9 Days

"Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward." Kurt Vonnegut (you will understand this more after you read the bottom paragraph)

if you want to skip the baby read and go straight to the glamorous parts of pregnancy and birth no one talks about, aka "the funny accident story" read the purple - skip the rest)

It's been 9 days since we have been at this parenting thing. We took Baby A to the dr today for his 1 week weigh in. He is weighing in at 7lb 7oz. So almost up to birth weight. (only off by an oz.) the Dr was pleased and sent us on our way.

We are getting along pretty well. Sleeping is still a bit off, we do our best. Baby A is really just so well natured. He has managed to take a few naps in his crib.

Let's stop right there for a minute - I had this all planned - You see I'm a planner. (just a disclaimer - if your opinion is different, that is fine, be respectful of mine) I just HAD to have this crib set up because Baby A was totally going to sleep in his crib when we got home from the hospital. After 3 nights co-sleeping in the tiniest hospital room, I became accustom and quite partial having him close to me. When it came time for bed, I wasn't sure what we were going to do. It just broke my heart to have him in the other room. So up went the pack n play. He has been sleeping there at night.

There are a few other things that I have had to eat my words on. Seems like this is all new territory and what i thought would happen is not how it has happened. It is all new and enjoyable and different and frustrating all wrapped up in one event of emotions.

Breast milk supply is still going well. I have done very little research on freezing and such. I really doubted that I would be able to supply his needs with my breast milk. I got this pump off c.raig.slist for $75 and threw away all their parts and bought new parts. It really has been fairly easy and I am SO thankful that some things just work out. We were doing breast milk and formula but for the past 2 days, we are strictly on just breast milk. I just need suggestions in how to keep it cold when we start to venture out? Any ideas?

I have had many many many surreal moments, I keep having to remind myself that this is MY baby and that I am not babysitting and no one is coming to get him. It just hasn't really sunk in all the way yet.

We still have a period where Baby A just likes to be held. I actually love it, it's in the wee hours of the morning, but I like that he is comforted by our touch.

TMI ahead- this is referring to the accident (mentioned in a previous post). The first night, I had fallen asleep and either the pack n play was closer to my bed then it was before I went to sleep or I just was so disoriented that I forgot the pack n play was there. Baby A was fussing and I had to go to the bathroom and E was sleeping (he can sleep through fussing and a freight train) I stood up and was blocked in by the pack n play and I was still a little unsteady on my feet being that I just gave birth. So I panicked because I was trapped in and needed to grab onto something to help me along, but refused to grab the pack n play for obvious reasons. I kept panicking and mentally trying to figure out how to get the the bathroom .... Before I knew it, my bladder took control of the situation and "relieved itself" right there in between the bed and the pack n play .... I was standing there in shock and panic and had to wake E up to get the wet/dry vac..... I was laughing and crying, I was embarrassed and relieved .. It was funny but not, It's one of those things that no book tells you about. ... SO add Wet/dry vac to the "must have" list .. The next night, I was having what I thought was "a lil gas". I ate fried food, the first fried foods I had in MONTHS. So I assumed (we all know what that does) that those were gas pains. While I was in the nursery changing a dirty diaper... UHM let's just say, I found out that they were not gas pains per say... I had more dirty to clean up after Baby A was all cleaned up .... After those lil incidents, my bladder/bowel control has been MUCH better, infact things are going quite swimmingly now.

*side note, my commenting may be slowed down, I am still reading and supporting, Sometimes it's hard to comment with only one hand.

A week ago

It was a week ago that my water broke at 10ish in the morning - Has it Really been a week ... It does not feel like it has been that long at all.

To answer more questions -
Baby A's hair color is debatable. It brownish/reddish. I guess it depends on the lighting. It does tend to looks like his fathers. A darker red color. We have had many discussions regarding his hair color .. How incredibly boringly lame and excited parents are we.

Pumping is going amazingly well. I am pumping 2+ oz each session (about every 4 hours for 30 mins)

(going to share alot of tmi's here) - you have been warned

Physically I am feeling fine. I am not a fan of pads, which makes the bleeding overwhelming. I haven't worn a pad in years, so this is a tough stressor for me. ( yes insert more lame-ness here. It's weird finding stupid things like pads that cause stress) I am still having some "down there" pressure. It is nothing too intense. I have had to take a few Tyl.enol to help manage the pain/cramping/uncomfortable feelings towards the beginning of the nights.

Removable shower heads are fantastic!! i know i know ..sorry just thought I'd keep the oversharing theme going as usual.

