A few weeks ago... or was that months ago... who knows... someone asked me to tell them the truth about childbirth and a few other things. She said that she always hears "it was the most beautiful thing... blah blah blah... lemme blast some more rainbows out my butt at you". Of course, I'm paraphrasing... anyway... she said that she KNEW I would tell her the truth...
Now, I have to admit that I'm not a normal case... first, I had to be induced at a hospital that does not offer epidurals and my pelvis proved to be too small for my baby's head. These two items alone are a recipe for a really bad day...
So to answer her first question... did it hurt? OH MY GOD, the best way to describe it was like putting my pelvic bone into a vise and having an uncontrollable urge to tighten the vise every few minutes. The decision to do the C-section came after I ended up standing up on the birthing table shaking in pain.
How was it to come home... this was really hard. I can remember walking into the house, holding the baby and thinking "Now what?". We had the baby room all set up, the bassinett in our bedroom but nothing in the downstairs of the house to put the baby in or on... we hadn't thought about that part. I spent the good part of the first 6 weeks holding Connor. I ended up with a really sore arm for quite awhile.
Her final question was "What advice would I give..."
Have things to put the baby in... playpens, bassinets, swings, bouncy chairs, excerisers, play mats... they seem to cost a lot of money but they are worth their weight in saniety.
Read the sections about C-sections... even if you don't plan on having one... read it anyway... you never know what will happen. Honestly, I was relieved when the conversation turned to the C-section in the delivery room.
As crappy as it is to keep the I.V. in after the baby is born, it is a source of morphine. Keep it to the bitter end!!
And the most important piece of knowledge...
No matter how hard you try, you cannot O.D. on nitrious oxide... once I figured that out, my day greatly improved!!
Showing posts with label Adventures in Motherhood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Adventures in Motherhood. Show all posts
Friday, 30 April 2010
Saturday, 13 February 2010
Thursday, 28 January 2010
Adventures in Motherhood - The Food Dilemma
Wow.... what a hot topic feeding between 4-6 months. I don't think I've found a more diverse set of opinions on any other baby topics. Some doctors recommend cereal at 4 months, others say stay completely away until 6 months, some say only rice cereal, some say only single grain cereals, others say go ahead with low allergen foods...
So in my complete confusion, I made my own decision... I'd let the kid decide if he wants to try stuff. He is being offered a rice cereal and a barley cereal. To be honest, he isn't a fan but he's a trooper and tries it for me. He seems to like the barley cereal better than the rice cereal but he isn't enthusastic by any stretch. I'm sure he will get the hang of it eventually...
Wednesday, 27 January 2010
Adventures in Motherhood - Sleep
Okay, I am admitting that we have screwed up.... Connor does not go down for the night until 3-4am and sleeps until mid to late afternoon, with a feeding every few hours. He will fall asleep on my lap or in my arms but the second his back touches the crib mattress, he wakes up and starts wailing. In order to get any sleep, he has been coming to bed with us and nursed to sleep. While this does give us a chance to sleep, it is a poor quality sleep, fearing that we may roll on him or some other parental nightmare. My hips and lower back are so sore from being in a locked position all night.
Our biggest issue is that Connor will go to sleep but seems to wake himself up. He falls asleep with his feet in the air but as they gently relax into sleep, they drop down and wake him up. I've almost conquered this one by rolling up a blanket and placing it under his legs when I first put him down, if I have progressed to the point that he will actually lay down.
So we have our work cut out for us... we need to get him back into his own bed, change his bedtime back to a more suitable time and get him to fall asleep on his own.... should be simple enough...ha!
Our biggest issue is that Connor will go to sleep but seems to wake himself up. He falls asleep with his feet in the air but as they gently relax into sleep, they drop down and wake him up. I've almost conquered this one by rolling up a blanket and placing it under his legs when I first put him down, if I have progressed to the point that he will actually lay down.
So we have our work cut out for us... we need to get him back into his own bed, change his bedtime back to a more suitable time and get him to fall asleep on his own.... should be simple enough...ha!
Saturday, 2 January 2010
Tuesday, 29 December 2009
Adventures in Motherhood - Baby's first cold
So the last few days have been... trying. Connor is sporting his first head cold. The poor guy can't breath through his nose, he thinks that saline drops are gonna drown him and the nose sucky thing (name is completely escaping my exhausted mind) is trying to steal his brain. Sleeping is a challenge as apparently breathing through his mouth hasn't been considered as an option yet so he's cranky, sleepy and stuffy... just the recipe for a fantastic time. To top it all off, he has diarrhea (I'm so glad I hit that diaper sale).
