Post if your wife is pregnant
12-22-2006
, 10:17 AM
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The version ended up being unnecessary, the little guy turned head down on his own (probably yesterday) and so we induced this morning. About 13 (!) oxytocin-filled hours later we welcomed Maxwell Scott Harper into the world. 8 lbs 4 oz, 20 inches long. Pocket 9's on the Apgars -- just really healthy and doing well and we couldn't be happier.
I'll post pics and more detail when I get a chance. I'm heading back to the hospital here shortly...
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Hello gharp....same question.
Was the version successful?(fingers crossed)
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We're going in tomorrow morning to try, so I'll let you know...
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Hi gharp....if you are out there, were they able to flip that baby?
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We actually just found out today that the little guy still hasn't turned head down and engaged. Our doctor told us that we can schedule a "turning" (as I understand it, stomach groping to try and spin the baby) for sometime next week or just wait and see. If he ends up settling in butt-down (breech), they'll do a c-section which my wife is trying to avoid (just because she wants the shortest possible recovery period). Still, we plan to just wait and see, since we're not quite at the due date yet, anyway.
Anyone else have a similar experience with the baby not engaging late in the pregnancy?
Anyone else have a similar experience with the baby not engaging late in the pregnancy?
Was the version successful?(fingers crossed)
The version ended up being unnecessary, the little guy turned head down on his own (probably yesterday) and so we induced this morning. About 13 (!) oxytocin-filled hours later we welcomed Maxwell Scott Harper into the world. 8 lbs 4 oz, 20 inches long. Pocket 9's on the Apgars -- just really healthy and doing well and we couldn't be happier.
I'll post pics and more detail when I get a chance. I'm heading back to the hospital here shortly...
Congrats!!! I am glad that all went well.
12-22-2006
, 01:19 PM
12-22-2006
, 03:55 PM
Quote:
I think we need a "The Baby Has Been Here 3 Months, When Does He Go Home" thread for all those exhausted new parents. About 3 months, you hit the wall.
Then you fall off the cliff...
Then you fall off the cliff...
A true purposeful smile(not gas) and that wonderful baby giggle...then you know why you have been doing it. I think that point of development is timed perfectly.
12-22-2006
, 04:33 PM
12-22-2006
, 04:52 PM
Quote:
I have just hit this point. To be frank, I had (am having) a much harder go this time than the first. I guess it's not so much an adventure. I'm tired, broke; he seems to need more attention than his sister did. He cries a LOT. Sometimes I simply need him to shut the [censored] up.
It can be so frustrating and exhausting, especially when you have more than one vying for your attention.
The first 12 weeks or so can be extremely tough. Some babies cry for no reason at all. I was taught whe I worked peds that it has to due with brain maturation. Its not even that something is necessarily wrong with the baby...they just cry. Diapers and clean, tummies full, but not too full, nothing poking or pinching...but they continue to cry. Like you said, some more than others.
It is ok, after making sure all basic needs are accounted for to put the baby down in a safe place and walk away for 15 minutes or so. Its not going to hurt the baby to cry and sometimes you need to step away, go outside a get a few big breaths of fresh air, splash some water on your face...whatever.
I know you have done this before and probably know this, but sometimes you need to hear it and I wanted to say it for the new dads here too...it will get better. Hang in there.
12-25-2006
, 02:43 AM
OK, slightly longer update for those interested:
We showed up at the hospital at 6am (by appointment) to do the version. They did an ultrasound and determined that the baby was head down, which my wife had suspected might be the case since she was feeling a bit more pressure "down low". So the doctor recommended starting Pitocin to induce labor to prevent him from turning back into a sideways or breech position. Our due date was the 22nd anyway, so that seemed pretty reasonable.
I had heard that inducing was tough because everything starts so fast, but that was not at all the case for us. The next 4-5 hours were frankly just boring. My wife had very mild contractions and we all just sat around killing time (my mother-in-law was present too). After a while, they broke my wife's water to speed things along, and even that did just about nothing. Her contractions got a little bit stronger, but no progress was really being made.
Around 3pm the nurse suggested stopping the pitocin, letting it clear my wife's system, then restarting. I was pretty skeptical that rebooting my wife like a stubborn laptop would do anything, but thankfully I was wrong. The contractions got much stronger (and more painful) and it was pretty clear that progress was being made.
My wife got checked by the nurse and had progressed to 4cm dilated by around 5-6pm. Around this point, she started asking about drug options and ended up just taking some Fentanyl and heading down the 'semi-natural' path. So she used the birthing ball (I helped a little), tried different positions, etc and about 6:30-7pm she started feeling the "urge to push".
The nurse checked her at that point and she was at 7cm and moving along quickly so they paged the doctor in from home and started setting up the room for the arrival of a newborn (getting out the little scale, setting up the big light the doctor uses, grabbing all kinds of pads and cloths...). This was when it really hit me that it was actually "going to happen", after 12 hours where I had mostly just sat around doing next to nothing.
It didn't take long from there -- when the doctor showed up she had my wife sort of push the rest of the cervix away and that push caused the baby to crown. Two pushes later and he was born. Actual pushing labor lasted probably 6 minutes, compared to about 45 with our first child. My wife never did get the epidural, which she's convinced help speed things along. I think she's right -- the ability to move around and try different positions and techniques probably helped to speed up the process. When you get the epidural you feel better, but it seems you can't really move at all (she had one with our first child).
On a side note, I'm always so proud that my wife is My Wife, and she's an amazing woman in general. She's a college professor in a male-dominated field (Civil Engineering), she's the hardest-working person I know, but still so cheerful and a wonderful mother to our eldest son. But there's nothing quite like watching this person you love going through childbirth, which I can't even imagine the pain of, to just crank up all those feelings of pride and love all over again.
