Maybe today doesn't count because my mom was here until 930am when she left to get back to work by 1pm. So I had some extra sleep and little guy had an extra bottle (throwing him completely off any schedule, but he was happy). Otherwise, today is my first day with him alone. Sure, C will be home this afternoon and I'll be grateful for his help (read: to hand off his son).
So today we're just going to eat, sleep, poop, and drink water (just me on that last one). Which seems simple until you factor in what feed means. Right now, we're nursing for as long as Baby I likes (10-30min), then we're supplementing with a bottle of breast milk (25-40ml, have to find a clean bottle and warm up and get him to wake long enough to take it all in: 10-20min), and finally, I'm supposed to keep up with pumping like I was in the hospital (after every single feeding, which I have cut back to about 4-5x per 24hr period, but I have to make sure my pumping gear is clean and dry, find a container for breast milk, and pump for longer than I did at the hospital to achieve the same result: 30-40min). Then we do it all again in less than two hours. It can be exhausting. Which, is how I hear it is.
I'm still going to try my best not to do too much (so I shouldn't walk three blocks to the library to pick up a book?) and sleep a lot. And not count the hours until C arrives home. Perhaps not blog or email or text (wait, really?).
- Posted from my mobile phone
Monday, June 11, 2012
Friday, June 8, 2012
Two Weeks Out
It's been two weeks since I had surgery and Baby I entered the world. I'm planning to go back and describe some of what happened in leading up to his arrival and the days following, but it will take some time. I didn't realize how all consuming newborns could be!
We are both home now. Baby I was discharged from the hospital's NICU on Tuesday, May 5th and we joyfully came home to a clean and organized home (courtesy of C, my parents, and C's mom). It was exhausting. I suddenly didn't have NICU nurses to take over one of Baby I's early morning hour feedings so that I could get more sleep (yes, they told me to take advantage of this opportunity while we were there, so I did). And I (we) was now responsible for all of his care, which is overwhelming. Per his dr and the nurses and the lactation consultant, I was to keep breast feeding (my choice), then supplement with 22-30ml of breast milk from a bottle, and finally pump - all of this every 2-3 hours. I know a lot of you have done it, but when there isn't any help, that's a substantial amount of time and dishes, especially at 3 or 4am. We're still figuring it out. I don't sleep much, but I hear that's typical.
My dr's appointment was this morning and it went well. C and Baby I came with me and the dr just reminded me to take it easy and to remember to eat and drink enough. She noted my feeding/bottle/pump schedule and asked me how long I could keep it up and I honestly answered that I'd already dropped some of the late/early pump times in exchange for better, longer sleep. She approved of this tactic. I also found that if Baby I eats well from me, I can get away with pumping less frequently and for a longer duration and get approximately the same amount of milk. It will all work out. Dr said my ankles looked great (i.e. I have ankles again instead of cankles - they still surprise me) and my blood pressure was back on the low side of normal. My scar is healing great and we had a brief conversation about birth control - that's probably another post altogether, but I'll just note for now that the idea of birth control after everything we've experienced makes me (as in a personal, closely held feeling) very uncomfortable.
Baby I's appointment was this afternoon and we were holding our breath for two reasons: weight gain and vaccines. The bottle supplement is specifically to encourage Baby I to gain weight and I was almost closing my eyes as C put him on the scale at the dr's office (after cleaning up a colossal dirty diaper that surely would have added a few ounces). He was born at 4'6, dropped to 3'12, and was at least 4'7 when we left on Tuesday, so I was delighted that he had gained 6oz and is now at 4lbs, 13oz! He's also grown an inch to 18in, or they were able to stretch him out a little better. We opted not to circumcise him after I did quite a bit of research, so we didn't have that to worry about. The green crusty eyes are just immature tear ducts. Everything else looked great. We were concerned about vaccination, but I haven't had time to research them as well as I would like to, but my (so far) uninformed, common sense thoughts are these: vaccines are, for the most part, good, but more recently, more vaccines that could be considered unnecessary or misrepresented have been introduced - some for diseases that are rare, difficult to contract, or even moral reasons - and as his parents, we want to dictate what gets put into his body (especially after all the recent decisions that were made for us/him in his best interest). We also do not want him getting 4-6 shots in a single visit, as that cannot be beneficial, nor do we know how a vaccine intended for a 6-8lb newborn can affect a baby under 5lbs. So really, we aren't even declining vaccination, we would just like to wait a bit, do some research, and maybe visit the vaccination thing when Baby I is bigger. But the HepB is right around the corner, which is one of the reasons we've been looking for a dr who will delay vaccination - might have found one in my own GP.
