I’m Backkkkkkk
It’s been far too long since I’ve blogged…in fact, it’s been far too long since I’ve actually sat down for longer than 5 minutes without being interrupted by a child. After 12 weeks of maternity leave, I’ve returned to work to begin the normal chaos we call our lives.
YIPPPEEE!!! Now the blogs about poop and vomit can commence again! Isn’t that why you come here? You’re certainty not coming here for style or fashion tips.
To tell you the truth, I couldn’t be happier to go back to work. Listen Lady, I love my kids and you’re never REALLY ready to leave them when they are babies, but knowing that they are at my parents house relieves stress and guilt that I can only imagine other parents feel. Let’s not forget that I also was pulled out of work in January because of this pregnancy and was not allowed to drive so there has been a MAJOR lack of socialization this year. We saved a butt load of gas money, but it’s nice to hear other keyboards click.
Compound this by the fact that Cardin is back to her major fits of violent gagging and puking at nearly every meal and mommy was pulling her hair out having to feed her 3 meals a day. Lunchtime was much more peaceful today. I didn’t have to bribe anyone to eat, craft some bizarre scene out of magazine clippings, or create elaborate sandwich cutouts.
In fact being back to work creates more structure to my life and I feel more up to date on current world events; instead of living inside of a bubble. Playing with a kid and caring for a newborn never really afforded me the opportunity the time to stay abreast of the news. Brett would come home and be all “Did you see that there was a giant earthquake today?” And I’d be all…. “Rory pooped on my leg today and there is spit up encrusted on my earlobe. Do you really want to play this game?”
I’d start each day, all with good intentions of blogging, and by the time 11 pm rolled around, I’d be racing to bed to get a few hours of sleep before the newborn clock rang for it’s middle of the night feeding. This lack of blogging only helped to fuel how bubble-ish my life felt. Listen Lady is my catharsis and only in my time away have I begun to appreciate this canvas to spill my daily chaos to the world.
Soooo……more to come 🙂
Someone better step up and catch this baby
Here it is, the most anticipated blog of 2012. The one where I talk all about my lady parts and delivering Rory!! YAY!! Can you hardly contain yourself?!?!
I promise I’ll continue to use exclamation points to the max, especially to enunciate words like VAGINA!!! or PLACENTA!!!
Relax folks…there won’t be nearly enough gory talk to turn you away from child birth; at least not forever. My family does read this blog so it won’t be that graphic.
Originally, the plan was to check the maturity of Rory’s lungs on May 10th. As long as his lungs were deemed mature enough by medical standards, I was to be induced later that day. Naturally, that plan was foiled by my stubborn child who was residing on the low end of the spectrum of readiness.
So we waited….7 very long, HOT days. There was still an obvious risk that his lungs would not be mature enough and that he would be required to spend some time in the NICU. In fact, the high risk specialists at the hospital advised that I wait 2 more weeks to guarantee his lung maturity. My OB was not nearly as cautious and believed that the benefit to delivering was greater than the risk it would pose to Rory.
Normally, I’m cautious and skeptical around doctors; always seeking a second opinion. Not my OB; I trust her wholeheartedly. There is something genuine about the care that she provides that puts me at ease and makes me trust her. I’ll be forever grateful she was able to deliver both my children.
I was rescheduled for induction on May 17th and placed on the high risk unit. Putting me on this unit allowed me to be right next door to both the NICU and an operating room if a problem arose. Things seemed to flow too smoothly the morning of the 17th as we were admitted first thing, the elevator was waiting for us, and our room was cleaned.
And then it came time for the IV. Things went downhill fast. I hate IV’s. I’m not talking about just a little hatred either. I’m talking about Hitler sized hatred for these things. Nobody ever succeeds in getting these suckers in the first time because my veins collapse or they can’t find a good vein. I end up getting jabbed four or five times. I’ve learned to ask for the IV team when I go to the hospital because it is so bad. Except even the IV team had problems this time. Listen Lady, at one point in this whole scenario, I screamed out a four letter expletive at the nurse attempting to put in the IV because I was so frustrated. Brett was holding my hand and I heard him stiffle a laugh.
After multiple attempts, the IV finally landed and a short while later my OB came in and informed me that she wanted another IV line inserted “in case of emergencies”.
WTF MATE.
First, ANOTHER ONE!!!!!!
Second, it is not comforting that you believe I’m going to need this second IV line!!!!
Luckily, I was able to convince the anesthesiologists to put the IV line in while they were doing my epidural. They used lidocaine on the spot before they jabbed me and no urban slang was thrown from my mouth.
Once the epidural was running, the nurses turned up the pitocin to get my contractions cranking. They were pretty steady but I wasn’t feeling anything. We went about this pace for multiple hours. Cardin came up to visit for awhile, I rested while I could with the effects of the epidural, and we chatted with the nurses who came in and out to check my vitals. Around 6 pm, my parents decided to take Cardin to get something for dinner, and since I was still only 4 centimeters dilated, they planned to come back afterwards.
