3 weeks old already

I can't believe how quickly the time has gone by - Karin is now 3 weeks old. She is staying awake for longer periods and has established more or less a night time / day time sleep pattern that thankfully includes more sleep during night and less during the day.

Each day we try to get out for some fresh air and today was a really nice day for a walk. The last few days have been very hoar frosty but overcast, today the sky was a brilliant blue, a welcome change! Looking forward to warmer spring days!

Movie Night: 20 minutes of Spiderman 2

start - 7:20 PM

What that is it?

What was that?

What is happened?

What is happened to there?

What is it?

It's a mean robot!

Is it not a robot?

What's happened?

Yest that is it.

What is happened?

Why there fire?

Mommy what is happened?

What is happened?

What's happened to fire?

Who put the fire on?

What that girl is it?

What is doing?

What are doing?

That's who?

What that boy is it? Oh...Henry.

I love the brown hockey game.

Is this -- is the black one go to the other hockey game -- but not the other one -- what...the heck? Who's walking?

Why running?

What happened to his back?

What's happened?

Peter Parker?

Are these the ones that are in?

I want to see the doctor. I want to see the hospital. What these are airplanes? Where are they going?

What are they having? What kind of coffee? English coffee? But not English chocolate milk?

What's that they got? What dos (read: "dooz"). Not for me? But she don't have one of these. Because she do.

What happened? What happened? What happened? What happened? What happened?

What that is it?

end - 7:40 PM

Karin's birth story

Labour contractions finally started (& didn't stop) on Saturday, January 16th around 8 PM. They lasted through the night, with Cam and I down in the basement, trying to get as much sleep as possible. Cam was in the guest room and I was out on the futon getting up with each contraction and then collapsing back to sleep as soon as it was over. Around 4AM Cam came out and kept me company as the contractions were getting closer together and then they slowed down again around 5:30. Soon enough it was 7:30 and time to get up to get ready to go to the hospital.

I took Chance over to the neighbour's house for a playdate with their son so that he wouldn't be upset as I had been telling him for weeks that when it came time for me to go the hospital he would be going to play with his friend. The neighbours brought him home at lunch time.

When we arrived at the hospital, they gave me a Foley catheter induction. The catheter was supposed to fall out when I was 3 cm dilated. It was supposed to take about 8 hours. 2 hours after they put it in, it fell out! I was only about 1 1/2 cm dilated though. I was moved over to a labour and delivery room and my water was broken by the doctor around 3 PM. Contractions started coming every 7 minutes apart or so and then slowed down yet again. Around 7 PM I requested to be unhooked from the fetal heart monitor for 5 minute periods and then Cam, our doula Carmen and I walked down the hallway to the stairwell, then ran up and down the stairs as fast as I could before returning back to the delivery room. The doctors let us do this 4 times, provided I stayed connected to the monitor for at least 15 minutes between walking sessions. On our last and final outing, we climbed up to the 20th floor!

That's what really did it - the contractions picked up again, and started to get longer, stronger, and closer together. By 11 PM or so I was ready for some pain relief - gas! It took a while to get the hang of using the gas tank, the trick was to stop breathing it in before the contraction was over to allow for some uncloudy moments between contractions. The gas left a bad taste in my mouth and made me feel a bit nauseous, but it definitely took the edge off the contractions. They checked me again around midnight and I was still only 4 cm dilated, but contractions were coming every minute or so. The doctor said they could augment with pitocin but I didn't like the risks of using pitocin (uterine rupture risk goes up 10x), so opted for an epidural to allow for some break between the contractions. It took a lot of tries to get the epidural in, about 5 in total from the marks on my back. The epidural lasted for about 20 minutes before it became very spotty and then wore off completely -- not in our plan!! I laboured a bit more and I was feeling different -- feeling like it was time to push. They checked again and I was still only 4 cm -- this was going nowhere fast. I made the decision to have another c-section. In the doctor's and doula's opinion the pitocin wouldn't really do anything other than make the contractions more regular than they already were, they were plenty strong enough. It was very frustrating to have my body stall out like this but life does not always go to plan!

The surgeons were in another operating room at the time, so we had to wait for them for some time, about an hour. I inhaled a tank and half of laughing gas. By the end of it I was just breathing straight from the tank, the room was spinning and Cam and Carmen were hanging on to my hands keeping me from falling down off the edge of the bed. Finally they came by with the tequila shot of anti-nausea medication and I was wheeled (sans gas tank) to the operating room. I'm not sure how far the labour room was from the operating room but it felt like a $@!@$%** long way to me!

