Okay, take two - I don't know what's up with the first one!
first -typing with baby in arms - please forgive typos!
We have resolved the ruptured membranes and have the most beautiful baby GIRL! Announcing Rebekah Jo! Born at 34w6d, on Wednesday, May 14th, at 4:20 am, after a c-section. She was 4 lbs. 14 oz., and 17-1/2" long. Of course, she is beautiful!!
The long version is LONG, and I will post it, because you will not believe it all! Short version is that our worry and concern were right on target - I did develop an infection. The afterh99h before the midwife was flying in from out of state to stay with us, my vital signs (pulse, temp, bp) went wonky, and my hubby came home from work and started monitoring me and baby every 10min. Baby stayed fine, but I continued to have weird vitals. Nothing conclusive, and could have very well just been part of the allergic reaction (see long version tomorrow for details on that!). Hubby was still concerned, as was I, and he just kept monitoring us every 10 mintues for hours. Finally, at 10:30pm, baby's FHT went a little to high, into tachycardia, and lost their variability and reactivity to movement. Baby kept moving, but slowed way down from the usual level of activity.
Hubby threw me in the car, grabbed the fetoscope, bp cuff, and thermometer in with us, along wtih a bag we had ready just in case, and off we went. We debated the first 30 miles about whether we should go to the close hospital, RVMC, 60 miles from home) that had been so awful, or whether we had time to make it to the next hospital with an NICU (3 hrs away - Sacred Heart Med Ctr) - we chose the hospital further away. It was super stressful going up there, because we couldn't hear the FHT with all the road noise, and baby's movements were way down, and there was just now way to know if baby had the infection too, or how far gone we both were. That was a very long 3 hours.
When we got there, they were awesome (BIG, HUGE recommendation for Sacred Heart Medical Center in Eugene, Oregon, and total warning AGAINST Rogue Valley Medical Center Medford, Oregon), and baby was in trouble, and we had already decided on the way up that if the monitor confirmed hubby's fetoscope findings, we weren't even going to bother with an induction - we thought that pitocin would be way to hard on baby if he/she were already in trouble. So, we were prepared when they said c-section.
We went, and my hubby had the joy of announcing that our baby surprise was a litle girl!
She got 9/9 on her apgars, but because of the infection possibility, and her premature age, she went into NICU to be monitored and cultured for infection. She came back neg on everything, which means hubby caught my infection pretty much the exact moment it started impacting her, and had we waited at all, well, you can imagine the ramifications. In 3 hrs. time, she went from fine FHT, to distress. Scary.
Sh spent 5 days in NICU and I have spent 5 days dealing with an every-increasing list of complications from the allergic reaction, and a couple of crappy things that I never knew were common after c-section. I knew I was getting discharged today, and we were going to get a motel room until little Bekah was realeased (probably middle of the week), but to our joy tonight, the doc came and asked us if we wanted to take her home! (DUH!!)
VERY long drive home, very exhausted mommy and daddy (both running off of basically 2 wks with little/no sleep), and here we are!!
There is SOOO much more to this that will shock and outrage you, that I will try to get it all down tomorrow. I will also need to be doing quite a bit of processing and debriefing on the whole UC-to-Cesarean thing!
TOnight, however, a few questions from the shell-shocked!
1) Do newborns usually make a lot of little fussing noises during their sleep periods, and do they wake up and cry and need to be comforted (not hungry wake up, just fussing), or do you just give them a minute (or two, or 3??) to let them try to work it out themselves? I'm trying to get a few things done, she's stuffed full, and should be totally out in the basinette (out here in the front room with me), but as soon as I make a new noise or something (which is, of course, EVERY noise I make!) she's making whimpering sounds or something. I did let her ride them out, and it seemed to be okay, but I still ahd to run over and peek at her every time, making it very hard to get these other things done (like washing the breast pump stuff, etc.)
2) Anyone deal with the NICU/ pumping issues?? I"m totally rum-dum from trying to pump (to save my milk supply), feed her (both pumped milk from bottle, and now trying to establish nursing), and feeding myself, and oh yeah, sleep would be nice! All on a 3-hour schedule that the NICU set. The logistics are wasting me, and I'm too tired to even try and think it through. Basically, how did you switch over from the NICU routines to the routines you had planned before *the event*??
3) If you are co-sleeping, what do you do when baby needs to sleep, and you have stuff to do??
4) Please direct me to websites for a quick and dirty way to jerry-rig a sling appropriate for a newborn, with minimal or better yet NO sewing, just maybe simple cutting and tying etc. I will NOT have time for a few days to sew anyting, not even a sling, but I'm thinking that I MUST have one NOW. I don't know that much about slings yet, but I know I want one. SHe is so little (4 lbs. 13 oz as of today), and I don't know which kind would be most appropriate. I need to be able to move about the house, fix food snacks, do a little laundry, and of course, get on the computer! I also need to find a way to occupy her so I can pump my breastmilk, but in a sling, I'm thinking she's going to be blocking the units!!
5) I know there's more, but my brain just fried, and I need to eat again.
Thank you all for the help and support - you just don't know how badly I've wanted on here this week!!
Gonna catch an hour of sleep, then back up for pumping and feeding, LOL!
THANKS!
