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TheDuckis
member
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
hi. (ETA: Birth Story inside)
This is what happens when mom comes to visit. Luckily my kid seems to share my feelings on giant flowers and bows.
Can someone teach me how to pip from files on my computer? I don't want to have to upload everything to photobucket.
Re: hi. (ETA: Birth Story inside)
You can go to tinypic.com and upload straight to there.
SHe is precious, but I am so sorry about her odd growth.
I would love to hear your birth story.
Baby Boxer is coming! 5.23.12
www.focushunting.com
The birth story is scary. Just a warning.
Cute kid, though.
Wow. That's one large flower.
The baby, however, is adorable.
"That chick wins at Penises, for sure." -- Fenton
Hi! She is beautiful! Sorry about the flower growing out of her head. Please give us the birth story and her specs!
Yeah, birth story time. This is really long, so I'm going to do the post-birth story (ie, the real drama) in another post.??
Thursday morning I woke up with painful contractions, but thought it was false labor. Jesse had been sick and already left for work. In the off chance that this was the real deal, I wanted him to get some rest. So I texted him that I was having contractions. Of course as soon as I did that things slowed down considerably, but I didn't really try to dissuade him when he wanted to come home early. He got home at around 1 and I suggested he take a nap. I putzed around the house. Did some laundry, tried to do some cleaning, actually packed our hospital bag. I figured, best case, that I'd be going into actual labor at some point that weekend and I wanted to get things a little more ready than they were.
Through all this, contractions were 10-20 minutes apart at their closest, and painful but completely manageable. ??At about 5:00, I went to lie down briefly before vacuuming. The contractions were getting a little bit rougher, so I figured I'd use the opportunity to practice working through them. One hit, and I decided to try bouncing on my yoga ball for a bit. My water broke just as I went to sit on the ball. I was a little upset, because I still didn't think I was in active labor and I didn't want to get put on the clock for a c-section.
??I woke Jesse and told him to get in the shower since we were going to have to go to the hospital. We decided to take our time, and figured we'd go for a walk/get something to eat before actually going to the hospital. But fluid was gushing enough that it quickly became apparent that I wasn't going anywhere. So I sent Jesse out to get me food, and I got into the shower. Which felt awesome. Unfortunately our stupid rental house has a *** hot water heater, so I didn't spend nearly as much time in there as I'd have liked to. ??
When Jesse got back with food I got in bed and tried to eat, but by then contractions were getting closer together and I was in enough pain that I lost my appetite. I decided it was time to go to the hospital, because at least there I could get back in the shower. ??Arrived at the hospital at exactly 8:00. It took us awhile to get out the door because I kept stopping to have contractions. They were never really timeable--they varied from 4-7 minutes apart, with some coming on top of each other and some spaced more than 10 minutes. That ended up being the hardest thing for me, because I could never anticipate when one was coming, and I never knew how much "rest" I'd get between them.
??When I arrived they checked me (6cm, 100% effaced) and put me on the monitors for about 20 minutes and then let me get in the shower. Again, shower was glorious. Our nurse put a pillow and yoga ball in there, and I spent a good hour kneeling over the ball with the water pouring over my back. ??I hit transition probably around 10. I was in the shower, and I just couldn't get ahead of the contractions. Like I said, they were never actually timeable, so about 3/4 of them caught me completely by surprise and I would panic. At that point I started feeling claustrophobic in the shower, and exhausted from kneeling, so I moved to the bed.
I had the urge to push, but was only at 8 cm. A few minutes later I was at 9.5, and the nurse had me do small pushes while she pushed the last lip out of the way. I totally pooped, and I didn't care at all. It actually felt good to get some of the extra pressure out of the way.??Pushing was simultaneously so much better and so much worse. The contractions spread out some, and pushing through them definitely felt better than not. I pushed through 4-5 contractions with what felt like no progress, and started feeling really discouraged. Then she crowned, and ouch.
I remember thinking "this is the ring of fire" and also "I wonder how much I'm tearing." It took another 4-5 contractions to get her out. The last push, after her head was out, was the hardest. I was so exhausted and seriously said "I can't do it." But I did! ??The doctor cut the cord, which was minorly traumatic because she accidentally cut the wrong side of the clamp, and there was a split second where blood spurted out of the baby before they caught it. They put her on my stomach, but I was in such a daze that I don't remember much of it. I know I tried to nurse but she didn't latch at all, and I remember delivering the placenta feeling like a huge relief.
Part 2 below.
Crap...I Mean Crafts
She is a doll.
Part 2. Also very long.
??So I lay there with Allie on my chest while my doctor stitched me up. I had a really bad cramp at the top of my left leg/in my left butt cheek. Basically I felt extremely constipated, and it felt worse with any kind of pressure. I was trying to focus on the baby, but I just couldn't, and the pain was making me shake slightly. So they took her to do all the exams and shots and whatnot.
??I only had a small tear, but it felt like the stitches took forever. I took my left leg out of the stirrup because it hurt so bad. That kindof surprised my doctor, but she worked around it. The nurse gave me a Vicodin and 800 mg of ibuprofen and had me eat and drink. I tried to get back in the shower until the pills took effect, but this time it didn't help at all.?
?I finally asked for an IV with stronger drugs. Yes. I went through labor and delivery drug free, and THEN I needed Fentanyl. It still did nothing, so the nurse called my doctor back. At this point, standing was the most comfortable position, because that put the least pressure on the cramp. But I was so exhausted I couldn't hold myself up. It was ridiculous.
