Wow, the summer is just flying by! The little rascal is growing like a bean...she hardly seems like an infant anymore and feels more like a big baby. When I brought her to the doctor a week and a half ago she weighed 11 lbs 2 oz...she gained 2 lbs in a little more than a month! And she has had several nights when she sleeps for 9 hours...growth spurts, I am assuming. However, she is regularly sleeping for 6 to 7 hours at night -- I am loving it!
The Andersons were in town last week...we had so much fun! All were here -- Joy and Scotty, Lena and the kiddos (we missed Chris, however), and Tony and Kristina. Sydney was the star of the show, of course -- Lena and Joy couldn't put her down! The weather was not exactly cooperative, so we didn't do all that much, but as Scotty would say, getting us to go anywhere was like an amoeba moving-- it took forever! We still had a great time in Coeur d'Alene for a couple days (so beautiful there!) and then had a great time at home in Pullman. There was a trip to the water park on a 60 degree day with no beach towels...good thing Joy thought of that and I brought a couple along when I came! Dustin, Scotty, Tony and the kiddos were FREEZING! But who cares when there are water slides and cool fountains to spray water at people with? :) On the 4th Dustin and Skyler lit off some fireworks after we went to the real ones -- both boys were in their element! I don't think there has been a time when all of us spent so much time together -- it was great. :)
Now Laura and Peyten are here and whaddaya know, we are watching Billy Madison. We plan to go the water park on a warmer day, make a trip up to Coeur d'Alene, do some hiking, and just putz around. Laura is laying with Sydney on her chest right now...precious. It is so great to have family in town. Keeps my life very exciting! :)
Monday, July 12, 2010
Friday, June 25, 2010
The changing rascal
Well, I certainly haven't been very good about keeping up with this blog so far! I can't blame it entirely on the little rascal, but she does keep me quite busy these days. I tried to run some errands today but she just wouldn't have it...got her in the car seat while she was sleeping (I'm so sneaky!), tip-toed out to the car, and then as soon as the car seat snapped in she woke up and started screaming. Her car seat scream breaks my heart -- needless to say I didn't make it out of the driveway. Decided to try again tomorrow.
Sydney is like a new person every day. Today she discovered her hands and the fact that she can suck on her fingers -- I am betting right now that she is going to be a thumb sucker (just like her daddy, surprise, surprise)...we'll see. She is starting to smile occasionally, but I am waiting for the big one in response to seeing me. But the smiles are so cute. The other day she really started to focus more on our faces and her eyes seem to be tracking and focusing on objects. She has a high-tech ducky toy (with lots of bells and whistles) that she finally realized is hanging on the side of her play pen and today she spent more than 30 minutes looking at it and batting at it with her hand. I am really impressed with how much she loves her time to herself -- sometimes if she gets fussy I just lay her down and she quietly stares off into space. Other times she wants me to hold her with her head nestled in by my neck. I am starting to learn more and more when she wants what, but sometimes I still have to run through the options!
I know I call Sydney the little rascal, but the truth is that she is an awesome baby. She has been sleeping for 6 to 7 hours straight at night -- amazing! She has her fussy moments, of course, but overall she is a pretty happy baby. We just love the little rascal! And we tell her all the time. :)
Sydney is like a new person every day. Today she discovered her hands and the fact that she can suck on her fingers -- I am betting right now that she is going to be a thumb sucker (just like her daddy, surprise, surprise)...we'll see. She is starting to smile occasionally, but I am waiting for the big one in response to seeing me. But the smiles are so cute. The other day she really started to focus more on our faces and her eyes seem to be tracking and focusing on objects. She has a high-tech ducky toy (with lots of bells and whistles) that she finally realized is hanging on the side of her play pen and today she spent more than 30 minutes looking at it and batting at it with her hand. I am really impressed with how much she loves her time to herself -- sometimes if she gets fussy I just lay her down and she quietly stares off into space. Other times she wants me to hold her with her head nestled in by my neck. I am starting to learn more and more when she wants what, but sometimes I still have to run through the options!
