Friday, January 29, 2010
Big news!
The wee one went in for his two month shots today. One in each leg and he took them with only a short wail of protest. The big news is he gained nearly three pounds this month! He was 8 lb 8 oz at his one month appointment and 11 lb 5 oz today! No wonder he has developed a double chin. As our pediatrician said, " That boy has some ham hocks on him!", in reference to his chubby little thighs.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Snuggly Baby
He's warm and snuggly. It's very relaxing and makes you want to lay down and take a nap.
Scotch is also a nice relaxation technique. When coupled with baby snuggling, it guarantees a good night's sleep.
Scotch is also a nice relaxation technique. When coupled with baby snuggling, it guarantees a good night's sleep.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Cute outfits
Everyone has sent us wonderful little outfits and baby things. Here are a couple with Spenser looking particularly cute.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Milestones
Somewhere in all the chaos of coming home, holidays, and visiting grandparents, Spenser turned ONE MONTH OLD! How could time fly so quickly? Here he is passed out on daddy's lap.
At 5 1/2 weeks, Spenser started smiling! We love his huge, gummy grins!Generations
Grammy got to visit! Thanks to Aunt Renee and Cousin Addie for flying out with her!
A baby that doesn't cry on instant contact with Grandpa!
Grandmas know how to multitask!
Zoe and Spenser
From the beginning, Black Kitty has ignored the small person who has invaded her home. Zoe, on the other hand, has been very fascinated by him.
She is never very far away, especially when he is sleeping. She feels the need to keep an eye on things.
Now, she has taken to using him for a pillow....or at least a good excuse for a long nap.
I think, in reality, she is somewhat protective of him. I've even caught her trying to groom him a time or two.
First Christmas
I got the best present ever...just a month early.
When we found out I had to be induced, Mom flew out on Thanksgiving day to help out. She stayed an entire month!!! (Thanks, Mom!) Here she is playing Santa.
The night before Christmas, we flew my Dad out to spend time with both his wife and his new grandson.
Spenser loves his Grandpa!
That's a bottle of Coco Chanel in my hand. (Thanks, Sweety!) These things sneak up on you, but in retrospect, I also received huge...tracts of land for Christmas.
Something about the look on Spenser's face reminds me of Calvin. Let's hope this is not a sign of Christmas portraits to come!
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
A few firsts
A rare warm and sunny day in December for Spenser's first walk about the neighborhood. At this point, even though I was feeling great, I could only manage to go around the block. I didn't realize that 12 hours of labor and one hour of pushing would completely drain me out physically. Naive, I know.
His first bath. He hated getting naked and soaped up. He loved having his hair rinsed. He hated drying off and getting dressed afterwards.
Since I'm so far behind, I'm just trying to get caught up with some photos. Commentary will start showing up with future posts.
His first bath. He hated getting naked and soaped up. He loved having his hair rinsed. He hated drying off and getting dressed afterwards.
Since I'm so far behind, I'm just trying to get caught up with some photos. Commentary will start showing up with future posts.
Beautiful baby!
Through two different friends in two different states, we found the most amazing photographer to take one week portraits. She did an amazing job!
Welcome to the World! part 1
So, it's only about two months late and I'm sure everyone has figured out that I can't possibly still be pregnant. I'm back to finally update! I may come back and edit this to add more detail at some point, but I figure it is long enough to start with.
You really really want all the medical details? OK....Tuesday was my regular OB appointment...I went in the evening since I worked that day. She wasn't seeing as much fluid as she liked on her ancient office ultrasound, so I got sent to the hospital for a detailed scan with a fancy new machine and three hours of monitoring. The midwife on call said the fluid was borderline low, but OK and sent me home.
Midmorning the next day, my OB called me in the ER and said the fluid was low and if she had known last night, would have never sent me home. She wanted me to leave work now and go to the hospital. I convinced her that I could IV hydrate while at work and would come in the afternoon as soon as my shift was over. I called our office manager to get our on call docs set up for the next two days (I was supposed to work my last shift the Friday after Thanksgiving). The on call for Wednesday decided he was going to replace me right then...I had no choice but to leave. C started working on a train home and I went home already plugged into an iv and went to bed to hydrate myself. Once C got home, my OB was calling me at home to nag me about going to the hospital. We got there around 3 pm and had a repeat US and more monitoring. There was no change in the fluid levels so I was officially admitted. They started more IV hydration and we started the first cervadil. My cervix had been closed tight. I was in tears the entire time because I could see an epidural and c-section in my future. We tried a trial of cervadil over night to try to get my cervix to dialate. It had done nothing the next morning and repeat US showed the fluids were still low. We tried three doses of cytotec over the course of Thanksgiving day and another dose of cervadil that night.
Friday morning, I was dialated 1 cm and could be stretched to 2 cm, (OUCH!). We tried a slowly increasing dose of pitocin Friday and were getting regular contractions. Then, the back pain and nausea started. We pretty quickly decided it was a kidney stone (felt the same as a previous one) Another US showed my fluid levels were still low and showed swelling of my left kidney which pretty much confirmed the kidney stone diagnosis. I'm a wuss with pain medication. Fentanyl was way too strong, but regular doses of percocet and phenergan kept me drowsy and pretty pain free. Friday night, we tried another dose of cervadil and the on call doc stripped my membranes (OUCH).
