Life Is Just So Daily

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Delivery Day, Part Two...Big Brother Visits!

So.... I left off on the last post with us going back to our room in L&D... We were there for a short time. We did more skin-to-skin. My mom arrived. They measured Eliette's length, and her temperature. Since she was still a little cold, we did more skin-to-skin... We were moved upstairs pretty quickly. When we got up there, my inlaw's arrived with Gage. We cleared the room so that Gage could have his alone time to meet and hold his sister. He does better when there isn't a crowd watching him react to things... What was the first thing he said when we were alone as a little family of four??? "She's so pretty." {Is that not the sweeeeeetest???}











(How great is that last photo!? I love it!!!!)

I never in a million years would have guessed that Gage would be so taken with her....but he is. He has his moments where he wants attention, but he loves his baby sister. He kisses her all the time. He wants to hold her every day... It's wonderful!

...but, back to delivery day.... Family and friends came for a while, but I was tired and so much of it is a blur to me, honestly. I know that they gave her a bath, and then moved me to a bigger room. I remember those details.
:)







That sweet little girl!

Then, it was more skin-to-skin time, and nursing.... That's when we got moved to the bigger room, and I guess that's when most of the visitors left. I was awake, but tired, and consumed with this new little life...



....and that night, we were up....often.... and we've been up often every night since!


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Monday, May 27, 2013

Our Delivery....5/16/2013

Well, Eliette was born on 5/16/2013 after 15+ hours of labor!

What was supposed to be a recurrent c-section on 5/21, came a little sooner than we expected.
On the morning of 5/16 after a long night of labor pains that got closer together, Damon took me to the doctor's office at 8:30 when they opened. I had an appointment at 9:45, but I didn't think I could wait until then. When we got to the dr's office, the contractions were 6 minutes apart. They sent us to the hospital in Dallas right away. When I was checked in L&D, the contractions were 4-5 minutes apart. I was dilated to a 1, but Baby Girl was way up high in there. I was 38w2d that day. Due to a risk of uterine rupture, there was no stopping labor, and the next open OR after I got the epidural was mine... Everything went so fast! I spent more time signing in and filling out papers than any other part of the process... I was in L&D triage for about 10 minutes, and then moved over to a different room to await Anesthesia. Got the epidural. It was a lot more painful this time...but it was a lot more effective!

About 2 hours after our arrival to the hospital, Eliette was born. It was not the day I had imagined. My hair wasn't done, and I had no makeup on.... I'd been awake for more than 24 hours.... We showed up at the hospital with no bag, nothing! Luckily for me, the camera was in my purse..."just in case." We planned for Gage to be picked up early on the day of our delivery, with a waiting room full of activities and snacks...and family. Nope, no such luck. It all just happened so fast once we got to the hospital. AND, my OB who I just ADORE, wasn't on call, but he was in the Dallas office that day, and he came down to deliver my baby. The on call doctor assisted. I love it. I adore Dr.B, and he's delivered all of my babies now. We've been through so much together!

Delivery Pictures....


At this point, I seriously felt like I couldn't breath. Eliette was so high up, and they pressssssed down on my upper abdomen near my rib cage, and oh man.... "You'll feel pressure, not pain" is what they told me the first time around...With Gage, I had so much medicine on board, I felt nothing the whole time. This time---I was just trying not to throw up and inhale at the same time.

The atmosphere in the OR was so upbeat and bright. The radio was on.... Sadly, I have to report that the song playing on the radio at the time of Eliette's delivery was some song by Wham! I can't think of the title...but, I'll work on that....


The first thing Daddy said to her, "You need a bath, little girl."
They weighed her before bringing her over to me...much smaller than one of the docs predicted...but, then again, she came just a wee earlier than anticipated too...


...and then I saw her....and I just cried and cried....
The first thing I said to her, "Hi." {Really, I couldn't come up with anything more original than that!?}










Now...let me remind the world about these next photos: everything on me was swollen. I was puffed up like a little chipmunk! I know this.... Now that she's here: SO WORTH IT! We started our skin-to-skin right there in the OR...

Here's my doc, getting me ready to go back to my room...
And away we went...

This is where I'll end the post...
There's sooooo much more to add, but this is the story of her delivery.
I'll post soon (I hope!) about the rest of that day.... including Big Brother's visit and meeting her for the first time...


