I go back to work one week from today. Yeah, I know it's not the 16 weeks I had hoped for, but 12 is better than the 10 that I had with Lily. Mark is doing OK at his new job but commissions take 2 months to fully pay out. Baby's daycare spot open + meager checking account balance + preschooler at daycare all day and mom getting a smidgen bored = time to head back to the office.
Since I'm hanging onto roughly 20 pounds of (insert expletive here) baby weight, I had to go buy new pants so that I have office-appropriate apparel. That was sort of a depressing shopping trip, but at least I won't look like a sausage stuffed into a casing by trying to fit into my non-fat pants. I think what upsets me more is the prospect of having to wear actual shoes closed at the toe and heel after not having worn such footwear since mid-June. I look forward to being able to donate my new fat pants to Goodwill in a few months.
I haven't checked my work email one single time this maternity leave and am proud of myself for holding firm. They have my phone numbers to contact me if all hell broke loose; since I haven't gotten any frantic voicemails, apparently it has not. Hannah and I stopped in the office last week to print out a pay stub (long story short, we can't pay the several thousand dollar hospital bill in full at this very minute and to give us more than a 12 month payment plan we have to apply for financial assistance, even though we will probably be denied). While my coworkers seemed pleased at the prospect of my return - probably so that they can all offload their chunks of my workload back onto me - the sentiment was that not much had changed in the 10 weeks that I had been absent at that point. A coworker's wife is due with their first baby like any second now and Hannah kept smiling and cooing right at him; it was like she was saying, "You're going to have one of ME soon, buddy!" (I'll point out that Hannah smiles and coos at anyone; today she did it to my 2003 Rentschler Field Inaugural Season cup on the coffee table.)
This ain't my first rodeo on going back to work after a maternity leave. With Lily, the mere thought of going back to work sent me into tears for a solid two weeks beforehand. Ironing little name tags into her rompers and onesies was Very Serious Business, as was fretting over my freezer stash of milk. I panicked about Leaving My Baby To Be Raised By Strangers In The Name Of Selfish Careerism And A Luxury Lifestyle (ha!). We brought her to daycare, Mark gently got me out the door, and I cried. I got to work and had to pump in a bathroom and cried some more - but I found that it was nice to be back in a lot of ways. I only cried that first day.
This time I'm so much more relaxed about it all, probably because I know it's not the end of the world. I did buy some bottles last week and finally got around to ordering a label set for Hannah's daycare gear (if it doesn't arrive this week, I'll jury rig temporary labels with electrical tape and a Sharpie). The same wonderful nursery caregivers who took care of her big sister will be taking care of Hannah. Daycare is on-board with using cloth diapers (yay!) so I got to order a small stash of BumGenius 4.0 one size pocket diapers and a large Imagine wet/dry bag. I have around 80 ounces of milk in the freezer (oversupply for the win) and should be good to go on pumping in comfortable surroundings thanks to our building's lactation room (est. 2011). I have plenty of knitting queued up for my pump breaks.
Don't get me wrong, I'll still cry next Tuesday morning when I bring Hannah to daycare and drive away towards the office. Then I'll get to work, chuck a K-cup in for my coffee fix, start reading through (and deleting) what I'm positive will be several thousand backlogged emails, maybe hit up a teleconference or two. Between a couple of pumping breaks and throwing myself back into my project headfirst, the day will fly by and I'll be able to pick up my smiley Hannah and my crazy Lily.
I know that even if we could afford it I'm not cut out to be a SAHM. I just wish that I could stay home with my baby for six months or a year rather than taking a leave that's measured in weeks. I'm one of the "lucky" ones, too - I had over half of my leave fully paid and I was able to afford to take 12 weeks off. So many moms in the US go back to work after 6 weeks or less and many women aren't FMLA-eligible or can't afford to take time off even if they are. This shit is inhumane; I don't know what the solution is, and doubt there will be change during my childbearing years. I just hope that change has come by the time our girls become mothers.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Monday, August 12, 2013
Tied up and twisted
We have had a blissful month since I posted last. Well, sort of. See, we learned a couple of weeks ago that not only does Hannah have an upper lip tie like her sister, but also a tongue tie.
While the early days breastfeeding Hannah has been easier than for Lily, it's a relative thing. I counted it as good that I only had abrasions on one side and I had them healed up within a week. My little porker at birth (>90th percentile in weight) had dropped down to around 58th percentile by her 1 month weight check. The pediatrician said not to freak out yet because the medical assistant at the 2 week weight check had messed up and weighed the baby while diapered, and if we assumed the diaper weighs a couple of ounces, Hannah would have been right at the bottom of normal weight gain for a breastfed baby. (Dude, I'm an engineer. I was sitting there not only mentally plotting her weight, but also figuring out what the rate of gain would look like - and it was trending down. Yes, I realize that I was basically differentiating my kid's growth curve. See kids, calculus really does have applications in daily life!)
So the ped said to just keep feeding on demand and maybe think about waking her up during her 5-6 hour overnight stretch, stuff like that. I went to a Milk Mates meeting a week later because I wanted to weigh her, and the IBCLC who runs the support group brings a scale. I was excited to see 8 oz in a week and was thinking that maybe we had turned a corner. After the meeting, the lactation consultant asked me how things were going. We were talking and I realized as I was telling her these things that the situation was really not optimal:
~ She was popping on and off the breast pretty much nonstop - All.Day.Long
~ She had started "clicking" (making a smacking sound) which actually means she was breaking the latch with every suck
~ Her rate of weight gain was consistently trending down, although thankfully still gaining
~ Nipple soreness and irritation not relieved by various creams intended for that purpose (not to mention the $30 Danish wool nursing pads)
~ The hallmark: flattened/creased "lipstick nipple", which I had the entire time Lily was nursing
Patrice heard this and put the pieces together, and asked if I wanted her to take a quick look at Hannah's mouth because a lip tie often means a tongue tie. She checked Hannah's mouth and bingo - tongue tie. She was leaving on vacation two days later but gave me names of some dentists who do laser revisions of these ties.
"Revision" is a nice euphemism for lasering or cutting the tissue away, usually with no local anesthesia in a baby this age. Part of me felt it was selfish to put Hannah through a painful procedure just for my benefit. After all, I nursed through nearly the same symptoms for TWO YEARS with Lily. But a few other lactation consultants who I'm acquainted with pointed out that for a lot of reasons it wasn't just for my benefit, it was in Hannah's best interests too.
