Of course we had to snap some photos before heading out and just after. Typical Pacific NW, it was raining, and I usually hate to run in the rain but I was smart and went to the Brooks outlet nearby and got a hat. So now I'm prepared!
March 11, 2012
Running
I went for my first run post baby last night. We made it a family affair and all went, with the double BOB. It'll take some getting used to for running with since it's really heavy with two kids inside of it, but I was impressed how I was able to run and wasn't stopping, wasn't winded, and could carry on a conversation for the whole time. This definitely is giving me hope that I'll be able to get through the Rock and Roll Half Marathon and run the whole way. My goal is just to finish and if that means walking some of it, then so be it. But I'd love to be able to run the whole 13 miles.
Of course we had to snap some photos before heading out and just after. Typical Pacific NW, it was raining, and I usually hate to run in the rain but I was smart and went to the Brooks outlet nearby and got a hat. So now I'm prepared!
Of course we had to snap some photos before heading out and just after. Typical Pacific NW, it was raining, and I usually hate to run in the rain but I was smart and went to the Brooks outlet nearby and got a hat. So now I'm prepared!
March 5, 2012
Gaby's One Month Letter
2/28/12
Dear Gabriela:
You are one month old!! I can’t believe it’s been a month already! Your daddy, big brother and I have been waiting for you for so long and now you’re here and growing every day! We’re all adjusting well, although Daddy and I aren’t getting as much sleep as we’re used to, but it’s ok because we get to spend time with you and learning your personality.
You’ve had a chance to meet your Grandma Kathy and Grandpa John, Uncle Sean, and Mama Lupe.
Your big brother Santi loves you very much and loves to give you kisses, especially when you’re crying. If I’m upstairs grabbing something and he’s downstairs with you and you start crying, he will come to the stairs and call up to me and tell me “Baby sister” is crying.
You have definite preferences - you love to be swaddled, and a lot of times, the tighter the better! You also prefer to be bounced rather than swung back and forth for comfort. You love it when mommy wears you in the Moby wrap, and aren’t a fan of the car seat as much, although you’re getting better. You also like the pacifier, and don’t really like the bottle, although you have one small bottle that you will drink out of.
Here are some more things that you’re doing:
- You are very stubborn, and when you’re nursing if you don’t get a good latch on right away, you will move your head around until you get the latch!
- When you’re really hungry and fussing, you will take your hand and swipe at your cheek once really quickly but strongly!
- When you cry and are really worked up, you will sometimes make raspberries and cry at the same time, so you sound a little bit like Daffy Duck! J
- You outgrew the preemie clothes and are just about fitting into the newborn clothes, although we have to roll up the sleeves.
- When you wear cloth diapers, you can fit into 0-3 month pants, but usually you’re too skinny if you’re in a regular diaper!
- You are starting to recognize mommy and daddy and will smile at us when we smile at you. It’s rare still so when we get a smile out of you, we both get really excited.
- You will turn your head in whatever direction Santi’s voice is in – mommy thinks you recognize his (loud) voice from when she was pregnant with you.
- You love the bouncer and are starting to like the swing.
- You don’t like the pack and play and that’s why you usually sleep in the bouncer at night.
- You still love to be held by mommy when you’re upset and will fall asleep in seconds when she holds you usually.
- You sleep about 5.5-6 hours when we first put you down at night. After that you wake up every 3 hours or so, but it’s nice to be getting a little bit more sleep.
- You love getting a bath.
It’s so exciting to see you change and grow each day, and to compare how you are with how your brother was. You are both so different, and we’re enjoying getting to know you and your personality. Mommy thinks you’re stubborn like Daddy and Daddy thinks the opposite.
We look forward to all of the changes that will come in the next month with you!
Love,
Mommy and Daddy
February 19, 2012
Preview
Our friend Adrian, of Adrian Busse Photography, came over on Saturday to take some family photos and newborn photos of Gaby. She took Santi's newborn photos, so we were excited to have her take some new shots, as well as some shots of Gaby. Last night she sent me a shot for a preview...we can't wait to see what else she captured!
More Gaby
So I'll do a picture post of my little girl...she's truly a joy. She's now almost 3 weeks old, and although she's having some sleep issues (she was sleeping in her pack and play, for the first 1.5 weeks, and then decided she didn't want to do that. Now she will sleep in her bouncy chair, sometimes in the swing and prefers sleeping on me. Either with me sitting up (makes it impossible for me to sleep comfortably), or in the crook of my arm while I'm laying down in bed.
