After a long labor, Maddyn Vera arrived at 6:46pm on Tuesday, December 18th! She was 20.5 inches and 8lb 13 oz.
(ETA: Photos added 12/25!)
The details:
Dave and I went in at noon on Monday and the doctor told us they were inducing. All of the different factors were just not worth the risk anymore, and they felt that they could manage my platelets now if c-section was needed. So they started with Cervidil (which softens the cervix). It didn't dilate me any more, but did soften the cervix. After that was in 12 hours, they moved me to a high dose of Pitocin to bring on stronger contractions. Ouch! I went from a fingertip dilated to 2-3cm pretty quickly. I also effaced up to 75% quickly. My contractions were hard at 2-3 minutes each for about 2.5 hours. By 3 hours, I had to ask for the Epidural- it was just too much. Once the epidural was administered we hoped that the relaxation would cause me to further dilate. The biggest problem they were seeing at first was that my station was only -3--this means the baby wasn't dropping. My pelvis was appearing to be too small. The range is -3 to +3 (at +3 the baby is out).
So after the epidural was in a few hours, and further checks occurred, at 6:00pm Tues the doctor came in and said that the baby was not progressing as well as they had hoped. They baby looked great but my own blood levels weren't so good and they wanted to get me in for a c-section immediately.
So within minutes, we were in the operating room. I was very terrified. When Maddyn's water was broken they found meconium so the NICU doctors had to be there for the delivery (this is standard procedure any time this occurs). Then b/c of my blood levels they had to have the high risk doctors in there, along with my own doctors and specialist for a transfusion for me if I didn't clot. It was a zoo, which pretty much made my anxiety sky-high. I remember a blood pressure reading during the operation of 168/134. Dave was allowed to sit by my head the whole time and try to keep me calm. But it was pretty scary hearing all of the doctors talking about the issues the whole time.
The best feeling in the world was finally hearing Maddyn cry. I remember looking at Dave, and he and I just held a look with each other filled with love for that little cry. It makes me smile just thinking about it. We didn't get to see her right away b/c the NICU docs had to take her. But since they had to do extra work on me, we got to see her while the surgery was still going on.
At the end of the surgery, Dave and a nurse left with Maddyn while I was being closed up.
Dave helped the nurse measure Maddyn and said that when he did, he "eyeballed" it and gave her the 20.5" reading. That he just used his fingers to figure it out, lol. Well, when the pediatrician saw her the next day- he told us that she's such a long baby. When he saw the 20.5" by her info, he said there is no way that's right- lol. Dave told him his story and he told us to get her remeasured at her first pediatrician appt next week and to tell the pedi... otherwise, she might grow 3 inches in one week- lol!!!
So- after the delivery we went up to the mother baby unit. I have only fantastic things to say about all of the CDH (Central DuPage Hospital) nurses. They were fantastic. It sounds cliche- but for as much times as I spent in L&D before the baby came, and during and in Mother/Baby after- they became like family. So supportive, informative and friendly.
The first week was a tough one. My body wasn't dealing with the surgery well, and it was a tough recovery. I was failing the blood/bp/breathing tests needed to get out of the hospital, so they put me on meds that made me very ill. They wiped me out and made everything so much tougher. We also ended up having breast feeding problems, b/c my milk was not coming in right away- and Maddyn was suffering b/c of it. And with all of the above, it was so stressful it meant absolutely no sleep.
As I mentioned above Maddyn lost too much birth weight in the first 2 days b/c my milk didn't come in yet, so they forced us to supplement with formula (though I continued to breastfeed to get the milk to come quicker) to bring up her birth weight and blood sugar. My milk finally came in on Day 4, and I immediately engorged. This brought us to the other extreme b/c Maddyn couldn't feed then either. Luckily the lactation staff at CDH rocks, and they worked with me (medicated and all) to get things headed in the right direction. However, it's been 4 days and I'm still 100% engorged. They thought this engorgement was pretty severe and would last about a week- OUCH! So currently we are now in a "every single 2 hour" feeding schedule, in order to help the engorgement and keep Maddyn's weight/blood sugar on target.