I woke with a sore throat this morning and Cory has aches and pains.
One bright spot is that he hasn't been spitting up as much at all even without his Zantac dosages. I am suspicious that the Zantac has no impact on the quantity of spit up and he is just starting to grow out of it... only time will tell...
I woke with a sore throat this morning and Cory has aches and pains.
One bright spot is that he hasn't been spitting up as much at all even without his Zantac dosages. I am suspicious that the Zantac has no impact on the quantity of spit up and he is just starting to grow out of it... only time will tell...
Wednesday, 16 December 2009
Adventures in Motherhood - First Pediatrician Appt
In New Brunswick, as with most provinces, a referral is required from your family doctor to see a specialist such as a pediatrician. My family doctor, whom I hold in very low regard, fortunately has extremely low confidence in her ability to diagnose a baby therefore she was quick to provide a referral to a pediatrician for Connor's spitting up issue. On a good day, Connor spits up maybe 20 times... on a bad day... well we would all be better off naked to keep the laundry issue under control. As a breast fed baby, the expectation is that he would spit up maybe once or twice a week... wow that would be amazing!!
We had our first appointment with the Pediatrician scheduled for December 10 but in good ol'New Brunswick fashion, the skies opened up and dropped a foot of snow on the ground that morning. Our appointment was in Fredericton (an hour drive away), we had to postpone it... Yesterday was the big day. Our appointment was at 2 PM so we needed to be on the road by 12:30. For most people this would not be a problem, but Connor and I have established a fantastic routine that includes sleeping until noon. So I dusted off the alarm clock for the first time since our 8 am appointment at the hospital for induction... After sleeping through the first 48 minutes of the alarm, we were up and trying to remember why...
We were on the road by 10 to 1... got to our appointment exactly on time... (my mother will be proud). On the drive to Fredericton, Connor fell asleep as soon as we hit the highway and woke only once we had parked. While he slept, the snow started falling... again...
At our appointment, Connor was first examined by Patrick... he weighed in at 14.4 lbs... he had his heart and lungs listened to, his ears and throat looked at, his belly prodded... giggling and wiggling the entire time... Connor even helped hold the stethoscope for Patrick.
Then the doctor came in to examine him... she was shocked... in a good way... she couldn't believe how strong Connor was for a three month old. Probably cause the kid never stops moving... he gets more exercise than an Olympic hopeful. She put Connor on his tummy and he immediately tried to turn over on her... shocked again!! Then she stood him up and he used her for balance only... shocked again!! All the time, Connor is laughing and giggling. The boy knows how to put on a show for his audience...
The long and short of the situation is that Connor has acid reflux... we were 99.9% certain this was the issue before we got there but we needed someone to write the prescription. So Connor is now on liquid Zantac. He received his first dose last night and reacted... well... strongly. Cory and I took a taste of the medication and MAN, THAT'S JUST NOT RIGHT! Poor kid... he gets this stuff twice a day...
We had our first appointment with the Pediatrician scheduled for December 10 but in good ol'New Brunswick fashion, the skies opened up and dropped a foot of snow on the ground that morning. Our appointment was in Fredericton (an hour drive away), we had to postpone it... Yesterday was the big day. Our appointment was at 2 PM so we needed to be on the road by 12:30. For most people this would not be a problem, but Connor and I have established a fantastic routine that includes sleeping until noon. So I dusted off the alarm clock for the first time since our 8 am appointment at the hospital for induction... After sleeping through the first 48 minutes of the alarm, we were up and trying to remember why...
We were on the road by 10 to 1... got to our appointment exactly on time... (my mother will be proud). On the drive to Fredericton, Connor fell asleep as soon as we hit the highway and woke only once we had parked. While he slept, the snow started falling... again...
At our appointment, Connor was first examined by Patrick... he weighed in at 14.4 lbs... he had his heart and lungs listened to, his ears and throat looked at, his belly prodded... giggling and wiggling the entire time... Connor even helped hold the stethoscope for Patrick.
Then the doctor came in to examine him... she was shocked... in a good way... she couldn't believe how strong Connor was for a three month old. Probably cause the kid never stops moving... he gets more exercise than an Olympic hopeful. She put Connor on his tummy and he immediately tried to turn over on her... shocked again!! Then she stood him up and he used her for balance only... shocked again!! All the time, Connor is laughing and giggling. The boy knows how to put on a show for his audience...
