Julie and I had a good morning of being out and about. I had to take her to the midwife clinic since they needed to take another blood sample from Julie for a routine test. They had to repeat it since the first time they tried, they didn't get enough blood. While we were at the clinic, they weighed Julie and she now weighs 8 lbs, 15 oz, so she is gaining weight well and is a healthy girl :)
When we were done at the clinic, I took Julie into Carlos' workplace so she could meet his coworkers, so that was fun. Everyone keeps saying how beautiful she is, and of course I agree :)
We don't have much planned for this weekend, although we are planning to take Julie on her first trip to Costco... hopefully she likes it ;)
Baby Age Ticker
Friday, February 27, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
Julie is amazing!
Julie is now 16 days old and I am falling more and more in love with her every day (if that's possible)!!! She is such an amazing girl! I just love to sit and look at her explore the world. She's already changed so much since she was born. She is a lot more alert now and opens her eyes really wide to take in the world around her.
She seems to be a pretty content baby. She doesn't cry too much, just when she needs something. Although, on Saturday we had a pretty rough day. She cried off and on all afternoon and evening. It took me awhile to catch on that she was just hungry all the time - I think she was going through her first growth spurt; I was feeding her pretty much every hour! The first growth spurt usually happens at about 2 weeks, so she was right on... our little 'textbook' baby ;)
We are at the end of our home visits with the midwife now. We now take Julie to their clinic on March 6th and then again at 6 weeks and then we will be discharged from their care. They have been absolutely wonderful! I am so glad we decided to go with midwives instead of a doctor - the level of care we received has been phenomenal! They came to visit us pretty much every day for the first week and then a couple times the second week. The support I received with breastfeeding made all the difference; I'm sure I would have given up if I hadn't had their help. Breastfeeding was very difficult in the beginning, but we have the hang of it now ;) And I am so thankful that I can page the midwives whenever I have a concern. They have been amazing and I highly recommend midwives to anyone having a baby!
This afternoon, Julie and I are planning to go to my office for a little visit so my coworkers can meet her. I am looking forward to the outing!
She seems to be a pretty content baby. She doesn't cry too much, just when she needs something. Although, on Saturday we had a pretty rough day. She cried off and on all afternoon and evening. It took me awhile to catch on that she was just hungry all the time - I think she was going through her first growth spurt; I was feeding her pretty much every hour! The first growth spurt usually happens at about 2 weeks, so she was right on... our little 'textbook' baby ;)
We are at the end of our home visits with the midwife now. We now take Julie to their clinic on March 6th and then again at 6 weeks and then we will be discharged from their care. They have been absolutely wonderful! I am so glad we decided to go with midwives instead of a doctor - the level of care we received has been phenomenal! They came to visit us pretty much every day for the first week and then a couple times the second week. The support I received with breastfeeding made all the difference; I'm sure I would have given up if I hadn't had their help. Breastfeeding was very difficult in the beginning, but we have the hang of it now ;) And I am so thankful that I can page the midwives whenever I have a concern. They have been amazing and I highly recommend midwives to anyone having a baby!
This afternoon, Julie and I are planning to go to my office for a little visit so my coworkers can meet her. I am looking forward to the outing!
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Julie Erika’s Birth Story
It started on Thursday, February 5th. During the afternoon, I started feeling crampy and started bleeding a little bit (which is one sign that labour is imminent). So, I started thinking that I would be going into labour soon and was very excited!
Friday morning, I had an appointment with my midwife, where she checked me and my cervix was 2 cm dilated and 50 to 75% effaced (thinned out). So, it was looking like I was right with my prediction that I would have the baby on the weekend! So, I went home very excited.
I had cramps all afternoon and around 4pm I started thinking they were getting worse than just cramps and were the start of contractions. I timed a couple of them and they were about 20 minutes apart at this point and only 30 to 45 seconds long.
The contractions kept getting a little more intense and longer and closer together throughout the evening. At about 8:30pm, my mom showed up (her and Carlos were my 2 support people). By about 9pm, they were 5 minutes apart and lasting about a minute. This is the point we called our midwife. We first paged our primary midwife (the student), but she was off call for the weekend since she was sick. So, we paged our other primary midwife, but she was going off call in 5 minutes for the weekend. CRAP! I started crying at this point since neither of the 2 midwives we really liked would be present at the birth. We were stuck with the 2 we didn’t like as much. Now, in the end, I didn’t care about this, but at this moment, I was quite upset. It actually turned out that the midwives we had were WONDERFUL; I can’t say enough good things about them.
