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A couple of funnies from our 76-day stay:
- early on, the different nurses and friends would tell us that all different kinds of things can cause pre-term labor. So, after a while, it just became a joke between Eric and me...scratching your nose can cause pre-term labor...sneezing can cause pre-term labor...painting your toenails can cause pre-term labor...
- One of the doctors pointed out that I messed up every deadline they gave me
- We quizzed the nurses about being induced for the whole week prior to the scheduled induction date. We also asked the doctors tons of questions about it. As the doctors are passing the baton, they talk and update each other on all the patients, So Dr. Privette (who delivered Tyler) updated Dr. Bass (who was coming on that day). We were all gathered in the room waiting to go see Tyler, and Dr. Bass comes in and says "I'm here to talk to y'all about induction..."
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Tyler's arrival - from Dad's perspective
Dads are the most unappreciated part of the process. I thought it would be a good idea to document Eric's part of the experience so that it's captured for down the road...so I'm typing but this is Dad's side of the story:
- I'd been worried all along that Mary under-reported pain and downplayed things. However, when she woke me up at 4:50 last Sunday morning, we were both kinda surprised that this was really happening.
- We'd lived in the hospital long enough that I knew how to hook up all the machines and tried to help as much as I could to get things moving along.
- I called my parents around 5:30 am, once we confirmed that this was "it". Mom answered the phone and although they were not awake, they got up and headed to the hospital quickly. Mom packed a bag of stuff to occupy her during the wait (anticipating a long one), but it turns out none of that was needed. Once we got back to the room around 7:15 am I called them to let them know he was here and they were almost at the hospital.
- Her timeframes are all off. I was acutely aware of timeframes of when each contraction started and when the doc/nurse did things.
- I asked for scrubs when she was at 7 cm (back in the room); the nurse brought them in and also said they were going to check her again so I held up on changing until after that. Turns out she was 9 cm already, so I figured I'd better change qu ickly! By the time I was done the L&D nurse and the doctor had the bed moving and ready to head to the OR for delivery. I had to follow the bed down the hall (Mary couldn't see me) because it was all crowded. (ALSO: one size fits all? My ass! I felt like a fat guy in a little coat).
- I did not realize I'd be holding a leg during delivery, but was tasked with that to help. This gave me a view on the entire process while keeping my hand there for Mary to squeeze.
- Initially when I saw the crown of his head coming out, I thought that was his whole head and remember thinking "wow, he IS small" (and why is this so hard? that looks small?) . Then the rest of the head came out and I got a better idea of his size!
- I'd hoped to cut the cord but the doc did so quickly and he got rushed out of the room for the pediatric team to check him out. Mary and I only got a short glimpse of him and heard a small whimper as he was wisked out of the room.
- Later I was asked if I wanted to see him as Mary was getting attended to. I went across the hall, feeling guilty that I got to see him first. I made sure that was ok with Mary (Mary here: YES, I wanted someone to check on our baby!!) and then to the room where they had him. He was surrounded by all sorts of people in OR garb. We have video of this. I came in and they said, "here's your boy!". Captured a few moments of this, made sure he was breathing and such, then went back to check on Mary (and make sure I wasn't getting in the way in there).
- Once we got back to the room, I showed Mary the video of his first moments. They'd told me we could call down to the NICU to hear more details on Tyler within about an hour of delivery. When I called the first time, they weren't ready because he was hard to get the IVs in him. They asked for 30 more minutes twice, and by the last time both Mary and I were getting very antsy and frustrated. Then, the doctor showed up in our room and let us know his weight, and that he was in good condition. This was a huge relief and we were able to see him shortly after that.
- the end result is (even with the bedrest): no matter how much I worried and tried to plan for every scenario, you do what you have to do, you have to go with what happens and handle it accordingly. This is what it means to "man up". And, if we'd been home it would have been a mad race to make it to the hospital in time. Once again, I was right.
- I'd been worried all along that Mary under-reported pain and downplayed things. However, when she woke me up at 4:50 last Sunday morning, we were both kinda surprised that this was really happening.
- We'd lived in the hospital long enough that I knew how to hook up all the machines and tried to help as much as I could to get things moving along.
- I called my parents around 5:30 am, once we confirmed that this was "it". Mom answered the phone and although they were not awake, they got up and headed to the hospital quickly. Mom packed a bag of stuff to occupy her during the wait (anticipating a long one), but it turns out none of that was needed. Once we got back to the room around 7:15 am I called them to let them know he was here and they were almost at the hospital.
