Saturday, September 27, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Just the girls...
Today is the first day of 'real life' with Zoe. Kyle is off at work, Omie went home last nite (she's back tonite), and it's just me, Zoe, Lola, and Sophie. When Omie left it was the start of our first 24 hour 'practice period' with just our family. So far, so good. Though, starting at 5pm yesterday, Zoe has seemingly spit-up about half of her food, so we'll see how that goes. We've taken to keeping her upright for 20 mins after feeding (per this book, which is just awesome, so far - like a baby manual). That does mean, though, that each meal takes about an hour, which when she feeds every couple of hours can make for an interesting schedule. Anyways, we'll let you know how the day goes. I'm hoping we can get outside either in the stroller, or the baby sling, if I can figure out how to get Zoe into it. But right now she's sleeping, which means I'm heading off to la-la land as well. Wish us luck today!
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Happy 1 Week Birthday!
Today, Zoe turns a whole 1 week old - amazing, huh? Kyle and I are utterly enthralled with how much you can fall in love with someone that you just met.
We've had a pretty good go of things here at home - my folks left on Friday, and Kyle's Mom arrived Friday nite to stay the nite. She'll be back on Sunday to Tuesday. Thanks are due to both sets of parents - the help is absolutely appreciated, especially at this point. Sometimes it seems as though 4 hands are needed to handle Zoe, though I think I'm getting better. For example, today I diapered her (including catching an almost devastatingly explosive number 2 mid-diaper change), nursed her (this girl is hungry - a total of almost 40 minutes within 1 hour!), and answered the door (well-wishing neighbors from across the street) all by myself while Kyle went to go get more umbilical diapers (he ended up with size 2-3 - oops). So, we're getting there. Kyle and I also left the house, leaving Zoe at home with Omie so I could get some nursing bras. What a day!
Meanwhile, an update from yesterday's 1-week visit to the pediatrician: Zoe has gained a full 11 ounces since we left the hospital!! She was born at 8lbs 1.5 oz, left the hospital at 7lbs 4 oz, and yesterday was 7lbs 15 oz. She's turning into the chunk! I'm quite grateful. At the hospital she dropped below their 'magic' 10% weight loss, so we were 'highly recommended' (i.e. you must) to supplement the feeding one night. We refused the bottle, and ended up with this tube contraption in order to deliver the formula in conjunction with the regular nursing. So glad we don't have to continue with that (knock on wood). It's really amazing how much formula companies have infiltrated the hospitals. The one we were at is all about BF babies (we were able to nurse relatively soon after delivery, esp. considering it was a Cesarean birth) and saw 2 different lactation consultants during our stay. Despite that though, the first question we were asked (before even method of delivery) for the supplementing was what brand we would prefer - like I know! We also received two complimentary bags, one from each company, full of all sorts of promo stuff. Argh. Ah well - here's to the BFing continuing to work successfully!
Meanwhile, an update from yesterday's 1-week visit to the pediatrician: Zoe has gained a full 11 ounces since we left the hospital!! She was born at 8lbs 1.5 oz, left the hospital at 7lbs 4 oz, and yesterday was 7lbs 15 oz. She's turning into the chunk! I'm quite grateful. At the hospital she dropped below their 'magic' 10% weight loss, so we were 'highly recommended' (i.e. you must) to supplement the feeding one night. We refused the bottle, and ended up with this tube contraption in order to deliver the formula in conjunction with the regular nursing. So glad we don't have to continue with that (knock on wood). It's really amazing how much formula companies have infiltrated the hospitals. The one we were at is all about BF babies (we were able to nurse relatively soon after delivery, esp. considering it was a Cesarean birth) and saw 2 different lactation consultants during our stay. Despite that though, the first question we were asked (before even method of delivery) for the supplementing was what brand we would prefer - like I know! We also received two complimentary bags, one from each company, full of all sorts of promo stuff. Argh. Ah well - here's to the BFing continuing to work successfully!Meanwhile, here's a photo taken upon arrival home from the hospital - but appropriate for today. We like to think that she's rooting/screaming Rice on to good things in tonight's game against UT. Of course, the odds are long, but there's hope, yes?
