Before we left the birth center, the nurses went over our discharge papers with us making sure that we understood how to take care of Gordy's circumcision, how to clean his piko, what to do if his temperature goes above 100.4, etc. Once they finished giving us all of the instructions, they asked if we had any questions. Todd's only question was, "When can we take him in the water?".
Gordy's piko scab fell off a few days ago, his circumcision healed up, he made 2 weeks old, and there happened to be a great little pond happening at Rock Piles. So, we decided that yesterday would be the perfect time to take Gordy in the water for the first time... he hated it. He screamed the moment that his little toes hit the water and didn't stop until Todd took him out and put him against his warm chest.
Even though Gordy didn't love the ocean this time, we are pretty sure that it was a good idea to introduce him to the water.
The first few days after birth were a bit of a whirlwind with friends and family coming to visit, nurses trying to take vitals every hour and help with breast feeding, stressful 1st car rides full of screaming, etc. However, once we made it home, we were able to start settling into our new lives with Gordy. One of the best things about our new little family is our late morning sleeps which are usually followed by some pretty amazing cuddling. Today was no different.
Happy first Father's Day to my wonderful husband :)
Gordy made 1 week old on Thursday!
Gordy was born on 6/9/2016 at 8:47am. He was 7lbs 8oz and 19.5 inches long (the birth center measured him at 21 inches, but the pediatrician did a more accurate measurement, and only came up with 19.5). He had a full head of hair, big dark brown eyes, and very well-developed lungs which he began using the moment he came out.
The birth story...
After our 42 week appointment, we agreed to schedule an induction for Thursday night of last week. My amniotic fluid was getting low, and there we no signs that Gordy was planning to make his arrival. It seems that the idea of induction either scared my body into labor, or coincidentally, Gordy was ready, because I went into spontaneous labor Wednesday afternoon. My contractions went from being 5-6 mins apart and lasting 45 secs to a minute, to being 3 mins apart and lasting 1-1.5 minutes by 11pm.
We arrived at the birth center in Kailua at midnight and although I made it in the door to check in, I spent the next few minutes on the floor curled up in a ball in my underwear having a contraction. The next 8 hours are a bit of a blur... each hour I was sure that the pain couldn't possibly get worse - it did. Lots worse. I think I set a record for most vomit bags used (yeahy?). I labored in bed and then in the tub, which I think helped to relieve a bit of pain. I tapped out at 9.5cm dilated which is unfortunate because apparently I do not have any other options at that point other than to stick it out and wait till 10cm.
At 8am, I reached 10cm and was given the thumbs up to push. It was such a relief to be able to push, but it was a whole new type of pain and exhaustion. Thankfully, I only had to push for 47 minutes before Gordy made it out and Todd announced that it was a boy! They laid his grey, screaming body on my chest, Todd cut the cord, my mom took a ton of photos, the doctor collected the cord blood for donation, and then she delivered my placenta (which was super cool and insanely disgusting).
We are both so excited about our new little boy!!
Today was our 2 week late checkup and we scored an overall 80%. The non-stress test was no problem. TBD had some "beautiful" heart rate accelerations and I had a few solid non-labor contractions. My blood pressure was good. My abdomen measured normally. And, TBD's physical profile showed no signs of restricted growth. However, the amniotic fluid levels went from +10cm last Friday to 5.3cm in the deepest pocket today - which was a bit of a concern to our doctor. In fact, it was enough of a concern for her to recommend that we check in to the birth center for an induction tonight. We, however, declined. While we don't want to put either of us in any danger, we think that the fluid measurements are a bit inaccurate and would like to give TBD a few more days to come out on his/her own. So, as a compromise, we have agreed to go to the birth center to start inducing on Thursday night.
In the meantime, we've been doing our best to swim TBD out and will be going for a hike this evening to put even more pressure on it. Fingers crossed that we go into labor on our own before Thursday!!
Wives tales about induction do not work, at least not for us. We have tried spicy foods, sex, exercise, massage, and acupressure. The only thing left on the list is caster oil, and I think I'd rather have drugs at the birth center instead.
It's not that I'm super uncomfortable or can't handle being pregnant anymore. Far from it actually. I'm happy to let TBD cook in there a bit longer if that's what it needs. However, the doctors are very worried that TBD will become stressed due to the extra time in my belly, so they are super trigger happy about induction at this stage in pregnancy. They monitor us every 2ish days and if anything looks worrisome in any way, they start to panic and want to induce.
So far, TBD and I have been fairly lucky with each monitoring session. The fetal heartbeat has been nice and dynamic without too many significant drops. The amniotic fluid levels have been within the normal range. And, my blood pressure has been normal. We did have one minor blip in the monitoring this last Tuesday where the measured amniotic fluid levels decreased by about half (12cm down to 6.5cm). Although 6.5cm is still in the normal range, it caused a bit of a panic for my doctor, so she made me go in for a repeat test the next day. Suffice it to say that nothing was wrong. The next day, the levels measured at 7.2cm and I was deemed good to go until the next monitoring session.
After reading up on these different tests, we've become fairly frustrated with them.
Test #1 is the Non-Stress Test (NST). This is the test that monitors the baby's heart rate and my uterine pressure at the same time for about 20 minutes. The doctors like to see a certain amount of "accelerations" of the heartbeat in that time before they are comfortable saying that the baby is not under stress. One problem with this test is that the baby doesn't know that it's being monitored and has a tendency to go to sleep during the test. Once it goes to sleep, the number of "accelerations" of the heart rate decrease significantly. Another problem is that if the baby is not sleeping, it is moving around and can easily get away from the monitors, making it hard to get a full 20 minute reading. If either of these things happen, the 20 minute session could be extended for an undetermined about of time until the doctors feel comfortable with the results, or they deem the baby to be under stress.
Test #2 is where they do an ultrasound to measure the amniotic fluid levels. Todd and I have read up on this one a fair bit because it seems super inaccurate. One website we found had someone describing it as trying to determine the amount of water in a bathtub when you don't know how deep it is, and have no idea how close the person in the tub is to the surface or bottom. Basically, there could be pockets of fluid that are below the baby that the doctor's can't see, and therefore, don't get taken into consideration. Which could be one of the reasons that so many women get told that their amniotic fluid is low. We also read that women's amniotic fluid levels tend to decrease towards the end of their pregnancy as their bodies and the baby prepare for delivery - all totally normal.
As inaccurate and subjective as it all seems, we are heading back to the birth center today for another round of monitoring before the doctors will let us continue on waiting for TBD to arrive. We've got our hospital bags packed and will be loading TBD's car seat into the car just in case ;)