I know I call Sydney the little rascal, but the truth is that she is an awesome baby. She has been sleeping for 6 to 7 hours straight at night -- amazing! She has her fussy moments, of course, but overall she is a pretty happy baby. We just love the little rascal! And we tell her all the time. :)
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
So, the 54 hour labor...
A lot of people have been asking about the wonderful 54 hour labor that I endured. I say wonderful because it ended with Sydney in my arms, but really it was dreadful and one of the most challenging experiences of my life. But as the days pass and as I fall more and more in love with Sydney, the memories of this experience and its awfulness are slowly fading. But this story should be documented...maybe even published. The little rascal stayed true to form and made her arrival as only a little rascal would.
It all started on Friday, May 28th, when I went in to see my doctor. At this point I was 8 days overdue and my doctor wanted to have an ultrasound done so that we could make sure the placenta was holding up well and to estimate Sydney's weight. The ultrasound technician estimated her weight to be 9lbs 9oz and told me that this estimate could be off by as much as a pound in either direction, which meant she was somewhere between 8lbs 9oz and 10lbs 9oz (!). Although we were really trying to avoid induction, my doctor explained to me that she wasn't really comfortable going another week because in that time Sydney could gain an additional pound, which with my size would drastically increase the chances of c-section. We decided that I would be induced the following night, which gave me a little over 24 hours to try everything and anything to self-induce labor. That day I had begun taking black cohosh (nasty!) and Dustin and I decided to eat spicy Chinese food for dinner. We went to the worst Chinese buffet I have ever been to, but I took down as much spicy Chinese food as I could handle. Shortly after dinner (around 7pm) I started to feel funny, but just thought I was having more Braxton Hicks contractions. We took a back road home from Moscow, which was supposed to be bumpy, but it wasn't! However, there was beautiful scenery on this road, the sun was setting...it was a beautiful moment for the two of us to share together. When we got home and settled in I started to feel contractions like I hadn't felt before. At 8pm I told Dustin that I thought I was feeling real contractions; he looked at me in disbelief -- our efforts had worked! I waited to call our doula, ViviAnne, until 9pm because I wanted to be sure. At 9pm I called her and let her know I was in labor and that I would call her when I needed her to come -- at that time my contractions were pretty far apart. However, through that night the contractions got closer and closer together and more and more intense. When I called ViviAnne at 6am the contractions were 2-5 minutes apart and I hadn't slept all night because I had to walk around and breathe through them. I remember my hips were killing me with every contraction, as though my pelvis were spreading apart with each one. ViviAnne came over and helped Dustin and I with some techniques to reduce the hip pain and helped me relax through the contractions. However, later in the morning the contractions started to spread apart, now coming every 7-8 minutes. We went for a walk (in the rain!) and I took more black cohosh to try to increase the frequency, but things just slowed down, although the contractions were still quite intense. We called my doctor and she suggested I go into the hospital for observation to see how dialated/effaced my cervix was. When we went in at 7pm they told me that I was 1cm dialated and 80% effaced -- I wanted to cry! 24 hours of labor and I was 1cm dialated! We decided to go home and they gave me some Ambien in hopes that it would knock me out so that I could get some rest. Rather than knock me out, however, it made me feel like I was on drugs -- I even hallucinated at one point! I couldn't sleep -- I stumbled through my house as the contractions again became 2-5 minutes apart and were really intense. Dustin said that I would sit in the recliner between contractions, snore for 1 minute, and then get up and have another contraction. That night was hell and the next morning I felt like a zombie having contractions. At 6am I again called ViviAnne and we followed a similar pattern as the previous day -- as the morning wore on, my contractions started to spread out. My doctor recommended that I be admitted into the hospital so that they could get the labor moving by putting me on a low dose of Pitocin (something I had also wanted to avoid). When we got to the hospital my contractions were inconsistent but were lasting 2, sometimes 3 minutes -- the nurses were confused. I was only 1 1/2cm dialated, which was so discouraging after all that night labor. They put me on a very low dose of Pitocin, which helped somewhat to increase the frequency of my contractions, but they were still inconsistent. Then they upped the level of Pitocin, but Sydney's heart rate dropped so they then took me off of Pitocin altogether. My doctor came in and suggested that we break my waters and that I get an epidural so that I could sleep through the night while labor hopefully progressed. I could think of nothing better than sleeping at that point, so although I had wanted to do an all-natural birth, I decided to get the epidural so that hopefully I could rest and be ready to push when the time came. The anesthesiologist came around 6pm (hour 46 or 47?) and after he left I wished I had kissed