First week down

Aedan’s first week was eventful (you know – being born and everything), yet uneventful (sleep, eat, repeat) at the same time.  All in all though, it’s going great.

Aedan:
We left the hospital at 27 hours old and he’s been doing great ever since. He’s a sleeper like his brother, forcing me to wake him at night to eat instead of waking on his own. A couple times he’s woken to eat, around 3 1/2 hours after his last feeding. It’s a pretty good span of time allowing me to get 2-3 hours of straight sleep at a time.

He dropped to 9lbs by the time we left the hospital (from 9.5) and then was down to 8lbs 13.5oz by 4 days old.  I’m constantly worried about the weight loss, since Brody was a slow gainer.  But the pediatrician didn’t seem nearly as worried this time, since Aedan only lost about 7% of his weight, where as Brody lost more like 11% of his birth weight.  So, if doctor isn’t worried, I’m trying not to worry.

So far, his interests include: eating, sleeping, peeing on his parents, and pooping on the changing table.  It’s a very exciting life around here.

Brody:

Brody is very very excited to be a big brother.  He loves Aedan, which means he loves touching him, getting in his face and wants to hold him constantly.  Unfortunately, he doesn’t understand how fragile babies are, so we have to keep close eye on him.  We already had a baseball incident in the house and luckily Aedan was okay. 

He is definitely a little more difficult these days, looking for attention (good and bad), so we’re needing to pull out a little more patience than normal.  But it’s completely understandable since he’s used to having 100% of our attention and now has to share it.

Me:
I can honestly say, I don’t feel like I gave birth 7 days ago.  I actually feel pretty good.  Sleep-deprived, but good.  My post-birth experience with Brody was less than stellar.  I had a lot more pain and had a few days I could do nothing but feed Brody.  I feel very very lucky that things are going better this time.  I had no idea how I would handle a two-year old and a baby when I could barely take care of myself.  Thank god I don’t need to figure that out.  Jason has been super helpful in allowing me to still take it easy (I’m not up and running quite yet…), but hasn’t had to take on all of the burden.  He only got a week off of work this time instead of 2 1/2, so I’m officially on my own anyway.

I also knew that I would need to ease into the transition of two kids, so we’ve taken it slow.  My first week home, Jason was also home and Brody was in daycare during the day.  For the next 3-4 weeks Brody will continue going to daycare, allowing bonding time with Aedan and Brody to still get his energy out.  I’m hoping by 4-5 weeks old, Aedan will be a little more predictable, allowing the three of us to get out and do more during the day.  I know Brody will miss going to daycare every day, but it will save us money, while hopefully I can keep him entertained at home as well.  (Anyone with suggestions of things to do during the day with little ones – send them my way!)  Luckily we have a good Children’s museum and at least for awhile the weather nice enough to go to the zoo.  Keep your fingers crossed that Aedan starts sleeping through the night as early as Brody did!  (I hope I didn’t just jinx myself…)

Aedan Andrew’s Birth Story

I’ll try to keep it from getting too long, but here is the story of Aedan’s arrival!  (I’ll keep the gory details to a minimum – but for those that don’t want to hear the details of labor, may want to skip this one)

Aedan was due to arrive September 20th, but not surprising, he didn’t come on time.  At my 40w appointment, we discussed induction and when was the right time.  He said he’d prefer to induce no later than 41 weeks, which would be Sept 27th, but I could pick any day between now and then.  At this point, I’d been having contractions for a week, mostly in the middle of the night, but never enough to progress into labor.  I was this close to having him induce me the next morning.  I was done.  I also knew that Aedan was another big baby (Brody was 8lbs 14oz), so I didn’t want to let him get too much bigger!

Instead we settled on 4 days late, Monday morning.  I was positive that Aedan would come over the weekend (I mean it had already been a week of contractions!), so I didn’t think we’d need the induction.  I was wrong.  The weekend came and went and no baby. 

Monday, September 24th

Enjoyed our last morning as a family of three, took a few pictures and then took Brody to daycare.  In case things didn’t work-out as planned, we didn’t want to tell Brody anything, so he went to daycare clueless as to what was going on.

7:45 – Arrived at hospital, got hooked up to monitors and IV.  Contractions were about 8-10 minutes apart, but weren’t strong enough to be considered real labor.  But the good news is that my body was at least showing that it was ready for labor.  Took three pokes to get my IV started (lovely!) but finally got it going.