I started making phone calls. Naturally none of the three recommended dentists in Connecticut were in-network for our dental insurance, and two of them wouldn't even submit the claim to our insurance for me. I'm not ashamed to say that money is a little tight right now and paying up-front for a procedure and maybe not getting much or anything in the way of reimbursement did not appeal. I called another recommended dentist in Albany, the guy who basically pioneered the use of lasers to treat tongue and upper lip ties in babies. He's been doing it for like 20 years now. I checked Cigna's website and magically, he's in-network. This prompted a call to his office, and it was confirmed that we would have a much lower out-of-pocket expense if we elected to have him do Hannah's revisions. So for the cost of a tank of gas we'd have less than 1/5th of the out of pocket cost and would be getting it done by the pioneer of this procedure? Sure, sign us up! The only kicker was that he was on vacation for a week, so we scheduled a visit for Monday the 5th.
Meanwhile we saw the nurse practitioner/IBCLC at the pediatrician's office, who has a reputation for being pretty conservative, and even she recommended a revision. She showed me that Hannah was basically gumming/chewing at the nipple rather than nursing correctly. It's likely that the only thing that kept the baby gaining was my strong milk supply and the fact that I was nursing on-demand, AND she was on the breast for most of my waking hours.
On August 5th, Hannah and I left bright and early to make the trip to Albany, which is around 2 hours. I learned the night before that Mark had been unable to get the day off to go with us, and I felt like it was too late to call my mother or any friends to come with me. I was so scared, and felt funny about being alone - there was no way I could have done this trip alone if she'd been my first baby. We had a pleasant and very scenic drive through the Berkshires and got to the dentist's office. He checked Hannah's mouth, said her ties were quite restrictive - especially the tongue - and he recommended revising both. I signed the consent forms and Hannah was whisked off for her date with the laser.
She was gone for less than 10 minutes, and I did cry. And I prayed that she would be OK and it wouldn't hurt her too much. Other families had arrived with babies for their revision appointments, and it appeared I was the only mom flying solo that day. The wait alone in the exam room sucked. I have no idea how parents of children with serious medical conditions do it - this was a simple procedure with absolutely no anesthesia and I was still a wreck. I was resolved not to be crying when she came back to me, though. THe dentist brought her back and had me nurse immediately. She was not crying when she came back to me, but it was obvious that she had been (whether from being swaddled or having fingers in her mouth or the pain of the procedure, I didn't want to know). He came back around 10 minutes later to show me how to do the post-surgery stretching exercises, and we were on our way.
We stopped for lunch and we got home around 3 hours after the procedure. At that point the natural numbing effect of the laser wore off and Happy Smiling Hannah turned into Insanely Screamy Hannah. I seriously started to wonder if the revision had been a good idea. I got her stripped down to a diaper for skin-to-skin and nursed her, which was the only thing that gave a temporary reprieve from screaming. I called the pediatrician to get the correct dosage of Tylenol and the nurse could barely hear me over the din. Mark got home and he went to get Lily from daycare and to pick up our CSA box, because Hannah and I couldn't leave the couch. Clearly, our plans to take Lily out to dinner for her birthday had to be changed.
Fortunately that afternoon and evening was the worst of it. I gave her a couple more doses of Tylenol in the days following and a week later, Hannah seems to be pretty much over it - except for when we do the stretching exercises. I'm worried that we may have a bit of reattachment of the tongue tie based on how it feels when I do the stretches/massage the surgical sites, but we'll see what happens as it continues to heal. She's already getting a deeper latch, is able to nurse for a full feeding without popping on and off constantly, and my soreness is diminishing. We've even had nursing sessions with no lipstick nipple! And having discrete nursing sessions versus being on and off the breast for a minute or two at a time is allowing me to actually get things done around the house.
While the early days breastfeeding Hannah has been easier than for Lily, it's a relative thing. I counted it as good that I only had abrasions on one side and I had them healed up within a week. My little porker at birth (>90th percentile in weight) had dropped down to around 58th percentile by her 1 month weight check. The pediatrician said not to freak out yet because the medical assistant at the 2 week weight check had messed up and weighed the baby while diapered, and if we assumed the diaper weighs a couple of ounces, Hannah would have been right at the bottom of normal weight gain for a breastfed baby. (Dude, I'm an engineer. I was sitting there not only mentally plotting her weight, but also figuring out what the rate of gain would look like - and it was trending down. Yes, I realize that I was basically differentiating my kid's growth curve. See kids, calculus really does have applications in daily life!)
So the ped said to just keep feeding on demand and maybe think about waking her up during her 5-6 hour overnight stretch, stuff like that. I went to a Milk Mates meeting a week later because I wanted to weigh her, and the IBCLC who runs the support group brings a scale. I was excited to see 8 oz in a week and was thinking that maybe we had turned a corner. After the meeting, the lactation consultant asked me how things were going. We were talking and I realized as I was telling her these things that the situation was really not optimal:
~ She was popping on and off the breast pretty much nonstop - All.Day.Long
~ She had started "clicking" (making a smacking sound) which actually means she was breaking the latch with every suck
~ Her rate of weight gain was consistently trending down, although thankfully still gaining
~ Nipple soreness and irritation not relieved by various creams intended for that purpose (not to mention the $30 Danish wool nursing pads)
~ The hallmark: flattened/creased "lipstick nipple", which I had the entire time Lily was nursing
Patrice heard this and put the pieces together, and asked if I wanted her to take a quick look at Hannah's mouth because a lip tie often means a tongue tie. She checked Hannah's mouth and bingo - tongue tie. She was leaving on vacation two days later but gave me names of some dentists who do laser revisions of these ties.
"Revision" is a nice euphemism for lasering or cutting the tissue away, usually with no local anesthesia in a baby this age. Part of me felt it was selfish to put Hannah through a painful procedure just for my benefit. After all, I nursed through nearly the same symptoms for TWO YEARS with Lily. But a few other lactation consultants who I'm acquainted with pointed out that for a lot of reasons it wasn't just for my benefit, it was in Hannah's best interests too.
I started making phone calls. Naturally none of the three recommended dentists in Connecticut were in-network for our dental insurance, and two of them wouldn't even submit the claim to our insurance for me. I'm not ashamed to say that money is a little tight right now and paying up-front for a procedure and maybe not getting much or anything in the way of reimbursement did not appeal. I called another recommended dentist in Albany, the guy who basically pioneered the use of lasers to treat tongue and upper lip ties in babies. He's been doing it for like 20 years now. I checked Cigna's website and magically, he's in-network. This prompted a call to his office, and it was confirmed that we would have a much lower out-of-pocket expense if we elected to have him do Hannah's revisions. So for the cost of a tank of gas we'd have less than 1/5th of the out of pocket cost and would be getting it done by the pioneer of this procedure? Sure, sign us up! The only kicker was that he was on vacation for a week, so we scheduled a visit for Monday the 5th.
Meanwhile we saw the nurse practitioner/IBCLC at the pediatrician's office, who has a reputation for being pretty conservative, and even she recommended a revision. She showed me that Hannah was basically gumming/chewing at the nipple rather than nursing correctly. It's likely that the only thing that kept the baby gaining was my strong milk supply and the fact that I was nursing on-demand, AND she was on the breast for most of my waking hours.
