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| From Zach, September 2008 |
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Catching up...
Been too busy to post for a while...
On the health front, Zach is doing fine. Mom, however, had a return trip to the hospital Monday. Christine had another followup appointment with her doctor to check her blood pressure and it was high. Really high. So we got a return trip to the hospital to keep her under observation for 24 hours. Luckily they let Zach and me stay with her. It wasn't fun for anybody but it at least made it a little easier on Christine.
The good news is that Christine is doing fine now! She's on some BP medication and on orders to keep activity to a minimum, but she's ok. Except for the sitting still part. :)
Otherwise things have been going pretty well. Zach is still sleeping fairly well, though he's been waking up hungry more often so we are starting to feed him a little more. And he's starting to enjoy tummy time a little, lifting his head all the way off the ground and turning it, and pushing his legs around a lot. Pretty good strength for only a couple weeks old!
Check out some pictures from the first week or so here: Zach's Arrival and some more taken this month here: September
We'll keep adding pictures every couple days and we'll start a new album each month to help keep the number of pictures under control... :)
On the health front, Zach is doing fine. Mom, however, had a return trip to the hospital Monday. Christine had another followup appointment with her doctor to check her blood pressure and it was high. Really high. So we got a return trip to the hospital to keep her under observation for 24 hours. Luckily they let Zach and me stay with her. It wasn't fun for anybody but it at least made it a little easier on Christine.
The good news is that Christine is doing fine now! She's on some BP medication and on orders to keep activity to a minimum, but she's ok. Except for the sitting still part. :)
Otherwise things have been going pretty well. Zach is still sleeping fairly well, though he's been waking up hungry more often so we are starting to feed him a little more. And he's starting to enjoy tummy time a little, lifting his head all the way off the ground and turning it, and pushing his legs around a lot. Pretty good strength for only a couple weeks old!
Check out some pictures from the first week or so here: Zach's Arrival and some more taken this month here: September
We'll keep adding pictures every couple days and we'll start a new album each month to help keep the number of pictures under control... :)
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Day Two - Sept 12, 2008
At about 10am the nurses started Christine on the IV drip for the second part of the induction process. They warned again that it could take a while to work, the main nurse guessed it could be about 24 hours before it was time to give birth! About this time Christine's water broke and she was about 1 cm dialated.
It wasn't long before Christine started to feel contractions on a fairly consistent basis. They were happening fairly frequently (about every two or three minutes) and Tylenol worked for a little while, but soon Christine was wanted her blessed epidural. Especially knowing that this could go on for 24 hours or more! The nurse said that getting to 4 cm would take a while, then about a cm an hour until 10 cm, then an hour or two of pushing. So we started thinking that we could have our little boy that day!
Once she got the epidural, life was once again happy. She got that at about 1:30 and she was 4 cm dialated at the time. So we were now thinking the 9:00-10:00 time frame. But since Christine is an over-achiever, by 5:45 she was already 9 cm dialated!
It was also near this time that Christine's dad had to leave to go get her mom at the airport. Her flight was scheduled to land about 8:00, so we figured they'd get back to the hospital around 9:00. We had thought that she would make it in time, but it was starting to look tight.
By 7:30 Christine was fully dialated, but they decided to wait longer for Zach to start dropping on his own so Christine didn't have to do as much work. 8:30 came and went, 9:00, 9:30, 10:00... Finally at about 10:30, they decided it was time. Luckily, Christine's parents had made it back by around 9:30!
So at 10:42, Christine pushed for the first time. It seemed like she was doing pretty well, since about 20 minutes in, one of the nurses asked if I wanted to see Zach's head while Christine was pushing! And after just 36 minutes out Zach entered the world, with a very healthy set of lungs!
They got him cleaned up and tended to the new Mom, and before we knew it he was having his first bottle at about 12:30 am. Christine was feeling kind of bad (they had put her on magnesium to help prevent siezures from her high blood pressure and the side effects are apparently pretty bad), so they let her recover for a while before moving us to our post-partum room. We all fell asleep (Zach fell asleep in my lap) before they came in at 3:00 am to move us. By the time we made it upstairs, met with the new nurse that would be helping Christine out, fed, and changed Zach, it was a little after 4:30 before we hit the bed. Or the recliner in my case.
A pretty exhausting day, but well worth it!
It wasn't long before Christine started to feel contractions on a fairly consistent basis. They were happening fairly frequently (about every two or three minutes) and Tylenol worked for a little while, but soon Christine was wanted her blessed epidural. Especially knowing that this could go on for 24 hours or more! The nurse said that getting to 4 cm would take a while, then about a cm an hour until 10 cm, then an hour or two of pushing. So we started thinking that we could have our little boy that day!
Once she got the epidural, life was once again happy. She got that at about 1:30 and she was 4 cm dialated at the time. So we were now thinking the 9:00-10:00 time frame. But since Christine is an over-achiever, by 5:45 she was already 9 cm dialated!