We didn't want to co-sleep but apparently our daughter had other plans. I've been nervous about the SIDS risks since our bed is soft. So we take our pillows and push them off to the sides of the bed, and then put the covers down so they don't come up farther than our hips, and then put her in my arm while she's swaddled.
For one night, she slept in a sleep positioner in between us successfully. But the next night she decided she didn't like that. And we don't want to have her sleep in her bouncy chair all night if we don't have to because we don't want her to get dependent on this for sleeping/soothing. Same thing with the swing, especially since the swing is essentially a hard plastic shell covered by some fabric, so I worry about her getting a flat head from her sleeping in there for too long.So my arms is actually the best place for her to sleep, despite the fact that I'm not getting the best sleep. But in the grand scheme of things, it's a short amount of time, so hopefully she'll learn to like her crib sometime soon.
She also loves to be worn in the Moby wrap, and I'm hoping to get an Ergo or Beco so I can wear her for longer amounts of time and have more back support. I went to the mall today and wore her (since we don't have a stroller for her yet!) in the Moby and she fell asleep from the minute I put her in there. She woke for a second and I gave her the pacifier (another thing different from Santi aside from the sleeping, since he was a pro sleeper from early on, is that she likes the pacifier. He never did, so we never had to worry about weaning him from it. She likes it, although we use it sparingly, hoping this will help when we do have to wean her in the future!)
So here are some photos of our peanut (she was 5lbs, 12oz at birth, dropped to 5lbs, 4oz when we left the hospital, and is now 6lbs, 3oz and finally out of preemie clothes!)
We didn't want to co-sleep but apparently our daughter had other plans. I've been nervous about the SIDS risks since our bed is soft. So we take our pillows and push them off to the sides of the bed, and then put the covers down so they don't come up farther than our hips, and then put her in my arm while she's swaddled.
For one night, she slept in a sleep positioner in between us successfully. But the next night she decided she didn't like that. And we don't want to have her sleep in her bouncy chair all night if we don't have to because we don't want her to get dependent on this for sleeping/soothing. Same thing with the swing, especially since the swing is essentially a hard plastic shell covered by some fabric, so I worry about her getting a flat head from her sleeping in there for too long.So my arms is actually the best place for her to sleep, despite the fact that I'm not getting the best sleep. But in the grand scheme of things, it's a short amount of time, so hopefully she'll learn to like her crib sometime soon.
She also loves to be worn in the Moby wrap, and I'm hoping to get an Ergo or Beco so I can wear her for longer amounts of time and have more back support. I went to the mall today and wore her (since we don't have a stroller for her yet!) in the Moby and she fell asleep from the minute I put her in there. She woke for a second and I gave her the pacifier (another thing different from Santi aside from the sleeping, since he was a pro sleeper from early on, is that she likes the pacifier. He never did, so we never had to worry about weaning him from it. She likes it, although we use it sparingly, hoping this will help when we do have to wean her in the future!)
So here are some photos of our peanut (she was 5lbs, 12oz at birth, dropped to 5lbs, 4oz when we left the hospital, and is now 6lbs, 3oz and finally out of preemie clothes!)
Meeting Grandma and Grandpa at the hospital
In her car seat ready to go home!
So teeny!
At home
Gaby (still a little jaundiced), Santi and Mommy
Her first bath
Kisses from her big brother
Santi holding her
At the hospital
Welcome home!
Finally home!
Santi checking out "baby sister"
Teeny foot!
Smaller than Santi's Mickey Mouse!
Grandma and Grandpa with their grandchildren
More besitos from big brother!
Happy for me!
So now that I have two kids, I need a jogging stroller to fit both of them. Initially I was thinking that I could wear Gaby during my Stroller Strides classes and have Santi in our BOB single stroller for about 6 months. But now that she's here, even though she's a teeny baby, I realized my back would probably be hurting more for wearing her for an hour class, as well as I wouldn't be able to run.
And since we decided we were going to get a double BOB and use it not only for my Stroller Strides classes, but for running and for our everyday stroller, we decided to bite the bullet and get the stroller now, since we need something for when we go to places (i.e. the mall) that don't have carts (like Target or the grocery store.)
I searched online and ended up going to the same place that I got our single BOB through - pishposhbaby.com
Nothing is better than free shipping and no sales tax in my opinion. So, by February 23rd, I should have this beast in my hands to start some walks around the neighborhood with the kids:
I can't wait! The biggest issue will be if I can get it into the trunk of the car without taking the wheels off, but we'll deal with that when it gets here. We have a really large trunk, so I'm hoping it won't be an issue, but we'll see! I am really, really excited though as this is the first step in getting my body back to pre-pregnancy shape, as well as in training for my first 1/2 marathon in June!