Today we had our first pediatrician appt, and her birth weight is doing 100% better and things are looking so much more positive. It was a great visit! Oh, and she was remeasured. Turns out Dave did a good job. She was only 20.75" today! LOL. It's just funny since all along they told us we'd have a tall baby from the u/s measurements. I was 21.5" and Dave was 22" when we were born- so 20.5" didn't seem too long. But, she does have very long legs- so I can see where that would have screwed up the measurements!
I have to go back to CDH on Wed for a lactation consultation - where we hope we can get rid of the 2-hour-must-feed schedule and allow it to be more flexible (2-4 hours). Wish us luck- b/c I think once we get the engorgement taken care of and a good schedule in place (with a little more sleep) we'll be on the right track!
So late Saturday night we finally got to come home. It feels great to be home. Though, with everything going on- and feeding every single 2 hours, both Dave and I are on about a total of 15 hours of sleep for this whole last week. So we are trying to catch up here, and plan to get in touch with everyone very soon!!!!
Many of you have asked about her name. Well, for those that know Dave and I at all, they know we are the biggest football freaks ever ;) And we wanted a fun name that is very "us". Maddyn seemed to fit the bill since it relates so well to football. We chose to "girl" it up with a "y" instead of an "e". And this way we can nickname her Maddy too :) Vera as many of you know was my Grandmother's name and means "truth/virtue". My Grandma Vera was one of the greatest ladies ever- strong willed, passionate, and just an amazing woman. We felt this was a perfect fit for our little snowflake.
Maddyn and Rylee are doing great together. Maddy is having a blast just taking in her new surroundings. We have taken some fun photos- that if I don't get to upload now, I will by this weekend. I'm so impressed with how well Ry is doing!!! We were concerned it would not go this well.
I'll post a few photos now, but have SO many to upload and sort through. I promise I'll get more up here soon. Hopefully after the chaos of Christmas passes, we'll have a little more time on our hands and I can get them up by this weekend!
Thank you again for all of the messages, flowers, gifts, phone calls, cards, etc. It's been so wonderful and I hope to personally talk to you all soon.... Hopefully in about a week we'll be more caught up on sleep and have time to catch up!!
Merry Christmas!!
Love, Heather, Dave and Maddyn!
(ETA: Photos added 12/25!)
The details:
Dave and I went in at noon on Monday and the doctor told us they were inducing. All of the different factors were just not worth the risk anymore, and they felt that they could manage my platelets now if c-section was needed. So they started with Cervidil (which softens the cervix). It didn't dilate me any more, but did soften the cervix. After that was in 12 hours, they moved me to a high dose of Pitocin to bring on stronger contractions. Ouch! I went from a fingertip dilated to 2-3cm pretty quickly. I also effaced up to 75% quickly. My contractions were hard at 2-3 minutes each for about 2.5 hours. By 3 hours, I had to ask for the Epidural- it was just too much. Once the epidural was administered we hoped that the relaxation would cause me to further dilate. The biggest problem they were seeing at first was that my station was only -3--this means the baby wasn't dropping. My pelvis was appearing to be too small. The range is -3 to +3 (at +3 the baby is out).
So after the epidural was in a few hours, and further checks occurred, at 6:00pm Tues the doctor came in and said that the baby was not progressing as well as they had hoped. They baby looked great but my own blood levels weren't so good and they wanted to get me in for a c-section immediately.
So within minutes, we were in the operating room. I was very terrified. When Maddyn's water was broken they found meconium so the NICU doctors had to be there for the delivery (this is standard procedure any time this occurs). Then b/c of my blood levels they had to have the high risk doctors in there, along with my own doctors and specialist for a transfusion for me if I didn't clot. It was a zoo, which pretty much made my anxiety sky-high. I remember a blood pressure reading during the operation of 168/134. Dave was allowed to sit by my head the whole time and try to keep me calm. But it was pretty scary hearing all of the doctors talking about the issues the whole time.
The best feeling in the world was finally hearing Maddyn cry. I remember looking at Dave, and he and I just held a look with each other filled with love for that little cry. It makes me smile just thinking about it. We didn't get to see her right away b/c the NICU docs had to take her. But since they had to do extra work on me, we got to see her while the surgery was still going on.
At the end of the surgery, Dave and a nurse left with Maddyn while I was being closed up.
