Elijah Cole experienced his first hurricane yesterday and he is 2 weeks old today! :)
We went for our 2nd doctor's visit yesterday. Eli weights about 8lbs and 4oz now. He had slight jaundice last week but it's going away nicely... so we don't need to put him in the sun anymore. His belly button came off! Our doula asked if we want to keep it... it's still sitting on the changing table haha... we are not sure if we want to keep it still lol. He spits up a lot and seems to be very uncomfortable during feedings so Dr thinks he may have acid reflux (poor baby!) and suggested that we put 2 tsp of rice cereal in every 4 oz of milk when we feed him. This will thicken the milk and helps the milk stay in his tummy. We tried it yesterday and I think it's working. He doesn't arch his back anymore when we feed him and the doula said he spits up less. Eli also developed a diaper rash over the past few days :( doula blames it on my breast milk because breast fed babies poop a lot more than formula fed babies. So we are now taking a break from breast milk (I've just been freezing them) and giving him formula. It's been about 2 days he's only been on formula and I think we are going to give him breast milk today. His rash is getting better and hopefully it won't come back.
Breastfeeding- pretty much I'm a breastfeeding failure. He wouldn't latch on at all now. We think it's because he is used to bottle feeding. He has no patience to latch on and work for his food. He probably has nipple confusion too... sighs... Every time I try to breastfeed him he would cry hysterically and simply refuses... we are not sure what to do anymore...
Pumping- the good news is that I've been pumping and my milk supply has been increasing every day. A week ago, I was only pumping 11oz per day... getting about 1oz per session (2oz during my morning session). Now, I am pumping about 24 oz and getting about 2 - 4 oz per session depending on the time of the day and how much liquid I drank. I pump every 2 - 3 hours and I definitely notice a decrease in my supply when I stretch it longer than 3 hours. It's A LOT of work to pump 9 times a day. There are so many pumping parts to wash and pumping itself is so time consuming! I try to pump for 20 minutes each session and including getting the parts ready and cleaning up it takes about 30 minutes each session. With the doula here, she cleans and boils the parts but I can't imagine doing it all myself after she leaves. That's why I've been trying to get Eli to breastfeed but it's a total disaster.
Recovery- I still have a belly! lol I ordered belly bandit and it should arrive on Monday... I'm hoping it'll work hehe. My fingers are still swollen.. can you believe it? Good news is that my bleeding pretty much stopped this week. I'm recovery well and I feel normal. I am more tired than usual... perhaps it's all the middle of the night pumping sessions. I try to nap in between my pumping sessions during the day but it's hard since it's so time consuming. Everyone is telling me that I need to lie down during the day but it's really hard since I pump 9 times a day and I still have to get up when the doula needs help with the baby (i.e. when she is cooking).
Countdown- even though the doula is great for middle of the night feedings, we can't wait for her to leave! We can't wait to be able to do things the way we want and don't have to listen to her nag (Danny doesn't have to listen to her because she only speaks Chinese but he does have to deal with my bad mood afterwards lol) On our mac, we have this countdown app showing how many days till she leaves and as of today- 17 days :)
Community- I love Community! Danny downloaded all the episodes and we have been watching it during our down time :) My favorite character is Abed.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Sunday, August 21, 2011
First Week At Home
Elijah is a week old today! :) Time sure flies when you have a newborn. All the days seem to be combined together as one long day. Even though we have a doula, I still feel so overwhelmed.
Hospital Stay- When we were at the hospital, the nurses were very overbearing. They came into our room every 2-3 hours to wake us up to breastfeed Eli. We were both exhausted and Eli was not interested in feeding at all during the first day. The nurses were also very pushy about breastfeeding. They said we should not bottle feed Eli until breastfeeding has been established. Meaning he should be exclusively breastfeeding for a few weeks before being introduced to a bottle. I understand the importance of breastfeeding and would love for Eli to breastfeed exclusively but Eli has a vigorous appetite and my milk didn't come yet. After being seen by the pediatrician at the hospital, she said we have to feed him formula. The nurses and lactation consultants (three of them) made us feel guilty about feeding Eli formula but we felt it was the right thing to do. During the second day, Eli was already drinking 2 ounces! There was no way my breastmilk alone would satisfy his appetite since I only had colostrum at that time.
I also had a lot of trouble sleeping at the hospital. We had Eli with us in the room during the day and we opted to send him to the nursery at night time (11PM - 7AM). The nurses of course made us feel guilty about sending him to the nursery at night but I was so drained physically and Danny went home during the nights to take care of things. Even with Eli at the nursery I couldn't fall asleep. I asked the nurse for Benadryl at night so I can sleep better.
Semi-private vs. Private- Our insurance only covers semi-private rooms but we were set on getting a private room. One of the nurses at Mary's office told us that we should ask for a semi-private anyway because if they run out of semi-private rooms then they will have to give us a private room for free. So when the nurse asked us if we wanted a semi-private or private, I asked her if there are any semi-private rooms available. She said yes there are semi-private rooms available. In my head I was like... darn it! hehe I was hoping for a free private room! She left for a little bit to check for us and when she came back, she said she got us a really nice room. We went up to our room and it was a private room! Just to make sure, I had to ask her again... this is a semi-private room? Turns out that there were so many empty rooms in the hospital that night, she hooked us up with a private room (sharing a bathroom with the room next door) for free!
