Pregnancy

You are currently browsing the archive for the Pregnancy category.

My birth story

Zach is 2 weeks old today, so I figured it was finally time to post his birth story.

On Wednesday, November 20th, Adrian and I went to my 39 week doctor’s appointment. My blood pressure was still elevated after a few weeks, and my swelling was out of control. While I was never officially diagnosed with preeclampsia, the doctors decided that it was not worth the risk of waiting, and sent me for an ultrasound the following day to check on the baby and see how big he was. The next day, we went for the ultrasound early that morning and found that the baby was estimated to be about eight and a half pounds! Between his size and concerns over my health, the doctor decided that we would try to induce me the next day.

We went to the hospital at 4:30am and I was started on a Pitocin drip by 6:30am. The contractions started coming, but were not too regular or too bad. The doctor on call showed up around 10am and checked my progress. Unfortunately I was still dilated only 2cm and nothing was happening- the baby was still too high and she did not think he would drop. She said that it was in my best interest to do a c-section because of his size and my lack of progress. She hoped we would be able to get me to the OR by 4pm, but there were a number of other c-sections and inductions that day that needed to be taken care of, so she warned us that there might be a delay. Unfortunately again, I had to stay on the Pitocin drip until they were ready for surgery, since they had to call it a failed induction to do the c-section.

Although I was on a low dose of Pitocin, it was not kind to me. It made me shake uncontrollably and I often felt like I was having a panic attack even though I knew, rationally, that there was nothing to worry about. My baby was still doing great inside me, with a strong heartbeat, and I just had to wait it out until I could meet him.

At about 1pm I got my epidural. The contractions had gotten much more difficult by that point, and my doctor wanted to make sure I was already numbed so that when it came time for surgery, they wouldn’t have to do much to prep me. I was a bit scared of the epidural, but the nurses were really kind and made me feel a lot better… and once it kicked in, I felt MUCH better and was finally able to relax.

In addition to the other side effects, the Pitocin also gave me a horrible, horrible migraine. The nurses couldn’t get ahold of my doctor for a while, so they were only able to give me Tylenol for it, which didn’t do anything. I was in pain and nauseated from the migraine, and finally my doctor came in and had a narcotic prescribed to take care of my headache. Once I got the medication for my headache was the only time that I felt completely relaxed all day.

Due to a few unexpected emergency c-sections, I didn’t get to go in for surgery until 8pm. Once I got into the OR, I started getting scared… it has always been a fear of mine that I would feel any surgery and that the anesthetic would not work, so I started to panic again… my doctor and nurses were very reassuring and made me feel a lot better though, and once Adrian arrived into the OR, I felt much, much better that he was there.

They started the surgery very quickly. Adrian held my hand for a bit to support me, but once I asked if they were taking the baby out, I told him to make sure he got the shot – he of course had his camera equipment with him to take photos of the baby as soon as he popped out!

While I did not feel the incision itself, the surgery was far from painless. Because the baby was bigger than anticipated and because he hadn’t dropped, the doctor and midwife had to push pretty hard on my belly to get him out. This was VERY painful for me and every time they had to push on me it felt like my shoulders were breaking and that I couldn’t breathe. This was pretty scary and I am thankful for the nice nurse who rubbed my shoulders and reassured me that everything was going to be okay and that the baby was fine.

When the doctor finally got him out and I heard him cry for the first time, it was an amazing experience. I was so happy that he was out and that he was well. I watched as Adrian cut the cord and then I finally asked the nurse for something for the pain because my entire body felt like it was on fire (well, from the waist up, since the epidural did a good job of taking care of me from the waist down). She gave me a shot and I immediately passed out.

I woke up a while later in the OR recovery room in excruciating pain. The nurse had already administered morphine right before I woke up, so unfortunately there wasn’t anything she could do because they had to wait half an hour before giving me another dose. The pain was absolutely horrible. They had removed the epidural after stitching me up, so once I got to the recovery room, I was able to feel everything from the waist down as the medication wore off.

After about 20 minutes of talking to the nurse (rather, her talking to me to try to distract me from the pain), Adrian finally found out where I was, and came to be with me, which was a huge relief. They were able to give me the second dose of Morphine soon, but it didn’t do very much for the pain level, only cutting it a little bit. Soon, my Percocet prescription came in and that really, really helped, bringing the pain level down to only a two or three. Once the nurse was confident that I felt better, they moved me to my recovery room.