And since we decided we were going to get a double BOB and use it not only for my Stroller Strides classes, but for running and for our everyday stroller, we decided to bite the bullet and get the stroller now, since we need something for when we go to places (i.e. the mall) that don't have carts (like Target or the grocery store.)
I searched online and ended up going to the same place that I got our single BOB through - pishposhbaby.com
Nothing is better than free shipping and no sales tax in my opinion. So, by February 23rd, I should have this beast in my hands to start some walks around the neighborhood with the kids:
I can't wait! The biggest issue will be if I can get it into the trunk of the car without taking the wheels off, but we'll deal with that when it gets here. We have a really large trunk, so I'm hoping it won't be an issue, but we'll see! I am really, really excited though as this is the first step in getting my body back to pre-pregnancy shape, as well as in training for my first 1/2 marathon in June!
Gaby's Birth Story Part 2
Here's the rest of the story:
Sunday, January 29, 2012
I ended up getting two units of blood transfused into me, and by the afternoon, my blood levels had risen enough that the doctors were convinced the bleeding had stopped on its own, which was such a relief.
Additionally, I’d noticed that when I was in pain, my shoulders and chest area would tense up with muscle spasms. I’d had this happen after the last c-section due to the amount of pain I’d been in when I’d had the hematoma. I figured that since the surgery was painful, as well as I felt a lot of the tugging and pulling, so I naturally tensed up but didn’t know it. So after this surgery, whenever I felt pain, I’d get a muscle spasm. Since it was in my chest as well, it made it difficult for me to breathe and get good deep breaths in. I told the doctors and the nurses about it, and a couple of the nurses actually witnessed it a few times, so they noted it in my chart.
At this point I was still on the Labor and Delivery floor so I could be more closely monitored since the doctors hang out on the L&D floor and not on the post-partum floor. My nurse came in and told me I should get up and try to walk, even if just in my room. She also mentioned that they could change my bed out since I was still sleeping on a surgical gurney. That was incentive enough for me to get up since that was such an uncomfortable bed! So I was able to get up and out of bed to a chair so that they could bring the new bed into the room, and then I was able to walk from the bed to the end of the room a few times. After that, I decided that was enough since I was in so much pain at that point. I made it back to bed and had some more pain meds.
My appetite was pretty much non-existent, but by late afternoon I decided I should eat something, so I ordered a sandwich, some fruit and some green tea. In the meantime, my old nurse came in and introduced me to my new nurse. At first, she was being thorough for all of the right reasons – checking on Gaby, checking my ID tags to make sure she had the right patient and I was due to get the right meds, etc. But then it became a bit too thorough. My food finally came, and I was able to sit up in bed to get ready to eat. At that point, the nurse came in with some of my medicine to take. She proceeded to go through every medicine, what it did, why I was taking it, and then doled it out to me one medicine at a time (and watched me take it with water each time.) She did this for 3 pills. Then she said she’d be back with my other medicine.
In the meantime, I picked up my sandwich to take a bite, and then she walked in again, and proceeded to explain the other three pills in great detail. I was so hungry and my blood sugar was so low I was SUPER cranky. So she left again to get something else, and I went to pick up the sandwich and looked at Tito and started crying because I was so hungry and so emotional about the whole situation (and probably super hormonal at this point too. It seemed like every time I went to take a bite, there this nurse was again, and I was trying to be polite by not eating in front of her, and also I have a thing about eating in front of people I don’t know because it’s messy, so I just wanted 5 minutes to eat my food but couldn’t seem to get it!)
Two minutes later, after composing myself with Tito, the nurse came in again as I was trying to have a bite of my sandwich. She then proceeded to take Gaby’s vitals and change her (which seemed to take her forever as she explained the whole diaper changing process to Tito as well as how to swaddle her…I reminded her that we had another child who was only 22 months old, so it hadn’t been that long since we’d last done these things. She didn’t seem to care and over explained everything to us again.) I finally lost it and started crying, which made my body tense up and made it hard for me to breathe. In between breaths, I was able to ask her as politely as I could if she could just leave and leave us alone so I could eat since I hadn’t eaten all day (and it was 7pm at this point.) It took her a moment to understand what I was asking and she left the room. Tito followed her out of the room and further explained things to her (probably in a nicer way than I would have) and when he came back he said for me to eat and that she wouldn’t be bothering us for awhile.
