Adjusting to Life with Baby

We have successfully survived our first week of parenthood!! The first couple of days were naturally spent trying to get the hang of things.

Kim stayed with us the first night home from the hospital.  She was so helpful with Hanley and taking care of things around the house.  I have known this for a long time now, but I definitely scored the jackpot when it comes to the in-laws!

We spent the whole first week enjoying home cooked meals made by Kim, Kramer and Rachael and our neighbors across the street. This was a huge help and made a world of a difference.

We had some ups and downs with the nursing but that seems to have worked itself out now and we are starting to see some sort of routine with Hanley's feeding/sleeping schedule. 

I am finally starting to get some sleep at night! Once we got the nursing down, I think Hanley was trying to play "catch up" and wanting to feed every hour throughout the night. Now he is going 2-3 hours between feedings at night. I have also finally allowed myself to actually catch some zzz's between his feedings. At first, I wouldn't let my body shut down at night because I was aware of every single noise he would make.  Now, I feel more relaxed and know when I lay him in his cradle, he is safe and sound which gives me some peace of mind.

Cody is so good with Hanley. Sometimes I think he is even better with him than I am. There's nothing like baby cuddles and watching my 2 boys together.

Emotionally I am doing well. When I do get emotional, its a good emotional.  At one point I started to get teary eyed and when Cody asked what was wrong the only thing I could say was, "I just love him so much." It's so amazing how fast and how hard you fall in love with your own child.

Hanley and I had a Mother-Baby appointment yesterday.  He weighed in at a shocking 8lbs, 4 oz at 7 days old! Keep in mind, his birth weight was 7lbs, 13 oz.  He dropped 3 oz in the first 3 days of life but quickly made up for it! I think somebody is trying to live up to his Daddy's chunky baby days :o)

Hanley was born with darker hair and more of it than I thought he would have (Thank God, no beard though!).  His hair is already starting to lighten up (just like Cody's did as a baby) and it seems to have the slightest curl/wave to it. He might look like his Daddy but it's possible he got his Mama's hair (other than the fact that he already has Cody's hairline!). He has huge hands and feet...not sure where he got those from though!!! Cody calls him "Man Hands"...Haha!

Big Sister's, Roxy and Maxi, are still trying to adjust to life with Baby. Roxy seems to be doing better with the change than Maxi.  Roxy likes the extra snuggle time at night with Cody because she jumps into bed with him each time I get up to feed Hanley.  Maxi however, is feeling more neglected than ever.  She has tried crawling on top of Hanley while I am feeding him and has tried making me jealous by curling up on Cody's lap (which she has NEVER done before!).  I am sure with time, they will both be just fine.

Hanley's Arrival

We were scheduled to be induced the morning of Thursday, Nov 8th.  One hour before our appointment, Kaiser called us and said they didn't have a bed available and we needed to reschedule for later that day.  They were to call us by 10am to reschedule but we never received the phone call. I was already anxious about the induction so I called them at 11:15am to find out what was going on.  At that point they told us to come in at 1pm. So, Cody and I went for a morning walk and then we went out for a light lunch with my Mom and Kim prior to the induction.  I tried really hard to keep my mind off of it but I was still really emotional (A large part of me was really hoping that I went into labor naturally the night before the induction but clearly that didn't happen).

Once we made it to the hospital, I had my game face on.  It was time and I knew it.  I was ready to meet my little man and there wasn't anything I could do about the situation, this was just how it had to be. 

At 2pm, The midwife started my pitocin and inserted a cervical balloon to help dilate my cervix. The first day was uneventful. My contractions were too close together for them to up my pitocin so basically I was having a lot of unproductive contractions. We had great company with us: My Mom, my in-laws, Amie and Kramer. We killed time by playing games, watching TV and Amie even teaching me to crochet.  With no progress, we went to bed for the evening.

Friday morning at 7:30 am, I was itching to get things going and kept asking them to increase my pitocin.  The new nurse on shift was more aggressive and I appreciated it.  By 10:30 am on Friday, I had finally dilated to 3.5 cm and we were making progress with the pitocin levels.  By noon, my water spontaneously broke--That event is a whole story in itself!

Once my water broke, things started to pick up and my contractions rapidly began to increase in intensity.  Cody managed to help me through the painful contractions, keeping in mind all the tips and coping techniques we learned in baby class. Then back labor began...now that was a new level of pain.

We used the birthing tub twice.  The second time I was in it, I started to feel so much pressure and had the urge to push that the nurse wanted me to get out so the midwife could check me.  With the next contraction, I was already pushing.  This was at 9:15pm.

