Funny Story.

Some of you may already know, and some may not, that since I don't do anything simple, I am having recovery problems from my c-section. (No, this is NOT the funny part...I'm getting to that.) It's pretty much been ongoing since the beginning, however it took my doctor 3 weeks to decide he needed to send me to the wound care clinic, because in fact, my incision is not healing. It's open on the outside and inside and continues to hurt a LOT. I will spare you the yuckiest details, but I'll just say there's still a lot of blood and I am not having fun.

Ok. That's the background. So Monday I go to the wound care place for the first time (which is actually just the PT department of the local hospital). The therapist that I have has absolutely no personality, I'm not completely at peace with his ability to heal this wound, and he often just has a puzzled look on his face when he's looking at my incision. Anyway, at my first visit, he's asking "how long ago was your c-section?" Me: "three weeks tomorrow." Him: "so you've been bleeding like this for 3 weeks?" Me: "yes." Him: "hmm. ok" (continues to do whatever he's doing to the wound...few minutes later...) Him: "so when was your surgery?" Me: "july 1st. Three weeks ago tomorrow." Him: "ok". (few minutes later...) Him: "So tell me. When was your baby born?" (REALLY??? ARE WE LAUGHING YET???) ME: "July 1st. same day as my c-section. Three weeks ago tomorrow." It is now an ongoing joke in my home how extremely coincidental that I had a c-section the very same day my son was born. To top it off...coincidently...Mike became a father on July 1st as well. Imagine the odds????

MAYBE you had to be there. But trust me. It was funny.

(I'll keep you posted on the incision. I went back yesterday because the packing was falling out. I go back in an hour to get the packing changed again. The jury's still out on whether or not this thing will close in this century.)

Pictures!

(1) Our favorite night spot.

(2) First time sleeping in his crib. It was a short little nap. We thought it was funny how much his little outfit matched the sheets. Where's Matthew?

(3) Everyone loves tummy time!

(4) Daddy's proud of Matthew's fashion statement.

(5) First trip to Portland. We stopped to feed and change him at these beautiful waterfalls.

All is well. Matthew will be 3 weeks old tomorrow- I can't believe it. Sometimes it seems like it's been so much longer than that, and other times it seems the time is flying by! He is sleeping swaddled in his swing right now and looks so peaceful. I love to look at him.

Loving this child

Matthew Daniel. Oh my God, I love this child! We are enjoying our time as a new family, and learning how to be parents to a newborn. Yes, blogging has fallen to the wayside a bit, but Matthew is sitting outside with Daddy right now, so I had a quick moment. Things have been going very well. Matthew has been home a week today, and it's been a busy week! We have had a lot of appointments this week, and learning to be out and about with a newborn baby has not been an easy task! I am breastfeeding, so trying to plan around that ( I am way to new of a breastfeeding mama to try and discreetly whip it out in public!), and trying to get out the door in a "quick" fashion- geesh, who knew how much work this would be!

Matthew has taken to breastfeeding quite well, although he of course has his moments. He had his first pediatrician visit this week, and all looked well. He is below his birth weight still ( to be expected), but we're hoping he re-gains it by next week. Matthew sleeps ALL THE TIME (i know, enjoy it while you can). When he is not asleep he is eating. He has awake periods, where he pretty much just stares and stares, until he is tired of staring, and then back to sleep. He is a cuddler, and loves to be held close. He hates to have his diaper changed, but does much better when daddy changes it (yes, I think this is a sign that daddy should do more diaper changes!) He has been doing fairly well at night. He has to eat every 3 hours right now and for the most part, he makes it the whole 3 hours without waking (well...by the time you factor in the feeding, diaper change, and going back to sleep it's more like 2- 2 1/2 hours). Mommy is tired, but I just may be finally adjusting to this kind of (lack of) sleep. Hopefully this will only get easier.

On Thursday we were back to the pediatrician for his circumcision. They do not do these in the hospitals out here for some reason. Mom and Dad were quite nervous when the time came, but Matthew did so well. He of course cried a little (wouldn't you???), but calmed easily and seemed fine after. He was a little more cranky than normal last night, but nothing too terrible.