Monday, January 30, 2012
We were woken throughout the night by Gaby who wanted to eat. Thankfully, my milk had come in so she was able to get actual food rather than just colostrum. At 7am, the nurse (a new one thankfully!) came in to tell me that they were moving me to the post partum floor. Within about 20 minutes, I was packed up and there was a wheelchair waiting to bring me downstairs. I took my time getting out of bed since I was still in a great deal of pain. Once we were downstairs, Tito got our things settled and the nurse came in to introduce herself and bring me pain meds. My doctors came in and told me I just needed to get my blood levels up to 1.8 and rising before they would let me go home. I’d been restarted on my Coumadin the night before, and they took blood that morning to get my levels. Awhile later they came in and told me my levels were 1.2, so it was just a waiting game.
The rest of the day was broken into three hour segments where I would sleep when Gaby slept, watch tv, talk with Tito, and then nurse Gaby and put her back to sleep and then repeat all over again. Santi came to visit with my parents and to meet Gaby. It was a little chaotic and truthfully, he was more interested in spending time with us than with seeing his baby sister.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Basically the same as the day before. Nursing, sleeping, tv, talking, etc. I was able to get up and walk around the floor to encourage my healing process. I made it four laps around before I was too tired to walk anymore. I was still pretty doped up on the pain meds, so I spent a lot of time sleeping and actually asked them to reduce the meds since I was so tired I wasn’t able to keep my eyes open while I was nursing or looking at my phone to catch up online. The doctors took my blood for my Coumadin levels and the levels were 1.5. I asked if the next day if it was up just a little bit if I could go home even if my levels weren’t the desired 1.8, and I was told no.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Another day of waiting around. More tests were run and my blood level was still at 1.5. Santi and my parents and my brother came to visit and see Gaby again. We were really hoping that things would look up the next day and I’d get to go home. But we still needed to wait to find out.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
We both started to get really anxious about going home. I was thinking about it as I was getting washed up that morning that I would be truly really disappointed and depressed a bit if I wasn’t able to go home that day. As I was finishing up getting dressed, my nurse came in with the good news that my levels were at 1.8 and I was able to go home! I came out of the bathroom after she left and Tito and I both hugged and cried. We both didn’t realize how much we’d been hoping I could go home after the craziness of the birth, the issues afterward and missing Santi SO much. We both started packing and then it was another waiting game as the nurse had to get the discharge papers together for me so that I could leave. About 4 hours later, we were able to get Gaby into her car seat and leave for home.
We arrived home and my parents had made a welcome home sign for us and put it on the outside of the house. Santi was so excited to see us and we took Gaby out of her car seat so that we could show her off and relax. I was so exhausted and sore that I basically headed upstairs to nap while Gaby napped.
It took us six days after meeting our daughter to get home and it was the best homecoming we could have ever had. We’re still adjusting to being back and Santi is almost fully adjusted to us being home and having his baby sister, as he calls her, home with him and taking some of the attention away from him. He’s very sweet with her and will kiss her when she’s crying, helps with her diapers (he’ll bring the dirty one to the trash or will bring us her wipes and a clean diaper if we ask him.) I think he’s enjoying being a big brother and enjoyed having my parents here as well as he’s enjoying having my mother in law here as well to visit and play with.
I had a two week check up with my OB on Valentine’s Day and I found out I have some blood clots underneath the skin on the incision that just have to absorb back into my body. So I’m not able to lift anything over 10lbs right now, and just have to take it easy. Tito’s been a great help with everything and with Santi. He was due to go back to work on the 27th, but is going to talk to his manager about working from home since I can’t lift Santi into his crib for nap time or even throughout the day. I have a few times and when I have it hurts my incision, so I think I still need some more time. After Tito is back to work though I’ll definitely be getting settled into my routine. Hopefully after my 6 week check up with my doctor on March 9th, I’ll be able to get back into my full routine which includes lifting Santi and also going for walks and hopefully soon eventually runs with my new double jogging stroller I just ordered.
February 1, 2012
Our daughter has arrived!
Gabriela Anna’s Birth Story
Friday, January 27, 2012
So Gaby’s birth story is similar to Santi’s in the way it began…I went in on a Friday for a routine OB appointment, hoping the doctor would check me and say that I was 3 cm dilated and contracting regularly. Instead, I had high blood pressure (hypertension) and was admitted up to Labor and Delivery to have her. I was only 1cm dilated and my cervix wasn’t effaced enough so my OB decided to do a c-section rather than inducing since it could be too dangerous for my heart.
