Mason William

We welcomed our little boy at 4:20pm on March 23, 2009. He is a perfect little angel, and looks so much like his sister did! We couldn't be more happy with him! And check out all that blonde hair!

You may be wondering why this post took so long to get up here. Well, let me explain. (No, there is too much, let me sum up.) First, you probably remember the botched induction on the 19th. (If not, check out my last couple posts) Well, the birth center called and had a room for us on the 23rd, and would we like to come in for another try? (Uh, yeah we would.) They had some sort of mass exodus, discharging more than 10 women the day before, so we loaded our stuff (we hadn't unpacked) and tried again. We had much better luck. I started the medicine around 8:00 in the morning, after the nurses finally got an IV going. (Side note: why do health care "professionals" never listen to me? I tried to tell the girl that the veins in my hands collapse, and she could save herself some time, and me a lot of pain, if she would just put it in that big, bulging vein on my forearm. You should see the bruises on the backs of both of my hands.) We hung out, watched a movie and watched my contractions on the the monitor. Somewhere around noon, they started to get uncomfortable, so I asked for an epidural, something I didn't get the chance to experience with my angel. (And am now wondering about the wisdom of that decision. Stay tuned.) Once in place, which is a procedure that the husband is trying desperately to erase from his memory, my doctor came in to break my water. By this time it was almost 3, so I called my mom to tell her that baby was taking his time, and that she and the angel should probably rethink the visit they were planning after the angel got out of school. Who knows when he would arrive? As it turns out, about an hour later. I told the nurse about the "pressure" I was feeling, and after a quick check, ("Wow, you weren't kidding. He's right there!" Yes, I know. LISTEN to me!!) she and the doctor began scrambling to set up their stuff, which I don't really understand. Why wouldn't that stuff be set up already? They knew I was in labor, right? I mean, this ending was inevitable. The rest is as you can imagine. He came very quickly and was just perfect! That was the good part of the story.

Now, during the epidural process, my anaesthesiologist "snagged" a little hole, causing a tiny leak of spinal fluid. Apparently, there is about a 1% chance of this happening and frequently results in what they call a "spinal headache". Well, it happened to me. They tell me that a spinal headache is kind of like a migraine, only it lasts for 5-12 days. I've never had a migraine, so I wouldn't know, but I do know that a spinal headache hurts. Bad. There is a procedure to fix it, called a "blood patch", which is basically injecting my own blood (taken from yet another hole in my arm) into another epidural catheter. So, after doing this on Thursday, the relief was instantaneous. Cool. Now I can focus on my angel and my peanut!

So during this "focusing", I notice that the whites of peanut's eyes are a little yellow. The angel was a little jaundice when she was born as well. But during his first well baby visit on Friday, they tested his biliruben, which is some sort of thing that people have in their bodies that I don't know about, and it was too high. So we were told to take him to the hospital to lay under the "lights". This would fix those bad bilirubens. Off we go, picking up the angel from school and heading back to the hospital, a different hospital this time, but still 90 miles from our house. I figured this would take an hour, or maybe a couple hours. They checked us in to stay the night, with the option of a second night. This information would have been useful before we left home! We had nothing that one would normally pack for an overnight stay. Plus, we had the angel with us, and if we had known, we might have had her stay with grandma. (Luckily, my angel is a good sport, and can entertain herself with pretty much anything. I know a lot of kids who would not have endured such an "adventure" with as much grace. Man I love her!!) In addition to this unplanned hospital stay, my headache was returning. It could have been due to stress, and not "taking it easy" as I was instructed to do. The peanut endured his time in the tanning bed, as the husband called it, while he and I shared a cot the size of my couch and the angel slept in a nest of extra pillows on the floor under the sink. (This hospital room is about the size of a decent sized bathroom.) It was awesome. (inject sarcasm here) Luckily, we only had to stay one night. But now my headache was back in full force, so I had to go to the emergency room (the only place open on a Saturday) to have another blood patch done. Apparently, about 30% of people need a second one. (See, this is why I don't go to Vegas!! If there is a short straw, I'll draw it. Every time. I can't explain it, and I'm a statistician!)

So that was our week. My poor peanut has been dragged to more doctors in his short life than any man should be! Needless to say, this is the first chance I've had to announce the little guy! Hopefully, it all goes up from here!

Waiting for baby

Okay, so no baby yet. Apparently, we are having some sort of baby boom here in Easternish Montana. Both hospitals in our urban center are full of laboring women, and the NICU is full as well. (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, where they send all the little preemies and other babies who are having trouble adjusting to the "outside" world) Therefore, the powers that be (the NICU) have declared that there will be no "non-spontaneous" labors until the place clears out a little. There isn't anything they can do about woman who just go into labor, but they are requesting the doctors don't put any women in labor without a good medical reason. (I guess "but it's my husband's day off" doesn't qualify as a medical reason!)