I pushed for over 4 hours when talk of emergency c-section began. They said Hanley was turned sunnyside up and I have a very narrow pelvic opening. Between the two, it was making things very difficult on Mommy and Baby. With each contraction, I was only able to push Hanley out enough to see the crown of his head and a little hair but when the contraction was over he was sucked right back in.  They were concerned with the amount of stress this was putting on Hanley and were keeping a close eye on his heart rate.

After 20 hours of early labor, 9 hours of active labor and over 4 hours of pushing with no pain meds, I was determined to get this kid out on my own before resulting to a c-section. So, I asked if they could use forceps or something first. They brought the Doctor in and she said she could use a vacuum suction but I still needed to get him down a little further in order for it to be effective.  She said she would give me 15 more minutes of pushing and see if we could make any progress.

When she came back, I had pushed him low enough to use the suction but there was a catch...she made it clear to us that she could only use it twice because of the amount of stress it would do to the baby.  After that, I would be going in for a c-section.  I continued to push a few more times while she prepped the vacuum and got things ready for the c-section as a back up. 

Cody cheered me on...We both knew these next two pushes had to count. My strength came from Cody's support, my belief that God was with us and my concern for Hanley's health-I knew I needed to do this for him.

With the help from the vacuum suction, I was able to fully get his head out in the two tries the Doctor gave me but she had to remove the suction.  She performed an episiotomy and let me continue to push 3 more times on my own.  On that third push, he shot out--head, shoulders and the rest followed.

After 5 hours and 8 minutes of pushing, at 2:23am on Saturday, November 10th Hanley James was born but wasn't breathing. 

They took him away and first cleared the meconium from his lungs and put him on oxygen for 4 minutes before we heard him cry for the first time. Because of his quick recovery, they said there shouldn't be any lasting effects from the difficult delivery.

I couldn't believe we did it!  Here he was, finally on my chest...such a handsome little boy. Happy, healthy and all ours.

Hanley James Olson, 7lbs 13 oz and 20.5 inches:

WE DID IT!!!!!!!!!!

I can't thank Cody enough for all his support during our journey.  He was there to encourage me the whole time and fully believed in me.  I truely don't believe I could have done it without all his love and support. I think he deserves the "Best Coach" award.  I am also beyond grateful for the wonderful care we recieved at Kaiser. The nurses, midewives and Doctors were amazing.  They gave it there all and we have one cute little guy to prove it. Also, a big thank you to eveyone who waited for HOURS in the waiting area just to welcome Hanley once he made his long, drawn out entrance into this world.  We are lucky to have such great friends and family.

So, now we start a new life as a family of 3...

Busted!

Maxi snuck into the closet and curled up into all of Hanley's freshly washed and folded blankets.  I couldn't bring myself to move her though.  After all, she only has 24 hours left of being the baby of the house :o)

41 Week Appointment

When we got home last night, we ate some dinner and tried to take our mind off the runaround we had just experienced at the hospital. What better way to take your mind of something than laugh your bum off watching Rob Dyrdek's show Ridiculousness!?

I slept okay and woke up feeling a little better after talking to my Mother-in-Law and a couple of very supportive friends.

It wasn't until we were in the waiting room for our 41 week appointment that I started to get emotional again.  As I tried to contain my tears, I told Cody I just didn't expect us to ever make it to this appointment.  I had such an easy pregnancy that I just assumed everything else would follow suite.

Once we met with our midwife, all my fears went away.  She supported our decision to go home last night 100% and said we were in extremely good hands with the midwife, Chris, who was on duty last night. 

After checking me, she said there has finally been some progress! Best news yet. Here's a little TMI but for the first time, I was progressed enough for her to strip my membranes. This progress literally occurred overnight because Chris tried doing it before sending us home last night but wasn't successful.

Now the bad news: An NST is only designed to tell you if the placenta is good for another 3 days. So, that means we would need to have another test done on Thursday morning before going in to be induced on Friday morning. Cody and I both decided we didn't want to go through the emotional stress of an NST again, so they moved our induction appointment up by one day. So, that means, if Hanley doesn't decide to come on his own before 7:30 am on Thursday morning, he will be forcefully evicted with doses of Misoprostol and Pitocin.

My friend Mindy sent this to me today and I thought it was pretty funny!

To be honest, I have come to terms with the idea of being induced if Hanley holds out until then.  I feel like we have safely held out as long as possible to try to let things happen naturally but if it doesn't happen by Thursday, my body clearly needs the push. Now..don't get me wrong, after today's news of even the slightest progress, I am still holding onto a little hope that things will occur on their own but if they don't, I am putting my full trust in God's plan.

