured out. Our awesome swaddle blanket has been working great. I thought Isaac might not like it because he loves to have his hands up by his face, but once he is all wrapped up tight it calms him down almost immediately.
I had forgotten how tough the physical recovery from childbirth could be. I had every intention of coming home from the hospital and taking it easy. I was going to just concentrate on resting and getting a strong start to nursing Isaac. The resting and taking it easy has been all but impossible with 2 other children and house work piling up. Isaac eats about every 2 to 3 hours right now. He nurses for about a half hour. After that, I offer him a bottle to make sure he is getting enough (hopefully, I wont have to do that much longer), when he’s done with the bottle, I spend about 15 minutes using the breast pump. After pumping, I have to wash all the pump parts so they can be dry and ready to go for the next round. The whole process takes about an hour. I do it 7-8 times a day. Then there are dishes to wash, meals to make, and cleaning to do as well as paying attention to and helping Ethan and Audrey. I think not being able to rest has slowed my recovery. I’ve been so sore some days that it’s hard to walk. I wanted to be able to take advantage of Nathan being home, but he’s back at work now and it’s too late. I think last night was the only time I actually took a nap since we’ve been home.
We have Isaac’s one week checkup this afternoon at 4:30. Since we saw the lactation nurse yesterday, I don’t anticipate any surprises. That reminds me that I need to try to time feedings to work with the doctor appointment and drive time.
Ethan is sick
by nathan
Ethan fell asleep here in his doorway. He had a high fever today and vomitted twice. Poor guy. He hates it and gets worried about getting sick on things. I assured him that we could wash everything. Hopefully, he will feel better soon.
Isaac James Birth Story- Part 1
by nathanI’m trying to include all the details so that I can remember everything later. If details about labor and delivery aren’t your cup of tea, feel free to skip this post!
On Tuesday, June 2, I had my OB appointment. I was 37 weeks and 4 days. I was hoping that there would have been some change from previous week. I found out that my GBS test came back negative so I would not need IV antibiotics during labor. That’s a good thing! I was, however, disappointed to find out that nothing had changed at all for the last two weeks. Well, actually, one thing changed. I gained another 5 pounds. I did that the week before too. How does one gain 10 pounds in 2 weeks? I couldn’t believe it. Even my dad was impressed by my weight gain when I told him! Due to the lower level of fluid that I had, my doctor decided to do a non-stress test there in the clinic. I had to lay down on the exam table and have the baby’s heart and movements tracked over a 20 minute period. They were looking for good acceleration of the heart rate when he moved around. Everything checked out great.
I went home a little disappointed. I was happy that I had all my questions answered, but wondering if I was going to ever have this baby. Liz and I took the kids to the park in the afternoon. It was a sunny day and the kids love the park. It was a great way to spend the afternoon. That evening, Nathan brought home a “ranch pack” from Pizza Ranch for supper. Did I mention that it was my birthday? He brought home supper so I wouldn’t have to cook. I ate A LOT (what’s a few more pounds when I already gained 10 in two weeks!)- pizza, cheese sticks, cactus bread…. yummy! And to top it off, Nathan made a two layer double chocolate cake with two different kinds of chocolate frosting. I could have gone into a chocolate coma. Ice cream was also involved. And I may or may not have had more at 10:30 later that night. As the evening grew later, I thought to myself that eating so much may have been a bad idea and I was sure I would puke it all up if I went into labor (is that too much information? Oh well, I don’t want to forget these interesting details).
After walloping (sp?) Liz and Nathan on Burnout (some sort of car crashing PS2 game), we all retired to our beds. I noticed something, before going to bed, that made me wonder if maybe, just maybe, I might be going into labor soon. I want to include all the details, but I’ll just leave this one out be for the sake of my father. At 11:30, we went to bed. I was kind of wondering if I would be getting contractions soon so I slept lightly. At about 12:20am I woke up and had a couple of contractions. They were 5 minutes apart so I decided to get up to use the bathroom before laying down to time them some more. As soon as I stood up, my water broke. No need to wonder if it was time.
Isaac update- 5 days old
by nathanIsaac and I went to Ridgeview today to make sure he was gaining weight like he should be and to make sure that his jaundice levels were in a normal range. When we were discharged last week, his jaundice level was at a level where we needed to keep an eye on it. My milk hadn’t come in yet and that was contributing to the problem. My doctor said that if I would give Isaac an extra 1-2 ounces after each feeding until he could get more from me, that he probably wouldn’t need phototherapy.
Today Isaac weighed 6 lbs, 3oz. Breastfed babies (and most babies in general) lose about 4 oz a day for the first 4 days.Isaac was 6 lbs, 2 oz when we left the hospital. I was so happy that he stopped losing and is gaining weight even before the one week mark. That makes me very happy. His jaundice levels were not at a threshold that we needed to worry. It was a nice, reassuring appointment. The nurse also weighed Isaac before and after I nursed him to see exactly how much he was getting from me so I would know if I needed to give him any extra while my milk supply gets better. She also gave me some tricks for using the pump and it seems to be helping my output. I have high hopes. Nursing was impossible with Ethan and very difficult with Audrey. If you’ve ever had issues with your supply being lower than your baby needs, you know how hard it is to trust your body to meet your baby’s needs. I envy moms that don’t have to work at this!
Isaac has been pretty easy going. He naps a lot right now. No big surprise since he is only 5 days old. He struggles more with sleep at night time. Isn’t that convenient? I’m going to have to work a little harder to keep him up a little more after feedings during the day. It’s almost impossible right now. We don’t see his eyes very often!