So now we leave it up to the baby. His actual due date is Monday, so we know he won't be born then, (I believe that no baby has ever been born on their actual due date. Those people who were born then were probably given the wrong date by their doctors) but hopefully sometime this weekend. My angel went three days over her due date, so it is possible that the peanut will emulate his sister. It is a little frustrating, because I usually don't leave major life decisions up to the kids, but I suppose this is one of those times. He'll come when he's ready. Now, maybe we should decide on a name...

No room at the inn...

Well, the big day is finally here, and really, not a moment too soon. My eyes have disappeared into my puffy face and my fingers resemble pink sausages. My feet must be swollen too, since my shoes don't fit very well, but I can't really see them to be sure. My belly has almost doubled in size in the last week, if the way my clothes are fitting are any indication.

We have a planned induction, scheduled for today. If you couldn't tell, I'm not in labor right now. I'm not even in the hospital right now. The husband and I decided to do our traveling last night and stay in a hotel a little closer to the hospital. We were told to call at 5 am to see what time they wanted us to check in. And just as I suspected, the birth center is full. (I thought it seemed like there were a lot of extremely pregnant women in the OBGYN waiting room lately. What was going on last July?) So now we are waiting for someone to check out so we can check in. Barring, of course, another woman showing up in actual labor. Last night, I contemplated the irony of going into labor the night before a scheduled induction, but the peanut wasn't interested. He seems rather comfy right where he is, and I got to say, he is a lot quieter where he is.

But mommy is uncomfortable. Plus, I really want to meet him! So now, we wait. (Ring, phone, RING!!) Hopefully, my next post will be about the joys of labor and motherhood, but until then...

Do blizzards induce labor?

You always hear about babies that are born during natural disasters. I heard these stories, and I always thought to myself, oh those poor women. Like you don't have enough to worry about with the hurricane bearing down on you, but now this? And anyone who has seen Little House on the Prairie knows that whenever there is a pregnant pioneer woman, she will deliver during the "worst blizzard in 50 years"! (Even though her neighbor's baby was born during the "worst blizzard in 50 years" only a couple months ago.)

There does seem to be some scientific explanation for this. Drastic changes in atmospheric pressure can affect pregnant women, which is why they don't want you to fly in a plane. (That, and I think flight attendants are a little bit lazy. I mean, how hard is it to cut the damn umbilical cord? They let dad's do it all the time!) Huge drops in pressure, like one might see during tornadoes and other severe weather, might be enough to "pop the balloon", so to speak.

It's also just plain inconvenient. And babies are all about this. That's why babies are never born at 10 in the morning. That is the time when husbands, doctors and anesthesiologists are awake and alert. No good. Babies come at 3 am. During snowstorms, if they can help it. I've heard that some women stay pregnant for 14 months, just so their babies can wait for the next available snowstorm. Well, luckily my baby is due mid-March. Snowstorm season. Wish me luck...9 days to go. I'd better check the weather forecast...

The Angel's faulty wings

My angel has officially proven that her title is an honorary one. Yesterday afternoon, while dressed in fancy shoes and dragging her pink poodle by a leash, she rushed down the stairs to welcome her father and brother home. And I do mean rushed, as objects in freefall descend at the rate of about 30 feet per second. Yes, she fell down the stairs.

Daddy was standing there, and had her in his arms in a second, consoling the crying child and checking her head for lumps. Her brother was also quick to act, dashing to the freezer to get an ice pack for her. (Out of the several options which included infant teethers and Disney princess lunchbox ice packs, this 13-year-old boy chose a freezable breast shield, proving once again that the infatuation with "boobies" may be chromosomal.)

Almost at once, she was complaining that her shoulder hurt. And she had a bump on her left collarbone. A trip to the ER showed that she did in fact break her clavicle (collarbone) and she has to wear her arm in a sling for a week or two. Poor little thing. Not only that, but she had to brave the X-ray room alone, as X-ray techs get nervous even looking at a pregnant woman. Mommy had to wait outside. They showed her the "pictures" of her bones, and especially pointed out the crooked one. (Even she could see that it was broken.) Apparently, collarbones heal pretty quickly, and they do almost nothing to assist, save issue her an arm sling that might fit an average sized 10 year old, but seems a little big on a petite 7 year old. (Toddlers and pre-schoolers must get a handkerchief or something.)

So, following in her clumsy mother's footsteps, the angel will be one armed for the immediate future. Which is exactly what an extremely pregnant woman needs...to be distracted from her own discomfort by caring for her first little baby.