Photos for Grampa

Lucy after a bath (in the kitchen)

"I'm thinking."

Napping while getting a new diaper.  This is the life!

The difference that 10 seconds can make...

This is Lucy's "I'm ready to eat." face.  Isn't is sweet?

This is Lucy's "I was ready to eat 10 seconds ago!!!" face.  Isn't it descriptive?

Still all about Lucy

It's official, I am a mom. Last night Lucy sneezed 5 times in a row and I noticed a little squishy booger in her right nostril. In spite of the fact that boogers make me gag I used my pinkie finger to dig it out. (gross!). This may seem trivial to you, but I had a seed of doubt that I would be able to rise to this monumental occasion.

Sure, important things awe happening in the world. Lybia is a quagmire, we're still involved in fighting for freedom in Afganistan (and Iraq). Social Media has recently aided in the takde down of dictatorships and Charlie Sheen has launched his Self-destruction tour around the US. These things are relevant and many will likely be remembered for years to come, but are they really more important than a new mom who conquered her disgust over boogers for the sake of her small child?

Jason listened to my tale of triumph and then asked if I thought I could deal with the full on snot bubble that is an inevitable part of owning a toddler. I'd like to say that I said yes, but truth be told I gagged at the thought of it. Seriously, snot bubbles are gross. I fear the day that I have to manage the runny nose. Ack!!!

Yikes!!

The baby is asleep in her crib in her own room. We are going to see how we manage with the baby monitor vs. the live baby in the porta crib in our room.
We've only been rooming with her for 18 days, but it feels weird for her to be across the hall.
She'll be waking up at 10:30 or 11 for food. Any bets on if I can leave her in there or if she ends up back in our room for the remainder of the night?

NIGHT ONE UPDATE:  She was in the crib until 10.

NIGHT TWO UPDATE:  2am!

I love it when...

1) Lucy falls asleep on my shoulder after the final burp attempt at the end of a bottle.

2) right before Lucy gives up the ghost on going to sleep, she will sigh, smile and finally drift off.

3) Lucy's dad changes her diaper. His dialog with her during that event is beyond cute.

4) we have to pull out the white noise generator App on the iPhone and she goes from a mock 10 wail to blissed out in 15 seconds.

5) we give her a bath and she DOESN'T open air pee on us.

6) people comment on how cute she is and then we take off her little hat to show them the hair and they always scream with delight. (Mostly this occurs with women over the age of 60).

More Lucy Pictures

Close up

 Here we are in our 3rd week of life with Lucy and I have to say it is going well.  She is mostly happy and thus far reading the cues of what she needs is something we've been able to manage.

We're soaking up the time off together with Lucy and somehow are not missing work at all.  Our 5 & 8 week work time outs will be gone before we know it.

We are working to transition Lucy to the crib in her room.  She's in there (now) for most naps and when grandma & grandpa L leave we'll switch to night time too.  My desire to wait is that I'm worried it will take me some time to get use to the monitor vs. hearing her live and I don't want her to go to a full on wail before mommy gets her sleepy butt out of bed to help the darling child.

Not so close up.

Lucy is happy in the morning.

The umbilical cord (ick)

Last night was an excellent sleep pattern, except for the fact that Dad woke up for Lucy's 12:30 feeding, but Lucy was not interested.  She was asleep in her bed and only he was awake -- until he woke me up.  It took a moment to convince him that she was sleeping and that it was ok to go back to sleep.

At 4, when Lucy was awake he tried to get up but it must have hit him at a deep REM sleep pattern because he sat up then promptly fell asleep in the sitting position.  Had I really needed him he would have rallied and been the middle of the night rock star that he is capable of being, but I had it covered (code for I didn't need to use the restroom or pump) so I told him to go back to sleep.    He did the same thing for me a couple days ago at 6am and I slept until almost 9... it was glorious.  This teamwork thing is fantastic!

Our 2 week Pediatrician visit yesterday was good. Lucy weighed in at 8 pounds 1 ounce, so we're officially off the "you're starving your child to death" list.  Whew!  We go back at 2 months for shots and a general check up.  So far, it looks like Child Protective Services will be leaving us alone.   I hear the signs of cooing on the monitor... must go parent.

