Brontosaurus Lays an Egg

[Dr. Mobius]

Also,

[Mommy Brontosaurus]

Hi everyone. This will be a bit jumbled probably, because I'm well knackered, but I figured you'd probably want details now and jumbled than wait any longer.

On Monday (33+4), when I posted, I went in for more of the usual bloodwork-pressure readings-pee in a cup. My BP, which was higher than it should have been at the start, quickly climbed to about 160/110. Aw crap, here we go again, can't we just adjust the meds and let me go home? I got admitted again - same bed! I was very glad then that I had packed an overnight bag in advance so all Rei had to do was add my computer and bring it over after work. It was a rather boring night.

Tuesday (33+5) was more tedium, tests, and scary noises from my wonderful consultant (obstetrician), Miss O. "Miss" and "Mister" are apparently honorifics here that doctors earn after more training and specialisation. England is weird. Many attempts were made and drugs administered to try to bring down my BP. No luck. I'm pretty sure by then I had paid for some craptastic 1997 hospital internet, and was mightily annoyed to find pweb blocked. About the only thing that worked was facebook and gmail, and I couldn't even get into my usual email accounts. Couldn't even read my comics!

Wednesday (33+6) morning dawned with further scary noises from Miss O. "Decision time" was how she put it, so we called Rei, who was going to come in later, to come in earlier. It was basically put to me that my BP was dangerously out of control and it was unarguably pre-eclampsia and the only way to fix it was to have the baby. At some point, a friend arrived from Durham to be a companion through this. Miss O examined me to see if there was any point at all in attempting to induce me naturally, or if we'd need to skip straight to c-section. The look on her face after she did so had me convinced I was headed for a section, but it was just shock that actually, I wasn't in bad shape for a natural birth. HILARIOUSLY, she forgot to inform the midwives that this was the case and they could take me off "nil by mouth". I sat around wondering how it was possible to labour when you're starving until 2pm, when someone finally cleared it up. I promptly ate 2 turkey sandwiches, a couple bananas, a yoghurt, and some cheese and crackers. Somewhere in there I was also visited by a priest - it was supposed to be our parish priest, but he was away on holiday, so the local women's prison chaplain came by instead. Much hilarity was had by all about the appropriateness of this.

We finally got me over to the labour ward and I was given the first drug (prostin). I had to sit quietly and let them monitor the baby for an hour, and then it would take a further 5 hours before they could start the drip that would induce contractions. Somewhere during this I started getting horrible cramps and we thought the show might start without further help, but it was just false labour. Very unpleasant! By that point it would be the middle of the night, so I was told to get some rest (ha!) and they'd start the drip early the next day. My friend went home, and a cot was brought in for Rei, and we tried to sleep.

At 5:30 am on Thursday (34 weeks) we were woken and I was offered some toast. Pro tip: refuse the toast. More monitoring. At 6:30, I tried not to panic as the oxytocin drip was established. The next couple hours were highly painful and unpleasant, and my movement was severely restricted by the IV and the monitors attached to my abdomen and the BP cuff around my arm. I was not at home, not in a pool, and couldn't even bounce on the birthing ball. I can't remember when, but a second cannula was inserted in my other hand, just in case. The BP machine was infuriatingly cheerful and kept beeping at me that my BP was climbing! Cheerfully! Beep beep boop! Die, evil machine.

Around about 9:30am, they convinced me to accept a pethidine (demerol) injection, basically because my BP had gotten very high indeed and was not getting a chance to come down between "tightenings". The pethedine was to get me to relax so my BP wouldn't climb so much. I flinched. I have a large bruise. I got seriously stoned. They kept asking me questions and when I assured them I was trying to focus and answer, I was told to relax and just go with it. Then stop asking me questions I need to focus on! Except I was getting too stoned to articulate that. Then I had to get "Bowl. Bowl NOW!" out, which for some reason they didn't move very fast on until Rei insisted "BOWL NOW". Refuse the toast.
For some reason it seemed a really good idea to send Rei home around now to shower and shave and do some tidying. I... am not sure what I was on about with the tidying. Then I more or less passed out on my side. I remember it hurting some, but I was too out of it to really register it.

