Thursday, April 12, 2012
10 weeks
Norah saw the doctor on her 10 week birthday (we thought she had an ear infection - she didn't) and she weighed 11 pounds 8 ounces and was 22.5 inches long! Big Girl!
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Beautiful Baby Girl
We had Norah Jane's newborn photos taken at 2 weeks old. Here are just a few of my favorites!
Norah - Two Months
Sweet Norah Jane
Norah Jane turned 2 months old on this past Friday and she is growing like a weed! Her One Month update is here. She is starting to be little Miss Personality, but is also quick to let you know when she has had enough! Norah started daycare on 3/26/12 and the first night was rough, she got way off schedule and ended up being awake from about 1am to 4am! Momma got about 3.5 hours of sleep that night! Yuck! Thankfully, she seems to be adjusting well and we haven't had another night like the first one! We had her 2 month check up with Dr. Mijares yesterday which means she got her first round of vaccinations - 3 shots and one oral vaccine. Needless to say Norah was not a fan. The appointment ran late so she was already ready for a nap and screamed while the nurse checked her out, screamed while the doctor checked her out, then I got her to sleep, then the nurse came back with the shots and the screaming started again. Thankfully she calmed down rather quickly and spent the majority of the day sleeping up on my chest. She did have a couple meltdowns, but recovered quickly and this morning was all smiles!
Jack keeps becoming more and more interested in Norah, slowly but surely. Last night the cutest conversation happened. I was sitting with Norah in the chair, Chris was sitting on the couch and I was telling Jack that Daddy needed to give him his bath early because Momma had to go to work (Bunco - I tell him I'm going to work because he never gets mad or whines for me to stay).
Jack - "No, my Daddy mean!"
Me - "That's not nice Jack, don't you love your Daddy?"
Jack - whining
Me - "You better go get your Daddy!"
Jack - laughing ran to Chris and hopped up on the couch
Me - "See you love your Daddy!"
Jack - "And MY Baby Norlah!"
So cute! The whole "My Daddy mean" thing is Jack's clever way of trying to get me to do everything for him so we've been working on that. Frustrating to say the least, but Chris and Jack have been spending more time together than ever before and Chris is really starting to grow on Jack. They "work" in the garage or in the yard. They play baseball and go "fishing" in the front yard. They wrestle in the living room and go hunting in "Daddy's Office." I love seeing their relationship develop because for so long Jack refused Chris and only wanted me for everything, so it's nice to see them interact and enjoy spending time together!
Okay, back to Norah - here is her 2 Month Update!
Eat - Norah is currently eating 3.5 ounces 7 times a day! That means only ONE middle of the night feeding! Yea! We had a bit of a hard time getting her volume increased because it seemed to make her reflux worse and she would have trouble napping during the day. We tried a couple times and just started slowing adding more bottles a day at 3.5 ounces versus 3 ounces and it just seemed to finally work out. I still think she could easily take more at each feeding, but she seems content and isn't wanting to be fed earlier than her 3 hour schedule so we are sticking with where we are for now. We will probably try to bump her again closer to her 3 month mark.
Sleep - Norah is sleeping much better at night than she was a month ago. She usually is half awake during her middle of the night feeding and goes right back down to bed. We started a bedtime routine around 7 weeks and it has seemed to really help. She takes her "bedtime" bottle between 6:30 and 7:00pm and is usually asleep by 7:30, maybe 8:00 at the latest. I feed her again before I go to bed at 10:00pm and then she sleeps until anywhere from 2:00-3:00am and eats, then back to bed until 6:30am. Sometimes she goes back to sleep for an hour or hour and a half after this feeding and sometimes she doesn't. She is still sleeping in her Rock N Play Sleeper beside our bed. The RNP is angled up at a 30 degree incline so it helps her not reflux at night and she seems to love it! I'm already dreading the day she outgrows it! We even have one at Tonya's that she takes all her naps in. Norah has started fighting her naps which is frustrating, but she usually gives in fairly easy, but lately I've been having to put her sleep by rocking or holding and patting or else she will stay awake forever!
