In the beginning...

Someone suggested starting a blog - now why didn't I think of that?!? Of course, I have, but it always seemed to be too much work. Don't ask me why, because really it isn't; and now I'm left wishing I had started one earlier.

So we're playing a little catch up. Below are writings that were done throughout my pregnancy up until his birth. Not too much for a whole nine months, but really I did have a pretty easy pregnancy up until the last few weeks when little Landon started to wreak havoc on my body.

More to come on a semi-regular basis at least (well, that's the goal anyway)...

June 10, 2008

Birth Story - Landon Douglas is here!

My non-stress test didn’t look so great on Friday, June 6th so Dr. Maier, the perinatologist, sent us up to L&D and said that if things didn’t improve we’d be having a baby right then. We got on the monitors and things started looking better so they sent us home and told us to come back on Sunday night, June 8th to be induced and I was to remain on strict bed rest until then. Nothing at home was ready since I’d been on bed rest for the last couple of weeks and shower gifts and baby stuff was everywhere. My sisters and Grandma came over on Saturday to help clean and organize and my Mom put the finishing touches on the nursery décor and hung the valance and put the bumper in the crib. Mark vacuumed, cleaned, did yard work, and got things ready to go.

On the way to the hospital we stopped and had dinner at our favorite little Mexican restaurant and arrived for the induction at 8pm. It was midnight before all the paperwork was done, my IV was started, and they gave me a pill to ripen my cervix – completely closed, -2 station, 0% effaced. At 4am on Monday, June 9th I had dilated a fingertip and they started pitocin to induce contractions and magnesium to prevent seizures from the preeclampsia and put in a foley balloon to help open up my cervix. Contractions started right away and grew with intensity as they continued to increase the pitocin; the baby was responding well to labor and was looking great on the monitors. By 1pm I needed the epidural. Dr. Tin checked me and I was dilated to 4cm (the foley balloon came out), was around 20% effaced, but still at –2 station. At the rate we were going the doctor thought we’d have a baby in another few hours. The nurse anesthetist came and gave me the epidural and I was able to relax for a while. Around 4pm Dr. Tin came to check my progress again and I was at 5cm, 50% effaced and now at 0 station so they broke my water. At 7pm Dr. Tin checked me and there was no change so they increased the pitocin and put an internal monitor in to check on the strength of the contractions. I could still feel the contractions and needed to concentrate and breathe through them. At 9pm there was still no change; Dr. Tin started talking about a c-section, something I really really wanted to avoid as I don’t have a great track record recovering after surgeries. She increased the pitocin again and allowed me to continue to labor since the baby was still doing well on the monitors and contractions were strong and continuous and said that she would be back in another two hours to check my progress. Dr. Tin was in surgery so Dr. Mancuso came in around midnight to check my progress – still nothing, now she is talking c-section too but agreed to continue to let me labor and didn’t increase the pitocin. At 2am on Tuesday, June 10th Dr. Tin came back in to check my progress, still nothing, she wanted to take me back to surgery right then. The baby was still doing well and my contractions were still very strong and regular so I asked her to give me a little more time. She very hesitantly did. 15 minutes later Dr. Mancuso came in and said that I had labored long enough and that the baby would probably not come out vaginally if it hadn’t happened already and was really strongly pushing me to have a c-section right then; my two options at that point were to go back for a c-section right then or to labor for one more hour, if there were no changes after one hour then I would be going back for a c-section. That was the only time during the entire labor I broke down. Mark and I first asked for the opinions of those that had been supporting us throughout labor, my mother, grandma, sisters, aunt, cousin, and a good friend and her mother who is a labor and delivery nurse. My good friend’s mother was adamant that I could do it and that she didn’t think they needed to push for a c-section then if I felt like I could continue to labor since the baby still looked great and I was up for it. I was on the edge of doing the c-section when we asked that everyone leave the room to give Mark and I a chance to talk. Mark was confident that I could do it and really supported my instructions to him prior to labor not to let me get talked into surgery unless it was necessary. He gave me a great pep talk and we asked everyone back into the room and asked Dr. Mancuso to increase the pitocin one last time. She agreed and said that the dose that she was increasing me to was the highest dosage on hospital protocol (or something like that, basically that this was at the highest it was going to go). She said she would return in an hour to check my progress for the last time. When she did, the first word out of her mouth was, "wow." I honestly thought that was it and I felt so defeated, but I had gone from 5 cm to 8 cm in that hour and was now also 80% effaced. Dr. Mancuso let me continue to labor. At 5:30am Dr. Tin came back in to check my progress and told me I could start pushing whenever I was ready and things started moving quickly in the room as the nurses got everything all set up. I started pushing and feeling lots of pressure as Dr. Tin was getting her table and instruments ready. Mark and my sisters were at my head and counting through the contractions with me – they never got closer than four minutes apart so I was able to rest in between them. Finally, on one count of ten his head started to crown; on the second count of ten I only made it to eight before the baby came tumbling – literally – into the world. He came out all at once and flipped twice in the air (so I’m told) before Dr. Tin caught him and put him on my chest. Landon Douglas was born on Tuesday, June 10th at 6:34am weighing in at 6 pounds 10 ounces and was 19 ¾ inches long with a full head of dark hair.