The long and short of the situation is that Connor has acid reflux... we were 99.9% certain this was the issue before we got there but we needed someone to write the prescription. So Connor is now on liquid Zantac. He received his first dose last night and reacted... well... strongly. Cory and I took a taste of the medication and MAN, THAT'S JUST NOT RIGHT! Poor kid... he gets this stuff twice a day...
Sunday, 6 December 2009
Adventures in Motherhood - The Connor Files
Well we are rounding the 12th week of Connor today. Wow the changes are amazing. I was just watching him on his play mat and realized that he can now reach the toys on both sides of the play mat at the same time. Just a week ago, he could only reach one side at a time. He now grasps the toys quickly and easily and promptly attempts to put them in his mouth.
Last weekend he had his first trip to the emergency room. Before you panic, the emergency room in our rural hospital is a glorified walk in clinic. I've been in there while patients are treated for hard ear wax... I was more used to a city hospital where death needs to be imminent to make the trip acceptable when I first moved here but I've soften with time. Stop cringing Tanya... I still won't go there for hard ear wax...
Anyway, Connor was throwing up his entire tummy contents. He was still feeding so he was not becoming dehydrated so we had decided to ride it out... but then midnight came and with it was the screaming... his head turned bright red and he screamed for 90 minutes. I tried my usual distraction method of presenting a breast... alas this was refused...
After 90 minutes, Cory and I were broken... bundled him in his car seat, grabbed his CD of Metallica and Nirvana Lullaby's and headed off to the hospital. Once in the car, he fell asleep... we continued to drive to the hospital, debating the whole way on whether we should just head home now that he was settled.
2 am on a Saturday night... the Emergency Room was a ghost town. Not even a drunk in sight... We were in to see a doctor in seconds... Connor woke from his nap a new baby... laughing, giggling and flirting with everyone who came in 10 feet of him. The picture of health!
Nothing to worry about... go home... if he gets worse or shows signs of dehydration... please come back.
He fell asleep on the way home.... transferred from his car seat to the crib without a cracked eyelid... slept 7 hours straight... woke a new baby.
He has been continuing to spit up so he is going to see a pediatrician this week in Fredericton for a potential acid reflux issue. He is also being treated for thrush. Good Times!!
Last weekend he had his first trip to the emergency room. Before you panic, the emergency room in our rural hospital is a glorified walk in clinic. I've been in there while patients are treated for hard ear wax... I was more used to a city hospital where death needs to be imminent to make the trip acceptable when I first moved here but I've soften with time. Stop cringing Tanya... I still won't go there for hard ear wax...
Anyway, Connor was throwing up his entire tummy contents. He was still feeding so he was not becoming dehydrated so we had decided to ride it out... but then midnight came and with it was the screaming... his head turned bright red and he screamed for 90 minutes. I tried my usual distraction method of presenting a breast... alas this was refused...
After 90 minutes, Cory and I were broken... bundled him in his car seat, grabbed his CD of Metallica and Nirvana Lullaby's and headed off to the hospital. Once in the car, he fell asleep... we continued to drive to the hospital, debating the whole way on whether we should just head home now that he was settled.
2 am on a Saturday night... the Emergency Room was a ghost town. Not even a drunk in sight... We were in to see a doctor in seconds... Connor woke from his nap a new baby... laughing, giggling and flirting with everyone who came in 10 feet of him. The picture of health!
Nothing to worry about... go home... if he gets worse or shows signs of dehydration... please come back.
He fell asleep on the way home.... transferred from his car seat to the crib without a cracked eyelid... slept 7 hours straight... woke a new baby.
He has been continuing to spit up so he is going to see a pediatrician this week in Fredericton for a potential acid reflux issue. He is also being treated for thrush. Good Times!!
Monday, 23 November 2009
The Trials and Tribulations of Breastfeeding
Okay... I finally get it... I understand why so many women give up on breastfeeding. To be honest, the thought has crossed my mind on several occasions. Fortunately for Connor, his complete distaste for formula has prevented this from becoming a possibility.
The first week was horrifically hard... my milk wouldn't come in. Connor kept nursing to the point that I had bleeding, scabby nipples... fortunately I was still in the hospital while this was happening so I was given Domperidone to help bring my milk in. Unfortunately Domperidone is actually a drug to help move a sluggish bowel and one of it's side effects is that it increases milk production. I did not have a sluggish bowel so this was a whole new thrill for me...
