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Cael's Mom
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- Mar 30, 2011
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Sorry for the delay on this. They said we had IUGR and wanted to induce that night. So we did. Turns out he is not around 4 lbs; he was 5 lbs 9 oz (and about 20 inches long) -- so I really sort of regret letting them induce us, since we're still camping in the NICU, but when I had the placenta, they said it looked like there'd been a partial abruption and they sent it to...some lab. I'm not 100% clear on what this means (and still have yogurt brain at the moment) and haven't heard back on it, so I'm just going to go with "it really sucks that he's in the NICU but at least he's doing better now and I don't have to worry that he won't make it."
Will get better pictures later, this is immediately post-delivery and his head's all smooshed...but we had Cael!
https://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/307977_379318124943_503144943_1402213_1130375967_n.jpg
We started Cervidil (spelling?) Monday night at 630; I was having contractions 3-4 minutes apart in the morning but they still made me start Pitocin at 7 am...
She said because he was so small (was NOT!) that he might not tolerate labor well and either wanted to do a C-section or get me through labor quickly and that I should probably start an epidural because I wouldn't have time to adjust to the pain. Gave in and got an epidural, even though the contractions were tolerable until she had me worrying they wouldn't be, and don't regret it (side effect - it gave me an itchy rash on my back around the injection site...but I had 2nd degree tearing and I was pretty glad I couldn't feel anything when she stitched that up. And I was still aware of my muscles, could still sit up and push, could still feel him being born -- it just didn't hurt. They wouldn't let me stand up even to get into a wheelchair for 2 hours after he was born but I'm convinced I could have. Legs felt wobbly but functional.)
Cael had three doses of surfactant, got better, then worse, now better. He's still on CPAP, which is cooler than the ventilator that went past his vocal cords because now I can hear when he cries and actually get up to do something about it.
Ended up with a few stretch marks on my lower back and some little ones that look sort of like acne but aren't on my backside. I don't mind the ones on my back; I hope the others fade. They told me I can start light walking in 2 weeks and actual exercise in 6 weeks, which sounds like forever but probably isn't. I'll get a post-partum pic up when I get home or maybe later today; I just don't especially want to right now. No stretchies on my tummy; it's back to mostly flat but has no tone at all but I guess I'd be complaining about anything other than having my pre-pregnant body back now. I think my tummy will bounce back all right; my legs and ass got the worst of it (still no way to know what'll happen up top, although I went from an A to a C/D overnight...) We'll see how it goes, I guess.
They've got me expressing breast milk for him; he gets to eat every 4 hours right now. They started him on 5 ml, he's on 23 right now and gets 5 more every other feeding until they get him up to 60 ml. Got nothing (not enough to even pick up in a syringe) for the first two days after he was born but once they discharged me and I moved to a couch in his room, it worked better. Get 3-8 oz at a time now, depending on...I'm not really sure what, but it varies pretty wildly.
They found something weird on a chest x-ray, thought it might be a cyst that required surgery, but the cat scan yesterday didn't show anything, so yay, no surgery. 2 failed PICC lines and his IV's red and puffy -- they'll let me know in a bit if they're going to do another IV and hope he gets off the IV fluids soon or if they're going to attempt another PICC line.
I've been here since they discharged me and his daddy's here at least once a day. We got to hold him for the first time last night and I haven't seen Nik look that happy in a very long time. I told him he's a great daddy; if he wants to just stick with that and forget about working on us, that's fine, I'm happy...he told me to just chill and see what happens, which still gives me anxiety (I hate not having things resolved...) but if he's actually wanting to work on things, I'm happy. And it is so, so nice to see his smiles when he's with baby.
And I'll probably remember more later but that's what I've got for now.
Will get better pictures later, this is immediately post-delivery and his head's all smooshed...but we had Cael!
https://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/307977_379318124943_503144943_1402213_1130375967_n.jpg
We started Cervidil (spelling?) Monday night at 630; I was having contractions 3-4 minutes apart in the morning but they still made me start Pitocin at 7 am...
She said because he was so small (was NOT!) that he might not tolerate labor well and either wanted to do a C-section or get me through labor quickly and that I should probably start an epidural because I wouldn't have time to adjust to the pain. Gave in and got an epidural, even though the contractions were tolerable until she had me worrying they wouldn't be, and don't regret it (side effect - it gave me an itchy rash on my back around the injection site...but I had 2nd degree tearing and I was pretty glad I couldn't feel anything when she stitched that up. And I was still aware of my muscles, could still sit up and push, could still feel him being born -- it just didn't hurt. They wouldn't let me stand up even to get into a wheelchair for 2 hours after he was born but I'm convinced I could have. Legs felt wobbly but functional.)Cael had three doses of surfactant, got better, then worse, now better. He's still on CPAP, which is cooler than the ventilator that went past his vocal cords because now I can hear when he cries and actually get up to do something about it.
Ended up with a few stretch marks on my lower back and some little ones that look sort of like acne but aren't on my backside. I don't mind the ones on my back; I hope the others fade. They told me I can start light walking in 2 weeks and actual exercise in 6 weeks, which sounds like forever but probably isn't. I'll get a post-partum pic up when I get home or maybe later today; I just don't especially want to right now. No stretchies on my tummy; it's back to mostly flat but has no tone at all but I guess I'd be complaining about anything other than having my pre-pregnant body back now. I think my tummy will bounce back all right; my legs and ass got the worst of it (still no way to know what'll happen up top, although I went from an A to a C/D overnight...) We'll see how it goes, I guess.
They've got me expressing breast milk for him; he gets to eat every 4 hours right now. They started him on 5 ml, he's on 23 right now and gets 5 more every other feeding until they get him up to 60 ml. Got nothing (not enough to even pick up in a syringe) for the first two days after he was born but once they discharged me and I moved to a couch in his room, it worked better. Get 3-8 oz at a time now, depending on...I'm not really sure what, but it varies pretty wildly.
They found something weird on a chest x-ray, thought it might be a cyst that required surgery, but the cat scan yesterday didn't show anything, so yay, no surgery. 2 failed PICC lines and his IV's red and puffy -- they'll let me know in a bit if they're going to do another IV and hope he gets off the IV fluids soon or if they're going to attempt another PICC line.
I've been here since they discharged me and his daddy's here at least once a day. We got to hold him for the first time last night and I haven't seen Nik look that happy in a very long time. I told him he's a great daddy; if he wants to just stick with that and forget about working on us, that's fine, I'm happy...he told me to just chill and see what happens, which still gives me anxiety (I hate not having things resolved...) but if he's actually wanting to work on things, I'm happy. And it is so, so nice to see his smiles when he's with baby.
And I'll probably remember more later but that's what I've got for now.
x
Hope you are both recovering well. 