The midwife showed up at our house around 10pm to check my progress. I was 4 cm dilated at this point and officially in active labour – yay! The contractions were getting more intense, I could no longer talk through them. Carlos was wonderful. We would walk around the house and every time I had a contraction, we would “slow dance” and he would rub my back. I had a nice bath at home sometime around midnight, which felt awesome.
The midwife checked my progress again around 1:30am and I was at 6cm. She said at this point we could go to the hospital, or we could wait a little longer. She had already called ahead to the hospital to see how busy they were. Turns out it was a busy night because they only had 1 labour and delivery room left! So, my midwife asked the hospital to hold the room for us and we headed to the hospital. The midwife went a few minutes ahead of us so she had all the paperwork done by the time we got there. She took care of everything, which was amazing.
So by the time I got to the room, it was around 2am. I laboured in the room for quite awhile trying all sorts of positions. Everyone was so impressed with me that I would be cheerful and smiling in between contractions. I sat in the shower for awhile which felt great. At around 4am the second midwife showed up (there are 2 present for the pushing stage) and they checked me again and I was 7cm dilated and they broke my water at this point. At around 7am, I was 8cm dilated and was getting very uncomfortable, so I laboured in the tub for a couple of hours. This was the most intense part of the labour (this is what they call “transition” and is from 8 to 10cm). I was so glad to be in the tub at this point since it made it a lot more bearable. There were a few contractions that I thought I couldn’t do it anymore, but there was never a point where I seriously considered drugs. I just took it one contraction at a time. Carlos, my mom, and the midwives were amazing support!
At around 9am, I got out of the tub and was checked again. I only had a small rim of cervix left, so it was almost time to start pushing! We sent my mom to the waiting room at this point, since I wanted it to just be Carlos and me for the actual birth. I started pushing shortly after this point and they brought in a mirror so I could see the progress. I pushed until 11:30am with some progress, but it seemed that baby was stuck in the birth canal. She would make a TINY bit of progress with each contraction, but not much. After 2 hours of pushing with no baby, the midwives are required to consult with the OB on call. The baby was also showing signs of distress at this point, so it became apparent that they had to help get baby out; they couldn’t just let me keep pushing considering how slow the progress was. I was absolutely exhausted at this point, so I was glad for the help.
The OB came in at about 11:45am and watched me push for one contraction. Since I didn’t have an epidural, he didn’t want to use forceps. So, he decided a vacuum would be best, although I think most people have pain meds for that too! It was so close to the end, I certainly didn’t want any meds at this point. It was too late anyways, they really wanted to get baby out. It only took 2 or 3 contractions with the vacuum before she was born. I did need a small episiotomy, which makes sense since she is such a big girl! The OB was amazing; he said that he didn’t even need to tug very hard; I did most of the work.
Baby’s head was out at 12:04pm and entire baby born at 12:05pm. Turns out she was in the birth canal off-centre, which totally explains why I couldn’t push her out on my own – she wasn’t coming down straight, her head was tilted to one side. It was such an amazing moment when she was born – the most special moment in my entire life. And I was so glad to have the mirror there so I could actually watch her being born – what a miracle!!!
As soon as she was born, they put her on my chest. The funny part was they didn’t tell us whether she was a boy or girl – I had to ask! After about 10 seconds of holding her, I asked the nurse “Is it a boy of girl” and she said “I didn’t even check!” but then responded with the words I was waiting 9 months to hear “It’s a girl!” All along I was hoping for a girl. I would have been happy with a boy, but I really wanted a girl. Carlos and I both shed a few tears at this point; just totally and completely in love with our new daughter.
They took her away to do some checking and measurements on her and it turns out they weren’t completely satisfied with the way she was crying (it was more like grunting). So, after about 20 minutes or so, they decided to take her to the special care nursery to be put on oxygen and monitoring. She ended up being on oxygen for about 12 hours, which was really hard. All sorts of family started showing up, and baby wasn’t in the room with me! Carlos had to take them one at a time to the nursery to see Julie. This was not the way I wanted it. I wanted to get started on breastfeeding right after the birth, but I couldn’t. I HATED not having her in the room with me that first night. I had to get up every 3 hours and walk to the nursery to try to feed her. This was hard, but luckily, she was fine by the morning and we got to take her home.
Here are her stats at birth:
Name: Julie Erika T. (Julie just because we like the name and Erika is after my grandmother).
Date and Time of birth: February 7, 2009 at 12:05pm
Weight: 8 pounds, 11.4 oz
Length: 51 cm (20 inches)
Head circumference: 33.5 cm
Chest circumference: 34 cm
Friday morning, I had an appointment with my midwife, where she checked me and my cervix was 2 cm dilated and 50 to 75% effaced (thinned out). So, it was looking like I was right with my prediction that I would have the baby on the weekend! So, I went home very excited.
