Thursday, September 23, 2010

5 weeks and Light the Night

Rory had her 1 month pediatrician appointment today.  She has grown much better than expected!  Current stats: 8lbs 3oz (15th percentile), 21in long (32nd percentile), 14.5in head circumference (22nd percentile).  The doctor said she looks very healthy and happy. 

We also ended up getting Taylor's flu shot while we were in the office because they were available.  She did extremely well, not even batting an eye when the needle stuck her.  She was very pleased with her Barbie band-aid, smiley face sticker, and hippo rubber band - gifts from the nurse.  And this afternoon at Trader Joe's she not only got to push a mini-cart, she was given a lollipop by the check-out lady.  It was a great day for her!

We're still figuring out our new routines.  After a week-long getaway to Evansville (just me and girls), Taylor is used to sleeping with me and doesn't want to be in the guest room with Mark anymore.  But, as long as Rory is fed and asleep, Taylor goes to sleep easily so it's not an awful arrangement.  She doesn't seemed to be too disturbed by the nighttime feeding/crying sessions either.

Tomorrow my parents are flying in town for the Light the Night Walk put on by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  Someone in our family was recently diagnosed with leukemia, so supporting this cause is very important to us.  We have been so blessed to reach our fundraising goal of $400 (perhaps we set our sights too low this year!), but would certainly welcome any additional donations as the money goes straight to researching treatments for  blood cancers and helping people cope with these diseases.  Here's our team website.  I'm really looking forward to walking around Forest Park with my family and being a part of this big event.  Sadly, the forecast calls for rain so we'll see how fun it actually turns out to be!

Off to bed now.  I'm pressing my luck by sacrificing sleep time to blog.  It's going to be a long day tomorrow and I'll need lots of energy!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

3 Weeks Down

We have come to the end of our first three weeks as a family of 4.5.  I originally started writing this post at the end of the first week, but obviously didn't get very far.  It's been a roller coaster ride of transition - not as hard as having the first baby, I think, but challenging in many other ways.  Every day is just about surviving (dishes, laundry, feedings, putting the little ones down to sleep) and there is little time for frivolities like blogging.

Overall, we're doing very well.  Rory is a great eater, potties easily, and has gained about 1lb over her birth weight (the goal is for her to be up by 2lbs at her next pediatrician appointment on the 23rd).  She spits up a LOT - a big difference from Taylor - but we're learning to discern her signs for needing to be burped and when she's still a bit hungry.  I think having a newborn is all about troubleshooting, whereas taking care of a toddler requires much more rubber-meets-the-road (mentally draining) parenting.

Taylor is a very loving big sister who offers a steady stream of kisses and cuddles.  She can be overwhelming at times, but she means well.  Its been sweet to see how she will offer to share her toys with Rory or how she sings lullabies to her while she's sleeping. 

Taylor sometimes gets jealous during feeding times or when she see Rory in a carrier, but I'm pleasantly surprised how understanding she is when I explain that she will get extra attention when I'm done taking care of Rory.  It has not been a smooth transition by any means (plenty of crying and frustration), but we're managing the bumps day by day.

Mark has been putting Taylor to sleep at night and then sleeps in her bed with her.  With this arrangement, I think we all better off.  I don't fret about Rory's cries keeping Mark awake and making him groggy for work, Taylor feels more secure not being all alone, and Mark gets sleep and snuggles.

I'll try to post little updates more frequently so I can share more about the every day things, but for now I think I've spent enough time away from my other duties.  Photos are updated every few days on Picasa.  Be sure to check those out!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Rory has arrived!

For your afternoon reading enjoyment, here's Rory's incredibly long birth story:

Yesterday around noon Taylor and I went into my OB's office for my regular appointment, which began with an ultrasound to check the baby's growth.  I was 39 weeks 4 days, so this ultrasound was meant to determine how long they'd let me go overdue if necessary.

Taylor was very cute during the procedure, chatting the whole time with the ultrasound tech and showing her all the games on the iPhone.  But the results of the ultrasound were a bit disconcerting - the tech estimated that the baby had only gained about 5oz from the last ultrasound 3 weeks prior and that she'd be around 4lbs 14oz.  She double checked all the measurements to be sure and then sent me off to do my NST while she went over the numbers with the doctor.

The NST hadn't even finished when my OB came in and said that she was concerned enough about the lack of growth to want to induce me today.  She said it would be one thing if the baby's growth remained steadily small, but this last measurement was a big drop off the growth curve.  She suggested I get a snack while she notified Labor and Delivery to expect me downstairs.

It was a bit overwhelming to think about the necessity for induction (I held the tears in as I sat in the hallway and made calls to family/friends), but kind of exciting to know that the baby's birth day had finally arrived. Luckily I had decided to bring all our birthing stuff and our hospital bag with me in the car, so we didn't need to go home (or have Mark go home) to pick it up.  I called Mark to tell him to come down to the hospital, Nancy hopped in her car and started out for St. Louis, and we set up a play date with Samuel so that Taylor would be taken care of for the afternoon/evening until Grandma arrived.

