wigblog ramblings of a philomathic polymath

She’s here!

Well we're finally home, and I've been away from the computer for longer than I can remember. Madeline arrived at 6:13PM June 29th, weighing 7 lbs. 3 oz, and is 18.5" long. I kept a pretty good record of the whole event which I'll post later, but for now, we're pretty tired, but we do have some pictures to share... enjoy!

UPDATE: I've finally added the notes I took while in the hospital. Read on to see them...

6/28/2005

• 5:15P - We arrived at the hospital & dropped our bags in the room assigned to us, and then went to visit our friends Neil & Missy who had delivered their new baby Lily the day before
• 6:00P - Got Jess all checked in at nurse's station in labor and delivery ward. Once situated in the room, monitoring straps were placed on Jess' belly, one to monitor baby's heart rate, and one for contraction monitoring. Jess also had an IV catheter inserted in her forearm.
• 7:30P - Jess got cervidil which is an agent to assist in softening and dilating the cervix. After this was in place, I went to cafeteria and picked up a couple of M&M ice cream sandwiches for the both of us. We settled in and watched Office Space while contractions started. I was thinking something like Alien would have been more appropriate.   Jess' contractions increased in frequency and intensity (her description: like strong menstrual cramps).
• 10:00P - Cervidil was removed due to the contractions getting too close together and some of fairly long duration (contractions were 4, then 3 minutes apart, eventually got as close as 90 sec). Vicodin & ambien were administered to help Jess with any pain and to be able to get some sleep. Contractions stopped after cervidil was removed... and we went to sleep. The nurses came in every hour, adjusted monitoring straps and just checked on things in general.

6/29/2005

• 7:30A - Nurse came in and checked: @ 2cm now and 70% effaced
• pitocin administered
• 8:30A - Dr. Silverman came in and checked: "a good 2cm" and 80% effaced
• Dr. broke water with the AmniHook
• contractions continued. more and more painful.
• 9:45A - Anesthesiologist who had been in a C-section finally made it
• Epidural in and things much better very rapidly
• Haven't noticed any contractions since epidural in
• 12:41P -  Nurse Kristina came in to check and 3.5cm dialated and 100% effaced
• Dr. Silverman came in shortly after to check and we told her nurse just had and what the status was. She was very pleased to hear and said we were moving right along.
• Jess starving for steak or orange juice (not together)
• 2:00P - Parents had all shown up and were in room visiting
• 3:00P - Nurse came back to check on Jess' progress so parents were kicked out of room
• Expecting 5-6cm, but no.... time to start pushing
• They don't like to have pushing more than 3 hours... we went 2:45
• Doctor checked on us every once in awhile... at about 2 and a half hours into pushing, she said she thought we had gone far enough that a vacuum assist would do the trick.
• Parent's were real curious as to what the heck was going on. Got calls from several of them while in there pushing
• Doc came in to get prepped along with 2 additional nurses from nursery
• 6:13P - One contraction later on 3rd push Maddie's head popped out followed relatively easy by rest of body. Eyes were open from start.
• Put her on mom's belly for a few minutes before taking her over to warming table to be cleaned up and checked out.
• Jess had 3 tears which were being taken care of while Maddie was being checked out and I watched over her.
• After cleaning up and swaddling, I got to hold her for a bit.
• After a little more, they came in to get Maddie's official measurements: 7lb. 3oz. 18.5" long
• A little more time passed and nurse came in to give 1st bath. Maddie had no complaints, happy as a clam the whole time.
• 8:45P - We were moved to recovery room, also very nice and just hung out for a bit.
• Nurses came regularly through the night to check various stats on baby and help Jess go to the bathroom and change her dressings and whatnot.

6/30/2005

Various checks through the day. Several visits from family, friends and the pediatric practice. All is well.

7/1/2005

Maddie got the PKU (heel prick) test this morning. She didn't enjoy it too much... understandably. They have to fill these 5 circles on a little "test card" with her blood, so it takes some time. She also had the California mandated hearing test. Hearing passed with flying colors. We'll have to wait and see about the PKU test when the results are mailed to the pediatrician. Speaking of the pediatrician, she also came to visit and had glowing remarks. Also did a weight check and her discharge weight was 6 lbs. 13 oz.

A couple more family member visits and we got all prepped to check out. I carted our belongings and gifts out in two loads using this kids wagon... pretty funny experience. We finally got out of there just in time for the northbound rush on the I-5 that afternoon.