2 Months Old!

Today Annika is officially 2 months old.

She was sleeping really well up until last night, then just wouldn't go to sleep and has been a grump all day today.

We had a milestone today, she looked up at me and gave me a big gummy grin, twice! She's been smiling for a week or so, but not really at anything, so it's really rewarding to finally have a smile meant for me.

We just love our tiny little angel!

One Month Old!

Today, Annika is one month old! It's gone by so quickly, I just can't believe it.

Annika Ellen Paskett

So, here is the full play by play of my delivery:
At about 1 AM on the 21st my water broke. Feels a lot like peeing your pants, except you can't control it at all. Kelly was extremely calm and just started loading things up to go to the hospital. I was in a blind panic, trying to call my doctor, who was on vacation, calling my mom to ask her what to do and trying to not forget anything, because I hadn't bothered to pack a bag. I wasn't having any contractions until we got in the car and were halfway to the hospital. They didn't really hurt because my amniotic sac only had a little tear in it, so I still had a lot of cushion. We were admitted into the hospital at 1:30, dilated to a 1, and then were just stuck in limbo until 6 AM when the shifts changed.

Once the shifts changed and the doctors got in for the day we got some orders. They put oxytocin (a contraction inducer) into my IV to get the contractions closer together and called for the epidural.

The slow leak in my water had removed a lot of the cushion so the contractions were getting very painful by the time they got around to the epidural at 7 AM. I was dilated to a 2. I think they may have gone a little heavy on the medication because I couldn't even tell when I was having a contraction. I only pushed the button 3 times during the whole thing, and 2 of them were while I was pushing.

After the epidural, I couldn't have cared less about what was going on around me, I was just happy as could be. My primary nurse was training another nurse, so I was the guinea pig. She was explaining how to check dilation and about to show her, when I mentioned that I was a little uncomfortable with having my business on display when they turned on the spotlight and just ignored me. I guess I knew I wasn't going to have any modesty left at the end of it.

By about 9 AM I was dilated to a 6, and at 10 AM to 8. Somewhere during those two hours the nurses determined that the slow leak in my water had stopped because the baby's head had pushed it tight enough that it closed off, so my water was going to have to break, again, before we went any further.

At about 11 AM, I was fully dilated. During the course of the dilation, I started getting sick and throwing up every hour or so. At 11, I started feeling sick again while the nurses checked the dilation. I leaned over to throw up, and the head nurse got all excited and told me to do it again. While mentally cussing at her, I started, involuntarily, hurling and I heard the most sickening splash noise. Apparently a little poke was all my water needed and throwing up is better than the best push a person can do.

The nurses told us that there was meconium (fetal poop) in the fluid and that NICU nurses would have to be there during the delivery. We asked, well Kelly asked, because I was still really stoned and barely knew what was going on, what the long term issues could be from a meconium baby, and what we needed to be prepared for. All she told us was that her son had been a meconium baby and now he was "just a big shit." I thought Kelly was going to rip her head off. She finally told him that 99.9% of meconium babies are just fine, and that the NICU nurses are there to protect against the .1% that have problems. Several hours later we finally got someone to explain that the baby inhales the contaminated fluid in the womb and that it coats the lungs and can cause very serious infections, but usually doesn't if suctioned out.

The nurses had me push from a little after 11 AM till she was born at 12:41. All in all, it was 11.5 hours of labor and an hour and a half of pushing.

They suctioned out her lungs and she was doing really well, except she was blue and wouldn't cry. She was fussing and grunting, but the nurses could not get her to cry. They finally handed her to Kelly, and he brought her to me. My parents came in shortly after that. She was still really blue, but everyone kept saying it was normal. After a few minutes her eyes got wide, her mouth went slack and she stopped breathing. I panicked, started to pat her back, and hit the call button several times, while mom flicked her feet. She started breathing again just before the nurses got there. She did the same thing, twice, when I tried to feed her a few minutes after that. Kelly finally got the nurses and told them to take her to the nursery and figure out what was wrong with her. After they tried to feed her a bottle and she did the same thing they sent her down to the NICU. We didn't get her back until 10 PM. They suctioned her lungs several times and monitored her oxygen levels. Finally, she started crying and eating normally, and that was when they sent her back. We sent her to the nursery that night so they could monitor her sleep, and brought her to me to eat. She did fine all through the night, so the pediatrician that had been with her through the day before said we could leave that night.

She has a tendency to sleep through feedings and wake up so hungry she won't stop crying or latch on, so I've had to wake her up to feed her every 2.5 to 3 hours. Yesterday evening she was insisting on being fed every hour and a half. I'm learning to listen to her better. She'll start to fuss and whimper when it's time to eat, but won't wake up enough to cry.

All in all, she is an angel. She doesn't cry unless she's really hungry, dirty, or being messed with. She doesn't like diaper changes or getting her clothes changed much, but she's getting better about those two, and stays pretty calm.
She's telling me it's time to eat, so I'm going to bring this blog to an end.

Thank you so much to everyone for all their support and love!