Health - This month has gone rather smoothly, we did have to double her Prevacid dose around the 7 week mark and it's really seemed to help. I don't feel like she is refluxing as much as she was a month ago or even 2 weeks and I'm hoping that she might already be starting to grow out of it! Fingers crossed! Norah is still a Gassy Girl, but it doesn't seem to bother her much but my girl can let 'em rip for sure! Dr. Mijares said she looks great, I did ask her about whether we will or should do anything about the Ecogenic Focus that was seen on her heart in utero and she said that they typically don't unless there was an indication of a problem. She said her heart has sounded great and her heart rate is always strong, no indications of murmurs or anything like that so she doesn't feel we need to do anything unless something changes.
Play - Norah is starting to play, well as much as a two month old can. She is starting to tolerate her swing in small doses better and we tried out the Bumbo chair this month (that didn't last long because the pressure on her tummy made her spit up). She has decided she HATES tummy time so that's a challenge. Oddly enough though, she likes to lay on her back and just move and groove, moving her arms and legs like crazy, - odd because usually reflux babies hate being on their back, this gives me hope that transistioning from the RNP that is angled to her cradle or crib will go smoothly. Norah has started batting and swinging at toys on her playmat, it's funny to watch her get excited!
Learn - Norah has started recognizing my voice and will turn the direction it's coming from. She started really smiling around 4-5 weeks and will generally flash her pearly gums at just about anyone. She started cooing maybe a week or so later and has developed multiple sounds, screams, coos throughout the month! I think she is going to be a talker like her Momma! She also is very interested in faces, she loves to stare at you and just observe, mostly your mouth as you talk to her. Little Miss Piggy has also started recognizing her bottle and will promptly start smacking her lips when she sees it, it's kind of cute!
Grow - Norah weighed 11 pounds 3.5 ounces (75th percentile) and was 22 inches long (just over 50th percentile) at her 2 month check up. She outgrew her newborn clothes around 6 weeks and is already fitting very nicely into her 3 month clothes. She is also wearing size 1 diapers and seems to be outgrowing those quickly, too bad I just ordered and received a HUGE case of size 1 from diapers.com. :-(
Norah and Lenny - Month Two
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Big Girl
Norah turned 7 weeks yesterday! We had a check up today for her reflux and she weighed 10 pounds 8 ounces and was 22 inches long! Starting to chunk it out!
I'm also going back to work this next Monday! I'm ready, but I'm not. You moms know how that goes! I'll give a full report!
Monday, March 5, 2012
Norah - One Month
My Little Diva Doll Baby!
This post is about a week late, but better late than never! I've been thinking back about the last month and I honestly think I was on complete auto-pilot! As most new moms know, you do what you have to do to survive on an ungodly lack of sleep. The first few weeks were hard and I felt like a first time mom because I couldn't remember how anything went or was when Jack was a newborn - it was like experiencing it all over again. The good news...we survived! Norah is a much more laid back baby than Jack was, but that's not to say she hasn't been challenging - she has! We are starting to get on a bit of a schedule, which is nice but I'm really not trying to hard yet because I will be going back to work in 3 or 4 or 5 weeks (I haven't fully decided yet) and I know her whole routine will change at that point and a new schedule will develop. Norah will be going to the same daycare Jack does, Jack has been going to Tonya's since he was 9 weeks old and we couldn't have gotten luckier to have found her! I feel great about Norah going to Tonya's and I know she will be well taken care of it, but still there is that little bit of sadness inside that I won't be the one taking care of her everyday! But I also have to be honest and say that I'm a bit excited to go back to work and get back to my "normal" - you know, putting fresh clothes on every day, showering every day, putting on make up, brushing my hair daily and wearing it down instead of in a ponytail, having conversations with adults, going to the Y at lunch to step class or for a run through the park, etc. etc. etc. Enough about me, let's get to Norah's One Month Update!
EAT - So far Norah seems to be a bigger eater than her brother was. She is eating 3 ounces every 3 hours day and night. Hopefully we will be able to bump her up some over the next month and she will sleep a little longer at night! There have been a few nights where she slept 4 hours, but for the most part we are pretty much on a 3 hour cycle 24/7!
SLEEP - Norah is starting to stay awake for a little while in between feedings - she is usually awake 1 to 1.5 hours then naps the other portion of the 3 hour span. She usually does fairly well at night...she seems to have a little bit of awake time after her 10pm feeding which is her last "planned" feeding of the day before we let her sleep as long as she wants during the night, but it's never too much more than an hour or so - some nights though she won't settle down until 12:30am! Ouch! I'm hoping we can continue to work on only having one feeding in the middle of the night and get that pretty much routine before I go back to work! She is currently sleeping in a Rock and Play Sleeper right beside my bed, this sleeper keeps them at a 30 degree angle which is recommended for reflux babies - she seems to like it.