Bladder control is under control now. The first few days were iffy. I am afraid to "push" for a bowel movement though. I am not at all locked up, in fact, I am leading towards borderline diarrhea, and have had 1 accident since we have been home. (it's actually a comical story now but a few nights ago it wasn't- If i get really brave this story will be posted) I am afraid of hemorrhoids. I was told by the nurse I have a tiny one and I am afraid to irritate it and make it bigger or accumulate friends. My tummy is weird, smushy, flabby, and droopy. Not sure what I think about that - except it is easy to sleep again and I LOVE that. E keep commenting on how weird it is to be able to put his arms around me. Or snuggle with me at night - he was so used to the big ole belly there.

Mentally, I am just pleased as punch. I am so grateful for how far we are, how well we are coping on little sleep and an upside down schedule.

The night/day confusion is getting better. I just need to figure out how to transition the more breast milk less formula combination. Our feeding schedule could use some oz consistency. 1 oz of breast milk does not have the same effect that 1 oz of formula has on A. So you can not do the 1 to 1 ratio.

Keep the questions/comments coming. It gives me stuff to blog about and gives me something to do during our down times. Thank you so much for all the wonderful comments about Baby A and our new family. I am reading, my comments on your blogs may slow down until we get our footing and our days/nights back on track.

I leave you with a pic:

Released

We spent 4 days in the hospital because we had to wait a complete 48 hours after A's arrival because at delivery he had a fever.

Tuesday, there was still alot of anxiety and excitement and visitors. I was having alot of pain in my right hip. I thought I had dislocated it. It was very hard for me to get around that day. The nurses graced me with some pain pills and a heating pad. I pretty much laid in bed all 24 hours of Tuesday except the frequent bathroom trips.

By Wednesday, the hip was feeling so much better, but I had pulling,tugging, stretching feelings in my stomach. (and still do just a lil) It felt like a pulled stomach muscle and the onset of one of my really, really bad periods. (which btw nothing can really prepare you for the amount of bleeding that occurs after birth) I was getting around MUCH better then Tuesday. (which if you think about it was only hours after I delivered the lil Man). Baby A was circumcised this day also. The dr's came to do it on Tuesday afternoon, but the pediatrician forgot to sign his release forms.

By Thursday, I was up, walking, showering, and getting dressed all by myself. I was, by far, ready to go home. I was tired of being in the tiny rooms and having nurses come in every hour to check something. Not only check me, but check Baby A. Since I had GD, they had to monitor his blood sugars. I could not feed him until they checked his sugars and his vitals. Something about this just frustrated me. Thursday morning Baby A was cleared for discharge, but I waited until 1pm before I was seen by my dr to discharge me. By the time she came to discharge me, we had everything out of the room. My mother and sister came and helped E pack everything up and get us out of there faster. The ride down to the car in the wheelchair carrying my baby was the most surreal for me. Everyone stops and looks/mutters "oh look a baby" or something to that effect. I received many congratulations and happy smiles. It felt overwhelming perfect. I had NO IDEA that many strangers could totally make me feel like the mommy I had been longing to be.

Friday, we had our first pediatric appointment. It was adventurous, exciting and comforting. All went well. I am to up the amount of a bottle A takes. Our feeding challenge was his sucking. This however seems remedied by the wonderful bo.rnfr.ee stage 1 bottle/nipple. He is eatting about every 3-4 hours. His sleeping is alittle irratic. I am pumping, So he is getting a combination of breastmilk in the bottle w/ formula.We are hoping to have a good pumping supply to cut out the formula. I can pump about 20-25 mls at a 30 min pumping session.

To answer questions:
We had narrowed the name selection down to 2 names that we both agreed we liked and were waiting to see Mini before deciding ... After he was born, I asked E what he wanted his name to be ....I had already made many choices by that time in my pregnancy, I really just wanted E to have such a say.

I think, so far, the hospital stay was the worse part. The facility is fantastic, room service was great, the nurses were/are really helpful. I can't really put one reason why I disliked the hospital stay so much. I think 1 big reason is that the post partum rooms are sooooo incredibly tiny and I am a tad bit claustrophobic. As the days progressed, the rooms illusioned to get smaller. There wasn't any real place to get comfortable except the bed and I get cabin fever in a bad way. So I blame that on my cabin fever.

sorry so long, I know you just came for more cuteness baby photos.

