Beautiful Pictures

Picture taken at hospital shortly after birth: Meadow trying to climb over the pillow on the activity mat on 7/21.

Hey Beautiful

Tonight I was nursing Meadow. She was fighting sleep, and opened her eyes real big. I made eye contact with her and said "Hey Beautiful". She responded with a huge smile. It was so adorable...like she knew exactly what I was saying. I still can't get over it. I wish I could have taken a picture, but I was sitting on the couch nursing her. The camera was in the bathroom, so I didn't have time to grab it.

I am so deprieved

First of all I am deprieved of sleep. Why? Because my wonderful DH had the dogs with him in the garage while he was working on getting it cleaned and organized. For some reason he decided to slightly open the garage door. Well, Miischka decided to take advantage of the opportunity and get out. I was so worried about her. She got scared earlier in the night during a thunderstorm that we had, and at this point another storm was passing through. She took off about 10 and didn't come home until 2ish. So needless to say during that time I could barely sleep. DH is wondering what I will do when Meadow decides to take off or come home after curfew...

Secondly, I looked up the news in my hometown area/college town area today. I realized this week end there was a music festival I would have liked to go to. Usually I don't have much interest in going, but the line up this year really interests me...now don't laugh...here are some of the bands I would have liked to see: Friday night~Seven Mary Three, Puddle of Mudd, Kidd Rock; Saturday night~Tesla, Papa Roach, Motley Crue; Sunday night~Warrant, Live, Staind, and Poison. OK, so I can't go for two BIG reasons: 1. I live 1,000 miles away and we can't afford to travel for fun at this time. 2. I have a newborn. Rockfest is not a good place for a newborn. Although one year I went to Ozfest with DH and there were several families there. I guess I just have priorities and don't want my child exposed to certain activities that go on at festivals as such.

Well, I better go before the newborn wakes up from her nap.

BTW, I wonder how Tommy Lee is swinging the gig on Saturday night and then handling all the Rockstars on Rockstar Supernova...

Poopcano and other bodily fluids

Meadow is two weeks old today. Time has gone by so fast. I got an e-mail today from my aunt. She asked how is motherhood. It is wonderful. It is the hardest job I have ever had, and the one that I want/need to succeed at in the worst way. DH thinks that I am a great mother. He has "noticed" that things around the house are getting done faster/better. OK, so before Meadow I wasn't much of a housekeeper...nor did I have a desire to be a good housekeeper.

As for daddy...
I was trying to cook dinner tonight when DH called me into the bedroom (where he was keeping Meadow occupied). He told me Meadow needed her diaper changed and he would finish dinner. What I didn't realize is I was dealing with a poopcano. She had poop all the way up her front and back. In my life I have never seen such and explosive diaper.

We (Meadow and I) have had quite a day with her bodily fluids. This morning I had on a scoop neck muscle shirt. I finished nursing and burping her. We were chillin', when she...um...spit up down my shirt. She had perfect aim right between the twins and saturated my bra and shirt. WHen I bartended male customers would try to toss coins down my shirt between the twins when I would walk by with no success. My daughter on the other hand...has amazing aim.

It was a good night

Meadow had been really fussy Tuesday and Wednesday night. Last night I was going to give her Pedialite, but she wouldn't take the bottle. I was going to give her the Pedialite, because I thought maybe she wasn't feeling well. Although last night she was easy to keep occupied. Then, I got an e-mail from my MIL saying that BIL's girlfriend was sick for three days this week. She was over last week, but only held Meadow briefly.

So, naturally I get more paranoid. I took her temperature-97.7 degrees. That isn't anything to get alarmed about. Since, her umbilical cord stump fell out early Monday morning I knew it was OK to forgo the sponge bath and give her a bath in the infant tub.

The infant tub we have has a sort of chair in it. I put her in the chair, and filled the tub to cover her feet. She didn't seem to mind that. I started to wash her. So far, so good. She did not like being rinsed off though. She screamed and screamed. When I was done, I took her to dry her off. She still didn't like that. As a matter of fact she wasn't happy until I got her diaper and clothes on.