- Her timeframes are all off. I was acutely aware of timeframes of when each contraction started and when the doc/nurse did things.
- I asked for scrubs when she was at 7 cm (back in the room); the nurse brought them in and also said they were going to check her again so I held up on changing until after that. Turns out she was 9 cm already, so I figured I'd better change qu ickly! By the time I was done the L&D nurse and the doctor had the bed moving and ready to head to the OR for delivery. I had to follow the bed down the hall (Mary couldn't see me) because it was all crowded. (ALSO: one size fits all? My ass! I felt like a fat guy in a little coat).
- I did not realize I'd be holding a leg during delivery, but was tasked with that to help. This gave me a view on the entire process while keeping my hand there for Mary to squeeze.
- Initially when I saw the crown of his head coming out, I thought that was his whole head and remember thinking "wow, he IS small" (and why is this so hard? that looks small?) . Then the rest of the head came out and I got a better idea of his size!
- I'd hoped to cut the cord but the doc did so quickly and he got rushed out of the room for the pediatric team to check him out. Mary and I only got a short glimpse of him and heard a small whimper as he was wisked out of the room.
- Later I was asked if I wanted to see him as Mary was getting attended to. I went across the hall, feeling guilty that I got to see him first. I made sure that was ok with Mary (Mary here: YES, I wanted someone to check on our baby!!) and then to the room where they had him. He was surrounded by all sorts of people in OR garb. We have video of this. I came in and they said, "here's your boy!". Captured a few moments of this, made sure he was breathing and such, then went back to check on Mary (and make sure I wasn't getting in the way in there).
- Once we got back to the room, I showed Mary the video of his first moments. They'd told me we could call down to the NICU to hear more details on Tyler within about an hour of delivery. When I called the first time, they weren't ready because he was hard to get the IVs in him. They asked for 30 more minutes twice, and by the last time both Mary and I were getting very antsy and frustrated. Then, the doctor showed up in our room and let us know his weight, and that he was in good condition. This was a huge relief and we were able to see him shortly after that.
- the end result is (even with the bedrest): no matter how much I worried and tried to plan for every scenario, you do what you have to do, you have to go with what happens and handle it accordingly. This is what it means to "man up". And, if we'd been home it would have been a mad race to make it to the hospital in time. Once again, I was right.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Baby Tyler is here!
As you know the induction was planned for tomorrow but apparently Tyler likes purple (amythest is his birthstone)....which is kinda funny because that is one of Eric's favorite colors and the color in our wedding. Here's the story :)
I woke up this morning around 4:30 feeling cramping, but it was weird in that it was low, like hips and below? I felt about 3 of those a few minutes apart and decided to wake Eric up (around 4:50) and then called the nurse. She came in and got an L&D nurse to come in...the doc came in a at 5:07 and checked my cervix - still 4 cm. Then the L&D nurse came in and checked me a few minutes later and I was 7 cm! then 5 more minutes...and I'm at 9.5 and we got wheeled to the OR. I delivered in the OR because he was a preemie and the Pedicatric team would be on stanby there. Felt like we were in there for a while, and they told me when to push (which is hard work, btw) and next thing you know there he is at 6:40 am.
You may have noticed in there that I didn't mention an epidural....he came too fast to do that! I had some sort of "take the edge off" meds in my IV but I don't think it did a lot. They had to take my blood and do testing before administering the epidural, (even though Eric said from minute one that I wanted one), and by the time he was here it was too late. Good thing he was small!!
We've been over to see him twice now and he's bigger than I thought he would be.I can't wait to see him w/out the tubes and stuff. The Neonatologist estimates he'll be there 2 to 3 weeks. The 2nd time we went over we got to hold him which
was way awesome. :)
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
a typical day...
Thought it might be nice to document what a typical day has been like here at the hospital on bedrest.....
between 6 am and 7:30 am most days, one of the docs would come in on their rounds to check on me. One of the docs is in by 6 at the latest, she's an early bird...one of them comes in later and later. The rest are usually right around 7 am. This is on their final rounds as they are leaving from a 24-hour shift.
sometime between 7:30 and 8:15 am a nurse or nurse tech comes in to check my vitals - temp and BP at a minimum, some nurses do a HB check on baby too, some wait til monitoring. They also check my lungs, bowels, heart, legs.