Birthing story take 2

Ok where were we ... Oh yes .. arriving at the hospital. We called our parents and a few friends to let them know that our plans had changed ... meaning baby sooner than anticipated. I went up to L&D Admin to find out that my OB's office already notified them of my arrival. I checked in, was brought upstairs to a room and was hooked up for more N.ST monitoring. The nurse informed me that my ob's office told them that I could not get any meds until 6pm - they wanted to make certain the hep.arin was out of my system. (I had the shot at 6am) So we waited, they tried and tried and tried some more to get iv's started, labs drawn, etc.. have I ever mentioned that I am a "hard stick" .. took 4 tries to get the IV working (Had to call the "IV team experts" which later I had to end up getting another one after delivery because they thought the first one stopped working)

Around 5 the OB came - She let me know that she and Dr Wonderful had a bit of a "disagreement" Monday morning when he called her about my 4cm dilation and Wednesday induction. They had a difference in medical opinions and practices and My OB thought the amino was not a wise choice - nor was she ok with his wanting to induce me on Wednesday. It was too late for me to draw my own opinion, I was already in active labor dilated to 6cm. She talked with the dr who was going to do my epidural - they all agreed the Hep. was out of my system ~5:30pm and all things were a go for the epidural. I received the epidural around 6:15 ish. (OMG AMAZING Miracle drug- think what you want of me)
(ok gonna get a lil graphic)
The baby was turned face up toward the va jeeen and I had to roll from extreme side to sides for about 3 hours in hopes to get the baby to turn the way the dr wanted. The nurse checked my cervix again after the flipflopping side to side to help position baby and found I was 10cm dilated. She called the dr and she advised the nurse to have me push and see what I could do - I pushed and the nurse yelled OK GOOOD STOP ... The dr came back in around 11:15pm - I was cleared to start pushing and at 12:02 Mini arrived safe and sound. The ob dr had E pull/guide the baby and actual do the delivering. I think he was shocked and traumatized but very glad he was allowed to partake that much in the birth. I tore a little, had to have a few stitches (this is when my epidural pretty much stopped working)

The pushing was a bit of a challenge - it was hard to tell if/how to push during contractions because of the epidural - but I learned to compensate. It was a GIANT flood of emotions when Mini was actually delivered and placed on my chest. I just cried and cried for a good 5 minutes. It felt A-MA-Zing. They cleaned me and the baby up, I asked E what his name was - he declared Austin ... so We went with it. (the other nurse in the room found out that I was a patient of Dr Wonderful's - she was floored because she worked for him in Michigan and didn't know he was in FL- she was so excited and asked me for his office number) That nurse, tested A for his blood sugars. They were all good, he was being assesed and I was being cleaned up.

After 1 hour, E went down to let our families come up one at a time to meet Baby A. They were all so thrilled and excited - It just felt so magical really. It was by far a greater birthing experience I had imagined and everything was just on our side. I was/am beyond pleased with the L&D unit and my experience. About 2 hours after delivery, I got REALLY nauseous and ended up throwing up pretty good. I think it was coming off a high mentally and physically. Poor E got hit with it and had to get a pair of scrubs (we forgot to pack a few of his items because we were a little rushed for time)

Around 3:30-4 I was moved to my post partum room. I was EXHAUSTED. We crashed.
(ack gotta stop again - will continue later)

It started out a Dr's appointment

Thank you for all the congrats and delurkers. It was so great to read all of these sweet, encouraging, beautiful comments and well wishes for our family. It gave me something to do in the weee hours of the mornings when Baby just wanted to be held.

I want to start at the beginning to record this for all it's worth:

We worked really hard this past weekend to get the nursery up and functioning. Monday morning, brite and early (645am) we headed off to my mf.m appointment. I got there and was called back. They did another growth scan and b.pp. The scan measured Mini to be 8lb 4oz. I PANICKED. I was just imagining how big he was going to be by the induction date. Dr Wonderful asked if i had a cervical check at my n.st on Friday. I told him no. So he wanted to check. I agreed. He was VERY shocked to find that I was in between 3-4cm dilated and he quickly went and got my OB's office on the phone. They decided that an animo was the next safest decision, so I obliged. The amnio really was no big deal, I was going to go home for the day. Rest up and wait for the results Tuesday. Dr Wonderful and the OB's office were tossing around induction on Wednesday as long as the amnio looked well. I was told to get dressed so we could move me to the ns.t room. I stood up to get dressed and water just gushed out of me all over the floor. (like 2 glasses full) I called the u/s tech back and told her, they rechecked my fluid level via u/s and noticed a significant difference. Plans started to change. Dr Wonderful got on the phone with OB's Office to let them know of the new situation. I was did an ns.t and was showing baby was fine and my contractions were there but not in any rhythmic pattern.

While i was hooked up for the nst, Dr Wonderful came in and told me that after leaving his office i was to go home get my bags and get to the hospital. So we left his office 1 hour away from our house - got our bags and headed to the hospital. I arrived at the hospital around 1-130 pm.

(more to come - all i can get typed out right now)

i will post a real post later - here is a picture to tide you over

Here he is...