Showing posts with label Baby Boy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Baby Boy. Show all posts
Monday, August 30, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Life Changing
Life with a newborn: I started this post 3 days ago!!
There are so many things on my mind since Zachary's birth, but the words to express my feelings are hard to come by. This baby boy has changed our lives in so many ways; but most importantly, I feel that M and I have discovered the meaning of true, unconditional love.
The labor and birth of this little miracle was much like our attempts at ttc: long, painful, and not at all what I would have planned for myself. However, the perfect creation that resulted from my efforts has been more than worth what we went through.
It started last Friday (the 20th) at 5:15 as I was awakening from a nap. I felt a low kick from the baby and then a popping sensation followed by GUSHING water. When I say gushing, it's no joke and it just keeps coming. The problem was that I was in bed and needed to get to the bathroom without soaking our carpet!! Quite the challenge. With heart racing, I called M (he was in his home office working that day!). His first response was to start cleaning up the water I had gushed all over the room! I hurriedly gathered the last few items to put in the bag (and also snuck a shower in), and M got everything else ready to go. Within 45 minutes we were on our way to the hospital!
My contractions picked up very quickly once we were settled in to our room. Because my water had broken and my first cervical check revealed I was only 2 cm dilated, they put me on a low dose of pitocin. Within 2 hours I had progressed to 6 cm and was READY for my epidural! And let me say, what a sweet relief that was. I loved every second of it!
The rest of my labor was slower..it took me until 4 am to reach a full 10 cm., at which point I was ready to start pushing. Pushing turned out to be so much different (and harder) than I thought it would be. Mostly because of the epidural, as I couldn't feel a thing! The nurses and M were awesome and were telling me that I was doing an awesome job, but it was so hard for me to tell, and each push drained so much energy from me....keep in mind we'd already been up all night long!
After an hour of pushing my OB came and checked my progress. He told me that baby was having a hard time descending further, despite the great pushing I was doing. He also noted that the baby had a swollen head as a result of being squished against my pubic bone. He wanted me to keep on truckin', so I did. For TWO MORE HOURS. Turns out the little guy's head and shoulders were just too wide to make it through my narrow frame. A.K.A. pubic bone.
When they told me that the recommendation was c-section, I was very sad...BUT I was also extremely exhausted, so I knew that it truly was my only option. M suited up in his haz-mat suit (!!), and by 7:45 they were wheeling me into the O.R.
I think I slept through most of the actual surgery. I remember feeling tugging and hearing voices all around me, but not much else UNTIL I heard the sweetest sound: Zachary's beautiful cries. My heart leapt and then the sobs came in abundance. I couldn't believe I was hearing my baby's perfect cries, and just lost it right there on the table. M was over with Zach while they cleaned him up and he got to trim the umbilical cord. Shortly after, they brought him to me so I could kiss his sweet cheeks, and then they were gone (they take the c-section babies to the nursery to get weighed, measured, etc.).
The hour I spent in recovery was quite frankly the hardest and longest of my lifetime. Time literally stood still, and all I can remember is an intense feeling of sadness and helplessness as I begged the nurse to see my baby and my body shook uncontrollably with chills. At some point, M came back, and the pediatrician followed closely behind. She reported a clean bill of health, and of course all I could say was, "When can I see him?" Over and over and over again. At some point, someone told me they were going to keep him in the nursery for a few hours before I could see him. This is the point where I FREAKED out. As they were wheeling me to our postpartum room, I could see my family at the end of the hall looking into the nursery and taking pictures. I felt so absolutely helpless, and demanded that he be brought to me. I can't remember how much time passed (and truly, why I even had to wait at all), but he was finally brought to me, and the celebrations commenced.
We spent 4 days in the hospital - enough time for me to start to heal and become more mobile. It was nice to have the help of the nurses for those first days as we got to know our son, but we were READY to get home on Tuesday!!! Since then, life has been more amazing than words can express. Zachary is an expert breastfeeder, and while it's been a slight challenge due to my milk taking it's sweet time coming in, we are coping well..and I am healing quicker than I expected!
Okay..this is a loong post..more to come soon (I hope!).
There are so many things on my mind since Zachary's birth, but the words to express my feelings are hard to come by. This baby boy has changed our lives in so many ways; but most importantly, I feel that M and I have discovered the meaning of true, unconditional love.