Tracey Mouse
first -typing with baby in arms - please forgive typos!
We have resolved the ruptured membranes and have the most beautiful baby GIRL! Announcing Rebekah Jo! Born at 34w6d, on Wednesday, May 14th, at 4:20 am, after a c-section. She was 4 lbs. 14 oz., and 17-1/2" long. Of course, she is beautiful!!
The long version is LONG, and I will post it, because you will not believe it all! Short version is that our worry and concern were right on target - I did develop an infection. The afterh99h before the midwife was flying in from out of state to stay with us, my vital signs (pulse, temp, bp) went wonky, and my hubby came home from work and started monitoring me and baby every 10min. Baby stayed fine, but I continued to have weird vitals. Nothing conclusive, and could have very well just been part of the allergic reaction (see long version tomorrow for details on that!). Hubby was still concerned, as was I, and he just kept monitoring us every 10 mintues for hours. Finally, at 10:30pm, baby's FHT went a little to high, into tachycardia, and lost their variability and reactivity to movement. Baby kept moving, but slowed way down from the usual level of activity.
Hubby threw me in the car, grabbed the fetoscope, bp cuff, and thermometer in with us, along wtih a bag we had ready just in case, and off we went. We debated the first 30 miles about whether we should go to the close hospital, RVMC, 60 miles from home) that had been so awful, or whether we had time to make it to the next hospital with an NICU (3 hrs away - Sacred Heart Med Ctr) - we chose the hospital further away. It was super stressful going up there, because we couldn't hear the FHT with all the road noise, and baby's movements were way down, and there was just now way to know if baby had the infection too, or how far gone we both were. That was a very long 3 hours.
When we got there, they were awesome (BIG, HUGE recommendation for Sacred Heart Medical Center in Eugene, Oregon, and total warning AGAINST Rogue Valley Medical Center Medford, Oregon), and baby was in trouble, and we had already decided on the way up that if the monitor confirmed hubby's fetoscope findings, we weren't even going to bother with an induction - we thought that pitocin would be way to hard on baby if he/she were already in trouble. So, we were prepared when they said c-section.
We went, and my hubby had the joy of announcing that our baby surprise was a litle girl!
She got 9/9 on her apgars, but because of the infection possibility, and her premature age, she went into NICU to be monitored and cultured for infection. She came back neg on everything, which means hubby caught my infection pretty much the exact moment it started impacting her, and had we waited at all, well, you can imagine the ramifications. In 3 hrs. time, she went from fine FHT, to distress. Scary.
Sh spent 5 days in NICU and I have spent 5 days dealing with an every-increasing list of complications from the allergic reaction, and a couple of crappy things that I never knew were common after c-section. I knew I was getting discharged today, and we were going to get a motel room until little Bekah was realeased (probably middle of the week), but to our joy tonight, the doc came and asked us if we wanted to take her home! (DUH!!)
VERY long drive home, very exhausted mommy and daddy (both running off of basically 2 wks with little/no sleep), and here we are!!
There is SOOO much more to this that will shock and outrage you, that I will try to get it all down tomorrow. I will also need to be doing quite a bit of processing and debriefing on the whole UC-to-Cesarean thing!
TOnight, however, a few questions from the shell-shocked!
1) Do newborns usually make a lot of little fussing noises during their sleep periods, and do they wake up and cry and need to be comforted (not hungry wake up, just fussing), or do you just give them a minute (or two, or 3??) to let them try to work it out themselves? I'm trying to get a few things done, she's stuffed full, and should be totally out in the basinette (out here in the front room with me), but as soon as I make a new noise or something (which is, of course, EVERY noise I make!) she's making whimpering sounds or something. I did let her ride them out, and it seemed to be okay, but I still ahd to run over and peek at her every time, making it very hard to get these other things done (like washing the breast pump stuff, etc.)
2) Anyone deal with the NICU/ pumping issues?? I"m totally rum-dum from trying to pump (to save my milk supply), feed her (both pumped milk from bottle, and now trying to establish nursing), and feeding myself, and oh yeah, sleep would be nice! All on a 3-hour schedule that the NICU set. The logistics are wasting me, and I'm too tired to even try and think it through. Basically, how did you switch over from the NICU routines to the routines you had planned before *the event*??
3) If you are co-sleeping, what do you do when baby needs to sleep, and you have stuff to do??
4) Please direct me to websites for a quick and dirty way to jerry-rig a sling appropriate for a newborn, with minimal or better yet NO sewing, just maybe simple cutting and tying etc. I will NOT have time for a few days to sew anyting, not even a sling, but I'm thinking that I MUST have one NOW. I don't know that much about slings yet, but I know I want one. SHe is so little (4 lbs. 13 oz as of today), and I don't know which kind would be most appropriate. I need to be able to move about the house, fix food snacks, do a little laundry, and of course, get on the computer! I also need to find a way to occupy her so I can pump my breastmilk, but in a sling, I'm thinking she's going to be blocking the units!!
5) I know there's more, but my brain just fried, and I need to eat again.
Thank you all for the help and support - you just don't know how badly I've wanted on here this week!!
Gonna catch an hour of sleep, then back up for pumping and feeding, LOL!
THANKS!
Tracey Mouse
mama I am no help with the pumping issues