HEALTH - I think we have been to the doctor every single week so far! She was jaundiced (like Jack) so we had to make 3 trips to the doctor within the first week and a half to monitor it, then she started displaying signs of having reflux (like Jack) so that took some more doctor appointments. We tried Norah on Zantac first and it didn't seem to control her pain, so we are now on Prevacid Solutabs (like Jack) for her reflux. We haven't quite been on it for 2 weeks, but it's been a life saver - Norah went from crying constantly and only being able to sleep about an hour at a time before waking up from the pain to sleeping 3 hour stretches and being a happy baby! She does seem to be awful gassy, but usually doesn't have too much trouble passing it - every once in awhile she will need a tummy massage or some leg work to help get the gas to pass, but she is nothing like her brother was when it comes to gas! We are on a "gentle" formula and seem to be doing great with it.
PLAY - Norah doesn't really play yet and she doesn't really like any of her toys yet either and prefers to be held when awake. This is difficult with an almost 3 year old, but I'm getting better at knowing Norah is fine if she whines a little and Jack is getting better at waiting patiently - sort of! We have started Tummy Time which Norah will tolerate for about 2.5 minutes, she sometimes will lay on her play mat for maybe 3 minutes, and the swing lasts maybe 3.5 minutes! We are going to have to keep working on getting her more interested in toys other than Momma's arms! It seems like every time I put her on her play mat or we do tummy time or I attempt to get her to swing in her swing she spits up (dang reflux) and then gets the hiccups and it's pretty much over from there. I've been wearing her alot in the early evenings after we get home from picking Jack up from daycare because he is always needing/wanting something and she of course doesn't want to be put down!
LEARN - I think the only thing Norah has learned at this point is how to wrap her Momma around her little finger! No really, she does pretty good at self soothing and putting herself to sleep the majority of the time. She focuses on faces and has starting making her first sounds! She is also really strong, she can hold her head up for a few seconds and uses her little legs to try to stand in your lap! She also started smiling right around the one month mark and it's so cute! She knows Momma's voice and tends to calm down if I talk to her from across the room.
GROW - Norah weighed 9 pounds 1 ounce and was 21.25 inches long at her one month well baby visit! She is wearing newborn diapers and still fits (semi-nicely) in her newborn clothes.
Norah and her Lamb, Lenny!xoxo
Monday, February 20, 2012
My Little Guy
This post is more for my documenting purposes, I took Jack to the doctor last week because he had a head cold/sinus infection and he weighed 28 pounds even! Still just a little guy, he weighed 24 pounds 2 ounces at his 2 year check up back in June - I'm hoping he can pack on a few more pounds before his 3 year appointment. He doesn't eat much at one time, he is more of a grazer and is very picky. I'm affraid we are needing to start giving him vitamins and those supplement drinks that have all the vitamins and stuff in them - he is so small! I guess we will just see what the doctor says when we go see her in a few months!
xoxo
xoxo
Saturday, February 18, 2012
2 Week Well Baby Visit
Norah was back up to 8 pounds 3 ounces at her 2 week well baby visit!
She was 7 pounds 15.6 ounces at birth, 7 pounds 7 ounces when we left the hospital, and 7 pounds 12.5 ounces at her 1 week well baby visit! She is packing on the pounds nicely! :-)
We did have to start Norah on Zantac, she seems to have the same reflux problems as her big brother - poor girl. It seems to be helping for now, so we are keeping our fingers crossed! Jack had to go on Prevacid which is an acid blocker - while Zantac just nuetralizes the acid so that it doesn't hurt when she refluxes. I'd prefer Norah to stay on Zantac, but we will do whatever she needs to be comfortable. Reflux is particuarly bad for infants the first 6 months or so of life because they are constantly laying down! :-(
She is still pretty unpredictable with her sleeping. She likes to have her fussy time anywhere from 6pm to 2 or 3am - she will usually pass out after 3am on most nights and then sleep until 10 or 11 am (eating every 3-4 hours, but going right back to sleep). She is definitely a night owl at this point! Yikes!