The rest of the night she was content. She even fell asleep the time I wanted her to. I was so blessed last night. She even slept well through out the night and nursed well when I woke her up. She even went right back to sleep. Hopefully we can repeat it today. I think we are reading eachother better.

I have a Superbaby

Yesterday, DH had Meadow on her activity mat on the floor on her belly. She rolled to her side, then onto her back.

Today, DH was in the shower, and I was trying to make him lunch. I put Meadow in the pack n play. He came out, checked on her, and went to finish getting ready for work. He came back out to check on her, and noticed she had scooted herself over almost a foot. I had her laying on her side.

A bit ago, I put her on the activity mat on her belly. I put the pillow part under her chest, and she tried to crawl over the pillow. She put her legs under and tried to push herself up. She ended up almost crawling over the pillow part. She did have most of chest over the pillow portion.

I can't believe how strong she is.

1st Set of Milestones

OK, so some babies are more advanced than others. I can accept that, but my girl is amazing me everyday. It has only been ten days and Meadow has already accomplished the following:

Date of birth: lifts head to look around
1 day old: rolls from back to side
5 days old: 1st doctor appointment
1 week old: 1st trip to a restaurant...slept through
9 days old: umbilical cord fell out, puked on momma
10 days old: rolled from belly to back

I am almost scared to see what she will do next, but I am enjoying every minute of it!

What Does Meadow Honestly Think?

Yesterday, she was kind of listless, so we gave her Pedialite. By her next wet diaper she was dehydrated. Her urine was on the dark side. I gave her another Pedialite later. She is doing much better. I think we are going to continue give a 1/2 ounce a day.

Today, we took her to her first doctor appointment. It was feeding time too. I thought I would be able to feed her while we were waiting or something. She was hungry too. She doesn't like to be naked. They had me take her clothes off down to her diaper. I noticed her diaper was wet, so I was changing it. She rolled onto her side and peed all over the table as to say I will show you what I think about this. So, it is not only little boys you have to worry about peeing all over.

Her doctor appointment went well. She gained 2 ounces since discharge and grew 1/2" since birth.

Birthing Story

On evening of Friday, July 7th, 2006 I was admitted to Mary Black Hospital. At about 9:30pm I was given cervedil. Cervedil is supposed to help you dilate. I was stuck at 1 cm for over a month. They can’t induce labor at 1 cm. I was able to eat dinner at 11:30 pm. Then I went to sleep for the night.

At 6:30 am on Saturday, July 6th, 2006 I was administered Pitocin. Pitocin is supposed to help bring on the labor. At 9:30 I was 2 cm dilated. The doctor decided broke my water, and Meadow’s heartbeat dropped. There was meconium in the amniotic fluid. I could tell something was wrong. The looks on the doctor and nurses really bothered me. Before I knew it a nurse handed me an oxygen mask. The doctor was really concerned, and thought if her heart didn’t stabilize we would need a c-section. She had me prepped for a c-section “just in case”. They did hook up a tube to go into my uterus to flush the meconium out of me. Meadow’s heart rate got to an acceptable rate. Every time I would have a contraction it would her heart rate would slightly dip. I would have to switch positions every few to keep it from dropping too much. The contractions were manageable but did get to a point where I asked for an epidural. Then they were about a minute and a half apart.

I was at 2 cm until they checked me at 4:30. I was at 4 cm, but my cervix was swollen. The doctor discussed with us our options at that point (getting a c-section or waiting it out). With how things were progressing, there wasn’t much chance the swelling would go down. I could feel the pressure of Meadow’s head on my cervix and even with an epidural it was very painful. There was a chance with the position of her head on my cervix and with the contractions her head would swell a bit too. For those reasons and the meconium in the amniotic fluid we opted for a c-section.

The staff was great. They were really good about keeping my mind occupied. There was radio playing classic rock and 80’s music. This was perfect, because that is my music preference.

At 5:31 pm Meadow Nicole Anna was born. She didn’t cry a whole lot, and when she did her cry was real soft. Once she was all cleaned off, they let me see her. DH took a picture of her and I on the operating table, and then the staff offered to take a picture of the three of us! When they brought her too me to see her, I just wanted to keep kissing her. I love her so much. I really wanted to hold her then, but for health and safety reasons in the operating room I couldn’t. She is so precious to me.

