Several of you have asked when I'm going to update this blog...apparently more people were reading it consistently than I realized! :)
Well, I'm back. I'm going to spend this entry going through the birth story, then the next few entries going through the milestones etc. so that I have a record of things...then I'll try to go back to updating at least once a week (with pictures!).
Let's start with the official announcement (only 10 weeks late to the day -- whoops!):
Kennedy Maëlle was born on November 15, 2010 at 8:21pm, measuring in at 8 lbs, 4 ounces and 21 inches long. She was an absolutely gorgeous little angel (still is, but we're talking about what she was like 10 weeks ago -- bear with me).
Here the first picture ever taken of our little beauty!
Here she is meeting her mommy for the first time...yes I know I look like shit (I really am happy...even if you can't tell by the look of exhaustion on my face) -- but you'll understand why when I get to the birth story part! ;)
And here are the first shots of the new family!
Here's a cuter shot of her (after she's all cleaned up and we're in the recovery room).
Obviously there will be bagillion more pics to come...so I'll give it a rest for now and get back to the details of the birth story.
It all started on Friday, November 12, 2010 when my water broke. In hindsight, I'm pretty sure it actually happened in the middle of the night (I was having one of those "was that just my weak preggo bladder or was that something else" moments...and I just assumed it was nothing). Sometime around 11am, I had my first "gush". Gross. Thought that I had pee'd myself at first, but when it happened several more times (in increasing volumes -- including a lovely "spill" on the bathroom floor!), I realized that my water had definitely broken. So I called the midwives. They told me to hang tight and wait for some "pressure waves" (my hypno-babies terminology for contractions). So I went about my day...under the assumption that things would start up any minute -- so exciting! :)
Went for a nice long walk to try to get things going, but only succeed in leaking amniotic fluid all down my jeans...classy.
Fluid kept gushing out for the next 24 hours or so, and we decided to call the midwives back (well...we were told to call back if nothing had started up by the next morning). So, here we are, late-morning on Saturday, still waiting...still leaking everywhere! Midwives come for a visit to check on baby's status...she's still good...let's keep waiting. So they advise me to walk walk walk and bounce on the birthing ball...and basically do every old wives tale in the book to get this labour started. Nothing.
Saturday afternoon, it's time to start taking a natural labour inducing concoction made up mainly of castor oil. Still nothing so we do another dose. Nothing yet. Midwives are starting to get concerned about potential infections (because my water had been broken for so long) so we go to the hospital for a non-stress test for Kennedy (if I hadn't had midwives, I would have been induced way before this point -- so I count myself lucky that we at least got to try to wait things out). Got to the hospital around 4pm.
Started having slight contractions at the hospital, but still no dilation or effacement. They decide it's time to induce with oxytocin (BOO!). I got checked in and started on that in the delivery suite (I can't remember the exact time that the oxytocin drip was started, but I think it was 7pm). Oxytocin "works" quickly (crazy strong contractions)...unfortunately the contractions are right on top of each other and they can't get them regulated. Go through that for 17 (ish) hours until mid-afternoon on Sunday...and they decide that this isn't working (no shit Sherlock!).
Before I go on, I have to say that most of the 17 hours were totally tolerable (albeit exhausting). I was fairly sick (stupid castor oil kicked in a little late!), so I had to trek back and forth between the bed/birthing ball and the bathroom (which is difficult when you're hooked up to the monitor -- which is mandatory when being induced)...but I was able to use my hypno-babies to get through the pressure waves. Unfortunately, the fact that I was dealing with the pain so well led the doctors to think that the contractions weren't strong enough (the nurses who were monitoring things and feeling my belly during the contractions strongly disagreed -- they could tell how strong the contractions actually were!)...so the doctors decided that they wanted to insert a monitor to test the sstrength of the contractions. Problem was that I hadn't dilated AT ALL yet, so they had to put the tube in when/where they shouldn't have been doing so! The nurse told me afterwards that she had never seen that done on someone without an epidural (gee, thanks!).
The nurses are worried that my uterus is going to give out (due to exhaustion)...and I was losing the ability to tolerate the pain (partially because I was just too tired to concentrate on my hypnosis, but mostly because they had inserted that contraction measuring thingy which caused me to be in constant agony -- I still say that I could have handled the harder contractions if I had had ANY break from the pain in between).
Finally I broke down and asked for pain relief. So they gave me some morphine (or something) and pulled me off the oxytocin to let me have a rest. I should note that the stupid contraction measuring thingy never worked...so it was a completely useless endeavor. Awesome.
This was our "home" for some 28 hours (not a great memory -- but a memory nonetheless!).
Had a restful (ish) evening (even got a nap in and was allowed to eat solid food -- up to that point, I had only been allowed water and apple juice...Scarfed down a delicious bowl of stew that my parents brought -- they were patiently waiting with the dogs at our appartment). Slight contractions (and trips to the bathroom as a result of the castor oil -- hee hee...gotta love "too much information"!) kept going through the night, but nothing too bad. They also gave me cervadil to try to get some dilation and effacement happening.
Monday morning we went back down to labour and delivery. Still no progress AT ALL!? Back on the oxytocin. After 5 or 6 hours, I was done...it was time for the epidural. Yay for pain relief! Stayed on the oxytocin for several more hours, and things were finally progressing. Got to 9 cm, then things start going backwards. She was stuck and my cervix was swollen (back down to 8cm -- crap...this doesn't look good). Doctor says that it looks like she's too big for my pelvis!? Doctor says she's not willing to even try a forecep delivery (even if dilation started progressing again)...only option is a c-section. So we suck it up (I have a little cry) and go in for the c-section.
Apparently Kennedy wasn't quite ready to stop with the complications...her shoulders were wider than expected so she tore my uterus on her way out. So they had to remove my uterus to fix it after they delivered her.
She was born at 8:21pm, and it took a little while to fix me up again afterwards. Then we went to recovery for awhile and then up to our room (little did we know that this would be our new home for the rest of the freakin' week!?). It was worth it in the end...but seriously...such an ordeal!
Of course, there were more troubles afterwards. Kennedy was a great little baby, but she lost too much weight because my milk took a while to come in. So they kept us all in the hospital for an extra day or two (result = more tears from mommy). I spent several days where all I really did was feed her (or try to) and then pump and then feed her the pumped milk. Good times. We ended up having to supplement with donor breast milk (such a great thing -- meant that we didn't have to supplement with formula at all). All said, we were there for a day shy of a week! Got home Friday afternoon!
Several days later, my milk came in and the rest is history! She started gaining weight like a champ and is now doing great (but I'll try to provide more updates on that in some future posts).
So that's the story...10 weeks later...still feels like it was yesterday (except that life is SO much better now)! More positive updates to come -- bear with me!
PS -- Happy Birthday Prof-Man! Love you!
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