Remi & We

Archive for the ‘birth’ Category

Updated pics & stats

Here are her official “stats”:

• Weight: 6 lbs 15.4 oz
• Length: 19.25 inches
• Labor began (pushing) at about 9:30 AM and lasted until Remi came out crying at 10:48 AM (I swear I heard crying before her head emerged)
• She is nursing very well.
• Her poop is inhuman
• She is pretty quiet (so far) except when I forget to support her head and it smashes into my shoulder

Here are a few pictures from the day:

The baby has landed

• Time of birth: April 6th @ 10:48 AM
• The first unofficial weight is an even 7 pounds.
• She is learning to nurse right now.

Here are the first pics (cell phone pics):

4:00 AM…stuff happening

Anna woke at 4:00 AM to her first contractions.  This was a bit of a surprise since she had not yet received a dose of pitocin.  Her body finally decided it was time.

The contractions were roughly 2 minutes apart and very strong.  Like holy-shit-that-looks -horribly-horribly-painful-I’ll-just-stand-here-and-be-totally-useless kind of strong.

She is tough.  Very tough.  They gave her some sort of drip to help control the pain.  That did nothing but make her tired.  Not tired enough to sleep through the pain -not even close.

At the start of the night our nurse told us to use a 1 to 10 number scale to describe the pain.  When the contractions got to a “9″ it looked more like a “28″ to me.  I requested the Epidural.  30 minutes later a line was ran below Anna’s spine and she was out cold.

I guess that worked.

Next up: Sleep for 2 hours.  If the contractions slow they will still administer the pitocin.  Regardless, we should be just a few hours away from breaking her water and, eventually, letting Remi out.

At the hospital

We’ve been at the hospital for a few hours now.  It seems pretty nice for a hospital.  Anna has not had any real food for 12 hours.  They will only give her food after she pops out a baby…a cruel reward program.

The process to induce labor has begun.  So far it’s been a whole lot of sticking things in…well, you know.  The goal, of course, is to soften the cervix to force dilation.  In the morning (around 5:00 AM!) they will use the drug Pitocin to really kick things into gear by forcing contractions to begin.

We just met with the nurse in charge of the Epidural.  She was pretty cool and let us know that Anna will have total control of her Epidural flow via a button to increase the amount of pain killer as needed.

The dilation game

No dilation yet.  We Remi is still waiting for Anna’s body to release her.  We have a doctor’s appointment on Monday the 30th.  If Anna has not started to dilate we will likely proceed with our plan to induce on April 6.  I did some research on the induction of labor and was surprised to learn it does not actually involve a wooing gesture and a slice of cheese.  Whatever.

I think inducing the baby is nothing more than an ego trip designed to make the doctor’s original due date accurate.  Vegas should seriously get in on this gig.

Anna has been incredibly tired and sore the past few days.  She wakes up from a full night’s sleep feeling as if she never went to bed.  I saw her and can assure you she was, in fact, in bed.  She has been quite the trooper by continuing  to work.  Her plan is to begin her maternity leave next Thursday.  That gives her a full weekend just in case her body suddenly decides to eject the youngin.  And if Remi doesn’t come naturally we’ll just force her out with the impatience of modern medicine.

I am taking off effective Sunday, April 5 to essentially be the  recipient of a beautiful baby for which I had to do very little.  I will be in the room but I will not look.  I will not look.  I will not look.  Clean the messy baby and hand her to me but I will not look.

Nursery pictures are coming soon.  The bones of the room are complete but we have a few little things to finish.  Can you say death metal theme?