Katie's 1 month checkup was today and she's gained almost 3 whole lbs. She's 10 lbs 1 oz. I kind of guessed she'd be about that much, but it was still a bit of a surprise. Where'd she put it all? I guess she's bigger... She's fitting better into the 0-3 months clothes and less well in the newborns, certainly.
Not as good, apparently, is that her umbilical cord hasn't fallen off yet. It's looser, but the doctor put some silver nitrate on it to dry it out more and told me I have to bring her back if it hasn't let go by next week. Bah.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
1 month tomorrow!
Katie is one month old and I'm one month post-surgery tomorrow. To celebrate, I shaved my legs. Wooo! My leg hair was seriously long enough to spin into yarn and make something. Sexy, huh? On that note, Bobby and I have had sex twice. It was also not sexy, since I was petrified it would hurt and super tense the whole time. It did hurt a little, but I think it was more because I was tense and not exactly into it than any unhealed internal stuffish.
Saturday I developed a breast infection. It wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been; I've heard horrible stories. I have a low fever Sunday, but was feeling better Monday and pretty much fine Tuesday. Hopefully I don't get another one. They're both a little sore, but I think it's mostly just the new stresses of being filled and emptied constantly. Breastfeeding is no joke, people.
I need to go to the grocery store, but I was supposed to go with my mom. However, the later it gets, the crazier the store is going to be. I went at noon on Monday, and it was already pretty busy. Normally, no big deal, but I am kind of paranoid about the baby around a lot of strangers because of the flu (hell, I'd flip if she caught a cold right now). Also, she can be a little unpredictable on outings, especially the kind involving long lines. Screaming one month old in a crowd of impatient people? Ugh.
So what fills my days now? Bones, What Not to Wear, and NCIS. I've never watched so much television in my life. I could read, but I have a hard time focusing/staying awake. TV is just easier.
I had more to say, but it's already taken me most of the day to write this much and now it's Katie's fussy time. So.. yeah. I'm going to go spend the next 3 hours rocking and humming and bouncing and swinging and intermittently breastfeeding. Woohoo.
Saturday I developed a breast infection. It wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been; I've heard horrible stories. I have a low fever Sunday, but was feeling better Monday and pretty much fine Tuesday. Hopefully I don't get another one. They're both a little sore, but I think it's mostly just the new stresses of being filled and emptied constantly. Breastfeeding is no joke, people.
I need to go to the grocery store, but I was supposed to go with my mom. However, the later it gets, the crazier the store is going to be. I went at noon on Monday, and it was already pretty busy. Normally, no big deal, but I am kind of paranoid about the baby around a lot of strangers because of the flu (hell, I'd flip if she caught a cold right now). Also, she can be a little unpredictable on outings, especially the kind involving long lines. Screaming one month old in a crowd of impatient people? Ugh.
So what fills my days now? Bones, What Not to Wear, and NCIS. I've never watched so much television in my life. I could read, but I have a hard time focusing/staying awake. TV is just easier.
I had more to say, but it's already taken me most of the day to write this much and now it's Katie's fussy time. So.. yeah. I'm going to go spend the next 3 hours rocking and humming and bouncing and swinging and intermittently breastfeeding. Woohoo.
Monday, November 23, 2009
We're Insured!
I finally picked and applied for a health insurance policy. It's just under $400 for the three of us, which isn't so bad. It's doable, at least, even if it will be a tight for a few months with all our medical bills. It's a fairly comprehensive plan, so all Katie's shots are going to be covered and I can take her to the doctor whenever she needs to go. Same for Bobby and me, but we don't usually go much. I ended up going with CIGNA. Fingers crossed that I never have cause to regret it.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Pictures!
Just the ones already uploaded though, because I'm lazy. (And Katie is squirming around in my lap fussing.)
My girlie
Looking pretty for her 3 week photo
One of my favorites
Just born
Me, mid contraction.
Just home, Bella investigates (and flees)
Jack is also curious
Woo! And she sleeps! All right, all the fun details. After much debate, we finally decided to name her Katherine Inara and call her Katie. I've always loved both names, and Bobby likes the diminutive and agreed that Katherine would be better when she's 20 something and sending out resumes. In the hospital I started calling her Kate Monster after the character in Avenue Q and it's kind of sticking.