Random Thoughts & Updates

Lucy & Mommy did well at book group.  My first driving experience was fine, I felt that I was at about 80% of my pre-surgery strength.  Making big over the right shoulder lane checks were the most challenging.  Unless it's important, I'll be letting Jason drive us around while he's still out on paternity leave.  There's no need to push it.

The discussion of War & Peace was great and I have to confess that I now have a desire to spend the time to read this book.  The book club ladies did a fine job of making the size of the book seem worth the effort.  Darn them!

I'm not sure I (overshared) mentioned that I"m healing well from the c-section, but that there is a 1 inch spot in my incision that is questionable.  The nurse at the OB's office prescribed an anti-biotic to squelch the onset of a possible infection.   The good news is that my (new) primary care doctor says the anti-biotic isn't necessary and the bad news is that I developed a nasty rash on my arms and needed to finally make contact with a primary care doctor.  Unfortunately, the only thing to do to alleviate the rash is to stop taking the antibiotic and wait for it to work its way out of my system. I have an industrial strength anti-itch drug that the new doctor said I could take, but that drug puts me into a stupor that makes me not very fun to be around.  I may take a benadryl later if the itching is too awful.  I'm working on being a trooper vs. a whiny little bitch regarding the itching. 

On a funny note, Lucy responds extremely well to the white noise generator on our iPhones (when she's screaming her head off).  I was showing it to one of the book club ladies and she asked "how does Lucy respond to songs?"  I had no idea, so she popped off with some sweet song about a puppy and Lucy was very interested.  I guess I need to brush up on my kid songs.  I don't think singing the words to Copa Cabana or random 80's songs are an acceptable substitute to the appropriate "Mockingbird"  or "Itsy bitsy spider" songs. 

The other marquee event last night was that Lucy's umbilical cord fell off while at book group.  I have to say that of all the various medical and bodily functions that are part of having a baby, this is the only thing that has made me gag.  To let you know that I'm not being overly sensitive, my lovely daughter has peed on me AND one day she actually pooped on me during a diaper change.  Neither of those events threw me like the icky umbilical cord.  I wrapped it up and brought it home.  It is now safely tucked into a zip lock bag and is stored in the box of baby mementos.

Lucy & Mommy Play Date

Tonight Lucy and I are off for a play date tonight. We will be doing our first solo outting. We will be attending book group this evening to discuss a little book called War and Peace.

I confess that neither of us finished the book and our contribution to the discussion will be weak. I think the "I had a baby" is a fine excuse for not having finished the 1300 page tome in the 6 week time frame.

I'm in awe of those who did actually read it, but I think it might end up being bookshelf art in my house. Who knows, I might pick it up one day.

Mostly my reluctance to devote the time was my addled new mommy brain, but part of it was the daunting scope of it. I've already purchased the next meetings book and am excited to read it. I doubt my slacking will continue.


Wish us luck tonight.

I'm a little teapot...

I guess this could be considered disrespectful, but I wish I had this teapot.  I might keep my cocaine in it, then it would be a Crackpot, Crack Pot.

Fictionary

A new action occurred today that needs a name. The simultaneous sneeze and bowel movement of an infant (while in Mommy's arms btw.)

We all know that a "Shart" is the sneeze-fart combination, but what is it called when the bottom half of that activity is baby poop?

Do we like any of these:

Snit,
Sheeze,
Snoop, or
Pooze?

Actually "pooze" seems like a great name for the poop that leaks out of the diaper and up the babies back.

For those of you who need a non-baby related post. My Charlie Sheen comment of the day is that he seems quite mentally unbalanced these days and the media (and therefore us) are eating it up. We will celebrate his triumphant return when he gets it together, and the predictability of that makes me a bit sick.

Lucy's Story

Being pregnant was an experience I'll remember fondly forever, and thankfully I wasn't super uncomfortable nor did I face serious complications.  With all that said I was feeling like I would be pregnant forever as Lucy wasn't progressing towards the exit.  My patience might have been higher if each week that we went to the OB that the "signs that things are drawing near" were increasing, but alas we were the same week after week.  

