Thursday, March 29, 2012

Trip is Here

Trip Long-Suffering was born Monday, March 19th at 10:06 am.  He weighed 8 lbs 9 ounces (at 39w2d).  He was 21" long (my shortest baby so far).  He was screaming before he was all the way out (someone was still laying on top of me pushing from the top...if you've never had a c-section it's an experience... much like I assume having a baby the other way is). 

They dangled him over me to see.  His Apgars were 8 and 9.  All appeared to be perfect.  He went off to the nursery with Mr. Long-Suffering and then things went wonky.  I'm a little unclear on the details and it was a couple of days until we knew for sure (there was talk of bowel obstruction and other un-fun stuff) but it looks like he didn't get enough squeezing on his way out coupled with the early breathing that had him inhaling fluid into his lungs.  His chest x-ray was fuzzy and showed fluid and his stomach was filling with mucus.  So, he did spend over 4 days in the NICU and if I live another 100 years and never step foot inside a NICU again that would be alright and just fine with me. 

After about a day and a half it was clear that Trip was going to be OK and that he was fine, but it was still so terribly stressful.  My hat is off to all of those who have 10-day, 3-month, and even longer NICU stays.  Their strength encourages me.  The baby next to Trip had been there for 70 days so far and was at 37 weeks, adjusted.  She was not getting out any time soon.  Her mom still cried every day while she was there holding her daughter.  Harder than that was seeing dads crying.  And first-time parents (whose babies were about as healthy as ours) looked far more shell-shocked than we were.

We didn't know whether Trip was going to be discharged with me or after me.  Since I had a c-section, I was allowed to stay 4 days in the hospital.  I ws probably well enough to go home after 2 (or definitely after 3) but I was not leaving the hospital if I could help it. 

Trip was 10 hours old before they would let me get out of bed into a wheelchair to go to the NICU to see him.  As soon as I got there, they took him out of his giraffe isolette and let me hold him.  He had so many wires, leads, and tape (pulse ox, NG tube, IV with a little board to straighten his hand, temperature sensor, blood pressure cuff on his tiny ankle).  I cried.  I kissed him.  Mr. Long-Suffering was a little angry that he had been at Trip's bedside for hours and no one had offered to let him hold Trip and along I come and BAM, baby out of the box.  (Of little consolation to him was the next time I was there I couldn't hold him and just sat at his side cupping the top of his head (his fuzzy, downy head)).

The biggest, fattest, least-sick baby in the NICU (and it still made me cry).

Things happened then, and I am still a little weepy and angry about the whole ordeal so let's just jump ahead to Friday when we had proven that we cared, knew what we were doing, jumped through the hoops and over all hurdles they put in our way, played their little games, and promised to keep him alive if they would let us take him home.  So, he was discharged, and I instructed Mr. Long-Suffering to go and get Trip and bring him to my room so they couldn't change their minds while we waited for me to be discharged.

We put that baby in the car seat and high-tailed it out of the hospital so fast the elderly volunteer at the front desk never even saw us leave.

Tuesday, March 06, 2012

Getting Closer

I had my 36.5 week ob visit.  All was well.  The swelling is considered typical, the pelvic pain is also typical (typical,  but OMG ouch!).  Everything else is swimming along.  I do not currently weigh more than my husband, though I still have 12 days to go.  I was told to come back in 2 weeks or call if I had any problems in the meantime.  I was like, "Really, come back...how about I just meet you in the operating room in 2.5 weeks?"  "No.  See you in 2 weeks."  Ok then.

I bought a Kindle Fire last night.  I know!  Such a frivolous purchase.  And yet, with about 4 hours/day that will be spent nursing in the next few weeks, I would love a one-handed reading option, so I bought it.  Should arrive tomorrow. 

I was emailing with a friend and I wrote:  "I nearly forgot that I have to keep this baby alive and the only thing that will keep him breathing is my constant vigilance and staring at him really, really hard.  How did I forget that part of new-mom neurosis?"  It's funny because it's true.  That is how new moms feel (at least in the beginning).  I wonder if it hits you the same way when you're on your third as on your first and second.

The impending arrival of a third child has had me madly googling things like "narrow car seat", "narrow booster seat", "three across car seat".  Let's just say that it hasn't been very fruitful.  I have no problem buying all new car seats, but I can't see how I will get three of them across even if I buy new ones.  The Chicco Keyfit seems to be the narrowest infant carrier.  Then maybe the Sunshine Kids Radian for the forward facing car seat.  Most of the narrow booster seats are unavailable or discontinued.  I could get Chuckles a Radian, but he might be nearing the weight limit of that seat.  For the record, I love his Graco Nautilus 3-in-1 that harnesses to 65 pounds and then works to 100 pounds.  It's awesome.  Awesome and wide.

So, I stumbled on a solution for everyone else's car for short trips. It's the Bubblebum Inflatable booster seat.  It doesn't seem nearly sturdy enough for every day or long trip use, but I think it will do nicely in a pinch if someone needs to pick Chuckles up from school if he's sick and bring him the 3/4 mile home.

I saw a picture a man took of three car seats installed in the back of a Prius so I am pretty sure I can do it in my much larger car, but I need to go to the store and install them all before I buy them to make sure they work.  Do they let you do that at Babies R Us?  Their return policy is terrible, so I would really want to be sure before I bought them.  Amazon has an awesome return policy on car seats but that seems like a lot of effort to return and get new ones sent, etc.  I have enough car seats and configurations that it's not an emergency, but it's not ideal (someone will have to enter the vehicle via the tailgate because with car seats installed, the flip-and-fold seats neither flip nor fold to allow access to the third row).

Thursday, March 01, 2012

TechnoFAIL

My mom called me the other day (at work) to tell me she got a smartphone. Then she asked for my cell phone number.


I said, “No, I’m not giving it to you.”

She said, “But now I can text you.”

I responded, “Exactly, but I don’t have a good text package, and you’re a local call. Just call me if you need me. I’m not going to pay 20 cents so you can text me.”

She has my home and work numbers. (I can’t believe someone gave her my work number…it’s like they don’t even know how I try to limit the ways she can reach me because she doesn’t do boundaries.) If she had my cell phone number, all of a sudden I would be paying big money so she could tell me that sliced Bavarian ham is on sale at a grocery store I don’t shop, but she had it for lunch.

My sister called me yesterday to ask why I let mom get a smartphone. “Uhhh, I didn’t ‘let’ her. She told me after she did it. And why did you let her have your cell number?” Well, my sister has been receiving 10 texts per hour that look like this:
###Deleted: yes

terba, Klonopin, vertigal, Seroquel, what do you think?

%####%___this testing [sic] is hard

maybe I should ask my doctor.
My sister has no idea what she’s talking about since that is how they come through…so incomplete. So incoherent.   So..lacking in context.

Last night I got this text from my sister:

IIFrr.S 1 <-- the preceding was a text I rec’d from mom. What the heck? I will be really upset if I receive naked pictures.
I just started laughing, because if mom is butt-texting my sister, I’m sure she could accidentally butt photo text her. Hee hee.

And the moral of the story is:  Why did you let mom have your cell phone number?

(Regular ob visit today.  We will see if I now weigh more than my husband.  Did you know the Thin Mints are in early this year?  Also, I got a call from the scheduler at the hospital, and they scheduled my surgery for the 19th at 11:30 am (aka the birth of my third child.))