I had cramps all afternoon and around 4pm I started thinking they were getting worse than just cramps and were the start of contractions. I timed a couple of them and they were about 20 minutes apart at this point and only 30 to 45 seconds long.
The contractions kept getting a little more intense and longer and closer together throughout the evening. At about 8:30pm, my mom showed up (her and Carlos were my 2 support people). By about 9pm, they were 5 minutes apart and lasting about a minute. This is the point we called our midwife. We first paged our primary midwife (the student), but she was off call for the weekend since she was sick. So, we paged our other primary midwife, but she was going off call in 5 minutes for the weekend. CRAP! I started crying at this point since neither of the 2 midwives we really liked would be present at the birth. We were stuck with the 2 we didn’t like as much. Now, in the end, I didn’t care about this, but at this moment, I was quite upset. It actually turned out that the midwives we had were WONDERFUL; I can’t say enough good things about them.
The midwife showed up at our house around 10pm to check my progress. I was 4 cm dilated at this point and officially in active labour – yay! The contractions were getting more intense, I could no longer talk through them. Carlos was wonderful. We would walk around the house and every time I had a contraction, we would “slow dance” and he would rub my back. I had a nice bath at home sometime around midnight, which felt awesome.
The midwife checked my progress again around 1:30am and I was at 6cm. She said at this point we could go to the hospital, or we could wait a little longer. She had already called ahead to the hospital to see how busy they were. Turns out it was a busy night because they only had 1 labour and delivery room left! So, my midwife asked the hospital to hold the room for us and we headed to the hospital. The midwife went a few minutes ahead of us so she had all the paperwork done by the time we got there. She took care of everything, which was amazing.
So by the time I got to the room, it was around 2am. I laboured in the room for quite awhile trying all sorts of positions. Everyone was so impressed with me that I would be cheerful and smiling in between contractions. I sat in the shower for awhile which felt great. At around 4am the second midwife showed up (there are 2 present for the pushing stage) and they checked me again and I was 7cm dilated and they broke my water at this point. At around 7am, I was 8cm dilated and was getting very uncomfortable, so I laboured in the tub for a couple of hours. This was the most intense part of the labour (this is what they call “transition” and is from 8 to 10cm). I was so glad to be in the tub at this point since it made it a lot more bearable. There were a few contractions that I thought I couldn’t do it anymore, but there was never a point where I seriously considered drugs. I just took it one contraction at a time. Carlos, my mom, and the midwives were amazing support!
At around 9am, I got out of the tub and was checked again. I only had a small rim of cervix left, so it was almost time to start pushing! We sent my mom to the waiting room at this point, since I wanted it to just be Carlos and me for the actual birth. I started pushing shortly after this point and they brought in a mirror so I could see the progress. I pushed until 11:30am with some progress, but it seemed that baby was stuck in the birth canal. She would make a TINY bit of progress with each contraction, but not much. After 2 hours of pushing with no baby, the midwives are required to consult with the OB on call. The baby was also showing signs of distress at this point, so it became apparent that they had to help get baby out; they couldn’t just let me keep pushing considering how slow the progress was. I was absolutely exhausted at this point, so I was glad for the help.
The OB came in at about 11:45am and watched me push for one contraction. Since I didn’t have an epidural, he didn’t want to use forceps. So, he decided a vacuum would be best, although I think most people have pain meds for that too! It was so close to the end, I certainly didn’t want any meds at this point. It was too late anyways, they really wanted to get baby out. It only took 2 or 3 contractions with the vacuum before she was born. I did need a small episiotomy, which makes sense since she is such a big girl! The OB was amazing; he said that he didn’t even need to tug very hard; I did most of the work.
Baby’s head was out at 12:04pm and entire baby born at 12:05pm. Turns out she was in the birth canal off-centre, which totally explains why I couldn’t push her out on my own – she wasn’t coming down straight, her head was tilted to one side. It was such an amazing moment when she was born – the most special moment in my entire life. And I was so glad to have the mirror there so I could actually watch her being born – what a miracle!!!
As soon as she was born, they put her on my chest. The funny part was they didn’t tell us whether she was a boy or girl – I had to ask! After about 10 seconds of holding her, I asked the nurse “Is it a boy of girl” and she said “I didn’t even check!” but then responded with the words I was waiting 9 months to hear “It’s a girl!” All along I was hoping for a girl. I would have been happy with a boy, but I really wanted a girl. Carlos and I both shed a few tears at this point; just totally and completely in love with our new daughter.