I was pretty excited on Friday when the nurse from Dr. K's office called and said that it was time to think about scheduling an induction.  My original hope for the birth experience was to go into labor, make the phone call to Jas "it's time" and then do the frantic drive to the hospital.  However, at that moment my thoughts were "heck yeah, let's book it!"  Then, more efficiently than a hair appointment we had a date on 3/1 to check into the hospital to get the ball rolling on the Lucy Arrival Project.  Of course, the appointment was tentative in the even she decided to come early.  Bwahahaha

We opted to keep the induction appointment to ourselves as we didn't want to tell folks anything that wasn't for sure and honestly, we wanted to be a duo during the birth process and not have people in the lobby.  So, we enjoyed our "last weekend" together.  We went out for date night, we got all the laundry done, we changed the bedding, we sat around and waited.

Monday we both went to work ramped up and still knowing that there was a chance that Dr. Kristen would tell us we had to wait.  But at 2:30 I called the hospital to find out if we had an appointment and what time to arrive.  The gal seemed shocked that I was "at work" and needed to tell my people I was going to be out.  (They knew, just not when.)  We were told to check in at 5am but to call at 4am to make sure they had room for us.  Mothers in actual labor trump those in the high desire of labor.

I knew that I would sleep terribly that night and sadly that was the case.  It took me ages to get tired (anxious anyone?) and I was still on the 90 minute pee schedule.  However at 3:00 when the alarm went off I had lots of energy for a shower and downed a little food.  Jason confessed on the drive in that he was relieved NOT to be doing the frantic drive through town with a laboring wife in the passenger seat, also, traffic at 4:30 am in Seattle is lovely!

We checked in and were taken back to our room.  After the IV was inserted and we filled out lots and lots of paperwork the induction drug was added to my IV (at about 5:30 am).  Then the exciting process of waiting began.  We sat through multiple shift changes and met no less than 8 different nurses (all of whom expected to be remembered - right.)  Dr. K arrived on scene at noonish and did a check (this involves climbing inside me and pushing on everything in my person with all her might.)  We were told that we had progressed "a little" but that Lucy was still at station -2.  (remember, the order is -2, -1, 0, +1, +2 and OUT)  She, the doctor, was going back to the office and would come back after 5 and check us again.  So, we waited.  Becky dropped by and provided Jas some relief, he was able to zip out and find some diet coke and use the bathroom.  There was a bathroom in my room, but as all "output" was measured he wasn't to hip on the idea of having to move the "output measurement device". 



One little segue about pee.  Until a catheter is provided it is an ordeal when the pregnant lady needs to pee.  It involves multiple hands to unplug the IV, unplug the monitors, hold the back of your gown so as not to moon I-405, and then roll slowly to the loo.  Getting hooked back up is also an event, Jas had it down to a science in short order.

It was nice to be able to monitor Lucy's heartbeat and then later on the contractions.  But for the longest time I would ask, 'is that a contraction?' and the response I would get is "no, you're flat lined."  Seriously people, 'you're flat lined' is not a term anyone wants to hear when they're in the hospital - even in the context of contractions." 


At 6 we were checked again and Lucy had progressed to station -1 and I had dilated some.  Dr. K said she was pleased and would be back to check again later.  Grrrr. But, she was able to break my water (which felt like I was wetting the bed, and then every time I moved or sneezed more fluid was released.  ICKY.)  The up side is that I finally started to have contractions in earnest and we used the breathing techniques to get through them.  Once I was able to show the nurse that I had had "5 good contractions" in a row then they would call the anesthesiologist (try spelling that one without looking it up.)  He finally arrived on scene and made the world better with his magic needle.  Getting it wasn't painful, but sitting up, yoga style on the bed was nothing short of awful. 

Once the drugs were flowing the relief was quick.  The catheter inserted meant the end of our bathroom breaks.  (that was the only time I had really been allowed out of jail -- bed.)  I was able to shut my eyes and sleep for about an hour.  I hope Jason rested too, but we both agreed that mostly the waiting was boring. 





One of the nurses came to do a check of my progress.  This is a lot less uncomfortable when you are numb from the boobs down.  She couldn't feel the babies position and called in a tall woman who is the nurse with the smallest hands. She too crawled up inside and announced without fanfare, "that baby isn't coming out.  She's at -2 or higher again.  You're going to have surgery." 

Dr. K came back at around 8:30 and checked me again.  In spite of all the progress we had made she was in agreement with Nurse Tiny Hands of the Big Mouth.  In our state of tiredness, after having  been up for 19 hours with the prospect of another 24 before something big would happen we accepted the idea of a c-section with relative ease.  That isn't to say it wasn't a scary idea.  We both shared, after the fact, that we were nervous and scared but that we were being brave for each other.  How sweet are we?