Anyway, there you have it. We're home now, though it turns out our son has jaundice. It's a pretty common condition in newborns (they turn a yellowish shade -- it has to do with their livers not being mature enough at birth), and in Max's case it was enough that we had to get a "biliblanket" (it shines UV light on him to break down the bilirubins, which are what's turning him yellow) and keep him in it for a while. So he's "baking" right now, but it should clear up pretty soon once his liver matures and starts doing it's thing.
Here's a picture of my wife checking in on our little baby at the nursery, and another of our older son (he'll be 3 next month) holding him in his lap. He loves him so far and all is well at home on the sibling rivalry front. We're just trying to make sure he gets enough attention and all that, and doesn't feel left out just because the baby's there. Letting him open the billion or so Christmas presents that he has tomorrow should help with that.
We showed up at the hospital at 6am (by appointment) to do the version. They did an ultrasound and determined that the baby was head down, which my wife had suspected might be the case since she was feeling a bit more pressure "down low". So the doctor recommended starting Pitocin to induce labor to prevent him from turning back into a sideways or breech position. Our due date was the 22nd anyway, so that seemed pretty reasonable.
I had heard that inducing was tough because everything starts so fast, but that was not at all the case for us. The next 4-5 hours were frankly just boring. My wife had very mild contractions and we all just sat around killing time (my mother-in-law was present too). After a while, they broke my wife's water to speed things along, and even that did just about nothing. Her contractions got a little bit stronger, but no progress was really being made.
Around 3pm the nurse suggested stopping the pitocin, letting it clear my wife's system, then restarting. I was pretty skeptical that rebooting my wife like a stubborn laptop would do anything, but thankfully I was wrong. The contractions got much stronger (and more painful) and it was pretty clear that progress was being made.
My wife got checked by the nurse and had progressed to 4cm dilated by around 5-6pm. Around this point, she started asking about drug options and ended up just taking some Fentanyl and heading down the 'semi-natural' path. So she used the birthing ball (I helped a little), tried different positions, etc and about 6:30-7pm she started feeling the "urge to push".
The nurse checked her at that point and she was at 7cm and moving along quickly so they paged the doctor in from home and started setting up the room for the arrival of a newborn (getting out the little scale, setting up the big light the doctor uses, grabbing all kinds of pads and cloths...). This was when it really hit me that it was actually "going to happen", after 12 hours where I had mostly just sat around doing next to nothing.
It didn't take long from there -- when the doctor showed up she had my wife sort of push the rest of the cervix away and that push caused the baby to crown. Two pushes later and he was born. Actual pushing labor lasted probably 6 minutes, compared to about 45 with our first child. My wife never did get the epidural, which she's convinced help speed things along. I think she's right -- the ability to move around and try different positions and techniques probably helped to speed up the process. When you get the epidural you feel better, but it seems you can't really move at all (she had one with our first child).
On a side note, I'm always so proud that my wife is My Wife, and she's an amazing woman in general. She's a college professor in a male-dominated field (Civil Engineering), she's the hardest-working person I know, but still so cheerful and a wonderful mother to our eldest son. But there's nothing quite like watching this person you love going through childbirth, which I can't even imagine the pain of, to just crank up all those feelings of pride and love all over again.
Anyway, there you have it. We're home now, though it turns out our son has jaundice. It's a pretty common condition in newborns (they turn a yellowish shade -- it has to do with their livers not being mature enough at birth), and in Max's case it was enough that we had to get a "biliblanket" (it shines UV light on him to break down the bilirubins, which are what's turning him yellow) and keep him in it for a while. So he's "baking" right now, but it should clear up pretty soon once his liver matures and starts doing it's thing.
Here's a picture of my wife checking in on our little baby at the nursery, and another of our older son (he'll be 3 next month) holding him in his lap. He loves him so far and all is well at home on the sibling rivalry front. We're just trying to make sure he gets enough attention and all that, and doesn't feel left out just because the baby's there. Letting him open the billion or so Christmas presents that he has tomorrow should help with that.
12-25-2006
, 06:19 PM
12-26-2006
, 08:36 PM
Hi everyone,
Not to bring down the people reading this thread, but my name needs to be removed from the list. We went for the first ultrasound about a month ago, and discovered that the baby had stopped developing early on in the pregnancy. It was a pretty horrible experience. We went from being all excited to see our baby on the ultrasound, to me having to comfort my wife as she bawled when she realized what the doctor was telling her. I wouldn't wish this on anyone.
We have since convinced ourselves that it was better to have the miscarriage happen early in the pregnancy, as opposed to a few months from now when it would be much more devastating for us. Plus, a good percentage of pregnancies end in miscarriage -- especially first time pregnancies. We just obviously hoped that this wouldn't happen to us.
In any event, we'll start trying again in about a month or so...and the "trying" is always fun.
Not to bring down the people reading this thread, but my name needs to be removed from the list. We went for the first ultrasound about a month ago, and discovered that the baby had stopped developing early on in the pregnancy. It was a pretty horrible experience. We went from being all excited to see our baby on the ultrasound, to me having to comfort my wife as she bawled when she realized what the doctor was telling her. I wouldn't wish this on anyone.
We have since convinced ourselves that it was better to have the miscarriage happen early in the pregnancy, as opposed to a few months from now when it would be much more devastating for us. Plus, a good percentage of pregnancies end in miscarriage -- especially first time pregnancies. We just obviously hoped that this wouldn't happen to us.
In any event, we'll start trying again in about a month or so...and the "trying" is always fun.
12-28-2006
, 10:29 AM
12-28-2006
, 10:39 AM