I was placed on a magnesium drip which has side effects of burning where it goes into the body at the IV site and also making you feel hot and flushed, especially during the first hour of infusion. It can also make you have a headache and feel nauseous. I felt all of these. So I was given an ice pack to wear on my IV and suffered through the first hour and then had the amount backed off so I just had a low grade headache. I also got Heparin through IV to thin my blood and prevent clots.
We were told that they could possibly deliver the baby that evening or the next morning, depending on what my Heparin levels were. I’d been taking Heparin injections on my own at home and hadn’t taken one since that morning and also hadn’t eaten since lunch time (which was in my favor at that point) so they decided that they would head towards trying to do a c-section that evening.
A couple of hours later, the doctors came in and said my Heparin levels were continuing to rise, so the anesthesiologists didn’t feel comfortable with my levels at what they were doing a spinal block for the surgery. So they suggested waiting until the early morning and delivering then. So we were set up for the night and spent our last evening as the parents of just one baby.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
We were woken up throughout the night by nurses coming in to take my vital signs and check on my IV’s. At about 5am, the OB doctors on call and a couple of residents (since my OB was out of the country) came in to talk to me about the procedure. The anesthesiologist came in again and got some info from me for the surgery. My nurse came in at 6am and said that they wanted me back in the OR by 7am to get me set up with the spinal block, and set for the surgery. So at this point we knew that January 28th would be our little girls birthday! At 7am, they got me out of bed, put some footie socks on me, and a hair net as well, and I kissed Tito goodbye. They wheeled me into the OR and got me up on the table. Those rooms are always freezing, so I was shivering while on the table waiting for my spinal block. Back in the room, Tito was getting ready putting on scrubs and a mask and his own hair net.
Since the UW is a teaching hospital, the anesthesiologist had a student there with him to do my spinal. This wasn’t concerning to me, but it was slightly distracting while I was trying to focus on being quiet in my head and thinking the pain away and all I could hear was the one doctor giving instructions to the student. They managed to get the spinal in and laid me down and then gave me the Foley catheter, and the pressure socks. They draped me up and the anesthesiologist proceeded to put the blood pressure cuff on me and also tried to get an “art lock” which is basically an IV that goes into the artery in your wrist, right where your pulse point is. They said the reason for having it was because in case I was having a heart attack on the table they’d be able to tell quicker with that and deliver meds that way than waiting for the blood pressure cuff to go off every three minutes to tell them something was wrong. I’d argued against having it since I’d never had one before, particularly for the last c-section with Santi, but they argued for it and I said ok. But I mentioned how sensitive the veins I had were in my wrists and how they had a tendency to always blow when IV’s were placed there. But they assured me they’d give me numbing meds via needle ahead of time and it would be ok. So they tried to get the first art lock in and the vein went out. Since I’d been nervous about it I was super tense while they were doing the procedure and wasn’t happy when they said it hadn’t gone in. The anesthesiologist took over for his student and he tried in a different spot and the same thing happened.
At this point, the doctors were there and were feeling for how high my block had gone by pinching my skin on my abdomen. When they got to this one spot high up on my abdomen on my left side I felt it every time they poked me. I mentioned this and was a little nervous the block wasn’t set in yet. So it was decided that they would undrape me and put in an epidural catheter where they could administer medicine right away. So all of the doctors and nurses left the room aside from one and the anesthesiologists and they worked on the epidural. Tito was able to stay in the room as well even though I couldn’t see him. After they administered the epidural and the meds, I started to feel really lightheaded and like I was going to pass out. So they moved the table so I was placed more head down, and gave me more fluids to counteract the feeling. My blood pressure got really low as did my pulse and I felt like I was going to throw up. Finally I felt better but not before I thought I would really pass out on the table. They said it was common to have this happen but it still scared me a little bit.
After they had gotten me back to feeling better, the docs came in and they re-draped me and decided to start the surgery again. They started pinching me again and I wasn’t able to feel them thankfully so they started. Tito came to sit by me and I started feeling a lot of tugging and pulling. A lot more than I’d remembered feeling with Santi’s surgery. At one point it felt like they were lifting me up by my stomach, similar to how you’d lift a puppy up by the scruff of its neck.
After about 30 minutes, the anesthesiologist came over and said that they were getting ready to pull the baby out and prepared me for how it would feel. LOTS of pressure and pushing later, she was here! Tito stood up and snapped a photo and they lifted her over the drape so I could see her (something I’d requested.) All I could think was how tiny she was!
I started crying but had no tears so it was an odd sobbing feeling without tears. I could see her in the bed being examined by the pediatricians, and then Tito cutting her cord. They weighed her and brought her over to me so I could fully see her all bundled up. They then gave her to Tito to hold. I asked how much she’d weighed and they said 5lbs, 12oz. I was shocked at how little she weighed!