On August 5th, Hannah and I left bright and early to make the trip to Albany, which is around 2 hours. I learned the night before that Mark had been unable to get the day off to go with us, and I felt like it was too late to call my mother or any friends to come with me. I was so scared, and felt funny about being alone - there was no way I could have done this trip alone if she'd been my first baby. We had a pleasant and very scenic drive through the Berkshires and got to the dentist's office. He checked Hannah's mouth, said her ties were quite restrictive - especially the tongue - and he recommended revising both. I signed the consent forms and Hannah was whisked off for her date with the laser.
She was gone for less than 10 minutes, and I did cry. And I prayed that she would be OK and it wouldn't hurt her too much. Other families had arrived with babies for their revision appointments, and it appeared I was the only mom flying solo that day. The wait alone in the exam room sucked. I have no idea how parents of children with serious medical conditions do it - this was a simple procedure with absolutely no anesthesia and I was still a wreck. I was resolved not to be crying when she came back to me, though. THe dentist brought her back and had me nurse immediately. She was not crying when she came back to me, but it was obvious that she had been (whether from being swaddled or having fingers in her mouth or the pain of the procedure, I didn't want to know). He came back around 10 minutes later to show me how to do the post-surgery stretching exercises, and we were on our way.
We stopped for lunch and we got home around 3 hours after the procedure. At that point the natural numbing effect of the laser wore off and Happy Smiling Hannah turned into Insanely Screamy Hannah. I seriously started to wonder if the revision had been a good idea. I got her stripped down to a diaper for skin-to-skin and nursed her, which was the only thing that gave a temporary reprieve from screaming. I called the pediatrician to get the correct dosage of Tylenol and the nurse could barely hear me over the din. Mark got home and he went to get Lily from daycare and to pick up our CSA box, because Hannah and I couldn't leave the couch. Clearly, our plans to take Lily out to dinner for her birthday had to be changed.
Fortunately that afternoon and evening was the worst of it. I gave her a couple more doses of Tylenol in the days following and a week later, Hannah seems to be pretty much over it - except for when we do the stretching exercises. I'm worried that we may have a bit of reattachment of the tongue tie based on how it feels when I do the stretches/massage the surgical sites, but we'll see what happens as it continues to heal. She's already getting a deeper latch, is able to nurse for a full feeding without popping on and off constantly, and my soreness is diminishing. We've even had nursing sessions with no lipstick nipple! And having discrete nursing sessions versus being on and off the breast for a minute or two at a time is allowing me to actually get things done around the house.
Friday, July 12, 2013
I need a few more sets of hands
I thought I had this mom-of-two thing in the bag. I'm on maternity leave until September and we've made the financial sacrifice to keep Lily in daycare even during the unpaid portion of my leave, because she LOVES "school" and her friends and we don't want her routine being altered any more than it already is. I had visions of being able to take nice brisk walks with the baby every day (working off that baby weight), really doing some wonderful cooking, and pulling out my knitting and sewing and having a chance to catch up on TV viewing - albeit with a newborn who wants me to stop and nurse every few hours. And I have to admit, I really do have the time for some of that because Hannah is an easygoing baby much of the time and we're having almost none of the breastfeeding difficulties that I had with Lily.
Mark is working a lot of afternoon/evening shifts at his new job. This is good from the standpoint of income and is bad from the standpoint of me having to do the evening parenting solo with a 3 year old and a newborn. As you might recall, Mark worked noon-8:30 PM or 3-11:30 PM basically for the first 2.5 years of Lily's life, so you'd think I'd be all right handling the evening routine again. I was able to manage working full time PLUS 95% of the cooking and 5 nights a week of evening parenting, and that includes when I had severe nausea 24/7 in my first trimester. Unfortunately I neglected to take into account the oft-competing needs of my children.
I'm OK going and picking Lily up. Hannah stays in her infant carseat bucket and Lily is big enough to carry her own lunch box and backpack, and I've drilled her well on keeping a hand on me or the car for safety in a parking lot. The drive home is pleasant, with Lily telling Hannah and me all about her exciting day. Then we get home and all hell breaks loose:
1) Lily wants to watch TV. Fine, we let her watch one TV show per day (either Signing Time on DVD or Sesame Street or Thomas the Tank Engine via streaming Netflix). The problems arise if we reach the end of said program and I don't have dinner on the table yet. And I often don't, because:
2) Hannah starts cluster feeding for the evening at 5:30 or 6 PM. She usually doesn't want to stop until around 8:30 or 9 PM. Awesome. I can set her down for maybe a few minutes at a time which is not at all conducive to food preparation and cooking.
So Lily wants to watch another show, but because we limit TV I tell her no. Weeping and whining ensue (the Threes have started slightly early with this one). Then I manage to get dinner on the table for Lily if not both of us, we eat, and it's time for the tub. Lily needs a bath every evening because she gets sweaty and dirty on the playground at daycare. It means she's having fun and getting exercise, but at the same time it means we can't really skip a bath if we're running late.
If Hannah will let me, I swaddle her in a muslin blanket and pop her into the bouncer so that I can give Lily her tub. Lily is used to being able to spend 15-20 minutes playing with toys before I wash her, and now much to her dismay she's getting hosed down in record time like the prison inmates at the start of The Shawshank Redemption. Then once my older child is reasonably clean all three of us head upstairs. On a good night I can tuck Hannah into her bassinet in our room while I race through getting Lily in pajamas, teeth brushed, books read, and tucked in. On a bad night I get to do all of that one-handed while holding Hannah as she nurses. I'll let Hannah make a little bit of noise but if she loses it, I can't leave her alone to scream.
Some nights, all of this goes smoothly - others, all three of us end up in tears. I can hear the voices now: "Just wear the baby!", you say. Of course I've tried that, but when Hannah wants to nurse, screaming ensues if she's essentially on my chest but not latched on - I'm basically taunting her with the proximity of the fount of all that is good in her life. It's so close, but yet so far. She is not yet big enough or strong enough to get latched or stay latched herself if I try to nurse her in the sling or carrier. Added degree of difficulty: she won't take a pacifier consistently!
I've decided I need a few extra sets of hands and arms or a private chef and a nanny between the hours of 5 and 8 PM every night. Barring either of those outcomes, I'm going to have to find a way to get the baby to nurse properly while being worn.
Mark is working a lot of afternoon/evening shifts at his new job. This is good from the standpoint of income and is bad from the standpoint of me having to do the evening parenting solo with a 3 year old and a newborn. As you might recall, Mark worked noon-8:30 PM or 3-11:30 PM basically for the first 2.5 years of Lily's life, so you'd think I'd be all right handling the evening routine again. I was able to manage working full time PLUS 95% of the cooking and 5 nights a week of evening parenting, and that includes when I had severe nausea 24/7 in my first trimester. Unfortunately I neglected to take into account the oft-competing needs of my children.
