Isaiah

I finally got a chance to sit down at the computer this morning. Husband took the two older kids to church and was going to get groceries after, and Isaiah has decided that his sleep time is in the late morning. He really is a good baby. He doesn't cry that much (yet), he nurses great, and really he sleeps pretty good so far. Jacob and Clara seem to have taken to him. There is some jealousy, of course, but they want to hold him, help change his diapers and they try to give him his paci when he's crying. It's pretty cute. Anyway, here's a run down of Isaiah's birth

It was about 5 degrees and windy the day we went in to the hospital, and of course, OB was busy. There weren't any postpartum rooms open, but there would be as people were discharged. I was really surprised at how nervous I was. Nervousness was to be expected, but it was hard for me to relax. Anyway, my co-workers had made me a diaper cake and had gifts waiting for us in our room. They got me ready and then checked to see if he was still breech. He had flipped around the right way. Of course. We decided to go ahead with the c-section anyway because we had planned on that day, I had a c-section before, I didn't want to be induced, and I was just anxious to meet my son. So, I walked back to the OR, everyone did their thing and I was finally able to relax once they started the surgery. They had a heck of a time getting Isaiah out because of the way he had wedged himself into my pelvis. My old incision was too small for him because he was more than 1.5 lbs bigger than Clara was. It seemed like eternity for me because I know the usual time frame it takes once they've gotten to the uterus. The scrub tech said "he's got an inch of dark hair" so I figured any second now. But, it was a bit longer. They pulled and tugged, cut the incision larger and used forceps to get him out. (needless to say I'm sore) It probably wasn't that long but when you're waiting, it seems like forever. Husband went with the pediatrician and baby to the nursery while I was stitched up and moved back into the labor room I had to stay in until a postpartum room opened. One of the things the anesthesiologists do here is they give a form of morphine in the spinal called astromorph, and it lasts about 18-24 hours. One of the side effects is itching and last time, I itched until I'd broken out into a rash. It was miserable. I hoped to avoid that this time and anesthesia said he's make sure I had medication to counteract that side effect. Well, I started itching before I left the OR. So I kn ew I was in trouble. Over then next 24 hours, I was given multiple meds to help with the itching. The only thing that really helped was narcan. It reverses the effects of morphine, but it takes away some of the pain control. But, I wasn't hurting and I'd rather hurt than itch. I felt better after the narcan, plus Benadryl, Zofran and Nubain for breakthrough itching. After I got over the itching, I started having right shoulder pain, which was referred gas pain. I walked, a bit too much which I paid for later on that night, drank prune juice (nasty, by the way) and took a suppository to help. It wasn't until the day I went home that I really was able to pass gas. But, back to baby. He was 7lb 15 oz and 20 inches long. He has dark hair like Jacob, but looks more like Clara in the face, but sometimes I can see Jacob in his facial expressions. The first hour, when most babies are in the "quiet alert phase", where they just look around, he decided he wanted to scream. All he did was cry, and we thought we were in trouble. I finally got him to calm down and nurse and things were better after that. Out of the three kids, he's the most laid back.

Recovery this time has been a bit more difficult. Part of it is having a 3 and 4 year old to tend to. Husband has been great with doing all the household things, and lettting me rest. My incision is really ugly. It's still swollen, mainly on the left side where the most pulling was happening trying to get the baby out and that's where they cut it a bit larger. Doc assured me that the swelling would go down eventually. Even though I had hoped that things would have gone smoother, I'm ecstatic that Isaiah is here. I know that I was very uncomfortable the last few weeks of pregnancy, and the first 48 hours post-op sucked, but I can't really remember the pain or itching. And I would even do it again. There's nothing like meeting your child for the first time, seeing the recognition of your voice in the baby's eyes, or watching your older children with their new sibling, or seeing your spouse be overly gently when handling the baby so as not to hurt him. This pregnancy went by so quickly, and I know it wont slow down now that he's here, so I'm really trying to savor this time before its gone. Here are some pictures. I did include a picture of the actual surgery, so I hope I dont gross anyone out.

He's Here!

Here are a couple pics until I get a chance to actually write his birth story. Everything went well and he is the picture of health as well as a very sweet baby. God truly is great and we've been very blessed.

Isaiah Edward

December 20, 2007 at 7:39 a.m.

