Thursday, August 26, 2010
Bye bye Memomma!
I had to put my mom back on a plane to Texas today. It was hard saying goodbye. Not just because she has been such a HUGE help to us here the last couple of weeks... but I'm sad that Lyv has to live in a different state than her Memomma and PaPa and won't be able to see them all the time. Lyv and her Memomma really bonded the last two weeks and I know that it will be hard on both of them. I didn't get post partum depression after I delivered, but I might just get it now that my mom left. :-(
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
17 days old...
Lyv had another check up today. Her weight is up to 7lbs, 13.5oz. She gained 1 whole pound in 6 days flat! Not bad. Someone asked me if I had super milk.... maybe I do.... :-)
Here are some of her cute expressions:
And here's Daddy looking all domestic hanging the cloth diapers out to dry. What a guy!
Here are some of her cute expressions:
And here's Daddy looking all domestic hanging the cloth diapers out to dry. What a guy!
Friday, August 20, 2010
Firsts....
Lyv's cord fell off a couple of days ago. Last night she had her first bath. And today we started using cloth diapers and washed the first load! How cute!
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Photo Shoot!
Here are some pics from our first photo shoot with Lyv. To see all of them, go to the following link and enter password clymer. Lyv's first shoot
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
First pediatrician visit
First ped visit went great. Lyv is perfect... but we already knew that. ;-)
She weighed in at 6lbs, 10.5oz. Almost back to birth weight already!
She weighed in at 6lbs, 10.5oz. Almost back to birth weight already!
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
At home
We came home from the hospital today. I have some on again/off again elevated blood pressure that I am to monitor closely. Other than that,... we are exhausted but doing well.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Introducing....
Lyv Autumn Clymer
Stats: 36 weeks, 3 days gestational age
Weight: 6 lbs, 13 oz
Length: 19.75"
Born 7:56 am, 8-8-10
Here is the story of her birth:
Went in Thursday, 8/5/10 at 8:00pm to begin scheduled induction due to medical complications with my pregnancy. All night long I was given cervical ripening drugs to prepare my cervix for the actual induction to be brought on by pitocin. The drugs through the night caused a lot of painful cramping for which I was not allowed to take any pain killers for that would slow the process. Friday morning, 8/6/10, there was no change to my cervix at all. (Fingertip dilated, with the goal of 10cm). We began pitocin and I eventually began having weak, but steady contractions. They increased the pitocin at a slow pace so as not to overload my body. However, we kept increasing the pitocin all day and the contractions were not really making much difference on the dilation of my cervix. By 8:00pm Friday evening, after enduring an entire day's worth of cramping, contractions, back pain, and food deprivation, there was still absolutely no change to my cervix. I was allowed a meal and shower, and at 9:00pm we began once again the cervical ripening drugs.
Another night of cervical ripening drugs and more of the cramping, as well as significant back pain. Keep in mind too that this entire time I am on a delivery bed... a bed designed for short term stays... not numerous nights of sleep. The mattress was very thin and very uncomfortable. At all times, I had 2 monitors on my abdomen, a pulse monitor on my finger, a blood pressure cuff on at all times, compression stockings that each had their own cord attached to a pump, and an i.v. Talk about being shackled up! The whole process was beginning to wear me down physically and emotionally.
By Saturday morning, my cervix had changed finally! 1cm! We were encouraged that something was finally happening and felt optimistic. So all day, more pitocin, more contractions, more cramping, and more back pain. Every pain all day long encouraged me that something was happening; however, we found out at 6pm that it was all for naught because I was still only 1cm dilated. It was discouraging, to say the least.
We spoke with the doctor who basically said that as a last resort we could break my water and see if that changed things. She also told me that if I wanted to just go do a c-section, we could do that too. However, a c-section poses extra risks for someone like me with a clotting disorder and I really didn't want to go that route yet. First I received an epidural finally and experienced pain relief for the first time since Thursday night. The doctor then broke my water and we started up the pitocin at a higher dose to increased the contractions. I also had a catheter put in, as well as an internal contraction monitor to get a more accurate measurement of how strong my contractions were. Yes... more shackles.
The epidural, along with the narcotics that were being pumped with it, was wonderful.... for about a half hour. Then it started to fade and I began experienced all the pain again. I endured it for a while, but it kept increasing, so we had to call back the anasthetist to see what was happening. The first time we called him back it was because the pump was malfunctioning. So that was replaced and we thought we were good to go. He also gave me another direct shot into my epidural site which once again eased my pain..... for about a half hour. :-(
Meanwhile, my cervix finally started making small changes. Yah! Progress!
The anasthetist came back and changed my epidural and narcotic to a higher dose. Once again I found relief for about a half hour. Then it began to fade until once again I was in a lot of pain. At this point I started crying because it didn't seem like the pain meds were going to work and my cervical changes were happening VERY, VERY slow... so we knew we were in for a long night. The anasthetist came back and changed my narcotic to something more powerful altogether. He said it was almost equivalent to what he gives patients who get c-sections and it should render my lower half completely immobile. It did offer relief once again, but I could still lift my legs straight up off the bed with no problem. He was dumbfounded and could hardly believe it. About a half hour later, those super strong narcotics had once again worn off. Apparently I am one of those rare individuals who is resistant to the effects of an epidural and the effects of narcotics. I'm so lucky. :-/
Small but steady changes in my cervix were occurring all through the night.... albeit at a snail's pace. My contractions were slowing down as well to only 6-8 minutes apart. Making the process take much longer than if they were 1-2 minutes apart. By 6am I was finally 9cm. Pretty crazy considering how much pitocin they were pumping in me. And the off again, on again pain from the whole epidural process was... well beyond words.... and difficult to even think about.
Around this time my contractions started to wimp out completely... dropping off to almost nothing.... even though I was 9cm. Apparently my uterus had just endured too much and couldn't do anymore. I was not ready to go for the c-section though... despite the situation. The nurse asked me to push anyways to see what would happen. (No contraction to help me) I did and the pain was intense but everyone could see some significant progress in the baby's movement and we decided we could keep trying that if I was up for it. I agreed and began pushing every few minutes... sometimes with the help of a weak uterine contraction, sometimes with no contraction at all. However, the pain began to become excruciating until I was writhing in tears and screaming that I couldn't do it anymore. My mom and Daniel were both with me and crying too because of all the work I had done to get to this point only to have my uterus tire out and my epidural and narcotics to quit on me completely.
The anesthesiologist came in and suggested we try taking out the epidural, redoing it, and seeing if that fixed things. So I agreed. After it was over, I virtually collapsed on the bed and felt extremely weak and faint. I had gone all night with no sleep, and the two nights before with only a few hours of sleep. I also hadn't eaten at this point (Sunday 6:30am) since Saturday morning. I laid in bed for 15 minutes or so feeling completely weak, faint, tired, worn down emotionally, but wanting to finish this task.
About 7am we started up with the pushing again. At this point, there were no more contractions to help me. I was doing it all manually with my abdomen... but slowly and surely moving Lyv down my birth canal. At about 7:20am I could feel the epidural and narcotics beginning to fade once again. I continued to push and push.... so tired, so worn out, so exhausted. Words can't describe where I was emotionally at that point. Each time I pushed I felt more and more pain and more and more exhaustion pushing back against me.
About 7:45ish, the doctor came in and suggested at this point that we use forceps to speed the process and get her out. I had little to no pain medication left at this point and I readily agreed. He suited up, got the utensils ready and inserted the forceps around Lyv's head. I gave one series of hard, painful, tearful pushes and finally her head was free. Within about a minute, her body slipped out as well.
Sobs immediately came pouring out of me, Daniel, and my mom as we realized the moment we had been working towards had finally arrived. My body broke out in shivers and I had to endure the painful release of my placenta. It was more difficult than usual and had to be forcefully removed by the doctor since my uterus was not going to push it out for me. It too was a painful process that lasted another 15 or so minutes. I also tore and had to be sewn up... but thankfully it was only a 2nd degree tear and could have been much worse.
The whole process took about 59 hours from start to finish. Lyv and I are doing great despite all that we endured together. She is such a sweet baby. She is very calm and chill and has to be woken every 3 hours to feed.... otherwise she would probably just sleep. She is doing great with nursing, despite being preterm. She is also maintaining her temperature just fine. She did not have to spend any time in NICU, and we have just kept her in our room with us. We think she is just perfect! And she is also a spitting image of her daddy. (Her hair is dirty blonde by the way). It seems that the only trait of hers that she definitely got from me are her long, flat feet and long toes. The poor girl! I will have to get a picture of them at some point.
Thanks for reading. Sorry it was so long. But it was good for me to write down all the details while they were still fresh.
Also, we will be accepting visitors in the hospital on Monday between 4pm and 5:30pm. We are at Swedish Medical Center in Englewood in the maternity ward, room 5-155.
Stats: 36 weeks, 3 days gestational age
Weight: 6 lbs, 13 oz
Length: 19.75"
Born 7:56 am, 8-8-10
Here is the story of her birth:
Went in Thursday, 8/5/10 at 8:00pm to begin scheduled induction due to medical complications with my pregnancy. All night long I was given cervical ripening drugs to prepare my cervix for the actual induction to be brought on by pitocin. The drugs through the night caused a lot of painful cramping for which I was not allowed to take any pain killers for that would slow the process. Friday morning, 8/6/10, there was no change to my cervix at all. (Fingertip dilated, with the goal of 10cm). We began pitocin and I eventually began having weak, but steady contractions. They increased the pitocin at a slow pace so as not to overload my body. However, we kept increasing the pitocin all day and the contractions were not really making much difference on the dilation of my cervix. By 8:00pm Friday evening, after enduring an entire day's worth of cramping, contractions, back pain, and food deprivation, there was still absolutely no change to my cervix. I was allowed a meal and shower, and at 9:00pm we began once again the cervical ripening drugs.
Another night of cervical ripening drugs and more of the cramping, as well as significant back pain. Keep in mind too that this entire time I am on a delivery bed... a bed designed for short term stays... not numerous nights of sleep. The mattress was very thin and very uncomfortable. At all times, I had 2 monitors on my abdomen, a pulse monitor on my finger, a blood pressure cuff on at all times, compression stockings that each had their own cord attached to a pump, and an i.v. Talk about being shackled up! The whole process was beginning to wear me down physically and emotionally.
By Saturday morning, my cervix had changed finally! 1cm! We were encouraged that something was finally happening and felt optimistic. So all day, more pitocin, more contractions, more cramping, and more back pain. Every pain all day long encouraged me that something was happening; however, we found out at 6pm that it was all for naught because I was still only 1cm dilated. It was discouraging, to say the least.
We spoke with the doctor who basically said that as a last resort we could break my water and see if that changed things. She also told me that if I wanted to just go do a c-section, we could do that too. However, a c-section poses extra risks for someone like me with a clotting disorder and I really didn't want to go that route yet. First I received an epidural finally and experienced pain relief for the first time since Thursday night. The doctor then broke my water and we started up the pitocin at a higher dose to increased the contractions. I also had a catheter put in, as well as an internal contraction monitor to get a more accurate measurement of how strong my contractions were. Yes... more shackles.
The epidural, along with the narcotics that were being pumped with it, was wonderful.... for about a half hour. Then it started to fade and I began experienced all the pain again. I endured it for a while, but it kept increasing, so we had to call back the anasthetist to see what was happening. The first time we called him back it was because the pump was malfunctioning. So that was replaced and we thought we were good to go. He also gave me another direct shot into my epidural site which once again eased my pain..... for about a half hour. :-(
Meanwhile, my cervix finally started making small changes. Yah! Progress!
The anasthetist came back and changed my epidural and narcotic to a higher dose. Once again I found relief for about a half hour. Then it began to fade until once again I was in a lot of pain. At this point I started crying because it didn't seem like the pain meds were going to work and my cervical changes were happening VERY, VERY slow... so we knew we were in for a long night. The anasthetist came back and changed my narcotic to something more powerful altogether. He said it was almost equivalent to what he gives patients who get c-sections and it should render my lower half completely immobile. It did offer relief once again, but I could still lift my legs straight up off the bed with no problem. He was dumbfounded and could hardly believe it. About a half hour later, those super strong narcotics had once again worn off. Apparently I am one of those rare individuals who is resistant to the effects of an epidural and the effects of narcotics. I'm so lucky. :-/
Small but steady changes in my cervix were occurring all through the night.... albeit at a snail's pace. My contractions were slowing down as well to only 6-8 minutes apart. Making the process take much longer than if they were 1-2 minutes apart. By 6am I was finally 9cm. Pretty crazy considering how much pitocin they were pumping in me. And the off again, on again pain from the whole epidural process was... well beyond words.... and difficult to even think about.
Around this time my contractions started to wimp out completely... dropping off to almost nothing.... even though I was 9cm. Apparently my uterus had just endured too much and couldn't do anymore. I was not ready to go for the c-section though... despite the situation. The nurse asked me to push anyways to see what would happen. (No contraction to help me) I did and the pain was intense but everyone could see some significant progress in the baby's movement and we decided we could keep trying that if I was up for it. I agreed and began pushing every few minutes... sometimes with the help of a weak uterine contraction, sometimes with no contraction at all. However, the pain began to become excruciating until I was writhing in tears and screaming that I couldn't do it anymore. My mom and Daniel were both with me and crying too because of all the work I had done to get to this point only to have my uterus tire out and my epidural and narcotics to quit on me completely.
The anesthesiologist came in and suggested we try taking out the epidural, redoing it, and seeing if that fixed things. So I agreed. After it was over, I virtually collapsed on the bed and felt extremely weak and faint. I had gone all night with no sleep, and the two nights before with only a few hours of sleep. I also hadn't eaten at this point (Sunday 6:30am) since Saturday morning. I laid in bed for 15 minutes or so feeling completely weak, faint, tired, worn down emotionally, but wanting to finish this task.
About 7am we started up with the pushing again. At this point, there were no more contractions to help me. I was doing it all manually with my abdomen... but slowly and surely moving Lyv down my birth canal. At about 7:20am I could feel the epidural and narcotics beginning to fade once again. I continued to push and push.... so tired, so worn out, so exhausted. Words can't describe where I was emotionally at that point. Each time I pushed I felt more and more pain and more and more exhaustion pushing back against me.
About 7:45ish, the doctor came in and suggested at this point that we use forceps to speed the process and get her out. I had little to no pain medication left at this point and I readily agreed. He suited up, got the utensils ready and inserted the forceps around Lyv's head. I gave one series of hard, painful, tearful pushes and finally her head was free. Within about a minute, her body slipped out as well.
Sobs immediately came pouring out of me, Daniel, and my mom as we realized the moment we had been working towards had finally arrived. My body broke out in shivers and I had to endure the painful release of my placenta. It was more difficult than usual and had to be forcefully removed by the doctor since my uterus was not going to push it out for me. It too was a painful process that lasted another 15 or so minutes. I also tore and had to be sewn up... but thankfully it was only a 2nd degree tear and could have been much worse.
The whole process took about 59 hours from start to finish. Lyv and I are doing great despite all that we endured together. She is such a sweet baby. She is very calm and chill and has to be woken every 3 hours to feed.... otherwise she would probably just sleep. She is doing great with nursing, despite being preterm. She is also maintaining her temperature just fine. She did not have to spend any time in NICU, and we have just kept her in our room with us. We think she is just perfect! And she is also a spitting image of her daddy. (Her hair is dirty blonde by the way). It seems that the only trait of hers that she definitely got from me are her long, flat feet and long toes. The poor girl! I will have to get a picture of them at some point.
Thanks for reading. Sorry it was so long. But it was good for me to write down all the details while they were still fresh.
Also, we will be accepting visitors in the hospital on Monday between 4pm and 5:30pm. We are at Swedish Medical Center in Englewood in the maternity ward, room 5-155.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
6 pm status
After enduring another day of Pitocin, contractions, cramping, and back pain, we found out at 4 pm that I am still only 1 cm dilated. :-(
After talking with the doctor, we made the decision to get an Epidural, break my water, and increase the Pitocin to see if we can move things along. At this point, my desire is to keep going for a vaginal birth and not opt for a c-section yet. Assuming things progress from here, that's the plan; however, if after several hours there is no progress being made, a c-section will be the only option since my water is broken and we can't keep sitting here doing nothing as I am at greater risk for infection since my membranes are ruptured.
SOOOO.... if we see progress in a few hours, I'm going to keep laboring. If not, then we'll reassess the situation and consider more pitocin if the doctor feels it is safe and the baby is not being distressed.
However, now that my water is broken.... it won't be much longer and I was told that by this time tomorrow I will definitely have a baby one way or another.
Oh... and did I mention how wonderful the epidural is? :-)
After talking with the doctor, we made the decision to get an Epidural, break my water, and increase the Pitocin to see if we can move things along. At this point, my desire is to keep going for a vaginal birth and not opt for a c-section yet. Assuming things progress from here, that's the plan; however, if after several hours there is no progress being made, a c-section will be the only option since my water is broken and we can't keep sitting here doing nothing as I am at greater risk for infection since my membranes are ruptured.
SOOOO.... if we see progress in a few hours, I'm going to keep laboring. If not, then we'll reassess the situation and consider more pitocin if the doctor feels it is safe and the baby is not being distressed.
However, now that my water is broken.... it won't be much longer and I was told that by this time tomorrow I will definitely have a baby one way or another.
Oh... and did I mention how wonderful the epidural is? :-)
Saturday morning
Had another restless night here in the hospital. Lots of meds and lots of painful cramping meant virtually no sleep. I've been doing the last few days without pain meds (besides tylenol) because it can slow down this process of trying to "trick" the body into labor.
But good news this morning! I am 1cm dilated and 75% effaced. Although that doesn't seem like much, it is the change we were looking for. It means my body is responding to the meds finally! I started having contractions every 2-5 minutes this morning on my own before any pitocin was given. They're now hooking me up to the pitocin and that should really get things moving.
Let's have a baby today!
But good news this morning! I am 1cm dilated and 75% effaced. Although that doesn't seem like much, it is the change we were looking for. It means my body is responding to the meds finally! I started having contractions every 2-5 minutes this morning on my own before any pitocin was given. They're now hooking me up to the pitocin and that should really get things moving.
Let's have a baby today!
Friday, August 6, 2010
7:00pm... won't be a Friday baby!
Well, after enduring an entire night, and an entire day of exams, being shackled to a bed with monitors, lots of labor inducing drugs, and one contraction after another.... by body is still not giving in to this whole labor idea.
Our baby did great enduring it all, and seems perfectly happy to stay where she is. I was uncomfortable all day with contractions, cramping, and back pain... but I'm prepared to go another day. Actually, I don't really have a choice in the matter. :-)
We will be starting the whole process over again this evening. I will receive more "cervical ripening" drugs every four hours through the night and tomorrow morning we will try to induce again with pitocin.
I say bring it on! You only get to birth your first child once.... why not savor the experience for as long as possible, right? :-)
Our baby did great enduring it all, and seems perfectly happy to stay where she is. I was uncomfortable all day with contractions, cramping, and back pain... but I'm prepared to go another day. Actually, I don't really have a choice in the matter. :-)
We will be starting the whole process over again this evening. I will receive more "cervical ripening" drugs every four hours through the night and tomorrow morning we will try to induce again with pitocin.
I say bring it on! You only get to birth your first child once.... why not savor the experience for as long as possible, right? :-)
1:00pm.... not even close.
After 12 hours of "cervical ripening" drugs, there has been no change to my cervix. :-( However, I am having lots of lots of contractions. Apparently my cervix is like a steel trap.
We've gone ahead and started pitocin to see if that will affect things at all. If it doesn't, then we are going to spend another night trying to "prepare my cervix" before doing another round of pitocin on Saturday. The good news is that the baby seems perfectly happy and content in there despite all the labor inducing drugs and all the contractions.
I'll keep you posted.
We've gone ahead and started pitocin to see if that will affect things at all. If it doesn't, then we are going to spend another night trying to "prepare my cervix" before doing another round of pitocin on Saturday. The good news is that the baby seems perfectly happy and content in there despite all the labor inducing drugs and all the contractions.
I'll keep you posted.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
On my way to the hospital....
We're off to the hospital to begin the process of getting this baby out! Induction will officially begin tomorrow morning... but it will be a long night preparing my body to accept the pitocin. Here's a pic from yesterday of my 36 week belly! We'll keep you all posted!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Delivery on Friday... plus a fun poll
The delivery date is set for Friday, 8/6/10! (Assuming our little girl cooperates.) Thursday night I will be admitted into Labor and Delivery for some medicine that will prepare me for labor. Friday morning, the induction will begin with the hopes of delivering sometime on Friday. We can't wait to meet our little girl in just a few more days!
In the meantime, I thought it would be fun to run a little poll regarding the birth stats. To participate, just leave a comment with your answers to the following questions. The winner gets to pick out a cute new onesie from cafepress.com for our baby girl to wear. (Don't worry, I'm buying!) I've picked out a few options, but you are welcome to take a look at some of the other options on the site: http://www.cafepress.com/+baby-bodysuits. My favorite subcategories are "careers and professions", "family and baby", and "humor". Ultimately I will have to okay your choice regarding what my little baby girl will wear, but we can work out those details later! Here's the questions:
1. Knowing that our baby has measured in the 83rd percentile for weight at 34 weeks gestation, and the 97th percentile for weight just today at almost 36 weeks gestation, which of the following weights will best describe her at the time of birth:
a. 5lbs, 5oz
b. 6lbs, 1oz
c. 6lbs, 12oz
d. 7lbs, 7oz
e. 8lbs, 3oz
2. Which time will best describe the time she is born on Friday:
a. 1pm
b. 4pm
c. 7pm
d. 10pm
e. it's going to be a Saturday birth!
3. What color hair will she have?
a. fair hair like her daddy
b. dark hair like her mommy
4. Her name has been top secret this entire pregnancy... so here I am about to narrow it down for you! Which letter will begin her first name?
a. D
b. L
c. J
d. C
There you go! Have fun guessing! And here's some cute onesies that I happen to like on the cafepress site:
In the meantime, I thought it would be fun to run a little poll regarding the birth stats. To participate, just leave a comment with your answers to the following questions. The winner gets to pick out a cute new onesie from cafepress.com for our baby girl to wear. (Don't worry, I'm buying!) I've picked out a few options, but you are welcome to take a look at some of the other options on the site: http://www.cafepress.com/+baby-bodysuits. My favorite subcategories are "careers and professions", "family and baby", and "humor". Ultimately I will have to okay your choice regarding what my little baby girl will wear, but we can work out those details later! Here's the questions:
1. Knowing that our baby has measured in the 83rd percentile for weight at 34 weeks gestation, and the 97th percentile for weight just today at almost 36 weeks gestation, which of the following weights will best describe her at the time of birth:
a. 5lbs, 5oz
b. 6lbs, 1oz
c. 6lbs, 12oz
d. 7lbs, 7oz
e. 8lbs, 3oz
2. Which time will best describe the time she is born on Friday:
a. 1pm
b. 4pm
c. 7pm
d. 10pm
e. it's going to be a Saturday birth!
3. What color hair will she have?
a. fair hair like her daddy
b. dark hair like her mommy
4. Her name has been top secret this entire pregnancy... so here I am about to narrow it down for you! Which letter will begin her first name?
a. D
b. L
c. J
d. C
There you go! Have fun guessing! And here's some cute onesies that I happen to like on the cafepress site:
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