I'm OK going and picking Lily up. Hannah stays in her infant carseat bucket and Lily is big enough to carry her own lunch box and backpack, and I've drilled her well on keeping a hand on me or the car for safety in a parking lot. The drive home is pleasant, with Lily telling Hannah and me all about her exciting day. Then we get home and all hell breaks loose:
1) Lily wants to watch TV. Fine, we let her watch one TV show per day (either Signing Time on DVD or Sesame Street or Thomas the Tank Engine via streaming Netflix). The problems arise if we reach the end of said program and I don't have dinner on the table yet. And I often don't, because:
2) Hannah starts cluster feeding for the evening at 5:30 or 6 PM. She usually doesn't want to stop until around 8:30 or 9 PM. Awesome. I can set her down for maybe a few minutes at a time which is not at all conducive to food preparation and cooking.
So Lily wants to watch another show, but because we limit TV I tell her no. Weeping and whining ensue (the Threes have started slightly early with this one). Then I manage to get dinner on the table for Lily if not both of us, we eat, and it's time for the tub. Lily needs a bath every evening because she gets sweaty and dirty on the playground at daycare. It means she's having fun and getting exercise, but at the same time it means we can't really skip a bath if we're running late.
If Hannah will let me, I swaddle her in a muslin blanket and pop her into the bouncer so that I can give Lily her tub. Lily is used to being able to spend 15-20 minutes playing with toys before I wash her, and now much to her dismay she's getting hosed down in record time like the prison inmates at the start of The Shawshank Redemption. Then once my older child is reasonably clean all three of us head upstairs. On a good night I can tuck Hannah into her bassinet in our room while I race through getting Lily in pajamas, teeth brushed, books read, and tucked in. On a bad night I get to do all of that one-handed while holding Hannah as she nurses. I'll let Hannah make a little bit of noise but if she loses it, I can't leave her alone to scream.
Some nights, all of this goes smoothly - others, all three of us end up in tears. I can hear the voices now: "Just wear the baby!", you say. Of course I've tried that, but when Hannah wants to nurse, screaming ensues if she's essentially on my chest but not latched on - I'm basically taunting her with the proximity of the fount of all that is good in her life. It's so close, but yet so far. She is not yet big enough or strong enough to get latched or stay latched herself if I try to nurse her in the sling or carrier. Added degree of difficulty: she won't take a pacifier consistently!
I've decided I need a few extra sets of hands and arms or a private chef and a nanny between the hours of 5 and 8 PM every night. Barring either of those outcomes, I'm going to have to find a way to get the baby to nurse properly while being worn.
Monday, July 1, 2013
Newborn cloth diapering
Mark and I decided around mid-pregnancy that we were going to use cloth diapers full time during my maternity leave. We started using cloth at home (disposables at daycare) when Lily was 4.5 months old so virtually all of our diapers are of the one size variety. Most one size diapers say that they fit from around 8 pounds and up but 10+ pounds is more realistic and even then they can be very bulky on a newborn, so we needed to get cloth diapers to fit a newborn.
We purchased this newborn diaper package from Nicki's Diapers for $141.97 including free shipping. This package includes 2 dozen prefolds in 2 sizes, four diaper covers, one each of a newborn bamboo fitted and a newborn All-In-One (AIO), and two one-size diapers for when the baby gets a little bigger. I also purchased a 3-pack of Snappi diaper fasteners and we already had a pail liner and wet bags from when we cloth diapered Lily. We already had three Thirsties Duo pocket diapers in size 1 that we'd used on Lily, and those will fit a newborn well. We started using the diapers the day after we got home from the hospital. Before her umbilical cord stump fell off, we just had to fold down the covers a bit to avoid getting the stump wet.
I do a load of diaper laundry every day because Hannah's wearing mostly the XS prefolds (the Smalls are a bit too bulky still). It's not difficult at all - a prewash with no detergent, a hot water wash with Rockin' Green Hard Rock, and a 2nd rinse. Then everything goes in the dryer on high. The bamboo prefold and the hemp halves of the Thirsties Duo inserts typically come out a bit damp but dry fully after a few hours of hanging on a rack or outside on the clothesline. It takes around 2 hours total, with maybe 2-3 minutes of hands-on time on my part.
We could have gone for a less-expensive "private label" Imagine newborn package at $88.16 which in retrospect would have been a perfectly-suitable choice. The two packages have the same prefolds and bamboo fitted, but the cheaper package uses all Imagine brand for covers, AIO, etc. We have been very pleased with the quality of Imagine diapers, so much so that I am now an Imagine Advocate.
So how do they stack up on cost? We have a BJ's membership and a 210-count box of size 1 Pampers Swaddlers is $41.99 at BJ's. That works out to 20 cents per diaper without coupons. Assuming the baby stays in size 1 for the first three months, and is changed on average 8 times a day, that works out to $144 in diapers for the first 90 days. However since we'd need to round up to 4 boxes of diapers to get the 20 cents/diaper price, we'd be looking at $168. The newborn cloth diaper package that we bought is $142, while the less-expensive Imagine package is $88. For the full newborn package, the cost is reasonably close to disposables (especially if you add in a bag of the Rockin' Green detergent that we use) but the Imagine newborn package is roughly half the cost to diaper a baby. There is some residual value in the cloth diapers (reselling the package or using the prefolds as inserts in one size pocket diapers), while disposables are literally throwing money away.
I don't want to make it sound rosy and perfect - there are very valid reasons for families to choose to use disposable diapers. Heck, we still use disposable diapers and once Hannah is in daycare in a few months she will be in disposables there! But with cloth, we love the convenience of never running out of diapers and that we're filling the landfill a little less than we would with 100% disposable use.
Saturday, June 29, 2013
The second time around
I admit, when I got a positive pregnancy test this time my first reaction was "Yay!" followed by "Holy crap, what have we done?" Lily was our only for a long time - and admittedly is a pretty easy kid to parent, all things considered - and so the addition of a second child was a huge change for us.
I've found that the second time around we're much more laid-back about pretty much everything. With Lily, we spent months getting the nursery just right and picking out clothes and bedding and gear. For our second, we set up the playard in our bedroom when I was 36 weeks pregnant (we're using the bassinet for the first few months) and at around 37 weeks I went through the baby clothes and pulled out everything gender neutral to wash. I think we installed the car seat bases around the same time and I packed my hospital bag at 38 weeks - that was the extent of our preparations.