xoxo
She was 7 pounds 15.6 ounces at birth, 7 pounds 7 ounces when we left the hospital, and 7 pounds 12.5 ounces at her 1 week well baby visit! She is packing on the pounds nicely! :-)
We did have to start Norah on Zantac, she seems to have the same reflux problems as her big brother - poor girl. It seems to be helping for now, so we are keeping our fingers crossed! Jack had to go on Prevacid which is an acid blocker - while Zantac just nuetralizes the acid so that it doesn't hurt when she refluxes. I'd prefer Norah to stay on Zantac, but we will do whatever she needs to be comfortable. Reflux is particuarly bad for infants the first 6 months or so of life because they are constantly laying down! :-(
She is still pretty unpredictable with her sleeping. She likes to have her fussy time anywhere from 6pm to 2 or 3am - she will usually pass out after 3am on most nights and then sleep until 10 or 11 am (eating every 3-4 hours, but going right back to sleep). She is definitely a night owl at this point! Yikes!
xoxo
Big Brother...
Jack holding Norah for the first time!Jack has handled the addition of Norah Jane to the family better than I had anticipated. The first couple days home were rough, he did not like that Momma couldn't jump at every beck and call like usual, but he adjusted rather quickly!
While we were in the hospital we kept asking him if he wanted to hold Norah or give her a kiss and he would politely reply, "No...no thank you!" At least he was nice about it, right?
Now he likes to help Momma out by throwing away diapers! He also likes to give Norah kisses and to tickle her, but I think he mainly does it because he likes the attention and praise he gets from Momma and Daddy for being nice to his baby sister!
Norah Jane's Birth Story
Oh girls, where to begin! I think that everything that every pregnant woman fears happening when it comes to labor and delivery happened during Norah Jane's induction. This post is probably going to be the most TMI post I've ever written to date, so I apologize in advance BUT you have been warned!
We arrived at the hospital at 6am on Monday, January 3oth. With Jack I had the most wonderful nurse, the second our nurse walked in the room I knew it was going to be a LONG day. She just had that "I hate my life" look on her face, definitely not welcoming at all! She also had really long hair, like almost to her butt and it was just hanging down everywhere LOOSE. I remember commenting to Chris that her hair was freaking me out b/c it was everywhere, haha! Let me tell you she not only hated her life, but she soon made me hate mine as well. She was the ROUGHEST individual I have ever been "checked" by - like I thought I was going to die and she kept wanting to check me and check me and check me and each time was more painful then time before.
Anyway, a little back story - the whole reason we induced was because Norah Jane was not engaging into my pelvis at all and I was dilating each week. When we checked in the hospital I was 3 cms, but Norah was still just bouncing around. Dr. Shaw was concerned that with her still being so bouncy that if my water broke on it's own that we would run the risk of having her cord or a hand slip out with the gush of the water breaking. I had never heard of this before, but a friend of mine confirmed the theory when I told her about it (she had just had a friend that the exact thing happened to a couple weeks before and her friend had to have an emergency c-section). So I was told that the plan was NOT to break my water, but that we were going to start the Pitocin and hope that I would progress without my water being broken - they were hoping that they could break my water right before delivery (spoiler - this did NOT happen).
We started the Pitocin and the contractions started coming. With Jack, Dr. Shaw broke my water and immediately called for anesthesia so I actually never really felt any contractions - this time I was NOT so lucky. Dr. Shaw didn't want to give me my epidural right away and wanted me to try the IV pain meds, to which I refused (because of all the horror stories I've heard about them). The Pitocin started at 7am and I made it to about 1:30pm before I was definitely ready for my epidural...contractions suck! I also had only progressed to 4cms by this time so I figured it was only going to get worse and be a long day!
The anesthesia guy came into the room and at this point I was having some pretty intense contractions. So he gets set up and explains everything and then gets started...I was having contractions and curled in a ball and trying not to move - they kept saying "Oh you are doing good, doing great, almost done..." to only then say "I'm going to have to move up a level"... ugh! So basically he had to do the epidural twice and it sucked...by the time he was done I was dripping sweat and my nurse thought I was going to pass out! I assured her I was fine, it was just the contractions and being curled over for so long and having my hair all in my face. I guess there are 2 different options for getting the epidural medicine as well, they can put it right in your back when they do whatever it is they do or you can run it through the little IV looking machine -which obviously takes a little longer to work. Well my blood pressure had been dropping lower and lower all day - at one point it was 90 over 43 (and no I never got a good answer on why it was doing that), so they said the only option was the IV route for getting the epidural meds b/c the other way causes your blood pressure to drop and since mine was so low already it wasn't an option.