Dave helped the nurse measure Maddyn and said that when he did, he "eyeballed" it and gave her the 20.5" reading. That he just used his fingers to figure it out, lol. Well, when the pediatrician saw her the next day- he told us that she's such a long baby. When he saw the 20.5" by her info, he said there is no way that's right- lol. Dave told him his story and he told us to get her remeasured at her first pediatrician appt next week and to tell the pedi... otherwise, she might grow 3 inches in one week- lol!!!
So- after the delivery we went up to the mother baby unit. I have only fantastic things to say about all of the CDH (Central DuPage Hospital) nurses. They were fantastic. It sounds cliche- but for as much times as I spent in L&D before the baby came, and during and in Mother/Baby after- they became like family. So supportive, informative and friendly.
The first week was a tough one. My body wasn't dealing with the surgery well, and it was a tough recovery. I was failing the blood/bp/breathing tests needed to get out of the hospital, so they put me on meds that made me very ill. They wiped me out and made everything so much tougher. We also ended up having breast feeding problems, b/c my milk was not coming in right away- and Maddyn was suffering b/c of it. And with all of the above, it was so stressful it meant absolutely no sleep.
As I mentioned above Maddyn lost too much birth weight in the first 2 days b/c my milk didn't come in yet, so they forced us to supplement with formula (though I continued to breastfeed to get the milk to come quicker) to bring up her birth weight and blood sugar. My milk finally came in on Day 4, and I immediately engorged. This brought us to the other extreme b/c Maddyn couldn't feed then either. Luckily the lactation staff at CDH rocks, and they worked with me (medicated and all) to get things headed in the right direction. However, it's been 4 days and I'm still 100% engorged. They thought this engorgement was pretty severe and would last about a week- OUCH! So currently we are now in a "every single 2 hour" feeding schedule, in order to help the engorgement and keep Maddyn's weight/blood sugar on target.
Today we had our first pediatrician appt, and her birth weight is doing 100% better and things are looking so much more positive. It was a great visit! Oh, and she was remeasured. Turns out Dave did a good job. She was only 20.75" today! LOL. It's just funny since all along they told us we'd have a tall baby from the u/s measurements. I was 21.5" and Dave was 22" when we were born- so 20.5" didn't seem too long. But, she does have very long legs- so I can see where that would have screwed up the measurements!
I have to go back to CDH on Wed for a lactation consultation - where we hope we can get rid of the 2-hour-must-feed schedule and allow it to be more flexible (2-4 hours). Wish us luck- b/c I think once we get the engorgement taken care of and a good schedule in place (with a little more sleep) we'll be on the right track!
So late Saturday night we finally got to come home. It feels great to be home. Though, with everything going on- and feeding every single 2 hours, both Dave and I are on about a total of 15 hours of sleep for this whole last week. So we are trying to catch up here, and plan to get in touch with everyone very soon!!!!
Many of you have asked about her name. Well, for those that know Dave and I at all, they know we are the biggest football freaks ever ;) And we wanted a fun name that is very "us". Maddyn seemed to fit the bill since it relates so well to football. We chose to "girl" it up with a "y" instead of an "e". And this way we can nickname her Maddy too :) Vera as many of you know was my Grandmother's name and means "truth/virtue". My Grandma Vera was one of the greatest ladies ever- strong willed, passionate, and just an amazing woman. We felt this was a perfect fit for our little snowflake.
Maddyn and Rylee are doing great together. Maddy is having a blast just taking in her new surroundings. We have taken some fun photos- that if I don't get to upload now, I will by this weekend. I'm so impressed with how well Ry is doing!!! We were concerned it would not go this well.
I'll post a few photos now, but have SO many to upload and sort through. I promise I'll get more up here soon. Hopefully after the chaos of Christmas passes, we'll have a little more time on our hands and I can get them up by this weekend!
Thank you again for all of the messages, flowers, gifts, phone calls, cards, etc. It's been so wonderful and I hope to personally talk to you all soon.... Hopefully in about a week we'll be more caught up on sleep and have time to catch up!!
Merry Christmas!!
Love, Heather, Dave and Maddyn!
3 comments:
Beautiful baby, Heather & Dave! Many congratulations!!!!
I love her name - and I love Vera, too. There is so much power and grace within her family.
she's adorable - congratulations!!!! so glad she's gaining weight well - i hope the engorgement settles down! can't wait to meet her! holly
Congrats Heather and Dave! Can't wait to come and visit and meet her. (+:
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