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Sunday, May 19, 2013

I've Been Busy....

I'm so sorry that I've been MIA since my update last Wednesday...

....but on Wednesday night, those contractions got a bit more regular, and so.....

SHE'S HERE!

Our little Eliette is here....

To say that we are all in love is an understatement. I'll hopefully post more soon to tell you all about our labor and delivery, and all about her!

"The girl really worth having won't wait for anybody.” 
~F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise




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Wednesday, May 15, 2013

38 Week Update.... Still Pregnant.




How far along? 38w1d

Size of Baby:  www.thebump.com indicates that baby is the size of a pumpkin, being 18.9-20.9 inches long, and weighing anywhere between 6.2 to 9.2 pounds. (that's quite a range...)

Baby Milestones: From www.baby2see.com, "Development is complete, baby's main job is to gain weight. The body continues laying on the fat stores at a rate of about an ounce (28 grams) a day, that will help regulate his or her body temperature after birth."

Maternity Clothes: Yes....and Hubby's clothes. I swear, I wasn't THIS big when I was pregnant with Gage...

Gender: Team Pink!

Belly Button In/Out: In/Flattened. Not "out."

Movement: Less & less. Not 'alarmingly less,'  by any means. She's running out of room in there. So, she's not able to move nearly as much as she was. She perks up after I eat, and I'm sure she's okay in there. It's just, less than it was in the past. I still love the movements she makes when I'm reeeeeally still and I can watch my belly contort, and she pushes her feet out to the side. She's head down in my belly, but she's facing side-ways, if that makes sense. Her spine is aligned on my left side, and her feet are on my right side.

Sleep: Still not great for me or Hubby! My snoring is crazy obnoxious to my husband, so he's having a hard time sleeping. I remind him that we've only got a few more days to go! I'm hoping that the snoring goes away quickly after delivery....but if it's related to my current size instead of the pregnancy hormones, it may be here longer than I thought! I'm hoping that right now, there's just a catastrophic combination of my size and the pregnancy hormones/changes that effect your sinuses that are causing this horrible snoring. I'm hoping that it goes away very soon, but we'll see....

Cravings/Aversions: Not really craving anything specific... it's just the power of suggestion is amazing to me. Someone can mention something, and the next thing you know, I neeeeeeed it. Commercials are totally working on me right now!

Feeling: Crazy. Hubby and I talk about this all the time. With respect to the mood swings and my lack of patience, I'm very glad that this will be my last pregnancy. I can bawl at the drop of a hat, over the dumbest stuff, and then 2 minutes later, I realize that I'm being completely crazy and by that point I'm filled with regret because in the crazy moments I can't shut my fat-freakin-mouth! Pregnancy is crazy.

Physically how am I feeling? Done. Miserable. Huge. But, I only have 6 days left! I can do anything for 6 days!  Ohhhhhh! And my pregnancy eczema is back. Good times. In the beginning of this pregnancy I was diagnosed as having discoid eczema. I though I was covered in ring worm, but luckily that was not the case! Now, I just have these red rings that just show up on my skin. Down the left side of my belly, it looks like it is covered in pinky-red onion rings. I'm supposed to be using all fragrance-free & dye free products and keep the area very well moisturized. It's annoying. I have however fallen in love with a product that the Dermatologist recommended: Eucerin Calming Body Wash. It's a daily oil based body wash. It's awesome. It feels really good on your skin when you shower.... So, there's that.

What I Miss: Wearing my wedding rings, bending over easily, getting in & out of the car easily, having cuter feet, wearing a wide variety of shoes, sleeping through the night.....this list really could go on & on, and it seems to be the same each week....

What I am Looking Forward To: Having this baby!

Next Appointment: Thursday! (as in, tomorrow) Thinking I may decline the internal exam for dilation. I mean, at this point, who cares, right? I've got 6 days to go, and who cares if I'm dilated any more. If it's going to happen, it's going to happen.....

Something funny that happened recently: got the bassinet set up in our room. Turn your back for a minute to go get the rest of the bedding for the bassinet, and your son has already spotted the PERFECT PLACE to store/display his Nerf guns.... (I was seriously away from the bassinet for less than 5 minutes, and I return to my room to find it filled with Nerf guns. Gage was nowhere around...)
Sweet boy....He got this sign for his room from one of Darnin's coworkers.
His whole world is about to change....

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