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12-6-04
OK, I know, I haven't updated in awhile. I still have to get Jess in for her 6 month well baby visit too.
She is still not gaining much at all. She seems happy and healthy though so we're just going to see what she does I
guess. She is eating solids now... well.. I wouldn't really call that baby food "solid" but whatever. She likes
the sweet potatoes and squash, peaches and green beans. She's not too fond of bananas, apples, or peas. We've
witnessed her rolling over from and too both sides, although she doesn't do that too often. She has officially said
"mama" first! Daddy is so jealous. Jess is also getting more and more stable sitting up on her own. Lastly,
she has her first (and second) tooth! The first little one showed up on Nov 24th, and the second one will be breaking
through any day now.
10-4-2004
We've had our 4 month well baby visit and shots today. My poor baby is barely growing at all! Hopefully now
that she is four months she'll be getting better at some solid foods. I had worked out a way for me to take an extended
leave of absence from work so that I could nurse her until she was really on solids foods, but work said no to that.
Working with HR we worked out a plan to move to 20 hour weeks which was wonderful!! Jess started to actually gain some
of that weight back and was doing really well, not to mention how happy I was. Well, communication was not the best
and at the moment HR has said no to working part time but I'm still trying to find a resolution. Wish me luck!
9-15-2004
Jess is about 3.5 months old now and doing well. I've been back at work since 8-25, which is bad, but we are adjusting.
The hardest part is that Jess has been refusing to take her bottle with any regularity. We will get her to use it for
3 ounces one day, and then the next morning she will just cry and not touch it. We've tried different bottles and it
doesn't seem to matter. She does take a sippy cup some, and she is eating cereal at daycare to get her some food, but
overall she just refuses to eat until I get home to her. I am nursing her over my lunch hour to make sure she eats,
but it is hard for me to see her so hungry in the evenings... especially when that is when my milk supply is lowest.
Pumping has been going well though, as I am able to pump quite a supply. I just wish she'd DRINK as well. *SIGH*
I am trying the Adiri breastbottle to see how that works. Wish us luck with that. She is not gaining weight nearly
as well as she has been and I'm afraid she'll barely be in the 40th percentile by her 4 month visit. Other then eating,
she is a total charmer! She coos and ahhs all the time and smiles a lot. She sleeps through the night for the
most part. She's just starting to get the hang of using her hands to touch items, I expect to see her grabbing things
any day now.
8-2-2004
We had Jess's 2 month check up and shots today. She was 11 pounds 6 ounces, so she's certainly made up for lost
time in the growth department! I'm anxious to break out all her 3-6 month clothing soon, but I will miss the 0-3 month
stuff! :) All was really going smoothly so other then the shots and the weight check, there was not much to do today.
She HATED the shots! Boy, this girl can SCREAM when she wants to. I rarely ever hear her even cry, let alone WAIL
like that. Big brother Gavin was there and he had just had his 5 year shots not too long ago (which he did great at!)
and he was there to help hold her hand. Hopefully she won't have much of a reaction to them now. We also have
been having our first smiles for a few days now. It is so cute to sit and talk to her and she will smile and sometimes
coo back to you. She can also hold her head up much better now and can even hold her full weight on her legs if you
give her your hands to hold onto for balance. She's growing up fast! Time for another baby, right?
6-30-2004
We have weight gain!! Jess was sitting at 7.9 for a few days and even went down to 7 pounds 8.5 ounces with one
scale. Her jaundice was only going down VERY slowly as well so we have been going back and forth for checks and tests
a lot. Today we went in for a 4-week weight check and she was 9 pounds 2 ounces!!! She's hitting the "ounce a
day" goal now so we don't have to go back until she is 2 months old! Also, since she has past her due date and is gaining
well, I'm free to start true "on demand" feeding so I don't have to wake a sleeping baby to nurse anymore.
On other fronts, Jess is in love with the shadows on the wall at her changing table. The window is opposite the
table so she gets really clear shadows and she can put her hand up and wave it to move the shadows around. If I put
my hand up she'll even smile, and it seems to be an interactive smile. She seems to be trying to get her thumb into
her mouth. I'm not sure how I feel about that one. :)
6-8-2004
Well, we had a visit back to the hospital on Sunday. We were lucky enough to catch a bad case of jaundice before
it moved into the "very scary" range and we were admitted into the pediatric section for a day and a half of bili-lights.
Scary for me, and difficult to be away from my son yet again, Jess pulled through really well. Her numbers went from
20 to 14 and at the blood draw today after being off the lights for ~14 hours was at 13.
Possibly due to the jaundice, we're also working on getting her to stay awake long enough to eat well and gain some weight.
She was down to 7' 8" on Sunday and now today she was 7' 9". Ya Jess for going UP!
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| Jess in her new Ren Fest dress |
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Birth story, a work in progress.....
I think this would start with the ultrasound I had at the end of May. My OB was there to determine if he could
do the amnio himself or if it looked too complicated with the placenta and baby possitioning. He decided that I'd be
best to go have the peri group do the amnio and thus it was scheduled for the day after memorial day, June 1st, Tuesday.
I was a MESS that weekend. I was so convinced that something bad was going to happen just before she was born.
I don't think I slept at ALL, but just sat in Jess's room listening to her heart. BTW - it was doing some goofy things
and she kept flipping head up / head down so half the time I couldn't find a heart beat at all and THAT was horrid.
