From the moment I saw Makayla, I thought she looked so much like Mason when he was a baby. But, today I decided to dig through old pictures to compare. They look like the same baby!
Thursday, March 15, 2012
My babies are identical!
From the moment I saw Makayla, I thought she looked so much like Mason when he was a baby. But, today I decided to dig through old pictures to compare. They look like the same baby!
3 Weeks Old
I can't believe 3 weeks has passed already! Efe returned to work on Monday, so this is the first week I have been having to do it all alone. It was so nice having him home for so long. He was such a great help to me and, after just coming out of his busy season where he was working non-stop, I was just happy to get to spend so much time with him around. We missed him!
Monday was hard, and Tuesday was harder. The hardest part is helping Mason with his homework and fixing dinner, because that is normally when Makayla is awake and it seems to be her fussy period. She really isn't that "fussy", but she demands to be fed constantly so that makes it hard for me to get anything done.
But, Wednesday and today were much easier. I put her in the stroller instead of the sling to go pick Mason up from school on Wednesday, and she ended up sleeping an hour in her stroller after we got home. I had time to fix dinner and help Mason with his homework.
Monday was hard, and Tuesday was harder. The hardest part is helping Mason with his homework and fixing dinner, because that is normally when Makayla is awake and it seems to be her fussy period. She really isn't that "fussy", but she demands to be fed constantly so that makes it hard for me to get anything done.
But, Wednesday and today were much easier. I put her in the stroller instead of the sling to go pick Mason up from school on Wednesday, and she ended up sleeping an hour in her stroller after we got home. I had time to fix dinner and help Mason with his homework.
Mason absolutely adores his new sister. He is constantly kissing her and hugging her and asking to hold her. He calls her "Chubby-chubs" because she is so chunky. It seems appropriate because when I took her for her pediatrician appointment at 2.5 weeks she was 9lb2oz, which is almost a pound over her birth weight! She was 90th percentile for both height and weight. Mason was such a tiny baby, so this is definitely strange having such a large one.
Postpartum
After a hard and draining labor, we moved to the postpartum room. I was so happy to have everything behind us and to relax with the new baby. Efe went to pick up Mason and brought him to the hospital. When they got there, they told us that Makayla would not be in the room with us for a couple of hours because she had to have an xray of her arm as they feared it might be broken from the delivery. Mason was disappointed to not get to meet his new sister, but they did hold her up from the nursery so he could see what she looked like. Then, Efe and Mason went home.
A while later they finally brought Makayla back to my room. The nurse was helping me to use the bathroom when apparently I was losing too much blood. I had no idea what was normal, but I was having a hemorrhage. She didn't say anything about it, just told me she would be right back.
When she came back, she had two doctors and 4 nurses with her. I was immediately scared and did not understand what was happening. They told me I was hemorrhaging because my uterus was not clamping down properly. They also said that the doctor would have to reach into my uterus to remove all the blood clots so that my uterus would clamp down.
While they were telling me this, the nurses were putting two IV ports into my arms. One for morphine and one for a blood transfusion. They gave me the morphine and asked if I felt it yet. I felt nothing, but the doctor said we couldn't wait any longer so she had to proceed. I have never felt anything so painful and I was literally screaming at the top of my lungs and begging her to stop. The worst part was that after she pulled out the clots she said she didn't get them all and had to do it again. Finally they were done and luckily the doctor said my blood loss was borderline so they decided to not give me the transfusion. She said it would take about 3 months for my body to get back to normal and that I might feel very tired for a while.
The doctors all left and all the nurses except for my main nurse too. I was really regretting telling Efe to go home with Mason. I hated being there alone. It was just already such a difficult time with the hard labor, and worrying if Makayla was OK, that I just couldn't deal with this on top of it. I literally just laid there and cried for several hours. My nurse recommended I watch TV for a bit to see if that would calm me down. So I did and I finally started feeling better.
Efe brought Mason to meet his new sister the next day. He was totally smitten with her. My mom came with them because she had come to watch Mason for us. She kept asking if she could hold the baby and Mason told her no because he wanted to hold her all day.
The next day we were checked out of the hospital. They debated keeping me another night because of the blood loss and my blood pressure was still high but I told them I would come in if I felt bad and they decided it would be fine for me to go home.
Unfortunately, a couple days after getting home, my blood pressure was very high. It was even higher than when I was in the hospital before. I had to go back and was readmitted into the hospital for monitoring overnight. I was thankful my mom was there to watch Mason because they would only let Makayla stay in my room if there was an adult there to watch her (since she was no longer a patient).