When we'd been discussing how an induction would go, I'd been told that I'd be checked at 4 hours, and then reassessed for progress after another 4 hours. Now, in retrospect, if I'd known how things would go down, I might have done something different, but 8 hours of steadily climbing blood pressure terrified me.

I remember starting to come out of the pethidine haze eventually. It was hurting again. A LOT. I heard the midwife commenting to the student midwife that I'd missed "three of them". I sort of had, but I hadn't. Man I don't usually react that strongly to drugs. Then there was a really strong contraction. I think that's when they examined me and found I was at 6cm? I kind of regret being so out of it.

I then laboured (around the time of the pethidine injection I guess I'd gone from pre-labour into established labour) for a short while, BP still up scary high. I hate when people make Scary Noises at me. They'd also been pushing an epidural since before they even started the drip, since it lowers blood pressure, and without the pain I would relax naturally. Looking ahead at the hours in front of me, I was weakening. I finally agreed, around 10:45ish. I tell you, if you even think you might want an epidural, go through the information-giving stage ahead of time! It is incredibly difficult to concentrate on the anesthetist's little placard of info while coked out of your head on opiates and in labour pain. Someone went to call Rei to get him back there. He dutifully rushed back in record time. Oh, and he tells me they told him that I was being prepped for an epidural and was at 6cm, so they must have examined me around then.

As they made me sit up and lean forward to stick stuff to my back (what was that, anyway?), I felt a dire need to poop. Also, I was really upset about being made to sit up. More rational Momma Brontosaurus might have made the connection more quickly, but panicked and coked-out Momma Brontosaurus just wanted to poop. This went on for three contractions before anyone realised, at which point all epidural plans were scrapped, I was told to lay on my side, and apparently I was at 10cm. Rei was back, Rei was back, thank God my husband was there because I was so unhappy and in pain. The room seemed totally jammed with people, as the four anesthetists filed back out and the paeds came in with their hot cart.

I pushed for a short while - 6 or 7 contractions? no idea? - and they kept saying "maybe this one, you're almost there, you're doing great", and that they could see the baby's head. I was yelling my head off, Rei calls them "war cries". I remember being told that it was okay it was stinging, that is natural, except it wasn't, and THEN IT WAS. And then the baby's head was out, and I was trying to pant out the body, and I tried, and I couldn't, so I pushed one last time and it felt like the baby just shot across the bed. IT'S A BABY was my dominant thought.

She was grabbed by the paeds and clamped and cord cut in a whirlwind. I asked what time it was, an important question to me since no one remembered when I was born. 11:23am. I saw her on the hot cart being rubbed with towels and puffed with air to stimulate breathing. Rei says I was asked if I wanted an injection to hurry the placenta out and I agreed. That happened pretty fast, too. He asked if it was a boy or girl and was told to go look. "It's a girl!" he reported. Someone nattered at us about the vitamin K injection.

Then I got to hold her briefly. Oh man.

It was a wonderful thing to hold her, not just because you want to hold your baby, but because it meant she was strong and stable enough that she could handle it a short while before being whisked off to the special care baby unit.

Then, um, I don't remember much. I was examined and found to not need stitches (HOORAY), I was taken off the monitors, and told I had to keep the IV in until the drip finished naturally. There was more BP monitoring. The midwife and student cleaned me up, we sat around, and someone brought me some food. Mostly we just waited. Rei went home for a bit and got babysat by a couple friends who fed him and helped him tidy. Eventually the drip finished, someone took out the spare cannula, and I got a bath.

