Sara's Birth

I have been ultra lazy in posting this. Sara turned 5 months old yesterday (3 months next week with her corrected age). Anyhoo. Like I said before, everyone thought I was going to give birth that week at 25 weeks. If not, they would let me sit there and stay pregnant until I was 34 weeks along then induce me unless of course something went wrong. That would have meant 9 weeks of hospital bed rest!!!!! That would have been Oct 27. I went into the hospital on August 25. That didn't happen. I sat and sat and sat. After 5 weeks of sitting there, I remember being really excited about reaching 30 weeks gestation. I'll be nice and withhold some info here. The next day I started exhibiting a few more signs that I might go into labor. The docs didn't believe it was anything. I was excited because I had reached that day which meant Sara would be born in October. I had remained pregnant throughout all of September. On October 1, I became really uncomfortable. I sent Danny a text saying I was having some Braxton-Hicks contractions but I thought it wasn't anything. (He worked at least 1/2 hour away). His parents just happened to come into town that day and my mom was here as well.

All afternoon I was really uncomfortable but what pregnant lady isn't at some point. I had Danny go downstairs and get my the really good potato soup since I wanted to feel better and you can only eat hospital room food for so long. (They had two separate kitchens. Stupid.) I started having contractions around 7 that night. I had had an IV in off and on for the last 5 weeks so they had taken it out a few days before to give me a rest. That night they tried to put in another one because of the contractions but the veins kept blowing. They said nothing was going to happen so they didn't try again. After her birth, I was SO happy that I hadn't been hooked up to an IV. I had been on IVs there for so long that I actually became allergic to the tape. The contractions became so uncomfortable and intense so quickly that I wasn't able to eat my soup or watch "The Mentalist" (I was mad b/c it was one of my favorite shows.). I told them I wanted drugs. Yes, I'm weak and I'm proud of it. With Noah I was only in labor for 3 1/2 hrs and my whole family is quick so I knew I needed them right then. They were slow and finally gave me Percoset (?sp?). Danny tells me that's a pretty good drug but it did NADA. Zip. They checked to see if I was dilated and I was only around 1 cm. That convinced them they could be even slower in getting me stronger drugs. I know they can only go with what they see but I think doctors need to listen to women more. We KNOW what is going on with our body. Do NOT argue with a lady in labor.

Of course, I all of a sudden wanted to push. Danny ran for the nurse. They came not believing me so they went to check me again. The resident doc said she couldn't tell how dilated I was. The other doc checked and well what do you know...They couldn't see because there was a head there!!! Chaos ensued.

Did I forget to mention that I was on the 7th floor and labor and delivery and the NICU was on the 8th floor? I wasn't allowed to push. Hmmpph. Imagine this (especially you moms that know the feeling). They had to wheel my actual bed all the way down the hall, up the elevator, had to pause to make the construction workers get out of the way!!!!, had to wheel me in, transfer me to another bed (ARE YOU KIDDING ME? MOVE WHEN I WANT TO PUSH! AARGH!), get things set up and get the NICU nurses there all the while I was NOT allowed to push. Needless to say, I had to close my eyes and pretend it wasn't happening. No drugs and a few minutes later Sara was born. This labor duration was about the same as Noah's. They whisked her away. They finally had to just stab two needles into my leg with pitocin (to help with final contractions) and with morphin. I'm weird and I was actually amused by this because it reminded me of those doctor shows that are so over-dramatic and unrealistic. I LOVE morphin!! I don't know if it was my body already knew how to handle birth or I just do so well with morphin, but I felt peachy after giving birth. I had no problem recovering.

