Question for all Blogmamas

Hi Ladies,

Gianna has her nights and days mixed up. She is up every night from 10:00 to 1:30 am. Crying fussing and so on. Any suggestions on how to get her to sleep at night and not some much during the day? Or is this just the way it is with a newborn?

Random Stuff

First I want to say thank you to all the people who left me comments on my last blog. It was so encouraging to hear your stories, your words of wisdom and to know I am not alone. In the midst of sleep deprivation and anxiety it feels so good to be heard.


Random Story #1:
My week started off really rough. On Sunday night I had a really bad tooth ache. The weird thing is that it was in a tooth that I have had root canaled twice and had four crowns put on. So there are no nerves which makes having a tooth ache quite odd. So on Monday I went to the dentist at 2:00 and he told me that he tought I should go see the endodontist. So I headed over to him. He took an xray and told me he tought I had a cracked root and at this point I should just have the tooth pulled. Well, I had not eaten much that day because of the tooth pain and was of course very tired and missing Gianna. So I then went down stairs to an oral surgeon and had my tooth pulled. It was the worst experience and one that I have always had a major fear of.

Random #2: Has anyone watched the DVD or read the book"The Happiest Baby on the Block?" I got it in the mail yesterday and have had success with his techniques for calming a crying baby. I am hoping it will spill over into tonight and that she will sleep really well because of it.

The Delivery and the NICU

Okay so this blog is much over due... This is the story of Gianna's birth. Please forgive the typos and mass grammatical errors that you will soon encounter as I am tired and typing with Gianna sleeping on the my brest friend that is strapped around my lap.

On Saturday I had braxton hicks all days long and was starting to loose my MP. Then on Monday 9-15-08 I woke up at 4:40 am with a really bad contraction but after it passed I was able to go back to sleep. I woke up again at 7:19 with another contraction and told Mr.F I thought my labor was starting. He got out the stop watch and we started to time them. After a while I was tired of being timed and wanted to take a break. Frank decided he ought to leave and hook up with his friend who was going to check and make sure we put the car seat base in correctly.

I decided while he was gone to call my OB and see what he said. I told him how far apart they were and the pain level. He told me I needed to wait until they got worse and then call him. About an hour later (5:30 pm) the pain level had really increased and we called my OB again. He suggested we meet him down at the hospital. Driving in the car was really not fun. All I can say is the contractions were similar to having really bad menstrual cramps. All I wanted to do was sit on the toilet so I could get some relief.

After we arrived at the hospital a nurse came in and checked me to see how far I was dilated. This was an awful experience. I had no idea how badly it would hurt to be checked or how far they would shove their hand up there! Worst of all she told me I was only 1 cm dilated. Kind of embarrassing since I was in so much pain. About an hour later my OB arrived and he also checked me. This time I could not stop the tears the pain was just too much. The good news was that I was 3 cm and 90% effaced.

So he told me I could either go home and he would give me a sleeping pill or I could stay here and get an epidural. I am sure you can guess that I chose to stay and get the meds. I was pretty nervous about getting the epidural but it was no big deal. I was lucky that I had the head of anesthesiology there to give it to me. From there it was all a waiting game. At about 2:00 am my water broke and I was fully dilated. I pushed for an hour to no avail. Turns out she was sideways. Not sunny side up but sideways. So my ob had me wait and had them have me lay on my side and then switch every 1/2 hour to see if she would move. By 7:00 when he showed up she still had not moved. So he had me start pushing while he tried to get her to turn. Finally after 2 hours of pushing he had to use the vacuum. I was so bummed because I did not want her head pulled like that. But the reason he had to was because I spike a 102.9 fever! So after using the vacuum he was able to pull her into the birth canal and then I pushed her out.

It was so amazing because I got to actually pull her out and put her up on my stomach. I was crying so hard I could barely even see her. My mom and Mr.F's mom were both hugging and crying while they looked at her. She was born at 9:24 am 7lbs 6 oz and 20" long. The nurse who helped deliver her was amazing (she was actually nurse of the year) and of course my OB was fantastic. I think most other OBs would have done a c-section but thankfully I did not have to. He was so patient and we did all kind of techniques for pushing that midwives use.

So now the info on why she went into the NICU.

1. She could not maintain her body temperature it kept on dropping - sign of infection

2. She is B positive and I am O positive blood type - because of my long labor our bloods mixed and my blood formed antibodies to fight off her blood. So she had antibodies fighting off her B blood

3. She was cumms positive for jaundice

4. She had a big hematoma on the back of her head - collection of blood in between her scull and skin.

All of these factors meant she needed to be on Antibiotics via a IV and spend time under the lights. When they took her to the NICU it was the worst moment for me. I just sat and cried. That night in the hospital Mr. F and I sat and cried together.

Over all the experience in the NICU was really great for what it was. The nurses were super sweet and caring. They taught us a lot and I also had visits with a lactation consultant daily. We had to leave the hospital on Friday so we stayed at my parents house the remainder of the days and went to the hospital early and came home late. Gianna did 7 days of antibiotics and on Tuesday 9-23 we took her home. Before we left we went into the healing garden at the hospital with our families and my Dad dedicated her to God. It was very special time to share with our parents.

