Adjustments

We’ve been home at least part of 5 days now and I guess most importantly, 4 nights.  It was rough sledding that first night. Natalie was up about every hour so it was not a great night for Tiffany. Her sleeping has progressed nicely though as she only woke up once last night about 4 hours after falling asleep. That’s pushing the limits on how long you want the child to go without eating so it worked out well.

Yesterday Chase came home. I know I was a little apprehensive about how our furry son would react to his not so furry sister.  It’s gone very well so far though. We had Chase sniff one of Natalie’s blankets and he is letting her be for the most part and sits at TIffany’s feet while she feeds her. Natalie doesn’t appear to have a reaction when he barks, she’s use to it from hearing it for 9 months and Chase doesn’t seem to mind the crying too much .

I’ve been working from home the past few days, but it’s back to the office tomorrow. Today was our first pediatrician appointment and I didn’t want to miss that, plus Tiffany can’t carry the car seat yet. I don’t think either of us realized the physical recovery from the birth that his required by the mother. Just from my perspective, the aftermath seems worse than the actual birth. Tiffany feels better every day, but it seems to me it will easily take a few weeks for her to recover and feel close to 100%.

I got lucky with this one

Today at the pediatrician we got Natalie’s latest measurements. She’s 20 1/2 inches even though they measured her at 20 3/4 inches at the hospital. The good news is that she is back to just over 8 pounds. She had slipped to 7 pounds 15 ounces before we left the hospital so her weight loss, while normal, was somewhat of a concern because babies who are breast fed tend to lose weight for 3 days after birth and Natalie had already lost a pretty high amount just after two days. Suffice to say, it was nice to see an upswing and our doctor today was not concerned at all and expects her to be back to her birth weight by her appointment next week on her two-week birthday. 

One thing I’ve figured out is that newborns don’t photograph well. The flash usually forces them to close their eyes so it’s hard to get any good shots. It is nice to see her focusing on objects now, however, with those same eyes. The first few days is a little spooky when you’re looking right at them and the eyes seem to wander around with no real purpose at times. 

Chase on guard duty

Breastfeeding is no walk in the park either. It’s not hard on me obviously, but I understand why some women don’t or stop shortly after starting. It was frustrating to me at the beginning so I’m sure it was for Tiffany as well. All this switching sides, what kind of latch, it’s a lot to deal with when you can just stick a bottle in their mouth and call it a day. Tiffany has done well though and we seem to have turned the corner. 

Both the ladies are napping now so there will be a diaper change in my future here shortly and Natalie HATES to have her diaper changed. I guess it’s a good thing that she doesn’t cry instantly when she needs to be changed, but you would think the child would be happy to be getting clean. She’ll be in a fine mood but as soon as that diaper comes off, her mood changes sharply. As soon as the new diaper is on and she’s dressed again, it’s like there was never a problem. Very strange. 

Some Pics

The weigh in

My ladies

bassinet in the room

Arriving home, thrilled to be sitting on the kitchen counter.

And Then There Were Three

The alarm went off around 5 a.m. We had called the hospital Monday and they told us we could call as early as 5 to check the list for induction. I made my way to the bathroom as Tiffany got her phone together to make the call. By the time I came out she already knew that there was no room and we wouldn’t be leaving to be there by 7 a.m as we had hoped.

Already awake, I headed to the gym and Tiffany laid back down. As I mentioned before, she wasn’t able to eat or drink anything but clear fluids so we were concerned about waiting too long to head to the hospital. Tiffany gets a little shaky when she’s hungry or needs some sugar. Anyway, they told us to call back at 9 if we hadn’t heard from them.

I stopped at Starbucks on my way back from the gym anticipating a long day and also picked up some apple juice up for Tiffany. We had a LARGE meal ;) the night before at one of our favorite restaurants (Pappadeux) which included a complimentary dessert since we were celebrating a birthday. We had told he waiter what we had planned for the next day and he immediately offered it up, which we thought was very nice. Point being, Tiffany was not starving when she woke up.

