Clara is the same size now as Lily when Lily passed away. (Actually Clara's a little bigger.) It's odd for me to think that Clara is only 4 weeks old and already surpassing her littler (in growth) sister.
Most people comment on how large their kids are when a new baby comes. Instead, Clara is huge comparatively.
Last night was new baby difficult. Staying up until 3am, needing cuddles. I finally fell asleep next to Clara. She wears an Owlet to bed, the Owlet is the only reason I can sleep at all. (Owlet is a heart rate/oxygen monitoring device.)
I awoke with my alarm and turned to see Clara asleep. She looked in sleep like Lily dead. I freaked out. Despite the Owlet's green light gently telling me that everything is okay... I immediately woke my daughter, checked her breathing myself. She giggled softly and went right back to sleep.
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
Thursday, August 3, 2017
Baby Clara
For the past 2.5 weeks I've been getting contractions. But every time they started becoming regular anxiety would start and the contractions would quit! On July 29th (Mine and Andrew's 12th anniversary) my contractions were 5 minutes apart for 2 hours. We got ready for the hospital...then they quit again!
Fast Forward to August 3rd.
Andrew's mom came over to watch the kids. Andrew and I had woken up around 6:15am. Everything we needed was in the car, we drove to the hospital, checked in about 7am and walked up the stairs to labor and delivery. The nurses took me to room 238. A lovely room with a beautiful view of the mountains. My nurse called my OBGYN as I was scheduled for induction.
A few minutes later she came back to inform me that no one from my OBGYN office was scheduled to be at Mountain Point Medical (the hospital) that morning. An oversight on the OBGYN office...aka...oops! Also, the only doctor on call at the other hospital was in the middle of a c-section and wouldn't be able to come for several hours, also, she couldn't start the pitocin because I had a prior c-section. I responded, "Oh, okay we can go out for breakfast then!" The nurse replied, "Yeah, you could go to Kneaders."
I pulled out the camera, asked Andrew to take one last picture of pregnant me. The camera flashed "No room on memory card." For the record, we had transferred everything from the memory card to our computer several days ago and thought that we had wiped the memory card but since after seeing the no room on memory card, we both questioned if we had transferred everything correctly, plus all the pictures on the camera were of Lily.
We left the hospital, my right wrist carrying my hospital bracelets, and drove to Target where we purchased a new memory card for the camera, a few treats (baby meat sticks--weird but I like them.), and baby bottles with a bottle brush.
Then we drove to Kneaders, I requested a breakfast croissant (sausage, egg, cheese), Andrew bought french toast (strawberries, cream) and we also bought 4 fruit tarts.
We drove back to the hospital, much to the relief of our nurse who was worried we wouldn't be back in time. I left 3 of the tarts with the nurses and we went back to our room.
We ate breakfast, enjoyed the sunrise.
A nurse came in to start my IV and blew out my vein on my left hand. The epidural tech came in and started an IV on my right hand. Dr. Bean came in and apologized for the oversight of hospital staff. He said, "It actually would have been better for us to have you come tomorrow." I replied, "We can come tomorrow." (I really wouldn't have minded.) Dr. Bean replied, "No, you already have an IV, and I'm here until you deliver. Everyone at AF hospital has to wait to be induced until your baby is here."
Pitocin started. The nurse suddenly realized that I was strep B positive, she left to get antibiotics (which you're supposed to have 4 hours before delivery). I was already in transitional labor. The contractions were hard and fast. I grabbed Andrew's hand. The nurse turned down the pitocin but my body was ready to go. The contractions were 2 minutes apart. I asked for an epidural. The contractions were 1 minute apart. The epidural dude arrived and had the epidural in quick. The nurse checked me, I was dialated to 8.5."I think were going to have a baby soon." My nurse said and then quickly ran off and brought back all the doctors tools. As she laid them out on the table the epidural dude shot my line with a concentrated dose as the minor dose hadn't started yet. Dr. Bean dressed in a delivery gown over by the door. "Do you feel the need to push?" he asked. I replied, "No, the epidural is too strong, you'll have to tell me when to push." "Okay. Next contraction then."
I was actually surprised, had I realized that I was that close, I probably would've gone without an epidural...maybe.
Four rounds of pushing, "I see dark hair." - Dr. Bean, and a hardy cry filled the room. I had had the epidural less than 10 minutes. The antibiotic had been in me for 20 minutes. Andrew tells me that the umbilical cord was wrapped loosely around our baby's arm or leg, but he doesn't remember which.
I didn't tear. There were no complications. Dr. Bean said, "No tearing, nothing, why am I here!"