They stitched me up, and put me in a recovery room for about an hour. I got the shakes really bad. I was told it was normal due to the hormonal changes I just went through. I had a slight case of the shakes when we were making the decision to have a c-section too…I wonder if that was hormones too?

I got settled into my room and by 8:00 PM they brought Meadow to the room. I nursed until 8:30 PM. She was sleepy and kept falling asleep after a couple of sucks. DH and I tried to keep her stimulated enough to keep her nursing. She is a champion nurser though. We have no problems latching on. She delatches herself when she is done. Even if she is asleep. She loves to sleep on my chest. I can’t seem to kiss her enough.

My mother-in-law was able to be at the hospital for her birth. She took some pictures. I am really disappointed that we didn’t get one of DH, Meadow, and I in the hospital room.

I am really happy I went into the birthing process with an open mind. Although, nothing went as planned, I am not bothered that I had a c-section. I am just happy Meadow and I are OK. The pain I am dealing with from the c-section is totally worth it. If I could do it all over again (in the same circumstances), I would. I don’t regret our decision at all. I really wanted to delivery vaginally. I was open to getting pain relievers, but only on my demand. I didn’t want them pushing drugs to me.

Quick Update

Meadow is here. She arrived Saturday (7/8) at 5:31 PM. She was 7 pounds 11 ounces and 19 1/2" long. I will post the birthing story later.

Breastfeeding mothers: My milk has come in, but she continues to sleep through feedings. I end up nursing for 10 minutes at time almost everyhour. Anyone else had this experience?

First I would like to thank Candace. A whle back she gave me some really good advice about labor. She told me to go into it with an open mind. DH and I were really not wanting for me to be induced. But with the pain I have gone through the past two days has made me feel much better about the decision to get induced tonight. I didn't want to feel guilty about it. I am still not happy about it, but this is a good choice. I feel like my body takes two steps forward and takes a step back. If only it would dialate.

I keep praying they don't have to give me pitocin. Hopefully, the cervedil will do what it needs to do. Now, I just need to call the hospital to see if they give me dinner...

I must sleep

I am extremely tired. I am still not feeling well. Despite my complaints and how horrible I look, I am being induced tomorrow night. My body isn't progressing like it should. It is like I have a bunch of symptoms and then they go away. I have taken two naps today, and I am still very tired. Each nap was like 2 hours long. I can't manage to feel caught up on sleep.

So, hopefully by July 8th I will be holding my little one in my arms.

Sorry if this makes no sense. I feel like I have been studying for finals during my college days with out the caffiene.

My list of grievances

I feel like (insert very vulgar words here). My abs feel like I have been doing crunches and sit ups all night. Here is my list of grievances:
My abs are burning
my pelvis hurts
DH thinks my stomach feels rock hard
I feel like I am going to throw up or have a BM and can't do either
The receptionist at the doctor's office won't let me come in early today, because they are booked.
I have slept most the morning, and so have the dogs. I feel like going back.
My ribcage feels like it going to burst

I e-mailed the above list to my neighbor. She is at work, and has been a champ about making sure I am OK. Anyway, she called me back and told me I could very well be starting labor! Please let this be it!

Still here...

Time just seems to be standing still. I feel like there has been no progress. I thought it was bad when the doctor asked me if I had the baby yet, but it is a million times worse when my V.P. asked me this morning. But, he did give me a compliment. He said I seem very healthy. He was curious to what the doctor had said. Which basically, baby healthy, mommy healthy, no need to do anything.

Well, I guess I have had some progress. About 6 this morning I had my first REAL contraction. It lasted a minute or two and was very painful. It felt like all my muscles were pushing down in my abs. Then, it radiated to my back. I couldn't move it was paralyzing. I forced myself to deep breath until it was over. It did make me feel like I should "push." I know I can do it now. DH was getting ready for work and I didn't want to alarm him, so I waited until he was on his way out to tell him.