So if you are keeping score, here is where we stand...
1. Mean/Rough Nurse
2. Contractions, Contractions, Contractions
3. Two Attempt Epidural
and it only gets better from here, keep reading...
My nurse said that she had a meeting at 2pm so she was going to give me about 10 minutes and then she would put my catheter in once I numbed up some. Well when she came back in I told her I could still feel quite a bit, I couldn't feel my contractions, but I could feel my legs and even lift them a little bit. She thought I was nuts, but I showed her how I could lift my legs. She then said well let me check you and I told her I could feel her, but not like I could before. She said, "Well I will be in my meeting for an hour so if I don't put your catheter in now and you pee the bed don't be mad at me!" I said OK. Not 5 minutes after she left I was talking to Chris and laughed and proceeded to pee the bed a little. When my mom came back in I asked her to help me change the pads under me. So her and Chris had to roll me side to side like they do the really old people in nursing homes and as soon as they started to roll me to the first side I started laughing, thus peeing and not just peeing a little, like full on pee. Chris was like, "Darci stop, its coming off the bed!" Haha! So my mom just stuck a pee pad right in between my legs and pretty much left it at that! When my nurse came back she got my catheter in and cleaned up my bed a little bit.
I was still pretty much 4cms all afternoon, about 5pm my nurse said she wanted to check me again and then she was going to call Dr. Shaw and see if she wanted to come break my water or what the plan was going to be. She checked me and said I was maybe 5cms at that point. She said Norah's head still wasn't engaged at all and she could push her head away. She kept saying, "Oh yeah, we can't break your water with her head like this...no way." Then she said "Well let me see what she does when you have a contraction if I can still push her away" As she was waiting on the contraction she commented on how bulging my bag of water was, then I got a contraction and she said, "Oh yeah, I can still push her away, there is no way we can break your water like this" and that's when I felt a huge gush! She had put her finger through my water bag and broke it! The look on her face was the classic "Oh Shit!" I knew she was freaking out, but I tried to just remain calm. Chris on the other hand jumped up and asked if she needed him to do anything and she said "Towels, towels - we need towels!" Chris moved faster than I've seen in years. Luckily, the nurse didn't jerk away when my water broke, she kept her hand in there to act as a "cork" and then slowly every couple minutes let a little more water drain out, this was to ensure the cord didn't come out - which was what we were trying to avoid! After what seemed like an hour she assured me that all the water was out and Norah's head had already engaged and everything was fine! What A Relief! Chris was pissed, pissed that the nurse was so rough and pissed that she wasn't friendly and pissed that she broke my water! Haha!
At 5:30 my nurse checked me again and I was 6cms and she said she had also called and told Dr. Shaw that my water had broke. Dr. Shaw came in a couple minutes later and said she figured another couple hours and that she was going to run home and feed her girls dinner and then head back. Around 5:50pm Norah's heart rate started dropping with each contraction, at first the nurse wasn't too concerned b/c she figured the cord was just being compressed during the contraction because it rebounded after the contraction ended. Ok, I can buy that - but the stupid monitor alarm kept going off after each contraction and was so annoying. Finally the nursery nurse came in to check the alarm and asked when the nurse last checked me and I said she was supposed to come back at 6:30pm to check me again - I looked at the clock and it was 6:20pm so I said in 10 minutes. The nursery nurse said, well I'm going to go ahead and check you - by the look on her face I knew something was up, she said "Well I'm pretty sure you are complete!" Before she even got out of the room she was on the phone with Dr. Shaw. My regular nurse didn't believe the nursery nurse that I was complete - I went from 6cms to 10cms in under an hour.