Rei came back, and he was with me almost until they moved me to the post-natal ward, but we got to go see and hold Naomi first. I was feeling pretty decent by this time, and helped carry my stuff over to the ward. Then I took a call from my best friend, posted to facebook, and went to bed. I slept very, very soundly.

Then Friday and Saturday were just more rounds of tests and BP checks and waiting. Endless waiting, punctuated by precious visits to see and cuddle our baby girl. The details are less important there. Then I got to go home today.

It's all a blur. It wasn't the labour I wanted, it was about as far from it as you can get without having a c-section. It was confusing and painful and I'd really like to do it differently next time. I don't know when that will be, because I'm pretty shook up by the whole pre-eclampsia thing. I only laboured 2 hours, and shudder to imagine going any longer. Do women with longer labours get more breaks or something? How has the human race survived all this time?

But I have my baby, who is pink and wriggly and covered in hair, and the most wonderful thing in the universe. Naomi Rose was indeed born at 11:23am on 15 September, 2011. She weighed 2.32kg/5lb 1.8oz, and is roughly 17 1/2 inches long. She was 34 weeks gestation.

Despite being a preemie, she is a chunker of a preemie, which is awesome. She had no trouble breathing, and is almost ready to come out of the incubator and go into a regular cot. She's also learning to suck and has managed some breastfeeding, which is the other major thing she needs to learn before they can let her go from the SCBU. She is not in the NICU, which is a unit within the SCBU. We kind of hope to get her home by 36 weeks gestation time. I'm getting amazing support from the SCBU nurses on breastfeeding, which is a silver lining to the whole situation.

I'm exhausted, and I hope you all enjoy this post. I can't handle posting pictures tonight, but I will try to upload some and post them tomorrow. Thank you a million times for all the prayers and support.

[Jayelle]

Oh my goodness, Ali. I am totally crying.
What a journey to go through! I'm so happy she's here and that she's got good care. I am so proud of you for your strength, it's amazing. Brent, you are amazingly strong too to be by her side through all of this.

Congratulations again, to both of you.

[steph]

Thank you for posting your birth story. Every birth story is amazing and unique and I love them! Yay for no stitches!!! Also, I am so glad that she's been able to do some nursing! That is awesome for how little she is! Your daughter is so lucky to have you and Rei.

I know from experience how it feels to have birth be so different from your desires. It took me a long time to come to terms with how my birth experience went. Even when I knew in my head that it was what needed to happen (Tyler would have been brain damaged or dead without a c-section), it took my heart a long time to accept it. It wasn't until I attended the birth of a dear friend's baby that I felt peace about my lot in the birth life. My wish for you is that you can find peace with this birth and that next time, it can be what you desire.

[Luet]

Thank you so much for taking the time and energy to post your birth story for us. It was amazing and touching to read. You are all so loved!

[Gravity Defier]

I couldn't have asked for a better story. Thank you for taking the time to share it when you're still so tired and thanks for introducing us to Naomi.

[Young Val]

Thank you so much for sharing. Count me among those who cried while reading it. Again, much, much love to you and Brent and your darling girl.

[starlooker]

I love you soooo much. I am tearful. I am so glad she is doing well and that you were able to hold her so soon. I'm also so sorry it was so scary, and incredibly grateful you are okay. Heart is full.

[starlooker]

I feel a bit weird with all that's going on posting about my more run-of-the-mill day-to-day pregnancy things; however, I have no one besides my husband to talk to about it. And there are some things he has trouble appreciating.

Namely: Clothes. Other than to say, "Oh, you look pretty!"

Shopping for maternity clothes is less difficult in some ways than regular clothes shopping. There are fewer sizes to worry about, so once I figure out what size I am in a particular chain, I'm good. It's difficult to find clothes that fit me in the chest, but that's nothing new.

(My belly and my boobs are apparently having some kind of ultimate championship race to see which will stick out the furthest. Belly was the clear frontrunner a week ago, but boobs have made a strong resurgence. Time for bra shopping. Argh!)