I'm sure part of my relative calm during labor and delivery was the fact that I did NOT have preeclampsia this time. Being told you have a potentially life-threatening complication and are going to the hospital for an immediate induction is enough to get anyone a bit wound up, and it so was very stressful for all of us when Lily was born. Because of the medications I was on, Lily had to be whisked across the room to be evaluated within a minute or so of delivery. Postpartum I was confined to bed for 24 hours on mag sulfate, getting pretty intensive nursing care and monitoring, and about the only thing I could do was nurse the baby. This time with the scheduled induction it was all pretty different. We knew our baby was arriving one way or the other on the 13th, we knew my OB would be the one delivering him/her, and from a medical standpoint I had none of the limitations/restrictions that were necessary when Lily was born. Because the only meds I had during labor were Pitocin and the epidural I have a clear memory of the entire labor and delivery and was able to get up and actively care for my baby right away. While I'm thankful for modern obstetrics for getting both me and Lily safely through, I had a much better birth experience with Hannah, and I have zero regrets about the induction.
While it was almost three years since we had a newborn, everything feels more relaxed and comfortable. Breastfeeding is going SO much easier even though Hannah shares Lily's upper lip tie. I don't know if it's because Hannah's a bigger baby or if I just have a better idea of what to do but once we worked past Hannah being hypoglycemic at birth, we've had things go a lot more smoothly than they did with Lily. Bathing, diapering, soothing the baby are all easier - it's like riding a bicycle; once you've been through it once it's a lot easier to pick it up again. Everyone from friends to coworkers said it would be like this and I'm very happy that so far that's been accurate.
I really like the age spacing of our kids. Lily has been potty trained for long enough that we've had no setbacks or accidents, and she's old enough that she can legitimately help me with simple tasks. I can hand her a puzzle or some crayons and a coloring book while I nurse Hannah and she entertains herself. We have had some minor behavioral regression but that's improving pretty rapidly. If we go for a third baby (which so far is still a distinct possibility) we're going to try for similar spacing - 2.5 to 3 years behind Hannah.
I've found that the second time around we're much more laid-back about pretty much everything. With Lily, we spent months getting the nursery just right and picking out clothes and bedding and gear. For our second, we set up the playard in our bedroom when I was 36 weeks pregnant (we're using the bassinet for the first few months) and at around 37 weeks I went through the baby clothes and pulled out everything gender neutral to wash. I think we installed the car seat bases around the same time and I packed my hospital bag at 38 weeks - that was the extent of our preparations.
I'm sure part of my relative calm during labor and delivery was the fact that I did NOT have preeclampsia this time. Being told you have a potentially life-threatening complication and are going to the hospital for an immediate induction is enough to get anyone a bit wound up, and it so was very stressful for all of us when Lily was born. Because of the medications I was on, Lily had to be whisked across the room to be evaluated within a minute or so of delivery. Postpartum I was confined to bed for 24 hours on mag sulfate, getting pretty intensive nursing care and monitoring, and about the only thing I could do was nurse the baby. This time with the scheduled induction it was all pretty different. We knew our baby was arriving one way or the other on the 13th, we knew my OB would be the one delivering him/her, and from a medical standpoint I had none of the limitations/restrictions that were necessary when Lily was born. Because the only meds I had during labor were Pitocin and the epidural I have a clear memory of the entire labor and delivery and was able to get up and actively care for my baby right away. While I'm thankful for modern obstetrics for getting both me and Lily safely through, I had a much better birth experience with Hannah, and I have zero regrets about the induction.
While it was almost three years since we had a newborn, everything feels more relaxed and comfortable. Breastfeeding is going SO much easier even though Hannah shares Lily's upper lip tie. I don't know if it's because Hannah's a bigger baby or if I just have a better idea of what to do but once we worked past Hannah being hypoglycemic at birth, we've had things go a lot more smoothly than they did with Lily. Bathing, diapering, soothing the baby are all easier - it's like riding a bicycle; once you've been through it once it's a lot easier to pick it up again. Everyone from friends to coworkers said it would be like this and I'm very happy that so far that's been accurate.
I really like the age spacing of our kids. Lily has been potty trained for long enough that we've had no setbacks or accidents, and she's old enough that she can legitimately help me with simple tasks. I can hand her a puzzle or some crayons and a coloring book while I nurse Hannah and she entertains herself. We have had some minor behavioral regression but that's improving pretty rapidly. If we go for a third baby (which so far is still a distinct possibility) we're going to try for similar spacing - 2.5 to 3 years behind Hannah.
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Hannah's birth story
On June 12th I had around 4-5 hours of contractions before they stopped in the evening. I was a little disappointed to not go into labor fully on my own but was glad that Wiggle was waiting for when my OB was on call the next day. We brought Lily and Bella to my parents' house in the afternoon so we were ready to go for the big day. Mark and I woke up early on the 13th and headed for the hospital.
I got to my room a few minutes after 7 AM and met my labor nurse Tricia. She was actually the nurse who had cared for me a few months ago when I got sent to L&D for monitoring and Mark and I both really liked her. She had me change into my hospital gown and get all situated in bed. We got the monitors on my belly and she started an IV. At around 7:30 Dr. M came in to check me; my dilation would determine how the induction would start. He said I was 2 cm and 80% effaced so he didn't want to bother with any cervical ripening and would just go to Pitocin. His plan for the day was "Pitocin, breaking your water around lunch time, an epidural if you want it, and then having a baby!" It sounded like a good plan to us.
The Pit actually started running at around 8 AM and Tricia turned it up every half hour. I had a light drip of IV fluids as well as the Pitocin. I didn't feel much of anything for the first half hour or 45 minutes and was doing some reading on my Kindle. Then it started kicking in and the contractions felt like they had the day before. I told Tricia that I wanted to walk and she got the telemetry unit for my monitors (she had started charging it as soon as I told her I wanted to go as long as possible before getting the epidural if I got it at all). Mark pushed my IV pole and we were up and doing laps of the maternity unit. Tricia had asked if it was OK with me to have nursing students observe my care and I had said yes, so at around that time she introduced me to the two nursing students who would be following me that day. Both them were in the 1 year master's entry to nursing program at UConn. It was their first week of clinicals and their first day on the maternity unit, and they seemed excited that they would probably get to see a delivery.
After 11ish the contractions were strong enough that I decided to stay in my room. I put my iPhone in the stereo dock and put a live Rush album on repeat. I was more comfortable standing up and actually I spent a lot of time near the windows looking outside (it was pouring rain) and then leaning on Mark or swaying/rocking from side to side during the contractions themselves. While the contractions were strong and painful I felt fine in between. They were short-ish contractions but close together. A little before 1 PM a resident came in to check me. I was at 4 cm and while she was up there she asked if I wanted my water broken then - I told her to do it. It was a very funny feeling with a big pop and a gush and Wiggle's fluid was nice and clear. Things got noticeably stronger on the contraction front and they dialed the Pitocin down a little so that it didn't hit me quite as hard. Dr. M came in to see me at 1:30ish because he was done in the OR and wanted to decide if he could go back to the office or not. I was still feeling good in between contractions, so he went to the office - but knowing how fast I dilated with Lily, he made me promise that if I felt any pressure or felt the need to push I would tell Tricia because it would take him 15+ minutes to get back to the hospital.