Recovery- Because of the stress from the hospital stay and being extremely sleep deprived, I was physically and emotionally drained. For the first few days home I was extremely weepy and pretty much could cry on cue. I also had trouble falling asleep. I never had trouble sleeping before, not even when I was extremely pregnant with Eli at the end. It would take me a good half an hour to an hour to fall asleep and I would wake up after only a few hours later. I think I was just very tense and still very overwhelmed with the idea of having a newborn with us. Slowly but surely I was able to fall asleep easier. By Friday, I was pretty much back to normal. Danny said that night I fell asleep right away and started to snore haha.
In terms of pain... during my hospital stay, I was taking Motrin every 6 hours to management the discomfort from labor. After 24 hours, I felt aches everywhere and I realized it was from all that pushing lol. My entire body ached as if I snowboarded for days. I also developed a headache on Day 2 and the doctors think it could be from the Epi. Since it wasn't intolerable, I opted not to receive any treatment. I just drank a lot of fluid and lied down a lot. The headache went away after a few days on its own. After I got home, I stopped the Motrin because I didn't need it anymore. I feel pretty normal... just a bit tired from time to time.
Cultural Differences- My family gave me additional stress during this period. As soon as I got home, the house was full of people- my mom, my sister, grandparents, and doula. They were having a blast making food and checking the baby out. I just wanted to rest. They bombarded me with all their advices. I was not allowed to drink or touch anything cold (I understand the logic behind it so I was OK with this). I was not allowed to drink any water except for ginger tea. I had to cover up my whole body from head to toe... it's 80 degrees outside! They wouldn't let me turn on the AC (finally they let me later but the temperature has to be above 78). I have to be on bed rest the whole time. Every time I moved out of my bed they would yell at me. I wasn't even allow to sit up. The worst is that I am not allowed to shower... !@#$%^&* (Don't worry, I sneaked in a shower today when my doula was sleeping haha... It was the best feeling ever... phew!)
My parents hired us a doula to cook for us and take care of the baby. I've never met the doula before because my mom had booked her before even asking me. She is a 65 yr old Chinese lady that doesn't speak a word of English. She is a bit slow and resistant to our wishes. We want her to use the playtex bottles for Eli because he tends to spit up a lot. She has never seen that before so she was resistant to use it. She complained that he eats too slow using this bottle (we use the slow flow nipple) and the bottle is annoying to use (because you have to squeeze the air out before each feeding and every time he stops to burp, you have to squeeze the air out again). I had to repeat myself a number of times to make sure she follows what we wanted. She also complained about how often Eli poops lol as if newborn is not supposed to poop! To sum it up, she is very stubborn to her own ways and it's a challenge to get her to do things the way we want to. But we are getting the hang of it and now she is being more and more cooperative.
The food that I am allowed to eat are very limited. I've been on a very strict diet. Danny tries to sneak in some foods for me here and there. Last night I had a quiznos sandwich while the doula was sleeping haha and tonight I am going to ask him to get me some Italian food
Breastfeeding- I pretty much pump exclusively. Elijah only latches onto my right boob and he is a very impatient eater so after feeding on my breast for a few minutes he would cry for more. My milk came in 3 days after birth. At first I was only getting half an ounce and I was pumping every 3 hours. Every day, my milk production will increase a bit. Now, I'm getting 1 - 2 ounces each pumping session and I pump every 1.5 to 2 hours during the day. I skip my middle of the night pumping session because I'm too sleepy. We tried doing the middle of the night pumping at first but we decided it's just too hard and not worth that ounces of milk. Eli eats a total of 28 ounces of milk each day (3 - 4 ounces each feeding) and he gets breast milk 2 - 3 times a day. I really hope my milk volume will increase so he can get most of his milk intake from me. I only plan on pumping until I go back to work (after thanksgiving)... we'll see how that works out.
Hospital Stay- When we were at the hospital, the nurses were very overbearing. They came into our room every 2-3 hours to wake us up to breastfeed Eli. We were both exhausted and Eli was not interested in feeding at all during the first day. The nurses were also very pushy about breastfeeding. They said we should not bottle feed Eli until breastfeeding has been established. Meaning he should be exclusively breastfeeding for a few weeks before being introduced to a bottle. I understand the importance of breastfeeding and would love for Eli to breastfeed exclusively but Eli has a vigorous appetite and my milk didn't come yet. After being seen by the pediatrician at the hospital, she said we have to feed him formula. The nurses and lactation consultants (three of them) made us feel guilty about feeding Eli formula but we felt it was the right thing to do. During the second day, Eli was already drinking 2 ounces! There was no way my breastmilk alone would satisfy his appetite since I only had colostrum at that time.
I also had a lot of trouble sleeping at the hospital. We had Eli with us in the room during the day and we opted to send him to the nursery at night time (11PM - 7AM). The nurses of course made us feel guilty about sending him to the nursery at night but I was so drained physically and Danny went home during the nights to take care of things. Even with Eli at the nursery I couldn't fall asleep. I asked the nurse for Benadryl at night so I can sleep better.
Semi-private vs. Private- Our insurance only covers semi-private rooms but we were set on getting a private room. One of the nurses at Mary's office told us that we should ask for a semi-private anyway because if they run out of semi-private rooms then they will have to give us a private room for free. So when the nurse asked us if we wanted a semi-private or private, I asked her if there are any semi-private rooms available. She said yes there are semi-private rooms available. In my head I was like... darn it! hehe I was hoping for a free private room! She left for a little bit to check for us and when she came back, she said she got us a really nice room. We went up to our room and it was a private room! Just to make sure, I had to ask her again... this is a semi-private room? Turns out that there were so many empty rooms in the hospital that night, she hooked us up with a private room (sharing a bathroom with the room next door) for free!