Everything seemed to kick into high gear at that point, the nursery nurse was setting up for Norah, my nurse was getting everything set up for Dr. Shaw. I kept saying I felt like I needed to push and they were like, just wait Dr. Shaw will be here any minute! Dr. Shaw walked in and it was "go time". I had been joking all day that I had alot to live up to because I had Jack in one contraction with only 2 pushes. Norah Jane took 2 contractions (4 pushes the first contraction and 3 pushes the second one). Chris informed me that I did indeed poop, again... while I was pushing. I knew I was going to so I wasn't surpised! Ha!
So here is the final score...
1. Mean/Rough Nurse
2. Contractions, Contractions, Contractions
3. Two Attempt Epidural
4. Peed The Bed
5. Nurse Broke My Water - Unintentionally
6. Pooped the Bed
7. Our Recovery/Permanent Room had clogged drains and the Engineering Men (fancy for Maintenance Men) had to come and snake the drains TWICE!
When they put Norah up on my chest it was love at first sight! I could tell she was bigger than her brother was for sure. And it was wonderful to see her healthy - all of our fears and worries had been for nothing! We sure are blessed and so very thankful for her to be here and join our family!
We love you Norah Jane! xoxo
We arrived at the hospital at 6am on Monday, January 3oth. With Jack I had the most wonderful nurse, the second our nurse walked in the room I knew it was going to be a LONG day. She just had that "I hate my life" look on her face, definitely not welcoming at all! She also had really long hair, like almost to her butt and it was just hanging down everywhere LOOSE. I remember commenting to Chris that her hair was freaking me out b/c it was everywhere, haha! Let me tell you she not only hated her life, but she soon made me hate mine as well. She was the ROUGHEST individual I have ever been "checked" by - like I thought I was going to die and she kept wanting to check me and check me and check me and each time was more painful then time before.
Anyway, a little back story - the whole reason we induced was because Norah Jane was not engaging into my pelvis at all and I was dilating each week. When we checked in the hospital I was 3 cms, but Norah was still just bouncing around. Dr. Shaw was concerned that with her still being so bouncy that if my water broke on it's own that we would run the risk of having her cord or a hand slip out with the gush of the water breaking. I had never heard of this before, but a friend of mine confirmed the theory when I told her about it (she had just had a friend that the exact thing happened to a couple weeks before and her friend had to have an emergency c-section). So I was told that the plan was NOT to break my water, but that we were going to start the Pitocin and hope that I would progress without my water being broken - they were hoping that they could break my water right before delivery (spoiler - this did NOT happen).
We started the Pitocin and the contractions started coming. With Jack, Dr. Shaw broke my water and immediately called for anesthesia so I actually never really felt any contractions - this time I was NOT so lucky. Dr. Shaw didn't want to give me my epidural right away and wanted me to try the IV pain meds, to which I refused (because of all the horror stories I've heard about them). The Pitocin started at 7am and I made it to about 1:30pm before I was definitely ready for my epidural...contractions suck! I also had only progressed to 4cms by this time so I figured it was only going to get worse and be a long day!
The anesthesia guy came into the room and at this point I was having some pretty intense contractions. So he gets set up and explains everything and then gets started...I was having contractions and curled in a ball and trying not to move - they kept saying "Oh you are doing good, doing great, almost done..." to only then say "I'm going to have to move up a level"... ugh! So basically he had to do the epidural twice and it sucked...by the time he was done I was dripping sweat and my nurse thought I was going to pass out! I assured her I was fine, it was just the contractions and being curled over for so long and having my hair all in my face. I guess there are 2 different options for getting the epidural medicine as well, they can put it right in your back when they do whatever it is they do or you can run it through the little IV looking machine -which obviously takes a little longer to work. Well my blood pressure had been dropping lower and lower all day - at one point it was 90 over 43 (and no I never got a good answer on why it was doing that), so they said the only option was the IV route for getting the epidural meds b/c the other way causes your blood pressure to drop and since mine was so low already it wasn't an option.
So if you are keeping score, here is where we stand...
1. Mean/Rough Nurse
2. Contractions, Contractions, Contractions
3. Two Attempt Epidural
and it only gets better from here, keep reading...