It took a long time to check into Labor and Delivery and after that we sat in a room for almost 3hrs before the nurses were available to start the pitocin IV.  Apparently everyone decided to give birth at once yesterday afternoon, so all the staff was busy.

While we waited, I was actually have pretty consistent contractions about 6 minutes apart.  The nurse said I was already 5cm dilated, 80% effaced, and the baby's head was at a -1 station.  That's further along than most women who are admitted in active labor!

They started the pitocin drip around 5:30pm and contractions sped up to about 2-3 minutes apart but were still very manageable.  I was disappointed I couldn't use the laboring tub as I had originally planned because they were inducing me, but at least we knew that was $200 saved (the hospital's exorbitant rental fee!).  My OB came in with a nurse at 6:30pm and said they were ready to break my water sac.  "Already?!?" I said.  I was shocked that things were progressing so quickly.  They broke the sac and the OB said she expected I'd be delivering in 2hrs, so she'd be back then.  Wow.

As soon as the water sac was broken, the contractions were about 3 times more painful and continued to ramp up.  I start out on a birthing ball, but thought maybe standing up would be more comfortable.  Of course, I didn't consider the mess that a broken water sac creates...but we were able to set cloths on the floor for me to stand on while Mark helped me rock through contractions.

I tried several different positions but found all of them intolerable except for leaning the upper half of my body on a really elevated bed.  Mark put hot towels on my back and massaged my lower back during contractions (I would not have made it without him!).  I tried to breathe deeply, but sometimes felt like I was dying for air and sometimes just needed to moan through the pain.  I experienced only a couple of incredibly unbearable contractions that made me wonder if natural childbirth was really possible, but I kept repeating to myself "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" and pushed through.

During this time, nurses kept coming in and fiddling with the monitor that was tracking the baby's heart rate because it wasn't getting good readings in the position I had chosen.  One nurse said I needed to stand up between contractions so they could get a reading here and there, but there was no way I was going to move from my position when the contractions were coming every minute!

While making said adjustments to the heart rate monitor, the nurse told me to let her know when I was feeling bottom pressure.  It was only a minute or so before I told her I was and that I needed to start pushing now.  She insisted that she needed to check to see if I was fully dilated first and I had to get on the bed.  I had to wait through one more contraction before I got a few seconds to scramble on the bed on my side and get the IV cords and monitor cords out of my way.  She said I was good to go and I went!  Mark supported my leg while I was still on my side and it was just a few more pushes before Aurora Evelyn was out!  She arrived at 7:44pm, a little more than two hours after they began inducing.

Because she came so fast, there was barely enough time for an on call doctor to get into the room.  I told them not to cut the cord because I wanted it to stop pulsating first, but the doctor informed me that the blood flow through it had already stopped because it was pretty thin (the likely culprit of Rory's limited growth).  Mark cut the cord and I got to have Rory on my tummy for a few minutes while they set everything up at the baby station.  She felt like a warm, wet, bony little lump.  She was crying well and her Apgar scores were 8 and 9.

They had a pediatrician there to check her out right away since they knew she was going to be a tiny baby.  Rory weighed in at 5lbs 7oz and measured 19in long - 1in longer than Taylor and 1lb lighter.  Besides a bit of fluid in her system (they said she "sounded wet"), she was declared in perfect health.  She just missed the weight cut off for normal infant treatment, so they said she needed to go through three blood sugar tests before her first three feedings and have extra vital sign checks over the next day.

It was about at this time that the OB showed up, shocked that the baby had already arrived (she had barely gotten home and changed into her scrubs when she got the call that I was pushing) and that I managed to deliver naturally.  It took awhile to deliver the placenta after Rory came out and the OB seemed a bit bored waiting for it.  I asked her about it's condition once it was out (because a small baby can also be the result of a placenta in bad shape) and she said that half of it looked like it had some calcification (typical for a placenta that age), but that they would send it off along with a piece of the umbilical cord to be tested to see if there were specific things wrong with them.  I'm not sure when we'll have the results.

I had the chance to breastfeed Rory then - she latched so well! - and stare into her bright eyes.  We held off on the eye drops until after she ate so that she could get a good look at us.  Then Nancy and Taylor arrived to meet the newest addition to the family.  Taylor was instantly in love - she was all smiles and enjoyed kissing Rory's head and touching her cheek and giving her little hugs.  I'm taking this as a sign of good things to come (and of fending off many requests to hold the baby).  They stayed about 10 minutes, which seemed like a good amount of time, before heading off for bedtime at home.

At 9pm, we were transferred to our regular hospital room and we got to work uploading photos and sending out emails and updating Facebook to let the world in on our special joy.  Though we were tired, we didn't turn off the light until around midnight.  We were looking at photos of Taylor when she was born and comparing the two girls (lots of similarities) and just marveling at the tiny little baby who was now in our arms.