We called back at 9, no dice, our next time to call was 11. Meanwhile Tiffany began to have contractions on her own. The mild contractions had started again Monday, but by morning they were stronger, albeit 20 minutes apart and pretty inconsistent. Still we were holding out hope that our girl would come on her own so we headed to Target, which is a short drive away to stroll around, and also to stock up on some more clear liquids with sugar in them. We had completed about three laps around Target and had stopped to browse when TIffany’s parents and brothers and sisters showed up. They were getting antsy too.

We walked some more and when Tiffany called back at 11 they said they could take us, knowing it would take an hour to get there from where we were. We headed back to the house to grab our bags and I packed a sandwich and some water and we were off.

Hitting no traffic, we arrived at the hospital just shy of 12:30. We headed right to Labor and Delivery where Pam (our first nurse) met us and took us to our LDR room. I have to say it’s a pretty efficient operation. All of our paperwork was ready to go, and there was plenty of it, and Tiffany changed and they started her IV. That was important because the IV solution acts pretty much like sugar water so while she was still hungry, she didn’t get any shakes. 

Pam gave Tiffany an initial exam and determined she was 2 cm dilated, a little disappointing considering our efforts all morning. No matter, the IV was in and by this time I had already paid so they weren’t kicking us out, we would be meeting our baby girl at some point in the near future. I had planned on a long day and nothing about our initial exam suggested otherwise, but soon the pitosin (spelling??) was on board and the contractions picked up....and kept picking up. I had brought several magazines, a book, my laptop, thinking that there were going to be long periods of inactivity. Soon after Tiffany’s parents and siblings arrived things really picked up. I left the room for a short time and her water broke on her own. By this time we also had a new nurse, Erin, Pam’s shift had ended at 2. The nurse plays a big role, at least at this hospital. She NEVER leaves the room. There’s a station right there with a computer and she sits there watching the monitors. By the time I had come back in, Tiffany’s pain had increased. She was having pretty hard contractions every two minutes or so and I was rubbing her back and holding her hand while her mom helped with the breathing. Needless to say, no time for a book or magazine. She was trying to tough it out, but soon the epideral was administered.  Her mom and I had to leave the room for that. That guy was quite the character, I’m not sure it wasn’t a good thing I didn’t see that guy operate a foot long needle. Since I was asked to leave, I used the opportunity to scrounge around for some coffee. They have automated machines in the waiting area but by this point in the day creamers were hard to come by. We found some and by the time I finished we headed back in. At this point it was getting close to 5, activity in the hospital had slowed considerably and I was just hoping it would be before midnight. To my surprise, I walked in and the epideral had taken Tiffany to 9 cm’s. 

Erin said that it can relax people and speed things along. Clearly it did. It also put Tiffany in a much, much better mood. She wasn’t being difficult by any means before, but her mood certainly changed. As an added benefit my massage was no longer needed. I didn’t mind giving the massages but the angle and location made it pretty hard on my fingers and I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to keep doing it very much longer. 

We were getting in the home stretch and Erin’s shift ended at 7 and she wanted to see the baby born because she was impressed how fast things were moving. The contractions became harder to track because there wasn’t any pain associated with them and the monitor was not doing a tremendous job. But an hour later Erin checked and determined it was go time. 

Dr. Thompson was paged, yes they still use pagers, and she said she was en route. Melanie, our next nurse also arrived 15 minutes before 7 and Erin gave her a briefing and said she wanted to stay and would be the second nurse. There’s always two in the room for delivery. Melanie wanted Tiffany to push to see how long it would possibly take so she held one leg up and I held the other. We did this a few times and she was ready to go. You could see the tip of her hair little head and after the last push without the doctor in the room, Melanie told Tiffany to relax because she was VERY close.

Meanwhile  at this tim I’m wondering what role the doctor actually plays. She had checked in twice in person, but the nurses are there the entire time now she was coming in for the last out and was going to be named MVP??? Talk about the ultimate closer.