They tried to put her on my chest skin to skin right away but while it was a good idea in theory, I was still angled head down, so it was hard without her falling off! So they gave her back to Tito as they were finishing closing me up.
They took a long time since the last c-section I’d had an arterial bleed so they were extra careful making sure nothing was bleeding before closing me up. After they were done, they brought me back to my room holding her and Tito followed closely behind. While in the room we did some skin to skin, she tried to nurse and was able to latch on right away, and then the nurse took her vitals and bathed her. She mentioned her body temp was a little low so she suggested putting her under the warming lights and then talking to the pediatricians, especially given the history of what Santi went through.
The pediatricians came in and said it was normal and they’d just monitor her and recommended more skin on skin time. We started with that, but pretty soon after I started feeling lightheaded again and so they took her from me and laid me down and checked my vitals. The doctors came in again and said since my oxygen sats were ok that they weren’t going to give me oxygen. My blood pressure dropped again and my pulse got into the low 40’s. Finally things came back up when they pushed more fluids. They ran some blood tests and said that they would wait to see what was going on.
That afternoon, Tito decided to go home and check on Santi and make sure things were ok with my parents and the house. While he was gone and the nurse was in the room, she checked my incision and was massaging my stomach to get my uterus to contract. This was really painful, and I started feeling dizzy and lightheaded again. At this point the docs came in but so did the anesthesiologist who thought I might be having a heart attack. I said that it didn’t feel that way to me and just felt like almost passing out due to the pain I was feeling. They decided to do an EKG and I called Tito and told him to come back as soon as he could.
The docs decided I probably wasn’t having a heart attack but instead ran more blood tests. After a bit they came in and said that my blood levels were rising and it looked like I had some internal bleeding somewhere. They did an ultrasound to figure out if it was a small bleed or something large like with Santi. The found a few small areas with blood pooling but no major visible bleeds. So they decided to hold off on putting me back on the blood thinning medications and instead to transfuse me with a couple units of blood in the hopes that the extra blood would replace what I’d lost and my blood would clot on its own. They decided to start that right away and do that through the morning.
More later...
Friday, January 27, 2012
So Gaby’s birth story is similar to Santi’s in the way it began…I went in on a Friday for a routine OB appointment, hoping the doctor would check me and say that I was 3 cm dilated and contracting regularly. Instead, I had high blood pressure (hypertension) and was admitted up to Labor and Delivery to have her. I was only 1cm dilated and my cervix wasn’t effaced enough so my OB decided to do a c-section rather than inducing since it could be too dangerous for my heart.
I was placed on a magnesium drip which has side effects of burning where it goes into the body at the IV site and also making you feel hot and flushed, especially during the first hour of infusion. It can also make you have a headache and feel nauseous. I felt all of these. So I was given an ice pack to wear on my IV and suffered through the first hour and then had the amount backed off so I just had a low grade headache. I also got Heparin through IV to thin my blood and prevent clots.
We were told that they could possibly deliver the baby that evening or the next morning, depending on what my Heparin levels were. I’d been taking Heparin injections on my own at home and hadn’t taken one since that morning and also hadn’t eaten since lunch time (which was in my favor at that point) so they decided that they would head towards trying to do a c-section that evening.
A couple of hours later, the doctors came in and said my Heparin levels were continuing to rise, so the anesthesiologists didn’t feel comfortable with my levels at what they were doing a spinal block for the surgery. So they suggested waiting until the early morning and delivering then. So we were set up for the night and spent our last evening as the parents of just one baby.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
We were woken up throughout the night by nurses coming in to take my vital signs and check on my IV’s. At about 5am, the OB doctors on call and a couple of residents (since my OB was out of the country) came in to talk to me about the procedure. The anesthesiologist came in again and got some info from me for the surgery. My nurse came in at 6am and said that they wanted me back in the OR by 7am to get me set up with the spinal block, and set for the surgery. So at this point we knew that January 28th would be our little girls birthday! At 7am, they got me out of bed, put some footie socks on me, and a hair net as well, and I kissed Tito goodbye. They wheeled me into the OR and got me up on the table. Those rooms are always freezing, so I was shivering while on the table waiting for my spinal block. Back in the room, Tito was getting ready putting on scrubs and a mask and his own hair net.