At the OR they gave me a spinal tap and I was soon numb chest to toes and Cam was at my side. The curtain went up and they started to operate. I was having a hard time breathing, a side effect of the anesthetic. They put oxygen tubes in my nose. Soon after, the doctor said that they could see a baby's head. The baby started to cry before we found out that it was a baby girl! It was a long hard journey, but we finally had our baby girl Karin Sylvan Demmans!

Ultrasound January 15 - 41 weeks 0 days

Had another post-dates ultrasound today with a new fetal weight estimate. The baby apparently has gained 10 oz in 3 days. Cam (who believes that this is a girl) has nicknamed the baby "Ginormica" after the heroine character in Monsters vs. Aliens. It's a cute movie, Chance loves it.

After the ultrasound Cam was going on and on about how healthy the baby was and growing so big and the doctor interrupted him and said "Uh...you'll notice how quiet your wife is at this point..."

He still hung the "Hang In There" kitten poster in the baby's room when we got home.

The positive side is the ultrasound technician says that the head is "way down there" and to me (and Cam agreed) looks pretty squished compared to the first ultrasound 3 days ago but still relatively small, about 9 cm across at the widest point. Perhaps the baby has dropped somewhat or at least started to drop. This is the biggest concern for my doctor right now, that the baby's head will be too big to fit through my pelvis (CPD, cephalopelvic disproportion) . If the baby's head can at least drop into my pelvic inlet then it will keep them from automatically diagnosing CPD and recommending a c-section if labour is going slowly. This was the primary reason for Chance's c-section (well, the primary reason was that labour had stopped but the reason they thought it stopped was CPD). CPD may have been a factor with Chance as his head was 11 cm across at its widest point. I remember sitting up during his post-dates ultrasound and asking "uh, that's an issue, isn't it??" and they reassured me that it shouldn't be a problem as his head would squish and my pelvis would loosen up. The part they left out was "eventually". When you induce a baby with a big head and the hips aren't ready to loosen.....you get arrested labour (your body needs a break). Combine that with a hospital with one of the highest rate of c-sections in Canada + 10 births per day with only 8 delivery rooms and you get Chance's birth. They say they are up to 14 births per day with only 8 delivery rooms now at our hospital. My chances of having another c-section are highly increased with my previous c-section and now this high weight baby.

Another thing to note was the amniotic fluid level was down compared to the ultrasound on Tuesday, making it a good idea to go to the hospital on Sunday morning for my induction for this baby. It is reassuring to know that the timing is right, as with Chance's (induced) labour I'm not really sure that it was.

Chance is learning quickly...

In the last few minutes of the day before Cam gets home, Chance and I have been sitting down at the kitchen table with crayons, markers, etc. He has really been taking an interest in the alphabet, especially since we have been watching Sesame Street together. So the other day we started learning to draw ABC's.

This is the placemat I showed him with all the ABC's on it as a template. I bought it last Christmas when a deaf woman showed up at our doorstep, selling them. She had lost her job due to the downturn in the economy and this was her means of raising money for Christmas gifts for her four children. She was wearing a laminated photo of her 4 boys around her neck. I bawled like a baby, blubbering tears all over the cheque I wrote her.

Not bad!! First attempts at A and C (C is sideways). You can see the purple lines which I think is a copy of what is shown on the placemat (rows).

First attempt at the letter "B". This was a tricky one.

Ultrasound Jan 12 - 40 wks 5 days

Baby's heart (all 4 chambers) shown on right. Left hand side of ultrasound image is heartbeat measured at 141 beats per minute.

We had a post-dates ultrasound at the Maternal Fetal Monitoring at Foothills Hospital. The estimated fetal weight is a lot more than I was thinking, just goes to show how fortunate I am to have this anterior placenta, cushioning me from every blow. The head size is small though (back of head to forehead), scoring low on percentiles (I think they said P25). Tummy circumference was P65 so he or she is a little chubby, as well as quite long, P75. So our baby is shaped like a football.

Amniotic fluid level was normal and so they approved to continue my trial of labour, even with the extended due date. So my adjusted point in pregnancy is 40 weeks and 5 days today. I'll probably have to have another ultrasound in about 4 days unless I go into labour.

Everything else was normal, baby was doing some practice breathing & they were very happy to see that. Baby got a score of 8 out of 8.

Other than the size estimate (which I know is an estimate, and usually a little on the high side - and really it's just me that's concerned about the size, for obvious reasons!!), we are thrilled with the good news that everything looks healthy.

Another restless night....

Contractions seemed to step up around 10:30 PM last night, I took a bath but they never really stopped, just slowed down. I think I got to bed around midnight and woke up at 5:30 having gotten up several times in the night, always with a hard sore belly. Not labour though, just Braxton Hicks. Still feeling them. I think it's going to be a long day.