The Delivery

After my first was born, I wrote up the birthing experience more for her sake than for my remembrance. I would be remiss if I didn't do it for this baby too.

It's been two weeks now since Nicole was born. She's such a good baby! I just can't even believe it's been 2 weeks already but I can't imagine my life without her already. She's just so special!

So...the delivery...

Let's see. Tuesday the 17th I woke up and knew something was different in my body. I felt crampy and somehow more tired. I could tell labor was coming. I didn't have much going on that day so I did a few things around the house but around noon, started craving tamales. So I spent the afternoon making a big batch of them. It was a good thing because they fed us and many relatives for about a week after I was out of the hospital. And I love me some tamales!

I thought I might end up in the hospital Tuesday night which would have been okay. My mom came that afternoon to watch Natalie so we had that covered. But, it didn't happen. I didn't sleep well though and spent most of the night tossing and turning with nightmares. I was pretty worried about the surgery. I'd even had my brother-in-law come and give me a blessing a week prior to the surgery just to help calm my nerves. After the blessing I did feel better but I was still pretty nervous.

Todd and I got up at 4:30 the morning of the surgery and left the house at 5:15 AM and checked into the hospital at 5:30 while it was still dark. It was very cold and there was ice still on the ground. I remember because I was worried I would slip getting into the hospital since I was wearing my Crocks because they were the only shoes that fit over my "Flintstone Feet" which is what Todd was down to calling them at this point.

By this time, I could definitely tell I was in the early parts of labor and my contractions were coming ever 5 minutes and while they weren't killing me, they made me stop and take deep breaths for a second until they passed. We went into a recovery room where I changed into a gown and laid on the bed to be connected to all of the monitors. Sure enough, the contractions were registering nicely on the monitor and the baby was looking good too. We were in that recovery room for about an hour until it was time to go get the spinal anesthesia.

I walked down the hall into a large operating room that was very cold. It was full of nurses and there was a long table in the middle of the room where they directed me to sit. I'd been so hot for so long that it felt sort of good to be in such a cold room. I sat down on the table and the anesthesiologist came in and started explaining what she was going to do and how it would feel. There was a nurse that sort of freaked me out because she said she'd be right there with me the whole time and she stood right in front of me and took both of my hands, as if I was going to need a whole lot of moral support. The thing was, they didn't let Todd come in that room for some reason and it would have been very nice to have him there instead of that freaky nurse.

Anyway the anesthesiologist told me that I would feel a sort of pinch but if I felt like a sharp shocking feeling go up and down one side then I needed to tell her right away. That scared me. The whole thing was pretty awful - the coldness, the anticipation, the lack of anyone I actually know to be there with me. Finally I felt the shot and it hurt quite a bit less than I thought it would and it was over before I knew it. Before I even laid down my legs were going numb.

They laid me down and I was paralyzed before I even knew it! And it was the strangest feeling. I've had an epidural before but this was nothing like that! I was paralyzed from my diaphragm all the way to my toes and breathing was difficult - like I had to be conscious of my expiration every single time. It was terrible!

My anesthesiologist was awesome! I started to have the weirdest panic attack and crying and stuff. I was panicking about breathing, and felt suffocated and claustrophobic. She just kept dabbing my forehead with a cold cloth and talking to me and it helped calm me down so much. I was so grateful to her. I've never been so scared in my whole life!

The doctor allowed Todd to videotape the whole surgery but he said the angle wasn't great. He did get most of the surgery. I felt a lot of pressure during the surgery as they were pushing my uterus down and pulling out the baby. I guess my water broke in a gust, sort of like a geyser and everyone laughed. Todd said he got it on video (I haven't watched it yet). Then, I saw them pull the baby out and they showed her to me. She looked bigger than I would have imagined but maybe I was just really out of it. It took a long time for them to sew me up and it was very uncomfortable because they kept pushing on my belly and I could just feel this really heavy pressure and I couldn't wait for it to be done.

I don't know what happened then but they must have given something to me to knock me out. Todd said I was out for about an hour during which time they bathed and dressed Nicole and who knows what else. They brought her to me in the recovery room just like they did Natalie. We had no trouble with breastfeeding and she latched on really good right away. We were in the recovery room for a long time, I remember. I guess they were monitoring my vitals and wanted to make sure I was okay before letting me go to my room.

