Finally getting around to writing out the birth story of Janie. My most favorite easiest labor and delivery thus far.
The end of Janie's pregnancy was a bit scary. I was referred to MFM because I had too much amniotic fluid which can be a sign of a variety of different problems at the end of pregnancy. When I had my 3rd trimester ultrasound around 32 weeks is when they decided to start sending me for weekly ultrasounds and at that same appointment Janie had flipped to breech when she had previously been head down. She continued to flip pretty much every appointment after that. When there is more than enough amniotic fluid the babies have a lot more room to move around. Which was definetly the case with Janie. She moved WAY more than any of my other babies.
Anyway.... So on December 31st Adams family was over at our apartment celebrating new years eve. That night I was having some contractions but they didn't hurt much. We kept joking that I was going to go into labor that night and we were going to have the first baby of the new year. It would have been pretty cool but I was not even 37 weeks pregnant yet so I just did not think that was going to happen.
The contractions stopped. Then on January second I was 37 weeks pregnant. That morning I had an appointment with the high risk doctors in the morning. Everything looked great and they said I didn't need to come in anymore. Right after that I headed to get a prenatal massage. I had been having a strange sense of pressure and a few contractions all day so when I got home I told my in laws, who had been down watching Ali and Lena for my appointments, that I hoped we wouldn't be making them come back down again that day. Ali was still out of school for Christmas Break so I spent the rest of the day playing with my girls. Around 7pm when we had finished dinner I was laying on the couch and was having pretty consistent contractions.
My girls were having their nightly dance party and my contractions weren't going away. They weren't painful but they were consistent. I was pretty ready to have that baby so I decided to get up and dance my heart out to "shake it off" with my girls and see if I could make magic happen and get that baby to come out. At this point I still thought it was just a pipe dream because I was only 37 weeks. I was just sure the contractions were stop and disappoint me.
The contractions did stop. We put the kids to bed and I laid on the couch and carefully timed the contractions. They were coming every 3-5 minutes for over an hour. They still were not very painful but they were there! The pelvic pressure was increasing as well. Around 11 they kind of died down and I told Adam to go to bed. I laid in bed and the contractions started again. For over 2 hours I had contractions 2-5 minutes apart. Some of them were very painful and some of them were not painful at all.
Around 2am I woke up Adam and told him that he needed to call his parents. We needed to head to the hospital. I was still a little nervous that it was still false labor because I wasn't in that much pain but I was also nervous that if my water broke at home I wouldn't make it to the hospital. Adam called his mom and dad around 2:30. I WAS NOT prepared at all so I quickly packed a bag and got ready to go.
We got to the hospital a little after 4am. They checked us in and by the time we got back to triage it was probably close to 5. They came in, strapped me up to the monitors and checked me. I was having contractions every 2 minutes but I was only dilated to 2cm. Whomp Whomp Whomp. Steady contractions for 8 hours and dilated to a 2. I still thought they might send me home. They said they wanted to keep us in there for a little while and see if I made any progress. I laid there very uncomfortable. An hour or so later they checked me again and said there wasn't much progress but they were going to keep me until my OB's nurse practicioner got there and could check me and make a decision.
The NP got there close to 8am came in and checked me and said "you're almost a 3, that's progress, you are having a baby today". I was so relieved. We finally got moved over to a labor and delivery room. Got the IV's in and all that fun stuff. I told ALLLL the people that I wanted to get an epidural before they broke my water because I knew the pain would increase exponentially once my water was broken and I knew everything would go speedy once it was broken.
Around 9:30 or 10 they came in to do my epidural. I was soooooo nervous because of the horrible experience I had during Lena's birth. It was pretty easy though. They didn't let Adam stay in the room for it which I didn't love and I did let a resident do it which I always swore I wouldn't. Then around 11 one of the hospital OB's came to brake my water.
This guy had a BIG personality. She came it and checked me and says "I would not call that a 3. You are going to be here all day. This baby is not going to be here anytime soon." I was so annoyed because this was my third time and I knew once my water broke it would be fast. He broke my water and left. I could tell even through my epidural that the contractions were really ramping up just as i supposed. Janie's heart rate started going a little weird so they started moving me around and putting me on oxygen like they do. Around noon she checked me again because of the heart rate. She wanted to see if progressing was the cause. Sure enough I was a 10. "not a 3" to a 10 in an hour. Just as I thought.