I am sticking pretty solidly to maternity clothes because A) I feel like they will give me more room to grow, long-run wise, and B) I am shooting for clothes that scream, "PREGNANT!" but that stop short of having "Baby on Board" embroidered on the front. Because I am terribly self-conscious of the belly at times.

All the difficulties aside, I am pretty proud of the modest little maternity wardrobe I've pieced together over the past couple of weeks, particularly since I don't think I've paid full price for any of the shirts, and am actually really enjoying wearing things out and about. (Well, you know, minus the psychodelic mummuu.) I just got a little black maternity dress mail-ordered from Zulily today, and I was really, really nervous about it, but I love it and it fits. Paired with black tights and new black flats that have bows across the toes. I do think it makes my butt look big, in profile, mainly because of the newly increased distance between the front of my belly and the back of my backside. But I'm chalking that up to paranoia. The whole black ensemble does look a little funereal, but I'm hoping the toe-bows make it a little more cheery. Plus, it has a belt that I could eventually replace with something more colorful. Or I could find more colorful tights.

Also, today, I had the prettiest lacey see-through shirt on top of a tanktop, and it just felt pretty. Flowery, but in a flow-y, not overdone, natural kind of way. Love it. (Do worry that I'll have to stop wearing it if my chest continues its current growth trajectory. Having to have the top buttons undone as it is.)

Anyhow, on the whole, maternity clothes are something I'm enjoying about pregnancy.

~~~

We went to an awesome toy store today, and then to Babies R Us. The toystore has been redone since we were last there, and so it has less baby stuff, but we still had a blast because, you know, hello! Toy store!

Babies R Us was fun, too, although probably more so for me than Donny. Me regarding carseats: "Oh, LOOKIT! LOOKIT the cute little baby seats inside the big seats and OH MY GOSH!" *Dashes over to a brown and pink carseat* "This is IT! Honey, if we have a girl, this is totally the carseat we are getting! Look at it!"

Donny: "Your mother really needs to come and visit you."

But he had a good time, too. Particularly once we got to Winnie-the-Pooh crib sets and toys that made noise that we could set off, because we have no shame whatsoever about pressing buttons and rattling rattles and making tops spin and just enjoying ourselves to bits around toys. Oh, and the little Baby Tigger teething blanket! I'm pretty sure he sees that as a must-have for our child. I had more fun looking at clothes and swaddle blankets than he did, but all in all, a good time was had by both. (Oh, and SHOES! Itty bitty shoes! Talking to Mom on the drive home, "You know they always manage to get the shoes off." Me: "Uh-huh. And that matters because?")

Baby Stuff!

(Of course, we are unlikely to be able to afford a lot of the stuff we go nuts for. But that's okay. I'm putting a lot of faith in the new consignment store I found, the upcoming church rummage sale, and the generosity of our families. And the fact that something has to work out for one of us, employment-wise SOMETIME before the baby gets here. I hope.)

Little Bit? Is that you?

Oh, Little Bit says to say hi to everyone. At least, I think that's what that little flutter meant.

ETA: Oh, and you know what else is awesome? The pregnant-woman parking at Babies R Us. I wish every store had that. Because, man. Back and feet have been SO sore of late. Steph, any good massage tips?

[neo-dragon]

Well Done, Ali and Brent!

Congratulations!

[Gravity Defier]

I feel a bit weird with all that's going on posting about my more run-of-the-mill day-to-day pregnancy things

Well, don't. I don't post much in here but I read it all and that includes all of the "run-of-the-mill day-to-day" things about fluttery tummies and maternity clothes. Which is interesting to read about, not to mention I secretly love that this place is capturing some of the smaller stuff that may have otherwise been lost if it weren't posted here.

[VelvetElvis]

I admit it. I cried.

[Petra456]

I'm so happy for you two, and so excited for Kirsten!

I love this thread : )

[Ela]

Love the name Naomi Rose. Congratulations on the arrival of your baby!

That's a very respectable weight for a 34 week baby. Glad she is doing well.

[Mommy Brontosaurus]

Thanks again, everybody.

I'm actually fairly at peace with how things went down this time, although I'm super glad I outpaced the epidural, because I would have regretted that in the end. It was how it needed to happen for my health and the baby's, and I still got to deliver "naturally". I didn't want drugs, but they really did help since I was so restricted in my other coping methods (i.e., practically none), and not-coping was so dangerous to me.

I can happily report that my blood pressure is being well-managed and is back down to normalish.

Even better, today when we went to visit Naomi, she was out of her incubator! Yay for temperature regulation! She is also out from under the UV light, as she had a touch of jaundice yesterday, and her bilirubins are normal. She was completely uninterested in sucking today, even though she was wide awake and looking around. As the nurse says, she's very young yet and it'll happen from time to time before she gets it all figured out.

She has her daddy's hands and feet, with all long toes and fingers. She likes to curl up and sleep like mommy.

[Gravity Defier]

Yay! What does that mean in terms of her getting to go home? Is it just the sucking that's left to do or do they still want to keep her for other stuff?

[starlooker]

Awwww, yay for temperature regulation! SOOOoooo glad she's out of the incubator, that's WONDERFUL. Genius baby! Brilliant!