She was 7lbs 4oz at birth and gained 10 oz in 10 days. If the trend has continued, she should be about 8 and a half lbs now. She was 19" long. My mom thinks she has big feet. I disagree.
See? Perfect. I think she has Bobby's ears and my toes. Bobby's lips and my hairline (widow's peak). She doesn't look like me, Bobby or baby me, but she does look a little like baby Bobby. My favorite thing so far is sometimes when she sneezes, she yells afterward. It's like she feels another sneeze or it felt good, so she makes the sound, but there's no sneeze attached. So it's "Atchoo! ....Aaaaa!" It's a really happy sound and totally adorable. Bobby and I crack up every time.
My girlie
Looking pretty for her 3 week photo
One of my favorites
Just born
Me, mid contraction.
Just home, Bella investigates (and flees)
Jack is also curious
Woo! And she sleeps! All right, all the fun details. After much debate, we finally decided to name her Katherine Inara and call her Katie. I've always loved both names, and Bobby likes the diminutive and agreed that Katherine would be better when she's 20 something and sending out resumes. In the hospital I started calling her Kate Monster after the character in Avenue Q and it's kind of sticking.
She was 7lbs 4oz at birth and gained 10 oz in 10 days. If the trend has continued, she should be about 8 and a half lbs now. She was 19" long. My mom thinks she has big feet. I disagree.
See? Perfect. I think she has Bobby's ears and my toes. Bobby's lips and my hairline (widow's peak). She doesn't look like me, Bobby or baby me, but she does look a little like baby Bobby. My favorite thing so far is sometimes when she sneezes, she yells afterward. It's like she feels another sneeze or it felt good, so she makes the sound, but there's no sneeze attached. So it's "Atchoo! ....Aaaaa!" It's a really happy sound and totally adorable. Bobby and I crack up every time.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Katie's Mom Part II
Okay, Katie is in her swing staring at the motor like it's from space. Hopefully she'll progress to sleeping, but for now, at least she is quiet & seems content.
So, me, table, doctor, scalpel. When they got ready to pull her out, someone starting pressing down on the upper part of my stomach really hard. To push her down, I guess? Bobby says the first thing he saw was a foot and part of a leg, but he wasn't supposed to be looking over the curtain and the next time he peeked, she was all out. All I knew was that I could take a deep breath all of a sudden and then I heard her cry. It wasn't as loud as I thought it'd be and she only gave a couple squawks before calming down. Bobby went to look at her while she was getting cleaned up. I was starting to lose focus, and I just barely remember them bringing her around so I could see her before taking her to the nursery.
I was apparently in surgery another 20 minutes while they sewed me up, but I really don't remember. It didn't seem that long. They wheeled me into recovery, and I think I dozed there, though I remember talking to the nurse about nursing. Bobby says I was there an hour, but, again, it didn't seem that long to me. He came to see me for a minute and showed me pictures he'd taken of the baby, but I wasn't very coherent. My mom saw Katie through the window in the nursery, but went home before I was out of recovery. They took me to a new wing for me to stay in for the rest of my hospital time, and I think I dozed in there too. Richard and Jessica came to visit, and they brought Katie to us a couple minutes after they arrived.
I do remember that part better. I was so tired (and still feeling the morphine), but holding her the first time still made an impression. I'm glad I didn't lose that. After Richard and Jessica left, Bobby and I tried to get her to nurse the first time without much success. (It didn't help that my mobility was severely limited and restricted to the bed.) The pediatrician took her away for a while for her examination, then brought her back and said she looked great. A little while later, a nurse came in and took her away to take her vitals. A little after that she came back and told me that Katie's temperature was a little low and she'd put her in the warmer for a while, but it hadn't come up. She said she was going to leave her in the warmer another hour and see if it would. (It was about 10 by then; we were both snoozing and I'm sorry now I didn't ask more questions.) After an hour, she came back and told me her temp had not come up and her blood sugar was really low, so they were going to put her in the NICU. Ugh. I'm tearing up thinking about it, so I'm not going to talk about how THAT made me feel.
