McKynlee is two weeks old today. I can't believe how quickly time has passed. Mommy is sleep-deprived, but completely in love with my baby girl. Clint was home with us for a week, which was nice. He took care of her at night, when she's most awake. I was pretty doped up on pain killers, since I'd just had surgery. But he's since gone back to work. He hates it, leaving us every night. He'd much rather be home with the two of us. I've got about another 3 weeks of maternity leave left. The thought of returning to work and leaving her breaks my heart. I'll be a wreck when the time comes. For now, I choose not to think about it. :)
I still haven't shared McKynlee's birth story. I checked into the hospital at about 8 pm on wednesday night, August 10th. By 9:30, I was started on Cervadil (sp?) to begin the induction process. It was 12 long hours. I was almost always hooked to monitors. They took them off around 2 am, to let me get an hours sleep. It was the best hour, ever. :p At around 9:30 am, they removed the Cervadil, and checked me for progress. Nothing. Seriously?? The contractions were there. I swear it! Ok, lets try something else. Dr. Rowan decided to try prostaglandin (again, sp?). That was a 4 hour process. The contractions were pretty brutal. I was having back labor. The contractions were pretty painful, and made it impossible to get comfortable. I went through a ton of heating packs, trying to ease the pain. At the end of 4 hours, the nurse checked me for progress. NOT A THING! Oh my heck. Seriously? Dr. Rowan was in surgery at that moment in time, so they took a message to her, and I was told she'd be in to see me shortly. Within 20 minutes, she came in, to check me herself. I had made very little progress, from when she last checked me in her office (4 days prior). She told me we could continue with the induction process, but that I probably wouldn't give birth to McKynlee until late friday or even saturday morning. Or, she could c-section. If I had made any real progress at all, I would have opted to continue with the induction process. But, I couldn't have pain meds in the immediate future, because they'd slow down any potential progression even more. So, I opted for the c-section. Her head was too big to descend into the birth canal, which is why I wasn't progressing, despite the contractions. I love that she left the decision up to me.
The c-section was NOT that bad. Really. Everyone tried to tell me horror stories of c-sections. The absolute worst part of it, for me, was being numb from the ribs down. I know that sounds dumb, but I had a panic attack. I knew my legs were there, but I couldn't move them. Obviously. But it panicked me. I kept telling them that I wanted to stretch my legs out. They finally told me that my legs were as stretched out as they could possibly be. :p When they stretched my uterus to pull her out, I vomited. It was the most intense wave of nausea I've ever experienced. They told me it was completely normal. As soon as they stopped stretching my uterus, after she was out, the nausea passed. As soon as she was out, they pushed Valium into my IV. I assume it was to mellow me out, stop my panic attack. It worked, and the rest of the surgery is a blur. It seemed to go really fast. I remember Dr. Rowan talking about my placenta. You'll remember that I had a chorioangioma on it. Next thing I know, they were moving me to my bed, and wheeling me back into my labor & delivery room. There, I got to hold my sweet baby girl for the first time. She was/is so beautiful, and I fell in love at first sight. It was short lived, however. My blood pressure went completely nuts. It plumeted, and they rushed to stabalize it. She was taken from me while they pushed meds to fix it. At its lowest point, it was at something like 70/40. Then it shot up to something like 187/140. Numbers are a guesstimate, because I don't remember the exact numbers. Finally, it stabalized to 117/90, or something around there. They were satisfied enough to let me cuddle with my baby girl again, while still monitoring me very closely.
After about an hour, I was wheeled over into postpartum. I was still extremely nauseated, so I didn't spend too much time with the baby. I kept vomiting, for hours. I hadn't had anything to eat in 24 hours. I was used to eating every 2 hours, because of the gestational diabetes. I begged the nurse for something to eat. I told her I'd stop vomiting if I could just put a little food in my stomach. She finally brought me 2 saltine crackers and some sugar free jello. I ate it, extremely slowly. Sure enough, I stopped vomiting. Around 2 am, I really spent quality time bonding with McKynlee.
She's absolutely perfect. My nose, and my coloring. She's got adorable pouty lips. Lots of dark hair. The chubbiest cheeks. She's gorgeous. We tell her how beautiful she is a few million times a day. She's very, very loved by all. Spoiled rotten. Already has her daddy wrapped around her little finger.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Two weeks later....
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Introducing....
She's beyond precious. So beautiful. We're completely in love.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
39 Weeks- The Birth Plan
We made it to 39 weeks. We weren't sure that we would, for awhile there. Doctors were hoping I would, since babies of gestational diabetes sometimes have slower lung development. They've found that 39 weeks is an ideal number. If I had gone into labor on my own earlier, after 36 weeks, they wouldn't have stopped it. But she's content in there.
However, its eviction time. We're going in at 8 pm tonight to start the induction process. Hooray! We're anxious and nervous. We cannot wait to meet her. We're nervous about how the chorioangioma will affect labor and delivery. Only time will tell. I've been having contractions off and on for weeks now. But, still only dilated to about half a centimeter. So, our birth plan, is simple. We developed it with our doctor at our last appointment.
Tonight, I check in at 8 pm. They'll start me on Cervidil. Hopefully, that will actually do something. She's not sure if my body will respond to being induced, seeing as how my body hasn't responded to the contractions as of yet. My doctor is on call all day tomorrow, so she'll check me in the morning after the Cervidil. We'll then start me on another medication. Perhaps pitocin, if I'm dilating. If I'm not, it'll be something else. If, after those two attempts, I'm not dilating, then we'll cut our losses and do a c-section. She doesn't want to put me through tons of attempts if my body isn't willing to cooperate. Especially since we don't know how the chorioangioma will affect L&D.
So sometime, in the next...36 hours or so...our sweet McKynlee will be here. :) Kinda weird to think about!!! We're leaving the house, and coming home with a baby. Its very, very surreal.
Stay tuned for pictures! If you're on my facebook, you'll probably see pictures sooner :p
