I'm having a baby

I was going to come into this thread after seeing the title and joke “really? Right now?”

Turns out the answer is yes. So, um, carry on.

Good luck!

Good luck from me, too! How exciting!

I come into this thread HOURS later and there STILL aren’t any pics? What’s taking so long???

7 centimeters. Not much longer.

Almost there!

How exciting! Good luck! Sending good vibes to you, Mrs. Pravnik, and the baby on the way.

Putting pans and stuff on the floor at the foot of the bed. Yikes.

Boils some water! Tear up some sheets!

Well?? How’s our newest little future Doper?

And how are Mr and Mrs. Pravnik doing? Hopefully you’re letting Mrs. P get some sleep between feedings? :slight_smile:

Let the chips fall where they may, but, I’ll second this.

Congratulations.

And, thank you for not saying “We’re pregnant.”

Can’t wait for the update.

It’s been almost sixteen hours. I hope everything is okay.

Yea, how soon we forget! That period of chaos after the baby is born and you’re trying to figure out feeding, changing, burping, swaddling, snuggling, dressing and undressing this little teeny bobble-head person. Oh, yea… . and trying to get some sleep. You know, because you just gave birth, and it was kind of exhausting. (Maybe she had to have a C-section?)

The SDMB is probably low on the priority list just now.

Hope everything’s going great for Mr., Mrs., and baby P. :slight_smile:

Man, that’s awful, and I hate to hear that about anyone. My wife and I lost one early on ourselves.

But congratulations! It’s great at first, and only gets better as time goes on (so far, my son’s only 15 mos old)

Hi guys. Sorry, to leave everyone hanging. I’ve been getting run pretty ragged and haven’t had a lot of sleep or free time either one. I also had too much to tell on a smart phone, and had to wait until I had a both a free second and a laptop.

The baby came at 1:45 yesterday morning, but there were complications. Her mom’s epidural partially failed and towards the end was about as effective as a handful of Tic Tacs. She spent a good three hours pushing, it was pretty brutal. When the baby was born she was a healthy size at 7 lbs 13 oz but was in respiratory distress, the nurses were trying to stimulate her but she was not giving a good strong cry. The neonatologist took her out to a stabilization room and drained some fluid from her lungs, he called me in to explain the situation and told me she would have to go to the level 2 NICU. To top it off baby’s mom was hemorrhaging and almost needed a blood transfusion.

By the time her mom was moved to post natal the neonatalogist returned and told us the baby had apnea and was stopping breathing sporadically. She needed a spinal tap to test for meningitis and infection and an ultrasound to test for blood on the brain, and she was moved to a level 3 NICU where the more serious cases go (e.g., extremely premature births) and put on antibiotics and a CPAP to regulate her breathing. The good news is that tests have been negative so far and she hasn’t had another apnea episode, but she has to stay in NICU a minimum 5 days. I visited her several times yesterday, mostly she was sleeping but when she was awake she turned to look at me when I talked and even smiled at me once (I have witnesses). Her mother couldn’t see her until she was off medication later yesterday evening, which was hard because she only got to hold her briefly before she went to NICU.

Today has been better. She’s still in the level 3 NICU but her breathing has improved. She’s off of the CPAP and breathing room air, and her mother got to hold her and feed her. She’s getting a CT scan right now, it’s possible the very rough delivery caused her to bleed some on the brain, but it appears she’s improving. Pics to follow when I can get them up.

Fingers crossed!!!

Congratulations. I hope your wife and new baby are doing better soon. Hopefully momma and baby will be home ASAP!

I just met you, and this is crazy, but I’m your daddy, you’re my baby!

Oh my goodness, the poor little thing! I hope everyone gets back to health ASAP!