Saturday, September 24, 2005
I guess we are doing an ok job
You tell me--does this look like a child who would be cranky and up through 2 feedings last nite? I can't seem to trust my sleep-deprived state to accurately tell me if this is a happy child.....It's difficult to know how you are doing as a parent, especially a first time parent, when it's not likely that Abigail will turn to me and tell me that we suck as parents and are doing it all wrong. We will wait the 12 years or so before we hear stuff like that. However, you need to stop and wonder why, then, I would go out to Babies R Us yesterday and in my "browsing" buy a straight jacket for her....oops! I mean a swaddler. Not only did I buy that, but also the Happiest Baby on the Block book. For those of you who aren't familiar with this tomb--it gives tips to keep a newborn calm and happy. One such way is with tight swaddling (used in conjunction with other specific techniques) Well, we are all into the swaddling now. This is what the straight jacket-- I mean a swaddler-- looks like. It is MUCH easier than using a receiving blanket, but I just worry what she will think when she gets older and we browse through her baby pictures...I suppose that is when we will hear how we are less than ideal parents who didn't know what we were doing....
Saturday, September 17, 2005
The Honeymoon is officially over...
And I feel the 17 day itch coming on....
Our little princess is becoming less princess-like. We have gone from regular intervals of naptime, mealtime, alertime, tummytime, naptime, etc...to naptime, crankytime, mealtime, crankytime, naptime, crankytime, mealtime, crankytime....
Crankytime consists of a good dose of screaming, crying, writhing in our arms and turning a beautiful shade of purple. This has given me a latent dose of baby blues...
We have tried it all--knee bends, gripe water, mylicon drops, singing, swaddling, swinging, ssshhhh-ing, etc. It just seems to be plain old-fashioned complaining with a bit of gas thrown in for good measure. But oh why does she get herself so worked up and cry like such a baby? It's enough to want to find the receipt that she came with---oh wait!! There is a no return policy! So, off I go to find a good pair of earplugs and a good dose of patience.
Have I mentioned how beautiful she is becoming? No matter how purple she makes herself, she is still beautiful and no matter how bad a meltdown we go through, I can't wait to hold her and kiss her all over and see her first thing in the morning with my signature greeting for her--"Hi Girlfriend!"
Her 2 week appointment went great. She left the hospital, down 6 ounces at 6lbs, 3 ounces. At her 4 day appointment, she was up to 6lbs, 5 ounces. Well, we are proud to report that at her 2 week appointment she is up to a whopping 7lbs, 2 ounces. That is a 13 ounce gain in approx. 10 days! She also seems to have grown 1.5 inches up to 20.5 inches. I am much more skeptical of the height measurement, as it is difficult to get an accurate measurement on a newborn, but I can definately tell that those legs are not just getting chunkier but longer as well. Not to mention that those cheeks are getting bigger by the moment. Here are some new pics for your viewing pleasure.
You can click the thumbnails to make them larger.
Our little princess is becoming less princess-like. We have gone from regular intervals of naptime, mealtime, alertime, tummytime, naptime, etc...to naptime, crankytime, mealtime, crankytime, naptime, crankytime, mealtime, crankytime....
Crankytime consists of a good dose of screaming, crying, writhing in our arms and turning a beautiful shade of purple. This has given me a latent dose of baby blues...
We have tried it all--knee bends, gripe water, mylicon drops, singing, swaddling, swinging, ssshhhh-ing, etc. It just seems to be plain old-fashioned complaining with a bit of gas thrown in for good measure. But oh why does she get herself so worked up and cry like such a baby? It's enough to want to find the receipt that she came with---oh wait!! There is a no return policy! So, off I go to find a good pair of earplugs and a good dose of patience.
Have I mentioned how beautiful she is becoming? No matter how purple she makes herself, she is still beautiful and no matter how bad a meltdown we go through, I can't wait to hold her and kiss her all over and see her first thing in the morning with my signature greeting for her--"Hi Girlfriend!"
Her 2 week appointment went great. She left the hospital, down 6 ounces at 6lbs, 3 ounces. At her 4 day appointment, she was up to 6lbs, 5 ounces. Well, we are proud to report that at her 2 week appointment she is up to a whopping 7lbs, 2 ounces. That is a 13 ounce gain in approx. 10 days! She also seems to have grown 1.5 inches up to 20.5 inches. I am much more skeptical of the height measurement, as it is difficult to get an accurate measurement on a newborn, but I can definately tell that those legs are not just getting chunkier but longer as well. Not to mention that those cheeks are getting bigger by the moment. Here are some new pics for your viewing pleasure.