Around 7:30 pm I started to have a lot of pain in my right side and felt as though my my hip was on fire. The epidural appeared to no longer be working and so we called for the nurse. One of the residents on call came with the nurse and checked my progress. She casually mentioned to one of the other nurses in the room, “You’ll want to call her doctor now, she’s ready to push”.
EXCUSE ME….I was 4 cm an hour ago and suddenly I’m ready to have a baby?!?!?!?.
BRETT…DUDE…CALL MY PARENTS AND TELL THEM NOT TO LET CARDIN WALK IN ON THAT!!!
And then came a flurry of activity. Looking back, it seemed that all this activity should have spanned a good 30 minutes but in reality, only lasted a matter of about 3 minutes. Carts were brought in with medical supplies and dressing gowns for the doctors. Kits were opened containing medical instruments and gloves. The baby’s warmer was turned on his blankets were prepped. During all this setup, the nurse and Brett were coaching me to push.
It dawned on me in this 3 minute window that my OB was not actually present in the room yet, and that the resident was still setting up all the medical equipment while I was in process of pushing. Now, I’ve been through this labor process before so I’m pretty familiar with the need to have someone (ANYONE!!!!) be at the end of the bed, catcher’s mitt in hand, prepped to grab the baby. Not the case here. I went on pushing, while the resident continued her setup process. All the while I’m thinking “Someone better step up and catch this baby!!”
As luck would have it, my OB rushed into my room, superman costume on, just in time to deliver Rory and save the day. He was born at 7:33 pm and after a few good suctions we heard screams coming from his lungs. The NICU team came over and gave him the once over, but he passed with flying colors and had no issues with his lung maturity.
Bust out the Bubbly
It’s Rory’s 2 week birthday today. We’re celebrating royal wedding style!! Perhaps the cake and champagne is a little preemptive? It’s already hard to believe that our little family has changed so dramatically in just two short weeks, but Rory seems to have slipped right into our routine with ease.
Cardin is (mostly) in love with being a big sister and a helper. She (usually) runs to grab a pacifier when he is crying or sings him “winkle winkle little star” in an effort to calm him. She’s shown only small bouts of jealously here and there, but I’ve made every effort to keep her routine and mommy-specific items the same (ie. bath time, bedtime).
Brett has gone back to work; throwing more normalcy into our daily routine as we are all rising and beginning the day together. It’s nice to have time together with Cardin and Rory, but I’m glad to have Brett home at night for some sanity. We’ve come a long way since first bringing home Cardin and fumbling through those first few sleepless nights of endless screaming and jaundice issues.
Things certainly seem MUCH easier this time around. Perhaps Rory is less fussy (YES, PLEASE!!) He sleeps more soundly and for longer lengths of time than Cardin ever did; this makes for a much more rested and refreshed mommy and daddy. Perhaps things seem easier this time around because we are more experienced and can easily identify a gassy cry vs. a FEED ME NOW, BITCH cry.
Either way, we’ll take the laid back lifestyle that Rory brings to the family.
Rewind 365 days
Rewind 365 days ago and our family of three was taking a long weekend trip to Columbus, Ohio. We took Cardin to the Columbus zoo and a children’s museum while in town for the holiday weekend. As short of a trip as this was, it will be a weekend I shall never forget.
It was on this fateful trip where Cardin threw up in her car seat and the only logical solution I could contrive for attempting to clean the molded plastic seat was to place it in the tub, in our hotel room, and shower it off. For those that don’t remember, I’ve so eloquently detailed the saga here.
Listen lady, we survived the ordeal and it’s a source of laughter now. A year later and we are now a family of four. Quite the change for us as we adjust to another little one who requires so much attention and deserves so much love Plus, there is the added bonus that the Ohio authorities have not sought us out for toxic dumping. Score.
ps…I’ll update soon with more on Rory’s arrival
Non-Stress Test
In the past couple weeks I’ve been going for fetal non-stress tests to check the heartbeat and fetal movement of Rory. The doctors are concerned since the morphine can slow breathing and heart rate due to the narcotics I’ve been taking to manage the gigantic organs that have been displaced all over my body.
The actual test is non-invasive, they hook a couple monitors up to my belly and I sit for 20 minutes so they can see both a resting heart rate and an active heart rate. So far, things have been normal and there has been no need for me to put additional anxiety on his small 6 pound frame. he
Throughout all the testing and triage visits, he seems to have maintained a normal heart rate and growth development. Besides sharing his room with my over sized organs, he seems to be fairly unaffected by all this commotion. Wait until he makes an appearance and the real family chaos is thrown down on him.
Cardin has attended these monitoring sessions with me and she brings along her doctor kit. While I’m hooked up to the machine, she performs all sorts of medical procedures on me; x-rays, injections, blood pressure readings. She is quickly becoming an expert in all things medicinally related to this pregnancy.