Caleb's First Week

So Caleb is now 9 days old and doing good! He's had a couple issues eating - he's what the lactation people call a "tongue thruster" - meaning he likes to take his tongue and mash my nipple to the roof of his mouth pinching it. Not only is this HIGHLY painful for me its like trying to drink through a straw that you're biting closed. No bueno. But thanks to the efforts of my sainted lactation consultant mother he's doing MUCH better in that area, but he is still part barracuda - he likes to give me a couple good chomps while he's getting things situated. So he'll suck perfectly for the rest of the feeding but it starts with a big fat "OUCH!" *sigh* Hopefully, this too shall pass. 

He had is first doctors appt on Monday. I really like our pediatrician - Dr. Curran. He's very thorough, and gives clear and detailed explanations. On Monday, Caleb's weight was 7 lbs 12 oz (it's normal for a baby to lose up to 10% of their body weight right after birth) and at 21 1/4 inches long he's in the 90th percentile for height, just over 50th percentile for weight and about 75th percentile for head circumference. The doc thought he looked just a tad jaundiced so he ordered a blood test and said Caleb looked great otherwise and wanted to see him back for a weight check on Friday. 

Caleb's bilirubin levels came back at 12.6 which was within the normal range for his age and on Weds we took him to Donni's office (Adam's mom is a pediatrician as well) for his circumcision. I actually attempted to stay in the room with him, which was stupid. Part of me was curious b/c I've never seen a circumcision so I wanted to know what exactly they were going to do to my son, and part of me wanted to be there so that maybe I could comfort him.... He was fine in terms of pain. Donni numbed him up good so he wasn't feeling a thing down there but Caleb was TICKED about being strapped down for the procedure and it was very, very hard to watch him be that upset. I had to leave the room and go sit in the waiting room and bawl my eyes out before they'd even started. This probably has something to do with my currently being a giant ball of hormones... I was fine holding him in my arms for the heel stick for his bilirubin test but two days later I couldn't even watch him be ticked off about being held still. I blame hormones. 

My mother, who's an RN as well as a lactation consultant assisted a bit in the circumcision and said that Donni did the neatest, most meticulous, nearly bloodless circumcision she'd ever seen. So I'm grateful for that. Caleb hasn't seemed to show any discomfort at all or even been particularly crabby and its already looking so much better. 

So Friday we went back to Dr. Curran for a weight check. Caleb, at 8 days old was still 7 lbs 12 oz, which is good in that he hasn't lost any more since Monday but Curran wants him to be pretty much back to his birth weight by the time he's 10 days old, so he's having me supplement my breast feeding with formula and wants me to pump twice a day to see how much milk I'm actually producing. Also he was still a little more yellow than Curran wanted so we had to do another heel stick. His bilirubin level came back at 11 (so I was right when I thought he was looking a bit better) and my wonderful parents rented me a hospital grade breast pump. 

After two days of pumping and supplementation we all think his color is looking much better and he's getting plumper by the day. We also have him sunning in the window a couple times a day, so we have our next appt on Monday morning and hopefully then the doctor will be happy. He really is doing great otherwise - he's VERY active and amazingly strong. We can't believe how good his head control is.  

I'm sure you all want pictures but right now since I'm sleeping in 3 hour increments that is not the highest thing on my priority list for some strange reason. Here's some pic's my Dad has posted and I'll get some on here when I can. 

http://gallery.me.com/jwdavis#100179

Caleb is HERE!

So I woke up this morning at 5:45 to make yet another mid-night pilgrimage to the bathroom and when I laid back down I had the first contraction that hurt. I've had lots of Braxton-Hicks contractions but thankfully for me at least those were painless. This one hurt. By 6:18 am I'd had 3 more contractions that were increasingly painful. Then in classic Hollywood fashion- my water broke. I haven't gotten out of bed that fast in months. lol. By the time I made it to the bathroom I was soaked and it was running down my legs. 

So needless to say I got to skip out on the whole induction process. An hour later we were at the hospital, I was dilated to 5 cm and I was praying that I could get an epidural like NOW. I am by no means a wimp but holy crap... I think that if the advent of birth control had not roughly coincided with the advent of effective pain management that the human population would be doomed to a slow extinction. 

My favorite person of the day after my child and my husband was the guy who did my epidural. Once that thing was there my life was GOOD. I was now at 7 cm and I crashed out for a nap. I woke up when my nurse checked me next and declared I was crowning. So then we started pushing. We pushed for an hour to get that kid out. He had a BIG head. 

