Day 7: Dec 2 - Katie's EDD

Daddy got to enjoy some Katie time in the wee morning hours and took some self portrait photos. She was in quite a good mood kicking around and cooing while hanging out with Daddy.

The poos have been few and far in between, which is both good and bad. When one finally came along, Daddy took one for the team and took care of it…..Daddy style!

Katie continues to dictate the schedule around the house with feedings every two hours….or else! As evidenced by the crying face picture, she gives the ultimatum of “Feed me or else…”. When she's not crying or giving the pouty face, she's the sweetest angel in the universe, especially when she's flopped out on your chest snuggling.

Kind of wierd to think that today was supposed to be her arrival day. I am happy to say that the pain from delivery is already seven days past, although still somewhat vivid in my memory. ;-)

Day 6: Dec 1 - YAY! We're done with the blanket!

Today Grandma went with us for the billi check. We went to Wake Med this time and then on to the Cary location. Finally her billi level has started going back down [13.3] even though her weight has only gone up an ounce to 7lb 9oz. Hey, if it means no more billi blanket, we'll take it!



After the pediatrician visit, we headed over to Joann Fabrics. Grandma is going to sew a "Hooter Hider" for me so that I can feed Katie in public. Her timing is impecable though, because she was hungry before we even made it in to Joann Fabrics! I got to sit in the car and feed her with bewbie exposed. Not sure if the guy that parked next to me noticed when he got out of his car, but I've found that once you've delivered a child, you don't much care about things like that anymore. ;-)



Katie is really quite a good shopper. She just sits in her car carrier and snoozes. ;-) Strangers like walking by and peeking at us and then telling us how adorable she is. She really is, isn't she! ;-) I had one lady, with a toddler in her cart, start talking to me and trying to get a closer look. I was surprised how creeped out by this I was. I just kept screaming in my mind, "Don't you dare touch my baby, lady!" haha! Luckily she didn't attempt to, but all I wanted to do was flee from her.



By the time we got home, my body was pretty sore again. My stitches are really hurting as are my nips, which I'm sure is exacerbated by my exhaustion and fears of being a first time mother. I continue to be SOOO grateful for Daddy and Grandma. They've been so helpful to me physically and emotionally through this whole thing!

Day 5: Nov 30 - Yellow is the new black!

Another jaunt off to Rex and then the pediatrican for a billi check. Katie did NOT like this lab tech as well, so she did quite a bit of blood curdling screaming. Her billi level today was 15.1 and her weight maintained at 7lb 8 oz. The doc thinks we may be swinging in the right direction [the levels do an arch, and as the weight gains the billi level goes down]. Unfortunately, he wants us to put her on the blanket another day and have us go back in the next day for another check. Blah!

We headed back home to get her on the blanket as soon as we could so that we can end this whole ordeal as quickly as possible. It continues to take all three of us to take care of her, and I have been dubbed Bessie the Cow! Daddy or Grandma changes her diaper and then brings her in to me to be fed. I feed her [up to 50 minutes sometimes] and by the time that's done and she's been burped, I'm exhausted, so they come in, take her away and let me get a few more bits of sleep, only to start the process over 45 minutes later. I am so sore from my stitches from delivery and from getting used to breastfeeding, so every afternoon I have a melt down of some sort. I knew motherhood would be hard, but I did not know it was going to be this painful!!

Day 4: Nov 29 - Katie goes on her first shopping trip

Early this morning, Daddy and I drove Katie back over to Rex hospital to get her billi blood work done and then her appointment at the doctor. Her billi level was 14.4 [8.7 after 24 hours]. Her hospital discharge weight was 7lb 12oz [she's lost 6% of her birth weight] and at today's appointment, she was down to 7lb 8oz [9% of her birth weight]. The NP wasn't overly pleased with those results, since they start to get concerned if a baby dips below a 10% weight loss. He's going to have us do another billi check the next day to see how she's doing.

After our appointment, we headed over to Babies R Us. Yes, Katie didn't waste much time before going on her first shopping excursion. My milk came in last night and I gotta say, engorgement is PAINFUL!!! We stopped at BRU so I could pick up a breast pump. It was quite an ordeal trying to decide which one, but after an emergency call to my friend Lora [and Daddy calling his sister for advice], I picked up the Medela Pump in Style. It was the most expensive pump, but I'm hoping it'll hold up well.

Katie continues to be freakin' adorable and oh so tiring! It's taking all three of us adults [Daddy, Grandma and I] to take care of her. How on earth do women in third world countries without all of this help do it??

Day 3: Nov 28 - Homecoming day!

Last night did NOT go as well as the night before did!! I had Daddy stay at the hospital this time, and it's a good thing I did! When the nurse came in to check on us at 4 in the morning, and I'm sitting on the toilet sobbing and Daddy's trying to soothe Katie without much luck, she kindly offered to take Katie to the nursery to offer us some relief. I was still only producing colostrum, and Katie was ready for more "real" food, so they took her away to feed her so that Daddy and I could get some sleep.

When we woke up four hours later, it felt like we had just slept for 10 hours! It's amazing how your sleep priorities change when you have a baby! We were both beside ourselves missing our little girl too. We asked the nurse to bring her back, but then we grew too impatient waiting, so we went down to the nursery and got her ourselves. Doting parents already!