9:15 – Pitocin started flowing (medicine to induce).  Contractions got closer together, but it was a low enough dose that they weren’t too painful yet.

9:45 – OB comes to visit & break my water.  Tells me I’m about 1-2 cms dialated, 50% effaced (thinness) and -2 station (+2 is when the baby is ready to go).  I was 1cm dialated at my appointment on Thursday, so I was really annoyed that in 4 days my body didn’t do anything.

Then, he breaks my water.  This was awful.  Apparently mine was a little tougher than normal.  There was a point where I think he actually thought he wouldn’t be able to do it.  By the end of it, I was in tears.  But I knew that this was nothing compared to contractions, so I just considered it prep.

Lots of discussion at this point about how long it was going to be.  Clearly Jason was worried about whether or not he’d miss the Monday night football game, since the Packers were playing.  Sheesh.  The generally consensus was that I’d probably deliver by kick-off, but not much before that.  Jason was hoping to hear it would be by 4:00, the OB laughed.

OB also said whenever I wanted to get the epidural, that I was fine to go ahead and do so.

11:00 – Heaven.  In other words, epidural.  The contractions started coming 1-2 minutes apart after he broke my water.  Since I had to be monitored to make sure that Aedan didn’t react poorly to the lack of fluid, I couldn’t walk around much to manage the pain.  I tried a couple different things, but was in enough pain to get the epi.  I always knew I would get it, so it was just a matter of when.

After that, I layed in bed, relaxing, facebooking etc.  I could sometimes feel the contractions, but it just felt like tightness without any pain. 

1:30 – Nurse came in to check my progress.  I was hoping for some good news that things were progressing faster than expected.  (one can hope – right?!?)  I was 4cms, 80% effaced, -1 station.  So, I was progressing right on track.  It looked like the dinner-time prediction by my OB was going to happen.

Nurse told me to turn on my side to get the baby moving down quicker.  I had been staying on my back because with the epi when I layed on my side the numbness went all into one leg.  But I turned on my side anyway.

2:30 – My left leg was numb and I could feel contractions on my right side.  Since I was getting uncomfortable, I turned to my right side.  This is easier said than done with an IV and two monitors with cords.  So flipped and layed there for about 10 minutes or so.

Despite flipping sides I was still very uncomfortable.  I felt a lot of pressure.  Mentioned it to the nurse and she asked if I needed to push?  I was like, well, no, I don’t think so?  I never felt the need to push with Brody, so it wasn’t something I expected.  Besides, it had only been an hour since I was 4cm.

2:45 – Um, nurse?  Yeah, kind of feels like I need to push…

3:00 – 9.5cms – get ready for baby!  (Seriously…5 1/2 cms in an hour??  I was in shock)

3:15ish- Nurses are all in the room, everything is set up, we’re ready to go.  I’m trying everything I can to not push.  One nurse has me do a “practice-push” to see if we can get Aedan a little further down.

Jokes start about whether or not we’re going to deliver the baby without the OB.  He still wasn’t there yet…

Few minutes later… In runs my OB.  Apparently there was a miss in getting him the message.  His office is attached to the hospital, so there was no reason he shouldn’t be there for the birth.  Once he checks that he didn’t miss anything, he runs off to change.

3:30 – ready to push.  Started pushing Aedan out.  It was definitely different than with Brody and a lot more uncomfortable.  Let’s just say I was motivated to get him out sooner than later.  OB did seem concerned at one point and said a couple of times that “IF he looked good when he came out that they’d put him on my chest right away” I was a little worried that he kept saying, “If…”

3:38 – Aedan Andrew arrives!  4 contractions, 8 minutes of pushing.  He was clearly a big baby.  Luckily he was doing great and came right up by his mommy.  However, his umbilical cord was pretty short.  He wasn’t able to put him on top of me before cutting it.  Jay wasn’t thrilled about cutting the cord to begin with, so he had no issue letting my OB cut it.

Let the jokes about how big he is begin…Oh, and the bets on the official weight. 

9lbs 8oz.  21 inches long (I’m waiting for the pediatrician to confirm this, I totally thought he was longer than Brody).

My OB also made a comment on how Aedan’s APGAR score should be a 10 just because of how pink he was.  He was clearly thriving instantly.

The entire pregnancy has been more stressful and emotional for me.  Turns out the birth was to.  It was very uneventful and successful, but bringing him into the world definitely filled my heart in a different way than Brody.  With Brody, I didn’t really know what was in front of us.  With Aedan, I really know what it is like to raise a little boy and love him so much. 