Breakfast usually gets here around 8:30 or so. My usual breakfast is 2 slices of wheat toast, and cheerios. Sometimes I add yogurt, sometimes I add fruit.
Once that is over I get my morning meds - prenatal vitamin, colace, and Miralax.
Around 9:30 am they put me on the monitor for a NST - non-stress test - which is 30 minutes of monitoring baby Tyler's heartbeat (typically between 125 and 150 and showing good accelerations which is good) and my uterine activity (typically pretty flat unless I sneeze, cough, etc....although there was a period whee I had BH contractions).
And from there nothing going on until lunchtime. I usually use this time to get caught up on the internet, podcasts, or read. Mostly internet, lol.
Lunch is usually served between 12:30 and 1pm.
1pm is All My Children time!
Between 2pm and 4pm, nothing exciting. I usually nap or surf the net or take a shower (once I got shower priveleges) or read. Again, mostly internet, or a nap.
Between 3pm and 4pm, a nurse or nurse tech comes in for my vitals (and baby HB check).
4pm is Oprah time! 5 is local news, 5:30 to 6:30 is Friends reruns, and then 6:30pm is the National News (with Diane Sawyer). If Eric is working he usually gets here for dinner around this time. I usually get my hospital dinner around 6pm, but if it's icky, he brings me dinner (usually McDonalds).
We usually watch Jeopardy and part of Wheel of Fortune before he heads home to unwind and get to bed for his 6am wake up to get to work at 7. I watch prime time TV, get my PM meds (just Colace) and then think about bedtime.
I get my last check of vitals between 10:30 and 11:30. This typically depends if I have a nurse who is working 7pm to 7am, or if she is working 11pm to 7am. It also dictates if I go to sleep at 10:30, or later. I had one nurse that would do my late vitals REALLY late (like after midnight!), so I would get to sleep really late too. But generally I'm asleep by 11:30 at the latest.
When I was on Nifedipene (medication to prevent contractions), I initially took that 4x per day so I was woken up in the middle of the night to take my meds. Then I went to 3x per day and could get a bigger chunk of sleep, then at around 32 weeks i stopped taking that.
Eric typically gets here Weds night and stays thru Saturday afternoon. He puts up with my soap and Oprah time, and during some of the other time we watched Cold Case, or Overhaulin' (his choice, of course), or the Olympics.
Weekends are only different in the TV watching - the rest of the schedule is about the same. There is just nothing on TV so I get bored. A lot more time spent on the internet, reading, or catching up on podcasts.
between 6 am and 7:30 am most days, one of the docs would come in on their rounds to check on me. One of the docs is in by 6 at the latest, she's an early bird...one of them comes in later and later. The rest are usually right around 7 am. This is on their final rounds as they are leaving from a 24-hour shift.
sometime between 7:30 and 8:15 am a nurse or nurse tech comes in to check my vitals - temp and BP at a minimum, some nurses do a HB check on baby too, some wait til monitoring. They also check my lungs, bowels, heart, legs.
Breakfast usually gets here around 8:30 or so. My usual breakfast is 2 slices of wheat toast, and cheerios. Sometimes I add yogurt, sometimes I add fruit.
Once that is over I get my morning meds - prenatal vitamin, colace, and Miralax.
Around 9:30 am they put me on the monitor for a NST - non-stress test - which is 30 minutes of monitoring baby Tyler's heartbeat (typically between 125 and 150 and showing good accelerations which is good) and my uterine activity (typically pretty flat unless I sneeze, cough, etc....although there was a period whee I had BH contractions).
And from there nothing going on until lunchtime. I usually use this time to get caught up on the internet, podcasts, or read. Mostly internet, lol.
Lunch is usually served between 12:30 and 1pm.
1pm is All My Children time!
Between 2pm and 4pm, nothing exciting. I usually nap or surf the net or take a shower (once I got shower priveleges) or read. Again, mostly internet, or a nap.
Between 3pm and 4pm, a nurse or nurse tech comes in for my vitals (and baby HB check).
4pm is Oprah time! 5 is local news, 5:30 to 6:30 is Friends reruns, and then 6:30pm is the National News (with Diane Sawyer). If Eric is working he usually gets here for dinner around this time. I usually get my hospital dinner around 6pm, but if it's icky, he brings me dinner (usually McDonalds).
