We
were blessed this last October with a beautiful baby girl. Our life
has been crazy and hectic ever since, but here is an update about Miss
Molly May. Sorry that this is an incredibly long post.
On
October 26, I was supposed to work the first of four nights in a row. I
wasn't too pleased about it, but had four days off in a row after,
which I was planning to get ready for our baby. I had a horrible
migraine all day and finally called off work due to it. I spent the
night on the couch, nursing my migraine. It finally went away around
two. At around four am, I started having some contractions. I didn't
pay any attention to them, because I wouldn't be 37 weeks until Sunday
(this was Saturday morning). Finally, at 6 am, I told Carl that I was
going to bed (he had been sleeping on the couch). At this point, I was
wondering if I was in labor, but decided that if I couldn't sleep, I
wasn't in labor. I slept until about one, when Carl got up (he was
working the 2-midnight shift). I told him that I was still having
Braxton-Hicks contractions. We joked about how I might be in labor and
then he went to work. I dozed until about 3, still having contractions
and finally decided to get up and drink a bunch of water to make my
contractions go away. I made it to the bathroom when my water broke. I
paged Carl and then called my mom and told her I thought my water
broke. Carl finally called me back (he had been stitching somebody up
when he got the page). I still wasn't timing my contractions (stupid, I
know). We talked for a few minutes about what to do next. He asked me
about my contractions and how far apart they were. I told him I wasn't
timing them, but I had had three in the time we were talking. He said
"Um...we've only been talking for five minutes. I'm coming home now."
While
I waited for Carl, I threw some stuff in a bag and called my mom again
to let her know I got a hold of Carl. Carl finally came home and, being
the doctor that he is, had brought home a pair of sterile gloves and
checked me. I was dilated to a 3. We drove to the hospital and I
continued to have contractions about every two minutes.
We
got to the hospital and checked in. They had me get into a hospital
gown in triage and the attending came in. It just so happened that it
was the OB I had started my pregnancy with before she went on maternity
leave. She checked me and declared that I was at a 4 and that my water
really had broken. She also told me that I would need to get the
antibiotic for strep because my test hadn't come back yet. They moved me
to another room and hooked me up to the monitors. They told me that
because my water had broken, I couldn't get up and walk around. I was
disappointed because I had hoped to walk around to help get things
moving.
About
a hour later (around 5 or 6), I got an epidural. The contractions
weren't unbearable, by any means, but were starting to get
uncomfortable. When they offered, I took it. Surprisingly, they
wouldn't let Carl stay in the room. They said they had too many dad's
pass out. They kicked Carl out the whole time I was getting the
epidural.
After
they placed the epidural, they waited about an hour before coming in
and checking me. I was at a 5. They said my contractions weren't as
consistent so they wanted to start some pitocin on me. They started with
the lowest dose. A while later, they came back in and said they might
have to turn the pitocin down because my contractions were coming right
on top of each other. The contractions settled down a bit and they ended
up not turning down the pitocin.
At
around 11, the resident came in to check me before she went to bed. I
was at a 9 1/2! The nurse ran around trying to get things ready.
Within a half hour, I was ready to push.
After
one push, the monitor quit picking up contractions. I wasn't quite
sure what the contractions should feel like, so I ignored a lot of
contractions. They fiddled with the monitor, but ended up relying on
Carl and the nurse to feel my belly contract. They missed a lot and it
took a while for me to figure out when I needed to push. I wasn't
trusting my body because the nurse wasn't feeling contractions!
When the doctor came in, Molly was delivered in two pushes at 2:43 am on October 28.
She weighed 6 lbs 3 oz and was 17 1/2 inches long. She was breathing too fast at first, so they wouldn't let me hold her for a little bit. They finally gave her to me to see if I could calm her breathing down, but told me I couldn't feed her. That didn't work, so they took her back to keep an eye on her and called the pediatrician. Once the pediatrician checked her out and gave the okay, they gave her to me for keeps.
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| Getting checked out by the nurses |
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| First looks |
In the hospital, we struggled with breast feeding. Molly lost too
much weight, getting down to 5 lbs 7 oz and we had to supplement with
formula. Her bilirubin levels were too high, so they ended up keeping
her for a few days under lights. It was nice; they let me stay in a
room free of charge so I could stay with her.
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| Feeding her a bottle |
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| Under the bililights |
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| Carl drew eyes for her Halloween costume |
This was a blessing, as our help (my MIL) had just landed in Denver when we told her we were going to the hospital. Tropical Storm Sandy also hit Cleveland while we were in the hospital. We lost power, but we didn't know for how long and had to throw all our food out.
We ended up leaving the hospital on Thursday, Nov 1. It's been a tough time. Molly never nursed well and we ended up switching to formula. She also has colic and tough time sleeping (which is why I haven't written this post before this!). Even with all the trials, we still love our Molly!
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| Ready to go home! |
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| Finally home! |
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| The aides made an awesome bow out of two hats |
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