Once we got home, Connor's demand was far greater than my supply. He would cluster feed for hours on end and never seem like he was getting satisfied. For the first few weeks, we were topping him up with sugar water to have him feel full enough to sleep but this also had a side effect on his bowels so it was a last resort.
Our next line of defence was pumping milk during the early hours of the day when he wasn't clustering and using that milk when the clustering started. This was extremely effective. The only problems was that as a young baby, he wasn't into a routine and it was hard to judge when it was safe to pump. Doesn't help if you pump and then have to feed that pumping to him immediately.
Now, my supply generally meets his demand. He is starting to fall into a routine. My problem is now my diet and the impact it has on his digestion system. The donair I ate the other night gave Connor gas and tummy upset... no more spices for me. He has a tendency to spit up ALOT... I'm considering doing an elimination diet on myself to see if we can figure out what upsets him... I'm just working myself up to a rice-only diet for a few days. As a bonus, it will help to remove the excess weight on me...
Total weight gained during pregnancy 49 lbs... total lost so far... 27 lbs
The first week was horrifically hard... my milk wouldn't come in. Connor kept nursing to the point that I had bleeding, scabby nipples... fortunately I was still in the hospital while this was happening so I was given Domperidone to help bring my milk in. Unfortunately Domperidone is actually a drug to help move a sluggish bowel and one of it's side effects is that it increases milk production. I did not have a sluggish bowel so this was a whole new thrill for me...
Once we got home, Connor's demand was far greater than my supply. He would cluster feed for hours on end and never seem like he was getting satisfied. For the first few weeks, we were topping him up with sugar water to have him feel full enough to sleep but this also had a side effect on his bowels so it was a last resort.
Our next line of defence was pumping milk during the early hours of the day when he wasn't clustering and using that milk when the clustering started. This was extremely effective. The only problems was that as a young baby, he wasn't into a routine and it was hard to judge when it was safe to pump. Doesn't help if you pump and then have to feed that pumping to him immediately.
Now, my supply generally meets his demand. He is starting to fall into a routine. My problem is now my diet and the impact it has on his digestion system. The donair I ate the other night gave Connor gas and tummy upset... no more spices for me. He has a tendency to spit up ALOT... I'm considering doing an elimination diet on myself to see if we can figure out what upsets him... I'm just working myself up to a rice-only diet for a few days. As a bonus, it will help to remove the excess weight on me...
Total weight gained during pregnancy 49 lbs... total lost so far... 27 lbs
Sunday, 8 November 2009
Thursday, 22 October 2009
Connor - 5 weeks, 1 day
Wow it's hard to find time to blog... I've got about 4 entries half completed in draft form that no longer feel applicable.
Today I'm just gonna cheat and upload another video taken on October 19, 2009. Connor sure knows how to keep his daddy entertained.
Sunday, 11 October 2009
Tuesday, 6 October 2009
Coming Up for Air
Wow... I think I am finally coming up for air. Connor turned 3 weeks on Sunday and he celebrated this by not needing to cluster feed from midnight to 6 am. Last night he woke every 4 hours for a 30 minute feed... a couple more days of this and I might feel human again.
He is spending more time awake now without immediate needs like feeding or changing. This is Cory's favorite time with him. Right now they are watching the G.I. Joe movie together while Cory explains the psychology of world domination to him. I think Connor may grow up to be a movie critic as he just responded by filling his diaper... the boy is a natural!!
All and all, Connor is a very pleasant baby. He isn't very fussy provided his needs are met. He doesn't like having his diaper changed so he makes a pile of noise when that is happening, but the noise ends as soon as the change is done.
I'm still recovering from the C-section. I have a whole bunch of unrelated ouchies that add up to a whole body hurt... My tummy is still sore to the touch above the incision... my wrist and elbow is sore from holding Connor too much... I twisted my ankle on the stairs resulting in a bruise on the top of my foot and a sore knee... my breasts are tender tender tender from being stretched... I generally have an exhaustion headache but I'm hoping that will end soon.
Emotionally, I am an easy cry... it's not all the time, it comes in waves. I think I have a little Post Traumatic Stress from the labour prior to the C-section. I'm sure it will fade in time but for now any memory of the labour sends my anxiety level through the roof. If the Alpha Doctor at Labour and Delivery hadn't told me that I had a very difficult labour, I would feel like a total wuss having this reaction. Instead I just feel like a wuss...