My nurse said that she had a meeting at 2pm so she was going to give me about 10 minutes and then she would put my catheter in once I numbed up some. Well when she came back in I told her I could still feel quite a bit, I couldn't feel my contractions, but I could feel my legs and even lift them a little bit. She thought I was nuts, but I showed her how I could lift my legs. She then said well let me check you and I told her I could feel her, but not like I could before. She said, "Well I will be in my meeting for an hour so if I don't put your catheter in now and you pee the bed don't be mad at me!" I said OK. Not 5 minutes after she left I was talking to Chris and laughed and proceeded to pee the bed a little. When my mom came back in I asked her to help me change the pads under me. So her and Chris had to roll me side to side like they do the really old people in nursing homes and as soon as they started to roll me to the first side I started laughing, thus peeing and not just peeing a little, like full on pee. Chris was like, "Darci stop, its coming off the bed!" Haha! So my mom just stuck a pee pad right in between my legs and pretty much left it at that! When my nurse came back she got my catheter in and cleaned up my bed a little bit.
I was still pretty much 4cms all afternoon, about 5pm my nurse said she wanted to check me again and then she was going to call Dr. Shaw and see if she wanted to come break my water or what the plan was going to be. She checked me and said I was maybe 5cms at that point. She said Norah's head still wasn't engaged at all and she could push her head away. She kept saying, "Oh yeah, we can't break your water with her head like this...no way." Then she said "Well let me see what she does when you have a contraction if I can still push her away" As she was waiting on the contraction she commented on how bulging my bag of water was, then I got a contraction and she said, "Oh yeah, I can still push her away, there is no way we can break your water like this" and that's when I felt a huge gush! She had put her finger through my water bag and broke it! The look on her face was the classic "Oh Shit!" I knew she was freaking out, but I tried to just remain calm. Chris on the other hand jumped up and asked if she needed him to do anything and she said "Towels, towels - we need towels!" Chris moved faster than I've seen in years. Luckily, the nurse didn't jerk away when my water broke, she kept her hand in there to act as a "cork" and then slowly every couple minutes let a little more water drain out, this was to ensure the cord didn't come out - which was what we were trying to avoid! After what seemed like an hour she assured me that all the water was out and Norah's head had already engaged and everything was fine! What A Relief! Chris was pissed, pissed that the nurse was so rough and pissed that she wasn't friendly and pissed that she broke my water! Haha!
At 5:30 my nurse checked me again and I was 6cms and she said she had also called and told Dr. Shaw that my water had broke. Dr. Shaw came in a couple minutes later and said she figured another couple hours and that she was going to run home and feed her girls dinner and then head back. Around 5:50pm Norah's heart rate started dropping with each contraction, at first the nurse wasn't too concerned b/c she figured the cord was just being compressed during the contraction because it rebounded after the contraction ended. Ok, I can buy that - but the stupid monitor alarm kept going off after each contraction and was so annoying. Finally the nursery nurse came in to check the alarm and asked when the nurse last checked me and I said she was supposed to come back at 6:30pm to check me again - I looked at the clock and it was 6:20pm so I said in 10 minutes. The nursery nurse said, well I'm going to go ahead and check you - by the look on her face I knew something was up, she said "Well I'm pretty sure you are complete!" Before she even got out of the room she was on the phone with Dr. Shaw. My regular nurse didn't believe the nursery nurse that I was complete - I went from 6cms to 10cms in under an hour.
Everything seemed to kick into high gear at that point, the nursery nurse was setting up for Norah, my nurse was getting everything set up for Dr. Shaw. I kept saying I felt like I needed to push and they were like, just wait Dr. Shaw will be here any minute! Dr. Shaw walked in and it was "go time". I had been joking all day that I had alot to live up to because I had Jack in one contraction with only 2 pushes. Norah Jane took 2 contractions (4 pushes the first contraction and 3 pushes the second one). Chris informed me that I did indeed poop, again... while I was pushing. I knew I was going to so I wasn't surpised! Ha!
So here is the final score...
1. Mean/Rough Nurse
2. Contractions, Contractions, Contractions
3. Two Attempt Epidural
4. Peed The Bed
5. Nurse Broke My Water - Unintentionally
6. Pooped the Bed
7. Our Recovery/Permanent Room had clogged drains and the Engineering Men (fancy for Maintenance Men) had to come and snake the drains TWICE!
When they put Norah up on my chest it was love at first sight! I could tell she was bigger than her brother was for sure. And it was wonderful to see her healthy - all of our fears and worries had been for nothing! We sure are blessed and so very thankful for her to be here and join our family!
We love you Norah Jane! xoxo
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