3/12/2007
Baby Talk...
I sucked bad enough at updating this thing before we were parents so obviously this is a futile endeavor but I'm not giving up just yet.
Isabelle has arrived and everything is as absolutely wonderful, crazy and stressful as we could have imagined.
For posterity's sake (since just about no one reads this blog... my fault):
2/20/07- We plan on going to our 2/22 appt. for our weekly, "The baby will be here anytime" checkup. Up until this point things had gone wonderfully well. Pregnancy is most definitely one heck of a journey and adventure all by itself.
It's the first day of the work week and we get a call as I'm heading out the door for work...
1. They say they want to see us today instead. Uh, okay.
2. After the exam- The doctor says we need to have the baby later this week. We have to start dealing with the idea that we won't be able to let nature take the proverbial course.
3. She sends us downstairs to a specialist. He sends us straight to labor and delivery. Confusion sets in.
4. They start prepping Laura and we start freaking out. "Is the baby in danger?"
5. Doctor shows up and says we need to have this baby tonight or tomorrow morning, no arguments. We now have to start dealing with this change to the most recent change "E.g. Inducement later this week, no waiting for birth to start naturally."
6. The baby is big and the water is low. We can try inducement but there's a good chance it will turn into a C-section anyway. Time to start dealing with a decision the doctor leaves in our hands. She says she's right on the fence (e.g. no help). We didn't want a C-section if it could be avoided. I won't go into the complexity of the decision matrix because there were a lot of factors. Suffice it to say it was one of those perfect problems where for every reason to go one way, there was a counter. And a counter to the counter.
After a painful few hours I pick a time on the clock and say, "Let's just decide by then." We finally decide to go straight to C-section. Laura put it best when she suggested we take ourselves out of the equation and imagine we heard this same scenario about someone else. The solution is then obvious but a little painful. Giving up on something you've been building towards for so long (a vaginal delivery) is not easy.
7. A mostly sleepless night is spent watching the baby monitoring equipment and wondering if we made the right choice.
8. They wake us up at a horribly early hour and get started. The good news about a C-section, especially one that early is that there's not much time to get nervous. You're in the room before you know it and the baby comes out very quickly.
Before we even know what's happened, Isabelle is lifted out to a chorus of emphatic "Wow's" from the medical staff. It seems straight to C-section was the right choice. Isabelle looks like she's 3 weeks old. She isn't chubby, just big. She doesn't much look the part of the scrawny baby who will still flesh out some with feeding. She looks ready for her 1st pictures. She's calm, has beautiful skin and a very full head of hair.
Stats: 8 lbs 12 oz - 20 inches long - born at 7:11 AM - born on Ash Wednesday
In a flash we are done with the post op stuff and the three of us are in the room we'll spend a blissful four days in. Poor mommy is out of it. CS is major surgery indeed. But she's awake and able to enjoy our little girl. My advice- forget the visitors. Enjoy the time with the baby before you have to worry about all the stuff that being at home brings (laundry, supplies, etc.).
Despite the impossibly chaotic schedule, we really enjoyed our stay at the hospital and were a little sad to go. It was our first vacation as a family. One with a painful recovery for mommy, less sleep than you've ever had (forget school) and mountains of information to digest but still a vacation. Us in a room, away from it all.
Just like on holiday, we flew under the radar and stayed longer than we were supposed to (ha ha) but finally left on the day of the dust storm.
I will not forget walking out to a strange and wonderful landscape. Seeing the surreal pink light that covered everything and feeling the driving wind. Nature apparently took notice that our new life was beginning.
|
I sucked bad enough at updating this thing before we were parents so obviously this is a futile endeavor but I'm not giving up just yet.
Isabelle has arrived and everything is as absolutely wonderful, crazy and stressful as we could have imagined.
For posterity's sake (since just about no one reads this blog... my fault):
2/20/07- We plan on going to our 2/22 appt. for our weekly, "The baby will be here anytime" checkup. Up until this point things had gone wonderfully well. Pregnancy is most definitely one heck of a journey and adventure all by itself.
It's the first day of the work week and we get a call as I'm heading out the door for work...
1. They say they want to see us today instead. Uh, okay.
2. After the exam- The doctor says we need to have the baby later this week. We have to start dealing with the idea that we won't be able to let nature take the proverbial course.
3. She sends us downstairs to a specialist. He sends us straight to labor and delivery. Confusion sets in.
4. They start prepping Laura and we start freaking out. "Is the baby in danger?"
5. Doctor shows up and says we need to have this baby tonight or tomorrow morning, no arguments. We now have to start dealing with this change to the most recent change "E.g. Inducement later this week, no waiting for birth to start naturally."
6. The baby is big and the water is low. We can try inducement but there's a good chance it will turn into a C-section anyway. Time to start dealing with a decision the doctor leaves in our hands. She says she's right on the fence (e.g. no help). We didn't want a C-section if it could be avoided. I won't go into the complexity of the decision matrix because there were a lot of factors. Suffice it to say it was one of those perfect problems where for every reason to go one way, there was a counter. And a counter to the counter.
After a painful few hours I pick a time on the clock and say, "Let's just decide by then." We finally decide to go straight to C-section. Laura put it best when she suggested we take ourselves out of the equation and imagine we heard this same scenario about someone else. The solution is then obvious but a little painful. Giving up on something you've been building towards for so long (a vaginal delivery) is not easy.
7. A mostly sleepless night is spent watching the baby monitoring equipment and wondering if we made the right choice.
8. They wake us up at a horribly early hour and get started. The good news about a C-section, especially one that early is that there's not much time to get nervous. You're in the room before you know it and the baby comes out very quickly.
Before we even know what's happened, Isabelle is lifted out to a chorus of emphatic "Wow's" from the medical staff. It seems straight to C-section was the right choice. Isabelle looks like she's 3 weeks old. She isn't chubby, just big. She doesn't much look the part of the scrawny baby who will still flesh out some with feeding. She looks ready for her 1st pictures. She's calm, has beautiful skin and a very full head of hair.
Stats: 8 lbs 12 oz - 20 inches long - born at 7:11 AM - born on Ash Wednesday
In a flash we are done with the post op stuff and the three of us are in the room we'll spend a blissful four days in. Poor mommy is out of it. CS is major surgery indeed. But she's awake and able to enjoy our little girl. My advice- forget the visitors. Enjoy the time with the baby before you have to worry about all the stuff that being at home brings (laundry, supplies, etc.).
Despite the impossibly chaotic schedule, we really enjoyed our stay at the hospital and were a little sad to go. It was our first vacation as a family. One with a painful recovery for mommy, less sleep than you've ever had (forget school) and mountains of information to digest but still a vacation. Us in a room, away from it all.
Just like on holiday, we flew under the radar and stayed longer than we were supposed to (ha ha) but finally left on the day of the dust storm.
I will not forget walking out to a strange and wonderful landscape. Seeing the surreal pink light that covered everything and feeling the driving wind. Nature apparently took notice that our new life was beginning.
|