So, we're all good and well and tired, even though we've had tons of help (moms and sister) and even meals delivered (courtesy of my work pals - wow!). And at two weeks, we're as healthy as anything!
We are both home now. Baby I was discharged from the hospital's NICU on Tuesday, May 5th and we joyfully came home to a clean and organized home (courtesy of C, my parents, and C's mom). It was exhausting. I suddenly didn't have NICU nurses to take over one of Baby I's early morning hour feedings so that I could get more sleep (yes, they told me to take advantage of this opportunity while we were there, so I did). And I (we) was now responsible for all of his care, which is overwhelming. Per his dr and the nurses and the lactation consultant, I was to keep breast feeding (my choice), then supplement with 22-30ml of breast milk from a bottle, and finally pump - all of this every 2-3 hours. I know a lot of you have done it, but when there isn't any help, that's a substantial amount of time and dishes, especially at 3 or 4am. We're still figuring it out. I don't sleep much, but I hear that's typical.
My dr's appointment was this morning and it went well. C and Baby I came with me and the dr just reminded me to take it easy and to remember to eat and drink enough. She noted my feeding/bottle/pump schedule and asked me how long I could keep it up and I honestly answered that I'd already dropped some of the late/early pump times in exchange for better, longer sleep. She approved of this tactic. I also found that if Baby I eats well from me, I can get away with pumping less frequently and for a longer duration and get approximately the same amount of milk. It will all work out. Dr said my ankles looked great (i.e. I have ankles again instead of cankles - they still surprise me) and my blood pressure was back on the low side of normal. My scar is healing great and we had a brief conversation about birth control - that's probably another post altogether, but I'll just note for now that the idea of birth control after everything we've experienced makes me (as in a personal, closely held feeling) very uncomfortable.
Baby I's appointment was this afternoon and we were holding our breath for two reasons: weight gain and vaccines. The bottle supplement is specifically to encourage Baby I to gain weight and I was almost closing my eyes as C put him on the scale at the dr's office (after cleaning up a colossal dirty diaper that surely would have added a few ounces). He was born at 4'6, dropped to 3'12, and was at least 4'7 when we left on Tuesday, so I was delighted that he had gained 6oz and is now at 4lbs, 13oz! He's also grown an inch to 18in, or they were able to stretch him out a little better. We opted not to circumcise him after I did quite a bit of research, so we didn't have that to worry about. The green crusty eyes are just immature tear ducts. Everything else looked great. We were concerned about vaccination, but I haven't had time to research them as well as I would like to, but my (so far) uninformed, common sense thoughts are these: vaccines are, for the most part, good, but more recently, more vaccines that could be considered unnecessary or misrepresented have been introduced - some for diseases that are rare, difficult to contract, or even moral reasons - and as his parents, we want to dictate what gets put into his body (especially after all the recent decisions that were made for us/him in his best interest). We also do not want him getting 4-6 shots in a single visit, as that cannot be beneficial, nor do we know how a vaccine intended for a 6-8lb newborn can affect a baby under 5lbs. So really, we aren't even declining vaccination, we would just like to wait a bit, do some research, and maybe visit the vaccination thing when Baby I is bigger. But the HepB is right around the corner, which is one of the reasons we've been looking for a dr who will delay vaccination - might have found one in my own GP.
So, we're all good and well and tired, even though we've had tons of help (moms and sister) and even meals delivered (courtesy of my work pals - wow!). And at two weeks, we're as healthy as anything!
Birth Story Part 1: The Caesarean Section
I had a c-section because Baby I was breech. I asked the dr if we should attempt to flip him and she said no, he was already stressed. Then she said she was sorry that it needed to be like this and acknowledged that this wasn't quite the way I had wanted labor and delivery to go either. Her nurse called us later Thursday afternoon to tell me that the c-section was scheduled for Friday at 130p and to arrive at 1130a and no food or drink past midnight (friends advised me to eat a small breakfast, but I didn't and later regretted).
So we showed up on Friday, on time and I tried not to cry as I signed in for my primary caesarean section. Mom came with C and I to the hospital, and sister B, Dad, C's mom, and a super close family friend came along later. One person I didn't expect was sister B's boyfriend of four years, J, who came in afterwards - so very sweet of him (two hour drive each way).
