Eat, eat, eat!

We took Hadley to the doctor's office on Monday and she had lost about 6 oz. from her birth weight so they told us to just keep doing what we were doing and bring her back on Thursday for another weight check. She was eating all the time and had plenty of dirty diapers so I thought surely she would have gained some weight at her Thursday check-up, but somehow she managed to lose another 1/2 ounce. The doctor didn't seem all that concerned and he told us to bring her back on Monday for another weigh-in but I told him how often she had been breastfeeding and that I felt maybe she needed to be supplemented with a little bit of formula.

I then talked to one of the nurses there and this is what she told me to do:
-Breastfeed every 2 hours and try to get her to do about 15 minutes on each side (no more than 30 minutes total)
-Give a 1 or 1-1/2 oz. bottle of formula after breastfeeding
-Use the breastpump after each feeding to encourage milk production

The more I think about it, the more ridiculous that all sounds. Breastfeeding every 2 hours for 30 minutes each time would mean she would be at the breast practically all day long and I would barely get a break. Not to mention the fact that she just will not eat that often. After she eats, she usually gets sleepy and once she gets to sleep, you cannot force her to eat. So this makes giving her a bottle supplement a real challenge as well. She typically will only take a bottle supplement a couple times a day but I keep offering it to her. And I'm sorry, but there is no way that after feeding Hadley for 30 minutes, I am going to go and pump after that. It is just too much. I tried it yesterday afternoon and I barely got anymore milk anyway so it seemed like such a waste of time.

I feed her whenever she's hungry and I often wake her to feed her, too but I still worry she won't have put on weight when I take her back to the doctor on Monday. I just don't know what else to do. If she's not hungry, she won't take more food. Guess we'll see how it goes on Monday...

Hadley's coming home!

After she was born, Hadley's pediatrician decided it would be best for her to go the NICU to get checked out for a few issues she was having. She had a different (incompatible) blood type to mine so that put her at risk for jaundice so they put her on the blue light photo therapy for 2 or 3 days - more as a preventative measure than anything else. Her biliruben number was always pretty low, which is a good thing, but they said if they didn't have her under the light therapy, it was likely that she would become jaundiced in her first couple days of life.

Since she was a big baby, they checked her blood sugar because bigger or smaller than average babies tend to have trouble regulating their blood sugars right after they're born. Her blood sugar was low and my breastmilk wasn't enough to keep it up at first so they had to supplement with formula. After about 3 days, she was able to skip the formula supplements. When I've gone to visit her lately, I've been able to breastfeed her and as long as she's hungry, she does pretty well. I also have been pumping every 3 hours when I'm at home and I bring the frozen milk to the NICU when I go so that the nurses can give it to her when I can't be there.

The other issue she had at birth was a little bit of fluid in her lungs. The neonatologist thought it was a sign of infection so he put her on antibiotics and she had to eat through a little tube in her throat for a couple of days until her breathing slowed down. They had been worried that due to her quicker breathing, she might aspirate if she ate on her own.

Those first 2-3 days, our poor little girl was hooked up to all sorts of things and it was tough to see her like that. Thankfully, she recovered very quickly, and for the last couple of days, she's been completely fine. She was off the feeding tube, the breathing tube and IV a few days ago...we're just waiting on her to finish her 7 day round of antibiotics so we can take her home.

We're so excited to bring her home! She'll be released Saturday morning so we've only got one more day. Of course, we are a little nervous, too but I know we'll figure it out. I'm just so glad that's she's healthy.

Hadley's here!

It seemed like forever waiting for her arrival, but miss Hadley Rose Del Valle was born Saturday, 8-14-10! Here's the labor and deliver details....I started having intense contractions, 5 min. apart at about 4am. We were leaving for the hospital by 5:45am and right about the time we started to leave, the contractions got to 2 minutes apart. I wasn't sure what to expect with contractions, but let me tell you, they HURT. Bad. I was also starting to worry on the way to the hospital that she might come really fast since the contractions had sped up so soon.

Once we got to our labor & delivery room, they checked to see how dilated I was and I was already at 6cm! All I wanted at this point was the epidural, but they said they'd have to give me an IV first and let a bag a fluids get in my system before they could administer the epidural. I know I sound like a big wimp, but that IV was pretty painful...much worse than getting the epidural. They had to try two different times to put in the IV because the first vein they tried rolled. This was really not fun and having intense contractions while they were doing it was not helping. I FINALLY got the epidural around 7:30. Haaaalelujah! I started feeling its effects pretty quickly which was a big relief.

Then I started feeling woozy and nauseaus and a couple nurse rushed in and told me that the epidural had made my blood pressure drop really low. They gave me some medicine in my IV and then had to give me a shot in my leg to get it under control. I had to wear an oxygen mask for an hour or two to make sure that Hadley was getting enough oxygen but after things had been stable for awhile, they let me take it off. After that craziness, it was pretty much smooth sailing. They told me it was time to start pushing and I was preparing myself to possibly push for a very long time, but I somehow pushed her out in 25 minutes! I guess I just started pushing the right way from the start so they told me to just keep doing what I was doing and out she came. She was born at 1:06pm. So from the time I got to the hospital to the time she was born, it took about 7 hours.