Not long after, they brought little Zachary Jacob to see me for the first time. I was amazed by how beautiful he was. Adrian and I couldn’t believe that we had created something so perfect. The pain of the surgery was 100% worth it (even more so now that I am feeling better). I am very proud of myself and what I went through to give birth to my son and would absolutely do it again.

The next day they did some blood work, and when my doctor came to visit me, we found out that I had lost a lot of blood during the surgery and that I would need a blood transfusion. I hadn’t noticed how badly I felt because of the blood loss, because I was so incredibly tired from the lack of sleep. The baby also had some bloodwork done, and we learned that Zachary had jaundice. He would have to be under lights to clear the bilirubin from his system. We started with a bili-bed, which Zachary hated! He didn’t like knowing that we were there in the room and not holding him. We made a decision to put him in the nursery overnight so that he could be under more powerful lights. As for me, they did the transfusion on Sunday and I was thankfully able to be released on Monday, and so was the baby.

Unfortunately, Zach had to return to the hospital on his one-week birthday because his bilirubin had gone up again. We spent the night in the hospital on Friday, and by Saturday night, his numbers were were much better, and they released us once again. The following day we had his Bris, and he is now doing wonderfully and is no longer jaundiced. He is a wonderful, beautiful, incredible baby, and we are so, so blessed to have him in our lives.

Here are a few pictures from his birth. Some of the birth photos are a little graphic (two images from surgery), so click the link below view them.

Read the rest of this entry »

Checked in!

Adrian took a pic of me with my iPhone. I’m now set up with saline & pitocin. Still feeling pretty good! Thank you everyone for your well wishes!!!

Adrian and I are going in for a scheduled induction at 4:30am. We had the ultrasound this morning, and the baby is measuring pretty big (8lb, 9oz), so they’ve decided that it’s time to file an eviction notice!

Because my blood pressure has been elevated and I’m having such bad swelling in my legs, they don’t see any reason to prolong the pregnancy, since these are both signs of pre-ecclampsia, a dangerous condition that they don’t want me to experience.

The bags are all packed (yes, the camera bags too), and we’re ready to roll. Adrian and I are off to go straighten up the house a bit and then go get some sleep. It will be our last night of sleep as a family of two. Kind of surreal, but extremely exciting, too!!

I’m sure I will update the blog at some point tomorrow with a photo (the hospital has wi-fi, woohoo!) and will definitely be updating my twitter for sure, if you want to check that out for up to the minute breaking news. :)

Tomorrow I’m officially 39 weeks pregnant, meaning there are 8 more days until my due date.

The baby is doing very well inside his mommy and has a nice, strong heartbeat.

I am FINALLY dilated… 1.5cm. Not too much, but it’s a sign that things are moving along and getting more real.

However, after talking to the doctor and midwife today, it looks like I will be needing a c-section. Quite possibly due to my height (only 5′1″), I am measuring big as if the baby was 41 weeks rather than 39. The midwife is almost completely sure the baby is bigger, over 8lb, and she is concerned that since he has not dropped into alignment yet and is still extremely high up, that he a) might be too big to align properly, or b) may not drop in time after my water breaks, meaning I’d end up with an unnecessarily long labor that would end in a section anyway.

Also because of the very extreme swelling I’m experiencing (scroll down a couple posts to see the pic of my horribly swollen feet), and the fact that my blood pressure has been a little elevated the last couple times, she said I may not be a good candidate for a natural birth.

So, tomorrow Adrian and I are heading back to the doctor for another ultrasound to check the baby’s weight and see how much fluid is left, and determine if (more likely, when) to schedule a c-section.

Aside from being a little scared (as anyone would be) at the prospect of having abdominal surgery, I am really fine with the idea of a c-section. My mom, as well as MANY of my friends, have had c-sections and they are all recovering just fine and their babies are doing great.  So while it would definitely be inconvenient with double the recovery time, all I really care about is that my baby comes out healthy and happy, whatever way that ends up being.

Baby Carriers

When I first got pregnant, I immediately imagined carrying the baby around in a baby carrier. It’s just one of those things that popped into my head since I always see parents carrying kids around that way and Adrian and I think it looks pretty adorable.