She called the doctor and we waited. and we waited. and we waited. My doc missed the first page. She didn't show up to deliver the baby until 1:30ish. The nurse was freaking out ready to just bring in the resident to deliver her because throughout all of this Janie was having some heart rate drops. Finally the doctor got there. By the time she got all suited up and ready for me to push it was after 2pm. We waited for a contraction, I pushed once and her head was out. My doctor was in shock. She was like "whoa, don't push so hard! Slow down for a second". Then with the next contraction and the next push the rest of her was out. Janie Bonnie was born January 3rd. at 2:13pm. She weight 6lbs and 6oz. So tiny and so adorable.
My mom changed her tickets when we told her I was in labor and arrive at the hospital a few hours after she was born. She brought the girls with her to meet their new sisters. They were instantly in love. We had been debating between Janie and Ella for the name and finally decided on Janie the day we had to fill out the paper.... per usual.
Wednesday, November 14, 2018
Friday, July 24, 2015
Trust Your Gut - Or Gallbladder
I figured I should probably document the 6 emergency hospital stay that happened a few months ago. This story actually goes back an entire year.... So get ready for it.
Last July I was newly pregnant and new to Connecticut. One night Adam was working an overnight shift and I got the worst pain I have ever had in my life in my middle/upper back towards the right side. It was so bad. I was so scared there was something seriously wrong with me. I had called the only person I knew in Connecticut and was ready to drop Ali off with her to go to the emergency room it was so bad. My kind friend was ready for Ali and I decided I was going to take some tylenol and lay day for another hour and see what happened. I was thinking that it could be heartburn or something else weird that was pregnancy related. Laying down made it worse but it got a little better when I sat up. After about an hour the pain let up a little bit and I was able to fall asleep sitting up that night. When I woke up in the morning the pain was gone and I convinced myself I was just crazy.
A couple weeks later the pain came on again. It lasted about 6 hours and was extremely intense but I figured it would go away since it did the time before. I described the pain to Adam and he was baffled a.k.a he thought I was crazy. He kept telling me I was having muscle pain.
A couple more weeks passed and maybe one more episode of the horrific pain came on. At my next OB appointment I told the doctor what had been going on. She literally looked at me like I was crazy and said, "huh. I don't know." Okay thanks a lot. That was probably the worst possible thing she could have done because she made me feel like an idiot and not take my pain seriously.
Fast forward several months. I have a few more episodes of the pain probably 2-4 a month. Some episodes are extremely severe some are not that bad. In January I have Lena. I was convinced that the pain had something to do with pregnancy so I was thinking that I was going to be done experiencing it. Then about two months after I had Lena I had another episode of the pain. At this point I was thinking maybe it is still heartburn cause I am still fat from having Lena. Sometimes heartburn lingers for a little while. Adam is over here still telling me I have muscle pain a.k.a not taking me serious.
Over the next month mid-march to mid-april the pain episodes get more frequent and more intense. At this point Adam is telling me that I need to go to a primary care doctor and see if they can help me figure out what is wrong.
In the middle of April we went to DC for part of Adams vacation. Our first night on the road we went to Mcdonalds for dinner (I know, nasty) about 30 minutes after I ate I was in severe pain. The worst it had ever been. I could barely move and was just bawling. This pain lasted for 10 hours. The only thing that would help it at all was sitting in the shower with hot water pounding on my back. It was soooo horrible. I spent the entire night in our hotel in and out of the shower. I for sure would have gone to the ER this night if we were in town. It was this day that Adam started to realize that I was having gallstones. When the pain came on right after I ate something fatty he figured out what it was. The reason he was having such a hard time figuring it out was because for some reason my pain was presenting more in my back than in my stomach which is not very typical for gallstones.
The rest of our trip went okay. I didn't have any more pain episodes. However, the last day of our vacation my parents were in Nepal when the massive earthquake happened. That added a little stress to everything.