Mike goes back to work on Monday, and we will miss having him home! It has been so nice to be home, all 3 of us, together for this first week. My mom is still here for another 2+ weeks, so at least I will still have some company and help here. We truly would not be thriving as well as we are without her here. She cooks and cleans and holds matthew, and just loves us all. I am going to be sad when I am home alone for the first time. But hopefully, that too will get easier. I am starting to feel better, although I have had some issues with my incision and am still in pain. I will likely go get the incision checked again on Monday if it has not improved by then. I am hoping it does.

I cannot figure out how to caption the photos, but here is the description of the above pictures-
(1) Matthew sleeping in the pack and play. He likes to have his hands free, however, yes- we have figured out that he sleeps better if you do the whole hands down, burrito-straight-jacket approach.
(2) Sleeping on mommy in the Maya Wrap. He loves to be snuggled in close in the wrap.
(3) In the car just minutes after his circumcision. Looks fine to me! (of course the lidocaine was probably still working at that time!)
(4) Snuggling with daddy.

I cannot stop snapping pictures of my baby- it's become an obsession, so I will have more pictures I'm sure. Hopefully people don't get sick of looking at them. :-)

Part TWO

(you might want to read the previous post first to get in chronological order.)

July 1st, con't-

Immediately the nurse helped me with my first attempt at breastfeeding Matthew. As this was a long day and I was on some pain medicine, I must say I don't remember every little detail. It was short and I don't really think much happened. A long night was ahead of us, with no sleeping happening for mom. I began having some issues with what was most likely my blood sugar. They paged my doctor around 11:30 because of my sugars being high (so much for "immediate" relief of the gestational diabetes! I am ALWAYS the exception to every rule.) He had me take my blood sugar meds and changed my fluids to one with less sugars. This seemed to help a lot and I started feeling better.

The Keenan family attempted a first night together, Matthew being in his little bed between my bed and Mike's bed. At some point in the evening, he was brought by my nurse to his nurse in the nursery because of some gagging issues. I had awoken to the sounds of Matthew gagging and called the nurse. She found that he had vomited frothy mucus in his bed. He had his stomach "cleaned" with a tube put down his mouth. While the tube was down, they also gave him a little bit of formula to get some food in him. When he was brought back to me, he immediately threw up all the formula and then some. I held him and he suddenly looked very different than he previously had. He was extremely lethargic and just not right- this was mommy intuition anyway. The nursery staff decided to page his pediatrician to find out what should be done (I think this was around 2:30 AM). At 4 AM, Matthew was put in the nursery for good, and I cried and cried that I had to be away from him.

It was explained to us that they were worried Matthew had some kind of infection and that he needed several things done. Blood was drawn for multiple tests, chest and tummy xrays were taken, and 2 IV antibiotics and fluids were started. They explained that they start the antibiotics on newborns before the 48 hour results of the cultures for infection come back, because if they have something, it can turn into sepsis quickly.

Wednesday was rough as well. Matthew was unable to hold down even the tiniest amount of water. He was throwing up stomach stuff and gagging a lot. They made him NPO (nothing by mouth) until noon. I was pumping and giving my colostrum to the staff to syringe feed him. At 12, they decided they had to wait until 2:30 because he had just had another gagging episode. All this time I was not able to see him, because I was not allowed out of bed until a certain time. Finally, they got me up and I was able to ride in a wheelchair to see him (sometime in the afternoon). I attempted breastfeeding, but again, with his sick tummy, he couldn't really do much. The nurse gave him some of my pumped colostrum with a syringe and apparently he later threw that all up. I had a very emotional and difficult day. I was so sad to see him this way and the "unknown" of what was wrong was just scary. Add to that the CRAZIEST hormones going on, and I was just a mess.

Around midnight we experienced a bit of a turn around, when he had his first very successful breastfeeding session with me. Then another at 4 AM, and another around 8:30 AM (thursday). Thursday was his day of improvements. We made pretty steady progress all day. He wasn't the biggest eater, but his tummy had been pretty sick, so I had to keep reminding myself that he needed to get used to eating.

Friday morning- July 4th- the BEST day. We found out that Matthew and I would BOTH be discharged together. The cultures were all negative for infection and the pediatrician really feels like Matthew just had a more difficult time making the transition into the world. He explained that this is not that uncommon and that he was doing pretty much all better. Relief is the best word to describe feeling. The issues we have to deal with are minor and not uncommon newborn issues. He likes to sleep a lot and really doesn't have a whole lot of awake time yet. He pretty much has to be woken up to nurse, because he doesn't tend to wake himself up. Yet. I say this, but Matthew really does change by the hour.

