Sunday, 6 December 2009
Adventures in Motherhood - The Connor Files
Well we are rounding the 12th week of Connor today. Wow the changes are amazing. I was just watching him on his play mat and realized that he can now reach the toys on both sides of the play mat at the same time. Just a week ago, he could only reach one side at a time. He now grasps the toys quickly and easily and promptly attempts to put them in his mouth.
Last weekend he had his first trip to the emergency room. Before you panic, the emergency room in our rural hospital is a glorified walk in clinic. I've been in there while patients are treated for hard ear wax... I was more used to a city hospital where death needs to be imminent to make the trip acceptable when I first moved here but I've soften with time. Stop cringing Tanya... I still won't go there for hard ear wax...
Anyway, Connor was throwing up his entire tummy contents. He was still feeding so he was not becoming dehydrated so we had decided to ride it out... but then midnight came and with it was the screaming... his head turned bright red and he screamed for 90 minutes. I tried my usual distraction method of presenting a breast... alas this was refused...
After 90 minutes, Cory and I were broken... bundled him in his car seat, grabbed his CD of Metallica and Nirvana Lullaby's and headed off to the hospital. Once in the car, he fell asleep... we continued to drive to the hospital, debating the whole way on whether we should just head home now that he was settled.
2 am on a Saturday night... the Emergency Room was a ghost town. Not even a drunk in sight... We were in to see a doctor in seconds... Connor woke from his nap a new baby... laughing, giggling and flirting with everyone who came in 10 feet of him. The picture of health!
Nothing to worry about... go home... if he gets worse or shows signs of dehydration... please come back.
He fell asleep on the way home.... transferred from his car seat to the crib without a cracked eyelid... slept 7 hours straight... woke a new baby.
He has been continuing to spit up so he is going to see a pediatrician this week in Fredericton for a potential acid reflux issue. He is also being treated for thrush. Good Times!!
Last weekend he had his first trip to the emergency room. Before you panic, the emergency room in our rural hospital is a glorified walk in clinic. I've been in there while patients are treated for hard ear wax... I was more used to a city hospital where death needs to be imminent to make the trip acceptable when I first moved here but I've soften with time. Stop cringing Tanya... I still won't go there for hard ear wax...
Anyway, Connor was throwing up his entire tummy contents. He was still feeding so he was not becoming dehydrated so we had decided to ride it out... but then midnight came and with it was the screaming... his head turned bright red and he screamed for 90 minutes. I tried my usual distraction method of presenting a breast... alas this was refused...
After 90 minutes, Cory and I were broken... bundled him in his car seat, grabbed his CD of Metallica and Nirvana Lullaby's and headed off to the hospital. Once in the car, he fell asleep... we continued to drive to the hospital, debating the whole way on whether we should just head home now that he was settled.
2 am on a Saturday night... the Emergency Room was a ghost town. Not even a drunk in sight... We were in to see a doctor in seconds... Connor woke from his nap a new baby... laughing, giggling and flirting with everyone who came in 10 feet of him. The picture of health!
Nothing to worry about... go home... if he gets worse or shows signs of dehydration... please come back.
He fell asleep on the way home.... transferred from his car seat to the crib without a cracked eyelid... slept 7 hours straight... woke a new baby.
He has been continuing to spit up so he is going to see a pediatrician this week in Fredericton for a potential acid reflux issue. He is also being treated for thrush. Good Times!!
Monday, 30 November 2009
Monday, 23 November 2009
The Trials and Tribulations of Breastfeeding
Okay... I finally get it... I understand why so many women give up on breastfeeding. To be honest, the thought has crossed my mind on several occasions. Fortunately for Connor, his complete distaste for formula has prevented this from becoming a possibility.
The first week was horrifically hard... my milk wouldn't come in. Connor kept nursing to the point that I had bleeding, scabby nipples... fortunately I was still in the hospital while this was happening so I was given Domperidone to help bring my milk in. Unfortunately Domperidone is actually a drug to help move a sluggish bowel and one of it's side effects is that it increases milk production. I did not have a sluggish bowel so this was a whole new thrill for me...
Once we got home, Connor's demand was far greater than my supply. He would cluster feed for hours on end and never seem like he was getting satisfied. For the first few weeks, we were topping him up with sugar water to have him feel full enough to sleep but this also had a side effect on his bowels so it was a last resort.