We got home from DC on a Saturday. That night we went to chick fil a for dinner on the way home. Once again, the pain started. Twelve hours later when 6 am rolled around and I was still in severe pain I asked Adam how I was going to get the quickest results and he told me to go to the ER. So, I drove myself to the ER.
As soon as I was checked in the triage nurse was like, "Have you ever had any problems with your gallbladder? you are a textbook case." They did an ultrasound and sure enough I had several gallstones. However, my labs were not showing that there was a stone caught in my bile duct so the surgery was not an emergency. They sent me home with some narcotic pain medication and a referral to see a GI surgeon. I called and made the appointment and the soonest they could see me was the following Saturday. So almost a week.
Monday and monday night went well. Tuesday morning my parents got into town! We spent the day having fun and that night we had Lena's baby blessing. Once again that night the pain started. I spent the night in and out of the shower trying to get some relief. It was gone again in the morning. We spent the next day with my parents and brothers family having fun. Wednesday night the pain came back. Once again it was so horrible. It was the worst it had ever been so I was just trying to do my best to make it to the appointment on Saturday. This time however, the pain never went away. I was in severe pain all the way to my appointment on Saturday. From wednesday until saturday. The narcotics were not offering any relief.
In the mean time Adam and I were trying to move into a new place. Adam did almost everything by himself. He is an all star. Saturday morning the guys in the ward were coming over to help us move the big stuff. I was lying on the ground of our old apartment sobbing the entire time. Ali kept coming up to me saying "Mommy ouchie. Mommy sad." I was being such a worthless wife and mom but I was in so much pain and had been for four days. Adam came back to pick me up and we went straight to my doctors appointment. I didn't even go inside our new place.
When we got to the doctor they asked me a few questions. I told them I had been in pain since wednesday and that it had never gone away. After answering the questions the surgeon looked at me and said "what are you doing this afternoon?" I responded "nothing". He said, "You're going to be spending some time with me in the OR. You need to go straight to the hospital." I had choliostatsis. This means that a gallstone was trapped in my bile duct not allowing my liver to function properly.
Last July I was newly pregnant and new to Connecticut. One night Adam was working an overnight shift and I got the worst pain I have ever had in my life in my middle/upper back towards the right side. It was so bad. I was so scared there was something seriously wrong with me. I had called the only person I knew in Connecticut and was ready to drop Ali off with her to go to the emergency room it was so bad. My kind friend was ready for Ali and I decided I was going to take some tylenol and lay day for another hour and see what happened. I was thinking that it could be heartburn or something else weird that was pregnancy related. Laying down made it worse but it got a little better when I sat up. After about an hour the pain let up a little bit and I was able to fall asleep sitting up that night. When I woke up in the morning the pain was gone and I convinced myself I was just crazy.
A couple weeks later the pain came on again. It lasted about 6 hours and was extremely intense but I figured it would go away since it did the time before. I described the pain to Adam and he was baffled a.k.a he thought I was crazy. He kept telling me I was having muscle pain.
A couple more weeks passed and maybe one more episode of the horrific pain came on. At my next OB appointment I told the doctor what had been going on. She literally looked at me like I was crazy and said, "huh. I don't know." Okay thanks a lot. That was probably the worst possible thing she could have done because she made me feel like an idiot and not take my pain seriously.
Fast forward several months. I have a few more episodes of the pain probably 2-4 a month. Some episodes are extremely severe some are not that bad. In January I have Lena. I was convinced that the pain had something to do with pregnancy so I was thinking that I was going to be done experiencing it. Then about two months after I had Lena I had another episode of the pain. At this point I was thinking maybe it is still heartburn cause I am still fat from having Lena. Sometimes heartburn lingers for a little while. Adam is over here still telling me I have muscle pain a.k.a not taking me serious.
Over the next month mid-march to mid-april the pain episodes get more frequent and more intense. At this point Adam is telling me that I need to go to a primary care doctor and see if they can help me figure out what is wrong.