him -- I felt nothing but a little pressure with contractions and I started to believe that I would sleep again. My doctor then came to check my progress and also to check the position of Sydney's head, which she suspected and confirmed was transverse. When she was checking the position, however, she accidentally broke my water and I immediately went from 2cm to 3cm dialated -- finally some progress! Then came the worst part -- they had put me on a higher dose of Pitocin when I got the epidural and with each contraction I started to feel more and more pressure. Then I started to have to breathe through each contraction. Dustin asked me, "are you starting to feel the contractions again?" and I said "yes." Then the nurse came in and asked me the same thing and then told me that the epidural drip was locked -- some sort of malfunction with the box the drip was in and that only the anesthesiologist could fix it. Unfortunately he was in surgery and there was no telling when he would be done. So the epidural was wearing off. This was my breaking point -- I wanted to punch the nurse who seemed to have very little empathy for my situation and I wanted to kick the anesthesiologist who I had previously wanted to kiss. The worst part about it was that I had to lay in bed with these super intense contractions because of the epidural (my legs were still slightly numb). Although my breathing techniques had done wonders while walking around, nothing seemed to be working as I lay there unable to really move but writhing in pain. This is when I first told Dustin, "I can't do this anymore, I want this to be over." I think he wanted to kill the anesthesiologist, but he just focused on doing what he could to help me through that next hour. When the anesthesiologist did show up an hour later he fixed the problem but things were never the same -- I couldn't get relaxed, still felt so much pressure, and had to be on oxygen so that Sydney could get more air, which was really uncomfortable (along with that stupid blood pressure cuff that always seemed to inflate during contractions!). I eventually progressed to 5cm but the progress was very slow. The next time my doctor checked me she told me that Sydney's head was starting to swell a bit because her head was tilted back and transverse. She knew how I felt about having a c-section so she told me that she was willing to wait one more hour to see if there was any progress, but there hadn't been any progress in the last hour. It was now after midnight and the way my doctor looked at me, I knew what was coming. She said she was concerned about Sydney -- her heart rate had started to drop with contractions and she had general concerns about her position and being able to drop into the birth canal. I was concerned about her head swelling and my doctor said there was no way to tell if she would straighten her head out or not -- if she didn't, the swelling would increase. She suggested that the safest thing to do at that time would be to have a c-section. Knowing that she knew how I felt about this and was still suggesting it made me realize that things were not looking good. She let me make the decision, however, which I greatly appreciated. At that time I hadn't slept since Thursday night (it was now Monday early morning), and the thought of another hour with no progress was overwhelming. I decided to have the c-section. After that things happened so quickly -- it was a blur. The surgeon came and talked to me and Dustin and explained the procedure and then I was whisked away. I remember yelling back to Dustin, "Did you bring the camera?" and someone told me he had it. They then brought me into a bright room and prepped me for the surgery. I remember feeling seriously obese when they had to move me from my bed to the surgical table, as they had to roll me onto this thing and then several people had to transfer me. Dustin came in eventually and sat next to my head. I couldn't feel anything but my body was jerking all around and then I felt a couple big tugs. Then I heard Sydney cry and they showed her to me and I just cried. I remember tears were pouring down my face and falling into my ears (my arms were still strapped down so I couldn't wipe them away). Dustin left to help with cutting the umbilical cord, measuring and weighing Sydney, etc., and I just remember laying there and crying. I could hear Sydney crying and I just wanted to hold her and comfort her. The anesthesiologist, who was now my friend again because he talked us through the procedure, was telling me how well the surgery went and how great Sydney looked -- I think he was trying to distract me. Then Dustin brought Sydney over to me and laid her on my chest and I just kissed her face over and over until they had to take her away again. Dustin left with her and I laid there while they stitched me up. I could hear my doctor and the surgeon talking as they were finishing things, and I remember just zoning in and out of consciousness and being able to hear the loud beep of my heart rate. My doctor came and told me Sydney's weight -- 9lbs 1oz! -- and she said everything with the surgery went very well. Then I went into recovery, where a very nice man talked to me and did things while the anesthesia wore off. A little less than an hour after Sydney was born Dustin and ViviAnne brought her into my recovery room and laid her on my chest. She immediately went to breastfeed, which was such a relief! As I quickly recovered from the anesthesia they let us all go back to our room, where again I slept very little that night because I was on an adrenaline high! I just couldn't get enough of her.