We usually watch Jeopardy and part of Wheel of Fortune before he heads home to unwind and get to bed for his 6am wake up to get to work at 7. I watch prime time TV, get my PM meds (just Colace) and then think about bedtime.
I get my last check of vitals between 10:30 and 11:30. This typically depends if I have a nurse who is working 7pm to 7am, or if she is working 11pm to 7am. It also dictates if I go to sleep at 10:30, or later. I had one nurse that would do my late vitals REALLY late (like after midnight!), so I would get to sleep really late too. But generally I'm asleep by 11:30 at the latest.
When I was on Nifedipene (medication to prevent contractions), I initially took that 4x per day so I was woken up in the middle of the night to take my meds. Then I went to 3x per day and could get a bigger chunk of sleep, then at around 32 weeks i stopped taking that.
Eric typically gets here Weds night and stays thru Saturday afternoon. He puts up with my soap and Oprah time, and during some of the other time we watched Cold Case, or Overhaulin' (his choice, of course), or the Olympics.
Weekends are only different in the TV watching - the rest of the schedule is about the same. There is just nothing on TV so I get bored. A lot more time spent on the internet, reading, or catching up on podcasts.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
33 Weeks!!
2/20/2010 - 33 weeks!
Today is my 39th birthday and it also marks 33 weeks of pregnancy! We are a week away from the target of 34 weeks and there are 8 days between now and when we'll induce! So excited!!
So, for the birthday, Eric gave my my cards and presents this morning - 2 Pandora Charms and 2 spacers for my bracelet. His parents and B/SIL's family also got me charms, so my bracelet is really filling up - hooray! Eric's aunt and cousin drove in from Richmond today and brought some generous gifts for baby Tyler, plus his mom and dad got us a changing pad. I took my wheelchair ride down to the gift shop area where they have some chairs and got to have birthday cake with everyone - MIL, FIL, BIL, SIL, their kids, aunt and cousin. It was fun!
Also, the nutrition lady (Kisha) that brings my meals to me brought a cake with my lunch today. Two minutes later, all the nurses piled in my room and sang "Happy Birthday" to me. Sweetest thing ever!
We had an ultrasound on Thursday and found out Tyler's gonna be a little baby. The estimate is now about 3 lb 4 oz which means he's in the 12th percentile. We were concerned that this indicated a problem, but Dr. Wells assures us that given all of the other biophysical indicators he reviewed from the ultrasound (lung function, blood flow thru the cord, etc) are normal, he is probably just a small baby.
I'm down to having my blood sugar checked once a day, which will be nice.
Today is my 39th birthday and it also marks 33 weeks of pregnancy! We are a week away from the target of 34 weeks and there are 8 days between now and when we'll induce! So excited!!
So, for the birthday, Eric gave my my cards and presents this morning - 2 Pandora Charms and 2 spacers for my bracelet. His parents and B/SIL's family also got me charms, so my bracelet is really filling up - hooray! Eric's aunt and cousin drove in from Richmond today and brought some generous gifts for baby Tyler, plus his mom and dad got us a changing pad. I took my wheelchair ride down to the gift shop area where they have some chairs and got to have birthday cake with everyone - MIL, FIL, BIL, SIL, their kids, aunt and cousin. It was fun!
Also, the nutrition lady (Kisha) that brings my meals to me brought a cake with my lunch today. Two minutes later, all the nurses piled in my room and sang "Happy Birthday" to me. Sweetest thing ever!
We had an ultrasound on Thursday and found out Tyler's gonna be a little baby. The estimate is now about 3 lb 4 oz which means he's in the 12th percentile. We were concerned that this indicated a problem, but Dr. Wells assures us that given all of the other biophysical indicators he reviewed from the ultrasound (lung function, blood flow thru the cord, etc) are normal, he is probably just a small baby.
I'm down to having my blood sugar checked once a day, which will be nice.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Pregnancy Hormones!
2/16/2010 - 32 weeks 3 days
We're on the downhill slope now. Thirteen days from today, or sooner, Tyler will be here. I'm going home in fifteen or sixteen days. I am so excited. Eric's laughing at me as I become teary thinking about going home, and leaving all that the nurses and staff have done for us. But it's true, what an amazing stay it's been.