In the middle of April we went to DC for part of Adams vacation. Our first night on the road we went to Mcdonalds for dinner (I know, nasty) about 30 minutes after I ate I was in severe pain. The worst it had ever been. I could barely move and was just bawling. This pain lasted for 10 hours. The only thing that would help it at all was sitting in the shower with hot water pounding on my back. It was soooo horrible. I spent the entire night in our hotel in and out of the shower. I for sure would have gone to the ER this night if we were in town. It was this day that Adam started to realize that I was having gallstones. When the pain came on right after I ate something fatty he figured out what it was. The reason he was having such a hard time figuring it out was because for some reason my pain was presenting more in my back than in my stomach which is not very typical for gallstones.
The rest of our trip went okay. I didn't have any more pain episodes. However, the last day of our vacation my parents were in Nepal when the massive earthquake happened. That added a little stress to everything.
We got home from DC on a Saturday. That night we went to chick fil a for dinner on the way home. Once again, the pain started. Twelve hours later when 6 am rolled around and I was still in severe pain I asked Adam how I was going to get the quickest results and he told me to go to the ER. So, I drove myself to the ER.
As soon as I was checked in the triage nurse was like, "Have you ever had any problems with your gallbladder? you are a textbook case." They did an ultrasound and sure enough I had several gallstones. However, my labs were not showing that there was a stone caught in my bile duct so the surgery was not an emergency. They sent me home with some narcotic pain medication and a referral to see a GI surgeon. I called and made the appointment and the soonest they could see me was the following Saturday. So almost a week.
Monday and monday night went well. Tuesday morning my parents got into town! We spent the day having fun and that night we had Lena's baby blessing. Once again that night the pain started. I spent the night in and out of the shower trying to get some relief. It was gone again in the morning. We spent the next day with my parents and brothers family having fun. Wednesday night the pain came back. Once again it was so horrible. It was the worst it had ever been so I was just trying to do my best to make it to the appointment on Saturday. This time however, the pain never went away. I was in severe pain all the way to my appointment on Saturday. From wednesday until saturday. The narcotics were not offering any relief.
In the mean time Adam and I were trying to move into a new place. Adam did almost everything by himself. He is an all star. Saturday morning the guys in the ward were coming over to help us move the big stuff. I was lying on the ground of our old apartment sobbing the entire time. Ali kept coming up to me saying "Mommy ouchie. Mommy sad." I was being such a worthless wife and mom but I was in so much pain and had been for four days. Adam came back to pick me up and we went straight to my doctors appointment. I didn't even go inside our new place.
When we got to the doctor they asked me a few questions. I told them I had been in pain since wednesday and that it had never gone away. After answering the questions the surgeon looked at me and said "what are you doing this afternoon?" I responded "nothing". He said, "You're going to be spending some time with me in the OR. You need to go straight to the hospital." I had choliostatsis. This means that a gallstone was trapped in my bile duct not allowing my liver to function properly.
So Saturday afternoon the doctors took out my gallbladder. After the surgery the doctor came to talk to me and asked how long I had been having symptoms for. He told me that my gallbladder was extremely infected and full of infected fluid. He said the infection had started to spread to the muscles a little bit. He said my muscles was very red and pussy. He told me that this was something I should have taken care of a while ago. In some ways when he told me this I felt validated. I wasn't crazy and I really was in a lot of pain.
Sunday a different set of doctors did the procedure to remove the stone from my bile duct. When they came in to talk about my liver numbers Adam felt really bad. He kept saying, "Katie you were really really sick. Why were you so stoic? I can't believe you didn't let me know how horrible you felt." I always feel like I over react about pain and so I try to under react and this time it got me into a little trouble. It made me a little proud to know Im not as big of a drama queen as some people think I am. :)
Monday my liver numbers were still horrible so they wouldn't let me go home. Tuesday I couldn't keep anything down so they wouldn't let me leave. Same story Wednesday. Finally, on Thursday I kept down 2 grapes and 10 cheerios! It was the best ever. I was soooooo happy to be going home to my babies and my husband. While in the hospital they had to give me a heprin shot every 6 hours for 6 days!! It was brutal. My arms looked like they had gone through war after my stay. The pics below are several days after getting discharged!