I couldn't get out of bed yet, so Bobby went to see her by himself in the morning. I went with my nurse as soon as I was allowed to walk. It was so awful seeing her in the little box with her IV. They let me hold her for half an hour, then wanted her back in the incubator. The next time I came back, I fed her formula, which they'd started her on to get her blood sugar up. That was all the long trips down the hallway I could handle that day, but I did all her feedings the next day. In the afternoon, the lactation specialist and her NICU nurse supervised her first breastfeeding. Since I didn't have milk yet, it was more for her to get used to the idea. She got formula right after.
48 hours after her admittance to the NICU, her second blood test screening came back good and they released Katie to my care for the night. Bobby and I didn't get much sleep, but we were so happy she was okay. The next day was hectic getting everything ready to go. We were released from the hospital about 1:30 pm. (She's been fine since. Bobby and I suspect she was fine the whole time and that the nurse who said her temp was low was not taking it correctly. The thermometers they used were really crappy, and the nurse who came the next day said they were frequently incorrect. They had temporal thermometers that worked much better, but they didn't use them every time.)
So, that's Katie's birth story. At the same time, I was learning how to move around again. The first shower I had Bobby do most of it. (That's love, people.) And before they'd let me leave, they made me use a suppository to aid the first post-surgery bowel movement. Which I hope to never have to repeat. Ever. The IV wasn't as bad as I thought, though it was in my wrist and uncomfortable if I tried to move the joint. The catheter was convenient and didn't hurt to remove the way I thought it would. Ditto the staples. The only pain killers I got after the morphine wore off (which was fantastic, btw) were lortab 5 and 800 mg ibuprofen. They gave me a prescription for home, but I didn't need them. 1 week after, I was standing and sitting pretty easily. 2 weeks and I could dress myself, climb stairs, and drive (cautiously). 3 weeks, I can sneeze and laugh and cough. I still have a little soreness inside (my incision is healed) if I stretch or twist. Hopefully that will pass soon, and I can start getting some real exercise. I'm 20 lbs below my pre-pregnancy weight, but none of my clothes fit yet. Bah.
Yesterday, my doctor told me I can start having sex again next week. And I discovered I'm really paranoid about getting pregnant again.
So, me, table, doctor, scalpel. When they got ready to pull her out, someone starting pressing down on the upper part of my stomach really hard. To push her down, I guess? Bobby says the first thing he saw was a foot and part of a leg, but he wasn't supposed to be looking over the curtain and the next time he peeked, she was all out. All I knew was that I could take a deep breath all of a sudden and then I heard her cry. It wasn't as loud as I thought it'd be and she only gave a couple squawks before calming down. Bobby went to look at her while she was getting cleaned up. I was starting to lose focus, and I just barely remember them bringing her around so I could see her before taking her to the nursery.
I was apparently in surgery another 20 minutes while they sewed me up, but I really don't remember. It didn't seem that long. They wheeled me into recovery, and I think I dozed there, though I remember talking to the nurse about nursing. Bobby says I was there an hour, but, again, it didn't seem that long to me. He came to see me for a minute and showed me pictures he'd taken of the baby, but I wasn't very coherent. My mom saw Katie through the window in the nursery, but went home before I was out of recovery. They took me to a new wing for me to stay in for the rest of my hospital time, and I think I dozed in there too. Richard and Jessica came to visit, and they brought Katie to us a couple minutes after they arrived.
I do remember that part better. I was so tired (and still feeling the morphine), but holding her the first time still made an impression. I'm glad I didn't lose that. After Richard and Jessica left, Bobby and I tried to get her to nurse the first time without much success. (It didn't help that my mobility was severely limited and restricted to the bed.) The pediatrician took her away for a while for her examination, then brought her back and said she looked great. A little while later, a nurse came in and took her away to take her vitals. A little after that she came back and told me that Katie's temperature was a little low and she'd put her in the warmer for a while, but it hadn't come up. She said she was going to leave her in the warmer another hour and see if it would. (It was about 10 by then; we were both snoozing and I'm sorry now I didn't ask more questions.) After an hour, she came back and told me her temp had not come up and her blood sugar was really low, so they were going to put her in the NICU. Ugh. I'm tearing up thinking about it, so I'm not going to talk about how THAT made me feel.