Recovery- Because of the stress from the hospital stay and being extremely sleep deprived, I was physically and emotionally drained. For the first few days home I was extremely weepy and pretty much could cry on cue. I also had trouble falling asleep. I never had trouble sleeping before, not even when I was extremely pregnant with Eli at the end. It would take me a good half an hour to an hour to fall asleep and I would wake up after only a few hours later. I think I was just very tense and still very overwhelmed with the idea of having a newborn with us. Slowly but surely I was able to fall asleep easier. By Friday, I was pretty much back to normal. Danny said that night I fell asleep right away and started to snore haha.
In terms of pain... during my hospital stay, I was taking Motrin every 6 hours to management the discomfort from labor. After 24 hours, I felt aches everywhere and I realized it was from all that pushing lol. My entire body ached as if I snowboarded for days. I also developed a headache on Day 2 and the doctors think it could be from the Epi. Since it wasn't intolerable, I opted not to receive any treatment. I just drank a lot of fluid and lied down a lot. The headache went away after a few days on its own. After I got home, I stopped the Motrin because I didn't need it anymore. I feel pretty normal... just a bit tired from time to time.
Cultural Differences- My family gave me additional stress during this period. As soon as I got home, the house was full of people- my mom, my sister, grandparents, and doula. They were having a blast making food and checking the baby out. I just wanted to rest. They bombarded me with all their advices. I was not allowed to drink or touch anything cold (I understand the logic behind it so I was OK with this). I was not allowed to drink any water except for ginger tea. I had to cover up my whole body from head to toe... it's 80 degrees outside! They wouldn't let me turn on the AC (finally they let me later but the temperature has to be above 78). I have to be on bed rest the whole time. Every time I moved out of my bed they would yell at me. I wasn't even allow to sit up. The worst is that I am not allowed to shower... !@#$%^&* (Don't worry, I sneaked in a shower today when my doula was sleeping haha... It was the best feeling ever... phew!)
My parents hired us a doula to cook for us and take care of the baby. I've never met the doula before because my mom had booked her before even asking me. She is a 65 yr old Chinese lady that doesn't speak a word of English. She is a bit slow and resistant to our wishes. We want her to use the playtex bottles for Eli because he tends to spit up a lot. She has never seen that before so she was resistant to use it. She complained that he eats too slow using this bottle (we use the slow flow nipple) and the bottle is annoying to use (because you have to squeeze the air out before each feeding and every time he stops to burp, you have to squeeze the air out again). I had to repeat myself a number of times to make sure she follows what we wanted. She also complained about how often Eli poops lol as if newborn is not supposed to poop! To sum it up, she is very stubborn to her own ways and it's a challenge to get her to do things the way we want to. But we are getting the hang of it and now she is being more and more cooperative.
The food that I am allowed to eat are very limited. I've been on a very strict diet. Danny tries to sneak in some foods for me here and there. Last night I had a quiznos sandwich while the doula was sleeping haha and tonight I am going to ask him to get me some Italian food
Breastfeeding- I pretty much pump exclusively. Elijah only latches onto my right boob and he is a very impatient eater so after feeding on my breast for a few minutes he would cry for more. My milk came in 3 days after birth. At first I was only getting half an ounce and I was pumping every 3 hours. Every day, my milk production will increase a bit. Now, I'm getting 1 - 2 ounces each pumping session and I pump every 1.5 to 2 hours during the day. I skip my middle of the night pumping session because I'm too sleepy. We tried doing the middle of the night pumping at first but we decided it's just too hard and not worth that ounces of milk. Eli eats a total of 28 ounces of milk each day (3 - 4 ounces each feeding) and he gets breast milk 2 - 3 times a day. I really hope my milk volume will increase so he can get most of his milk intake from me. I only plan on pumping until I go back to work (after thanksgiving)... we'll see how that works out.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Danny's Labor Story
1. what happened – Saturday (13th) was supposed to be a normal Saturday. Normal as in the doctors appointment, a shake shack lunch and then we go home and just relax and wait for the baby to come.
Instead, it was a Saturday where I get a phone call from Reg heading back to the car (i wait in the car cuz dr. mary doesn’t let me in for any intrusive examinations which is something I will talk about later). Reg says we have to go to the hospital. I said what? And she repeats what she says. And I just say nooo you’re joking.
Turns out that we were a bit more lax than we should have been. Reg had a leak in her water and so she had to be induced to reduce any chance of infection spreading to the fetus.
2. hospital or doctors office - I quickly decide we should go back home first and grab our bags and head back out again. Reg wasn’t sure what to do because dr. mary seemed concerned. While driving back home, I called my dad and asked him if he could drive us to the hospital. He replied it’s Saturday you know I’m busy on Saturday. So I just said okay got it, hung up and went back to focus on driving. I got a call back a few minutes later from my dad saying okay I’ll drive you to the hospital, when should I come? I just said I’ll call you when I get home.