Clara was placed on my chest, she immediately started rooting. I let her nurse for an hour. Another nurse asked if I was okay giving a bottle. "My milk's not in yet! Of course she can have a bottle." ("I like that," the nurse replied, "You're realistic.") Andrew fed Clara a bottle, she downed 35ml and at less than 2 hours old. They hooked her up to a pulse ox, she was slightly purple, but her numbers checked out perfectly. It took awhile to rub all the vernix from her body, she had some leftover in her hair that was washed out the following day.
Clara River Rosenvall
12:40pm (From start of IV to birth was 1 hour 40 minutes)
8 lbs 14 ounces
19 3/4 inches long
Fast Forward to August 3rd.
Andrew's mom came over to watch the kids. Andrew and I had woken up around 6:15am. Everything we needed was in the car, we drove to the hospital, checked in about 7am and walked up the stairs to labor and delivery. The nurses took me to room 238. A lovely room with a beautiful view of the mountains. My nurse called my OBGYN as I was scheduled for induction.
A few minutes later she came back to inform me that no one from my OBGYN office was scheduled to be at Mountain Point Medical (the hospital) that morning. An oversight on the OBGYN office...aka...oops! Also, the only doctor on call at the other hospital was in the middle of a c-section and wouldn't be able to come for several hours, also, she couldn't start the pitocin because I had a prior c-section. I responded, "Oh, okay we can go out for breakfast then!" The nurse replied, "Yeah, you could go to Kneaders."
I pulled out the camera, asked Andrew to take one last picture of pregnant me. The camera flashed "No room on memory card." For the record, we had transferred everything from the memory card to our computer several days ago and thought that we had wiped the memory card but since after seeing the no room on memory card, we both questioned if we had transferred everything correctly, plus all the pictures on the camera were of Lily.
We left the hospital, my right wrist carrying my hospital bracelets, and drove to Target where we purchased a new memory card for the camera, a few treats (baby meat sticks--weird but I like them.), and baby bottles with a bottle brush.
Then we drove to Kneaders, I requested a breakfast croissant (sausage, egg, cheese), Andrew bought french toast (strawberries, cream) and we also bought 4 fruit tarts.
We drove back to the hospital, much to the relief of our nurse who was worried we wouldn't be back in time. I left 3 of the tarts with the nurses and we went back to our room.
We ate breakfast, enjoyed the sunrise.
A nurse came in to start my IV and blew out my vein on my left hand. The epidural tech came in and started an IV on my right hand. Dr. Bean came in and apologized for the oversight of hospital staff. He said, "It actually would have been better for us to have you come tomorrow." I replied, "We can come tomorrow." (I really wouldn't have minded.) Dr. Bean replied, "No, you already have an IV, and I'm here until you deliver. Everyone at AF hospital has to wait to be induced until your baby is here."
Pitocin started. The nurse suddenly realized that I was strep B positive, she left to get antibiotics (which you're supposed to have 4 hours before delivery). I was already in transitional labor. The contractions were hard and fast. I grabbed Andrew's hand. The nurse turned down the pitocin but my body was ready to go. The contractions were 2 minutes apart. I asked for an epidural. The contractions were 1 minute apart. The epidural dude arrived and had the epidural in quick. The nurse checked me, I was dialated to 8.5."I think were going to have a baby soon." My nurse said and then quickly ran off and brought back all the doctors tools. As she laid them out on the table the epidural dude shot my line with a concentrated dose as the minor dose hadn't started yet. Dr. Bean dressed in a delivery gown over by the door. "Do you feel the need to push?" he asked. I replied, "No, the epidural is too strong, you'll have to tell me when to push." "Okay. Next contraction then."
I was actually surprised, had I realized that I was that close, I probably would've gone without an epidural...maybe.
Four rounds of pushing, "I see dark hair." - Dr. Bean, and a hardy cry filled the room. I had had the epidural less than 10 minutes. The antibiotic had been in me for 20 minutes. Andrew tells me that the umbilical cord was wrapped loosely around our baby's arm or leg, but he doesn't remember which.
I didn't tear. There were no complications. Dr. Bean said, "No tearing, nothing, why am I here!"
Clara was placed on my chest, she immediately started rooting. I let her nurse for an hour. Another nurse asked if I was okay giving a bottle. "My milk's not in yet! Of course she can have a bottle." ("I like that," the nurse replied, "You're realistic.") Andrew fed Clara a bottle, she downed 35ml and at less than 2 hours old. They hooked her up to a pulse ox, she was slightly purple, but her numbers checked out perfectly. It took awhile to rub all the vernix from her body, she had some leftover in her hair that was washed out the following day.
Clara River Rosenvall
12:40pm (From start of IV to birth was 1 hour 40 minutes)
8 lbs 14 ounces
19 3/4 inches long
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