??Doctor came and said my bladder was really full. She suggested a catheter, but I said I'd rather try to pee on my own. I had no urge to pee, and nothing came out at all. So I got the catheter and a dose of morphine. Still no pain relief.
??At that point, the doctor suspected that the baby had injured my tailbone on her way out, but she did an internal to check for a hematoma, which she said was incredibly rare. It was a hematoma. I got another shot of morphine and a shot of toradol while she drained it (or whatever she did). Still no pain relief. Finally she said that it was probably best to take me to the operating room to stitch everything up, because I was going to need anesthesia. ??
Since I'd eaten 2 crackers, I couldn't have gas because of the risk of aspirating. So my choices were a spinal block or IV anesthesia. I chose IV, since the line was already in, but the doctor, the anesthesiologist, and the nurse all told me I was making the wrong decision. Risk was lower with the spinal, and I wouldn't be out of it/unable to see Allie for as long after. So I ended up taking the Spinal.
??It. Was. Amazing. For awhile at least. I felt better almost immediately after it went in, and at that point I'd been in enough pain for long enough that I didn't even think about the whole needle in the spine situation. I started babbling about how if I'd known it would feel so good I'd have gotten the epidural 6 hours ago. ??
I just relaxed for I don't know how long. Then the anesthesiologist told me I needed to start taking slow deep breaths, and I realized I was basically so relaxed I was forgetting to breathe. Then my leg fell off of the stirrup and I realized I couldn't feel it at all, which also freaked me out. So I started to get scared. I focused really hard on my breathing, and tried to tell myself it was almost over.
??I'd been told the surgery would take about 20 minutes, right after the breathing and the leg things, my doctor said they were going to need to call in another surgeon. The hematoma went all the way up to my cervix, so it was about double the size my doctor had thought it was. Of course the surgeon on call was 45 minutes away, so my 20 minutes of stitches was turning into a 2 hour operation. ??
I started shivering and shaking (common side effects of the spinal block) and was trying to decipher everything the doctors were saying. My heart rate was too high and I'd lost a lot of blood, but they were talking pretty casually about it. I couldn't figure out if it wasn't that serious, or if they were trying not to scare me. I know I started thinking around this time that I might need a transfusion, but I don't remember if they said it or if I thought of it on my own.??
The other surgeon finally showed up. He was really nice, and louder than everyone else so I had a better idea of what was going on. They finished stitching me up and put in a balloon to keep the bleeding from starting up again. Finally they were done, and they decided that I did need a transfusion. So instead of going to recovery, they had to take me to the ICU. ??
At that point I started freaking out about them giving the baby formula (rational, I know). It was 5 am, she was born at 11:12 the night before. The only time I'd even held her was when they put her on me right after delivery. I asked if I could see her before they took me to the ICU, so they let me hold her for about 5 minutes. ??
No one really knew how long I'd be in the ICU, so everyone told me something different. One nurse said just a few hours. Someone else said until the transfusion was done. Finally the surgeon said until the balloon was out, which was at least 24 hours. My doctor went after the nursery and the ICU staff to make sure they'd bring the baby to me. She couldn't room in because of infection risk in the ICU, but they would have a nurse bring her to me for feedings.
??Unfortunately, the nursery was short staffed. They actually tried to call extra people in just so they'd have someone to bring me the baby, but they couldn't get anyone. So it was 11:15 before they brought her to me. She was exactly 12 hours old when I attempted nursing for the first time. After that, though, they brought her in just about every 3 hours. ??
Saturday morning, I woke up at about 5 in anticipation of being released back to the maternity ward. But, my doctor was in emergency surgery again, and didn't get to come check me/remove the balloon until 10, and then because of shift changes and whatnot they couldn't actually transfer me until 12:30. I was nuts all morning. I think those last 4 or so hours in the ICU were the worst. ??
And now I have to go. I promise more pictures tonight, though.
Crap...I Mean Crafts
"If you wanna win then you shoulda put a hat on it. Don't be mad when you see a knit cap won it. If you wanna win then you shoulda put a hat on it."- Fenton
"That chick wins at Penises, for sure." -- Fenton
I'm so glad everything is ok, and i'll just go ahead and echo everyone else in expressing how scary that must have been.
looks like she is worth all that trouble though! what a doll
2/20/2011
Crap...I Mean Crafts
"If you wanna win then you shoulda put a hat on it. Don't be mad when you see a knit cap won it. If you wanna win then you shoulda put a hat on it."- Fenton
What Noisy fails to mention is that Will was really trying to slim down to match the other babies in the nursery.
Claire Elizabeth 12/31/2011
Married Bio
Holy cow, that is quite a story. Was your husband able to be in the nursery with her when you were in ICU?
I'm glad you are all home, and doing well. The first few days are rough with feedings, but it DOES get easier.
Imagine how big his cheeks would have been had he not lost that weight in the beginning.
"That chick wins at Penises, for sure." -- Fenton
I bet her FUPA's name is Shane, like the gunslinger/drifter of literature.--HappyTummy
Yikes, I'm glad you're okay.
She's adorable. I'm confused, I know I saw you call her Allie before she was born and now but then I also could've sworn there was a post with a different name. Was I hallucinating or did someone else other than Dawg give birth recently? What's Allie short for?
And I agree that Herbert needs to mistake that flower for a chew toy. Because if someone who knows me has a lapse in judgement and/or forgets my stance on head to bow/flower ratio, Moxie will be finding them left in convenient places.