Within 15 minutes the staff was in our room prepping me for the surgery.  I think by 9pm, Dr. Kristen was ready to get the show on the road so SHE could go home and go to sleep.  This is quite understandable, I'd rather have a rested doctor than a grumpy, sleepy one.

They handed Jason a space suit, rolled me down the hall to the big, white, cold room and within moments I was on a different bed. I do recall them asking me if I could help move myself over to the table, and will all confidence I said "sure" then I tried to move my legs and all I could do was laugh.   On the back end of that activity they had me on some kind of air mattress and the whole thing was moved back to my hospital bed.  It was pretty nifty.

At this point, with the added knock me out medicine I was seriously sleepy and doing the head bobs.  I know I was supposed to be hyper alert and ready to meet my baby, but I just wanted to shut my eyes.   When they started I knew there was a mirror somewhere and I could see the field of work reflected in the massive space lights over my body.  I didn't want to see it so I turned my attention to Jason who was planted at my left shoulder.  He had my hand and we eye locked..  I told him I didn't want to see, he said HE didn't want to see, so we made our own place right there.  It seemed like seconds (although Dr. K said later that it was harder than normal to remove Lucy) she pulled Lucy from my body.  Then we heard her say, "oh my, the cord is wrapped around the neck.  Not once, but twice!") 

Don't you just wish that you had the benefit of knowing, even after the fact, that every decision you make is the 100% right one?  I can't even put into words what could have happened had we insisted upon a vaginal birth.  The most likely scenario is that Lucy's vitals would have tanked and then we would have had an emergency surgery vs. the calm one that will be a pleasant memory.  The other scenario is less reassuring - that scenario involves us coming home without Lucy.  (horrors)

So, here's a huge understated whew, from Lucy's entire family:

Whew!

Once in the world they moved Lucy to the baby clean up and care station that is (likely on purpose) placed over the mother's shoulder so she and the partner are now focused on the baby and not the seriously gross and nauseating activity that is going on in the mommy. 

Within moments (the entire process was 45 minutes from room to room) we were back in our labor room with Lucy.  The new dad helped with clean up and joy of joys the very first poop.  (I have a video, but don't know if I know how to post it.  I'll work on that.)

I was still numb but coming out of it and had the predicted body shivers.  I wasn't cold, but my body was shaking and really, no one seemed too worried about it.  I was covered in the blanket and then everybody was focused on Lucy.  That is ok, but it would have been nice to get a "oh honey, this is normal, it will pass in a moment" from a nurse. 

Jason did a valiant job of sharing his attention with the baby and his horizontal wife.  

We "recovered" for two hours and then were moved to the baby recovery side of the wing with Lucy.  At that point there was a lot of activity that I don't remember, vitals and heaven's knows what else.  At 2:30 or 3:00 the activity died down and we were able to "go to sleep."  This is a nice idea but they were checking me every hour and these checks are not something that can be done quietly or in the dark.  Finally at 5:00 am they said they wouldn't be back for 3 hours and we were thinking we'd get to sleep.  That's when I heard the back up beeps of a construction truck.  I think for the second time during our hospital stay I dropped the F-bomb  "You've got to be kidding me" (you find the appropriate location.)

Day one was a blur of the desire to eat, throwing up (which isn't fun after surgery) the need for sleep and enjoying our lovely daughter.  We agreed that it was a good idea to let Jason go home and sleep in our own bed that night.  The thinking was, one of us should be fresh and I couldn't leave.  The nurses were awesome about doing the things I couldn't while he was away, and he really was only gone from our room from 11pm to 7am.  Long enough to drive home, shower, fall into a coma, get up, hit starbucks and return.  By the time he returned I had rallied enough to get dressed in my own clothes and Lucy and I were hanging out (feeding) when he got back to start day two.

Dr. Kristen and I decided early on that unless Lucy needed attention that we would go home that day (after dinner.)  Another overnight in the hospital seemed nice, but our own home seemed nicer. 

We had visitors which made the day fly by and it was nice to see Grandma Georgia and the aunties come over for a quick meet and greet.  Grandma Georgia got to help with a nasty poopie diaper (gross).  As the 'patient' I was released from diaper duty while in the hospital.  But, I'm making up for it now.  Trust me...I'm in the poop.