I first investigated the BabyBjorn, which seemed to be really popular, but then I heard some lousy reviews on it. Then I heard about the Chicco carrier, which people said was much better, but I still wasn’t sold. Finally I decided to register for a sling because I thought that would be the most comfortable option for me. I picked the Moby wrap based on reviews I read online. However, there’s no way that Adrian is going to wear a sling (especially the cute orange one I got as a shower gift!!), so I have been thinking about what he might enjoy for baby-carrying.

A few days ago, my parents were at Baby Love, a huge baby department store right here in our town of Tamarac, and found out about the Ergo baby carrier. It looks way more comfortable and versatile than both the Bjorn and Chicco carriers, and very useful, since it can hold weight up to 90 pounds apparently and can be worn in front, on the hip or as a baby backpack (cuuute!). It is quite a bit more pricey, at $105, but it looks like it would be worth it. If we decide to get a baby carrier, I think this is the one we will definitely be purchasing. Adrian and I both like the black with green lining, and thankfully the Ergo can accomodate our height difference as it will fit me at 5′1″ and Adrian at 6′1″.

I posted the video slideshow the other day but wanted to share some of my favorite maternity portraits over the next couple of days.

Here is one of my favorites… I love how intimate this photo looks. Jessica definitely captured a beautiful moment here.

Our Maternity Portraits

The other day Adrian and I picked up our gorgeous maternity pictures from our friend Jessica, and of course, I had to make a slideshow! Here are about 45 of our favorite images (though they are all awesome)!

Over the next few days I think I’m going to set up some posts to highlight a few of our favorite images. After all I need a couple drafts ready to hit “post” just in case I go into labor and need something to post for my dailies. :)

If you’re reading this blog from an RSS reader, you may want to click here to view the blog itself to be able to see the slide show.

good and bad

Today was good in the beginning, and aggravating towards the end.

The morning was very nice. Adrian and I woke up late and spent some time together lounging before heading up to Boca Raton to have lunch at our favorite Indian restaurant with our friend Jason and his brother-in-law, Rodrigo. Hopefully the spicy food will help push labor along… anyway… after that, we stopped by our friend Jessica’s office to pick up our maternity photos. They came out great, and I will be sharing some over the next few days.

After we got home, I started to not feel so great. My feet have been horribly horribly swollen, which I posted a picture of a few days ago. They are not much better today and really started hurting me. I tried to put them up so I laid on the couch with pillows under my feet, but felt horrible, like the baby was squishing my internal organs, and I lost my breath because of the pressure on my lungs. On top of this, I am having a number of problems with Photoshop on my computer, which is preventing me from finishing the work I so desperately need to finish. It was extremely frustrating, and I hope Adrian will be able to fix it soon. I feel bad that he is spending all this time working on my stuff, because I know how important it is that he does his own work.

A while ago we stopped working to eat some dinner and enjoyed spending some time away from the computer watching a little TV. However, I still feel frustrated and upset that I am not feeling well and that my computer is having issues. I think that I’ll just go to bed in a while and hopefully tomorrow will be a more productive day.

38 weeks

No news on my end since my appointment yesterday. I’m still hanging in here, hoping that baby day comes soon.

Today I’m officially 38 weeks pregnant. Here’s what babycenter.com has to say:

Your baby has really plumped up. He weighs about 6.8 pounds and he’s over 19 1/2 inches long (like a leek). He has a firm grasp, which you’ll soon be able to test when you hold his hand for the first time! His organs have matured and are ready for life outside the womb.

Wondering what color your baby’s eyes will be? You may not be able to tell right away. If he’s born with brown eyes, they’ll likely stay brown. If he’s born with steel gray or dark blue eyes, they may stay gray or blue or turn green, hazel, or brown by the time he’s 9 months old. That’s because a child’s irises (the colored part of the eye) may gain more pigment in the months after she’s born, but they usually won’t get “lighter” or more blue. (Green, hazel, and brown eyes have more pigment than gray or blue eyes.)

Come on, Baby Z!

Today Adrian and I went to the doctor for my 37 week appointment (tomorrow will be 38 weeks).

Unfortunately I still haven’t had any progress! While my cervix has “softened” there is not yet any dilation. I know that doesn’t necessarily mean anything since I know of people who have gone from nothing to labor in a day or two, but it’s still a bit disappointing. The baby is still doing well though, with a good heartbeat and seems to be head down, which is important.

Since my last appointment I have managed to lose 3 pounds. I’ve been drinking TONS of water though, so I’m sure that helped reduce my fluid retention.

« Older entries