So when we got home (20 minutes from Chinatown to our house!), I called my parents to come and quickly asked jeff to take care of the dogs. When my parents came, my mom rushed in and asked are you guys having the baby? I said YES WHY ON EARTH WOULD I CALL YOU TO DRIVE US TO THE HOSPITALLL!! She yells back at me you should have said that you were going to have the baby, we thought you were talking about the doctors office! DUH! I guess Korean word for that is interchangeable.
3. familiarizing yourself – for those that know me, many find me jaded. Not much really surprises me. I’ve pretty much seen it all – either in real life or on tv. I have seen the miracle of life in high school and all those annoying TLC tv shows that reg watches. However, I do think dr. mary should really consider men being included into the doctor visits (unless otherwise requested by the preggo mom). I was a bit shy to peak in when his head was in the birth canal but part of it had to do with dr. mary’s not allowing me to go into the doctor’s appointment. I wasn’t sure if I was allowed or even suppose to take a peak even when she asked me to.
The only thing I couldn’t handle was the episiotomy. I had to cringe and look away. The other thing that I remember was the pain in reg’s face when dr. mary pulled the placenta out. -__-
I have to say I have a new respect for reg. she’s a damn trooper. I cannot believe what I saw. I swear all I need to do is go to war and I’ve seen it all.
4. holding back – so when we got back home on Tuesday, I admitted to reg that I had to hold back laughing during her pushing. For a while, I was quiet due to the slight uneasiness being in a new situation but I was getting the hang of it. I realized that reg’s cue that she was going to have a contraction was “ marryyyy…. Oh mary I have to poop”. And she kept saying it EVERY time and every time she pushed she made great progress. At one point, I just couldn’t hold it in and I had to hold back a small laugh. Lol
5. penis! – yea it’s a boy. But like many have asked and know, I never cared what it was.
6. Elijah – another reason to smile more.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
My Labor Story
Here it goes...
On Wednesday night (August 10th), I was having pretty consistent contractions but they were not painful. They felt like menstrual cramps and I was able to fall asleep fine so I didn't think much of it. Thursday morning comes and I noticed I had very watery discharge. I have been having very mucusy discharge all week long and suddenly it changed to a bit watery so I thought it may be that my water broke. I waited and see if it would soak my pad but I only had to change my liner once a day so I didn't think I was leaking water. Then on Saturday morning, we went in for our doctor's appointment. As soon as Dr. Wong checked me, she said that I am leaking water and my water had broke. She used the sonogram to see how Baby Lee was doing in there and she said I am low on water but Baby seems to be doing just fine. Then she told me that we are going to have the baby today!
She had to repeat that sentence a few times because I was so shocked. She told me that we need to head to the hospital and she will meet us there once I get hooked up. She seemed a bit concerned about the fact that my water may have broken on Thursday morning and it was already Saturday morning. But she reassured me that Baby seems to be doing fine, we just have to quickly get him out of me.
I left the office and I nervously called Danny (he was waiting at the car since parking was an issue that morning) and told him what Mary said to me. He thought I was joking at first lol and once I got into the car he realized that we are going to have Baby Lee that day and I think he got pretty nervous as well. We had packed our hospital bags but we did not bring it with us to the appointment (I know... we should of been more prepared) so we had to drive home first to get the bags. When we got home, I finished packing the bags while Danny prepared the dog foods for the next day so Jeff can feed the pups while we were gone (Thanks Jeff!). Appa, Umma, and Lydia arrived a few minutes later and they drove us to the hospital. On the way to the hospital I was quite nervous since Baby Lee could get an infection! I prayed to God that He would keep Baby Lee safe.
We arrived at the hospital at 11AM (speedy considering we left the doctor's office at 10) and the floor seems to be very quite. We gave all the paper work to be admitted and we had to wait for about 20 minutes for them to bring us in to a labor and delivery room. Since Mary had already called them so they were expecting me and they didn't have to check me or anything. Everything went very slowly... the nurses were working at a very slow pace I think because there were only the 3 of us on the labor and delivery floor. The nurses took their time asking me a long list of questions about my pregnancy and my preferences. They hooked me up on the IV (It was not bad at all, just like if I were to get my blood drawn), gave me antibiotics through the IV because my water had broke on Thursday and I am GBS positive, and started me on pitocin to induce labor. All that was done by about 2:30PM. The nurses and doctors would ask me if I have any questions and I really only had one question - when can I get my epidural ( lol I know I know, I am such a wimp). So even though I was not in pain they started me off on the epidural right away. Danny was not allowed to be in the room so he left the room at around 2:45PM and I was done by 3:15PM. I thought the epidural would of been really painful but it was not bad at all. It really just felt like a pinch on my back and that was it. I had to sit very still the whole time but it wasn't an issue because I wasn't feeling any contractions. After the epidural was administered they hooked me up on a catheter so my urine can be drained. I can still feel the touching down there but it wasn't painful (perhaps the epidural had kicked in already). Just as I was asking the nurse how does the catheter work, I saw the bag filling up with my urine @.@ It was quite embarrassing.
I felt numb pretty much right away and the anesthesiologist was surprised at how sensitive I am to the drug, so she lowered the maintenance level to about 12. From that point on, we were just waiting for labor to progress. Mary came shortly after and she broke the rest of my water. It didn't hurt and it soaked up a lot of wee wee pads. Apparently I had a high pinch leak so Baby Lee must of pinched a hole up top of the uterus so it started to leak but there were still a bubble of water. At that point I was about 2cm dilated. After getting all hooked up, I asked Danny to pray for us. We both cried a bit.