Our next line of defence was pumping milk during the early hours of the day when he wasn't clustering and using that milk when the clustering started. This was extremely effective. The only problems was that as a young baby, he wasn't into a routine and it was hard to judge when it was safe to pump. Doesn't help if you pump and then have to feed that pumping to him immediately.
Now, my supply generally meets his demand. He is starting to fall into a routine. My problem is now my diet and the impact it has on his digestion system. The donair I ate the other night gave Connor gas and tummy upset... no more spices for me. He has a tendency to spit up ALOT... I'm considering doing an elimination diet on myself to see if we can figure out what upsets him... I'm just working myself up to a rice-only diet for a few days. As a bonus, it will help to remove the excess weight on me...
Total weight gained during pregnancy 49 lbs... total lost so far... 27 lbs
The first week was horrifically hard... my milk wouldn't come in. Connor kept nursing to the point that I had bleeding, scabby nipples... fortunately I was still in the hospital while this was happening so I was given Domperidone to help bring my milk in. Unfortunately Domperidone is actually a drug to help move a sluggish bowel and one of it's side effects is that it increases milk production. I did not have a sluggish bowel so this was a whole new thrill for me...
Once we got home, Connor's demand was far greater than my supply. He would cluster feed for hours on end and never seem like he was getting satisfied. For the first few weeks, we were topping him up with sugar water to have him feel full enough to sleep but this also had a side effect on his bowels so it was a last resort.
Our next line of defence was pumping milk during the early hours of the day when he wasn't clustering and using that milk when the clustering started. This was extremely effective. The only problems was that as a young baby, he wasn't into a routine and it was hard to judge when it was safe to pump. Doesn't help if you pump and then have to feed that pumping to him immediately.
Now, my supply generally meets his demand. He is starting to fall into a routine. My problem is now my diet and the impact it has on his digestion system. The donair I ate the other night gave Connor gas and tummy upset... no more spices for me. He has a tendency to spit up ALOT... I'm considering doing an elimination diet on myself to see if we can figure out what upsets him... I'm just working myself up to a rice-only diet for a few days. As a bonus, it will help to remove the excess weight on me...
Total weight gained during pregnancy 49 lbs... total lost so far... 27 lbs
Sunday, 8 November 2009
Thursday, 22 October 2009
Connor - 5 weeks, 1 day
Wow it's hard to find time to blog... I've got about 4 entries half completed in draft form that no longer feel applicable.
Today I'm just gonna cheat and upload another video taken on October 19, 2009. Connor sure knows how to keep his daddy entertained.
Sunday, 11 October 2009
Tuesday, 6 October 2009
Coming Up for Air
Wow... I think I am finally coming up for air. Connor turned 3 weeks on Sunday and he celebrated this by not needing to cluster feed from midnight to 6 am. Last night he woke every 4 hours for a 30 minute feed... a couple more days of this and I might feel human again.
He is spending more time awake now without immediate needs like feeding or changing. This is Cory's favorite time with him. Right now they are watching the G.I. Joe movie together while Cory explains the psychology of world domination to him. I think Connor may grow up to be a movie critic as he just responded by filling his diaper... the boy is a natural!!
All and all, Connor is a very pleasant baby. He isn't very fussy provided his needs are met. He doesn't like having his diaper changed so he makes a pile of noise when that is happening, but the noise ends as soon as the change is done.
I'm still recovering from the C-section. I have a whole bunch of unrelated ouchies that add up to a whole body hurt... My tummy is still sore to the touch above the incision... my wrist and elbow is sore from holding Connor too much... I twisted my ankle on the stairs resulting in a bruise on the top of my foot and a sore knee... my breasts are tender tender tender from being stretched... I generally have an exhaustion headache but I'm hoping that will end soon.
Emotionally, I am an easy cry... it's not all the time, it comes in waves. I think I have a little Post Traumatic Stress from the labour prior to the C-section. I'm sure it will fade in time but for now any memory of the labour sends my anxiety level through the roof. If the Alpha Doctor at Labour and Delivery hadn't told me that I had a very difficult labour, I would feel like a total wuss having this reaction. Instead I just feel like a wuss...