By 2, I was feeling very uncomfortable during contractions (I had started to cry through them and had a hard time staying on my feet) and they were coming a lot closer together. Tricia offered to check me to see if progress was being made but I was still at 4 cm. I decided it was epidural time, although I felt like I had given in too early. At that point the pain was so strong during contractions that I couldn't stand at all, which made things worse because I couldn't rock and sway through them. The two nursing students got sent back in and they helped Mark coach me through the contractions. Wiggle was a trooper and tolerated the hard labor well. Tricia let me know that the anesthesiologist was in the OR for a C-section but that he could leave mid-procedure to come do my epidural. He finally arrived with a nurse anesthetist resident a little before 2:30. Tricia parked Mark in a chair in front of me so he could hold my hands and she had me hug a pillow and lean on her. The contractions were BRUTAL during the epidural process because I had to sit so still, but they told me when I could move a bit. The first positioning of the epi catheter wasn't good so they ended up snaking it up further to get it in the right spot. During one contraction as they were finishing up, I was crying out in such a way that Tricia told the anesthesiologist that she needed to lay me down and check me ASAP, and after that contraction I told her I felt pushy, confirming her suspicions that I'd dilated very fast and gone through transition. They got the epi catheter taped down and Tricia got me laid down and checked me - she thought I was almost fully dilated. I almost waited too long for the epidural AGAIN!
The chief resident came in and checked me and said I was actually around 9 cm but she would have them call Dr. M to get back to the hospital ASAP. She reassured me that the baby was tolerating everything well and if that changed, she would deliver the baby without waiting for my doctor to get there. By this point the anesthesiologist had run meds into the epidural catheter and they were taking effect - I could have kissed that man! I could still feel the contractions and could still feel and move my legs, it's just that the pain was gone. They had me labor down until Dr. M got there a little before 3. Mark and I were chatting and laughing with the resident, Tricia, and the nursing students, and it was kind of crazy that in a matter of minutes I'd gone from near-screaming to comfortably sitting in bed
My doctor checked me and decided that since Wiggle was still sunny side up, we needed to rotate the baby so that I could more effectively push. This involved him and the resident basically reaching up alongside the baby's head and physically rotating the kid as I pushed gently. Thank heavens I had the epidural because I genuinely don't think I could have tolerated that un-medicated. Mark held my left leg and Tricia held the right, and they brought in a second nurse (Mary Ann) for the baby. The nursing students got to watch from by the warmer. Once we got the baby's head and shoulders rotated it was time to push for real!
I pushed through several contractions when the doctor told me that he thought one more set would do the trick because the head was right there - I was surprised and he said I could reach down and feel it if I wanted to. I did and it was so amazing to feel the top of my baby's head, and with that motivation another two or three more pushes brought our baby into the world. Dr. M put the baby on my chest and announced, "It's a girl!" Mark cut the cord and the nurses got the top of my gown unsnapped, scooted her up onto my chest, and got a warm blanket over the two of us. Mark and I looked at each other after a few minutes and both of us said "She's Hannah" - which was funny, because Hannah was not our first choice girl's name, but we saw her and just knew what her name was meant to be.
During this time the resident and Dr. M were getting the placenta delivered and repairing the two small tears that I had. He said the damage was less than my first delivery but he still wanted the tears sutured. I noticed that there seemed to be a lot of blood on their gloves and they were talking about the level of bleeding but at first I figured that birth is a messy business - besides, I was focusing on Hannah. Then we heard him say that because of the bleeding he wanted another bag of Pitocin hung and to get misoprostol (Cytotec). I asked him if there was a problem, and he reassured us that while I was bleeding more than I should, we weren't in crisis mode yet and the medicines should take care of it. The nurses got the Pit cranked open and he gave me the Cytotec, and they wanted me to get Hannah nursing quickly because my body's own oxytocin would help my uterus clamp down more.
Hannah was also shaky/jittery and she was bigger than we expected her to be. The nurses did a heel stick and found that her blood sugar was too low (hypoglycemia), so it was doubly important to get her to the breast. She nursed while they finished getting me fixed up and my bleeding under control, but when they re-checked her sugar a half hour later they found it hadn't gone up. We were given three options: supplementing with formula via SNS (recommended), supplementing with formula via cup feeding, or sending her to the special care nursery for a glucose IV and monitoring. I knew immediately that I didn't want her having to go to special care - not only did the IV seem kind of traumatic, but she would be separated from me for hours and that didn't seem like a good way to get started on breastfeeding and bonding. So we supplemented at the breast with the SNS and a little formula (20 mL). She stopped shaking immediately and the next check showed her sugar up in the normal range! She was on the "glucose protocol" for 24 hours after delivery - I had to call for a glucose check each time she wanted to nurse in order to determine if she needed additional supplementation to keep her blood sugar in a good range. It was a bit annoying and after around 18 hours the postpartum nurses basically adopted a "don't ask, don't tell" strategy. We only needed the one supplement and she nursed like a champ after that.
Hannah didn't leave my chest for 45 minutes after birth and as soon as her weighing and wristbanding/baby LoJack was done she came back to me. Mark was right there with us and it was an amazing time to bond as a family. I loved that we could do skin to skin for so long after delivery this time around. Once my bleeding situation had been resolved Dr. M said I had done a great job and Hannah was perfect, and that he would check on us later that night and in the morning. He and the resident left us to the nurses to finish my recovery and move us to postpartum. Because the maternity unit was so nuts at the time, I OKed the nursing students actually helping the nurses with our care (a little more than just the observation experience they had expected!). Then Tricia had to leave; she had already stayed well past the end of her shift and Mark and I were so grateful for the wonderful care she gave me that day. The nursing students needed to leave a little while later - they both thanked us very much for letting them be a part of my labor and delivery. At that point another nurse came in to finish getting us ready to go and we were ready to move to the postpartum side of the unit.
Around 2.5 hours after I delivered, we arrived in my postpartum room. I was almost finished with my extra bag of Pitocin for the postpartum hemorrhage and my nurse was able to pull my IV a little while later (I promised that I'd make my uterus behave so that she wouldn't have to start another one). We settled in with our Hannah, I ate dinner, and we finally called our families to let them know about our new arrival. My parents immediately set off for the hospital with Lily in tow and Mark's dad headed over too. Lily got to be the first one to meet her baby sister, and then the proud grandparents got their turns.
I got to my room a few minutes after 7 AM and met my labor nurse Tricia. She was actually the nurse who had cared for me a few months ago when I got sent to L&D for monitoring and Mark and I both really liked her. She had me change into my hospital gown and get all situated in bed. We got the monitors on my belly and she started an IV. At around 7:30 Dr. M came in to check me; my dilation would determine how the induction would start. He said I was 2 cm and 80% effaced so he didn't want to bother with any cervical ripening and would just go to Pitocin. His plan for the day was "Pitocin, breaking your water around lunch time, an epidural if you want it, and then having a baby!" It sounded like a good plan to us.