We were instructed to sleep and wait for labor to progress. At about 6:30PM or so, I started to feel my contractions. Mary came in right around that time to check me and she said I was about 3cm dilated. I mentioned to her that I am feeling some cramps and she asked to make sure I am not feeling pressure since epidural does not get rid of the pressure feeling. I explained to her that these feel like menstrual cramps so she had the anesthesiologist come in to check on me. The original person went home already and a more senior anesthesiologist came in to check on me. He said that I was "shallow" and asked me if I would want my epidural to be re-done. I quickly said yes because I do not want to feel any pain! The contractions were just like bad menstrual cramps but I cannot imagine how it would be like once I am in active labor (>4cm). There was a part of me that was really afraid that I am one of those few people that the epidural won't work on me but I was hoping for the best at this point. Danny had to leave the room again so this time he went out and got a bite. The room is fulled of people now- a nurse, Mary, two anesthesiologists. I didn't feel much of anything when they put the needle in this time. But the strange thing was, I didn't feel the numbing sensation right away this time whereas the first time I felt numb right away. So I waited 15 minutes and finally it started to kick in. My legs were getting heavy but only a tiny bit. I definitely don't feel my contractions anymore. I was praying to God that this would work because I know I am going to be in active labor soon.
By around 9PM I was barely 4cm dilated, I started to feel some pain/pressure only on my right side. I was like... great... the epidural didn't work again!?! I told the nurse and the anesthesiologist came in to check on me. She told me that I should be laying on my right side so the epidural can drip to the right side as well. After half an hour of that, we know that the epidural is definitely wearing off so she gave me another dose and thankfully that worked till midnight.
By midnight I was about 6 - 7 cm dilated and I was feeling a lot of pressure from every contraction. I didn't want to get another dose of epidural because it slows down labor since it relaxes the uterus. At the point I just wanted to get it over with. So I sucked it up and tried to just wait it out. Then by 1, the pressure was pretty severe and I called Mary to check me again. Finally, I was fully dilated. I could not believe how fast that progressed. Now it's time to push!
I started pushing at 1: 20AM. It was probably the hardest thing I've ever done. I was feeling every contraction. There was just a lot of pressure. I didn't feel the pain though because I still have the epidural and Mary did not need to turn it down. The best way to describe the feeling is that I really really have to poop and I am very constipated. lol Mary was coaching me how to push and at one point I wasn't pushing correctly so we stopped and she made sure I was using my abdominal muscles. Every time I felt a contraction coming up, I would say "I have to poop... Mary! I have to poop.." lol now it's really funny but it was not at that moment. I was also sweating a lot from all the pushing and Danny was very sweet the whole time wiping my sweat away and giving me gentle encouragements. After about 30 minutes of pushing, I asked Mary if she can just take him out. Mary said: "Oh no, you are going to delivery this baby vaginally, that's why I let you drink water already" Then I asked her if she can just vacuum the baby out. She said no but she can cut a small incision to make things happen faster. I asked her what she thinks was better- to let it naturally tear or to perform the incision and she said the incision will help the baby come out faster. Danny also agreed and he thinks the incision will be a controlled tear. I quickly agreed because I did not want to push anymore. So she made the incision and she said to me that Baby Lee will come out after the next contraction and I was so happy and couldn't wait for the next contraction. So the next contraction came and I pushed but still no baby. We waited for the next contraction and finally Baby Lee's head came out and I pushed one more time, his whole body came out. At that point, I couldn't care less what was born as long as it got out of me. After 46 minutes of pushing, Baby Boy Lee was born!
They placed Baby Lee on top of my tummy and I could not believe he is my son! He was in me the whole time but he looks nothing like me haha. I started to cry a little and I helped wipe him clean. The nurse then quickly took Baby Lee to the warmer next to us and started to clean him. Mary then delivered my placenta which took her just a few seconds. I felt a tug but really no pain. Mary also reminded Danny that now it's time to take pictures so he quickly went over to the warmer and start taking pictures of Baby Lee. The nurse asked us what are we naming Baby Boy Lee and we finally announced his name- Elijah Cole :)
So that was the birth story our little baby Eli. I cannot believe how much I love him already. I feel so blessed and I cannot thank God enough for entrusting us with Eli. Immediately after birth I already forgot all that pain and I think it's all worth it to go through 9 months of pregnancy and 12 hours of labor and delivery for our little baby.
Every nurse we spoke with told us how lucky we are to have came in on Saturday because Thursday and Friday were super busy for them. There were a dozen women going into labor at the same time and they had to wait for a labor room for hours and hours. I could not have hoped for a better labor and delivery process. Throughout pregnancy, I've always said to Danny that the perfect labor and birth scenario would be that we would go in for our doctor's visit and Mary would announce that we are ready to head over to the hospital.. and indeed that happened! Also, my biggest worries were that the hospital would be so busy that I won't get my epidural on time (or my epi won't work). If we were to go into labor on Thursday when my water broke, I think I would of have had a lot of trouble getting my epidural on time and would of suffered a lot. Thankfully everything worked out and we have Baby Eli in our lives now and we feel so complete :)
On Wednesday night (August 10th), I was having pretty consistent contractions but they were not painful. They felt like menstrual cramps and I was able to fall asleep fine so I didn't think much of it. Thursday morning comes and I noticed I had very watery discharge. I have been having very mucusy discharge all week long and suddenly it changed to a bit watery so I thought it may be that my water broke. I waited and see if it would soak my pad but I only had to change my liner once a day so I didn't think I was leaking water. Then on Saturday morning, we went in for our doctor's appointment. As soon as Dr. Wong checked me, she said that I am leaking water and my water had broke. She used the sonogram to see how Baby Lee was doing in there and she said I am low on water but Baby seems to be doing just fine. Then she told me that we are going to have the baby today!