I couldn't get out of bed yet, so Bobby went to see her by himself in the morning. I went with my nurse as soon as I was allowed to walk. It was so awful seeing her in the little box with her IV. They let me hold her for half an hour, then wanted her back in the incubator. The next time I came back, I fed her formula, which they'd started her on to get her blood sugar up. That was all the long trips down the hallway I could handle that day, but I did all her feedings the next day. In the afternoon, the lactation specialist and her NICU nurse supervised her first breastfeeding. Since I didn't have milk yet, it was more for her to get used to the idea. She got formula right after.
48 hours after her admittance to the NICU, her second blood test screening came back good and they released Katie to my care for the night. Bobby and I didn't get much sleep, but we were so happy she was okay. The next day was hectic getting everything ready to go. We were released from the hospital about 1:30 pm. (She's been fine since. Bobby and I suspect she was fine the whole time and that the nurse who said her temp was low was not taking it correctly. The thermometers they used were really crappy, and the nurse who came the next day said they were frequently incorrect. They had temporal thermometers that worked much better, but they didn't use them every time.)
So, that's Katie's birth story. At the same time, I was learning how to move around again. The first shower I had Bobby do most of it. (That's love, people.) And before they'd let me leave, they made me use a suppository to aid the first post-surgery bowel movement. Which I hope to never have to repeat. Ever. The IV wasn't as bad as I thought, though it was in my wrist and uncomfortable if I tried to move the joint. The catheter was convenient and didn't hurt to remove the way I thought it would. Ditto the staples. The only pain killers I got after the morphine wore off (which was fantastic, btw) were lortab 5 and 800 mg ibuprofen. They gave me a prescription for home, but I didn't need them. 1 week after, I was standing and sitting pretty easily. 2 weeks and I could dress myself, climb stairs, and drive (cautiously). 3 weeks, I can sneeze and laugh and cough. I still have a little soreness inside (my incision is healed) if I stretch or twist. Hopefully that will pass soon, and I can start getting some real exercise. I'm 20 lbs below my pre-pregnancy weight, but none of my clothes fit yet. Bah.
Yesterday, my doctor told me I can start having sex again next week. And I discovered I'm really paranoid about getting pregnant again.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Katie's Mom
So I've added a new identity to myself, and I'm feeling pretty good about it. (It helps that the chickie slept last night. Katie was born October 26 at 3:25 pm. I figured I should record my recollections now before they get foggier. I started having back pain on Saturday. Around 8pm, I started to suspect it was contractions. Bobby looked up back labor and got both of us all freaked out about it. I ended up sleeping on the couch. Around 10 am Sunday I started timing the pain cycles and called the on-call doc about noon after taking a shower. I described what was going on and he told me that it could be nothing, but since I obviously felt it necessary to contact the emergency call center to get in touch with him, I should come in and get checked out.
Bobby grabbed my backpack and sped me to the hospital. (He said it was the only time he had a real reason to give the cop for speeding. I told him not to get pulled over in the first place.) The nurse was skeptical about my being in labor, but hooked me up to the monitors. An hour later, the doctor told her to get me settled in to stay, because my contractions were too close together to send me home, even if I wasn't really dilated. We called my mom to let her know I was in labor and settled in to wait. I tried to read, but it was kind of hard in 3 minute intervals. Bobby watched the monitors, fascinated by the peaks of my contractions. My mom arrived and made sympathetic faces and turned on the tv. Hours passed. I regretted my decision not to eat lunch. Mom sent Bobby home to sleep. I wiggled around trying to get comfortable. I gave my cervix stern talkings to about its lack of dilation. Around midnight, I stood to go to the bathroom and discovered blood and other liquids dribbling down my legs. I put a towel on the floor to stand on and rang the nurse's desk. They checked me out and told me I hadn't dilated more, but if my water broke, progress was made. I went to the bathroom and got back in bed.