Sure enough Dr. Thompson entered the room and it was showtime. The stirrups came out and after about four good pushes, Natalie Christine Pirone entered the world at 7:01 p.m. Another assistant, outside the two nurse,s clamped the umbilical  chord and she handed me the scissors. I cut, and promptly had blood shooting at me. I was able to safely dodge it so it hit me direct in the forehead, rather then the eye. It also got all over my hand. I didn’t mind it, but how about some warning folks. Nobody even said anything like, “Can i get you a paper towell or a wet nap.? Thankfully, Tiffany’s mom handed me a spare sheet and I wiped my face and then I saw where OBGYN’s earn their money. I didn’t take a close look, nor did I want to, but Dr. Thompson was fully engaged in tending to Tiffany, calling out orders, asking for instruments, certainly worthy of MVP honors. I carefully navigated the foot of the table and did not look closely and headed over to the warming table where they were getting Natalie cleaned up.

Some calls were made so folks could hear her crying. Then there’s a feeling that comes over you that can’t really be described. For example I’m not sure how anyone could witness a child being born and doubt the existence of god, it’s truly a miracle. I’m sure it’s unique in it’s own way to every individual. At 7:00 a.m. on 1/11/11 I was leaving the gym after another routine morning workout and 12 hours later there was this little person looking up at me like, “Who the heck are you and what happened to my water bed?”

After Tiffany was put back together, Natalie made her way over to Mom for her first breast feeding attempt. It went well and before we knew it she was off to the nursery for more measurements and a bath. I followed just to see where they were taking her and by the time I got back it was time to get our stuff together and move to the post-partum room where we are now and where we will most likely stay until mid-day Thursday. 

The post partum room is smaller, but large enough for the three of us. It’s not the Hilton, but the day bed in the corner for me is just fine and there is a pretty comfortable chair. I slept okay the first night, Tiffany did not. The one thing people are right about is the parade of people that come in and out of your room. Just when you think there is no one  else that could possibly come, here comes the woman that submits the information for the birth certificate, or the tech to check blood pressure, or housekeeping etc...

Dr. Thompson was back in our room at 7:00 a.m. this morning and I don’t think we’ve gone 45 minutes without someone coming in. It’s hard for Tiffany to get a nap and I think I started this blog post at 8 and it’s now almost 2:30. I did get down to the cafeteria for breakfast and to the gift shop for some balloons and gifts for Natalie, but I haven’t accomplished much today other then change a couple dirty diapers. More on that later....

Due Date +5

It looks as though our daughter has no intention of being born without a nudge. Tiffany has had mild contractions, very mild, off and on for about a week but no full fledge labor resulted. After our last doctor’s appointment I was pretty well resigned to having the baby induced and Dr. Thompson seemed as though that would be the case as well. 

Tomorrow, Dr. Thompson is on call so she recommended that we come in then as I mentioned before. To say we are ready is probably an understatement.  We’ve been driving around with a car seat and our bags in the back of the RAV4 for about three weeks. I can’t even really remember what I put in my bag so I’m going to check when Tiffany gets home from work today.

It will be an early morning tomorrow. We have to call the hospital at 5:30 a.m. to find out if they can take us for the induction. If they say yes, we’re suppose to be there by 7 a.m. and the hospital is now about an hour away so it will be somewhat of a frenzy to get out the door. For those wondering, there are several hospitals closer, several dozen in fact, but Tiffany’s doctor delivers at this particular hospital so that’s why we are driving an hour. 

There is a chance that they won’t have room due to too many active labors already going on. In that case we would have to wait until Wednesday when it would technically be medically necessary because Tiffany would be a week late. How they know when we call how late we are  I have no idea. Why can’t we just say we’re a week late tomorrow and not risk getting bumped? My guess is that they would find out soon enough that we fibbed and we wouldn’t be the most popular folks at the hospital. 