With my catheter, I started dumping fluids almost immediately. I asked for a water retention pill and it helped me get rid of tons of water within the first day or two. I immediately felt lighter and in the three days I was in the hospital, the swelling in my ankles and feet went down so much and it felt so much better!

Nicole was slightly jaundice but not so much that they wanted to put her under the lights. We had to just monitor her during our stay. She weighed 7 lbs 6 oz when she was born and within the first couple of days had lost several oz and was down to 6 lbs 18 oz (?) before we left.

She slept pretty good in the hospital which was good because for two of the three nights we were there, I was alone with her in my room all night. Natalie was sick and Todd wanted to be home with her so we let my mom go home so he could be with her. We did great though. Nicole was a great baby from the day she was born and didn't give me much trouble those nights.

Lakeview Hospital was a fantastic place to deliver as I fully expected! During the time we were there, I think there were ony 3 or 4 other deliveries so we got really good care. The nurses were so attentive and very friendly. I was so grateful to them; they made my visit almost like a holiday!

All in all, this delivery was leagues better than my first one. My expectations were high for disaster but everything turned out so much better than I had even hoped. I'm so happy that it's done now and my beautiful baby girl is an angel. I'm so lucky!

In the recovery room

Weekly Visits

I've started going in for weekly visits about two weeks ago. I hate going to the doctor that much even if it does seem like it's important.

The doctor told me today that I should expect to not have a baby much bigger than about 7 1/2 lbs. That sounds great to me! Not that it matters since they'll take her out C-section. But if they're a little smaller at the outset, they seem to stay babies for a little longer. And I have such cute preemie clothes! I'm such a girl!

He also told me that he's going on vacation next week and will be back February 8th. It didn't register with me for a little bit but then I started to panic. I asked him what if I go into labor next week? He tried to reassure me but I was just so upset - that's what happened to me last time and it made the whole experience awful! I mean, what's the point of a certain doctor following your entire pregnancy and going through your delivery plan with you if he's not even going to be there?

Hopefully I'll just last until my scheduled date and then there'll be nothing to worry about. What's that about the best laid plans?

It Can't Be Helped

What pregnancy is complete without full-on pregnancy photos? This is so humbling for me as I have completely sworn off pregnancy photos and literally become a giant freak-o-rama on anyone who so much as walks around me with a camera!

The truth is I've just gained so much weight and it's freaking all over my body - not just my belly. I can't help it. I have been addicted to sugar but seriously, I gained just as much with SP and was actually very careful with what I ate. This time I just sort of let it go and didn't end up gaining anymore than I did with SP. So I am what I am - just a girl who gains a crapload when she's pregnant. Thank goodness I'm able to lose it!

So, ta-da. Here's my final picture - taken tonight exactly 3 weeks from my delivery date. I'm not sure why I'm doing this to myself, lol!

My Love Affair With Sugar...

The Latest On About Everything

The Marshmallow and I still haven't agreed upon a name. I refuse to discuss it because he won't let me have my way (Olivia) and he just doesn't bring it up. So there it stands. I'm sure we'll have a raging argument the day the baby comes when I just won't back down and he won't sign the birth certificate!

I went by Salt Lake Regional the other day to just check it out. I shouldn't have ruled it out completely without even visiting it first. I was pleasantly surprised actually. It is an older hospital and they deliver a lot less babies than the other big hospitals around but I like that. It means the nurses are less busy and able to provide better care for the patients they do have. Speaking of the nurses, they were so nice! I got a personal on-the-spot tour. The delivery rooms were just as nice as any others I've seen and while the recovery rooms weren't quite as nice, they were decent and very clean, and that makes a big difference to me.

They worried about my doctor being so far away though. For my situation, their policy is that the doctor has to be on-site the whole time I am in labor and they said that most doctors resist that. Not that I care but my doctor will have to be with me the whole time and won't have anything else to do but worry about me since he doesn't even have an office on site over at that hospital. I guess that's his problem and not mine but the nurses worried that he wouldn't be able to be there in time to care for me properly. I'm not worried about that since I progress so slowly. I'll give him plenty of notice too. The faster he can respond, the faster I get my epidural, hehe.