What I didn’t know is that it’s possible to love two little boys more than anything else in the world.

Labor Prediction

With Brody I came across a website that predicts your labor experience. Here was Brody’s prediction:
“The day you deliver, outside will be dark. Your baby will arrive in the
middle of the night. After a labor lasting approximately 14 hours, your child, a
boy, will be born. Your baby will weigh about 15 pounds, 12 ounces, and will be
20-1/2 inches long. This child will have medium gray eyes and barely there
auburn hair. ”

**He was only 8lbs 14oz, 21 1/2 inches, labor was more like 36 hours all in, but was 16 hours at the hospital, in the middle of hte afternoon. He had dark hair and blue eyes… so all in, totally incorrect!

But for fun, I did it again!

Baby#2:

The day you deliver, outside will be windy. Your baby will arrive in the late afternoon. After a labor lasting approximately 9 hours, your child, a girl, will be born. Your baby will weigh about 5 pounds, 6 ounces, and will be 17 inches long. This child will have medium brown eyes and curly blonde hair.

This one is a lot more believeable than last time. And I like the “girl” prediction. But I’m not holding my breath. Curly hair? Not likely, blonde, maybe. Brown eyes? Probably not. 5lbs 6oz after having an almost 9lb baby? Again, not likely. But you never know! I will take the 9 hour labor though…

Welcoming Brody into the world

Brody Daniel arrived January 20th at 4:34pm! Here is his birth story if you’re interested. I’ll keep the gory details to a minimum.

Tuesday the 19th of January I woke up about 3am with painful cramping. It was enough to wake me up from a dead sleep. I sat there for about a minute thinking that this has got to be a contraction. Sure enough, after about a minute it was gone. Then about 30 minutes later, same thing, which continued about every hour until I was up for the day. They were so far apart I knew that nothing was happening anytime soon.

I continued on with my second day off of work by having breakfast with my dad, lunch & shopping with my sister and dinner for my Nana’s birthday. Starting with breakfast my contractions became about 10 minutes apart. They never got closer together and I was always able to talk through the pain. By the time we got home from dinner (around 9pm) they were becoming a little more painful. By bedtime I had a feeling that labor was progressing as I started timing the contractions. They were now getting more like 8 minutes apart. Jason couldn’t sleep (like a little kid on Christmas eve), so we just stayed in bed timing the contractions and I tried to rest while I could.

About 12:30am Wednesday my contractions were 5 minutes apart, lasting 1 minute each and had been for an hour. This was the magic sign to call the doctor. I called my OB and he told me to head into labor & delivery. As we started getting ready to go to the hospital, my contractions were getting closer to 3-4 minutes apart. I wasn’t worried, but Jason started to get a little more nervous. I believe all husbands have a fear that you’ll go into labor at home no matter how many times you tell them that this process takes time.

We arrived at the hospital about 1:30am. I had now been having contractions for about 22 hours but at my appointment Monday night, I was only 0 cm dilated. So I was curious what these contractions had done to my progress. The nurse got us settled in and then did an exam. She then informs me that I wasn’t dilated, at all!! Are you kidding me?!? I had a few moments of feeling like I was making it up. I was then hooked up to the machines which showed that yes, I was having regular contractions now only 3 minutes apart. At least I knew I wasn’t making that up!

The nurse and my OB believed that I may just be dehydrated and that the contractions would go away. They decided to keep me until about 5am and see if I progress on my own. I was also to drink tons of water & juice to try to get hydrated. I knew that I had been drinking tons of water all day, so I didn’t really believe that hydration was the issue, but to make sure, I went through over 64oz of water and 32oz of apple juice.

The nurse came back around 5:30 and did another exam to find out that I was 1cm dilated. I had progressed (however slight) on my own!! So they decided to keep me and augment my progress with pitocin. Basically, they didn’t have to induce my labor but the pitocin would speed up the dilation.

At this point, I was having a really hard time with the pain. The contractions were still 3 minutes apart which didn’t allow for much rest in between. I tried walking around the room and breathing through them but nothing was helping the pain. I never intended to go through labor naturally, but I also didn’t want to start an epidural too early in the day. The nurse offered some pain medication instead. I decided to take it. It didn’t take away the feeling of the contractions, it just took away the edge.