Also, if we call at 5:29, are they going to tell us to call back in a minute? I feel like we are a part of some sort of radio call-in contest. The way things are going I’ll be surprised if we don’t get bumped to Wednesday. I’m about to start vacuuming again, the third time we will be cleaning in preparation of bringing our girl home. It’s one of many things we have done several times in preparation for our girl coming home.

I’m hoping that if the big day is tomorrow so we can be home by Thursday afternoon at the latest. Neither of us want to stay in the hospital very long. It’s amazing though how many people are surprised that I want to leave the hospital quickly. Listen, I’m 31-years old and have two college degrees, I’m pretty sure I can figure out how to change a diaper. It’s not like I’m going to be wondering in a panic, “why is she crying?” She’s either hungry or needs her diaper changed, we’re not splitting the atom here.  I expect a lot of crying.

Of course the child is going to be grumpy, she spent the last 9 months in a cozy warm water bed sleeping and eating with no one ever bothering her except the occasional, “How you doing in there?” Now she’s going to have people poking and prodding her, staring at her, and she’s going to actually have to do some work for her food. I would be grumpy too. It really shouldn’t be surprising she’s in no rush to get out. 

The hospital has Wi-Fi so I’m sure I”ll have time to update the blog during and after the big event.

Overdue

Looks like the due date is going to come and go with no activity. We were out the door early this morning for another ultrasound and doctor’s appointment. The ultrasound was shorter than the previous two because they were just looking for some “biological indicators”.

Basically they were looking for a good heartbeat, a good level of am-biotic fluid and good flow of blood in the umbilical chord. Apparently they rate the babies from 1-8 as far as health and our little girl ranked a perfect 8 out of 8. That was good news but it also pretty much took an inducement today off the table because things in the womb are just fine.

At the doctor’s appointment we found out that Tiffany hasn’t dilated any more at all, no change since last week. Dr. Thompson said she was on call on Tuesday, January 11th, 6 days from now, so she recommended we schedule to induce that day. That was not a problem for us and it would be a pretty cool birthday 1/1/11. Also ironic because during the ultrasound, our girl held one finger up looking like she was saying “I’m number 1”. 

There is a catch. On Tuesday we need to call the hospital at 5:30 in the morning to see if they can take us that day. We are low priority because the inducement wouldn’t become medically necessary until the 12th (one week) and obviously people in traditional labor take priority. So there is a chance that we will call Tuesday and they will tell us to come in on Wednesday because the “inn is full”. 

Meanwhile Tiffany can’t eat or drink anything after midnight on Monday so by the time we get to the hospital Tuesday or Wednesday, someone may be a little grumpy!

Still Waiting

As our due date approaches (tomorrow), it looks as if out little girl is going to be late. I have a feeling it won’t be the last time. We thought things were progressing well, but we appear stalled at the moment. Tiffany has been having contractions, or what she thinks are contractions but nothing steady. We were hoping to get through this past weekend because Tiffany’s mom worked Friday, Saturday and Sunday and she, of course, wants to be there. 

The weekend has come and gone and still nothing. Tomorrow we head to the hospital for another ultrasound just to make sure everything is okay. If things check out okay, Dr. Thompson said they will wait up to a week to see if the baby comes on her own. They will induce on Wednesday, the 12th if nothing has happened by then.

I kind of feel like our lives are on hold until the baby is born. It’s not like you can plan anything since Tiffany could go into labor at any point. Saturday, we may be home with our new baby, we may be at the hospital, or we could be sitting here still waiting. It’s a very strange feeling. For now, we wait.

Inch By Inch

I guess we’re getting close to the big event, but it looks as if we’re still at least a day away. I feel like we’re holding a bomb that will go off, but we don’t know when. It’s a little nerve racking. Tiffany is also starting to get pretty uncomfortable so I think she’s ready to get things moving.

I head back to work tomorrow, but Tiffany has another day off so it could be interesting tomorrow if I’m in town and she goes into labor. I’m going to take her car to work (the baby seat is in there) so she can just drive in with her mom if something happens. I’ll actually be closer to the hospital than she will be if that happens. 

But for now, we wait.