He was alert and we sat there and stared at each other while the placenta was delivered and then I started to hemorrhage. From what I remember Dr. Tin called for Dr. Mancuso to come in and help stop the bleeding and repair my 4th degree tear. They ended up taking me into the Operating Room and I was in surgery for a few hours before returning to the Recovery Room to Mark while the baby was in the nursery. I asked him to bring the baby in so I could see him again and the three of us just sat there and bonded and rested until I was ready to be moved.

Our perfect little miracle baby had a little bit of a rough start on eating, which they say they expected with him being only 37 weeks gestation. He’s lost a lot of weight and is down to 5 pounds 14 ounces but is eating much better now that my milk has come in and they are watching him closely. They finally released us both from the hospital on Friday, June 13th and we’ve been home resting ever since. I’ve got a bad reaction to something they gave me in the hospital and have all sorts of creams and meds that I’m on for now, and though a 4th degree tear is nothing to balk at I’m really glad I didn’t have to have that c-section and can’t imagine what recovery would be like from that. All of that really doesn’t matter and I’d suffer through it all over again for this precious little boy I get to stare at and kiss his toes all day long; it’s worth every second.

June 1, 2008

Sooner than we think?

My blood pressures have been creeping up so my doc had me go into the hospital for a non stress test to monitor the baby and check me out. Good news is that the baby is just fine - he's practicing his breathing like a good little boy, is still pretty active in there despite running out of room, and has great heart tones. Me on the other hand, I'm not looking as fabulous as the perinatologist wants me to look, though I don't really feel too cruddy at this point.

After spilling lots of protein and blood pressures that were ape nuts on Friday the perinatologist came in and said that he'd already called up to Labor and Delivery and they were expecting me. Do not pass go, do not collect $200, and if things don't improve expect to be having a baby tonight. I called Mark in a panic since he was at work - no, I didn't have my bag packed or in the car (how are you supposed to pack your bag with all the stuff you use every day and are going to want to wear in the next few days??). Then I called my sister to have her let the dogs out after work and to let her know that we may not make it to the fabulous shower she was throwing for us the next day. Things did improve slightly and all my labwork came back within normal ranges (elevated, but normal still) so I was able to beg and plead and they let me go home.

I got to attend the fabulous shower my wonderful sisters threw, and now I'm officially on bedrest with daily nurse phonecalls and Dr. visits three times a week until they decide to induce; which, according to the perinatologist's "expert" opinion will be within the next week or shortly thereafter if things continue down this path. If they get worse, they'll ship me off immediately of course, and if they improve we'll play things by ear. Bottom line though, according to the peri, we can expect things to move much faster than we thought.

My feet and hands are swollen and I've developed quite the impressive case of carpel tunnel. Baby is doing so well that they're confident he'll be just fine joining us a few weeks early, and I'd really like avoiding anymore fire drills like that. You'd better believe that my bag will be packed and in the car the next time I have to venture out to the doctor - and the carseat is installed and isn't budging.

March 24, 2008

I could stay this way forever...

- You get to wear all these cute clothes (at least I’ve found some cute stuff) that make you feel like you’re in your jammies all day since everything is so comfy- Your belly is supposed to stick out, so when you eat too much at Easter brunch nobody can tell and everyone still thinks your baby belly is cute
- Yay for no morning sickness!
- "You’re pregnant," so nobody will let you help with doing dishes or putting tables/chairs away
- No pumping gas! Not that it’s a big deal, but I hate pumping gas.
- Now that I don’t have a waist anymore Mark gets bathroom cleaning duty!