I started a list of things to do when I get home. Everything from picking up stuff at BRU and Target (a few baby things we still need), to taxes, to a manicure/pedicure.
I have been STARVING the last few days. As in, eat-every-little-thing-off-my-plate (and then some) hungry. Today's dinner didn't appeal to me so I asked Eric to bring dinner. On his way here, I called him and said, "just to let you know, I'm starving", and he said "I am driving 75, not gonna go any faster". And I said, "I'm not talking about speed, just the amount of food you get me!". He got me 2 cheeseburgers from McDonald's plus some fries and I never eat that much, but I ate BOTH cheeseburgers and about 2/3 of the fries!
We'll have an ultrasound on Thursday to see how big Tyler is now. And then guest-a-palooza starts - whoo hoo! Thursday Eric's mom is coming up, Friday my boss Jim and his wife, Saturday Eric's parents, grandparents, aunt and cousin (and maybe brother and SIL?), Sunday my friend Perry is coming (with a homemade meal for lunch), and then that afternoon or evening Amanda is coming by. Whoo hoo!
We're on the downhill slope now. Thirteen days from today, or sooner, Tyler will be here. I'm going home in fifteen or sixteen days. I am so excited. Eric's laughing at me as I become teary thinking about going home, and leaving all that the nurses and staff have done for us. But it's true, what an amazing stay it's been.
I started a list of things to do when I get home. Everything from picking up stuff at BRU and Target (a few baby things we still need), to taxes, to a manicure/pedicure.
I have been STARVING the last few days. As in, eat-every-little-thing-off-my-plate (and then some) hungry. Today's dinner didn't appeal to me so I asked Eric to bring dinner. On his way here, I called him and said, "just to let you know, I'm starving", and he said "I am driving 75, not gonna go any faster". And I said, "I'm not talking about speed, just the amount of food you get me!". He got me 2 cheeseburgers from McDonald's plus some fries and I never eat that much, but I ate BOTH cheeseburgers and about 2/3 of the fries!
We'll have an ultrasound on Thursday to see how big Tyler is now. And then guest-a-palooza starts - whoo hoo! Thursday Eric's mom is coming up, Friday my boss Jim and his wife, Saturday Eric's parents, grandparents, aunt and cousin (and maybe brother and SIL?), Sunday my friend Perry is coming (with a homemade meal for lunch), and then that afternoon or evening Amanda is coming by. Whoo hoo!
Saturday, February 13, 2010
32 weeks!
Hooray! Today marks 32 weeks of pregnancy. This is a huge milestone in baby development and I am so excited that we've made it this far.
Dr. Wells (perinatologist) came by yesterday to check in and was very pleased with the progress we've made.
One of the neonatologists came by today to talk with us about what the picture looks like when contemplating delivery between 32 and 34 weeks. It looks so much better than 23w5d, and even a lot better than 28 weeks. She gave us some good info not only on development as a newborn/preemie, but as he gets older what kind of signs we might see that reflect back to being a preemie. For example, preemies have strong extensor muscle strength (extending their arms and legs) but not so much the curling up muscles. So for crawling, this could be problematic unles we do things to counteract it. Interesting, because I was born at 32 weeks (38 years ago) and mom says I never crawled, I just rolled over. Makes perfect sense, huh?
Also got an informal recommendation for a pediatrician - actually cemented one of the ones I was looking at already. YAY!
Also found out they don't induce on weekends, so Tyler's birthday, unless he comes on his own before then, will be March 1, 2010.
Dr. Wells (perinatologist) came by yesterday to check in and was very pleased with the progress we've made.
One of the neonatologists came by today to talk with us about what the picture looks like when contemplating delivery between 32 and 34 weeks. It looks so much better than 23w5d, and even a lot better than 28 weeks. She gave us some good info not only on development as a newborn/preemie, but as he gets older what kind of signs we might see that reflect back to being a preemie. For example, preemies have strong extensor muscle strength (extending their arms and legs) but not so much the curling up muscles. So for crawling, this could be problematic unles we do things to counteract it. Interesting, because I was born at 32 weeks (38 years ago) and mom says I never crawled, I just rolled over. Makes perfect sense, huh?
Also got an informal recommendation for a pediatrician - actually cemented one of the ones I was looking at already. YAY!
Also found out they don't induce on weekends, so Tyler's birthday, unless he comes on his own before then, will be March 1, 2010.
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