Peyton’s arrival

I woke up on 12/31/08 around 530am with mild contractions, about 8-9 minutes apart, lasting about 30 seconds.  I debated for two hours whether to wake Dave up.  I knew it was nothing really to get too excited about; the hospital directions were to call when they were about 5 minutes apart.  Finally, around 7 or so, when we normally wake up, I told Dave I was having contractions.  He started to mobilize – telling me to call my mom, taking a shower, and getting “ready” in general.  He put the rest of the crib bedding together, asked if I was going to take a shower and then finally going out to get some milk (we were out) and top off our water.  I briefly posted that all on 12/31.  Then we watched the ball drop, and I was pacing around, very anxious, because the contractions that had stretched to 30 minutes apart, were back to 8-9 minutes apart, and more consistent.  Dave got frustrated and just said, “Lie down!”  I was trying to do squats (suggested by Bonnie) and pace around (walking was encouraged, but there’s not much place to just walk inside the condo).  I decided to take Dave’s advice and laid down around 1am, watching the after party to the ball drop.  Then, I felt/heard a small “pop” down below.  I wanted to see if it was anything, so I went to the restroom.  I peed, and went to stand to get a pad, in case there was water breakage later.  Suddenly, I was dripping on the floor, and thought to myself that I couldn’t be peeing on myself.  I was just a couple of drops, but I told Dave that I thought my water just broke.  He sprung out of bed, and started looking for the advice nurse phone number.  My phone was outside in the living room and I didn’t want to startle my mom, but I went out to get it.  She was still somewhat up, having watched the ball drop as well.  I called the advice nurse who told me to monitor how much I soaked a pad in the next 30-60 minutes.  Suddenly, the contractions were every 2-3 minutes, and they hurt much more.  Previously, I could continue my activity, but with these, I was doubled over.  So I stuck it out for 30 minutes, then called to report my status.  No soaking in the pad, but the contractions.  They told me to come in.  So we grabbed our stuff, and left!  It was raining when we left.  Dave wanted to drop me off in the front and wheel me in, but I wanted to just walk in, in between contractions.  We had to walk through the ER since it was so late at night.  The security guard was going to ask us to sign in to get to Labor and Delivery, but then looked at me again and said, “Unless you are the patient.”  Since I was, we went straight in.  While waiting for the elevator to go to the 3rd floor, I felt a gush and suddenly, my pants were all wet.  It felt like I peed in my pants.  Now I was sure that was the rest of my water breaking.  On arrival to L&D, they had me filling out some forms.  Knowing I was having some contractions, the clerk asked me if I wanted to sit down (in this fabric chair).  I told her I’d prefer to stand, since my water had just broken and I didn’t want to get the chair dirty.  The clerk said it could be cleaned, but thinking that I didn’t want to sit in a chair that had been formerly cleaned, I stood.  I was taken to an observation room and the doctor who checked me said I was 3.5 cm dilated!!  That meant I could be admitted!  Yay!  I delayed making the call in the first time, since I didn’t want to be turned back home.  I was in my delivery room by 2am.  I stuck it out with contractions for the next hour.  At this point, Dave was trying to be helpful and started be “chatty” – not like him at all.  However, he decided to be “chatty” through my contractions, which was NOT helpful.  What was helpful was squeezing the life out of my inflatable bed.  Gotta love him for trying.  The nurse asked what my pain level was (5) and when I’d like the epidural (6).  I told her I was a bit of a wuss, so I didn’t want to wait.  She gave me fentanyl in the IV that was set up, which made me pretty dizzy, but did take the edge off.  As long as I kept my eyes closed, I was ok.  The nurse anesthetist came in and did the epidural around 330am, almost the exact time that I got it with Brandon.  This one was so much better, because it was patient-controlled – so they give you a certain infusion and then the patient can bolus when there is breakthrough pain.  It was great because I could move my legs (unlike last time when it felt like my legs were one ton each).  Every time they took my blood pressure, it was elevated, which they were a little concerned about.  It turns out, like last time, every time I had a contraction, the blood pressure was taken.  So it was more pain-driven than anything.  My blood pressure was otherwise normal and low.  So it was about 4am, and I was cruising along.  The Foley catheter was placed in my bladder around now.  Around 430am, I asked the nurse when the next time I’d be checked.  She said normally, they don’t check that often, every 2-4 hours, since it increases risk of infection.  And based on the last time, and how slowly I progressed, they were more inclined to wait longer.  (It’s also more frustrating to be checked and still only progressed a cm or two).   So she said she’d get the doctor and see.  The doctor came back around 515am, and after her exam told me I was now 10cm!!  Funny, because last time, I felt increased pressure, like I had to push.  