7 lbs 15 oz, 20 inches

Tomorrow, tomorrow

Tomorrow is the big day. I can't believe that it's here already. I tell ya, this pregnancy went by so fast. It seems like just a couple days ago I took the pregnancy test, it came out positive and I sat there looking at it in awe and shock. Now in less than 24 hours, I'll no longer be pregnant but holding my son in my arms. Crazy. I will say that if I had my way, I would have gone into labor, just so I didn't know exactly what day and approximately what time he'll be here. But, really, it doesnt matter. I can guarantee tonight I won't be able to sleep because of nerves. My mom is coming up today and is staying overnight since we have to be at the hospital at 5:15 a.m. and we don't want to get the kids up that early. I'll try to post again with pics of the little guy once we're home. Wish us luck! Here's a last belly pic at 38.3 weeks. No one thought I'd carry this long (except for me) :)

Officially off work

3 days to go... This past weekend I was scheduled to work, but I had to bite the bullet and start my maternity leave. Saturday I was so achy and I had already felt like I had worked for 4 hours. I almost went ahead and went in because, hey, if something happens I work in L&D, but then I had to think about the patients I would be taking care of. I realized that I wouldn't be providing good care, possibly not safe care with as slow moving as I am, so I didn't work. Huge blow to my pride because for some reason most nurses feel the need to work until they are dead, and even then would request for CPR so she could get back to her patients, and I apparently am one of them. I figured no one at work really thought I'd still be pregnant (I sure showed them) at this point, so no harm done. Thankfully they weren't busy this weekend. I called and talked with one of my co-workers and she said they had a crazy woman come up by ambulance for abdominal pain. Normally we get a phone call giving us a heads up that a patient is coming, but I guess there was no phone call. The EMT's apologized and said they just found out that she was pregnant. After talking with the woman, she said she had an ultrasound last week, but she didn't have any idea of last period, EDC, etc. So they pulled up her records hoping to find out how far along she was and it turned out her ultrasound was for gallstones. She wasn't even pregnant. So they sent her back to ER. There are some crazies out there. It's scary because its those people who are likely to fake a pregnancy and take someone elses baby.

Well, its a waiting game at this point. We are as prepared as we can get for this little guy.
1. The nursery is ready- diapers, vaseline, wipes, all lines washed and folded
2. My bag is packed.
3. C-section scheduled, pretesting scheduled, complete with requested anesthesiologist available.
4. Small gifts bought for Jacob and Clara, complete with new big bro/sis t-shirts.
5. Various baby-sitters to occupy Jacob and Clara, entertain them and to help them feel they are still special.
6. FMLA set up, daycare set up, several meals frozen for reheating.
7. I even have all the Christmas presents for the kids wrapped and hidden.
I wish I could say my house is clean from top to bottom, but I didn't want to get too carried away. All we need now is the 20th, or for labor to commence on it's own, which I would be just fine with at this point.
Last night we had our night shift Christmas party. It's always good to hang out with people outside the hospital. We always end up having a lot of fun. People who have gone to other departments, have retired or quit usually come back for the party and it's nice to see old faces and catch up. The girl who hosted the party has this game called Dance, Dance Revolution (I think that's the name). It's a video game where you follow dance moves on the screen and move your feet on a mat in sync. I did not partake, but it was funny to watch grown women gettin' down!

Days go by

Man, the days are just dragging by. Today I lined up the anesthesiologist I want to place my spinal. It seems weird that 1 week from today, I'll no longer be pregnant and I will be holding my son. Amazing, but it seems so far away at the same time. I know as soon as he's here, I'll feel like time has flown by, but the last few days of pregnancy last forever. What makes it worse is false labor. Last night I actually thought that it was going to be the day. 3 hours of regular contractions, 3-5 minutes apart, didn't feel real good and I thought were getting stronger (but was probably in my head) and kept coming after a bath and moving around. So I decided "Ok, lets make sure we have everything packed and squared away before we head in" and then...they quit. Okay, so they didn't just abruptly quit, but it sure seemed like it. Very frustrating. I know it happens because I see it all the time at work, but it really sucks because you get all jacked up thinking this is the day, and then, alas, no. Soon enough, though, soon enough.

Tonight I have to work, and after looking at our staffing earlier this week, I'm not excited in the least. We're 2 nurses short. And these days, although I'm the size of 2 nurses, I'm really only worth 1/2. (ha ha). So hopefully we aren't crazy busy. I'm sure we have a couple inductions, a scheduled c/s for the a.m. on top of anything that comes through the door. So probably a typical night. We'll see.

