We Have a Baby

For those of you who haven't heard, our daughter was born on 8/8/12 at 6:50am.  Here is the story.  So I went in for my last ultrasound on Tuesday, 8/7, and at the ultrasound they did an amniocentesis. Well the nurses told us that the baseline for lung development was 50. Our baby was 208 so her lungs were really ready. My doctor then called me and told me to go to labor and delivery at 6 that evening to be induced.

So I went back to work and Brad was shadowing one of my PAs for the day.  Everyone told me I was crazy for working instead of going home but I needed to stay busy.  Well 6pm finally came so I said bye to all my coworkers and Brad and I headed to the hospital.  After checking in and getting situated in our room, my nurse was hooking up all the monitors that checked baby's heart rate and my contractions.  She then told me, "did you know that you are having contractions every 2-6 minutes?" I told her no but my back had been bothering me that day. Brad and my nurse laughed when she told me that was contractions. I was still only dilated to a 2 so my doctor said they should still give me pitocin. By the time the IV was started I was having contractions every 2-3 minutes.  My nurse said that if I hadn't come in to be induced that I would have been coming in anyways to have the baby.

Well by 10:30 I was almost completely effaced but only dilated to a 4. So my nurse called my doctor and she asked a resident to come break my water.  Well the resident came in and said that he thought he got it.  My nurse didn't think so because of the lack of fluid but he said he was pretty sure.  Well I stayed dilated to a 4.  The pain was getting worse and worse from the contractions so finally I got the epidural.  Man alive I was in heaven.  I could finally sleep and no longer wanted to punch my nurse very time she did a cervix check.  I think Brad was happier to because I was more pleasant.  

Right after getting the epidural and feeling pretty good

Well by 4am I was still only dilated to a 4 so my nurse called my doctor and they decided to have my nurse break my water.  Well 2 hours dilated I was fully dilated and effaced so my doctor came and after a little pushing and the help of a vacuum our sweet baby was here.

Because I'm diabetic the hospital had to monitor the baby's blood sugar for 24 hours because babies of diabetics can have blood sugar issues since they are used to compensating for their mom's highs and lows.  Well our baby girl had a blood sugar of 23.  This is way low and Brad was not happy that the nurses seemed to be really slow at feeding our baby.  Come to find out babies blood sugar runs lower than adults and 50 can be considered normal.  Well our baby's blood sugar got up to normal. We spent 2 days in the hospital and I had a lot of great nurses and cnas.

5 days after having her I started school.  Everyone was pretty shocked that I had my baby already and that I was at school.  I'm crazy that's for sure but what are you gonna do.  Our daughter is perfect and healthy.  School is hard.  Doing both is harder but I have an amazing husband who helps a lot.  So now I'm learning to function on almost no sleep.

Effaced is a Funny Word

I have started my goodbyes at work and it's hard.  I have been working at the same place for over 3.5 years so this is crazy to be leaving.  Tuesday was the last day I worked with John, one of the two PAs (physician assistants) that I work closely with.  I did not realize it until halfway through the day when one of the other girls, Halee, reminded me.  I forgot again until right when John was asking if we (Holly who is replacing me and myself) had any questions for him before he left.  He was walking away and I shouted, "John!  Today is our last day working together!"  John came back and was like, "What!  You didn't give me enough warning to cry!"  It was sad, I really have liked working with John, he is so chill, funny, and easygoing.  

Today I had to say goodbye to Garrett, one of the psychologists, who has been with the company just a little longer than me.  Garrett is great.  He got me through a lot of stressful times because he is such a good listener and friend.  Garrett showed me that psychologists don't have to be stiff like in the movies.  He is also absolutely hilarious.

Next week I get to say my last goodbyes and it will be hard.  I have worked with a lot of great people, it has been a good job, and I have had a lot of good experiences there.  I have also said bye to a lot of great patients.  Now, there are definitely patients that I wanted to shout hooray when they left and I knew I would never see them again.  Just like after some phone calls/patients and I would be so mad/frustrated/done I just had to remind myself that I just had a few more days to go.  

Other than my goodbyes I have already done and still have coming, I have been busy with doctor appointments.  I had 3 just today, a non-stress test (NST), my OB, and the diabetes clinic.  General consensus is that I'm doing great.  Because of the timing of my school starting, I asked my OB if instead of waiting until 8/20 to induce me (which is a Monday), if we could possibly start the Friday before so that Brad wouldn't miss a lot of work and I didn't miss a lot of school.  My doctor told me that I can have an amniocentesis on Tuesday, when I see Maternal Fetal Medicine, and if my baby's lungs are fully developed then she would be fine inducing me next week.  Crazy!  On top of this, I had my first cervix check and amazingly I am already dilated to 1.5-2cm and 70% effaced.  I was shocked by this because I have felt no contractions (at least that I am aware of).  My doc said that this is good because it means they would probably just give me pitocin to get contractions started.

So craziness.  Now I have a bunch to make sure is ready just in case the doctors decide to induce me next week.  Exciting, nerve wracking, and all that.  I have been especially putting off getting stuff ready for the hospital cause I have no idea what I need.  I will take any suggestions, in the mean time I am just going to grab a few things, go to the store to get stuff we still need, and start reading my fat nursing text book.