They prepped me with all sorts of IVs and compression stuff and explained everything very well. In the OR, the anesthesiologist kept me talking about Harry Potter while putting in my epidural, which was kind and probably made it go way better. They explained that I'd feel everything, but that there should be no actual pain. After the meds set in, I found it humorous to not feel my lower half as they splayed my legs to insert a catheter (one of the things I'm used to after IF?). All thirteen or so people in the room introduced themselves and told me what they'd be doing and the dr came in with C. She had told us that she hoped the baby was a girl because there is less to grab between the legs when they come out breech :-).
The surgery itself was not a fun time. I apparently can't tell the difference between the sensations (pulling, tugging, stretching) and pain, or else I was actually in pain. The anesthesiologist kept asking me if I was in pain and I kept saying that I didn't know, then he just started going off my facial expressions and pushed more pain meds. C was able to look over the curtain and let me know that we had a son, then he continued to watch the rest of the surgery when he wasn't attending to Baby I. He said that I seemed to begin feeling a lot of pain when they popped my uterus onto my belly and began to clean it out. I could hear Baby I squawk once he was over with the NICU nurses at the warmer and through my pain I found this very reassuring.
C tried to hold Baby I up next to my face so that I could see him, but at that time the nausea had arrived and I remember turning away from the baby to avoid throwing up on him. After some fabulously violent dry heaves, I am still puke-free. I think they pushed more pain meds at this point because it gets fuzzy. I'm sure that they finished everything up nicely and I remember being wheeled out of the OR into the recovery room. C went with Baby I to the NICU of course, so I was alone with a nurse who kept very close track of me and they began a 24-hour push of magnesium sulfate through my IV. The "mag" as they all called it was a precaution due to the preeclamsia, specifically the high blood pressure, and it would prevent me from having a stroke or seizures (yes, this freaked my mom out terribly, but she didn't realize what it was for until later). Eventually, C came back to tell me how our son (!) was doing and all of the family in the waiting room began to trickle in. C was able to tell them that we had a boy and what his name would most likely be (after confirmation from me). I had the shakes the whole time in recovery (normal) and began feeling the effects of the mag a few hours later.
Birth story con't in another post.
So we showed up on Friday, on time and I tried not to cry as I signed in for my primary caesarean section. Mom came with C and I to the hospital, and sister B, Dad, C's mom, and a super close family friend came along later. One person I didn't expect was sister B's boyfriend of four years, J, who came in afterwards - so very sweet of him (two hour drive each way).
They prepped me with all sorts of IVs and compression stuff and explained everything very well. In the OR, the anesthesiologist kept me talking about Harry Potter while putting in my epidural, which was kind and probably made it go way better. They explained that I'd feel everything, but that there should be no actual pain. After the meds set in, I found it humorous to not feel my lower half as they splayed my legs to insert a catheter (one of the things I'm used to after IF?). All thirteen or so people in the room introduced themselves and told me what they'd be doing and the dr came in with C. She had told us that she hoped the baby was a girl because there is less to grab between the legs when they come out breech :-).
The surgery itself was not a fun time. I apparently can't tell the difference between the sensations (pulling, tugging, stretching) and pain, or else I was actually in pain. The anesthesiologist kept asking me if I was in pain and I kept saying that I didn't know, then he just started going off my facial expressions and pushed more pain meds. C was able to look over the curtain and let me know that we had a son, then he continued to watch the rest of the surgery when he wasn't attending to Baby I. He said that I seemed to begin feeling a lot of pain when they popped my uterus onto my belly and began to clean it out. I could hear Baby I squawk once he was over with the NICU nurses at the warmer and through my pain I found this very reassuring.
C tried to hold Baby I up next to my face so that I could see him, but at that time the nausea had arrived and I remember turning away from the baby to avoid throwing up on him. After some fabulously violent dry heaves, I am still puke-free. I think they pushed more pain meds at this point because it gets fuzzy. I'm sure that they finished everything up nicely and I remember being wheeled out of the OR into the recovery room. C went with Baby I to the NICU of course, so I was alone with a nurse who kept very close track of me and they began a 24-hour push of magnesium sulfate through my IV. The "mag" as they all called it was a precaution due to the preeclamsia, specifically the high blood pressure, and it would prevent me from having a stroke or seizures (yes, this freaked my mom out terribly, but she didn't realize what it was for until later). Eventually, C came back to tell me how our son (!) was doing and all of the family in the waiting room began to trickle in. C was able to tell them that we had a boy and what his name would most likely be (after confirmation from me). I had the shakes the whole time in recovery (normal) and began feeling the effects of the mag a few hours later.
Birth story con't in another post.
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