I had a catchy title...But I forgot it

I thought of a bunch of things to write about while in the shower. I even thought of a really cool title...Well I thought it was, but now my mind is completely blank.

The past two nights I have had really bizarre dreams. Sunday night I had a dream that the baby was born with a tail. It was about 2" long. We decided not to get it removed. Last night I dreamt that we bought a house that was infected with rattle snakes and black mamba snakes. My grandfather came and got rid of all the snakes.

Since Friday night I have been going to bed by 10 and up by 8. Tomorrow I guess I am going to work. It is 12:30 and I am not at all tired. I really hope I am not "nesting." I did get some projects done tonight. I thought maybe tonight would be the night, b/c I have been having pressure in my pelvis. DH thinks I really dropped. I haven't done anything too strenuous...I worked on getting the birth announcements together.

DH and I discussed tonight, that we will try to put off induction until I get closer to 42 weeks. Today was a big research day for me. I looked up information about induction methods on vaccinations for babies.

OK, this glass of milk is helping make me sleepy. I hope I can be alert at work tomorrow.

It's bad when the doctor says...

are you ever going to have that baby?

As like the past 4 weeks, I am still 1 cm with a 50% effaced cervix. This means my cervix is still not ideal for induction. At this point if they induced there would be a 50% chance I would end up with a c-section. Thursday is my next appointment. We will probably go ahead with the induction then. I have to research the drugs he said he would like to use. I need to really think this over.

After the appointment DH and I went to see Superman Returns. It was pretty good. Then, he took me on a rough ride in the Land Rover. I definately think he shook something inside of me loose. Please pray that I can go into labor naturally.

Sorry, no news yet!

I will admit, I am one of the most impatient people I know. Also, I will admit when it comes to certain tasks I am a perfectionist. For example cooking--I will only cook meals I know DH will enjoy. He keeps telling me I can try something new, but then fear of screwing up or him not liking it set in.

So, what does this have to do with no news yet? I am still at home, going extremely stir crazy. If my aunt is reading this--I have not left the house in two days....two whole days! Yes, I am like my mother in this certain aspect--I need to leave...take me to Target, Wal*Mart, the grocery store, just for a car ride...I do NOT care.

Anyway, I am sick of waiting for Meadow to grace me with her presence. I hate waiting. Just come out all ready. I have had enough. This is not fun anymore. If someone told me to stand on my head to induce labor I would do it...BUT I just got done reading an article about "overdue babies". I think it has helped restore SOME patience. According to the article, while overdue babies are bigger when born (common sense) they have less health problems at birth (like with breathing).

Back to being a prefectionist...I am working on some sewing projects today. I had to take a break, because I got made that I didn't know how to count. I was suposed to cut out six pieces from a pattern, and only did three. Minor, because I have more than enough fabric. Well, I am going to get back at it. Well, as soon as I find where I put my million yards of muslin...

Water Drama

So, last night DH gets a call from his very pregnant, about to pop at anytime wife. In a frenzy she says, "There is water everywhere...I don't know what to do." At that point he thinks his baby is on her way into the world. The pause in the conversation ends with "IT IS COMING OUT OF THE WALL!"

He says, "Call a neighbor, and I will be home right away."

OK, trying to gain my composure I call the only neighbor I know to be home this holiday week end. He comes over and shuts the water off. The switch to turn the water off is under our house, and there is no way I can get under there. He insists that I come up to their house until the situation is under control. Which is good, because I pee once an hour and drink A LOT of water. I really can't go any amount of time with out some sort of water supply. It is a good thig I am good friends with this guy's wife, because she was able to help keep me calm.

We had a pipe burst. It was really the last thing I needed yesterday...two days shy of my due date.

Thank God, I was able to give myself a mini pedicure and take a relaxing shower before the pipe burst. It was perfect timing in an ironic sort of way. I took my shower, dryed off, stepped from the bathroom, planted my foot on the plush blue-grey carpet in our bedroom, and the pipe burst in our bedroom. I didn't even have clothes on, so I threw on my mumu of a nightgown.

And not to keep you in dispense...I am still pregnant.