The Pit actually started running at around 8 AM and Tricia turned it up every half hour. I had a light drip of IV fluids as well as the Pitocin. I didn't feel much of anything for the first half hour or 45 minutes and was doing some reading on my Kindle. Then it started kicking in and the contractions felt like they had the day before. I told Tricia that I wanted to walk and she got the telemetry unit for my monitors (she had started charging it as soon as I told her I wanted to go as long as possible before getting the epidural if I got it at all). Mark pushed my IV pole and we were up and doing laps of the maternity unit. Tricia had asked if it was OK with me to have nursing students observe my care and I had said yes, so at around that time she introduced me to the two nursing students who would be following me that day. Both them were in the 1 year master's entry to nursing program at UConn. It was their first week of clinicals and their first day on the maternity unit, and they seemed excited that they would probably get to see a delivery.
After 11ish the contractions were strong enough that I decided to stay in my room. I put my iPhone in the stereo dock and put a live Rush album on repeat. I was more comfortable standing up and actually I spent a lot of time near the windows looking outside (it was pouring rain) and then leaning on Mark or swaying/rocking from side to side during the contractions themselves. While the contractions were strong and painful I felt fine in between. They were short-ish contractions but close together. A little before 1 PM a resident came in to check me. I was at 4 cm and while she was up there she asked if I wanted my water broken then - I told her to do it. It was a very funny feeling with a big pop and a gush and Wiggle's fluid was nice and clear. Things got noticeably stronger on the contraction front and they dialed the Pitocin down a little so that it didn't hit me quite as hard. Dr. M came in to see me at 1:30ish because he was done in the OR and wanted to decide if he could go back to the office or not. I was still feeling good in between contractions, so he went to the office - but knowing how fast I dilated with Lily, he made me promise that if I felt any pressure or felt the need to push I would tell Tricia because it would take him 15+ minutes to get back to the hospital.
By 2, I was feeling very uncomfortable during contractions (I had started to cry through them and had a hard time staying on my feet) and they were coming a lot closer together. Tricia offered to check me to see if progress was being made but I was still at 4 cm. I decided it was epidural time, although I felt like I had given in too early. At that point the pain was so strong during contractions that I couldn't stand at all, which made things worse because I couldn't rock and sway through them. The two nursing students got sent back in and they helped Mark coach me through the contractions. Wiggle was a trooper and tolerated the hard labor well. Tricia let me know that the anesthesiologist was in the OR for a C-section but that he could leave mid-procedure to come do my epidural. He finally arrived with a nurse anesthetist resident a little before 2:30. Tricia parked Mark in a chair in front of me so he could hold my hands and she had me hug a pillow and lean on her. The contractions were BRUTAL during the epidural process because I had to sit so still, but they told me when I could move a bit. The first positioning of the epi catheter wasn't good so they ended up snaking it up further to get it in the right spot. During one contraction as they were finishing up, I was crying out in such a way that Tricia told the anesthesiologist that she needed to lay me down and check me ASAP, and after that contraction I told her I felt pushy, confirming her suspicions that I'd dilated very fast and gone through transition. They got the epi catheter taped down and Tricia got me laid down and checked me - she thought I was almost fully dilated. I almost waited too long for the epidural AGAIN!
The chief resident came in and checked me and said I was actually around 9 cm but she would have them call Dr. M to get back to the hospital ASAP. She reassured me that the baby was tolerating everything well and if that changed, she would deliver the baby without waiting for my doctor to get there. By this point the anesthesiologist had run meds into the epidural catheter and they were taking effect - I could have kissed that man! I could still feel the contractions and could still feel and move my legs, it's just that the pain was gone. They had me labor down until Dr. M got there a little before 3. Mark and I were chatting and laughing with the resident, Tricia, and the nursing students, and it was kind of crazy that in a matter of minutes I'd gone from near-screaming to comfortably sitting in bed
My doctor checked me and decided that since Wiggle was still sunny side up, we needed to rotate the baby so that I could more effectively push. This involved him and the resident basically reaching up alongside the baby's head and physically rotating the kid as I pushed gently. Thank heavens I had the epidural because I genuinely don't think I could have tolerated that un-medicated. Mark held my left leg and Tricia held the right, and they brought in a second nurse (Mary Ann) for the baby. The nursing students got to watch from by the warmer. Once we got the baby's head and shoulders rotated it was time to push for real!
I pushed through several contractions when the doctor told me that he thought one more set would do the trick because the head was right there - I was surprised and he said I could reach down and feel it if I wanted to. I did and it was so amazing to feel the top of my baby's head, and with that motivation another two or three more pushes brought our baby into the world. Dr. M put the baby on my chest and announced, "It's a girl!" Mark cut the cord and the nurses got the top of my gown unsnapped, scooted her up onto my chest, and got a warm blanket over the two of us. Mark and I looked at each other after a few minutes and both of us said "She's Hannah" - which was funny, because Hannah was not our first choice girl's name, but we saw her and just knew what her name was meant to be.
During this time the resident and Dr. M were getting the placenta delivered and repairing the two small tears that I had. He said the damage was less than my first delivery but he still wanted the tears sutured. I noticed that there seemed to be a lot of blood on their gloves and they were talking about the level of bleeding but at first I figured that birth is a messy business - besides, I was focusing on Hannah. Then we heard him say that because of the bleeding he wanted another bag of Pitocin hung and to get misoprostol (Cytotec). I asked him if there was a problem, and he reassured us that while I was bleeding more than I should, we weren't in crisis mode yet and the medicines should take care of it. The nurses got the Pit cranked open and he gave me the Cytotec, and they wanted me to get Hannah nursing quickly because my body's own oxytocin would help my uterus clamp down more.
Hannah was also shaky/jittery and she was bigger than we expected her to be. The nurses did a heel stick and found that her blood sugar was too low (hypoglycemia), so it was doubly important to get her to the breast. She nursed while they finished getting me fixed up and my bleeding under control, but when they re-checked her sugar a half hour later they found it hadn't gone up. We were given three options: supplementing with formula via SNS (recommended), supplementing with formula via cup feeding, or sending her to the special care nursery for a glucose IV and monitoring. I knew immediately that I didn't want her having to go to special care - not only did the IV seem kind of traumatic, but she would be separated from me for hours and that didn't seem like a good way to get started on breastfeeding and bonding. So we supplemented at the breast with the SNS and a little formula (20 mL). She stopped shaking immediately and the next check showed her sugar up in the normal range! She was on the "glucose protocol" for 24 hours after delivery - I had to call for a glucose check each time she wanted to nurse in order to determine if she needed additional supplementation to keep her blood sugar in a good range. It was a bit annoying and after around 18 hours the postpartum nurses basically adopted a "don't ask, don't tell" strategy. We only needed the one supplement and she nursed like a champ after that.