SO, we, the Keenan family, got home around 1:30 PM today. Boss is completely weirded out by our new family member and does not know what to think of him. Matthew has been a sweet heart- already nursed twice at home (and of course to prove mommy wrong again- he did actually wake himself to eat the last time.) I am taking the time to write this because Babci (grandma) wanted to have some holding time in, so he is sleeping soundly in her arms. I also figured time is not something I will have much of, so do it while I can. PLUS, a lot of people want to know what went down, and this way it saves me a LOT of phone calls and emails with the same story.

We are home. We are happy and in love. This boy is truly amazing. (and did I mention, so dang CUTE I can't even stand it?!?!)

Welcome to the World Matthew Daniel!!!

Hello!!!! "We're" back!! Let me try to tell my "birth" story and Matthew's life so far. I think it's easier to type it once, then to have to tell the same story over and over again to everyone!

Monday June 30th I was admitted to the hospital to begin my induction. At approximately 9 AM I started on medicine to "ripen" my cervix for labor and delivery. I was monitored for an hour after the med went in and then every hour for 15 minutes. I received mecication every 4 hours, for 4 doses- so my last one was around 9:45 PM. Monday was fairly uneventful and easy. I had consistent contractions for most of the day, but nothing very intense or painful- they were sort of just "there". After the last dose, they gave me a sleeping pill to help me rest that night. I actually slept some- not much, but some.

Tuesday July 1 at 6 AM they began my Pitocin, the drug used to "induce" labor. (According to the staff, they consider that the induction itself started Monday, with early labor beginning. Tuesday at the first dose of Pitocin began "active labor".) I am going to be skipping details because of it either all being a blur at this moment, or because they just aren't that important. What I do remember is Tuesday was one of the longest days of my entire life. The contractions became quite regular throughout the day and quite painful in my lower back and abdomen. I think it was sometime between 10 and 11 am that I got my epidural put it. The epidural was awesome and I would totally get one again. It is a weird sensation to be able to essentially move my legs and lower body a bit, but not really feel anything painful. A weird sensation...but AHH, a nice sensation! I had a surprising reaction to the epidural where my blood pressure (normally high, so they didn't think I'd have an issue) dropped suddenly to 70/40. At this time, I was gagging and dry heaving, losing my ability to speak, and pretty much the room was seeming further and further away from me. It was very scary for me, and I'm sure my husband, who was right by my side stroking my hair and being so sweet. I had to recieve 2 doses of epinephrine to get it back up and then I felt fine. The doctor decided to give me a lower constant dose as he was afraid it could happen again. It didn't, thank goodness.

So, labored all day with very little progress. I mean, I had progress in that I was having consistent, intense, appropriate contractions, however my cervix was not cooperating. At 3 PM I was only dialated to a 2, maybe 3, and the doctor started talking of the possibility of a c-section. He explained that in "normal" patients, he would probably recommend stopping the meds and letting the patient go home and try again in a few days (or something like that), but because of my different medical issues, he really wanted this baby delivered. I was basically given another 3 hours to show more progress. Well, 6 PM rolled around and no more progress-nothing at all. Yuck. Around 7 PM I was brought to the labor and delivery OR for my c-section. Mike was by my side and it was the oddest, yet fabulous experience. I have never cried so hard as I did when I heard the sound of Matthew crying as he was being pulled out from inside me. Matthew Daniel was born, on July 1st 2008, at 7:25 PM. He weighed 6 lbs., 12 oz. and was 19 inches long. He is absolutely beautiful. Amazing. Perfect.

At this point, while I was being put back together, Mike was with Matthew with the nursery staff getting him assessed and weighed and all that. He cut the umbilical cord and I watched it all happening from the table. Mike and staff got great pictures of all of this happening, including the birth (with not much gore in the pictures). Our brand new camera that we bought for this occasion, and that we had been using already and experienced that it took great pictures, really let us down. Somehow all the photos from the birth were deleted from the camera. We were quite upset when we realized it, but we have some other pretty early photos from my mom also, so at least we have that.

After I was finished, I was brought into my room (a family birthing room) to recover. Mike stayed with Matthew in the nursery until they could both join me in the room. It was approxiamately 45 minutes to an hour, and then we were together at last. The Keenan family- Mommy, Daddy and Matthew. A lot of love in that room.

(to be con't.......)