New Weblog

Since my first pregnancy is over, I've decided to write a new weblog about my life as a new mom with Tyler. Check it out at http://tyler126.blogspot.com.

Things I Wish I'd Known...

If you read my previous blog about labor and delivery, you'll notice that we had a very UN-natural birth experience. That is unfortunately what is likely to happen when induced. Everything is very artificial. Not so horrible, because the nurses are very attentive and everyone only wants to make you as comfortable as possible. All the wires and tubes attached to me did make it kind of difficult to every GET comfortable, but I was at least able to nap on and off.

Anyway, here are some things I discovered while in the hospital:

1. Fashion is the last of your (or anyone else's) concerns: After I had Tyler, my doctor sewed up my episiotomy and I was given some disposable netting underwear to wear. I was also given a huge feminine pad that had a cold pack in it to place in my gorgeous underwear. Then, they gave me a nursing hospital gown (those gowns, by the way, do not stay closed!) to wear. So I had to constantly hold the two nursing openings closed...and you can imagine what I looked like from the back!

2. You lose all sense of personal space: Almost from the moment I checked into the hospital, my cervix became everyone's business. I count at least 7 different doctors or nurses who checked my dilation every couple of hours or so. Also, once my water broke, the nurses had to constantly change the disposeable pad I was laying on in bed. They would put 3 or 4 pads underneath me on th bed and remove the top one as it was soiled. I was also bleeding a little bit. After I had the baby, the nurses would come in and check my episiotomy sutures and see if I had hemorrhoids.

3. Your breasts are not your own anymore: Every nurse and a few lactation consultants saw my breasts, and most of them touched them to try and help me learn how to nurse Tyler.

After Delivery

We stayed in the hospital for two more days (typical for vaginal deliveries) after I had Tyler. We got shuffled around a bit between rooms, but ended up in a comfortable but smaller postpartum room. Mike and I got to spend some time with Tyler, and Mike even changed a few diapers (before me!). During the night, Tyler stayed in the nursery and his nurse would bring him in our room for me to feed him. I had a little trouble getting the hang of breastfeeding at first, but practice makes perfect!

At around 2 am on Friday morning, the hospital tested Tyler's bilirubin level (jaundice). The blood test came back high, so they said he would have to be put uinder the bilirubin lights (they look like mini tanning lights) to help his body process the bilirubin. I was superemotional by then, so every time I thought of him by himself under those lights I would start crying. Mike had to keep telling me that it was better they discovered his jaundice while we were still in the hospital and they could treat him, instead of us discovering it at home and having to bring him back. I never thought I would be so protective of anyone in my life, but I just wanted Tyler with me.

Anyway, Ty's bilirubin level was 15 mg/L at 36 hours old (-ish), which put him in the moderate to high risk category. Every 12 hours or so, they would re-test Tyler's blood and his levels were going down. The older he got and the lower his bilirubin level went, the less risk he would be for any negative effects. Nevertheless, by the time I was discharged, the pediatrician didn't feel that Ty's bilirubin level was low enough and wanted to keep him under the lights for at least another 24 hours. My parents, sister, and brother-in-law came down on Saturday afternoon to visit, but they could only see Tyler when either Mike or I went to visit him in the nursery. So, we went home from the hospital without our little boy on Saturday.

Mike and I and one of my family members would go back to the hospital every 6 hours to visit and feed Tyler. I would pump while I was at home, so that the nurses could feed him breastmilk during the times I wasn't there to feed him. After 24 hours, Tyler's bilirubin was still too high for the pediatrician, so he wanted Tyler to stay under the lights for ANOTHER 24 hours. My mom was staying with us through the week, which was a great big help, since I couldn't walk around or do much around the house. Mike went to work on Monday, and my mom and I went to the hospital every 6 hours for the feedings. Finally, on Tuesday morning, we got a call from the pediatrician who said that Tyler's bilirubin level was way down, and we could come and get him whenever we wanted! We finally brought our son home on Tuesday, January 31! :)

Pictures

Here are some pictures from the hospital.

Here's Tyler, in his hospital bassinet, he's about 12 hours old in this picture:

Here I am with my son, a couple of hours later:
Here's Mike holding Tyler. Ty's 3 days old and still in the hospital so they can treat his jaundice (more about that later!):
Finally, we brought our little guy home! Here's Tyler, 1 week old:

Labor and Delivery

February 11, 2006 - It really IS worth it!

Hello again everyone! Here's my labor and delivery story:

I checked into the hospital at 3:30pm on Tuesday, January 24th. It took a couple of hours for them to get us into our room and for me to get into my hospital gown and hooked up to various monitors and an IV. I was hooked up to a fetal heart rate monitor and tocotonometer (both around my belly, the tocotonometer monitors my contractions). I also had a blood pressure cuff around my arm, and a pulse/ox monitor clipped onto my finger. They put an IV into my right arm to administer fluids (and to administer medication later). At around 5 or 5:30 pm, a doctor came in (not my regular doctor, but another OB/GYN) to insert the cervidil by my cervix (to soften my cervix). After that, Mike and I just hung out in the hospital room, since the cervidil had to be in for 12 hours. We watched TV and took naps on and off, with nurses coming in every so often to check my blood pressure and fetal movements, and to help me go to the bathroom!