Saturday morning, I was still at 1 cm. My doc came in and tried to manually stretch my cervix. This put me over the edge painwise. I do not recommend this if you can avoid it!!! She wanted to break my water, but was unable to do so the normal way with my cervix being so closed, so she ended up doing it and putting in a fetal scalp lead at the same time. About four hours later, I was psychologically done. I actually asked her to go ahead and do the c-section. She rechecked me and I had dialated to 4 cm. She knew I really didn't want to get cut and talked me into an epidural since I was starting to show progress. I had an amazing anesthesiologist and the epidural didn't really hurt going in. The numb feeling was weird though. Then I started getting increasing left sided back pain. Anesthesia came back several times to redose me, but it just wasn't helping. I was also started to feel my contractions more. I started wanting to spontaneously push. I wasn't quite at a 10, but she was able to stretch me just a tiny bit and we started serious pushing. I pushed for an hour and was pretty much in a zone and not really aware of all the other people in the room. I pretty much only heard C's voice. After an hour, I finally got his pointy head out and then my doc pretty much pulled him the rest of the way out and put him on my tummy. C got to cut the cord and then they whisked him away to suction and clean him up a bit while I got a couple of stitches ( tiny second degree tear). Then they brought him back to me so we could cuddle and bond and breast feed. After the fact, I learned that they were super worried about me towards the end because my blood pressure was going up and looking at the pictures, he needed some deep suctioning, but he was wide awake and alert when they brought him to me. Everything was super awesome after that ( YAY I finally got to eat!)
The final call: at 6:05 PM George Spenser entered the world at 7 lb 6 oz and 19 1/2 inches long.
Monday, we were supposed to go home, when the nurses came in saying his bilirubin levels were high and he probably needed to stay a few days in the hospital. I almost came unglued. C was in serious worry about my mental health ( I really needed to leave that hospital. I'm not a good patient) Fortunately, the pediatrician came by and said the baby looked great and he didn't know why the nurses put him on the bili lights to start with. We were going home! YAY!
You really really want all the medical details? OK....Tuesday was my regular OB appointment...I went in the evening since I worked that day. She wasn't seeing as much fluid as she liked on her ancient office ultrasound, so I got sent to the hospital for a detailed scan with a fancy new machine and three hours of monitoring. The midwife on call said the fluid was borderline low, but OK and sent me home.
Midmorning the next day, my OB called me in the ER and said the fluid was low and if she had known last night, would have never sent me home. She wanted me to leave work now and go to the hospital. I convinced her that I could IV hydrate while at work and would come in the afternoon as soon as my shift was over. I called our office manager to get our on call docs set up for the next two days (I was supposed to work my last shift the Friday after Thanksgiving). The on call for Wednesday decided he was going to replace me right then...I had no choice but to leave. C started working on a train home and I went home already plugged into an iv and went to bed to hydrate myself. Once C got home, my OB was calling me at home to nag me about going to the hospital. We got there around 3 pm and had a repeat US and more monitoring. There was no change in the fluid levels so I was officially admitted. They started more IV hydration and we started the first cervadil. My cervix had been closed tight. I was in tears the entire time because I could see an epidural and c-section in my future. We tried a trial of cervadil over night to try to get my cervix to dialate. It had done nothing the next morning and repeat US showed the fluids were still low. We tried three doses of cytotec over the course of Thanksgiving day and another dose of cervadil that night.
Friday morning, I was dialated 1 cm and could be stretched to 2 cm, (OUCH!). We tried a slowly increasing dose of pitocin Friday and were getting regular contractions. Then, the back pain and nausea started. We pretty quickly decided it was a kidney stone (felt the same as a previous one) Another US showed my fluid levels were still low and showed swelling of my left kidney which pretty much confirmed the kidney stone diagnosis. I'm a wuss with pain medication. Fentanyl was way too strong, but regular doses of percocet and phenergan kept me drowsy and pretty pain free. Friday night, we tried another dose of cervadil and the on call doc stripped my membranes (OUCH).
Saturday morning, I was still at 1 cm. My doc came in and tried to manually stretch my cervix. This put me over the edge painwise. I do not recommend this if you can avoid it!!! She wanted to break my water, but was unable to do so the normal way with my cervix being so closed, so she ended up doing it and putting in a fetal scalp lead at the same time. About four hours later, I was psychologically done. I actually asked her to go ahead and do the c-section. She rechecked me and I had dialated to 4 cm. She knew I really didn't want to get cut and talked me into an epidural since I was starting to show progress. I had an amazing anesthesiologist and the epidural didn't really hurt going in. The numb feeling was weird though. Then I started getting increasing left sided back pain. Anesthesia came back several times to redose me, but it just wasn't helping. I was also started to feel my contractions more. I started wanting to spontaneously push. I wasn't quite at a 10, but she was able to stretch me just a tiny bit and we started serious pushing. I pushed for an hour and was pretty much in a zone and not really aware of all the other people in the room. I pretty much only heard C's voice. After an hour, I finally got his pointy head out and then my doc pretty much pulled him the rest of the way out and put him on my tummy. C got to cut the cord and then they whisked him away to suction and clean him up a bit while I got a couple of stitches ( tiny second degree tear). Then they brought him back to me so we could cuddle and bond and breast feed. After the fact, I learned that they were super worried about me towards the end because my blood pressure was going up and looking at the pictures, he needed some deep suctioning, but he was wide awake and alert when they brought him to me. Everything was super awesome after that ( YAY I finally got to eat!)
The final call: at 6:05 PM George Spenser entered the world at 7 lb 6 oz and 19 1/2 inches long.
Hi Spenser!
Proud papa!
Monday, we were supposed to go home, when the nurses came in saying his bilirubin levels were high and he probably needed to stay a few days in the hospital. I almost came unglued. C was in serious worry about my mental health ( I really needed to leave that hospital. I'm not a good patient) Fortunately, the pediatrician came by and said the baby looked great and he didn't know why the nurses put him on the bili lights to start with. We were going home! YAY!
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