I was also having horrible headaches that I thought was from my blood pressure, but they later realized it was from the epidural. They were so bad when I would sit or stand, but went away when I laid down. The doctors suggested I drink lots of caffeine, so Efe went and got me a big latte and for the first time since giving birth my headache was much better! I was really excited to be prescribed drinking caffeine because coffee is my favorite thing.
The doctors decided to put me on blood pressure medication and released me from the hospital the next day. I'm still taking the meds, but my blood pressure is slowly dropping. The doctor said it should go down to normal within a few months and then they will wean me from the blood pressure meds.
It was a long and hard journey, but the result was worth it. I was so happy to go home and be out of that place.
A while later they finally brought Makayla back to my room. The nurse was helping me to use the bathroom when apparently I was losing too much blood. I had no idea what was normal, but I was having a hemorrhage. She didn't say anything about it, just told me she would be right back.
When she came back, she had two doctors and 4 nurses with her. I was immediately scared and did not understand what was happening. They told me I was hemorrhaging because my uterus was not clamping down properly. They also said that the doctor would have to reach into my uterus to remove all the blood clots so that my uterus would clamp down.
While they were telling me this, the nurses were putting two IV ports into my arms. One for morphine and one for a blood transfusion. They gave me the morphine and asked if I felt it yet. I felt nothing, but the doctor said we couldn't wait any longer so she had to proceed. I have never felt anything so painful and I was literally screaming at the top of my lungs and begging her to stop. The worst part was that after she pulled out the clots she said she didn't get them all and had to do it again. Finally they were done and luckily the doctor said my blood loss was borderline so they decided to not give me the transfusion. She said it would take about 3 months for my body to get back to normal and that I might feel very tired for a while.
The doctors all left and all the nurses except for my main nurse too. I was really regretting telling Efe to go home with Mason. I hated being there alone. It was just already such a difficult time with the hard labor, and worrying if Makayla was OK, that I just couldn't deal with this on top of it. I literally just laid there and cried for several hours. My nurse recommended I watch TV for a bit to see if that would calm me down. So I did and I finally started feeling better.
Efe brought Mason to meet his new sister the next day. He was totally smitten with her. My mom came with them because she had come to watch Mason for us. She kept asking if she could hold the baby and Mason told her no because he wanted to hold her all day.
The next day we were checked out of the hospital. They debated keeping me another night because of the blood loss and my blood pressure was still high but I told them I would come in if I felt bad and they decided it would be fine for me to go home.
Unfortunately, a couple days after getting home, my blood pressure was very high. It was even higher than when I was in the hospital before. I had to go back and was readmitted into the hospital for monitoring overnight. I was thankful my mom was there to watch Mason because they would only let Makayla stay in my room if there was an adult there to watch her (since she was no longer a patient).
I was also having horrible headaches that I thought was from my blood pressure, but they later realized it was from the epidural. They were so bad when I would sit or stand, but went away when I laid down. The doctors suggested I drink lots of caffeine, so Efe went and got me a big latte and for the first time since giving birth my headache was much better! I was really excited to be prescribed drinking caffeine because coffee is my favorite thing.
The doctors decided to put me on blood pressure medication and released me from the hospital the next day. I'm still taking the meds, but my blood pressure is slowly dropping. The doctor said it should go down to normal within a few months and then they will wean me from the blood pressure meds.
It was a long and hard journey, but the result was worth it. I was so happy to go home and be out of that place.
Makayla's Birth Story
On February 17th, I was not feeling well and suspected my blood pressure was high. I walked over to Walgreens to have it checked. As I suspected, it was quite high. I called the doctor on call and they told me to head to the hospital for monitoring.
When I got there, they checked my cervix and I was 5 cm dilated. I was also having contractions, but they weren't hurting, so I was ignoring them. My blood pressure was borderline high. They decided to admit me and had me walk for about an hour, and then I bounced on the ball for an hour. They checked me again and I was still 5cm dilated. No change.
They decided to start me on a low dose of pitocin because my BP came back elevated again and my pulse was high.
My nurse went on break after a while and my contractions started getting quite strong. I asked the temp nurse to request the epidural since I knew I was going to get it anyway with the pitocin. She actually talked me into using an IV drug and holding off for a while. I was only 6cm dilated by now.
The contractions got UNBEARABLE quickly and I was begging for the epi but the anesthesiologist was stuck in a room for an hour and a half. It was AWFUL. Hurt so bad. I was just begging for them to get it for me but they couldn't do anything about it.
