Wordless Wednesday

I can fit into my "newborn" sleepers now! 

One Proud Mama

Here's a picture Melanie took of me with Lucas the night he was born.  She didn't get to the hospital until after 7 so he's around 12 hours old.  I had just gotten "permission" to get out of bed, clean up, and brush my hair & teeth.  Oh I felt so good!  I had no idea what the rest of the week would hold...

Short & Sweet Birth Story

I went into labor on Sunday night. It was VERY quick! My water broke at 2:45 am & by 3:15 (how long it took me to wake Tim up!!) the contractions were at less than 3 minutes apart.


We got to the hospital around 5:15. I was dilated to 3cm.

We found out very quickly that Luke was breech& that I’d be having a c-section.

I was wheeled into the OR at 9:15 and Luke made his arrival at 9:40.

He is 19 inches long and started out at 6 lbs. 3.6 ounces. His head circumference was 33 cms. (He’s a tiny little peanut!)

Within the first 36 hours he lost a lot of weight due to poor latching issues. He got down to 5 lbs. 11 oz.

Then things started looking up for about 12 hours before we found out that Luke had lost more weight, down to 5 lbs. 9 oz., and was severely dehydrated.

I was forced to start supplementing him with formula, which just broke my heart. I spent an entire 1/ 2 a day in bed crying over it & how sick our little boy was.

About ½ way through that day I got my act together and started talking and working out a plan of action for getting Luke healthy.

Around 6:00 that day, we found out he was mildly jaundiced & would need a bili-blanket.

Throughout the day we continued to supplement with pumped milk, formula, and only attempted nursing after Luke was finished eating.

We found out in the wee hours of the morning that Luke had gained 2 oz. We were now above the dreaded 10% birth weight decrease & would be allowed to take our little boy home. (We were on day 4 in the hospital.)

In the morning Luke was cleared of his jaundice & we were discharged around 7:30 am!

We had a check up this morning with Luke’s pediatrician. He gained 5 oz. since yesterday morning & now weighs 6 lbs even! He was very alert and active for about an hour and a half at the doctor’s office. We were so happy. The doctor said he looked great, keep doing what we’re doing and that he didn’t need to come back until he was 1 month old! Yay!

We’re so happy and love our little boy to pieces!

Obviously we call him “Our little Pumpkin”, “Peanut”, Luke, Luke-y, and “Squeaker”. He makes this funny squeaky noise all the time & I just love it.

Anyway, that’s our birth story & first week with our awesome little boy!

Birth Story Continued

Pretext: It's 7:30 am & I'm finally being allowed food....I'm waiting for the food cart to show up before I go back to sleep after nursing my handsome man!!  (My parents will probably show up before I get to go back to sleep though & that's ok.)

So, the c-section began at 9:15 w/ me getting the spinal placed.  (The spinal wasn't  at all & truly numbed me completely.  I am glad I wanted that & not an epidural. I didn't have a choice...but to me the spinal was so much EASIER to do than the epidural.)  Tim didn't want to see anything, so he sat next to my head behind the curtain. 

So, within a matter of minutes they had done the section & pulled Luke out.  I could sort of feel, but don't know if I felt "the moment" when he came out.  I remember them saying he was born at 9:40 am.  He gave a few gurgly cries and I'm assuming the doctors suctioned him & cut his cord pretty quickly.  (We couldn't see.) 

After he stopped being gurgly &crying, they carried him around the curtain on my left side & let me have a looksie. 

Tim got to go over to the bassiet where they were toweling Luke off & checking his vitals.  He got an 8 & 9 on his "at birth" apgars. I don't know what his later ones were, but I plan on asking before we leave. 

After about a minute of Tim looking at the baby & me not being able to see, I told Tim I wanted to touch the baby.  So, the sweet nursery nurse (Tammy) brought him, butt naked & in all his glory, over for me to see and touch.  She let me pet him and give him a kiss, before asking if she could continue drying him. 

He didn't cry or anything, such a good man.

So, then the doctor's finished with me & the nurses finished with Luke.  Tim got to hold him & came to sit with me while I was being stitched up.  He laid Luke on the bed by my head (without letting go) so that I could see and touch and kiss my little boy.  I remember him fussing a bit & me kissing him and going 'shh' and him getting quiet. 

After several minutes of bonding time the nurses had to take him to the nursery to get properly warmed b/c they didn't have a "Panda" warmer in the OR. 

I had asked that they not "bathe" him but just wipe him down & they respected my wishes.  Yay!  Tim and his mom got to go in the nursery with him while they did all kinds of little newborn assessments.  Tim was particularly interested in the testicular exam!  He said they also bent all of his joints as far as they'd go & flexed all his little muscle groups.  Aww...I'm sorry I had to miss that.

It took them a little while longer to get me settled & it was after 10:15 when I got to my post-op/recovering/postpartum room. 

My nurse, Rebecca, stayed with me from the triage room,to surgery, to my post-op room.  As soon as we were in the room, she called for the baby to be brought to me.  She did all the post-op stuff she had to do to me (blood pressure, hooking up IVs, and such) and then she helped me and Tim get Luke to latch on.

Oh how I love feeding my child. 

It'sNOT easy.  But the reward is so great & I know that I'm doing my best for my baby!  So far it's not painful & I am using lanolin after every feeding to help limit any possible soreness. 

Luke got 3 or 4 really big deep swallows of milk in before we were both spent.  I was in tears and he just would not/could not open his tiny mouth wide enough for my huge ta-tas! 

By then it was after 11:15 and maybe even closer to 12! Mandy asked to come in so that she could see Luke & I before leaving to go get Grayson & Spencer.  We let her in for a quick visit. 

Nurse time...