Today was discharge day, but Katie started getting more and more yellow, so they wanted to run tests to check her billi levels. Unfortunately, they came back higher than the doctor had wanted, so they decided to send us home with a billi blanket for her. The only problem is that with it being the day after Thanksgiving, and a lot of deliveries recently, the blankets were scarce. We had to wait around for a few hours for them to locate one and deliver it to us.

During our wait, the hospital's photographer stopped in. Unfortunately she came just as it was "lunch time" for Katie. She managed to get a few shots on a non-crying baby in, but it wasn't easy.

Around 2pm, we were finally cleared to go home. Packer naturally came to greet us as we arrived, and she made sure to give Katie a good sniffing. Bob naturally was still flopped out napping, and he was not as excited at Katie's arrival as the rest of us were.

Grandma got the honors of changing the first home diaper. I think she felt sorry for David and I who took about 10 minutes to change a diaper, and she knew Katie was sick of dealing with such amateurs.

I broke down and decided to have her sleep in our room for the first few weeks, despite originally being adamantly against that. I sense this is the first of many times where I will have to recant my wishes when faced with the real life scenario. We set up the bassinett and video monitor on my side of the bed, and despite having her inches away and available to be constantly monitored, I did NOT sleep well. Katie likes to make lots of squeaking noises when she sleeps, and for a new mother on her first night home, that is NOT a good combination. Every time she'd make a peep, I'd have to hop up and check on her.

Day 2: Nov 27 - First full day of life

I sent Daddy home last night to get a good night's sleep, and Katie and I stayed in the hospital. I made my first attempt at breastfeeding. She wasn't overly hungry, so it lasted about a minute, and it was quite the wierd experience. I'm hoping we get the hang of it easily though.
I made the mistake of not going to sleep while she was asleep, and instead got on the internet and sent out pictures of her arrival. BIG mistake! I was so tired the next day, since I only got about two hours sleep that first night, and obviously the day before was quite a taxing one. Now I know why they recommend to sleep when the baby sleeps!

When they brought her back in around 2am, I was FREEZING. Even my teeth were clattering. I don't know that my room was that cold, but I think with all of the stress my body had been through, it was revolting against getting out of bed! I snuggled up close with Katie though and got some awesome bonding time.

When they came back to check on us, the nurse calmly said she was going to take Katie up to the nursery to be observed. Apparently her breathing was becoming labored again, so they wanted to monitor it. It was sweet how calmly she said this so that I didn't completely freak out. There was no excuse for me not to get some sleep after she left. There was no baby to adore. ;-)
Daddy showed up around 10ish and made a beeline for his baby girl. ;-) Grandma came a bit later with a precious pink rose for the sweetest little grandbaby. The rest of the day, Katie spent time in someone's arms being ooh and aahed over. Happy Thanksgiving from the hospital!

Day 1: Nov 26 - BIRTH DAY!!!!

Looks like I don't have to bother with the 40 week ticker....SHE ARRIVED EARLY!!

On Wednesday morning, I woke up from pain at 5am and didn't realize it was pre-labor. I had been in pain "down there" since the night before, but I never thought it was the beginnings of labor. I tried to stick it out at home as long as possible or until my 11am weekly OB appointment [where ironically they were going to do my first pelvic exam to check for progress]. I made it to 10am before the pain started to get more intense. I had mentioned perhaps going for just one lap around the block before leaving, but since DH has revoked all of my personal medical decision making privileges due to last year's nearly bleeding to death incident, he said no and told me to get in the car. The contractions got closer together on the drive in, and I started to realize that it was actually show time.

When we got to the OB's office and they did their labor check, I expected to hear 1-2cm and was FLOORED to hear 5cm. We went straight over to the hospital [where we met Mom who had just driven six hours that morning to be there]. As soon as I got to my room, I got some Stadol and an epidural and then slept for a few hours and woke up to 9.5cm. HEAVENLY!

I pushed for three hours in various positions but her head was not facing the right way and they couldn't get it turned. I never knew the OB could shove both of her arms, up to her elbows, into LadyLand and do so much manipulating!

The epi [and Stadol] wore off just during the crucial time of labor. With her head not turning, but the contractions coming faster and stronger [and the OB shoving her arms up there with more frequency as well], I was offered either forceps or a c-section. I was COMPLETELY unable to make any decisions at that point as I was kinda rather hoping for a quick death instead to end the pain. DH decided forceps. I thought I wanted to die before.....oh my effing GAWD! 25 minutes of the worst pain ever known to humankind!! I asked them to just yank her out at one point! They kept telling me I was close and that I could do it. I yelled louder than all three of them combined that in fact I was NOT capable of getting it done! Apparently they won that battle and Baby Girl arrived at 8:41pm. She was 8lb4oz and 21 inches. It took pulling strongly through three contractions with the forceps to actually extricate her, and trust me, I felt it all!!!

Despite all the pain she caused, she's pretty darn cute, and I think we're going to keep her. I don't see any resemblance to anyone just yet and I did not expect the blonde hair.

I didn't get to spend very much time with her when she came out because her breathing was labored. They put her on me for about five seconds all bloody and icky [which surprisingly I didn't mind. I think I was just more relieved that the pain was over than anything] They then whisked her over to clean her and check her breathing. Her Apgar scores were 6 and then 9. After checking her out, she was given to Daddy to hold. After Daddy came Grandma time. I sat helplessly on my bed waiting to deliver my placenta and then get sewn up [second degree tear]. It was kinda frustrating to not be able to hold her very much that first hour. Hopefully she won't need too much therapy later in life because of it!