~~~

Thought of you, and of me, this morning in church because, YAY! Infant being baptized! He was darling. Chubby little cheeks!

It was the first time I'd seen a baptism at our church, and, man, it was GREAT. I really like what they do. The baptismal font is HUGE, so, along with having the family and godparents up around it, the pastor invites all the kids in the church to come up and watch it as well and tells them to pay attention and what they're going to see, and gets the kids very interested in it. I think that is soooo neat. And it was fun because the pastor really enjoyed parading the baby around after the baptism, and when he went by you could hear him talking to the baby about Jesus.

I would have a hard time performing an infant baptism. I would have the worst time not talking in a baby voice as it was happening. "Receive now the seal-y wealy of Christ, yes it is, oh, do you like that? Yes you do! You're such a cutesy-wootsie little child of God, yes you are!"

The kids around the font were all remarkably well behaved (apparently they've done this a few times). What was really sweet was, in the back, there was a kid who was maybe, what, seven or eight? And his little brother, who was maybe two? (I think it was his brother.) And so, big brother was just matter of factly lifting up his little brother to make sure he could see.

~~~

After the service, we went shopping. Silly me, I thought we were just picking up a few things. Ooops. Yeah. Totally forgot that today was the Casserole Queens demonstration. (They won a Throwdown with Bobby Flay with their chicken pot pie.) So, we watched that. Well, no, actually, Donny watched that and I went and sat in a recliner in the furniture display and read the back of my Dr. Scholl's inserts. Came back in time to eat the samples

We got their cookbook, and we got it signed, and that was fun. We asked them to sign it, To Don, Kirsten, and Little Bit. And the Casserole Queens thought that calling the baby Little Bit was adorable and cute and wonderfully sweet. That was really neat, because I'm just so used to it now. I have a feeling my child is going to be known as Little Bit until he or she is old enough to strenuously object to it. And probably occasionally afterwards, too.

[Mommy Brontosaurus]

And Kirsten, I totally want to keep hearing about how things are going for you! It's been such a whirlwind and I miss just thinking about normal things, and I love talking to you. We are still pregnancy buddies! I'm just a bit ahead of schedule, is all.

[starlooker]

Thanks! It helps to hear that. And, after all, soon enough I will be at that finish line my own self and we can compare postpartum recovery stories

[steph]

I'm actually fairly at peace with how things went down this time

Yay! You're way ahead of where I was. That makes me happy.

[Mommy Brontosaurus]

Our priest came in for a visit today. He gave her a blessing. He really loves babies, and whenever he does a baptism, he does all the formalities and ritual and then always leans in and whispers "Good job!" or "Don't worry, it's all over now" or something. He always waves at the little ones as he processes, too. I'm quite happy to have him do the baptism for Naomi.

[starlooker]

Conversation with my little brother.

"Hi, Bubba, how are you?"

"Good! I saw your pictures."

"Yeah, I'm really looking pregnant, aren't I?"

"You look fat, Sister."

"I do not, I look pregnant."

"You look fat."

"Well, fine then. Never mind! I guess I won't ask you to be our child's godfather after all!"