The next morning, at around 6 am, a nurse came in to remove the cervidil and shortly afterwards, my doctor came in to check my cervix. She said it had softened significantly, but I was barely 2 cm dialated. She gave the go-ahead for them to start me on pitocin. I think that was around 8 am. By 11 am, I felt my water break, and my contractions were getting stronger. I asked for an epidural around noon, and was finally administered one by 1 pm. I had to have extra fluids pumped into my body via the IV prior to receiving the epidural, so that made my hands, legs and feet swell up again. Pitocin makes for stronger and more frequent contractions, so things were pretty rough for the hour before I received the epidural. I was a little apprehensive about the actual epidural procedure, but it went well and relieved all of the contraction pain. I also had to have a catheter inserted, since I couldn't get up to go to the bathroom anymore. So, that was two more things I was attached to!

Sometimes the epidural would sort of wear off (I had a constant low dose drip, which kept me comfortable for the most part, but sometimes the contractions were so intense that the epidural drip didn't do much to relieve any pain) and I would ask for another "hit" of the epidural medication. Often, it would take the anesthesiologist around an hour to get to me, so Mike would end up sitting with me and holding my hand as I breathed through contaction after contraction. Once I did get the new "hit" I felt fine again!

Having all those wires and tubes attached to me also made it difficult to move or adjust my position. The nurses would come in every so often and check my cervix for dilation, and everything was going pretty smoothly (I was dilating about 1 cm or so every couple of hours) until around 10 pm on Wednesday. Then, I just stopped dilating...I was 8 or 9 cm dilated, and it didn't change for hours. The nurses suggested that I lay on one side for a while, then switch and lay on another side to help the baby come down and help with my dilation. Well, every time they switched me over to my right side, I started feeling sick. Then, I threw up! EVERY TIME! Poor Mike had to rush and get me a bowl to vomit in at least 3 times during the night...except I had only had ice chips and orange popsicles all day, so the first time I threw up it was orange flavored, and the other times was just bile :(

The L&D nurses kept checking my cervix throughout the night, but I still hadn't dilated any more than 9 cm. They decided to switch from the toco to an internal contraction monitor, which would give a more accurate representation of the contractions. My doctor had another delivery in the morning and a cesarean to perform, so once she was done with those, she was planning to check on me and decide whether or not to give me a c-section. LUCKILY, she had those two deliveries in the morning, because (after upping the dosage of my pitocin) I was finally fully dilated by 5:30 am on Thursday. My new nurse (who began her shift at 7 am) came in and helped me start pushing with each contraction. For about an hour and a half, it was just her, Mike and I in the room...Mike was counting through my contractions and the nurse was encouraging me to push.

I have to say, at first, I had NO CLUE what to do. The nurse told me to push like I was having a bowel movement. WHAT?? I did NOT want to do THAT in front of her OR Mike! After about 45 minutes or so of pushing, Mike noticed that sometimes I would push from my upper abdomen, and other times I pushed from my lower abs. The times I pushed with my lower abs were the pushes that helped the baby move down the birth canal the best. A couple of times, the nurse had to leave and page the doctor or something, and she told us to keep pushing with each contraction. Finally, I started feeling pressure building up and I felt like I could concentrate my pushing on an actual part of my body. Then the pressure began to feel more intense, like nothing I've ever felt before. The nurse went to get the doctor and told us NOT to push at all! That's all I wanted to do! Holy crap, unbelieveable pressure!!!

All of a sudden, there were about 5 more people in our room, rolling in trays of tools and blankets, a bassinet, and lots of other stuff. Two nurses were getting all the stuff ready for the baby, two other nurses were re-adjusting my bed (they took off the lower part that my feet had been resting on and raised the bed to about waist height), while I could see my doctor putting on a gown, an apron, and a face mask. All I could think of was,"Why isn't she putting that stuff on faster??! What else does she have to put on?!?" Because by then, I just wanted to push that baby out of me!

So, that's what I said to my doctor..."I NEED to PUSH!" She said,"Go ahead!" Each time I pushed, it felt better, but I also felt like I was screaming my head off! (Later, Mike asked me to try to scream and push really hard at the same time...all that comes out is a grunt!) I didn't have a clue as to what else was going on around me...I knew Mike was still next to me, holding my foot and counting. Then, my doctor asked me if it was okay to give me an episiotomy (she actually said,"I'm going to have to snip you a little, if that's okay.") As much as I didn't want one, at that point I really didn't care and anything to get the baby out was fine! So I said okay, and as soon as she "snipped" me, I was able to push a couple more times and she pulled out our baby and placed him on my chest. She said,"Open your eyes!" so I could look at our sweet little baby. The nurses had already put little blankets on me to clean him off once he was born (I had no clue they had done that). I was holding our new son and laughing and saying,"Oh my god!" and Mike kissed me...it was an unforgettable feeling! I couldn't believe he was outside of me and I was finally holding him. He had tons of hair, and a crazy conehead :) but he looked amazing!