We were given the list of prescriptions, pain meds and then a myriad of drugs to manage my own poop situation - softeners, gas reduction and laxatives.  Last night before we went to bed my sweet husband said to me those words that every wife wants to hear from the love of her life.  "Did you take your stool softener sweetie?" Er, yes, thank you for asking.

We are home, we are adjusting.  We are digging our time with Lucy.  (Time is not our own and this blog entry has taken 2 days to put together.)  We are taking pictures every day and we will continue to post.



Some day I will be back to commenting on important topics like the CRAZY antics of Charlie Sheen or marveling over our good luck that Lucy was born on Justin Bieber's birthday.  For a while, our world will be baby and I encourage you to hang in there. 

Pictures of Lucy's Arrival

Mom & Dad early in the day, before surgery was under discussion.

Jason, in his fancy space suit for the OR

Dr. K lifting Lucy over the curtain so we can see her for the first time.

First Check up

Breathing & Crying right on queue

Lucy, calm moments after birth

All cleaned up, about 1 hour old

Whew!

We have a baby!!! Wow, you know its coming and yet it's still a little shocking. I mean she's a little person. She's warm and moving, she cries and poops. These are all the things you want in a newborn.

I certainly didn't want to have a c-section but am so relieved it went that way. The umbilical cord was wrapped around Lucy's neck -twice. Had she fully engaged the process of exiting via the expected path she might not be with us. (scary thought).

The day was long and the contractions I was feeling were tolerable(ish). Life after the epidural was nice. I was able to nap for about an hour, in half hour segments. I also got the super convenient catheter which means I haven't had to drag my nekked behind to the loo since about 7pm. It's the small things.

Once the decision was made to have a surgical birth things moved very quickly. I was wheeled in the OR, a room exactly like you would expect. White, bright and cold. Once I had spelled my name for the people a dozen times the show started. I know it is better for them to triple verify they have the right person, but I should get a medal for spelling my whole (still new to me) name just before major surgery.

The procedure went mostly ok, dr Kristen said that there was some difficulty getting my 7 pound 12 ounce daughter out. From my point of view (flat on my back withan eye lock on my brave and supportive fella it went well. Within 30 minutes all my attention was on Lucy a d her curly black hair. I couldn't see much but it rocked my world to hear her fill her lungs and let us know she's here! Pretttymuch from the get go her eyes were open and she was soaking it all in. I loved seeing her in Jasons arms. He's a natural and not to dent his manly personal his eyes were leaking too. When we arrived back in our room we tried feeding and (hoo-yippee-ray) it worked. She latched on, had good suction and I produced food!!! This is a happy miracle for me the one who had a breast reduction 22 years ago. It was a crap shoot and we won!!! There was feeding and lots of checking under the covers to monitor my new Zipper front.

All in all, because I didn't push I feel like I got off easy and that the dr's did all the work, but I will accept all congratulations and kudos for my efforts. Jas gets a gold star for his general awesomeness and being the supplier of the exact right level of comfort I needed.

We've sent pictures and had conversations with the grandparents and I can't wait to photographhwir first (or every) encounter. M operating on less than 3 hours sleep in he last 24 but am ready to attack this new day with my new daughter and her amazing dad.

Update II

Dateline: 4:55 pm.

This is a lot of hurry up and wait. I'm having contractions and feeling some of them. Some come and go with little awareness on my part.

Using the loo has been both a hassle and a treat. Getting there is effort, but it's worth it.

Sometime after 5 Doctor K will come back and check my progress. They won't let me labor too long if I'm not progressing. I'm finally accepting that a c-section may be unavoidable if my body is unwilling to let go of this small child.


It's certainly not the path we had hoped for, but I might be convinced solely on the fact that I'll be able to eat once we have a baby. I'm sure I'll be focused on other things, but golly. Tp is hungry. Raaaar...feed me.

Update

8:00 am. Room 601. We arrived at 5:00am to start the Lucy arrival program. Since then an IV has been hung, we've had two exams (yuck) and the pitocin has been hung. They've upped the level 3 times and we are still without measurable contractions.

I'm hooked up to lots of wires so a trip to the loo is a similar experience to unhooking stereo equipment. I'm also without pants so I've mooned I-405 a couple times.

We are here for a long day... Updates will come when we can