It was also near this time that Christine's dad had to leave to go get her mom at the airport. Her flight was scheduled to land about 8:00, so we figured they'd get back to the hospital around 9:00. We had thought that she would make it in time, but it was starting to look tight.
By 7:30 Christine was fully dialated, but they decided to wait longer for Zach to start dropping on his own so Christine didn't have to do as much work. 8:30 came and went, 9:00, 9:30, 10:00... Finally at about 10:30, they decided it was time. Luckily, Christine's parents had made it back by around 9:30!
So at 10:42, Christine pushed for the first time. It seemed like she was doing pretty well, since about 20 minutes in, one of the nurses asked if I wanted to see Zach's head while Christine was pushing! And after just 36 minutes out Zach entered the world, with a very healthy set of lungs!
They got him cleaned up and tended to the new Mom, and before we knew it he was having his first bottle at about 12:30 am. Christine was feeling kind of bad (they had put her on magnesium to help prevent siezures from her high blood pressure and the side effects are apparently pretty bad), so they let her recover for a while before moving us to our post-partum room. We all fell asleep (Zach fell asleep in my lap) before they came in at 3:00 am to move us. By the time we made it upstairs, met with the new nurse that would be helping Christine out, fed, and changed Zach, it was a little after 4:30 before we hit the bed. Or the recliner in my case.
A pretty exhausting day, but well worth it!
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Day One - Sept 11, 2008
Christine had been dealing with high blood pressure over the past couple of weeks of her pregnancy, so she was being watched closely by her doctors. They were watching for pre-eclampsia, which can be pretty bad - causing kidney problems or even siezures. The only cure is for the baby to be born. So we were scheduled to start going in twice every week for her blood pressure to be checked and for an ultrasound to make sure Zach was doing ok.
During the first of these appointments, Christine's BP was even higher than it had been. We had already planned on asking the doctor how long they would let this go since Zach was considered full-term at this point. When we asked the doctor, she said that we'd test it again with Christine laying on her side for a while and if it was still high she'd probably have us go on in. Go on in? To the hospital??? Now?????
Her BP came down, but only to 130/80, even though Christine had been resting for a while. The doctor said it was time to head to the hospital to be induced! So out the door we went to go home and get our bags and head to the hospital!
We made a bunch of phone calls to family, including Christine's dad who just happened to be in town for a training class. He had a scheduled flight for the next day, but that quickly got cancelled! :) And also a quick call to Chad and Karen to come to our house and pick Austin up so they could watch him for us for a couple days.
When we got to the hospital we filled out the paperwork and started to get settled in our labor and delivery room. We finally had a chance to realize that this was happening and happening soon! So much for our plans to finish getting a couple things ready over the weekend. ;)
There wasn't much more excitement for the rest of the night. Christine got her first dose of medication to help start the induction process, I paced around the room half the night, Christine's dad came by, and Christine's mom made flight plans for the next day. We just tried to relax as much as we could with nurses coming in every hour or so. Our main nurse was kind enough to drag a cot in for me for the night, but I didn't sleep much. My mind was racing every time I woke up during the night.
Just the first of many nights without a full night of sleep. ;)
Day 2 to be posted soon...
During the first of these appointments, Christine's BP was even higher than it had been. We had already planned on asking the doctor how long they would let this go since Zach was considered full-term at this point. When we asked the doctor, she said that we'd test it again with Christine laying on her side for a while and if it was still high she'd probably have us go on in. Go on in? To the hospital??? Now?????
Her BP came down, but only to 130/80, even though Christine had been resting for a while. The doctor said it was time to head to the hospital to be induced! So out the door we went to go home and get our bags and head to the hospital!
We made a bunch of phone calls to family, including Christine's dad who just happened to be in town for a training class. He had a scheduled flight for the next day, but that quickly got cancelled! :) And also a quick call to Chad and Karen to come to our house and pick Austin up so they could watch him for us for a couple days.
When we got to the hospital we filled out the paperwork and started to get settled in our labor and delivery room. We finally had a chance to realize that this was happening and happening soon! So much for our plans to finish getting a couple things ready over the weekend. ;)
There wasn't much more excitement for the rest of the night. Christine got her first dose of medication to help start the induction process, I paced around the room half the night, Christine's dad came by, and Christine's mom made flight plans for the next day. We just tried to relax as much as we could with nurses coming in every hour or so. Our main nurse was kind enough to drag a cot in for me for the night, but I didn't sleep much. My mind was racing every time I woke up during the night.
Just the first of many nights without a full night of sleep. ;)
Day 2 to be posted soon...
Zach has arrived!
Zachary Brian Cox
born September 12th, 2008
22 inches, 8 lbs 3 oz
born September 12th, 2008
22 inches, 8 lbs 3 oz
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| From Zach's Arrival! |
More details to follow...
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