Finally Tuesday arrives and the hubby and I head into the peri's office for the amnio. That goes really
well (that needle isn't THAT big, man, I was expecting something out of a Frankenstein movie from how people say it's so big!)
We talk about having the amnio done locally or having it sent out to the U and the peri thinks we should just have it sent
out because she doubts that it will come back clearly mature with the "short" analysis. I wanted to short one done because
the long one would have me petrified with anxiety over having this baby out for too long. I got to go to the NST rooms
at the peri group and wait there for the results. Thankfully, they came back really fast and they were very clearly
mature! We were going to get that induction! Incidentally, while waiting for the results to come back, I was having
plenty of contractions with the NST all on my own.
We chatted with the doctor and he said that he simply did not get enough sleep the night before
to be able to start the induction that night. We were welcome to head into the hospital and start the induction, but
we'd have to work with the doctor that was there that night, which just happened to be one that I had some previously not
very helpful encounters with before. We decided that most likely, starting the induction tonight would not produce a
baby until the next morning when my regular OB could be around so we headed in to get started. I also wanted the monitoring
all night so I could get some sleep. Hehe, ya right!
Well, the doctor there just decided she didn't like the idea of inducing me so she refused to do anything.
The nurses couldn't go against her orders and she wouldn't come see me herself to talk to me until 11PM that night.
So instead of sleeping, I sat up waiting for the doctor to come visit. She FINALLY did and I convinced her to at least
let me have the cervical gel. I was still having plenty of contractions and I was dilated to about 2 cms before doing
anything. I got no real sleep the rest of the night as every time I moved the monitor would lose Jess's heart rate and
I'd freak out. We waited out the night and most of the morning like that until the doc could come in.
Around 9 AM the nurses finally agreed to get things started. I had the IV hooked up for the group
B antibiotics and we started some pitocin. Before this my contractions were 5 minutes apart so they just wanted a little
pitocin to get them to 3 minutes apart. I was a good 3 cms dilated at this point. They also asked if I wanted
to take advantage of the free duela the hospital offers to everyone that is planning a drug free birth. I was so excited
to hear that! Guess what her name was?? Jessica! The nurse kept coming in to tell me that "Jess isn't here
yet." and I kept thinking "Ya, I know, I'm still in labor." hehe.
People came to visit and people left... I was having contractions similiar to what I'd been having for weeks
and weeks and I was a little bummed that they weren't getting stronger. The nurse kept upping the pitocin because I
said that the contractions weren't strong enough and I was joking with her because I was convinced the pitocin was going to
kick in all at once and she'd become the "evil pitocin nurse"... in truth though, I was anxious to get this whole thing done.
Gavin's induction started at 7AM and went until 2AM the next day and I felt I was heading in that same direction. The duela
got there around lunch time or a little after I think. Maybe after noon. It was just before then that the doctor came
in and after a lot of heart searching, I agreed to allow rupturing the waters to get things moving along. Since
her head was right there on my cervix, I wasn't so worried about cord prolapse and we checked and double checked to make sure
there were no blood vessels in the membrane to rupture. For as scared as I was, the rupture went fairly smoothly and
I actually stopped having contractions for a few minutes after it instead of getting stronger contractions. They did
pick up again though. I was spending most of my time on the rocking chair because the motion was making it easier for
me to focus during the contractions to try to help my cervix soften and dialate. A little before 3 they checked to see
what progress I had made and I was then 5 cms along. I was still nervous that the contractions were not very strong,
but they were happy with my progress. The pressure had moved around then into my back and I was actually getting uncomfortable.
The Jess had me take a bathroom break and then we were going to try something with the birthing ball to help my back.
In the bathroom, I had some contractions that I actually thought were going to break my pelvic
bones apart. It was really the first pain I had felt. I waited for the contraction to pass so I could walk into
the room again but I barely got in there when another hit and I collapsed on the ball as it was the closest thing. Jess
grabbed my shoulders and had me focus in her eyes and that really helped me to not lose it right then. They decided
the pain was enough that I should be checked again. It was still only about 3PM. I barely made it to the bed before
another contraction hit and I curled up on my side and grabbed the bars. Now, I really was struck by how this was just
the same as where I was when Anily came into this world. On my side in the bed holding the bars. I knew Jess was
crowning then when I made the connection to the possitions being the same. Sure enough, the nurse went to check and
yelped for nurses and doctors and anyone she could yell at in the hall. They told me to not push and to wait for the
doctor. Um, ya, sure. I really was actually trying to not let her come out too fast because I didn't want to tear.
Baby Jess came into the world without the doctor anyway and let out a beautiful wail.
I wanted to hold her, but they said the cord was too short. As it turns out, it was REALLY short,
just 18 inches. Less then half the length of a normal cord. It also had some pretty thin spots in the middle and
with all her flipping, she was likely at risk for torsion related compression. They clamped the cord (I was trying to
get them to not do that and to let it stop pulsing.) I had signed the waiver so they wouldn't put the antibiotics in
her eyes, and they had agreed to not give her any shots or anything without me holding her. They did take her to clean
her up a bit and find her weight. She was having a bit of trouble keeping her temp stable, but I did get to hold her
and nurse her fairly quickly. She was a champ at nursing right away and I remember being shocked that she'd know
how to do that having just been born and all. She was an amazing little newborn with a VERY round head after having
been born so fast! The nurses that weren't at the delivery thought she was a CSection baby. Just perfect.
Just a perfect baby.
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