They also suggested I eat a light breakfast since I would likely be in for a long stretch. I had a bowl of Special K and a piece of toast. Shortly afterwards, I saw my entire breakfast in reverse. Not sure if it was the food or the pain meds, but I recommend not eating while in labor. I continued to get sick several times for the next few hours until they finally gave me anti-nausea medicine. This was the worst part of my labor.

12:30pm I had them do the epidural. This was the best decision I could have made. The pain meds had worn off a few hours earlier and I didn’t take more for fear of getting sick again. The anesthesiologist was fantastic. He kept the atmosphere in the room light and talked me through what he was doing. He also let me keep my tank-top on underneath my gown, which made me more comfortable. As soon as the nurse found out Jason was scared of needles, she sent him to the other side of the room to look out the window. But she did a great job keeping me distracted.

I felt very little pain when he did the local anesthetic and no pain as he used the bigger needle (which thankfully I never saw!)

From 12:30 until 4pm I was blissfully relaxed. I just layed in bed, Jason napped, we watched TV, went on facebook and just relaxed. In the meantime, I was having contractions every minute. If I hadn’t had the epidural, it would have been a much more stressful, painful afternoon.

The OB came in around 4:00 to see my progress. At this point, we were all still expecting me to be in labor until probably after dinnertime. However, as soon as he started the exam he stated, “wow! you’re ready to push!” I was at +2 station which meant that Brody was right there and ready to come out.

From 4:00-4:30 with the help of a nurse, my OB and my wonderful husband, I worked on pushing Brody out. Many first time moms will push for several hours, so it was very lucky that it only took me 30 minutes. When Brody was born there were several comments about how big he was. But he was adorable and I was immediately in love.

They put him directly on my chest as soon as he was out. Jason cut the umbilical cord and they wiped him clean while laying on top of me. He came out screaming and didn’t stop until he was clean and warm. He has quite the lungs!

He was 8lbs 14oz and 21.5 inches long with an adorable head full of hair. We’re officially a family of three!

40 Week Dr Appointment

It was the appointment I hoped I’d never have to go to. 3 days past my due date, I had both a non-stress test (NST) & regular OB appointment.

NST
They set me up in a chair, hooked up two monitors to my belly and gave me juice to keep the baby moving. One monitor was to measure his heartbeat and the other was to measure contractions.

The goal was to measure his heartbeat during movement. If his heartbeat increases during movement, it is a good sign. Within a minute he was already moving and his heartbeat spiked accordingly. Within the first 10 minutes his heartrate spiked appropriately 3 or 4 times. They kept me on the machine for another 20 minutes but he ended up sleeping by the end of it.

The second monitor that measures contractions? It recorded a flat line…my uterus is doing nothing.

Appointment
Weight: down a pound, yay!
Blood Pressure: 120/70
Heartbeat: 150 range
Fundal Height: 40 (he hasn’t stopped growing!)
Labor Progress: NONE!!
Next Appointment: Thursday for another NST and to check for any progress

Next we discussed induction. He said we could go ahead & schedule for 10 days past my due date (next Monday) or we could wait until after my appointment on Thursday. My appointment on Thursday is currently scheduled with another OB because mine is not in the office. So I opted to just schedule it right away today since I wouldn’t be seeing him on Thursday.

Induction: Scheduled to start Sunday the 24th. They will start by trying to dialate me overnight & then start pitocin (to stimulate contactions) on Monday morning. If all goes well, Brody will be born on January 25th.

I’m still holding out hope that Brody will come before Monday. Inductions are not always the easiest and often can lead to C-Sections. I’ve heard about many successful inductions and many that didn’t go very well. Ideally, i’d like my body to do what it needs to do on it’s own.

However, based on my progress so far, I am not holding my breath. And at the very least, I know I will only be pregnant for one more week.

39 Week Appointment

Still no progress but at least this time I was mentally prepared for it. Nothing really seemed to change in the last week, so I was pretty sure that is what he would say.

Weight: + 2.5lbs (I really should be eating better but at this point, I just don’t care – thus I’m gaining weight)
Blood Pressure: 114/68
Heartbeat: 145
Fundal Height: 38
Labor Progress: Nada
Questions: What do we do next?

Starting next Monday (3 days past my due date), I’ll start doing a “Non-Stress Test” where they’ll monitor how the baby’s heartbeat reacts as he’s moving. If he is still reacting well inside, then they won’t try to induce sooner. Then we’ll do one again on Thursday and if he’s still not here & I am still not dialated, then the night of the 24th I will go in to start my induction process.