He is spending more time awake now without immediate needs like feeding or changing. This is Cory's favorite time with him. Right now they are watching the G.I. Joe movie together while Cory explains the psychology of world domination to him. I think Connor may grow up to be a movie critic as he just responded by filling his diaper... the boy is a natural!!
All and all, Connor is a very pleasant baby. He isn't very fussy provided his needs are met. He doesn't like having his diaper changed so he makes a pile of noise when that is happening, but the noise ends as soon as the change is done.
I'm still recovering from the C-section. I have a whole bunch of unrelated ouchies that add up to a whole body hurt... My tummy is still sore to the touch above the incision... my wrist and elbow is sore from holding Connor too much... I twisted my ankle on the stairs resulting in a bruise on the top of my foot and a sore knee... my breasts are tender tender tender from being stretched... I generally have an exhaustion headache but I'm hoping that will end soon.
Emotionally, I am an easy cry... it's not all the time, it comes in waves. I think I have a little Post Traumatic Stress from the labour prior to the C-section. I'm sure it will fade in time but for now any memory of the labour sends my anxiety level through the roof. If the Alpha Doctor at Labour and Delivery hadn't told me that I had a very difficult labour, I would feel like a total wuss having this reaction. Instead I just feel like a wuss...
Saturday, 3 October 2009
Saturday, 19 September 2009
Adventures in Pregnancy - The Final Chapter
Well, I didn't fall off the face of the planet instead I was admitted to the hospital AKA land of no public Internet access...
What a... a.... an... adventure!
We were admitted on the morning of September 10th for our first attempt to induce via Cervadil. This induction is done by the insertion of a "tampon" behind the cervix... it can also be applied by a gel directly to the cervix but if things start to go bad, the gel is almost impossible to get out...
The first day, we had some contractions, watched some TV and dilated 1 whole centimetre. At 11 PM, they gave me a sleeping pill and put me to bed.
The next morning, we replaced the Cervadil with a second attempt. At the end of the completely uneventful day, I was rewarded with a total dilation of 2 cms, a sleeping pill and what I didn't realise would be my last good night sleep for.... I guess the rest of my life.
The third morning, we Cervadil'd again. By the end of the day, I was officially 4 cm's dilated which labeled me as being in "active labor". No sleeping pill was offered as I was tending to my contractions... no sleep for either Cory or myself.
At 8 am on the fourth morning, it was decided to further the induction by giving me Pitocin. Hindsight being 20-20, this is probably the moment that my day took a horrible turn. Pitocin takes a woman from zero to 60 in her labor in a blink of an eye. The gentle increase of contraction that makes it manageable doesn't happen. At 8 am, I was 4 cms dilated and by noon I had achieved the full 10 cms. Not bad for 4 hours. During this 4 hour period, I inhaled 7 canisters of Nitrous Oxide (once I discovered that I could not OD on it via trial and error, it was open season on the nitrous).
I have very little recollection of this day. I had to ask Cory if we used any of the Lamaze breathing. His answer was once or twice when we were changing NO2 canisters but basically Lamaze breathing sounded more like Darth Vader as I sucked the life out of the Nitrous.
At noon, they took my nitrous away and I started to push. At 1 PM, the doctor checked the progress and thought at that point that he was capped... which is a nice layman's term for cephalopelvic disproportion... meaning his head was too big for my pelvis. At 2 PM, as I stood on the delivery table shaking in pain... the doctor felt that a C-section was in order. I quickly agreed as I had already mentally begged for a high forceps delivery or a c-section... anything to make this experience end.
Before I could go for my c-section, they had to remove the internal monitor from Connor's head, catheterize me, prep me for the incision. I asked Cory what time it was expecting to hear 11 PM and was floored when he told me it was 2:30 PM. I have no recollection of how I got into the surgical suite. I remember having 3 contractions while being prepped for my epidural. I remember feeling bad that I was blowing my skanky nitrous sucking dry mouth breath at my labor nurse. And then my legs went numb and the pain went away... *sigh*
Cory was invited into the O.R. at this point. At 4:18 PM, Connor was disentangled from my pelvis and entered the world. Cory and Connor left shortly after that while I was stitched up. At 5 PM, I moved to recovery and met my baby for the first time.
Here he is somewhere between 1 hour and 2 hours old...
So this concludes my Adventures in Pregnancy... now we are on to the more exciting... Adventures in Motherhood.
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