She had to repeat that sentence a few times because I was so shocked. She told me that we need to head to the hospital and she will meet us there once I get hooked up. She seemed a bit concerned about the fact that my water may have broken on Thursday morning and it was already Saturday morning. But she reassured me that Baby seems to be doing fine, we just have to quickly get him out of me.
I left the office and I nervously called Danny (he was waiting at the car since parking was an issue that morning) and told him what Mary said to me. He thought I was joking at first lol and once I got into the car he realized that we are going to have Baby Lee that day and I think he got pretty nervous as well. We had packed our hospital bags but we did not bring it with us to the appointment (I know... we should of been more prepared) so we had to drive home first to get the bags. When we got home, I finished packing the bags while Danny prepared the dog foods for the next day so Jeff can feed the pups while we were gone (Thanks Jeff!). Appa, Umma, and Lydia arrived a few minutes later and they drove us to the hospital. On the way to the hospital I was quite nervous since Baby Lee could get an infection! I prayed to God that He would keep Baby Lee safe.
We arrived at the hospital at 11AM (speedy considering we left the doctor's office at 10) and the floor seems to be very quite. We gave all the paper work to be admitted and we had to wait for about 20 minutes for them to bring us in to a labor and delivery room. Since Mary had already called them so they were expecting me and they didn't have to check me or anything. Everything went very slowly... the nurses were working at a very slow pace I think because there were only the 3 of us on the labor and delivery floor. The nurses took their time asking me a long list of questions about my pregnancy and my preferences. They hooked me up on the IV (It was not bad at all, just like if I were to get my blood drawn), gave me antibiotics through the IV because my water had broke on Thursday and I am GBS positive, and started me on pitocin to induce labor. All that was done by about 2:30PM. The nurses and doctors would ask me if I have any questions and I really only had one question - when can I get my epidural ( lol I know I know, I am such a wimp). So even though I was not in pain they started me off on the epidural right away. Danny was not allowed to be in the room so he left the room at around 2:45PM and I was done by 3:15PM. I thought the epidural would of been really painful but it was not bad at all. It really just felt like a pinch on my back and that was it. I had to sit very still the whole time but it wasn't an issue because I wasn't feeling any contractions. After the epidural was administered they hooked me up on a catheter so my urine can be drained. I can still feel the touching down there but it wasn't painful (perhaps the epidural had kicked in already). Just as I was asking the nurse how does the catheter work, I saw the bag filling up with my urine @.@ It was quite embarrassing.
I felt numb pretty much right away and the anesthesiologist was surprised at how sensitive I am to the drug, so she lowered the maintenance level to about 12. From that point on, we were just waiting for labor to progress. Mary came shortly after and she broke the rest of my water. It didn't hurt and it soaked up a lot of wee wee pads. Apparently I had a high pinch leak so Baby Lee must of pinched a hole up top of the uterus so it started to leak but there were still a bubble of water. At that point I was about 2cm dilated. After getting all hooked up, I asked Danny to pray for us. We both cried a bit.
We were instructed to sleep and wait for labor to progress. At about 6:30PM or so, I started to feel my contractions. Mary came in right around that time to check me and she said I was about 3cm dilated. I mentioned to her that I am feeling some cramps and she asked to make sure I am not feeling pressure since epidural does not get rid of the pressure feeling. I explained to her that these feel like menstrual cramps so she had the anesthesiologist come in to check on me. The original person went home already and a more senior anesthesiologist came in to check on me. He said that I was "shallow" and asked me if I would want my epidural to be re-done. I quickly said yes because I do not want to feel any pain! The contractions were just like bad menstrual cramps but I cannot imagine how it would be like once I am in active labor (>4cm). There was a part of me that was really afraid that I am one of those few people that the epidural won't work on me but I was hoping for the best at this point. Danny had to leave the room again so this time he went out and got a bite. The room is fulled of people now- a nurse, Mary, two anesthesiologists. I didn't feel much of anything when they put the needle in this time. But the strange thing was, I didn't feel the numbing sensation right away this time whereas the first time I felt numb right away. So I waited 15 minutes and finally it started to kick in. My legs were getting heavy but only a tiny bit. I definitely don't feel my contractions anymore. I was praying to God that this would work because I know I am going to be in active labor soon.
By around 9PM I was barely 4cm dilated, I started to feel some pain/pressure only on my right side. I was like... great... the epidural didn't work again!?! I told the nurse and the anesthesiologist came in to check on me. She told me that I should be laying on my right side so the epidural can drip to the right side as well. After half an hour of that, we know that the epidural is definitely wearing off so she gave me another dose and thankfully that worked till midnight.
By midnight I was about 6 - 7 cm dilated and I was feeling a lot of pressure from every contraction. I didn't want to get another dose of epidural because it slows down labor since it relaxes the uterus. At the point I just wanted to get it over with. So I sucked it up and tried to just wait it out. Then by 1, the pressure was pretty severe and I called Mary to check me again. Finally, I was fully dilated. I could not believe how fast that progressed. Now it's time to push!