This time, I was floored, because I felt really no pressure or need to push at all.  I was a little anxious, because it was showtime!  I had gone 6.5 cm in just a few short hours (last time, it took me 8 hours or so)!  So the nurse said we could start pushing; we didn’t even have to wait for the doctor (that was weird because last time, I couldn’t start pushing, even though I was 10cm because we HAD to wait for the doctor).  5:37am – we started to push.  The nurse wanted to see how I was as a “pusher”.  She paused a second to remove the catheter that she had just placed (she hadn’t anticipated it would be this fast, otherwise it may not have been placed at all).   I resumed pushing at 5:41am (I didn’t know Dave was keeping track so well!).  Peyton’s heartrate was dropping when I started pushing (much like Brandon’s did).  This warranted a call to the OB, who told the nurse to have me push every other contraction (like I did with Brandon).  I was used to this routine.  I had asked for a mirror so that I could keep track on my own instead of relying on Dave to give me status updates.  The nurse had me stop pushing, and called the doctor again and told her that I was close, and that it may be only a few more pushes or so.  So we hung out and waited for the doctor to come in.  Apparently, they were having a C-section, and there were 3 doctors on duty.  Two of them were in the C-section, and the third had to get “dressed” – meaning gowned up.  We thought maybe it meant she had been sleeping in the oncall room, and was just waking up.  Who knows.  She did finally arrive, and more pushing resumed.  She had to massage Peyton’s head out, so that I wouldn’t tear.  Peyton was delivered at 609am.  Her Apgar was 8 and then 9 5 minutes later (I had to ask the nurse, who had forgotten to write it down).  Her hands and feet were a little blue. 
We were transferred to an overflow area since they were all full in the mother/baby area (40 rooms!).  I didn’t care where I was as long as I had my own room; we were in the pediatrics wing, which would proof beneficial later on.  We quickly learned about our little girl – she poops a lot – the requisite number of poops is 1 on the first day of life.  She is an over-achiever in this department with a total of 4!  And they were all pretty huge!  She will definitely let us know when she poops, this is her loudest cry of all.  She likes sleeping way more than Brandon and resists waking up for the sake of food.  She is sensitive to noise, which will be interesting when we get home.  We started making the phone calls to announce her arrival; thanks to Julie for helping me text everyone from work (yes, still in the dark ages with that).   She had her first visitors around 1130am when my mom, dad and Brandon came to visit.  Dave had set the camera up to capture the siblings’ first meeting.    We had wanted Brandon to have his own time with Peyton before my parents came in.  (To back up, we were talking that neither of us cried when she was born, but Dave did admit to tearing up when thinking about how it would be when Brandon met her for the first time).  My parents kinda hung back after Brandon first walked in.  The tripod was set at his eye level to capture the moment.    Brandon did a GREAT job – he was very gentle, and kept wanting to hold her.  He didn’t want my mom to hold her, because it meant taking her away from him.  He just walked right in and was very nonchalant.  He was more concerned by my IV, the gown, the bed, and if I was ok, since I was in the “hostable”.  He was very sweet.  Dave took him to go look at the play area which was just outside since we were in the Pedi wing.  They stayed about an hour, which we were planning on, since it was Brandon’s naptime.  We didn’t want to set him up for a tantrum if he were too tired.  My auntie Jean and Grandma came down from the city.  It took them about an hour to drive, and then 30 minutes to find us!  My grandma was so tired when she got here.  Soon after they left, she had one of her massive poops, and then cried until it was changed.  She doesn’t like being unswaddled or naked.  Dave also blows on her to dry her off, which she also detests.  After she was all changed, she just looked so peaceful, taking a look around, checking out the world.  She also let out a big sigh, which sounded so grown up.  My grandma said she didn’t look like a newborn, that she looked several months old already (probably because she is such a big baby, which all the nurses do comment on).  We can’t help but compare the two kids – she is able to hang out by herself in the bassinet and even if she stirs, she is able to go right back to sleep (we held Brandon much of the time, just so he could sleep), she doesn’t move around as much and she is much quieter than he ever was (he used to make so much noise even when eating).  She has been very sneezy as well.  She doesn’t like to eat as much as Brandon does, which is probably a good thing, since she outweighed him at birth but was shorter.   She is definitely more mellow.  We were transferred back to the mother/baby ward later in the afternoon yesterday.  We also had visits from Bonnie and Logan as well as Kenny and Rachel.  Dave (and I, but mostly Dave) thank you guys for the snacks!  We forgot to take pictures to capture the moment, but I’m sure there will be plenty of pictures with them at a later time. 