Since the UW is a teaching hospital, the anesthesiologist had a student there with him to do my spinal. This wasn’t concerning to me, but it was slightly distracting while I was trying to focus on being quiet in my head and thinking the pain away and all I could hear was the one doctor giving instructions to the student. They managed to get the spinal in and laid me down and then gave me the Foley catheter, and the pressure socks. They draped me up and the anesthesiologist proceeded to put the blood pressure cuff on me and also tried to get an “art lock” which is basically an IV that goes into the artery in your wrist, right where your pulse point is. They said the reason for having it was because in case I was having a heart attack on the table they’d be able to tell quicker with that and deliver meds that way than waiting for the blood pressure cuff to go off every three minutes to tell them something was wrong. I’d argued against having it since I’d never had one before, particularly for the last c-section with Santi, but they argued for it and I said ok. But I mentioned how sensitive the veins I had were in my wrists and how they had a tendency to always blow when IV’s were placed there. But they assured me they’d give me numbing meds via needle ahead of time and it would be ok. So they tried to get the first art lock in and the vein went out. Since I’d been nervous about it I was super tense while they were doing the procedure and wasn’t happy when they said it hadn’t gone in. The anesthesiologist took over for his student and he tried in a different spot and the same thing happened.
At this point, the doctors were there and were feeling for how high my block had gone by pinching my skin on my abdomen. When they got to this one spot high up on my abdomen on my left side I felt it every time they poked me. I mentioned this and was a little nervous the block wasn’t set in yet. So it was decided that they would undrape me and put in an epidural catheter where they could administer medicine right away. So all of the doctors and nurses left the room aside from one and the anesthesiologists and they worked on the epidural. Tito was able to stay in the room as well even though I couldn’t see him. After they administered the epidural and the meds, I started to feel really lightheaded and like I was going to pass out. So they moved the table so I was placed more head down, and gave me more fluids to counteract the feeling. My blood pressure got really low as did my pulse and I felt like I was going to throw up. Finally I felt better but not before I thought I would really pass out on the table. They said it was common to have this happen but it still scared me a little bit.
After they had gotten me back to feeling better, the docs came in and they re-draped me and decided to start the surgery again. They started pinching me again and I wasn’t able to feel them thankfully so they started. Tito came to sit by me and I started feeling a lot of tugging and pulling. A lot more than I’d remembered feeling with Santi’s surgery. At one point it felt like they were lifting me up by my stomach, similar to how you’d lift a puppy up by the scruff of its neck.
After about 30 minutes, the anesthesiologist came over and said that they were getting ready to pull the baby out and prepared me for how it would feel. LOTS of pressure and pushing later, she was here! Tito stood up and snapped a photo and they lifted her over the drape so I could see her (something I’d requested.) All I could think was how tiny she was!
I started crying but had no tears so it was an odd sobbing feeling without tears. I could see her in the bed being examined by the pediatricians, and then Tito cutting her cord. They weighed her and brought her over to me so I could fully see her all bundled up. They then gave her to Tito to hold. I asked how much she’d weighed and they said 5lbs, 12oz. I was shocked at how little she weighed!
They tried to put her on my chest skin to skin right away but while it was a good idea in theory, I was still angled head down, so it was hard without her falling off! So they gave her back to Tito as they were finishing closing me up.
They took a long time since the last c-section I’d had an arterial bleed so they were extra careful making sure nothing was bleeding before closing me up. After they were done, they brought me back to my room holding her and Tito followed closely behind. While in the room we did some skin to skin, she tried to nurse and was able to latch on right away, and then the nurse took her vitals and bathed her. She mentioned her body temp was a little low so she suggested putting her under the warming lights and then talking to the pediatricians, especially given the history of what Santi went through.
The pediatricians came in and said it was normal and they’d just monitor her and recommended more skin on skin time. We started with that, but pretty soon after I started feeling lightheaded again and so they took her from me and laid me down and checked my vitals. The doctors came in again and said since my oxygen sats were ok that they weren’t going to give me oxygen. My blood pressure dropped again and my pulse got into the low 40’s. Finally things came back up when they pushed more fluids. They ran some blood tests and said that they would wait to see what was going on.
That afternoon, Tito decided to go home and check on Santi and make sure things were ok with my parents and the house. While he was gone and the nurse was in the room, she checked my incision and was massaging my stomach to get my uterus to contract. This was really painful, and I started feeling dizzy and lightheaded again. At this point the docs came in but so did the anesthesiologist who thought I might be having a heart attack. I said that it didn’t feel that way to me and just felt like almost passing out due to the pain I was feeling. They decided to do an EKG and I called Tito and told him to come back as soon as he could.