I started pushing at 1: 20AM. It was probably the hardest thing I've ever done. I was feeling every contraction. There was just a lot of pressure. I didn't feel the pain though because I still have the epidural and Mary did not need to turn it down. The best way to describe the feeling is that I really really have to poop and I am very constipated. lol Mary was coaching me how to push and at one point I wasn't pushing correctly so we stopped and she made sure I was using my abdominal muscles. Every time I felt a contraction coming up, I would say "I have to poop... Mary! I have to poop.." lol now it's really funny but it was not at that moment. I was also sweating a lot from all the pushing and Danny was very sweet the whole time wiping my sweat away and giving me gentle encouragements. After about 30 minutes of pushing, I asked Mary if she can just take him out. Mary said: "Oh no, you are going to delivery this baby vaginally, that's why I let you drink water already" Then I asked her if she can just vacuum the baby out. She said no but she can cut a small incision to make things happen faster. I asked her what she thinks was better- to let it naturally tear or to perform the incision and she said the incision will help the baby come out faster. Danny also agreed and he thinks the incision will be a controlled tear. I quickly agreed because I did not want to push anymore. So she made the incision and she said to me that Baby Lee will come out after the next contraction and I was so happy and couldn't wait for the next contraction. So the next contraction came and I pushed but still no baby. We waited for the next contraction and finally Baby Lee's head came out and I pushed one more time, his whole body came out. At that point, I couldn't care less what was born as long as it got out of me. After 46 minutes of pushing, Baby Boy Lee was born!
They placed Baby Lee on top of my tummy and I could not believe he is my son! He was in me the whole time but he looks nothing like me haha. I started to cry a little and I helped wipe him clean. The nurse then quickly took Baby Lee to the warmer next to us and started to clean him. Mary then delivered my placenta which took her just a few seconds. I felt a tug but really no pain. Mary also reminded Danny that now it's time to take pictures so he quickly went over to the warmer and start taking pictures of Baby Lee. The nurse asked us what are we naming Baby Boy Lee and we finally announced his name- Elijah Cole :)
So that was the birth story our little baby Eli. I cannot believe how much I love him already. I feel so blessed and I cannot thank God enough for entrusting us with Eli. Immediately after birth I already forgot all that pain and I think it's all worth it to go through 9 months of pregnancy and 12 hours of labor and delivery for our little baby.
Every nurse we spoke with told us how lucky we are to have came in on Saturday because Thursday and Friday were super busy for them. There were a dozen women going into labor at the same time and they had to wait for a labor room for hours and hours. I could not have hoped for a better labor and delivery process. Throughout pregnancy, I've always said to Danny that the perfect labor and birth scenario would be that we would go in for our doctor's visit and Mary would announce that we are ready to head over to the hospital.. and indeed that happened! Also, my biggest worries were that the hospital would be so busy that I won't get my epidural on time (or my epi won't work). If we were to go into labor on Thursday when my water broke, I think I would of have had a lot of trouble getting my epidural on time and would of suffered a lot. Thankfully everything worked out and we have Baby Eli in our lives now and we feel so complete :)
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
T-14 Days
We are at week 38! It's such a strange feeling to be this far along into our pregnancy. Finally when people ask when we are due, we are able to say- this month! It's getting extremely uncomfortable to carry Baby Lee around nowadays. My tummy is so low that I feel it resting on my thighs when I sit. I've had such an easy pregnancy (no morning sickness, no aches, no complications) and finally I feel like a pregnant woman... let me tell ya- it ain't pleasant! I've experienced lots of Braxton Hicks contractions this week and on Saturday night, I thought it was the real thing! I was having contractions every 2 minutes for about 30 seconds each. But then I decided to see if I can sleep through it and I did... so... false labor!
We had our doctor's appointment this past Friday and I was 1cm dilated. Baby is low per usual. Baby's head was measuring at 39 weeks though so still a big headed baby but not too big :) Baby didn't gain any weight but Dr. Wong didn't seem to be concerned. It's all an estimate. So Baby is still under 7lb!
We decided on our baby's first name. It's going to be a biblical first name for sure. We can't seem to agree on a middle name so we will see how we feel after Baby Lee arrives.
I hope Baby Lee comes soon! Can't wait to meet you <3
We had our doctor's appointment this past Friday and I was 1cm dilated. Baby is low per usual. Baby's head was measuring at 39 weeks though so still a big headed baby but not too big :) Baby didn't gain any weight but Dr. Wong didn't seem to be concerned. It's all an estimate. So Baby is still under 7lb!
We decided on our baby's first name. It's going to be a biblical first name for sure. We can't seem to agree on a middle name so we will see how we feel after Baby Lee arrives.
I hope Baby Lee comes soon! Can't wait to meet you <3
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Braxton-Hicks
So I've been experiencing Braxton-Hicks contractions all day. I haven't had any contractions through out pregnancy so I'm hopeful. It feels like menstrual cramps. I haven't been timing them but I think they last about a minute or so and are coming through out the day. Maybe Baby Lee is getting ready? I have an appointment with Dr. Wong this Friday so I'll find out this Friday... maybe I'll be somewhat dilated by then :)
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Our last registry item arrived today! It's our stroller haha, now we are all ready! I have a few last minute items that I should purchase for myself... maybe I'll do that tomorrow :)
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As for Baby Lee's name... we are actually going back and forth and it's really hard to find a name that has a good meaning and sounds nice. Originally, we decided on a unisex name that both of us really like. The name is an English name and it doesn't have any significant meaning. We decided on a meaningful biblical middle name for both sexes. But the more we think about it the more we want to name our child a biblical first name. I really like Daniel's meaning- God is my judge. Danny hates his name so we are never going to name our child Daniel haha. But isn't it so nice? Only God can judge him. In a way, that is exactly how Danny is. He doesn't care to please other people and I love that about him. So last night we were trying really hard to come up with biblical names. We have a girl name that we both love so I think we are set on that... but for a boy, all the names we like are already taken! We like the meaning of Matthew (gift of God) and Joshua (God is salvation) but we already know a few Matthews and quite a few Joshuas...
