Our second son, Colin Matthew, was born yesterday at 11:58 AM, weighing 8lb 4oz with a height of 20 inches. Photobucket link here: Photo Storage The pics aren’t exactly in order, but it’s the best I could do one-handed on a laptop in my room.
Here’s the short version: I had a bout of false labor Monday night - contractions were 6 minutes apart and lasting 1 minute, but by the time we got in, they had died. I was still only 2 cm dilated, so we went home. (Spencer had been dropped off Auntie Jill’s that night, and stayed with her.) We didn’t get home and asleep until 3 AM. I woke up at noon and we got on with our day. Around 6 PM I noticed more and stronger contractions that kept progressing, so we left for the hospital around 1:15. I was all checked in and ready to get going by 3 AM. Things went well for a few hours - I was using my breathing techniques and lounging in the tub. Eventually I could tell that things were progressing, and they checked me and said I was at 8cm. Yay! Unfortunately, I stayed there for FOUR HOURS. I just hit a wall and couldn’t take it anymore.
My doctor laid out my options, and I went with the epidural. Wow - talk about relief! Within 90 minutes I was ready to push, and he came right out. My sister in law didn’t have time to walk down the hall from the door of the maternity ward to my room before he popped right out - two or three contractions and maybe 7 pushes. We were totally surprised to see that we’d had a boy! We were convinced it was a girl, from my own gut feeling to my estimated ovulation date to the images from the ultrasound. However, we had names picked out for both anyway, and we’re glad we did!
Right now, it’s about bedtime for Mommy. We’ll be going home tomorrow, and I’ll try to keep up with replies over the weekend. And for all of you expecting valentines from me, I’ll get them out as soon as I can!
Ok … so it’s been a day now and we’re still at the hospital. When they checked his bilirubin levels for jaundice his was over 17. Apparently the doctors are seriously concerned with anything above 15. So, unfortunately, he was admitted to the NICU this afternoon. This hospital has a brand new facility that’s pretty neat - every baby gets their own room as opposed to being in an open nursery, and they have special rooms for the parents to stay in free of charge. They also have this lovely parents’ lounge that I’m in right now, posting from. They’ve got a fridge, microwave, toaster, etc. in here, so I’m going to have my husband bring me some food tomorrow (and some more clothes - I only brought two shirts). He’s at home with our older boy Spencer, since it’s been days since he’s had any great length of time with Mommy or Daddy around. I have no idea how he’s going to react to me when I do finally come home. Unfortunately, I haven’t kept up on his scheduled immunizations, and since he’s under 2 and hasn’t had chicken pox or the vaccine, he can’t come onto the ward at all. We can visit in the general waiting room, but what fun is that? I’m nursing and pumping for Colin, so if I can get enough breastmilk pumped for a full feeding, I can go home for a few hours with Spencer and have Daddy stay here. (Yes, he could have formula, but he’s already being supplemented, and I would prefer that he have as little non-mommy-juice as possible. Just a personal preference.)
Anyway, it’s nice that Colin’s just down the hall and around the corner, but it’s still really sucky that we’re still here at all. I can be in his room as much as I want, but since he’s under the big bright phototherapy spotlights, I can’t hold him. I can stand or sit next to him and touch him and talk to him, but I can only pick him up when it’s time to nurse. And that’s really really hard.
Well, it’s late and almost feeding time. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. I know that jaundice is certainly low on the list of things to be in the NICU for, but it’s really hard on all of us. Especially me.
From what I understand, jaundice isn’t too terribly uncommon. I’m sure it’s stressful to be unable to go home, but when it’s all over your new boy will be happy and healthy.
By the way, “Contemplating the world” is a great pic! And holy crap, look at all that hair!
Congrats and best wishes and don’t worry TOO much about the jaundice - that’s one of the things that is common enough that they generally know what to do to fix it.
Sorry for the long break … two is a whole lot different from one!
His bili levels came down nice and fast … we were able to come home Monday morning. I would have really liked to come home on Sunday, but didn’t push it. He had an appointment with his pediatrician on Tuesday morning to re-check his bili levels, but she said he looked good enough that she wasn’t going to mess with his “hamburger heels” any more (he’s got four or five sticks on each heel). Plus, his weight was back up to 8lb 2oz - and he’d gotten all the way down to 7lb 7 oz. (They don’t like to see weight loss of more than 10%.) So we made a well baby appointment for next Friday, and we’re good to go!
He’s a super-mellow little guy … the only time he fusses is when he’s hungry and the only time he cries is during diaper changes. (I wouldn’t like something cold and wet on my naughty bits, either!) Big brother Spencer is really interested in him. He loves to point out “one two eye, one two hand, one nose” on Baby Colin. And he says “Baby Colin” a lot. It’s really cute! “Baby Colin asleep? Baby Colin num num?” (nursing) And he tries to share his toys. (We’ll see how long THAT lasts!)
As soon as I can dig around on the computer and see where they are, I’ll post some more photos.
This hospital has a brand new facility that’s pretty neat - every baby gets their own room as opposed to being in an open nursery, and they have special rooms for the parents to stay in free of charge. They also have this lovely parents’ lounge that I’m in right now, posting from. They’ve got a fridge, microwave, toaster, etc. in here, so I’m going to have my husband bring me some food tomorrow (and some more clothes - I only brought two shirts). He’s at home with our older boy Spencer, since it’s been days since he’s had any great length of time with Mommy or Daddy around. I have no idea how he’s going to react to me when I do finally come home. Unfortunately, I haven’t kept up on his scheduled immunizations, and since he’s under 2 and hasn’t had chicken pox or the vaccine, he can’t come onto the ward at all. We can visit in the general waiting room, but what fun is that? I’m nursing and pumping for Colin, so if I can get enough breastmilk pumped for a full feeding, I can go home for a few hours with Spencer and have Daddy stay here. (Yes, he could have formula, but he’s already being supplemented, and I would prefer that he have as little non-mommy-juice as possible. Just a personal preference.)
“Baby Colin asleep? Baby Colin num num?” (nursing) And he tries to share his toys. (We’ll see how long THAT lasts!)