So, wow. What an adventure with the little rascal. But now that she's here I am so happy that all the pain and exhaustion is fading far into the past. I am only excited about our future adventures together as a family. I was not blessed with a smooth labor, but I have been blessed with a wonderfully supportive and loving husband and a precious, perfect, snuggly little baby. I couldn't be happier. :)
It all started on Friday, May 28th, when I went in to see my doctor. At this point I was 8 days overdue and my doctor wanted to have an ultrasound done so that we could make sure the placenta was holding up well and to estimate Sydney's weight. The ultrasound technician estimated her weight to be 9lbs 9oz and told me that this estimate could be off by as much as a pound in either direction, which meant she was somewhere between 8lbs 9oz and 10lbs 9oz (!). Although we were really trying to avoid induction, my doctor explained to me that she wasn't really comfortable going another week because in that time Sydney could gain an additional pound, which with my size would drastically increase the chances of c-section. We decided that I would be induced the following night, which gave me a little over 24 hours to try everything and anything to self-induce labor. That day I had begun taking black cohosh (nasty!) and Dustin and I decided to eat spicy Chinese food for dinner. We went to the worst Chinese buffet I have ever been to, but I took down as much spicy Chinese food as I could handle. Shortly after dinner (around 7pm) I started to feel funny, but just thought I was having more Braxton Hicks contractions. We took a back road home from Moscow, which was supposed to be bumpy, but it wasn't! However, there was beautiful scenery on this road, the sun was setting...it was a beautiful moment for the two of us to share together. When we got home and settled in I started to feel contractions like I hadn't felt before. At 8pm I told Dustin that I thought I was feeling real contractions; he looked at me in disbelief -- our efforts had worked! I waited to call our doula, ViviAnne, until 9pm because I wanted to be sure. At 9pm I called her and let her know I was in labor and that I would call her when I needed her to come -- at that time my contractions were pretty far apart. However, through that night the contractions got closer and closer together and more and more intense. When I called ViviAnne at 6am the contractions were 2-5 minutes apart and I hadn't slept all night because I had to walk around and breathe through them. I remember my hips were killing me with every contraction, as though my pelvis were spreading apart with each one. ViviAnne came over and helped Dustin and I with some techniques to reduce the hip pain and helped me relax through the contractions. However, later in the morning the contractions started to spread apart, now coming every 7-8 minutes. We went for a walk (in the rain!) and I took more black cohosh to try to increase the frequency, but things just slowed down, although the contractions were still quite intense. We called my doctor and she suggested I go into the hospital for observation to see how dialated/effaced my cervix was. When we went in at 7pm they told me that I was 1cm dialated and 80% effaced -- I wanted to cry! 24 hours of labor and I was 1cm dialated! We decided to go home and they gave me some Ambien in hopes that it would knock me out so that I could get some rest. Rather than knock me out, however, it made me feel like I was on drugs -- I even hallucinated at one point! I couldn't sleep -- I stumbled through my house as the contractions again became 2-5 minutes apart and were really intense. Dustin said that I would sit in the recliner between contractions, snore for 1 minute, and then get up and have another contraction. That night was hell and the next morning I felt like a zombie having contractions. At 6am I again called ViviAnne and we followed a similar pattern as the previous day -- as the morning wore on, my contractions started to spread out. My doctor recommended that I be admitted into the hospital so that they could get the labor moving by putting me on a low dose of Pitocin (something I had also wanted to avoid). When we got to the hospital my contractions were inconsistent but were lasting 2, sometimes 3 minutes -- the nurses were confused. I was only 1 1/2cm dialated, which was so discouraging after all that night labor. They put me on a very low