"Wait, what? You were going to ask me to be godfather?"

"Oh, I guess I still am. But I'm pregnant, not fat."

"You were going to ask me to be godfather?"

"I still am, silly. I was teasing. Bubba, do you want to be our child's godfather?"

"ON IT! YEAH, SISTER!"

People wonder if our relationship is different from most siblings, given that we're twelve years apart in age. From now on, I believe I will use this conversation as Exhibit A: Not That Different.

[Mich]

Our priest came in for a visit today. He gave her a blessing. He really loves babies, and whenever he does a baptism, he does all the formalities and ritual and then always leans in and whispers "Good job!" or "Don't worry, it's all over now" or something. He always waves at the little ones as he processes, too. I'm quite happy to have him do the baptism for Naomi.

No matter what my current faith status, I always appreciate a good priest. I tend to think that how they treat infant baptisms/blessings/what have you the ultimate test of patience and cool.

Plus, you know, face-to-face conversation.

[Mommy Brontosaurus]

Mommy Brontosaurus is utterly knackered. Once we get to take Naomi home, we plan to have a small gathering of all the friends who have supported (fed) us and celebrate with champagne (real champagne). We have a LOT of thank-you cards to write. I'm not sure if this is the "baby blues" or not, because I don't feel sad or down at all, just exhausted. Back and forthing to the hospital is tiring, even though we're only 10 minutes' walk away.

We're moving on Wednesday, and again that will involve mobilising the troops, who will be thanked in some way I haven't thought of yet. It will be nice to have a home for her. Rei is seriously nesting now that the baby's here; it is adorable.

And now, what you've all been waiting for!

Naomi, a few hours old:





A big-butt baby!



The family:



Comfy snoozes:



Adorable funny hats!



Getting comfy back in bed

[Young Val]

SUPER CUTE! What a beautiful family!

[Luet]

I kept saying "Awwwww!" out loud to every single picture!!

I'm already in a teary mood but this made me even more teary. So happy to see her. You all look beautiful.

Is that a tube feeder down her nose? Does she have that out at this point?

[Gravity Defier]

You weren't kidding about her fingers being long; what an itty bitty baby! She's precious and your family picture is the best. Look at how proud daddy looks! You also look fabulous, Ali. Beautiful family. Simply beautiful.

[starlooker]

*love*

She's so, so, so beautiful. I feel all tender-hearted and just amazed looking at the three of you, especially the new one. I love those long fingers. A little teary, too. She's so little and perfect and lovely.

Oh, I want a baby! I know, I know, if I wait long enough, I will have one. I thought the ovary-twitching biological clock paused during pregnancy. Nope. Baby fever.

[Petra456]

You two look so happy, and she's adorable! The family picture is the best <3

[Noodle]

those pictures might just constitute the best post I've ever seen on PWeb.

totally awesome!

[LilBee91]

Aww. She's adorable. You all look great.

And I love her big butt.

[Gravity Defier]

And you cannot lie?

[Jayelle]

Aww! She is adorable and beautiful.

She's got such a nice amount of chub for being born so early! She doesn't look much smaller then Ginny was at 41 weeks. I love the hair!

*melts*

[LilBee91]

And you cannot lie?

You others posters can't deny.

[Mich]

Some families have ugly babies. P-Webbers never do. It's like genetic or something.

Nice work, gang!