Recovery was hard but only took a few weeks. I couldn't really hold Lena for a few days after leaving the hospital and I couldn't hold Ali for a couple of weeks. My kids were such troopers and my family was so amazing to help. Adams sister dropped everything for a week and came to stay with us, then my mother in law, then my mom. We are so grateful for all of them!
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Lena at 2 Months
-Weighing in at 10 lbs 11 oz and 22 inches long
-She has started smiling all the time. We can't get enough of those smiles
-Lena has started cooing a little and it is the sweetest.
-Sleeping about 8-9 hours at night (YAY)
-Such a sweet little non-fussy baby
-Loves tummy time! Every time I lay her on her belly she snuggles in and goes to sleep.
-Loves mom the most but is surprisingly good with other people.
Saturday, March 14, 2015
Ali Turn's 2
- Ali at two is a pretty big trip. Weighing in at 23 pounds and still in the 95% for height and head size.
-She is still pretty tiny though. Wearing 12-18 and 18-24 month clothing, Although most of that is getting too short these days. Size 6 shoes.
-Favorite foods: Mac and Cheese, oranges, salad, cheese fries in ranch, grapes, corn dogs, fruit snacks, and trying to sneak sips of diet coke.
-Ali's favorite words: Mine, go away, come on, more, any and all animal noises, okay, bye, where it go, uh oh, oh no, yay, baby, night-night
-Ali STILL hates milk and most meat.
-She has recently started refusing bows and it is ruining my life. It adds to the 100 times a day she gets called a boy.
-This kid loves anything with sprinkles. ANYTHING. Sometimes her dad is naughty and puts sprinkles on her yogurt in the morning.
-Ali still is not the best communicator. Whenever we figure out what she wants and ask her if she wants it she gets a big smile on her face and nods her head as expressively as possible. We really hope she starts talking more soon.
-She loves going to the pet store.
-Ali is obsessed with horses. OBSESSED. She usually has at least two within arms length at all times. She rides her horse all day everyday. Sometimes trying to trick ride it (standing up on it and saying weee).
-She loves shoes. Is very particular about what ones she wants to where and when.
-Still loves to climb on anything and everything.
-Hates, Hates, HATES the doctor. They do not have a good relationship. Every time we go it is such a painful experience.
-Ali has chronic ear infections so we go to the doctor a lot. We both hate it. Luckily she is getting tubes the end of this month.
(Here she is - preparing to tick the doctor as hard as she can as soon as she walks in the room)
-She loves suckers and hates taking pictures. Both shown below
We had a little birthday party for Ali at Chick-Fil-A. She thought it was pretty cool to be back in the presence of two year olds. Ran around giving all her friends she hadn't seen for a month hugs.
She was ticked we wouldn't let her dig right into those sprinkles. She did not want to be sung to.
Her favorite meal. Salad, fries, and Juice.
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Wednesday, March 4, 2015
First Few Weeks of Sisterhood
Here is Ali freaking out at the hospital when she was first introduced to her little sister :). I guess the fit could have something to do with the fact that her parents left her for 3 days without any explanation or warning. It was pretty traumatic.
On our way home from the hospital!
The first few weeks of sisterhood for these two have been pretty (crazy) good. Ali really loves Lena on her own terms. Anytime we walk out of the room and leave them alone she walks up to her and gives her a kiss or holds her hands - both of these kind actions give me anxiety though. I never know when Ali is going to lose it and think Lena is the devil. I don't like them to be left alone together haha.
This is their first time laying next to each other. It was about a week after Lena was born. Since Ali had been sick we weren't letting her anywhere near Lena. She was pretty pleased when we finally let them lay by each other.
Such a big helper with the binkie and the bottle. Besides when she swipes the binkie for herself!
Always trying (sometimes dangerously) to share her toys with her sister.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
The Story Behind the Name : Lena Kathryn Meier
So before I get into how we came up with Lena's name I must tell you Adam and I have name commitment issues. Well, especially me. When Ali was born I could not commit to a name. Adam finally filled out the paperwork and made the final decision all by himself.
I don't really know what my problem is. I have always had a hard time transitioning babies into actual people with an identity. For some reason I always just want to call them baby. It takes me a while to call them by their actual name. I think that might be part of the reason I struggle naming babies. I would maybe be better at it if babies were named when they were a couple months old :).