dose of Pitocin, which helped somewhat to increase the frequency of my contractions, but they were still inconsistent. Then they upped the level of Pitocin, but Sydney's heart rate dropped so they then took me off of Pitocin altogether. My doctor came in and suggested that we break my waters and that I get an epidural so that I could sleep through the night while labor hopefully progressed. I could think of nothing better than sleeping at that point, so although I had wanted to do an all-natural birth, I decided to get the epidural so that hopefully I could rest and be ready to push when the time came. The anesthesiologist came around 6pm (hour 46 or 47?) and after he left I wished I had kissed him -- I felt nothing but a little pressure with contractions and I started to believe that I would sleep again. My doctor then came to check my progress and also to check the position of Sydney's head, which she suspected and confirmed was transverse. When she was checking the position, however, she accidentally broke my water and I immediately went from 2cm to 3cm dialated -- finally some progress! Then came the worst part -- they had put me on a higher dose of Pitocin when I got the epidural and with each contraction I started to feel more and more pressure. Then I started to have to breathe through each contraction. Dustin asked me, "are you starting to feel the contractions again?" and I said "yes." Then the nurse came in and asked me the same thing and then told me that the epidural drip was locked -- some sort of malfunction with the box the drip was in and that only the anesthesiologist could fix it. Unfortunately he was in surgery and there was no telling when he would be done. So the epidural was wearing off. This was my breaking point -- I wanted to punch the nurse who seemed to have very little empathy for my situation and I wanted to kick the anesthesiologist who I had previously wanted to kiss. The worst part about it was that I had to lay in bed with these super intense contractions because of the epidural (my legs were still slightly numb). Although my breathing techniques had done wonders while walking around, nothing seemed to be working as I lay there unable to really move but writhing in pain. This is when I first told Dustin, "I can't do this anymore, I want this to be over." I think he wanted to kill the anesthesiologist, but he just focused on doing what he could to help me through that next hour. When the anesthesiologist did show up an hour later he fixed the problem but things were never the same -- I couldn't get relaxed, still felt so much pressure, and had to be on oxygen so that Sydney could get more air, which was really uncomfortable (along with that stupid blood pressure cuff that always seemed to inflate during contractions!). I eventually progressed to 5cm but the progress was very slow. The next time my doctor checked me she told me that Sydney's head was starting to swell a bit because her head was tilted back and transverse. She knew how I felt about having a c-section so she told me that she was willing to wait one more hour to see if there was any progress, but there hadn't been any progress in the last hour. It was now after midnight and the way my doctor looked at me, I knew what was coming. She said she was concerned about Sydney -- her heart rate had started to drop with contractions and she had general concerns about her position and being able to drop into the birth canal. I was concerned about her head swelling and my doctor said there was no way to tell if she would straighten her head out or not -- if she didn't, the swelling would increase. She suggested that the safest thing to do at that time would be to have a c-section. Knowing that she knew how I felt about this and was still suggesting it made me realize that things were not looking good. She let me make the decision, however, which I greatly appreciated. At that time I hadn't slept since Thursday night (it was now Monday early morning), and the thought of another hour with no progress was overwhelming. I decided to have the c-section. After that things happened so quickly -- it was a blur. The surgeon came and talked to me and Dustin and explained the procedure and then I was whisked away. I remember yelling back to Dustin, "Did you bring the camera?" and someone told me he had it. They then brought me into a bright room and prepped me for the surgery. I remember feeling seriously obese when they had