Thanks to everyone for all of their support and kind words this past week - it's been tremendous. We're hoping to catalog all the photos of Zoe's visitors soon for another post. So great to know how much she is loved!
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Mo's version of the birth story (finally!)
We arrived home from the hospital today. On Friday, Sept 12, our due date, on the way out to a celebratory 'date nite' at Mandola's, my water broke, conveniently in the parking lot just as we were getting out of the car. We hopped back in, me sitting on a sheet normally reserved to keep our car clean of dog hair, missing our last meal as a couple, but looking forward (and quite giddy) to the adventure on its way. Phoned my folks, who had to cancel their flight they had made just a half hour ago to come out on Tuesday, to fly into Austin arriving at 2pm Saturday, with strict orders not to have their first grandbaby before then.
After some last minute packing at home (we were anticipating having early labor to do some of that!) and stuffing our face with leftover pizza (with jalapenos - not the best 'last meal'), we headed to NAMC, birthing ball in hand and no contractions in sight. We checked in, and were surprised to find a very not-busy L&D despite the low pressure (glad to hear we at least had company elsewhere!). We settled in, and started napping to await contractions. Around 2am they started, and I was able to work through them fairly well, though I have to say I went through several of those hospital 'barf bags' - it seems my stomach was refusing to keep anything down, even ice chips. On to an anti-nausea in an IV, which was quite welcome. Sometime that morning (I had by then lost track of time, but Kyle may be able to fill in specifics, perhaps 8 or 9am) I asked to have my progress checked, and was quite surprised to find out that we had made it all the way to 100%, 9.5cm, and +1 without any anesthesia. I felt completely empowered, like I could do anything. Kyle had been such a great guide offering up many different positions and pain coping techniques. My midwife had brought in her rice cooker with a heated sock, which came in quite handy, and I have to say lavender scented washcloths are pretty awesome.
My midwife gave me the go ahead then to push when I felt the urge, which I started to soon after. After three hours of pushing, with every position known to man tried out, and still no progress on the station, we had a conference with the midwife. Given that there had been no progress made, the midwife suggested going for an epidural, and a small dose of pitocin to perhaps encourage some stronger contractions to help in pushing this hold-out out. We agreed that it was time to try something else, and shortly thereafter (I have to say that while I now very much appreciate anesthesiologists, this one didn't necessarily have the best bed-side manner) we waited an hour for the pit to kick in, and pushed for another 1/2 hour or so. Everything remained unchanged, and I was slowly losing steam, as were my contractions, which were coming further and further apart. The midwife called in the OB on call. She was great, which I very much appreciated. Given all of the progress we had made beforehand, she had me push for another 1/2 hour or so, originally encouraged by the strength of the pushes still in me. However, our little one remained at +1, sunny-side up, with an identifiable cone head and one ear, though not much else able to be identified. We all decided a Cesarean delivery was best at this point, and proceeded along this course.
At this point I have to say that I am so thankful for our birthing classes. We felt we had gone through the labor so far that we had wanted, and were quite comfortable with the epidural and Cesarean at this point. We were able to accept this as our birth, and all of the L&D staff were so supportive of what we had already gone through.
After all of this work, it seems that our little one had had enough - while she did take her first breath on her own, she needed resuscitation and was well taken care of by the NICU team. She was originally to be kept in the NICU for a day, to receive IV fluids and be kept for observation, but after only an hour she was already screaming and rooting around (so I'm told) quite dramatically looking for the breast, so we were able to come together as a family shortly after the birth. After receiving the report from the OB, it turns out that the sunny-side up nature had created a retraction ring/Bandl ring in my uterus, which was preventing a vaginal birth.
It was a long stay in the hospital, and I have to say that Cesareans are interesting things to recover from (which is of course ongoing), but we are happy to now be home with our girl (and her conehead, which is finally dissipating ;). Thanks to everyone for their support - we'll definitely keep you updated!