After they fixed me up, they finally took me to the NICU and I finally got to see Sara for the first time an hour after her birth. I wasn't able to hold her for the first time until she was 5 days old. That was such a weird feeling to be so detached from your baby like that. She weighed a huge 3 lbs 5 oz and 15 in long at 30 weeks and 2 days gestation. I can only imagine what weight she might have been if she was term because Noah was only 6 lb 9 oz at term. That 5 1/2 weeks truly helped her. She didn't breathe on her own for a while and she had a million cords and IVs hooked up to her but over all she was wonderful. Labor was not. :) I would still see those docs in the halls later on and I would grumble in my head while I would smile at them.

Sara's Pre-Birth Story

Ha. That's probably what you are thinking. Sara is 4 months and 1 week old now (2 months tomorrow as her adjusted age). Why are you barely posting her birth story now Lindsey? Because. That's why. Anyhoo....:)

So as you all know, I was due with Sara on Dec. 8, 2009. Minding my own beeswax, I woke up at 4:30 am on the morning of August 25 because I thought I had peed my pants. The day went on and it just wouldn't stop. I called the doc and they told me to go to the hospital to get it checked out. I was bummed because Danny & I were going to keep looking at houses that day. I went to the hospital and there were a couple of us getting checked out for the same thing. They were hoping that mine was just a weak bladder because I was the earliest along. Of course, nope. My water was leaking. They immediately put me on an IV and said they had to send me to a different hospital because they didn't have a high level NICU like UMC did. I got to go for a cool ride in the ambulance (no lights :( ) to UMC. I was all over the place at the time. I felt calm, scared, and confused. Danny and I thought the chance of a baby surviving at 25 weeks was only 5-10%. I went to UMC at night and since we were still fairly new to Tucson, I had no clue where I was. I didn't know until I left in October. Weird feeling.


This is me at 24 weeks, exactly one week before I went into the hospital.




We got to UMC at around 9 pm. Danny didn't get there until later because they kept giving him bad directions and wouldn't let him in because I wasn't in the system yet. Man was he annoyed. They immediately put me on steroids to help the baby's lungs and two meds to stop my labor. They would only stop my labor for 48 hours and then it was just up in the air. They fully expected me to have the baby within those first two days. I was so scared when I came off of the meds. I was convinced I was going to have her within a couple of hours. We were relieved to find out that she had a pretty good chance of surviving (80-90%) but her chance of complications were about as high. They gave us a tour of the NICU and that was so overwhelming. It was just a blur but I felt so sad knowing that was going to be our life. Both my sister and I were preemies. I was 6 weeks early and she was 8 weeks early. I turned out ok but my sister had a lot of problems early on including bleeding in her brain. Imagine my fear thinking my baby was going to be 15 weeks early!!

From the night of August 25, I was on complete bed rest except for the bathroom. My life was completely halted. I went from chasing my active toddler to sitting with NOTHING to do. I don't mean I didn't have anything to occupy my mind. Many people brought things to do, including the nice nurses. I had no purpose. Everyone kept saying "you're growing and protecting your baby". Yes that's true but all I had to do was sit. Luckily, both Danny's mom and my mom alternated every 2 weeks watching Noah. Lifesavers!! I was only able to see Noah and Danny for a few hours a day. A hospital room is no place for an active toddler. Danny would work until around 4 and it would take at least 45 minutes to get to the hospital and he also wanted to see Noah at night at home. It was very lonely.


I was so nervous about going into labor. With Noah I was induced, so I didn't know if my labor would be so different coming naturally. I'd heard that induction contractions can be more painful but I had no idea either way. The doctors were more surprised each day that i stayed pregnant. They said unless something went wrong with the baby or with me they would let me stay pregnant until I was 34 weeks along. That would have meant 9 weeks of bed rest! Imagine to yourself 9 weeks of just sitting there. I miss the easiness of it now, but to stay that long.... I hated it!!

This is me at 27 weeks after barely being in the hospital for 2 weeks. You can tell I'm already bored out of my mind. At least the nurses were very nice, and eventually gave me a private room with a view. For most of my stay, I stayed on the post-partum level (7th floor). L&D was on the 8th floor along with the NICU. This hospital was older. Post-partum women usually had to share a room. Yuck!! There were a few private rooms which I stayed in most of the time since I was long-term. During my stay, I moved 8 different times!!! At least it gave me something to do. I was on the 7th floor so I could see the city fairly well.