More about Luke

I'll start out with the good stuff!!  A few more pictures of the most amazing man in my life!  I am so in love with my son, Lucas Wayne, that I cannot express it adequately.  I've been awake for almost 24 hours straight & for an entire day before that, so I'm beat, but I have to get this down while I'm feeling it.  Talk about running on E!!

Here's a couple pictures Tim caught of Luke after his bath this afternoon.  We managed to wait until after 3:00 to give him his first bath & he was pretty alert afterwards.

This is one from when he was FIRST born...I guess someone snapped this from the nursery. His cute little tooshie!!

Who can resist a perfectly baked baby burrito?  I just love how snuggly he is when he's all wrapped up!  (Though he has spent quite a bunch of time today getting some almost nakie skin to skin time with me!!)

And finally, this is what I see when I look down at my chest.  I am so thoroughly blessed.  Thank God for my healthy little man!!

Eh, I can't get into the birth story right now.  Guess you just get pictures tonight!!

Introducing....

Lucas Wayne Goetsch

Born @ 9:40am

Weighing in at 6 lbs. 4 oz.

Measuring 19 inches long

My water broke at 2:45 am.  Within minutes I began contracting for 30-45 seconds every 2 1/2 minutes.  I woke Tim up at 3:20 and told him my water broke.  He didn't believe me & had a hard time waking up!  Because I had worked hard the day before & we had DTD @ midnight, I wasn't immediately SURE that my water broke.  BUT, within 30 minutes I was STILL leaking & then had a few drops of blood when I wiped.  I knew then that my water was broken!

We spent the next hour & a half getting the last minute things taken care of & ready to go.  I folded laundry, showered, ate some eggs, and finished packing my hospital bag.  (We used contraction master.com to time the contractions...or "the ows" while we were doing this stuff.)  I couldn't tell the contractions were coming other than the pain got worse...it never really went away.

We arrived at the hospital at about 5:15 am.

We got into the ER & did a quickie triage...then I had to be wheeled to L&D. I tried to walk but they wouldn't let me.

We got put right into a triage room up here.  I warned them about my flu-symptoms & was promptly given a mask to wear.  The nurse did all the usual stuff & then did an internal exam sometime around 6:00.

She said I was measuring about 2-3 cm. dialated.

She then hooked me up to the monitors & left for a while.  Luke's heart rate was around 140-160, peaking during the contractions.  The monitor did not pick up the contrax. well, because I kept sitting up & leaning forward during them.

I had INTENSE incredibly painful back labor.  DH or his mother had to apply STRONG counter pressure on my lower back or I was in an unimaginable amount of pain!!

Around 7, they finally said I could get off the monitor & start walking the halls.  Yay!  More than anything I wanted out of the stinking bed!!

So, I walked to the bathroom & went potty.  I lost my "mucous plug" then.  It was about the size of a 1/2 dollar & red blood w/ a snot mixture.

Then we did 1/2 a lap of the halls before the nurse stopped me. She came rushing up...saying that b/c I was breech at 36 weeks I wouldn't be allowed to "labor down" until I was checked.

Well, the doctor wasn't going to be in until "around 8" and it was only a little after 7.  I begged & pleaded...but lost.  I had to return to bed...and monitors...and was NOT to try to progress things on my own.

ARGH.

So, I got into bed.  I managed to avoid the monitor for a while.  The contractions were getting a lot stronger & closer together.  I sat in the bed indian style & DH & his mom took turns rubbing my back through the contractions.

As I got more & more in pain, and the nurse did more & more stuff requiring me to lay down, I started to lose control during the contractions.  After 8 am, I started to get really upset.  The nurse could tell things were moving along & decided to check me herself w/o the doctor.  She did an internal, said, "that's his butt" and then threw me on the ultrasound machine.

I cried during the US.  I knew I was headed for a c-section & it hurt like the dickens to be flat on my back.

As soon as she & another nurse (who was already in the room) confirmed that he was still breech, my awesome nurse (Rebecca) started making the arrangements for my c-section.

(Tim and I had already discussed that a version performed by a doctor who didn't want to do one, was a bad idea & that the section was our best option.)

The doctor showed up around 8:30 and did his own quickie ultrasound.  He made the official call that we'd be doing a section & things really started picking up.

I was upset & crying over the section/loss of control by that point.  I forgot to focus through the contractions, which made the pain quite unbearable.  I was crying a lot & making a lot of noise through contractions that were 2 minutes or less apart.

I got my IV in and they started prepping me for surgery. The nurse shaved me & really upset me b/c she was rough & went REALLY low.  Lower than I think was needed.   I was shaking & really scared.

At 9:15 am I was rolled into the OR.  Tim couldn't come in until after I had my spinal.  I was a shaky whine-y mess.

After the spinal (with tears a rolling down my face) I was laid down & they got the room ready.  Though I couldn't see & was numb past my breasts, I could tell that I was spread eagle & naked on the table except for my boobs.  It was not pleasant.

After they got started I was silently crying & holding Tim's hands.  I kept saying "I don't like it." because I didn't like the way the tugging & pulling felt.  It was not fun, but not miserable or painful in any way.

Well, there's more to the story, but I can't keep my eyes open.  I'll leave you with a few pictures & then I'll finish later.

Seriously the light of my life....

There is this adorable little girl that I know.  She is 2 years old.  She's so funny & has such an imagination! 

I love her to bits & pieces!  I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't see her or talk to her or be a part of her life. 

Lately, we've been experimenting with "Big Girl Panties" and potty training!  It's not going so well...but I blame that on inconsistency & the fact that we don't have her mini-potty chair.

Doesn't she look adorable in her "big girl panties"???

These are pictures we took today. 

She's been a trooper through my flu recovery & has done SO well camping out in my bed with her "People" and books!

How can you resist that adorable face?