They took her away to do some checking and measurements on her and it turns out they weren’t completely satisfied with the way she was crying (it was more like grunting). So, after about 20 minutes or so, they decided to take her to the special care nursery to be put on oxygen and monitoring. She ended up being on oxygen for about 12 hours, which was really hard. All sorts of family started showing up, and baby wasn’t in the room with me! Carlos had to take them one at a time to the nursery to see Julie. This was not the way I wanted it. I wanted to get started on breastfeeding right after the birth, but I couldn’t. I HATED not having her in the room with me that first night. I had to get up every 3 hours and walk to the nursery to try to feed her. This was hard, but luckily, she was fine by the morning and we got to take her home.
Here are her stats at birth:
Name: Julie Erika T. (Julie just because we like the name and Erika is after my grandmother).
Date and Time of birth: February 7, 2009 at 12:05pm
Weight: 8 pounds, 11.4 oz
Length: 51 cm (20 inches)
Head circumference: 33.5 cm
Chest circumference: 34 cm
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Julie Erika is here!
The last week has been a complete whirlwind! I will post a more detailed birth story in the coming days, but here is the readers digest version.
- Friday afternoon around 4pm, started having contractions.
- She was born at 12:05pm on Saturday. So, total labour was 20 hours.
- In the end, she was delivered with the help of a vacuum extractor since she was not making much progress down the birth canal and she was starting to show signs of distress. So, a doctor came and did the assisted delivery, but he said that I did most of the work, he only needed to help a little.
- I did need a small episiotomy, but everything is healing up nicely.
And, I did this all with no drugs of any kind. I think that gives me the right to brag ;)
Details: Julie Erika T., born 12:05pm, weighing 8 lbs, 11.4 oz, 20 inches long. She is the most beautiful baby I have ever seen in my life!!!! Completely love at first sight!
Because she was delivered by vacuum, she has a cranial hematoma on her head, which is nothing to be concerned about, she just looks a little funny. It will go away in 2-3 months, which is a long time to wait!
We were having a bit of a rough start breastfeeding since my milk didn't come in until yesterday. So, she was severaly dehydrated. She had lost almost an entire pound! Luckily, we caught this early. The dehydration in combination with the hematoma caused some severe jaundace and we had to take her back to the hospital on Tuesday evening where she underwent phototherapy. They put her under special lights to clear the jaundace. Apparently jaundace is very common, but her case was quite severe. But, they caught it in time and she is just great now. She went off the lights at 8pm last night and we were able to bing her home around 11am this morning.
I hated having to take her back to the hospital, but at least we had a private room and Carlos and I were able to stay right in the room with her (they brought in 2 cots for us). So, that was amazing... I literally did not leave the room except for a half hour yesterday morning to go to the caf to get some breakfast. Other than that, Carlos went down and brought me food.
It was really scary to have to take her back to the hospital. Especially when I was watching them try to put in an IV, they tried many times and all over her body before they finally got one in. That was too hard for me to watch, so the midwife took me out of the room and calmed me down a bit. But, she is doing great now, so I am VERY relieved.
- Friday afternoon around 4pm, started having contractions.
- She was born at 12:05pm on Saturday. So, total labour was 20 hours.
- In the end, she was delivered with the help of a vacuum extractor since she was not making much progress down the birth canal and she was starting to show signs of distress. So, a doctor came and did the assisted delivery, but he said that I did most of the work, he only needed to help a little.
- I did need a small episiotomy, but everything is healing up nicely.
And, I did this all with no drugs of any kind. I think that gives me the right to brag ;)
Details: Julie Erika T., born 12:05pm, weighing 8 lbs, 11.4 oz, 20 inches long. She is the most beautiful baby I have ever seen in my life!!!! Completely love at first sight!
Because she was delivered by vacuum, she has a cranial hematoma on her head, which is nothing to be concerned about, she just looks a little funny. It will go away in 2-3 months, which is a long time to wait!
We were having a bit of a rough start breastfeeding since my milk didn't come in until yesterday. So, she was severaly dehydrated. She had lost almost an entire pound! Luckily, we caught this early. The dehydration in combination with the hematoma caused some severe jaundace and we had to take her back to the hospital on Tuesday evening where she underwent phototherapy. They put her under special lights to clear the jaundace. Apparently jaundace is very common, but her case was quite severe. But, they caught it in time and she is just great now. She went off the lights at 8pm last night and we were able to bing her home around 11am this morning.