Hannah didn't leave my chest for 45 minutes after birth and as soon as her weighing and wristbanding/baby LoJack was done she came back to me. Mark was right there with us and it was an amazing time to bond as a family. I loved that we could do skin to skin for so long after delivery this time around. Once my bleeding situation had been resolved Dr. M said I had done a great job and Hannah was perfect, and that he would check on us later that night and in the morning. He and the resident left us to the nurses to finish my recovery and move us to postpartum. Because the maternity unit was so nuts at the time, I OKed the nursing students actually helping the nurses with our care (a little more than just the observation experience they had expected!). Then Tricia had to leave; she had already stayed well past the end of her shift and Mark and I were so grateful for the wonderful care she gave me that day. The nursing students needed to leave a little while later - they both thanked us very much for letting them be a part of my labor and delivery. At that point another nurse came in to finish getting us ready to go and we were ready to move to the postpartum side of the unit.
Around 2.5 hours after I delivered, we arrived in my postpartum room. I was almost finished with my extra bag of Pitocin for the postpartum hemorrhage and my nurse was able to pull my IV a little while later (I promised that I'd make my uterus behave so that she wouldn't have to start another one). We settled in with our Hannah, I ate dinner, and we finally called our families to let them know about our new arrival. My parents immediately set off for the hospital with Lily in tow and Mark's dad headed over too. Lily got to be the first one to meet her baby sister, and then the proud grandparents got their turns.
Saturday, June 22, 2013
I've been away...
Yeah, I know. I bailed on blogging for the last several months - it just wasn't conducive to my mental state along with working, parenting, and being pregnant along with tons of worry about money and all of that.
The awesome news is that Mark got a good job offer when I was around 37 weeks along, and he will start on Monday. I cannot express what a relief this was for me, heading into having a baby. His new employer was totally fine with him waiting to start work until after the baby arrived, which was also a relief. It's a return to sales, but he will probably end up making more money than he was at his last job which is definitely nice. I should be able to take a full 3 months off or close to it, now that Mark will be working again - which makes me SO happy.
The remainder of my pregnancy went pretty smoothly, although my OB decided to see me weekly from 32 weeks onward due to my history of preeclampsia. Because I had some ongoing reduced fetal movement concerns that resulted in an emergency trip to L&D for monitoring at 30 weeks when my OB was out of the office, I had a weekly non-stress test and ultrasound at each of those appointments, too. Fortunately Wiggle did beautifully on all of the NSTs. My doctor suspects that my feeling of reduced movement was due to an anterior placenta and a baby who decided to stay sunny-side up most of the time, and thus was kicking the placenta rather than me.
At my 38 week appointment, my OB proposed scheduling an induction. If I had wanted to keep going, we would have with additional monitoring but due to my history he preferred to get Wiggle safely delivered by my due date. I trust his judgment and honestly I was starting to feel D-O-N-E by that point as well. Neither of us wanted to risk my borderline high blood pressure progressing to actual hypertension or preeclampsia, as that would necessitate an immediate, high risk induction and quite likely needing mag sulfate again during active labor and for 24 hours after delivery (mag sulfate is a wonderful, life-saving drug but it SUCKS to be on it). A scheduled induction could be set up for his on-call day at the hospital and would mean freedom of movement and a more normal delivery for me. At only 1 cm dilated as of 38w2d, there was a chance I'd go into labor myself but it wasn't likely. So we scheduled the induction for his on-call day during my 39th week, Thursday June 13th.
I worked through the 11th. While I did have signs of going into labor on the 12th including some hard contractions, they never got anywhere close enough together to call and ended up stopping on their own during the evening. We got Lily and the dog to my parents' house that night and headed to the hospital bright and early on the 13th. I was up to 2 cm and nearly fully effaced, so my OB started me on Pitocin right off the bat and I had a textbook-perfect induction, labor, and delivery. Things got a little interesting for both me and baby in the hour or two after delivery but both of us were just fine with a bit of help. I'll do a separate post with the birth story.
Hannah Elizabeth arrived at 3:14 PM on 6/13/13, weighing in at 8 pounds 12 ounces and measuring 20 inches long. Lily was right all along in insisting that she was getting a sister! She is beautiful and healthy and we love her so much.
The awesome news is that Mark got a good job offer when I was around 37 weeks along, and he will start on Monday. I cannot express what a relief this was for me, heading into having a baby. His new employer was totally fine with him waiting to start work until after the baby arrived, which was also a relief. It's a return to sales, but he will probably end up making more money than he was at his last job which is definitely nice. I should be able to take a full 3 months off or close to it, now that Mark will be working again - which makes me SO happy.
The remainder of my pregnancy went pretty smoothly, although my OB decided to see me weekly from 32 weeks onward due to my history of preeclampsia. Because I had some ongoing reduced fetal movement concerns that resulted in an emergency trip to L&D for monitoring at 30 weeks when my OB was out of the office, I had a weekly non-stress test and ultrasound at each of those appointments, too. Fortunately Wiggle did beautifully on all of the NSTs. My doctor suspects that my feeling of reduced movement was due to an anterior placenta and a baby who decided to stay sunny-side up most of the time, and thus was kicking the placenta rather than me.
At my 38 week appointment, my OB proposed scheduling an induction. If I had wanted to keep going, we would have with additional monitoring but due to my history he preferred to get Wiggle safely delivered by my due date. I trust his judgment and honestly I was starting to feel D-O-N-E by that point as well. Neither of us wanted to risk my borderline high blood pressure progressing to actual hypertension or preeclampsia, as that would necessitate an immediate, high risk induction and quite likely needing mag sulfate again during active labor and for 24 hours after delivery (mag sulfate is a wonderful, life-saving drug but it SUCKS to be on it). A scheduled induction could be set up for his on-call day at the hospital and would mean freedom of movement and a more normal delivery for me. At only 1 cm dilated as of 38w2d, there was a chance I'd go into labor myself but it wasn't likely. So we scheduled the induction for his on-call day during my 39th week, Thursday June 13th.
I worked through the 11th. While I did have signs of going into labor on the 12th including some hard contractions, they never got anywhere close enough together to call and ended up stopping on their own during the evening. We got Lily and the dog to my parents' house that night and headed to the hospital bright and early on the 13th. I was up to 2 cm and nearly fully effaced, so my OB started me on Pitocin right off the bat and I had a textbook-perfect induction, labor, and delivery. Things got a little interesting for both me and baby in the hour or two after delivery but both of us were just fine with a bit of help. I'll do a separate post with the birth story.
Hannah Elizabeth arrived at 3:14 PM on 6/13/13, weighing in at 8 pounds 12 ounces and measuring 20 inches long. Lily was right all along in insisting that she was getting a sister! She is beautiful and healthy and we love her so much.
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