Whirlwind

The placenta is an organ that grows inside the uterus during pregnancy that, through the umbilical cord, links the baby to the mother’s bloodstream in order to supply nutrients and oxygen to the growing fetus. Unlike any other organ in the human body, placentas have a temporary lifespan and exist only for the purpose of growing a baby. Dr's fear that women who carry past their due date have an "old" placenta which could mean it stops efficiently supplying the baby with the proper amount of nutrients and oxygen.

So yesterday, at 40 weeks and 6 days, we had an appointment for an NST (Non Stress Test) and Ultrasound. At this appointment they checked the babies heart rate and my fluid levels for any signs of an "old" placenta. 

Well, the appointment ended up being quite the whirlwind.

Our appointment was at 3:15pm.  I was hooked up to the monitoring system for 45 minutes.  During this time, I was pumping out contractions every 6-10 minutes. Baby's heart rate was just perfect until the VERY end of the testing.  One dip in his heart rate immediately after a contraction left the Dr.'s concerned so we were sent to Labor and Delivery (L&D) right away.

We had both cars with us, no car seat (the base's are installed in both cars but we don't keep the car seat actually in the car), no hospital bag, dinner prepped at home, and in no way mentally or emotionally ready to be emitted into the hospital.

Once we were checked into L&D, they hooked me up to the monitor for more testing.  This testing lasted almost 2 hours. My contractions continued and baby's heart rate was ideal throughout the entire session.

Our midwife was not on shift but another midwife (who we actually really liked) came in to discuss the results and options with us.

Results:

-The ultrasound showed that my fluid levels are ideal (low fluid levels would indicate an old placenta).

-Monitoring in the clinic showed one small dip in baby's heart rate which is something to be concerned about but the additional testing done at L&D showed no signs of distress or concerns.

Options:

-Go home and take the very small chance of the baby being at risk.

-Stay to be induced.

Her Professional Recommendation:

She said she has to recommend that I stay to be induced more so because of being at 41 weeks and less because of the testing results.  She said if there were several dips in his heart rate, she would be concerned but because it was only one small dip in the over 2.5 hours of testing, it wasn't really enough to be a major concern. She also said that of course nobody can predict what will happen to the baby once I leave their care, so she had to review all the risks we would be taking by going home that night.

 Our Decision:

She left the room so we could make our decision together.  The decision didn't come without tears on my part but ultimately we decided that we would go home.  Hanley's health is our #1 priority but at this point we don't feel that there are enough signs for concern. So, we made it home by 8:45pm last night.

We have an appointment today at noon with our midwife so we will make a plan of action from there. Until then, I am trying to stay calm and relaxed because I know that's what Hanley needs me to do.

So Close but So Far

Shortly after putting in our offer on our house, it being accepted and dealing with all the financing paperwork, I asked Cody, "So, at what point is the house really ours?" and he said, "Not until the keys are in our hands."

That's how I kind of feel about having a baby...

Until I am holding this boy in my arms, I don't feel like he's really mine. Cody said it perfectly the other night, "It's a weird feeling to feel so close to your baby but so far at the same time."

Last night we thought for sure we would end up in the hospital today.  I started having regular contractions around 7:30-8:00ish. Contractions lasted through the night and into the morning then suddenly stopped this afternoon.  Talk about a disappointment.

Hanley is really putting our patients to a test but everyone knows that the best things in life are worth waiting for...

Guilty as Charged

Oh where to start....

Here it is Friday and we still have no baby. This is one stubborn little boy if you ask me! I am starting to think he might be more like me than his Daddy. Cody's theory has always been "if you early, your on time and if your on time, your late."

Me...not so much :o)

Nobody has really ever accused me of being punctual, especially my hubby. If Cody tells me I need to be ready in an hour, we are lucky if we get out of the house in  1 1/2 hours. When Cody tried to have the DTR talk when we were dating...I told him to ask me again in a couple weeks. So, yes,  I do things on my own laid back schedule and I think I may have passed that trait onto Hanley!

Since I have been home most of the week, I have been trying to keep myself busy.  Walks with Roxy, cleaning the house, lunch with my friend Sarah, trips to the grocery store, went into work to get my teeth cleaned, and even got acupuncture to try to induce labor!

On Halloween, we got an outstanding number of trick or treaters..okay, not really.  4 total, if you include my two favorite trick or treaters:



Josie and Brooklyn always want to match and Halloween was no exception!


I think this weekend would be a great weekend to have a baby, so I am crossing my fingers for some action! Asking for everyone to send good vibes our way...