He did try reassuring me that the majority of women that go overdue end up delivering in the first week after the due date. I’m still hoping Brody understands that Mommy likes to be on time, and he’ll show up by Friday! 🙂

39 Weeks

Weekly Checklist

How far along? 39 Weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 35 lbs

Maternity Clothes: If I could go to work in lounge pants, I would.
Sleep: I wish.

Food Cravings: Strawberry & banana sundaes (custard). I had it twice this week & a strawberry shake another night. Not good for the hips…
What I am looking forward to: holding Brody. He’s the light at the end of this tunnel.

Weekly wisdom: I’ve got none. It’s been a hard week, which I can only say I’ve brought upon myself. I had been hoping that I’d give birth early, but a know that first time moms very frequently go past their due date. I’m thankful that Jason hasn’t decided to up & leave me…I’ve been rather difficult to deal with.

Milestones: My body is rebelling. My back no longer can handle the weight and hurts constantly. My pelvis feels like it’s going to break in half, especially if I sit too long. And even my knees have started hurting. It’s like my body is telling me, “you’re not meant to carry this much weight!” I can only be thankful that my body held out this long, at least i’m in the home stretch.

Time Flies! Then it stops!

I couldn’t believe how quickly the first 36 weeks of pregnancy seemed to fly by. Then even week 36 went by pretty fast with the holidays. Now that I’m 37 weeks…time has stopped.

We’ve accomplished everything I needed to do before the baby is born. Our nursery is stocked, the hospital bag is ready, the carseat is installed…we’re ready. Apparently Brody is not.

Babies full-term babies are born anywhere from 37-42 weeks. That is a long window of opportunity. And if Brody decides to hold out for 42 weeks, I’m going to be one impatient mommy!

Now I just sit back and remind myself that his health is the most important thing to me and if he needs more time in there, he should have it.

Special Nurse

The hospital I am delivering at has a program where you can connect with a nurse during your pregnancy and she/he will be there with you through your birth and even after going home. Ideally she would be your labor & delivery nurse as well, however, since babies come on their own schedule, nothing is a guarantee.

The program is obviously optional, but I figured it would be great to have a familiar face around the hospital when I am in labor. So a few weeks ago I talked with my special nurse and set up time to meet with her and get a private tour of the birthing area of the hospital.

I didn’t coordinate very well with Jason, so I ended up going solo, which was no problem since he’ll get to see the hospital during our baby classes anyway. The meeting and tour went great! Nurse “K” was very friendly, informative and reassuring. The best part was that everything she told me would be very specific to the place I’ll be giving birth. I can talk to other women who have been there before, but she has worked with my doctor before and could give me a really good feel for the philosophy of the hospital.

Here’s what I liked:
The rooms! They are very spacious and everything is done in the same room (labor, delivery, recovery). The baby will sleep in the room with us (Jason will be on the pull-out couch) during our stay. There is a refrigerator in the room (and a stocked fridge down the hall as well with plenty of popcicles) and I read online that they have WIFI in the room (in case I’m bored and want to blog!).

The atmosphere: I may have a slight misconception of this since I was there on a very quiet day, however, it had a small hospital feel on the floor. The nurses seemed very friendly and it didn’t feel like you were just a “number.”

Their philosophy: Nurse K made it very clear that the mother’s wishes are important. They actually give you a “birth plan” to fill out so that they can try to meet your expectations as much as possible. No birth can be planned and she was also very open about that. She wanted to make it clear that they do what they can to allow every mom to have the birth she wants but there is always risk of c-section etc. She really just tried to promote that having a healthy baby is what is important. That may not work for everyone, but it works for me. I don’t have high expectations of my birth for that reason. If a C-Section is the right thing to do for my baby, then by all means, do it. I trust my doctor and know he’ll do what’s best. The nurse even mentioned that my doctor is really good at making quick decisions during labor and had positive things to say about him.

Along with making sure the mother’s wishes are upheld from a labor standpoint, she also reiterated how important my plans are for visitors as well. She basically made it clear that she would kick anyone out for me at anypoint if I needed her to. That just made me laugh & glad to have someone on my side. We haven’t finalized our “friends & family” plan yet, but we know it’s important that we spend time bonding with the baby before the parade of visitors start, which she highly suggested as well.

It was a good experience for me to meet her and see the rooms early on. It helped relieve some of my fears of the unknown now that I can visualize where I will be giving birth. It’s also just nice to know that I’ve met a couple of the nurses on staff and hopefully will have a familiar face around on his birth-day.