You can click the thumbnails to make them larger.
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
It's an innie
Well, it's official. Abigail reached her first milestone this morning. What remained of her umbilical cord has fallen off--and Abigail has a belly button! It's an innie. We have restrained ourselves from posting yet another picture....
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
For those of you who have a need to know the gory details....
I am happy to oblige with our Abigail Maya birth story.
So last Wednesday night I began having contractions about every 9 minutes beginning at about 6:30pm. Well, that lasted until about 3:30am--when they began coming every 3-5 minutes. So DH and I waited it out to see if that continued for at least an hour before calling my OB. After dealing with a few false alarms--we wanted to be sure there was some consistency of the contrax before calling.
Sure enough--after an hour goes by with the contrax being anywhere from 2-5 minutes apart--we call the OB and get go-ahead to go to the hospital. At my hospital, you do not get to go straight to L&D. You are first monitored in the Pateint Evaluation Treatment Center--essentially triage. Once they determine that you are, in fact, in labor you are then moved into L&D. Unfortunately, we weren't so lucky.
We arrived at 5:15--and I was still only about 1.5 cm dilated and 50% effaced--the same as I have been for about 2 weeks. They monitored me for a few hours and did some blood work--and finally decided that since I wasn't dilating and still over a week out from my due date to SEND ME HOME!!! I was still having contrax 2-5 minutes apart--but they really felt it unnecessary to do anything but let nature take it's course given that I was still over a week away from my due date.
The plan was to send me home and send me to see my OB at the office at about 3pm to see if I am any more dilated. So off we go. We arrive back home at 9:30am and I am starving. So DH goes off to get me some scrambled eggs and toast and I suddenly start feeling queasy and the pain becomes pretty strong. I do everything possible to ward off the pain--massage from DH, walking, rocking, huffing and puffing. I finally end up in bed--and try and doze off. Well, I would be awakened every few minutes in severe pain. Finally at about 11:00am--I make DH call my OB and tell them that I am in INTENSE pain and cannot wait until 3pm to see them.
Even after DH warned my OB that I was WAILING in pain, my OB insisted that she see me in her office...so off we went. When we got there, I was immediately ushered into a back room and out of the waiting room, as to not scare the daylights out of the other patients in the waiting room. I get an internal and I am 4 cm dialated..and get the OK to go across the street to the hospital and the OK to go straight to L&D and skip the Patient Evaluation Center.
We get to the hospital and told that there were no available rooms in L&D and would have to wait at least 20-25 minutes for a room. Well, there I am laboring in intense pain, leaning over a chair with DH massaging my back and I am moaning in pain—all the while people are trekking through the waiting room to go see their loved ones in L&D.
I finally get into a room and am given an internal and I am 7 cm dilated. I immediately ask for an epidural—and am told that I would need 2 saline IV’s before one can be ordered—all the while this is being explained to me, I continue to wail in pain. Well, the nurse comes in and hooks up the first bag and turns it all the way up –so that I received the first bag in about 15 minutes –tops…and as soon as she hooked up the IV for the 2nd bag—she called for an Epidural for me—THANK GOODNESS!
Life did get better after the epidural—and so DH and I got some rest for about 2 hours when I was given my next internal check—and I was 9.5 cm and 100 effaced and my water still hadn’t broken. After my OB was notified of the advanced progress, someone came to break my water and I was told that my OB would be there in about an hour when I could start pushing.
Once my water broke, what I could feel through the epidural, became more consistent, and a bit more uncomfortable—but certainly NOT unbearable—especially after laboring to 7 cm without pain medication. So DH and I sat and watched the L&D nurses get our room together for delivery and made friendly chit-chat. When my OB arrived, I was promptly put into a contortionist position and checked by my OB and told that the baby’s head was already crowning. My OB told me to push—and when I did—she immediately got up to get her gown and gloves on. As soon as she turned from me, I got another intense contraction and screamed that I needed to push! She told me that I need to wait for her to get her gloves on—the longest 10 seconds of my life. Well no sooner than when she sat down, I was pushing---and out popped Abigail Maya. For those of you still with me—that was 2 pushes and about 5 minutes of pushing before Abigail popped out….a fact I am pretty proud to tout.
Abigail scored 9 on BOTH APGARS—another fact I am very proud of. I did not need an episiotomy—but did have a small tear that required 2 stitches.