After some last minute packing at home (we were anticipating having early labor to do some of that!) and stuffing our face with leftover pizza (with jalapenos - not the best 'last meal'), we headed to NAMC, birthing ball in hand and no contractions in sight. We checked in, and were surprised to find a very not-busy L&D despite the low pressure (glad to hear we at least had company elsewhere!). We settled in, and started napping to await contractions. Around 2am they started, and I was able to work through them fairly well, though I have to say I went through several of those hospital 'barf bags' - it seems my stomach was refusing to keep anything down, even ice chips. On to an anti-nausea in an IV, which was quite welcome. Sometime that morning (I had by then lost track of time, but Kyle may be able to fill in specifics, perhaps 8 or 9am) I asked to have my progress checked, and was quite surprised to find out that we had made it all the way to 100%, 9.5cm, and +1 without any anesthesia. I felt completely empowered, like I could do anything. Kyle had been such a great guide offering up many different positions and pain coping techniques. My midwife had brought in her rice cooker with a heated sock, which came in quite handy, and I have to say lavender scented washcloths are pretty awesome.
My midwife gave me the go ahead then to push when I felt the urge, which I started to soon after. After three hours of pushing, with every position known to man tried out, and still no progress on the station, we had a conference with the midwife. Given that there had been no progress made, the midwife suggested going for an epidural, and a small dose of pitocin to perhaps encourage some stronger contractions to help in pushing this hold-out out. We agreed that it was time to try something else, and shortly thereafter (I have to say that while I now very much appreciate anesthesiologists, this one didn't necessarily have the best bed-side manner) we waited an hour for the pit to kick in, and pushed for another 1/2 hour or so. Everything remained unchanged, and I was slowly losing steam, as were my contractions, which were coming further and further apart. The midwife called in the OB on call. She was great, which I very much appreciated. Given all of the progress we had made beforehand, she had me push for another 1/2 hour or so, originally encouraged by the strength of the pushes still in me. However, our little one remained at +1, sunny-side up, with an identifiable cone head and one ear, though not much else able to be identified. We all decided a Cesarean delivery was best at this point, and proceeded along this course.
At this point I have to say that I am so thankful for our birthing classes. We felt we had gone through the labor so far that we had wanted, and were quite comfortable with the epidural and Cesarean at this point. We were able to accept this as our birth, and all of the L&D staff were so supportive of what we had already gone through.
After all of this work, it seems that our little one had had enough - while she did take her first breath on her own, she needed resuscitation and was well taken care of by the NICU team. She was originally to be kept in the NICU for a day, to receive IV fluids and be kept for observation, but after only an hour she was already screaming and rooting around (so I'm told) quite dramatically looking for the breast, so we were able to come together as a family shortly after the birth. After receiving the report from the OB, it turns out that the sunny-side up nature had created a retraction ring/Bandl ring in my uterus, which was preventing a vaginal birth.
It was a long stay in the hospital, and I have to say that Cesareans are interesting things to recover from (which is of course ongoing), but we are happy to now be home with our girl (and her conehead, which is finally dissipating ;). Thanks to everyone for their support - we'll definitely keep you updated!
Monday, September 15, 2008
Happy Birthday Zoe Frances Voosen
by Kyle Voosen, Guest blogger and new father
Mo and I are excited to welcome our little Zoe to the world!
The Vitals
Zoe was born at 4:10 PM on September 13, 2008. She weighed 8 lb. 1.5 oz. and was 20.75 inches tall.
The Story
Maureen will be able to provide a blow by blow synopsis a little later. Here is my attempt at the Cliff's Notes version:
Zoe did not come into the world without a fight. Maureen was making it look easy when she went from 3 cm to 9.5 cm in a matter of a few hours. We hit a stumbling block when pushing Zoe out. After Maureen pushed hard for 3 straight hours (with no anesthesia), our midwife decided that the baby was stuck and ordered a Caesarean birth.
Zoe had been wedged in Mo's pelvis for 12 hours, and the stress took its toll upon delivery. It took a few terrifying minutes to resuscitate her, but soon enough Zoe was screaming her head off as we all breathed a collective sigh of relief. Here is a picture of her right after the birth in the NICU.
Zoe...screaming
Zoe quickly turned on the charm and is now a perfectly healthy and happy newborn. On top of that I've done some research, and I can now objectively say that Zoe is the most beautiful baby ever born.
cute
The Supporting Cast
By the time Zoe was born, both sets of new grandparents were ready and waiting to welcome her into the world. We are totally grateful they were able to be here to share in the experience (and diaper change duty).
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