The docs decided I probably wasn’t having a heart attack but instead ran more blood tests. After a bit they came in and said that my blood levels were rising and it looked like I had some internal bleeding somewhere. They did an ultrasound to figure out if it was a small bleed or something large like with Santi. The found a few small areas with blood pooling but no major visible bleeds. So they decided to hold off on putting me back on the blood thinning medications and instead to transfuse me with a couple units of blood in the hopes that the extra blood would replace what I’d lost and my blood would clot on its own. They decided to start that right away and do that through the morning.
More later...
January 17, 2012
Still here...still pregnant
I am 37 weeks pregnant, and feeling it. Very uncomfortable, lots of aches and pains and ready to get this baby out. However...we're in the middle of a freak snow storm here in the Seattle area. We have about 6" so far and they're predicting 6"-12" tomorrow. Which means I don't want to go into labor since they don't plow here (not really worth it to invest in plows and equipment when it snows maybe once a year.) We had to put chains on our tires just to get out of our neighborhood and to the store today. So if I do go into labor, I have to take an ambulance to the hospital. Which, as exciting as that sounds, I don't want to do that.
Apparently on Friday we are supposed to have temps back in the 40's and rain through the day and weekend. So we will hopefully be able to get out then if anything happens. But I missed my weekly massage appointment this Monday due to the snow. And I missed my OB appointment today for the same reason. And I really needed my massage since I'm so uncomfortable right now.
Sitting around the house is beginning to drive me crazy too. There's only so much reading, watching tv and online time you can have before it starts to drive you batty. And I know once the baby arrives, I'll be doing a little of that in the hospital, as well as when we get home, since the baby will most likely sleep a lot. But I'm definitely getting my fill if it now and I'm going crazy with all of the inside time.
Hoping the snow goes away soon, and hopefully I don't go into labor until this weekend...
Apparently on Friday we are supposed to have temps back in the 40's and rain through the day and weekend. So we will hopefully be able to get out then if anything happens. But I missed my weekly massage appointment this Monday due to the snow. And I missed my OB appointment today for the same reason. And I really needed my massage since I'm so uncomfortable right now.
Sitting around the house is beginning to drive me crazy too. There's only so much reading, watching tv and online time you can have before it starts to drive you batty. And I know once the baby arrives, I'll be doing a little of that in the hospital, as well as when we get home, since the baby will most likely sleep a lot. But I'm definitely getting my fill if it now and I'm going crazy with all of the inside time.
Hoping the snow goes away soon, and hopefully I don't go into labor until this weekend...
January 7, 2012
36 weeks
So I went in for a routine appointment yesterday and had an NST. The baby was super active but they couldn't see a good baseline heartrate on her because she was so active. So my doctor admitted me to Labor and Delivery and said I should be monitored overnight to make sure she wasn't having decels in her heartrate.
So I got upstairs and admitted, and had the same nurse who actually helped me with my induction and c-section and second surgery with Santi. Made me feel very comfortable. They put me on the monitor and the baby immediately looked great. After a few hours, my doctor came in and said he just worried too much and they were sending me home since she looked great. Apparently she was having a party and didn't invite anyone to it. :)
So I came home, and have a follow up appointment on Tuesday. The doctor checked my cervix and it was closed but soft. So she's getting ready to come but not yet. I'm resting this weekend and not really leaving the bed. My parents arrive to help watch Santi on the 15th, so after that I will be over 37 weeks and can go into labor without feeling stress about who will watch Santi. Glad the doctor erred on the side of caution but I'm also glad I got to go home and didn't have a baby now (the doctor said it wasn't too early but if she had been born now that she'd have to be in the NICU for 4-6 days. Since we went through NICU with Santi we want to avoid that this time.)
So now we wait!
So I got upstairs and admitted, and had the same nurse who actually helped me with my induction and c-section and second surgery with Santi. Made me feel very comfortable. They put me on the monitor and the baby immediately looked great. After a few hours, my doctor came in and said he just worried too much and they were sending me home since she looked great. Apparently she was having a party and didn't invite anyone to it. :)
So I came home, and have a follow up appointment on Tuesday. The doctor checked my cervix and it was closed but soft. So she's getting ready to come but not yet. I'm resting this weekend and not really leaving the bed. My parents arrive to help watch Santi on the 15th, so after that I will be over 37 weeks and can go into labor without feeling stress about who will watch Santi. Glad the doctor erred on the side of caution but I'm also glad I got to go home and didn't have a baby now (the doctor said it wasn't too early but if she had been born now that she'd have to be in the NICU for 4-6 days. Since we went through NICU with Santi we want to avoid that this time.)
So now we wait!
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