I think for now, we are set with that unisex name that we both love. Even though it doesn't have a significant meaning, we will make it up by a unique and biblical middle name :) I guess we won't know for sure what we will name our first child until we see Baby Lee!
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Our last registry item arrived today! It's our stroller haha, now we are all ready! I have a few last minute items that I should purchase for myself... maybe I'll do that tomorrow :)
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As for Baby Lee's name... we are actually going back and forth and it's really hard to find a name that has a good meaning and sounds nice. Originally, we decided on a unisex name that both of us really like. The name is an English name and it doesn't have any significant meaning. We decided on a meaningful biblical middle name for both sexes. But the more we think about it the more we want to name our child a biblical first name. I really like Daniel's meaning- God is my judge. Danny hates his name so we are never going to name our child Daniel haha. But isn't it so nice? Only God can judge him. In a way, that is exactly how Danny is. He doesn't care to please other people and I love that about him. So last night we were trying really hard to come up with biblical names. We have a girl name that we both love so I think we are set on that... but for a boy, all the names we like are already taken! We like the meaning of Matthew (gift of God) and Joshua (God is salvation) but we already know a few Matthews and quite a few Joshuas...
I think for now, we are set with that unisex name that we both love. Even though it doesn't have a significant meaning, we will make it up by a unique and biblical middle name :) I guess we won't know for sure what we will name our first child until we see Baby Lee!
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Full Term
Yay! We made it to full term today :) Throughout the pregnancy, I've always had this worry of giving birth to a premature baby. I have no reason to have that fear but for some odd reason it's just always been in the back of my mind and it's nice to know that Baby Lee can come any time now and it's going to be okay! =)
We had our doctor's appointment on Saturday and Baby Lee weighs approximately 6lb and 14oz. Dr. Wong thinks it's at least 6.5lb because sometimes the machine over-estimates. She also performed a pelvic exam and she said she can feel Baby Lee's head @.@ but I am not dilated at all. I was told to climb lots of stairs to help out a little haha
It's definitely getting uncomfortable to carry the baby around nowadays. It is so heavy! I definitely act like a pregnant lady now with my slow movement... but I guess it is about time. In terms of sleep, it takes me a few minutes to get comfortable because I have this urge to stretch my legs before bed time. Once I settle in though, I usually sleep just fine. Nowadays I have to get up a couple of times throughout the night to use the bathroom but it doesn't bother me much- I just get right back to sleep.
Danny and I usually settle in for bed around midnight... and I usually sleep well past 10AM haha so it is no wonder that I don't feel tired. It's been such a blessing that it's summer time and I don't have work. School ended when we were at week 32 and I still felt great back then so I didn't care for it, but now that we are in our week 37 I am just so thankful I am not working. I can't imagine being on my feet and teaching all day with my giant tummy. Not that we are planning for our next child, but I would say to Danny that for our next child (if we are going to have one), we should time it for an end of July due date so I can get my last month off as well haha
So now we are just waiting for Baby Lee's arrival. Both sets of grandparents think that Baby will arrive past the due date (nooo!). I think Baby will come a bit earlier (or I hope). Danny has been back and forth with his guesses haha. What do you think? Take a guess using our Baby Pool!
We had our doctor's appointment on Saturday and Baby Lee weighs approximately 6lb and 14oz. Dr. Wong thinks it's at least 6.5lb because sometimes the machine over-estimates. She also performed a pelvic exam and she said she can feel Baby Lee's head @.@ but I am not dilated at all. I was told to climb lots of stairs to help out a little haha
It's definitely getting uncomfortable to carry the baby around nowadays. It is so heavy! I definitely act like a pregnant lady now with my slow movement... but I guess it is about time. In terms of sleep, it takes me a few minutes to get comfortable because I have this urge to stretch my legs before bed time. Once I settle in though, I usually sleep just fine. Nowadays I have to get up a couple of times throughout the night to use the bathroom but it doesn't bother me much- I just get right back to sleep.
Danny and I usually settle in for bed around midnight... and I usually sleep well past 10AM haha so it is no wonder that I don't feel tired. It's been such a blessing that it's summer time and I don't have work. School ended when we were at week 32 and I still felt great back then so I didn't care for it, but now that we are in our week 37 I am just so thankful I am not working. I can't imagine being on my feet and teaching all day with my giant tummy. Not that we are planning for our next child, but I would say to Danny that for our next child (if we are going to have one), we should time it for an end of July due date so I can get my last month off as well haha
So now we are just waiting for Baby Lee's arrival. Both sets of grandparents think that Baby will arrive past the due date (nooo!). I think Baby will come a bit earlier (or I hope). Danny has been back and forth with his guesses haha. What do you think? Take a guess using our Baby Pool!
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