He is spending more time awake now without immediate needs like feeding or changing. This is Cory's favorite time with him. Right now they are watching the G.I. Joe movie together while Cory explains the psychology of world domination to him. I think Connor may grow up to be a movie critic as he just responded by filling his diaper... the boy is a natural!!
All and all, Connor is a very pleasant baby. He isn't very fussy provided his needs are met. He doesn't like having his diaper changed so he makes a pile of noise when that is happening, but the noise ends as soon as the change is done.
I'm still recovering from the C-section. I have a whole bunch of unrelated ouchies that add up to a whole body hurt... My tummy is still sore to the touch above the incision... my wrist and elbow is sore from holding Connor too much... I twisted my ankle on the stairs resulting in a bruise on the top of my foot and a sore knee... my breasts are tender tender tender from being stretched... I generally have an exhaustion headache but I'm hoping that will end soon.
Emotionally, I am an easy cry... it's not all the time, it comes in waves. I think I have a little Post Traumatic Stress from the labour prior to the C-section. I'm sure it will fade in time but for now any memory of the labour sends my anxiety level through the roof. If the Alpha Doctor at Labour and Delivery hadn't told me that I had a very difficult labour, I would feel like a total wuss having this reaction. Instead I just feel like a wuss...
Saturday, 3 October 2009
Saturday, 19 September 2009
Adventures in Pregnancy - The Final Chapter
Well, I didn't fall off the face of the planet instead I was admitted to the hospital AKA land of no public Internet access...
What a... a.... an... adventure!
We were admitted on the morning of September 10th for our first attempt to induce via Cervadil. This induction is done by the insertion of a "tampon" behind the cervix... it can also be applied by a gel directly to the cervix but if things start to go bad, the gel is almost impossible to get out...
The first day, we had some contractions, watched some TV and dilated 1 whole centimetre. At 11 PM, they gave me a sleeping pill and put me to bed.
The next morning, we replaced the Cervadil with a second attempt. At the end of the completely uneventful day, I was rewarded with a total dilation of 2 cms, a sleeping pill and what I didn't realise would be my last good night sleep for.... I guess the rest of my life.
The third morning, we Cervadil'd again. By the end of the day, I was officially 4 cm's dilated which labeled me as being in "active labor". No sleeping pill was offered as I was tending to my contractions... no sleep for either Cory or myself.
At 8 am on the fourth morning, it was decided to further the induction by giving me Pitocin. Hindsight being 20-20, this is probably the moment that my day took a horrible turn. Pitocin takes a woman from zero to 60 in her labor in a blink of an eye. The gentle increase of contraction that makes it manageable doesn't happen. At 8 am, I was 4 cms dilated and by noon I had achieved the full 10 cms. Not bad for 4 hours. During this 4 hour period, I inhaled 7 canisters of Nitrous Oxide (once I discovered that I could not OD on it via trial and error, it was open season on the nitrous).
I have very little recollection of this day. I had to ask Cory if we used any of the Lamaze breathing. His answer was once or twice when we were changing NO2 canisters but basically Lamaze breathing sounded more like Darth Vader as I sucked the life out of the Nitrous.
At noon, they took my nitrous away and I started to push. At 1 PM, the doctor checked the progress and thought at that point that he was capped... which is a nice layman's term for cephalopelvic disproportion... meaning his head was too big for my pelvis. At 2 PM, as I stood on the delivery table shaking in pain... the doctor felt that a C-section was in order. I quickly agreed as I had already mentally begged for a high forceps delivery or a c-section... anything to make this experience end.
Before I could go for my c-section, they had to remove the internal monitor from Connor's head, catheterize me, prep me for the incision. I asked Cory what time it was expecting to hear 11 PM and was floored when he told me it was 2:30 PM. I have no recollection of how I got into the surgical suite. I remember having 3 contractions while being prepped for my epidural. I remember feeling bad that I was blowing my skanky nitrous sucking dry mouth breath at my labor nurse. And then my legs went numb and the pain went away... *sigh*
Cory was invited into the O.R. at this point. At 4:18 PM, Connor was disentangled from my pelvis and entered the world. Cory and Connor left shortly after that while I was stitched up. At 5 PM, I moved to recovery and met my baby for the first time.
Here he is somewhere between 1 hour and 2 hours old...
So this concludes my Adventures in Pregnancy... now we are on to the more exciting... Adventures in Motherhood.
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