- I love feeling him squirm and kick in there, and you can see it from the outside now too when he gives me a big kick, I love seeing Mark’s face when he does thisI’d give all this up in a hot second to be able to hold my baby in my arms, but this pregnancy stuff isn’t so bad. Of course, I do reserve the right to change my mind anytime...

February 4, 2008

It's a conspiracy, I swear! The ultrasound department at Kaiser is just a conspiracy to make all of us pregnant women pee our pants. It goes like this...

First they call you to make an appointment and tell you to drink a whole bunch of water all day long so that you'll be hydrated. Then they tell you to empty your bladder for the last time before your appointment an hour and a half before your appointment. Next they tell you to drink 32 ounces of water in that hour and a half. Oh yeah, and if you want to try and make sure your little kickboxer is awake for his or her debut you should eat a light meal an hour before your appointment. The last part...arrive 15 minutes early to make sure everything is on time. Got it?

Fast forward a little bit. It's the day of your ultrasound, you drank enough water to cause a drought (and you've peed about 50 zillion times today), and you're now heading to your appointment. You outrun your husband to the check in counter because you feel like you're going to explode. You check in and go sit in a waiting room.....and you wait...and wait...and wait...and wait...for a whole FORTY FIVE MINUTES after your appointment time (even though you arrived 15 minutes early like a good girl). The snotty ultrasound tech comes waltzing down the hall and you explain to her (while doing the potty dance) that you really have to go and that your appointment was supposed to be 45 minutes ago. She scowls, runs away, and comes back with a cup and tells you to only "go" up to the line. After telling her you can't make ANY promises at this point you run to the bathroom and just can't heed her instructions. Then, you go sit back down for another ten minutes in the waiting room with your husband who is not so patiently waiting for you with a ginormous glass of water...just to make sure.

The heavens open up and the snarky ultrasound tech comes out to get you FINALLY! She gets you all settled in a room and then drags you to a different room. You get settled there and another ultrasound tech finally starts with your appointment. Mind you she says nothing the entire time, stops halfway through to take a phonecall (that's long enough to make that icky gel stuff get really cold), and then makes you practically beg for a few pictures. Oh, and you have to pee again thanks to the bucket o' water your wonderful husband made you guzzle.

Now doesn't that sound like fun!

January 21, 2008

We cheated...if anyone knows me at all knows that patience is not my strongest virtue. Both Mark and I wanted to know what this baby is now, and we wanted to know in time to spill the beans to my family while celebrating all the January birthdays. So, instead of waiting for the "big ultrasound" with my doctor in a few weeks we went and had one done somewhere else.

IT'S A BOY!!! He was a little camera shy at first, but didn't dissapoint Mommy and Daddy before the scan was over. He was even waving at us and sucking his thumb. So cute! Landon Douglas is on his way!

December 28, 2007

First, food poisoning...now hives. Everywhere, seriously - and holy moly do they itch like crazy! I have absolutely no idea where they came from, I've gone through everything I ate over the last three days and haven't changed any soaps, lotions, etc. so I'm stumped, my doc is stumped, and this kid wants to do me in. They seem to be getting worse, yesterday they were on my legs and neck. This morning I woke up to a big fat one on my eyelid (it's totally swollen), all over my back, chest, neck, and stomach, all the way down my legs, and my lips could definately rival Angelina Jolie. They perscribed some pills that just put me to sleep and told me I can take a cold bath with lots of baking soda. Well, throw a few ice cubes in and gimme a swizzle stick, doesn't that sound like fun while it's so stinkin' ugly outside.

On the flipside, I can't complain too much since I've had no morning sickness or anything else too horribly awful. But this is the pits, I look really goofy (goofier than normal, anyway).

November 24, 2007

Well guess what - we're having a baby! That's right folks, Mark's going to be a Daddy and I' m going to be a Mommy! We spilled the beans to the entire family on Thanksgiving. There are no words to tell you just how happy we are!

Baby Poston will arrive around June 30th, 2008...just in time for his or her Granddad's birthday!