I still need to write about what it's been like since we got home but I am all blogged out for now. I will say that breastfeeding has been sooooooooooo hard. Taking a baby home from the NICU makes BF 10x worse. The reason is that to get rid of jaundice they have to get them to poop so they feed them tons. So when you take them home it is so hard to train them to only BF and not expect so much food without any work (IE a bottle). Today is a good day but almost every night I have the fall aparts. I have an amazing lactation consultant that I am emailing with daily who is helping me make it through this transition.

Thanks for reading this really really long post. Jewels

Gianna Pictures

Gianna and Daddy

Gianna on the billirubin blanket - we called her our little glow worm

This is a picture of my sisters feet compared to mine. I am experiencing a bit of post delivery swelling.

"Sausage Feet"

Gianna and I doing Kangaroo Care in the NICU. It is the best part of my day. We get to snuggle skin to skin for a couple of hours.

Gianna is set to come home on Tuesday - we are so excited. I will write details of the delivery and why she has been in the NICU when I have more time. Thanks for all your sweet comments.

GIANNA JOY FELICCIA

Gianna was born on Tuesday 9-16-08 at 9:24 am weighing in at 7lbs 60z 20inches. I will write more details later but it has been a long road. She is in the NICU until tuesday and then we finally get to take her home. I cannot wait and am already so in love with her. Details will follow but she is going to be fine. Here is a picture to hold you all over.

Sticky Legs~Pulled Over ~ & 38 weeks

Random Writings:
1. I am at a place in my pregnancy where I can only really sleep on my side. I am a die hard back sleeper and sometimes I wake up on my back but find that when trying to go to sleep it makes it super hard to breath. The problem with sleeping on my side is that my legs are always touching each other and sticking together. It is not only irritating but kind of hurts. So I have been applying large amounts of baby powder to my legs at night before I go to sleep which pretty much solves the problem.

2. I don't think Mr. F would want me to blog about this but whatever! I will delete it later- So yesterday I was running a bit late for my dentist appointment and I did a California rolling stop in our neighborhood. You know those stop signs that are super lame and you are always the only person there. Well, to my surprise two motor cops were there waiting for someone like me to come by. I saw them and just went ahead and pulled over. The officer came to my window and asked for my license. I said, "umm my husband told me to tell you that he is a deputy" he replied with "Who is your husband?" It told him his name and he said, ”Oh and then called Mr. F by a nice nickname" and then gave me my license back.

So I just got out of my 1st ticket ~ believe it or not I have not been pulled over in 12 years! Thank God for Mr. F's profession because I think running a stop sign is like a $250 fine.

Current 38 week status: I went to bed with really bad indigestion and woke up with some nasty braxton hicks contractions. They are still here but have subsided a bit. I am hoping to stop working after this week and start my disability insurance. I am in really good spirits though and feel so excited to meet our little girl.

Update

So it's been a while since I last blogged. No big news here still pregnant but I am officially 37 weeks today. 21 days to go (or so I hope it's only 21 more days)! I have been busy trying to get things ready for the arrival of my baby girl. Over the weekend I had a lot of intense braxton hicks that were really painful. Plus my back has started hurting. For those of you who do not know about 15 months ago while training for a 1/2 iron man my back go so bad that I could barely walk. After trying what seemed like everything and dishing out a lot of money God brought me to Dr. Shores. He is the chiropractor that gave me my life back. He technique is not traditional in any way and I really believe that God has given him the gift of healing. After seeing him for a couple of months my back pain was completely gone. I have lived with chronic back pain for over 10 years and thought most other people did also. I have seen him weekly during my pregnancy and until last week things have been great. I really feel like it is a miracle that I have made it this far into the pregnancy pain free and can totally handle the pain for this last month.

One thing I have really been stuggling with lately is how little I see my husband (Mr.F). He has been working a lot and when you work graveyard it really messes things up. So for example he started work yesterday which means I saw him this morning for about 10 minutes and will not see him again until tomorrow morning. Each day he works graveyard we see each other for only 5-10 minutes and during those few minutes I am rushing to get ready for work. So when he works Wed-Sat I don't get to sit and talk with him until Sunday around 2:00. All this to say dealing with all these braxton hicks, back pains and emotions has not been fun and doing it on my own with our Mr. F has been bumming. I will adjust but because Mr. F's job is new getting used to him working 12.5 hour graveyard shifts will take some time.

The good news of this weekend is that my amazing parents came over on Monday and spent 5+ hours helping me get everything ready and organized for the arrival of our little bambina. I feel so much more peaceful now that things are all in order.

One funny story to finish off my ramblings...my sister just called and said Zachary (20 months) just put up the toilet seat like dad does and tried to sit on it. He fell in and was yelling MOMMA, MOMMA! He is showing the signs of getting ready to potty train!!!