In the majority of cases, Internet users resort to foreign sources to get prescription order cheap levitra unica-web.com drugs. To viagra without prescription free dodge wooziness and dazedness when moving from an organized or lying position, get up constantly. Related site viagra prescription The male hormone testosterone is responsible for pumping oxygenated blood into various parts of the human body. Certain other factors like aging, neurological disorders, and diabetes are also a big reason for exacerbation of chronic order viagra online unica-web.com pancreatitis. 1/2/09 – She passed her hearing test in the middle of the night!  Her labs were done early this morning (bilirubin and the PKU).  We later found out the bilirubin was 5 (so that’s normal).  Brandon came again today, with just my mom.  She said he had a rough night last night, choosing to sleep on the floor, instead of his own bed, all night long.  He wanted to hold Baby Sister (even though he kept telling my mom he didn’t want to go to the hostable to visit her) as soon as he came into the room.  I had them sit together on the bed alone.  It was a really sweet moment.  Afterwards, to give my mom some time with her and to make it a “fun” trip for Brandon, Dave took him back to the play room.  As soon as Dave offered to take him, he forgot about wanting to hold Baby Sister.  He did see my half-eaten cookie that I left on my tray and asked, “What’s your cookie doing there?  I want some.”  Later when they had left, Dave told me Brandon told him, “Come home with me.  Don’t stay with Mommy.”  Poor Baby, his whole life is turned upside down right now, and he just needs his Daddy.  My mom said his naptime today was a little rough as well.  We told him we were coming home tomorrow.  I called him right after dinner to check in.  He sounded just fine, telling me about how he “wanted to keep the fire out of the ambulance, for sure.”  He was playing with his Legos and telling me all about it.  He talked to Dave, too, so I think we were both comforted by the fact that he sounded just fine.  We shall see tomorrow when we go home.  We had the option to be discharged today, since Peyton was 24 hours old, but really we wanted to just take advantage of the two-night stay to be taken care of a little while longer.  Dave thinks it’s weird that we’re more like in a hotel than a hospital, just asking the nurses to replenish our water, diapers, supplies for me, etc.  A shot out also to nutrition services!  The food here is great!  I’d never think to say that about hospital food.  Maybe it’s also because I don’t have to prepare it, and I’m starving most of the time!  It’s not salty, it’s got a good balance of veggies and selection.  I do give Dave my little juice boxes, but enjoy the dessert that’s given.  Being here the extra day has given me a great chance to catch up on the blog, FB, and email!  More updates to come as the family is reunited back at home.  Tomorrow we will celebrate my dad’s birthday, as well!

I’m so glad that Dave was able to stay here this time – he left for dinner, and I really missed him!  I had just fed Peyton, and he left, thinking it would be a good time.  Soon after, she started crying, so I picked her up, and checked her diaper.  It wasn’t wet, so I just held her, then realized her blanket was wet.  She must have peed around the diaper somehow, which may have come loose at her last temperature check.  So I put her on my bed to change her, and when I looked again, she had pooped.  I wasn’t expecting that since I had just checked her!  So I quickly moved her diaper so she wouldn’t get her feet in it.  Then more poo!  It was like I had struck oil, and it was just flowing out of her!  The whole time she was crying and really upset.  I had to quickly grab the changing supplies, all the way half-bent over my bed.  My back was still sore, so it was a little too much.  After I got her all cleaned up, I noticed her shirt was wet.  We hadn’t changed her shirt since her birth, but luckily we had extra shirts in the bassinet.  They were a bit large, so I had to make it work.  Since the shirt arm was so long, it was just more material I had to work her arm through with her flailing all over the place.  I got a new blanket, and swaddled her all up, with the return to our happy baby.  I just left her on the bed, not wanting to rock the boat, as she was content.  Dave came back shortly thereafter.  He then noticed the bedding was wet too in the bassinet, so luckily I didn’t put her back in there.  He changed the bedding while I told him what had happened.  I’m glad to have him be around to help out for the next 6 weeks!  Woo-hoo!!