The final countdown

3 more work shifts to go. Not that I'm counting or anything! Last night was one of my call shifts and of course, I was called in. When we started doing these mandatory call slots this summer, I knew what was going to happen. When I was early-mid pregnancy and felt great, they'd never call me in, but when I was in the third trimester uncomfortable, waddle stage, I would. And I was correct. I think the evening charge RN felt bad about calling me in because she hemmed and hawed for 2 hours with multiple phone calls of "I don't know, maybe we'll be okay, I'll call you in 30 minutes". I just wanted her to make a decision. And when I got there, I'm not sure why she was having any question to call me or not. Oh well.
I took care of a girl last night that was a frequent flier during her pregnancy. She was a week further along than me, and lived at the mission with her 18 month old son. It's really easy to be judgemental with patients like her and I'm not exception, but with her I felt bad for her. She'd come by "cab-ulance" in with pain, and finally they figured out it was gall stones. I had her so many times that she'd come through on the cart and say to me "I figured you missed me so I came to visit". She'd alway have her poor son with her, and he was always in a dirty diaper, never had shoes on and was frequently filthy. So I'd get her a couple diapers, wipes, some crackers and juice, call for pain medication and get her a cab fare back to the mission. I'm not sure exactly how she ended up homeless, quite possible a string of bad decisions, but I kept thinking about how scary it must be to have a child, pregnant with another and have no one for support. She was hooked up with everything she could and she was working with the mission people to get work after she delivered so she could get an apartment within a few months. She delivered the day before, so when I went in to check on her, she first commented on the size of my girth, and then told me she'd come visit me to see how I was a patient. Maybe I'm a sucker for her act, but I really hope she gets back on her feet.

37 weeks

This was posted at work and I thought it was pretty appropriate for labor and delivery

I wish I were a fetus.
I never would be bored.
Sitting in my uterus,
Swinging on my cord.

To worry obstetricians,
I'd be a proper beast.
I'd change positions on the hour,
Transverse, oblique then breech.

To student midwives I'd present
A mystifying case.
I'd hide myself inside the os
And leave an empty space.

I'd tie my cord into a knot,
And wave it through the cervix.
I'd give the midwives such a shock
And laugh off all my vernix.

And when my membranes rupture,
I'd be a right ol' pest,
Presenting large diameters
I'd transversely arrest.

I'd tell my pal placenta,
To get himself detached.
To theatre then the lot of us
Would pronto be dispatched.

And when they start to Caesar,
I'd laugh and think "Tee hee!"
When no one else is looking
I'll come out vaginally!

-Pauline Bryant

Work and D-day

Monday I worked and was charge RN. I actually thought (how naive) that it would be good, ince I wouldn't have to take patients (yeah, right) and the night had started out slow. We actually sent one labor nurse home on call. So, of course, the flood gates open and I end up admitting an induction. No biggie. Well, 30 miutes after I start pitocin, I have a huge decel. A 10 minute decel in the 60-70's to be exact. About the time I started to unhook her bed to take her to OR, the FHR came back up. Thank God. The last thing I wanted to do was run my pregnant butt down the hall pushing bed for a crash c-section. Plus we don't have in-house OB's or anesthesia, so it would have been ugly. I called the doc, let her know what happened and the baby again looked perfect, and luckily stayed that way all night, but we didn't restart the pitocin. Then, another patient came in, plus our second induction and I needed to call the labor nurse on call in. Nice of her, she never answered the phone. So it ends up I have two labor patients, luckily neither really active, one labor nurse has a delivery and another active labor patient and my second labor nurse has a delivery and a 21 week patient. Usually the charge nurse does "baby care" but I couldn't do it because by this time it was about 5:00 a.m. and I had to do day shift staffing, take care of my labor patients, and watch the other monitors while we had deliveries. It was nuts and hard on this ole preggo.
I'm still doing my NST's 2 times a week at work. I had to actually complain last night about how things were being handled. The last two NST's I had, my co-workers didn't do anything. Last night, I hooked myself up and the RN didnt' do an assessment, didn't ask how I was feeling and wanted to discharge me before I even had a reactive strip. She actuallly told me to unhook myself when I was done. On Monday morning, the RN said to me "I'm taking you off the monitor before I see any more contractions." Now, I know they don't do that with regular patients, but come on. I shouldn't have to do it myself. And lets remove the monitor so we don't see anything we don't want to see. It was a bit frustrating. I mean, I'm paying like every other patient and just because I work there doesn't mean I'm going to analyze my own strip and do my own assessment. I can't be the patient and the labor nurse.
We scheduled a c-section at my appointment Tuesday because the ornery boy is still not in position. So December 20th at 7:15 a.m. is D-day. Only 2 weeks. Unless of course I go into labor, water breaks or something else comes up. It seems so weird to know when he's going to be born. I wont sleep the night before because I'll be able to be nervous, as opposed to if I went into labor, then I wouldn't be thinking about being nervous because I'll be in pain. But, like I know very well, you never know what can happen when it comes to pregnancy and delivery.