Anyway, how we came up with little Lena .... We had hardly discussed names before Lena was born. We had a list of names that we liked, many of them were left over from the same list we had when we named Ali. They were Quinn, Remy, Lena, Lane, Nora,, Pearce, Reese ... there could have been a couple more but that is all I can think of right now. Lena, really wasn't ever that high on the list though. The day after Lena was born we had pretty much narrowed the list down to Reese, Remy, and Nora. Then we had pretty much decided on Reese so much so that Adam wrote it on the white board under "babys name". We were having a really hard time 100% committing.
Adam was trying to think of a middle name and so he googled his great grandma's name (Viola Stone). She came up and he realized that her name was actually Lena Viola Stone. He looked at me and said, "Did you know my great grandmas name was Lena?"I did know this. From then on he really wanted to name the baby Lena. It was so funny to me because he usually isn't super opinionated or passionate about anything. But he was super excited about the name Lena. I was still pretty hesitant because I had thought that name was off the table. I gave it a few hours to see if Adam changed his mind and he was not budging. During this time I talked to my mom on the phone and she had asked if we had decided on a name I told her that all of the sudden Adam wanted Lena. It was her favorite of the choices and she told me that her Grandma's name was Nicolena (which I knew) and she went by Lena. After all of these random connections I decided I might be okay with the name.
We tentatively had decided on Lena and were trying to come up with a middle name. Later that day we got the news that Adam's grandma had passed away. Her name was Kathryn. We really liked the way Lena Kathryn sounded and thought it would be a special tribute to his grandma to give Lena her name.
Side note: our Grandma's like to pass away at big moments in our life. My mom's mom passed away when we were engaged, right before we got married. My dad's mom passed away when I was exactly 37 weeks pregnant with Alice and I got the clear to go to the funeral! And now Adam's Grandma the day after we have our second child!
And here are some more pictures for your enjoyment!
I don't really know what my problem is. I have always had a hard time transitioning babies into actual people with an identity. For some reason I always just want to call them baby. It takes me a while to call them by their actual name. I think that might be part of the reason I struggle naming babies. I would maybe be better at it if babies were named when they were a couple months old :).
Anyway, how we came up with little Lena .... We had hardly discussed names before Lena was born. We had a list of names that we liked, many of them were left over from the same list we had when we named Ali. They were Quinn, Remy, Lena, Lane, Nora,, Pearce, Reese ... there could have been a couple more but that is all I can think of right now. Lena, really wasn't ever that high on the list though. The day after Lena was born we had pretty much narrowed the list down to Reese, Remy, and Nora. Then we had pretty much decided on Reese so much so that Adam wrote it on the white board under "babys name". We were having a really hard time 100% committing.
Adam was trying to think of a middle name and so he googled his great grandma's name (Viola Stone). She came up and he realized that her name was actually Lena Viola Stone. He looked at me and said, "Did you know my great grandmas name was Lena?"I did know this. From then on he really wanted to name the baby Lena. It was so funny to me because he usually isn't super opinionated or passionate about anything. But he was super excited about the name Lena. I was still pretty hesitant because I had thought that name was off the table. I gave it a few hours to see if Adam changed his mind and he was not budging. During this time I talked to my mom on the phone and she had asked if we had decided on a name I told her that all of the sudden Adam wanted Lena. It was her favorite of the choices and she told me that her Grandma's name was Nicolena (which I knew) and she went by Lena. After all of these random connections I decided I might be okay with the name.
We tentatively had decided on Lena and were trying to come up with a middle name. Later that day we got the news that Adam's grandma had passed away. Her name was Kathryn. We really liked the way Lena Kathryn sounded and thought it would be a special tribute to his grandma to give Lena her name.
Side note: our Grandma's like to pass away at big moments in our life. My mom's mom passed away when we were engaged, right before we got married. My dad's mom passed away when I was exactly 37 weeks pregnant with Alice and I got the clear to go to the funeral! And now Adam's Grandma the day after we have our second child!
And here are some more pictures for your enjoyment!
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