I hated having to take her back to the hospital, but at least we had a private room and Carlos and I were able to stay right in the room with her (they brought in 2 cots for us). So, that was amazing... I literally did not leave the room except for a half hour yesterday morning to go to the caf to get some breakfast. Other than that, Carlos went down and brought me food.
It was really scary to have to take her back to the hospital. Especially when I was watching them try to put in an IV, they tried many times and all over her body before they finally got one in. That was too hard for me to watch, so the midwife took me out of the room and calmed me down a bit. But, she is doing great now, so I am VERY relieved.
Friday, February 06, 2009
Things are starting to happen!
I have a feeling baby will be arriving within the next few days! I have been feeling very "crampy" for the last day or so, which is a sign that labour could start soon. I had an appointment with the midwife this morning, and she checked to see if my cervix has been opening. I am currently 1.5 to 2 cm dilated and about 50 to 75% effaced (thinned out). And baby's head is at -1 station, which means only 1 cm above a certain point in my pelvic bones, so that is a great position to be in just before labour. So, all signs point to going into labour within a few days! Although she couldn't say for sure since some women are dilated for weeks before labour.
So now we just wait. If I don't go into labour on my own over the next several days, here is the plan:
- Monday, 12noon - Non Stress Test at the hospital
- Wednesday - specialized ultrasound at the hospital
- Thursday 8am - induction
It was our choice whether we would want the induction on Thursday or wait until the following week (they don't do them over the weekend and she recommends staying away from Fridays since the OB on call on Fridays doesn't like midwives and doesn't allow them to be as involved). Thursdays the OB that we saw for one of our ultrasounds is on call, and he is much more receptive of midwives, and will still let them be very involved. So, that made the choice easy since we of course would still want our midwives involved! So, induction on Thursday the 12th unless I have the baby before then, which all signs point to that I will have the baby within a few days - exciting!
So, it was a very positive appointment and she seemed very encouraging that it's looking like I will go into labour on my own in the next few days. But, of course, she can't say for sure. But who knows! Very exciting!!!!!!
So now we just wait. If I don't go into labour on my own over the next several days, here is the plan:
- Monday, 12noon - Non Stress Test at the hospital
- Wednesday - specialized ultrasound at the hospital
- Thursday 8am - induction
It was our choice whether we would want the induction on Thursday or wait until the following week (they don't do them over the weekend and she recommends staying away from Fridays since the OB on call on Fridays doesn't like midwives and doesn't allow them to be as involved). Thursdays the OB that we saw for one of our ultrasounds is on call, and he is much more receptive of midwives, and will still let them be very involved. So, that made the choice easy since we of course would still want our midwives involved! So, induction on Thursday the 12th unless I have the baby before then, which all signs point to that I will have the baby within a few days - exciting!
So, it was a very positive appointment and she seemed very encouraging that it's looking like I will go into labour on my own in the next few days. But, of course, she can't say for sure. But who knows! Very exciting!!!!!!
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Special Day Today
Today marks exactly 3 years that Carlos and I have been together. I am so thankful to have him; he really is the best man I could ever ask for.
We were both hoping baby would arrive today since it is a special day for Carlos and I, but no sign of baby yet. I keep telling myself that baby will come when good and ready, so I just have to keep being patient. So, I spend my days relaxing, catching up on some reading, and watching some good daytime TLC (mostly Baby Story these days!). Yesterday, I went out for lunch with mom and Oma and then hung out at my parents house for the afternoon, so that was a nice outing to keep me distracted for awhile.
We were both hoping baby would arrive today since it is a special day for Carlos and I, but no sign of baby yet. I keep telling myself that baby will come when good and ready, so I just have to keep being patient. So, I spend my days relaxing, catching up on some reading, and watching some good daytime TLC (mostly Baby Story these days!). Yesterday, I went out for lunch with mom and Oma and then hung out at my parents house for the afternoon, so that was a nice outing to keep me distracted for awhile.
Monday, February 02, 2009
Due date is finally here
The due date I have been counting down to for months and months has finally arrived! No sign of baby arriving yet though, so it could still be awhile. Could be only a matter of hours before something happens or a couple weeks. I'm trying hard to be patient, but it's difficult. Especially since we have been getting a phone call from my mother-in-law almost every day for the last 2 weeks asking if the baby is here yet. We keep telling her we'll call her when something happens... it's getting quite frustrating that she keeps calling to ask. I just let Carlos field all the phone calls since I think it would just stress me out at this point. I know she's just excited, but it's not like I can do anything to speed this along! We all just have to wait until baby is ready and of course we're going to call her the minute there is any news. Sheesh! I guess I was bound to complain about my mother-in-law eventually ;)
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