The labor and birth of this little miracle was much like our attempts at ttc: long, painful, and not at all what I would have planned for myself. However, the perfect creation that resulted from my efforts has been more than worth what we went through.
It started last Friday (the 20th) at 5:15 as I was awakening from a nap. I felt a low kick from the baby and then a popping sensation followed by GUSHING water. When I say gushing, it's no joke and it just keeps coming. The problem was that I was in bed and needed to get to the bathroom without soaking our carpet!! Quite the challenge. With heart racing, I called M (he was in his home office working that day!). His first response was to start cleaning up the water I had gushed all over the room! I hurriedly gathered the last few items to put in the bag (and also snuck a shower in), and M got everything else ready to go. Within 45 minutes we were on our way to the hospital!
My contractions picked up very quickly once we were settled in to our room. Because my water had broken and my first cervical check revealed I was only 2 cm dilated, they put me on a low dose of pitocin. Within 2 hours I had progressed to 6 cm and was READY for my epidural! And let me say, what a sweet relief that was. I loved every second of it!
The rest of my labor was slower..it took me until 4 am to reach a full 10 cm., at which point I was ready to start pushing. Pushing turned out to be so much different (and harder) than I thought it would be. Mostly because of the epidural, as I couldn't feel a thing! The nurses and M were awesome and were telling me that I was doing an awesome job, but it was so hard for me to tell, and each push drained so much energy from me....keep in mind we'd already been up all night long!
After an hour of pushing my OB came and checked my progress. He told me that baby was having a hard time descending further, despite the great pushing I was doing. He also noted that the baby had a swollen head as a result of being squished against my pubic bone. He wanted me to keep on truckin', so I did. For TWO MORE HOURS. Turns out the little guy's head and shoulders were just too wide to make it through my narrow frame. A.K.A. pubic bone.
When they told me that the recommendation was c-section, I was very sad...BUT I was also extremely exhausted, so I knew that it truly was my only option. M suited up in his haz-mat suit (!!), and by 7:45 they were wheeling me into the O.R.
I think I slept through most of the actual surgery. I remember feeling tugging and hearing voices all around me, but not much else UNTIL I heard the sweetest sound: Zachary's beautiful cries. My heart leapt and then the sobs came in abundance. I couldn't believe I was hearing my baby's perfect cries, and just lost it right there on the table. M was over with Zach while they cleaned him up and he got to trim the umbilical cord. Shortly after, they brought him to me so I could kiss his sweet cheeks, and then they were gone (they take the c-section babies to the nursery to get weighed, measured, etc.).
The hour I spent in recovery was quite frankly the hardest and longest of my lifetime. Time literally stood still, and all I can remember is an intense feeling of sadness and helplessness as I begged the nurse to see my baby and my body shook uncontrollably with chills. At some point, M came back, and the pediatrician followed closely behind. She reported a clean bill of health, and of course all I could say was, "When can I see him?" Over and over and over again. At some point, someone told me they were going to keep him in the nursery for a few hours before I could see him. This is the point where I FREAKED out. As they were wheeling me to our postpartum room, I could see my family at the end of the hall looking into the nursery and taking pictures. I felt so absolutely helpless, and demanded that he be brought to me. I can't remember how much time passed (and truly, why I even had to wait at all), but he was finally brought to me, and the celebrations commenced.
We spent 4 days in the hospital - enough time for me to start to heal and become more mobile. It was nice to have the help of the nurses for those first days as we got to know our son, but we were READY to get home on Tuesday!!! Since then, life has been more amazing than words can express. Zachary is an expert breastfeeder, and while it's been a slight challenge due to my milk taking it's sweet time coming in, we are coping well..and I am healing quicker than I expected!
Okay..this is a loong post..more to come soon (I hope!).
Thursday, April 22, 2010
He's a kicker!
I've been a slacker blogger this week...my apologies! I just returned from a fabulous trip out of state to visit my Mom and Stepdad to see their new home. It was so much fun to relax and catch up with them. Mom and I did a little bit of baby planning and dreaming (and shopping!), and she was officially the first one to feel Elfie kicking from the outside.
My boy has gotten so much stronger in the past two weeks, and is now consistently kicking (or punching?) my belly button. The sensation of feeling my baby move inside of me is incredibly unreal. It's quite possibly the most moving, exciting experience in my life so far. I crave the movement, and when it happens I am fascinated and in awe. Today, sitting on the couch, it was so strong I could actually see my belly moving.