So last Wednesday night I began having contractions about every 9 minutes beginning at about 6:30pm. Well, that lasted until about 3:30am--when they began coming every 3-5 minutes. So DH and I waited it out to see if that continued for at least an hour before calling my OB. After dealing with a few false alarms--we wanted to be sure there was some consistency of the contrax before calling.
Sure enough--after an hour goes by with the contrax being anywhere from 2-5 minutes apart--we call the OB and get go-ahead to go to the hospital. At my hospital, you do not get to go straight to L&D. You are first monitored in the Pateint Evaluation Treatment Center--essentially triage. Once they determine that you are, in fact, in labor you are then moved into L&D. Unfortunately, we weren't so lucky.
We arrived at 5:15--and I was still only about 1.5 cm dilated and 50% effaced--the same as I have been for about 2 weeks. They monitored me for a few hours and did some blood work--and finally decided that since I wasn't dilating and still over a week out from my due date to SEND ME HOME!!! I was still having contrax 2-5 minutes apart--but they really felt it unnecessary to do anything but let nature take it's course given that I was still over a week away from my due date.
The plan was to send me home and send me to see my OB at the office at about 3pm to see if I am any more dilated. So off we go. We arrive back home at 9:30am and I am starving. So DH goes off to get me some scrambled eggs and toast and I suddenly start feeling queasy and the pain becomes pretty strong. I do everything possible to ward off the pain--massage from DH, walking, rocking, huffing and puffing. I finally end up in bed--and try and doze off. Well, I would be awakened every few minutes in severe pain. Finally at about 11:00am--I make DH call my OB and tell them that I am in INTENSE pain and cannot wait until 3pm to see them.
Even after DH warned my OB that I was WAILING in pain, my OB insisted that she see me in her office...so off we went. When we got there, I was immediately ushered into a back room and out of the waiting room, as to not scare the daylights out of the other patients in the waiting room. I get an internal and I am 4 cm dialated..and get the OK to go across the street to the hospital and the OK to go straight to L&D and skip the Patient Evaluation Center.
We get to the hospital and told that there were no available rooms in L&D and would have to wait at least 20-25 minutes for a room. Well, there I am laboring in intense pain, leaning over a chair with DH massaging my back and I am moaning in pain—all the while people are trekking through the waiting room to go see their loved ones in L&D.
I finally get into a room and am given an internal and I am 7 cm dilated. I immediately ask for an epidural—and am told that I would need 2 saline IV’s before one can be ordered—all the while this is being explained to me, I continue to wail in pain. Well, the nurse comes in and hooks up the first bag and turns it all the way up –so that I received the first bag in about 15 minutes –tops…and as soon as she hooked up the IV for the 2nd bag—she called for an Epidural for me—THANK GOODNESS!
Life did get better after the epidural—and so DH and I got some rest for about 2 hours when I was given my next internal check—and I was 9.5 cm and 100 effaced and my water still hadn’t broken. After my OB was notified of the advanced progress, someone came to break my water and I was told that my OB would be there in about an hour when I could start pushing.
Once my water broke, what I could feel through the epidural, became more consistent, and a bit more uncomfortable—but certainly NOT unbearable—especially after laboring to 7 cm without pain medication. So DH and I sat and watched the L&D nurses get our room together for delivery and made friendly chit-chat. When my OB arrived, I was promptly put into a contortionist position and checked by my OB and told that the baby’s head was already crowning. My OB told me to push—and when I did—she immediately got up to get her gown and gloves on. As soon as she turned from me, I got another intense contraction and screamed that I needed to push! She told me that I need to wait for her to get her gloves on—the longest 10 seconds of my life. Well no sooner than when she sat down, I was pushing---and out popped Abigail Maya. For those of you still with me—that was 2 pushes and about 5 minutes of pushing before Abigail popped out….a fact I am pretty proud to tout.
Abigail scored 9 on BOTH APGARS—another fact I am very proud of. I did not need an episiotomy—but did have a small tear that required 2 stitches.
Sunday, September 04, 2005
Announcing the Debut of Abigail Maya
Our daughter, Abigail Maya, was born on Thursday, September 1st at 7:30pm weighing in at 6lbs, 8.6 oz and 19 inches long. We are home and are getting to know each other. Peter and I are feeling incredibly blessed. I would love to share our birth story--but first we need to get some sleep.
More to come........
More to come........
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