Dec 29, 2009
Scary ER Trip
About 2 or 3 days after we got home from the hospital with Noah, I woke up at 4:30am with excruciating pain in my abdomen. Worse than labor. I thought I was bleeding out internally and going to die or something. My mom rushed me to the ER and Jeremy and the baby followed. They did blood work, ultrasounds and a CT scan and couldn't figure it out. They admitted me and started IV antibiotics and pain medication. They even scheduled my hysterectomy for that night. Then the pain slowly decreased and they decided it must have been endometritis (not endometriosis and we have no idea why it happened except maybe because immunosuppression due to Lupus). We spent another 3 days in the hospital while on IV antibiotics and a lot of Loritab before coming home on Keflex for 2 weeks. Spending 24 hours away from Noah (I didn't want him around all the hospital germs) and being in extreme pain in the ER and back up in L&D made for the worst day of my life. Next time I am getting some stronger antibiotics at delivery to prevent all of this from happening again!
Dec 17, 2009
2 week check-up
Noah went to visit Dr. Kala (Sigler) again today. He weighed 8lbs 4oz! That is a gain of 20oz in 9 days and up a pound from birth. That is unheard of. We may have a pro football player on our hands! We decided to start Zantac for the reflux he has been having and will keep a watch on his goopy eye that appears to have a clogged lacrimal duct. And we made it out without a melt down or peeing on anything or anyone!
We even managed to take a cake from La Baguette to Dr. Houk and his nurses, run in HR to full out benefit paperwork and in storkland to spend the rest of a gift card. We were productive today for once b/c Mommy has 5 times more energy now than when she was pregnant.
We even managed to take a cake from La Baguette to Dr. Houk and his nurses, run in HR to full out benefit paperwork and in storkland to spend the rest of a gift card. We were productive today for once b/c Mommy has 5 times more energy now than when she was pregnant.
Dec 15, 2009
Newborn Photos
Today we went and had Noah's newborn photos taken with April Jackson, a professional photographer here in Edmond that specializes in newborns and kids. She was great! She spent 3 hours with us and didn"t even bat an eye when Noah peed and pooped all over Jeremy, her bench, and the floor. She showed us some good tricks to get babies to fall asleep. We can't wait to see the proofs.
Grandma Z
We were so glad that Grandma Z (Zandra- Jeremy's Mom) could come to visit for a few days and see Noah and our new house.
Dec 8, 2009
Visiting Dr. Kala
Noah visited to pediatrician for the first time today. He weighed 7lbs even. Sorry for peeing all over your wall Dr. Kala - Love Noah
Dec 5, 2009
Dec 4, 2009
D-Day
D-Day (as in Delivery Day;)
We arrived at L&D at 8:30pm on the the 2nd as instructed. Just in time to get the last room with a decent view. They started an IV and gave me cytotec to help start things off, but no change except that I started contracting every 2-3 minutes instead of every 4 minutes like I had been doing for months. In the middle of the night they gave me another round of cytotec, but still no change. At 7:30am Dr. Houk came in and broke my water and told Tonja (our sweet nurse) to start the Pitocin even though I had not made any progress on the cytotec. All the soon-to-be grandparents were put on alert that this baby would be here within the next 24 hours even if it meant a C-section. Mimi and Papa were in our room in no time.
I wanted to be dilated to at least a 4 if not a 5 before starting my epidural, but after things drug along all morning at a 3 maybe a 4 all morning, I was grabing the bedrails with discomfort, and being a little crabby towards Jeremy, Tonja decided it was time to call in the anesthesiologist. When the anesthesiologist appeared in my room he had some young male student with him. He began explaining the procedure and that the student would assist. I just nodded and told them to hurry and get it done. Before I knew it I was having a contraction, told to be perfectly still and to relax (both of which are extremely hard to do during a contraction), the blood pressure cuff was squeezing the daylights out of my arm, and this student was sticking a giant needle into my spine and asking questions that revealed that he had never done an epidural before and really didn't know what he was doing. Suddenly I was ripping at the blood pressure cuff and seeing visions of myself as a paraplegic! I was relieved a few minutes later to find the epidural actually working despite my doubts.
Soon after my epidural the baby began having decellerations in his heart rate and I was contracting every 1-2 minutes, but the contractions were not making any progress. Tonja and Dr. Houk decided to stop the Pitocin. They planned to give me a Brethine shot to stop all contractions and start everything all over again with cytotec and then pitocin. It looked like it was going to be a long day. Tonja predicted that Noah would arrive before midnight, but definitely not before 7pm. 30minutes after stopping the pitocin and dilated to a 4, Tonja said I was a 7. Only 2 minutes later, I then sat up in bed to get more comfortable and told Tonja that something didn't feel right and I was feeling a lot of pressure. She told me that I was okay several times and that I was only a 7, but that she would get the anesthesiologist to give me a bolus on my epidural. I told her again that I felt a lot of pressure. She looked and was shocked to find Noah ready to enter the world. Tonja ran out into the hall and told Jeremy and Mom to quickly finish the sandwiches they were eating and to get into the room.
Before I knew it I was pushing, but I had to wait through several contractions until Dr. Houk (who got stuck in the hospital elevators) to arrive. After 4 pushes Noah James entered the world at 3:09pm at 7lbs 4oz 21inches long and a 14in head circumference (just as the proud new Papa burst into the delivery room because he was accidently paged a little too early). He had nuchal cord x1, but still had apgars of 9 and 9 and was beautiful.