Then came a blurry couple hours in which the pain was worse and I was tired and frustrated. Finally, a nurse gave me good news: I was dilated to a 2 and could have my epidural. Did I want the epidural now, or did I want to wait? Now, now, now! hah. The anesthesiologist came and made many pains in my back, but when I asked when it would start working, the nurse said, "I'd guess it already is, since you've had 6 contractions without noticing them." Oh. Hmm. Good stuff, this spinal block thing. I finally got some real sleep, but woke up again eventually. At this point everything really is blurry. I know Bobby came back, I know I dilated to a 5 before starting on pitocin when my doctor came in. I know the nurses checked on me and changed my fluids and took my blood pressure. I know I asked over and over again for them to check me again. But the timeline of all that, even the order in which it occured, is beyond me.
With the help of pitocin, I dilated to a 7 before I stopped progressing. I know I went 3 hours without changes because the doctor said so when she suggested a c-section at 1 pm if I hadn't changed by 2. By that point I was exhausted and watched the clock avidly for 2 pm to arrive. (The epidural didn't block everything; I felt lots and lots of pressure that wasn't exactly pain, but still very uncomfortable and made me want to push during the contractions.) I hadn't changed at all by 2 and I agreed quickly to the c-section, so I was prepped for surgery. They gave me morphine through the epidural and I went all cold (starting at my shoulder, strangely enough) and then numb. I could still move my bits, but I lost all sensation. I was stripped and strapped to a table, and though it occurred to me to feel shy about this, it was very distant. They painted me with iodine and (Bobby says) put saranwrap over my belly. They cut me open, and I kept waiting to feel something, but mostly I just felt them moving around.
And now Katie is awake and yelling, so I'll finish up later, I suppose.
Bobby grabbed my backpack and sped me to the hospital. (He said it was the only time he had a real reason to give the cop for speeding. I told him not to get pulled over in the first place.) The nurse was skeptical about my being in labor, but hooked me up to the monitors. An hour later, the doctor told her to get me settled in to stay, because my contractions were too close together to send me home, even if I wasn't really dilated. We called my mom to let her know I was in labor and settled in to wait. I tried to read, but it was kind of hard in 3 minute intervals. Bobby watched the monitors, fascinated by the peaks of my contractions. My mom arrived and made sympathetic faces and turned on the tv. Hours passed. I regretted my decision not to eat lunch. Mom sent Bobby home to sleep. I wiggled around trying to get comfortable. I gave my cervix stern talkings to about its lack of dilation. Around midnight, I stood to go to the bathroom and discovered blood and other liquids dribbling down my legs. I put a towel on the floor to stand on and rang the nurse's desk. They checked me out and told me I hadn't dilated more, but if my water broke, progress was made. I went to the bathroom and got back in bed.
Then came a blurry couple hours in which the pain was worse and I was tired and frustrated. Finally, a nurse gave me good news: I was dilated to a 2 and could have my epidural. Did I want the epidural now, or did I want to wait? Now, now, now! hah. The anesthesiologist came and made many pains in my back, but when I asked when it would start working, the nurse said, "I'd guess it already is, since you've had 6 contractions without noticing them." Oh. Hmm. Good stuff, this spinal block thing. I finally got some real sleep, but woke up again eventually. At this point everything really is blurry. I know Bobby came back, I know I dilated to a 5 before starting on pitocin when my doctor came in. I know the nurses checked on me and changed my fluids and took my blood pressure. I know I asked over and over again for them to check me again. But the timeline of all that, even the order in which it occured, is beyond me.
With the help of pitocin, I dilated to a 7 before I stopped progressing. I know I went 3 hours without changes because the doctor said so when she suggested a c-section at 1 pm if I hadn't changed by 2. By that point I was exhausted and watched the clock avidly for 2 pm to arrive. (The epidural didn't block everything; I felt lots and lots of pressure that wasn't exactly pain, but still very uncomfortable and made me want to push during the contractions.) I hadn't changed at all by 2 and I agreed quickly to the c-section, so I was prepped for surgery. They gave me morphine through the epidural and I went all cold (starting at my shoulder, strangely enough) and then numb. I could still move my bits, but I lost all sensation. I was stripped and strapped to a table, and though it occurred to me to feel shy about this, it was very distant. They painted me with iodine and (Bobby says) put saranwrap over my belly. They cut me open, and I kept waiting to feel something, but mostly I just felt them moving around.
And now Katie is awake and yelling, so I'll finish up later, I suppose.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
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