At 12:56 pm Caleb Michael Fleischaker was born. He weighs 8 lbs 6.4 oz, he's 21 1/4 inches long and his head was 14.5 inches around. He is doing wonderful. He's the most mellow baby. He's hardly cried at all! 

I'm doing well. I'm starting to fall asleep while I type this so this is about to get cut short. They had some issues getting me to stop bleeding so I'm getting watched pretty closely right now. No major drama but enough for them to fuss. 

Pictures will come later. Now I sleep. 

Because I Promised

Before I get induced tomorrow morning and shed the giant belly I thought I'd post some last minute Belly Pictures. The first one is me at 8 months along. 

And here I am earlier this evening the night before I deliver. 

My Last OB Check Up!!

So today was that glorious day... my last dr's appointment before I have the baby! WHOOP!

And the verdict today is:

I am 3+ cm dilated, 80% effaced and still -2 station. So she went ahead and stripped my membranes (not my favorite experience...) and everything is all systems go for the induction Thursday assuming that he doesn't decide to come on his own before then. 

And all I have to say right now is that all these people who are threatening to be sick need to get over it NOW! My husband is home sick from work with the flu today and my sister is at the dr's office and not doing good. This is highly less than acceptable. I'm gonna ground them both if they don't get better in a hurry! I am pregnant - you do NOT want to push me!

So there. 

Attn: All Non-Pregnant People

So in the last 9 months I have determined the following phrases/topics of conversation are not helpful and should be avoided when talking with pregnant women (or at least this pregnant woman):

#1. "Oh, but it's all worth it". 

While I am sure that once my baby gets here I will love him more than life itself and will clearly be willing to go to hell and back for him. However, the phrase "Oh, buts its all worth it" is NOT comforting. For me it makes me think: "Ya know I think I'd rather be skinned alive, dipped in honey and laid on a fire ant mound in the desert in summer than go through all that again, but don't worry .... it's ALL worth it." It's a phrase that bodes and it does NOT bode well. 

#2. "Your life will never be the same again."

Maybe if I hated my life this would be comforting, but the truth is that I love my life and I am VERY happy right now. In fact, I admit I've done some mourning because I have really enjoyed the last two years of just my husband and me and I know that this is about to end and it's going to be a good couple of decades before we have any where close to the kind of alone time we've enjoyed the last two years. I'm excited to start a new chapter but sad to see this one end. 

#3. All pregnancy/labor and delivery horror stories and tales of the traumas and worries of a new baby. 

I promise I already have a FULL compliment of anxiety with regards to the pain and discomfort of labor. Pregnancy has sucked. Labor does NOT sound like fun. I do NOT need further encouragement to freak out by being told tales of labors that lasted for days, horrible tears/rips, pelvic fractures, and all manner of problems with the baby's health. Also I am fully aware that the first several months I will get no sleep, I will be a slave to a child who requires feeding every two hours day and night, and I will get soaked in all manner of bodily fluids and have no small amount of anxiety over his health and well being. There is no need to graphically rehash these details. It's not helpful.

A Quick Update

And the results from today's visit to the OB are:

I'm now dilated 2 cm and still just 50% effaced and -2 station. In other news my blood pressure is still great and so is Caleb's heart beat. 

And in other news the nursery furniture is all set up and in place! So now I'm starting to organize and put away all the baby stuff. 

36 1/2 Weeks Update

Here's a status update:

I had my OB check up this morning. I am now 1 cm dilated, 50% effaced and he is at -2 station. In english that means my cervix is pretty much ready to go so pretty much any time he wants he can come. 

If you want to understand the technical terms: dilation refers to how open the cervix is - 10 cm is fully dilated (aka "crowning"). Effacement refers to how soft and thin the cervix is. In order to open up it has to shorten and get thin and soft and flexible. Its about half way to as soft as it needs to be for the kid to get out. They measure how far down the kid is in stations going from -3 to 3. Zero means he's crowning, 3 he's OUT, -3 he's floating up in the uterus some where and not putting like any pressure on the cervix. -2 means that he's started to "engage the pelvis" - aka work his way south and put pressure on stuff. He's considered to have "dropped". 

So basically he could come anytime. It is still a bit early but not so early any body has to freak and also we know he's probably right about 7 lbs now b/c of the growth check ultrasound over a week ago so he's PLENTY big. If he doesn't come before then we'll do an induction on the 21st - which is 39 weeks b/c if we wait until he's a full 40 weeks then he'll be 9+ lbs at birth, and that's just not nice. 

I'm just telling him he at least has to wait until this Saturday b/c I want to go to my baby shower that a bunch of friends from church are throwing for me!