One Month

So.  I know I still need to post about the bell and the butterfly.  And yes, Baby Girl's one month birthday was last week.  Mothering a two year old and an infant?  Kicking my butt!

Anywho, this is what my precious looked like on her one month birthday:

Her well visit at the doctor went....well, well.

She weighed 7 pounds, 13 ounces and was 22.5 inches long.  That means she gained over a pound and grew two inches in two weeks.  Makes me feel quite proud of my abilities in my current job of dairy cow for my baby!

And here she is this week:

I know these look like spring pictures, but such is fall in Florida!

The Rest of the Story

I started a post about the remainder of my hospital stay, but it got reeeeaaaallllyyy long, so I'm taking a different approach.  Frankly, I was boring myself with all the wordiness.

Monday:  Baby Girl was born and everyone was happy.

Tuesday:  Baby Girl's bilirubin level was rising quickly, so her pediatrician ordered that she stay in the nursery under the lights.  She was there all day and all of Tuesday night.

I got a flu shot.

Wednesday:  The pediatrician came in and told me that Baby Girl's bilirubin level seemed to have leveled out.  It was never really all that high, it just shot up really quickly.  He wasn't comfortable releasing her to come home, but didn't think she needed to be under the lights anymore.  He wanted to keep her in the hospital in the room with me just to be sure the bilirubin wasn't going to shoot back up once she was off the lights.  We were also told she had failed the hearing test in her left ear.

I talked my doctor into letting me stay another day.  Later in the afternoon, I had a fever of 103.9!  My doctor ordered a CBC, blood cultures and urine cultures.  I was started on iv antibiotics.  My iv never felt right.   It was painful, and I could feel intense stinging each time a nurse flushed it out.  I could also feel the antibiotic going in.

Thursday:  Baby Girl's bilirubin level was holding steady, and her doctor was ready to discharge her as soon as I was given the green light to go home.  She still had not passed her hearing test in her left ear.

My doctor came by and told me that he wanted me to be fever free for 24 hours before he discharged me.  All my blood work and cultures came back clean.  By lunch, my fever was back up to 101.9.  I was still on the (painful) iv, getting the antibiotic every 6 hours.  That afternoon, I noticed a red streak going up my arm, starting at the (painful) iv.  I pointed it out to my nurse, who said it was okay.  After shift change, my new nurse took one look at my iv, said, "That's red," and said the iv was bad.  She started a new iv, my third in 4 days.  I don't love needles.

Friday:  Baby Girl passed her hearing test.

I was missing my other kids like crazy and couldn't wait to go home.  Someone from my doctors' office had been there each morning by 8:00am.  Of course, on this day. no one showed up until 4:30pm!  I was finally discharged, and my hubby and other three kids came to get us.  I was so excited to see The Boy.  He had been with his Nana, and I hadn't seen him since Monday.  Now, normally, if I'm away from him for even a few minutes, he is beyond excited to see me.  That is what I pictured all day.  I imagined him running to me and giving me a huge hug.  His 13 year old sister carried him in.  She pointed to me and said, "Who is that?"  He said my younger sister's name.  Considering how I looked that day, she should be highly offended.  He looked again and said, "Mommy."  He didn't want me to hold him.  And I lost it!  All the stress and drama of the week hit me, and I burst into tears.  I finally won Little Man over by letting him ride out in the wheelchair with me and his new sister.

And he was pleased as punch to have us home!

Saturday:  We gave Baby Girl her first bath at home, which I mention only because I love this picture taken by the 13 year old.

And later, we had an adventure involving a silver bell, a gold butterfly and seven men in uniform. 

But that's a story for another day!

19 Days

The last 19 days have been a bit of a blur. Sleep deprivation tends to do that to a person. My days (and nights) have been filled with what feels like nonstop, constant nursing. My back and neck and shoulders ache from sitting in the same position holding and feeding my baby girl. And just gazing at her sweet little face.

Yes, 19 days ago, we welcomed one of the most beautiful babies on the planet into our lives. Six pounds, eleven ounces, 20.5 inches of perfection.

I had a scheduled induction on September 13th. We went in that morning at 7:00, my midwife came in and broke my water and we got pitocin started. At around 11:00, I asked for an epidural. This is my third time getting an epidural, and the first two were a piece of cake compared to what I went through this time. The anesthesiologist had to try three different times to get things working right. He told me I might feel an "electrical shock" down one of my legs. The pain in my left leg was excruciating to the point I almost told him to just forget it. But he finally got things working right. Once the epidural was up and running, I looked at my husband who was flexing the hand I had been gripping. He said I cut off his circulation. Seriously, dude, it's the least you could do!

Proud siblings!

  

This does not bode well!

Each time my nurse would check me, she would say something about the baby being really high. I could tell she was concerned, which concerned me. I have heard stories about women being induced when the baby was still too high, and I started to worry that we had rushed things a little too much. The nurse sat me up straight so gravity could work in our favor, then she would let the bed down and move me from one side to the other. When the midwife came back in to check me, the baby had dropped, and I was ready to push.

My husband, my younger sister, and my niece were in the room with me. My sister was keeping my other sister, my brother and my bff up to date via text messaging. She sent them a text that I was starting to push, and within minutes, she was able to send them pictures of our baby. According to the nurse's records, I started pushing at 2:13pm, and baby girl was born at 2:37pm. I pushed through 1 1/2 contractions (about 5 pushes). I was told later that she had the cord wrapped around her body, and then up over her shoulder. The nurse said it was like a beauty pageant sash, the midwife said it was like a purse. Either way, sounds like we have a little diva on our hands.

 Enough with the pictures already!

The rest of our hospital stay, all FIVE days of it, was a little dramatic. But right now, the 2 1/2 year old is too quiet for my liking, and the 2 1/2 week old will be demanding her lunch any minute, so that will have to wait for another day!