to move me from my bed to the surgical table, as they had to roll me onto this thing and then several people had to transfer me. Dustin came in eventually and sat next to my head. I couldn't feel anything but my body was jerking all around and then I felt a couple big tugs. Then I heard Sydney cry and they showed her to me and I just cried. I remember tears were pouring down my face and falling into my ears (my arms were still strapped down so I couldn't wipe them away). Dustin left to help with cutting the umbilical cord, measuring and weighing Sydney, etc., and I just remember laying there and crying. I could hear Sydney crying and I just wanted to hold her and comfort her. The anesthesiologist, who was now my friend again because he talked us through the procedure, was telling me how well the surgery went and how great Sydney looked -- I think he was trying to distract me. Then Dustin brought Sydney over to me and laid her on my chest and I just kissed her face over and over until they had to take her away again. Dustin left with her and I laid there while they stitched me up. I could hear my doctor and the surgeon talking as they were finishing things, and I remember just zoning in and out of consciousness and being able to hear the loud beep of my heart rate. My doctor came and told me Sydney's weight -- 9lbs 1oz! -- and she said everything with the surgery went very well. Then I went into recovery, where a very nice man talked to me and did things while the anesthesia wore off. A little less than an hour after Sydney was born Dustin and ViviAnne brought her into my recovery room and laid her on my chest. She immediately went to breastfeed, which was such a relief! As I quickly recovered from the anesthesia they let us all go back to our room, where again I slept very little that night because I was on an adrenaline high! I just couldn't get enough of her.
So, wow. What an adventure with the little rascal. But now that she's here I am so happy that all the pain and exhaustion is fading far into the past. I am only excited about our future adventures together as a family. I was not blessed with a smooth labor, but I have been blessed with a wonderfully supportive and loving husband and a precious, perfect, snuggly little baby. I couldn't be happier. :)
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Due date is here!
When Dustin left for school this morning he kissed me and said, "Happy Due Date!" It's as though we are celebrating a birthday...could this be the little rascal's birth day? Things would have to get going pretty soon...
It feels good to get to this day, but I am ready for her to be here already! She has been VERY active between 9 and 11pm lately...sometimes she moves around so much that it hurts. This means that she is getting too big and it is time to come out. Let the experimentation with the old wives' tales begin (spicy food, eggplant, herbal remedies, raspberry tea, walking, bouncing, SEX!, etc., etc., etc.!).
C'mon, Little Rascal, Mommy and Daddy are ready to meet you...
It feels good to get to this day, but I am ready for her to be here already! She has been VERY active between 9 and 11pm lately...sometimes she moves around so much that it hurts. This means that she is getting too big and it is time to come out. Let the experimentation with the old wives' tales begin (spicy food, eggplant, herbal remedies, raspberry tea, walking, bouncing, SEX!, etc., etc., etc.!).
C'mon, Little Rascal, Mommy and Daddy are ready to meet you...
Saturday, May 8, 2010
The Little Rascal
I went in for my 38 week appt on Friday and my doctor was trying to find the baby's heartbeat but she kept moving around, making it difficult (stubborn already, I know). Dr. Short then appropriately said to her, "C'mon, you little rascal." I thought to myself, what a perfect name for this baby! I went home and told Dustin and we decided that she really is a little rascal -- moving like crazy nowadays even though my mom told me that things "quiet down" after 36 weeks -- not this baby! Anyway, I thought it was an appropriate name for our blog. I hope to keep friends and family who are far away updated with this blog, as babies change so much and I don't know that I will otherwise be able to keep up! I hope you enjoy, and I will do my best to post pictures of our little rascal as she grows.
12 days until my due date.... :)
12 days until my due date.... :)
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