Baby Shower, Part 2

Yesterday was my baby shower with Kelly's family. They are all so loving and supportive!

We played the "yarn around my belly" game, and Grandma Sugar was almost right on at about 42 inches.

We got lots of books to read to her and some really cute toys. Grandma Sugar, Rita, Jenny, and Heather all went in on a bouncer that turns into a little push walker. I'm really excited for Mei-Mei to get big enough to play with it.

The whole family tied a quilt for us. It's just darling.

Baby Shower, Part 1

On Saturday, Mom, Aunt Natalie, and Grandma Sonia threw a baby shower for me. Although there were a lot of last minute cancellations, we had a good turnout, and had a really good time.

My friend, Lyndee, was right on the money with her guess of how big around my belly is. Grandma is measuring every one's guesses.

I won the baby trivia game, Aunt Shirley won the baby in an ice cube game, Sherri kicked our butts in the word scramble, and Aunt Cloann won the memory game. Here we are all deep in thought.It was really nice to see everyone. I haven't seen Aunt Susan since my wedding and Aunt Carla and Cloann for at least 3 or 4 years. The food was wonderful and I couldn't be happier with how everything went. We've got almost everything we need for the baby. I think. The few things we're missing I think we'll get at the shower Kelly's family is doing for me this Saturday. Everyone has been so generous and so happy for us. We really couldn't ask for more.

Everything still seems a little surreal, even though the baby could be here any day. I doubt she'll be early, but if she is, we're ready, materially, now.

Work and Baby Update

I worked the first of my early morning, 6 hour shifts today. I can't believe the difference a few hours makes. I've been working from 9 to 6 for the past month, then this week Scott cut me down to 9 to 4 because I kept throwing up at work, but I was still getting really tired and sick. Today's shift was from 6 to 1. It wasn't hot, so I could work outside and actually get things done. I didn't feel sick at all, and much less tired than I normally do. The only problem is that Lowe's requires a half hour lunch on shifts over 6 hours and an hour lunch with any shift over 7 hours. I should be okay if I just remember to take something light with me so I can eat in the break room and to keep my time under 7 hours. Six hours just isn't enough time to get everything done that needs to be done though!

Today's issue was from one of the vendors. They dropped a shipment off outside the gate last night. When I got in this morning, we checked it and received it. We had to reject over half of the plants. They were heat burned and disgustingly moldy. I think the driver had turned off the refrigeration to save on gas. (He was coming from Oregon.) So I spent most of my day dealing with that, then receiving another plant truck that came in.

The girls at work are convinced that I'm going to go into labor any day. Apparently the baby has started to drop. I didn't really notice, except I couldn't bend over far enough to put my shoes on, but the receiving girls and head cashiers were having a fit about it yesterday. I think they may be more excited than I am. There seems to be two groups of "baby followers:" the ones that come up and play with my belly every time they see me, and the ones that ask me about it a lot, but are terrified to touch my stomach. They're fine with smacking my arm or patting me on the back, but won't do more than barely touch my belly. It's actually a little weirder than the ones that poke and prod, because I'm used to that. Women with children of their own make up most of the "play with the belly" group, and a few guys and the girls without kids the "safe distance" group.

We're slowly getting things ready for the baby. Most of the clothes are washed and the room is being slowly organized. I've been doing most of it myself because every time Kelly walks into that room he gets kind of googly eyed and starts playing with stuff. I caught him in the act with the soft front carrier. We can't use it until she can hold her head up on her own, but he was bound and determined to test it out.

The baby shower is going to be interesting. He doesn't usually get giggly and excited about things in front of anyone but me, but with all the cute baby stuff for our little one there, it may be too much for him to contain.

Holy Crap, I'm Having a Baby

I've known about the impending arrival of my daughter since late November. However, it hadn't really sunk in that I was actually going to be a mother, it just felt like a dream or like I was making it up.

I assumed it would get real when I started to feel her kick. Nope.

I thought it would feel real when we saw her ultrasound pictures. Nuh-uh.

I figured it would seem real when I started to show and people asked me about it. Nada.

I guessed it would be real when we picked a name. Nothing.

Seven months pregnant and it still didn't feel real. I thought I was nuts. Finally, last night, it got real. All it took was this:

There's nothing better in this world that having an internal panic attack in the middle of Babies'R'Us. That store scared the crap out of me. Thank goodness for the Prozac keeping me calm and normal or I'd have started bawling and had an "I can't take care of my baby" spaz right there in the middle of the store.

I'm not sure why it was the car seat that made it so real. We've had baby clothes for weeks, a swing, and lots of other little things, but they didn't do it. The car seat did. I stood there and stared at it for a minute and all I could say was "Holy crap. I'm having a baby." The reality of it is wearing off again, and it seems like it's happening to someone else, but every time I pass by that little orange car seat sitting in my kitchen, I know it's really me having the baby.

Kelly says he's already had his "holy crap, we're having a baby" moment and has moved on. I don't think he has yet. I don't think it's really going to sink in for either of us until we're in the hospital with her.

I'm just afraid we won't be ready.