We arrived at L&D at 8:30pm on the the 2nd as instructed. Just in time to get the last room with a decent view. They started an IV and gave me cytotec to help start things off, but no change except that I started contracting every 2-3 minutes instead of every 4 minutes like I had been doing for months. In the middle of the night they gave me another round of cytotec, but still no change. At 7:30am Dr. Houk came in and broke my water and told Tonja (our sweet nurse) to start the Pitocin even though I had not made any progress on the cytotec. All the soon-to-be grandparents were put on alert that this baby would be here within the next 24 hours even if it meant a C-section. Mimi and Papa were in our room in no time.
I wanted to be dilated to at least a 4 if not a 5 before starting my epidural, but after things drug along all morning at a 3 maybe a 4 all morning, I was grabing the bedrails with discomfort, and being a little crabby towards Jeremy, Tonja decided it was time to call in the anesthesiologist. When the anesthesiologist appeared in my room he had some young male student with him. He began explaining the procedure and that the student would assist. I just nodded and told them to hurry and get it done. Before I knew it I was having a contraction, told to be perfectly still and to relax (both of which are extremely hard to do during a contraction), the blood pressure cuff was squeezing the daylights out of my arm, and this student was sticking a giant needle into my spine and asking questions that revealed that he had never done an epidural before and really didn't know what he was doing. Suddenly I was ripping at the blood pressure cuff and seeing visions of myself as a paraplegic! I was relieved a few minutes later to find the epidural actually working despite my doubts.
Soon after my epidural the baby began having decellerations in his heart rate and I was contracting every 1-2 minutes, but the contractions were not making any progress. Tonja and Dr. Houk decided to stop the Pitocin. They planned to give me a Brethine shot to stop all contractions and start everything all over again with cytotec and then pitocin. It looked like it was going to be a long day. Tonja predicted that Noah would arrive before midnight, but definitely not before 7pm. 30minutes after stopping the pitocin and dilated to a 4, Tonja said I was a 7. Only 2 minutes later, I then sat up in bed to get more comfortable and told Tonja that something didn't feel right and I was feeling a lot of pressure. She told me that I was okay several times and that I was only a 7, but that she would get the anesthesiologist to give me a bolus on my epidural. I told her again that I felt a lot of pressure. She looked and was shocked to find Noah ready to enter the world. Tonja ran out into the hall and told Jeremy and Mom to quickly finish the sandwiches they were eating and to get into the room.
Before I knew it I was pushing, but I had to wait through several contractions until Dr. Houk (who got stuck in the hospital elevators) to arrive. After 4 pushes Noah James entered the world at 3:09pm at 7lbs 4oz 21inches long and a 14in head circumference (just as the proud new Papa burst into the delivery room because he was accidently paged a little too early). He had nuchal cord x1, but still had apgars of 9 and 9 and was beautiful.
Leading up to the Big Day
Wow! It has been a crazy and in some ways very long month. Sorry to all of you that have been patiently waiting for the details of the month and Noah's arrival. Every day my goals are to get a shower and to update the blog. The first one usually gets done. The second goal obviously has not until today. I have been told that many moms can relate.
As you know I was doing NSTs (non-stress tests) twice a week all through November. Noah's heart rate always looked wonderful on the monitors, but I was still contracting every 3-5 minutes continually even while taking two medications to stop contractions around the clock. I was not dilating so the doctors were fine with me continuing to contract, however just before Thanksgiving my blood pressure began to rise. Jeremy and I wondered if this baby was going to have a November or December birthday. I had an appointment on November 30th with Dr. Houk (OB) and he decided considering my contractions, eratic blood pressure, neurologic signs that I was becoming pre-eclamptic, and that I was dilated to a 2 and 60% effaced he would induce me starting the night of Dec. 2nd. That way Noah would arrive on the 3rd when he was 38 weeks.
On Dec. 1st I finished throwing a few last minute items in our hospital bag and Mom and I went shopping at the Market to burn off some nervous energy and to kill time waiting for Noah (or to throw me into labor naturally with all the walking). On the 2nd I met Mom and Kelly for a wonderful lunch at Inspirations Tea Room. Then Mom and I were off to get pedicures. After pedicures I got my hair cut. I had to get in some mommy time before all time and money to spend on myself is gone, right!?
As you know I was doing NSTs (non-stress tests) twice a week all through November. Noah's heart rate always looked wonderful on the monitors, but I was still contracting every 3-5 minutes continually even while taking two medications to stop contractions around the clock. I was not dilating so the doctors were fine with me continuing to contract, however just before Thanksgiving my blood pressure began to rise. Jeremy and I wondered if this baby was going to have a November or December birthday. I had an appointment on November 30th with Dr. Houk (OB) and he decided considering my contractions, eratic blood pressure, neurologic signs that I was becoming pre-eclamptic, and that I was dilated to a 2 and 60% effaced he would induce me starting the night of Dec. 2nd. That way Noah would arrive on the 3rd when he was 38 weeks.
On Dec. 1st I finished throwing a few last minute items in our hospital bag and Mom and I went shopping at the Market to burn off some nervous energy and to kill time waiting for Noah (or to throw me into labor naturally with all the walking). On the 2nd I met Mom and Kelly for a wonderful lunch at Inspirations Tea Room. Then Mom and I were off to get pedicures. After pedicures I got my hair cut. I had to get in some mommy time before all time and money to spend on myself is gone, right!?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Profile
Baby's 2nd Picture
Baby's First Picture
7 weeks