Every so often, people from church would come visit but again, we were fairly new and barely knew anyone. Most everyone at church was probably thinking "Who the heck is Lindsey?" or "I didn't know she was pregnant." That's because I was still so early and didn't show. Eventually, all the things I love to do to relax, such as reading or painting, became not so interesting because they became my work. It's hard to explain, but you enjoy them partly because you can't do them all of the time. There, that was all I had. Surprisingly, the days went really fast. That is partly because I just learned how to zone out. I became an insomniac (still am) because I had no reason or need to fall asleep at night. I could just sleep during the day. It was just wait, wait wait.....

This is way too long, so I will post the actual birth story next. Maybe after that I will be able to post Halloween 2009 by October of this year. :)

Back to Normal

Today (well, technically yesterday because my computer is stupid) my momma left after spending 2 weeks helping me get adjusted with the two squirts. No more grandmas are coming. :( This is the first night that it is just me, my husband, my son, and my daughter (& a cat). Either my mom or Danny's mom has been helping us two weeks at a time since August 25. They were a lifesaver when I was in the hospital and then every day when we went to see Sara. This is the first night we can sit at home. I don't know what to do with myself and all of this time. I feel so lost. I don't have to go anywhere, see anyone, or stay apart from my family. Now I am back to babble and screams instead of adult conversation all day. I am tired, overwhelmed, lost for what to do (yes, I know I have two kids :)) and still not believing it is finally over. Sara will be 4 months old (1 1/2 adjusted age) on Monday. I realized even though she has been home for two weeks, we hadn't taken a family picture. It is by no means the best picture but we are TOGETHER. Good night. :)

One Year

It's been one year since Pat. I can't believe it's gone that fast already.

You Have to Watch This!

I saw this video yesterday and I thought it was the most hysterical thing I've seen. Danny and I were just crying with laughter. We had to watch it over and over again. It involves a mom and her kids. Even if you're not a parent, you will find it humorous. Enjoy.

I can't get it to upload on here, so just follow this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9xk9D2hLT0

What did you think?

Two Months Behind

I figure since Sara was born two months early I have at least two months allowance to be behind on things. This especially includes my blog. To remind myself and to show my family what they can look forward to, here's my list of desired blogs to be written.

-Sara's birth
-hospital stay/NICU experience
-Halloween (Yes, I know it's December. At least it's still the same year.)
-old house
-new house

There you go.

You Know You've Been in the Hospital Too Long When......

You know you’ve been in the hospital too long when…

-you know ALL of the nurses and patient care technicians
-you know some of the nurses’ schedules
-you can talk to a nurse about her son’s wedding because you knew it was going to happen
-you don’t have to look at the menu to order food because you know it all
-the cleaning ladies ask how your parents’ move is going
-the nurses offer to go themselves to buy something for you to keep boredom away
-workers in the hospital know your son by name
-you have your own private room (lifesaver!)
-you can successfully instruct the medical students how to operate the fetal heart monitor because they’re not sure what to do
-the room service staff knows some of the food you like and you can ask them about some of the classes you know they’re taking
-you’ve watched women come in, give birth, and then go home; now their babies are a few weeks old
-you’ve lost count of how many times you’ve been poked to start a new IV
-there is a permanent indentation in your bed from where you sit all day
-you have family pictures up on the wall
-you know the schedule of most of the TV channels’ programs
-it would take a while to collect all of your stuff in your room because you’ve collected so much personal stuff, necessary items, and activities

And finally….

-the sun was still up at 8 o’clock in the evening when you came to the hospital, now it’s not even up at 6:45


These are all true, just to name a few. I have been here for a month tomorrow and will hopefully be here for at least another 5 ½ weeks. :)