Rory slept pretty much all night, not very interested in feeding (I just expressed a few drops in her mouth to make sure she got something) and not too bothered when she had her foot pricked for the blood sugar tests.  She has spit up a few times, getting all that icky leftover amniotic fluid out of her system.  But she fed well this morning and is back to sleeping contently next to me in bed.

Despite lack of sleep for me, I'm feeling really good.  Having a quick, natural, and injury-free delivery (and not being sick this time around!) has made a world of difference in my after experience.  I am alert, in control of my body, and ready to take on anything.  Postpartum nursing contractions are horrendous, but Ibuprofen has helped.  I also had a nice, refreshing shower this morning.  Mark left for home so he could clean up there, eat free food, and bring Nancy and Taylor back for another visit.  They'll be here in the next hour or so.

Mark and I are planning stay in the hospital with Rory until tomorrow morning.  Our insurance allows us to stay until 8pm tomorrow, but I don't think there is a reason to hang around that long unless Rory has issues.

Here are a few photos from last night.  I posted these in Picasa as well, but we'll be adding more as the day continues so be sure to check the album frequently for updates.




Monday, August 16, 2010

A Budding Photographer and her Friends

The last couple of days Mark has been entertaining Taylor by incorporating her stuffed animals into playtime.  The first day, they set all the animals up in a row and read books to them and gave them names.  They pretended to take pictures of them with Taylor's play camera (after attempting to use her dachshund beanie baby as a make-believe camera), and then we got out the real camera and traded it around so all of us took photos.  Here are the best of the bunch:
Hugging Grinst the duck and Pompua (or something like that...) the bear. 
Powder Princess (the brunette doll) and Fred (the knight) can be found in front.

 Taylor's photo of Daddy and Mommy resting her on bed - good composition!

Then yesterday, they suspended all of Taylor's friends from a rope on her door and took more photos.
 Taylor captures Daddy doing tricks.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Auspicious dates have passed

Well, at least the "neat" birth dates that I mentioned before.  But I did end up getting a new nephew (born to a cousin of mine) yesterday, so I was pleased that someone made use of 8/9/10.

This is just a quick update to say that I have not had the baby yet.  I have been contracting more, though they're still not consistent nor painful.  I have an OB appointment this morning, so I'll try to post another update later depending on what goes on there.  My fear is that somehow my water will break during the appointment and I'll be stuck at the hospital all day (entertaining Taylor) until I actually go into labor.

Lastly, what would a blog post be without a fun photo.  Here's Taylor from last night, wearing her "princess hat" and carrying flowers (which she attributes to getting married).  She "married" Daddy a couple of times last night.

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Nearing the Finish Line...

I have officially made it further with this pregnancy now than I did with Taylor.  38 weeks, 2 days and counting.  But I don't have qualms with this baby taking a bit longer.  After all, she is measuring smaller than Taylor did so any extra time in the womb is helpful for packing on the poundage, I still have plenty of cleaning and organizing to do around the house, and I have a wonderful and very exuberant toddler to take care of so I'm not feeling a void of little child love.

Over the last few days, I've had some mild contractions off and on and some pelvic pain, but nothing serious.  If Baby decides to come early, I thought it'd be neat if her birth date ended up being 8/8/10 (since Taylor's was 2/2/08), or 8/9/10.  There aren't really any minor holidays in August like Groundhog's Day is in February, so that birthday correlation is already out.  However, here's a list of "Special Days in August" that I found.

At my OB appointment on Tuesday, I learned that I'm up 30lbs (about the same as with Taylor) and the doctor said I've progressed to about 3cm dilation.  Thank goodness those little contractions and pelvic pains do something!  She also said she wants me to continue with the non-stress tests even though I'm not concerned with fetal movement.  Apparently, she'd prefer to have me come in twice a week to have them done, so once a week is a compromise.  During the NST on Tuesday, she wasn't entirely pleased with Baby's movement so they gave me a brownie, which in turn gave Baby hiccups.  I think they were satisfied that she was okay after that.

Taylor has been such a sweetheart this week.  She does very well at entertaining herself with flips or little imaginary games or board games (mostly Cootie) during the day and she can't get enough of Daddy in the evenings.  She is becoming quite the chatter box as well.

She's doing really well at walking close by me when we're out running errands and asks so politely for whatever she wants (Mommy, may I...?).  Of course, many of those polite requests seem to involve candy or cookies lately, but she does well not getting too upset if she is refused.

Mark has been a trooper, helping me move all sorts of furniture and other things around the house as we prepare for the baby and doing a lot of the cooking.  Here's a sample of one of our new recipes, utilizing fresh Lebanese squash from the garden:

Friday, July 30, 2010

Just Dance!

Mark got a couple of Amazon.com gift certificates for his birthday last weekend and wasted no time cashing them in. He ordered a few business related books, some pizza-making supplies, and Just Dance - a dancing game for the Wii.

The package arrived today and tonight we've had a blast prancing around the living room to the animated choreography. Great songs, great choreography, and a huge range of difficulty. I can even rock the moves with my big pregnant belly. Once the baby is here, I'm going to lose my extra pregnancy weight in no time!

Check out some of our groovy moves: