A Very Belated Birthday Post
12 years ago
Monday, September 28, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
The labor
We found ourselves down at Fisherman's Wharf around 11am. We got a call from our doula as we walked through the Aquatic Park and she gave us a great pep-talk. After that, we stopped at the Hyde Street Pier, somewhere neither of us had been before. As we walked up the pier K said that she was feeling rather damp. A quick dash into the bathroom confirmed not very much. Sometimes when water breaks it happens high up on the bag of water, so the fluid escapes very slowly. Only one thing to do in that case, which is wait.
After seeing the sea lions at Pier 39 we had lunch, a tourist-tastic bread bowl filled with clam chowder. It was now that K was able to confirm that her water had broken and was leaking gradually. We dashed home to wait for contractions to begin. Helped along by the laughter from a Peter Sellers Pink Panther movie, the did just that at around 5pm. Initially they were just 25 minutes apart, but with two at 9 minutes followed by some at 4 minutes we started to move into golden period: waiting for one hour of strong contractions at least 5 minutes apart. Pretty soon though they were at 2-3 minutes apart and were very strong.
I called our doula who was enroute and told her we were thinking of going to the hospital and she should meet us there, but by then she was just a couple of minutes away. Once she arrived she helped K through another few contractions, all very intense, and then we decided to go to the hospital. I was starting to worry that we'd waited too long - this was all going very, very fast.
We left the house at 7:58, with contractions coming so fast that we couldn't get out to the car without another contraction coming. The key was to drive smoothly and safely without going slowly. The grab handle proved to be K's best friend all the way, as she experienced about another 7 contractions in the car.
I dropped K and our doula off at 8:14 and parked in the adjacent lot. When I got back into the OB triage K was starting to get on a monitor. The nurse was rather brusque and too slow for my taste. She was also annoyed that we hadn't called ahead (like we had time....) When she finally got around to checking dilation she discovered it was an amazing 9cm!!! WAAAAHHHH! The nurses kicked into action, calling ahead to find out what delivery room was closest to the elevators. It was clear that we were now very short of time. Mere moments after K's gurney was rolled into the delivery room, our OB Dr. U showed up. In addition to being on call, she was also on-site and we were delighted that she'd be the one to do the delivery. Dr. U was also really excited. K was now starting to get the urge to push which we'd learned that you have to try to not do. However Dr. U surprisingly said that it was okay. Once on the bed, the staff scrambled to get the room prepped and as soon as they were ready they said that it was time. K had hoped to deliver in a squat position but there was no time to get squat bars. She certainly didn't want to be on her back, so she got on her hands and knees to take the pressure off her spine. Turns out that this would be how she stayed. Finally the pushing began, but since the monitors weren't working properly, Dr. U told K that she had to keep going - we didn't know what the baby's heartbeat was doing. We reached a point where normally a woman could stop pushing for a mo, but not this time. With our doula's support, K kept going, and for the first time I left her side to see what was going on. I could see the head! I quickly moved back to K and told her we were close and that she should dig deep. Summoning all her courage and effort, she made one huge push. I stepped around and watched as the baby's head emerged in entirety. One last push and out came the baby's body. "It's a girl" exclaimed Dr. U. The doc suctioned out some fluid whilst K got off her hands and knees. I got to cut the cord and then little Poppy was free to meet her Mum.
It was 8:53pm.
After seeing the sea lions at Pier 39 we had lunch, a tourist-tastic bread bowl filled with clam chowder. It was now that K was able to confirm that her water had broken and was leaking gradually. We dashed home to wait for contractions to begin. Helped along by the laughter from a Peter Sellers Pink Panther movie, the did just that at around 5pm. Initially they were just 25 minutes apart, but with two at 9 minutes followed by some at 4 minutes we started to move into golden period: waiting for one hour of strong contractions at least 5 minutes apart. Pretty soon though they were at 2-3 minutes apart and were very strong.
I called our doula who was enroute and told her we were thinking of going to the hospital and she should meet us there, but by then she was just a couple of minutes away. Once she arrived she helped K through another few contractions, all very intense, and then we decided to go to the hospital. I was starting to worry that we'd waited too long - this was all going very, very fast.
We left the house at 7:58, with contractions coming so fast that we couldn't get out to the car without another contraction coming. The key was to drive smoothly and safely without going slowly. The grab handle proved to be K's best friend all the way, as she experienced about another 7 contractions in the car.
I dropped K and our doula off at 8:14 and parked in the adjacent lot. When I got back into the OB triage K was starting to get on a monitor. The nurse was rather brusque and too slow for my taste. She was also annoyed that we hadn't called ahead (like we had time....) When she finally got around to checking dilation she discovered it was an amazing 9cm!!! WAAAAHHHH! The nurses kicked into action, calling ahead to find out what delivery room was closest to the elevators. It was clear that we were now very short of time. Mere moments after K's gurney was rolled into the delivery room, our OB Dr. U showed up. In addition to being on call, she was also on-site and we were delighted that she'd be the one to do the delivery. Dr. U was also really excited. K was now starting to get the urge to push which we'd learned that you have to try to not do. However Dr. U surprisingly said that it was okay. Once on the bed, the staff scrambled to get the room prepped and as soon as they were ready they said that it was time. K had hoped to deliver in a squat position but there was no time to get squat bars. She certainly didn't want to be on her back, so she got on her hands and knees to take the pressure off her spine. Turns out that this would be how she stayed. Finally the pushing began, but since the monitors weren't working properly, Dr. U told K that she had to keep going - we didn't know what the baby's heartbeat was doing. We reached a point where normally a woman could stop pushing for a mo, but not this time. With our doula's support, K kept going, and for the first time I left her side to see what was going on. I could see the head! I quickly moved back to K and told her we were close and that she should dig deep. Summoning all her courage and effort, she made one huge push. I stepped around and watched as the baby's head emerged in entirety. One last push and out came the baby's body. "It's a girl" exclaimed Dr. U. The doc suctioned out some fluid whilst K got off her hands and knees. I got to cut the cord and then little Poppy was free to meet her Mum.
It was 8:53pm.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Laying the foundations for labor
We're home, and doing our best to keep friends and family in the loop, so it's been an afternoon of uploading, tagging and updating. Meanwhile Poppy eats and sleeps.
To tell the labor story properly, it is worth considering how things had gone in the previous few days. On Friday there had been 13 hours of irregular and light contractions that turned out to be false labor. Saturday turned into a bit of a bummer since we had to accept that fact, and face up to the idea that we could be waiting until 12 days past the due date and end up with an induction.
On Sunday morning we gave ourselves a little pep-talk. We looked at some posts on the Berkeley Parents Network which seemed to indicate that an induction doesn't equal a c-section, and then we talked about the positives of an induction (scheduling a time when our OB would be on-call, doing it during the day as opposed to late at night etc.) Finally we started making plans to DO STUFF. First up, a day playing tourist at Fisherman's Wharf. Then on Tuesday, the Australian Pink Floyd show in Oakland. I would plan on working with my band on our album and K would start working with her team on their final project in their Masters program.
With all this in mind we headed to Fishermans Wharf, determined to make the best of things. It was there that things took a rather interesting turn...
To tell the labor story properly, it is worth considering how things had gone in the previous few days. On Friday there had been 13 hours of irregular and light contractions that turned out to be false labor. Saturday turned into a bit of a bummer since we had to accept that fact, and face up to the idea that we could be waiting until 12 days past the due date and end up with an induction.
On Sunday morning we gave ourselves a little pep-talk. We looked at some posts on the Berkeley Parents Network which seemed to indicate that an induction doesn't equal a c-section, and then we talked about the positives of an induction (scheduling a time when our OB would be on-call, doing it during the day as opposed to late at night etc.) Finally we started making plans to DO STUFF. First up, a day playing tourist at Fisherman's Wharf. Then on Tuesday, the Australian Pink Floyd show in Oakland. I would plan on working with my band on our album and K would start working with her team on their final project in their Masters program.
With all this in mind we headed to Fishermans Wharf, determined to make the best of things. It was there that things took a rather interesting turn...
Monday, September 21, 2009
She's here!
The Raspberry is now Poppy. Born tonight at 8:53pm, 20 minutes after arriving at the hospital, 20", 7lbs 14oz of healthy girl with a 9 and a 10 on her APGAR tests.
Her full name is Poppiano McRae Nelson-Smith.
Pics to follow...
Her full name is Poppiano McRae Nelson-Smith.
Pics to follow...
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Welcome to labor, now go away
From 9am yesterday, it was contraction after contraction. This is it, we thought! Nothing too strong, and nothing too regular, but anything from 2 to 25 minutes apart, and from 10 to 40 seconds in duration. We packed our bags, made sure to eat plain, soft foods and waited for things to ramp up.
As we approached 10pm, it was clear that nothing dramatic would happen anytime soon. Following our doula's advice, we decided to try to slow things down a little so that we could get a good night's sleep. Hopefully things would get more intense in the morning. A small glass of dark beer and an early night seemed like a good idea.
What happened instead is that the moment K's head hit the pillow, the contractions stopped, and here we are in the middle of the next day waiting for them to start up again.
This is seriously frustrating. For two weeks we've been told that "it could happen at any moment". And then when it does, it actually doesn't.
As we approached 10pm, it was clear that nothing dramatic would happen anytime soon. Following our doula's advice, we decided to try to slow things down a little so that we could get a good night's sleep. Hopefully things would get more intense in the morning. A small glass of dark beer and an early night seemed like a good idea.
What happened instead is that the moment K's head hit the pillow, the contractions stopped, and here we are in the middle of the next day waiting for them to start up again.
This is seriously frustrating. For two weeks we've been told that "it could happen at any moment". And then when it does, it actually doesn't.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Looking for clues
The latest news is that there is no real news. The last visit to the doc on Thursday showed 2.5-3cm dilation, so a slight change over the previous week. Our OB is the on-call doc today, Friday and Sunday, so we were hoping it would happen on one of those three days because she is such a lovely person and we'd be delighted to have her run the show. With that in mind we began to deploy some natural induction methods yesterday (if you don't know what this means, Google it, you'll figure it out...)
Today we woke to find ourselves still waiting, so natural induction continues, with K going for another vigorous walk around the hill and eating licorice. Of note is that she thinks she's feeling that natural burst of energy that is very often a sign that labor is just around the corner. Her friend told her that that is how things went for her: itchy feet (figuratively), a walk, then weariness. Then BAM, labor.
As if the waiting isn't frutrating enough, our friend E mentioned that her friend who has a due date one day after ours had her baby yesterday, with virtually no warning signs to indicate it was gonna happen. Damn! They totally beat us to the punch. C'mon Raspberry, pack your bags, time to move to your new room....
Today we woke to find ourselves still waiting, so natural induction continues, with K going for another vigorous walk around the hill and eating licorice. Of note is that she thinks she's feeling that natural burst of energy that is very often a sign that labor is just around the corner. Her friend told her that that is how things went for her: itchy feet (figuratively), a walk, then weariness. Then BAM, labor.
As if the waiting isn't frutrating enough, our friend E mentioned that her friend who has a due date one day after ours had her baby yesterday, with virtually no warning signs to indicate it was gonna happen. Damn! They totally beat us to the punch. C'mon Raspberry, pack your bags, time to move to your new room....
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Package tracking
Well this is an interesting situation. We've been told that "it can happen anytime now". Suddenly, the birth isn't a future thing, it's a "now" thing.
Pretend you've bought something really cool from Amazon.com. You've received the UPS tracking number. You've waited a few days, and now the tracking says the package is "out for delivery". You know that by the end of the day, you'll have the package. But it doesn't make it any easier waiting for the man or woman in brown to show up at your door with the really cool thing you've been desperately waiting for.
Although K & I both have major projects that need completion prior to the birth, I'm still chomping at the bit. Patience grasshopper....
Pretend you've bought something really cool from Amazon.com. You've received the UPS tracking number. You've waited a few days, and now the tracking says the package is "out for delivery". You know that by the end of the day, you'll have the package. But it doesn't make it any easier waiting for the man or woman in brown to show up at your door with the really cool thing you've been desperately waiting for.
Although K & I both have major projects that need completion prior to the birth, I'm still chomping at the bit. Patience grasshopper....
Friday, September 4, 2009
Dilation
16 days before the due date.
Dilation: 2cm
75% effaced.
Like father like son or daughter: would rather be early and wait around than be late and stressed out about being late.
Pack the bags!
Dilation: 2cm
75% effaced.
Like father like son or daughter: would rather be early and wait around than be late and stressed out about being late.
Pack the bags!
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