Finally got the epi an hour and a half after I requested it. They checked me an hour afterward and I was 9cm dilated. We waited for me to get to 10cm dilated and then, since I wasn't in pain, they had me wait until I felt the urge to push which never really came. I could feel the pressure and everything, but not really the urge. Baby was not descending down a past a +2 or something.
Eventually they decided to just have me start pushing because we had been waiting a long time. Makayla would not come out. I was so thankful to have had a very patient doctor. She was so positive about it all and never "threatened" me with a c-section. She told me that they allow 3 hours of pushing before they have to do a c-section, but she kept saying "Don't worry, we still have an hour and a half to push her out." Just the way she said it made it sound so much better than "You need to get her out or we will do a c-section". She just would not come out.
Just like a diva, she waited until exactly 3 hours before she decided to come out. After 3 hours of pushing, her head was out and I thought I was done. It stopped hurting and I just relaxed. The doctors started shouting at me "KEEP PUSHING" and that we HAD to get her out. Makayla's shoulder was stuck. The doctors were literally tugging her out. But, they were able to get her out.
She came out not crying and they took her over with a team from the NICU. I didn't even get to see what she looked like. It felt like forever, but eventually they got her going and she was fine. I didn't get to hold her for what seemed like such a long time though. The doctor gave me a drug in my IV because I was scared of the stitches and it made me feel drunk. I think that was the only thing keeping me from totally freaking out about what was happening.
It was only minutes, but felt like I would never hear her cry. Finally, I heard her little cry start and I felt such a relief. I was so exhausted and once I heard her I just relaxed and felt like I would go to sleep.
Makayla was born at 1:24pm on February 18, weighing 8lb5oz. I don't normally post pictures of myself looking like crap, but I feel this picture accurately portrays how I was feeling after a 20 hour labor with 3 hours of pushing.
When I got there, they checked my cervix and I was 5 cm dilated. I was also having contractions, but they weren't hurting, so I was ignoring them. My blood pressure was borderline high. They decided to admit me and had me walk for about an hour, and then I bounced on the ball for an hour. They checked me again and I was still 5cm dilated. No change.
They decided to start me on a low dose of pitocin because my BP came back elevated again and my pulse was high.
My nurse went on break after a while and my contractions started getting quite strong. I asked the temp nurse to request the epidural since I knew I was going to get it anyway with the pitocin. She actually talked me into using an IV drug and holding off for a while. I was only 6cm dilated by now.
The contractions got UNBEARABLE quickly and I was begging for the epi but the anesthesiologist was stuck in a room for an hour and a half. It was AWFUL. Hurt so bad. I was just begging for them to get it for me but they couldn't do anything about it.
Finally got the epi an hour and a half after I requested it. They checked me an hour afterward and I was 9cm dilated. We waited for me to get to 10cm dilated and then, since I wasn't in pain, they had me wait until I felt the urge to push which never really came. I could feel the pressure and everything, but not really the urge. Baby was not descending down a past a +2 or something.
Eventually they decided to just have me start pushing because we had been waiting a long time. Makayla would not come out. I was so thankful to have had a very patient doctor. She was so positive about it all and never "threatened" me with a c-section. She told me that they allow 3 hours of pushing before they have to do a c-section, but she kept saying "Don't worry, we still have an hour and a half to push her out." Just the way she said it made it sound so much better than "You need to get her out or we will do a c-section". She just would not come out.
Just like a diva, she waited until exactly 3 hours before she decided to come out. After 3 hours of pushing, her head was out and I thought I was done. It stopped hurting and I just relaxed. The doctors started shouting at me "KEEP PUSHING" and that we HAD to get her out. Makayla's shoulder was stuck. The doctors were literally tugging her out. But, they were able to get her out.
She came out not crying and they took her over with a team from the NICU. I didn't even get to see what she looked like. It felt like forever, but eventually they got her going and she was fine. I didn't get to hold her for what seemed like such a long time though. The doctor gave me a drug in my IV because I was scared of the stitches and it made me feel drunk. I think that was the only thing keeping me from totally freaking out about what was happening.
It was only minutes, but felt like I would never hear her cry. Finally, I heard her little cry start and I felt such a relief. I was so exhausted and once I heard her I just relaxed and felt like I would go to sleep.
Makayla was born at 1:24pm on February 18, weighing 8lb5oz. I don't normally post pictures of myself looking like crap, but I feel this picture accurately portrays how I was feeling after a 20 hour labor with 3 hours of pushing.
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