Today I went to the chiropractor to find out why my back feels like someone's sticking a knife in it whenever I move. I knew I had back problems before I got pregnant but since, they've only gotten worse and worse. Although the chiropractor couldn't do x-rays on me today, he said he was 95% sure I have spondylolisthesis which basically means that my spine is crushing itself because I have too much of an inward curve in my lower back. He put me on this hydro table that shoots strong streams of water all along my back to warm it up and loosen up my spine. Then he cracked it good and told me to come back Monday, which I'll gladly do. I hope my insurance is paying for this!

Allergies

This isn't necessarily a post for human interest. I have to document the actual series of events that transpired after I realized my cat allergy just in case I need to remember at some point, or if some other pregnant lady has similar questions regarding all of this stuff.

So we got the cat during pregnancy...allergic. I took Loratadine (a generic allergy med) to overcome the allergy and it worked but I wasn't taking it every single day, more symptomatically.

After a while I realized I was having trouble breathing and couldn't get a full breath, not to mention my lungs were itching deep in the lobes and driving me bananas. I went to the doctor, afraid I was coming down with pneumonia or something. I was told I had asthma. I was prescribed ProAir for symptoms PRN, and QVar to reduce the inflammation, to be taken twice daily for two weeks.

About a week or two later, I noticed a rash starting to appear on my belly that looked like chicken pocks. It didn't itch yet but I was curious about possibly a yeast infection. I was at the doctor's for a routine check-up at about week 20 or something and I happened to mention the rash. He looked at it and said it looked like a yeast infection.

He prescribed Diflucan, the one-pill yeast infection treatment.

I took it, not realizing it was Class C for pregnant women, but found no relief. In fact in about 4-5 days, I discovered that the rash was getting worse and spreading around my sides, up and down! And it was becoming VERY itchy - I looked like I had fleas sometimes. It was awful!

I called the doctor again and reported the Diflucan hadn't worked and that the rash was worsening. He called in yet another prescription to my pharmacy and I didn't know what it was until I went to pick it up.

It was predisone. Now, I'm a therapist and a lot of my orthopedic patients take this drug to ease the inflammation after a surgery. I'm aware that it's a "big" drug with lots of side effects. So I looked it up. It also is Class C, which means it hasn't necessarily been proven safe for pregnancy, and in fact has been associated with scary things like cleft pallet and Down Syndrome. I looked up Diflucan and that's when I realized I'd also taken it although it too was Class C.

I decided not to take the prednisone. Wondering about the rash...and its timing, I also decided to stop taking the ProAir since the rash appeared shortly after I started taking it (the prescriptions for QVar and ProAir had been filled about 2 weeks apart for insurance reasons and I'd started ProAir later).

About 2 weeks after stopping ProAir, I noticed the rash start to ease up...and now it's nearly gone. I still take the QVar and was also taking the Loratadine religiously until the cat was banished to the far reaches of the earth.

About two weeks ago, I also decided to move the cat out of the house until the baby comes to relieve any other symptoms that might come as a result of the allergy. He's at my grandmother's house now. Since he's been gone, I've no longer felt the need to take Loratadine nor QVar (except once in a great while) since most of my symptoms have been resolved.

I haven't been back to my doctor yet and am curious as to what he felt was offsetting the risk of giving me 2 Class C medications. It wasn't worth it to me, and that's what I'll tell him.

The Big Ultrasound

It was confirmed today that we are having a girl for sure. Everything looks normal, in fact it seems that I might be a week or two further along than what we originally thought.

The doctor looked at all anatomical structures and functions and found everything to be normal. They have a new machine in their office that can show the 3-D picture so I saw her little face right before she stuck her little fists up in front of it.

For the past three weeks I've been having what I finally realized were small contractions, verified during the ultrasound. She was actually able to see my uterus having a contraction. I had early contractions with my first pregnancy but not this early. I was given a medication to stop them so I wonder if I'll have to take it again. Since my appt today was only with the lady who does the ultrasound, I'll need to make another appt to talk to the doctor.

So if I'm 24 weeks like the ultrasound says, then I've only got 16 weeks left! Yeah! I suppose that changes the due date that much. 16 weeks from today is January 30. Cool!