They pulled her out and I started hearing them say that she was big...probably 8 or 9lbs! I couldn't believe it since the doctors had been telling me the whole time that I was measuring average and that she'd probably be around 7-1/2 lbs. Boy, were they wrong....she ended up weighing 9lbs., 6oz. and she is 20.5" long. And she's a cutie! She had a full head of dark hair and cute chubby cheeks! I still am not totally sure what color her eyes are even though she looks at us alot. They just aren't a real distinct color yet. I'm sure they'll be either blue or brown but we'll have to wait and see.

Monday deadline

I finally know that the finish line is in sight! My doctor is going to induce me on Monday morning if Hadley doesn't come on her own this weekend. When she checked me yesterday, I was 4-1/2 cm dilated and she was pretty surprised I hadn't gone into active labor already. Since I am so dilated, she said I can go ahead and call in when I get regular contractions for 30 min. to an hour instead of waiting the usual 2 hours. Rey and I were thinking we'd probably do that anyway since we can't help but worry that once I do start having regular, strong contractions that my baby will be coming very quickly. It could happen pretty much anytime now, but it's good to know that she'll be born on Monday at the latest. I am ready!

I'm so uncomfortable right now, it hurts to move. I have a lot of pelvic pressure everytime I stand up and I keep getting intense menstrual-type cramps. Between that and the lower back pain, I don't get around very easily right now. I'm walking around like an old woman...or maybe I should say I'm "waddling" around like an old woman. I can't wait to see what my baby looks like and be able to hold her...and it's no secret that I am ready to be done being pregnant for awhile! My next post will include Hadley's first pics...so stay tuned! :-)

Anytime now...

I went back to the doctor on Monday because of the swelling in my hands and feet and I thought I should have my blood pressure checked. It was kinda high but they didn't seem too concerned. While I was there, they went ahead and did another cervical exam and found that I was 3 to 4 centimeters dilated and 80% effaced! The doctor said I was "right at ready" and could go into labor any time. Music to my ears!

Last night I was having contractions all through the night and into this morning. Since I thought this must surely mean I would need to head to the hospital today, I went ahead and got up around 5am to take a shower and finish packing the last few things in my hospital bag. Needless to say, I barely got any sleep because of the contractions and now they've stopped! I had them for several hours but they never really got to regular intervals. My doctor says I need to have them every 5 minutes for 2 hours before I call them. These started out about every 20 minutes, then went to about every 10...but then they were all over the place. Every 12 minutes, 8 minutes, 10 minutes, 5 minutes...etc. I am so disappointed. I thought I'd be holding my baby probably by this evening and now I'm still sitting at home. :-(

a little progress

I went to my doctor on Friday and she said I was 2 centimeters dilated! While I'm glad my body is doing what it's supposed to do to prepare for labor, I know not to get that excited. From what I've heard/read, you can be dilated up to 3 centimeters for weeks before you actually go into active labor. I still haven't really had what I've heard contractions are supposed to feel like. I've just had occasional painful menstrual-type cramps. From what I understand, the cramps are kind of like "baby contractions" that are helping my cervix to dilate and my body to prepare for going into labor.

Last night I had a little bit of a scare. I had gone to my book club meeting and during the course of the evening, I noticed that my feet and ankles had gotten really swollen...like quite a bit more than I'd ever seen before. I hadn't been on my feet all that much, so I didn't really have anything that would explain the swelling. I didn't stay as late as I usually do and when I got home I checked my blood pressure since I thought maybe it could have caused the swelling. It was really high when I checked it at first, but my pulse was also pretty high and Rey and I figured that the reading was probably due to stress since I had gotten myself so worried. We took it again about 20 minutes later and it was still a bit high, but it was much better than before. I'm going to keep checking it for the next few days just to make sure I don't see anything I need to call a doctor about. Since I had just been to the doctor on Friday and my blood pressure was fine then, I'm hopeful that last night was just a fluke caused by my own anxiety.

Aw, come ON...

It just figures! There were two other girls I know that were due about the same time as me....and now BOTH of them have had their babies already. One of them was due 3 or 4 days before me and she had her baby a few weeks ago. The other one was due a week AFTER me and she just had her baby. Her baby was healthy and fully-developed so I'm thinking mine must be beyond ready to be born by now...I wish there was some way to just MAKE it happen. Also, I know that the longer she stays in, the bigger she's going to be when she's born. Yikes.

I know some of you will think this is silly, but last night as I was cuddling with my cat, Simba I starting worrying that he might turn into a different cat after the baby comes. Right now, he is my baby...he follows me everywhere and is constantly at my side. It's like HE is my child. I'm not as concerned about our other cats because they are more independent. I worry that Simba will be really jealous when we bring Hadley home and aren't able to pay him as much attention. I'm going to do my best to still give him loving, but I know things are going to different. :-(

What cravings?

I always heard about pregnant women having all these intense cravings...but that hasn't been the case with me. In fact, I have hardly craved anything. I find myself trying to decide what to eat for lunch and nothing sounds good. My usual, go-to foods just sound boring, but nothing else I can think of really sounds that great, either. The only thing that just about always sounds good to me is fruit. Oh, and maybe ice cream. Although, I definitely try not to be eating tons of ice cream for obvious reasons!

I think Rey has had it pretty easy. No late-night runs to the grocery store for him! I do think maybe he's gotten frustrated when we're trying to figure out what to do for dinner sometimes. Since he's the one who handles the cooking, it's usually up to him to decide what he's going to make. Problem is, he'll tell me what he is thinking he'll cook and lately my answer is often, "Ehh...that doesn't really sound good to me". I hope this doesn't mean our daughter will be a picky eater!