M and I painted Elfie's room last weekend, and I have plans to get the furniture soon. We inherited a white Jen.ny L.ind crib from M's SIL, which has been sitting disassembled in the room for two years! I put the bedding on to see how it looks, and I'm even more in love with it now than when I picked it out. So we are going with white furniture...and I'd like to make a trip to I.KEA to see some of our options. My friend is selling us her glider for $40...I lucked out on that one!
We registered at BRU on Sunday, it feels great to have checked that off the list. The actual experience of registering was overwhelming. Especially when you start in the breastfeeding and/or baby safety section. There are SO MANY different products to choose from! I think we did a good job of starting with the basics, and now we're having fun getting online and adding/deleting items as I do more research. I also started reading a few parenting books to get me prepared to be a mommy!
This morning I had an appointment with a cardiologist. Dr. D (my OB) referred me to him because I told him that I've had a few episodes of my heart racing and I also have heart palpitations quite frequently. He told me that it's completely normal for such things to happen in pregnancy since circulation changes so much, but I think after seeing that there's heart disease in my family, he wanted to take all necessary precautions. The appointment this morning went well. He did and EKG and took a pretty thorough history, only to tell me that he thinks I'm fine. I wasn't too worried, just glad to be more safe than sorry!
My boy has gotten so much stronger in the past two weeks, and is now consistently kicking (or punching?) my belly button. The sensation of feeling my baby move inside of me is incredibly unreal. It's quite possibly the most moving, exciting experience in my life so far. I crave the movement, and when it happens I am fascinated and in awe. Today, sitting on the couch, it was so strong I could actually see my belly moving.
M and I painted Elfie's room last weekend, and I have plans to get the furniture soon. We inherited a white Jen.ny L.ind crib from M's SIL, which has been sitting disassembled in the room for two years! I put the bedding on to see how it looks, and I'm even more in love with it now than when I picked it out. So we are going with white furniture...and I'd like to make a trip to I.KEA to see some of our options. My friend is selling us her glider for $40...I lucked out on that one!
We registered at BRU on Sunday, it feels great to have checked that off the list. The actual experience of registering was overwhelming. Especially when you start in the breastfeeding and/or baby safety section. There are SO MANY different products to choose from! I think we did a good job of starting with the basics, and now we're having fun getting online and adding/deleting items as I do more research. I also started reading a few parenting books to get me prepared to be a mommy!
This morning I had an appointment with a cardiologist. Dr. D (my OB) referred me to him because I told him that I've had a few episodes of my heart racing and I also have heart palpitations quite frequently. He told me that it's completely normal for such things to happen in pregnancy since circulation changes so much, but I think after seeing that there's heart disease in my family, he wanted to take all necessary precautions. The appointment this morning went well. He did and EKG and took a pretty thorough history, only to tell me that he thinks I'm fine. I wasn't too worried, just glad to be more safe than sorry!
Monday, April 12, 2010
It's a.....
BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Our appointment went better than I could have ever dreamt! Not only did our little Elfie reveal the goods, but they were THE FIRST THING WE SAW when Dr. D turned on the monitor! M and I both had guessed that it was a boy (I had two very vivid dreams about boys and their "parts!"), so we were excited to both be correct! (heeheehee...I LOVE being right!!!).
I have gained 6 lbs. in the past 5 weeks, which is a little over a pound a week. Doc was pleased about that (as was I, though shocked that it wasn't more!). This puts my weight gain at 9 lbs since my 10 week appointment, which is when I started keeping track. Overall, not too shabby. Baby's weight is estimated to be about 3/4 of a pound. Way to pack it on, little man!
Elfie looked absolutely fantastic on the screen. He was moving around a lot and practicing his dance moves for us. We got a big kick out of seeing his wiggles and watching the doc measure everything. Our quad screen came back normal, so it was explained to us that our chances for genetic abnormality have now decreased to about 1.5%. I was completely emotional seeing my SON wave and move, especially knowing that he is healthy and growing appropriately. Overall, a very moving experience. Quite a momentous event.
After the appointment M and I stopped at Babies R Us and parked in the Expectant Mother's spot. Wow. What a feeling. For the first time in my life, I didn't feel like an impostor walking into that store! We picked out two adorable outfits for our little man..our first gifts to baby boy. I can't wait to see them on him!!! Here are some pics from our day....
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