Jaundice

So, the last few post I feel like I have tried to squeeze weeks into a few words--which is why I decided to do a whole separate post on our experience with Jaundice.

It was the day we were leaving the hospital, Thursday, when one of the doctor's from our pediatrician office came into our room to update us on Madison's blood work that they drew the night before. Her jaundice levels were higher than they wanted them to be, but they said they had also expected this because Madison and I have different blood types. This is when they told me to supplement so we could keep up with how much she was eating and to increase more dirty diapers to clear out the jaundice. The ped. updated us on what jaundice was and what the plan was--hoping it would clear up itself without treatment. Her jaundice level was 9 that morning, and they get worried when it reaches the 20's. I thought ok, that doesn't seem so bad then but we were still worried new parents though and freaking out a little bit. It had been smooth sailing at the hospital and then to have that dumped on us just an hour before being discharged was a bummer. We were told to come back to the hospital the next morning for them to draw more blood, which meant poking her little foot AGAIN.

Friday morning we went in, they took her blood and about an hour later the pediatrician called us with the results---12. Since this was such a significant jump, they wanted us to come in to get the home photo therapy which was essentially just a blue light (about the size of an iPad) that we placed her on 24/7. We just slid the light between her back and her onsies. She was also to sleep on it as well. At, this point we were freaking out that we had to go get a light and that her levels were rising.

Saturday we had to go back in for blood work, and got a call stating that her levels had gone up to 15. I was really bummed as I had thought for sure they would have gone down a little since she was on the light. We also had an appointment for her with the her ped on Saturday. Her weight was 7.1 lbs and they wanted us back in next week to check her weight again. They wanted to see her closer to her birth weight, 7.9lbs.

With that being said, we had to go back AGAIN on Sunday. Her levels had gone down to 12 I believe and they said to take her off the light and just to put her in direct sunlight for 15 minutes every 3 hours. They did not want us to do any more blood work, they just wanted her to come in Tuesday for a weight check and examine her for the jaundice. At this point, I could clearly tell it had improved and I had not realized just how yellow her skin was until it got better. You could see it in her eyes though and we were told this was the last to clear up. At this point they were not concerned and I guess they knew it would continue to drop as it did. Her eye's eventually whitened back up.

Looking back at this now, I realize how common jaundice is. We were so nervous about it at the time. You don't want to hear anything is wrong or have any reason for the doctor to have to keep an eye on your baby. We were in good hands though, and Gwinnett Ped's. was very thorough in keeping up with the situation. We are just glad to have it all cleared up and better! :)

Madison's First Few Days

Following Madison's delivery we had few visitors. By the time we made it to the recovery room it was rather late. John's brother and his wife did come by to see us though--also those who were there for her delivery as well.

Honestly, I did not know what to expect. When we went upstairs to the recovery room they took her to bath her. About an hour later they brought her in the room with us, where she stayed for our entire visit. The nurse worked with me immediately to breastfeed Madison. I have to say I was very pleased with how well she took on breastfeeding during our stay.

Our first night went well. We were up several times for feedings, but got a little sleep which was super nice after the previous night. Also, having the IV out my arm was great. The next morning I was really feeling a shower. The nurse the previous night suggested waiting 24 hours after delivery. I ask the new shift nurse and she said sure, even though it was only about 12 hours later. I shocked myself with how well I was able to get around following my delivery.

We had several visitors Wednesday morning and afternoon. My mother-in-laws friend Judy brought us breakfast, John's younger brother and his wife came by again, and my friend Alex. That afternoon my grandparents (Clarks) came as well and John's Mom. That evening, we had tons of visitors as everyone came by after work. Thank you everyone who came to see us. :)

The following morning, Thursday, we got to go home! John was super excited to get home to our bed, and in all honesty I was nervous! I will update with our first few days at home in the next post and our Jaundice experience as well.

Madison Olivia Valentino

Well, as you can see I stopped updating my blog the second I felt better. Needless to say the 18 weeks of sickness was no fun. The rest of my pregnancy was smooth sailing. I gained weight as expected, not too much and not too little. My blood pressure was always great and I never felt miserable. My only complaint was restless leg syndrome that kept me up at crazy hours of the night, like 3:45 am, 5:45am and never did I fall asleep before 2am. I told myself that this was my body preparing me for the crazy hours ahead.

It was my 37 week appointment that we had an unexpected jump in growth. Baby V had measured 40 weeks at 37 weeks. Like I said before, I was shocked because we had been measuring right on par for the whole pregnancy. It was this appointment that Dr. Pohl mentioned inducing me if necessary, but no further discussion on that until my next appointment at 38 weeks. When they took me back my blood pressue was good, as usual and my weight had actually not changed from the last appointment. With that being said, I knew when he measured I would be the same as before. Well, I actually measured 41 weeks. He said that the baby grew, but I actually lost weight. He also checked me and I was 1cm, baby was low, but he believed that the measurements may be a little off. He was thinking me measuring 41 weeks might be a little over what she actually was. Although, this was the appointment that we discussed being induced in more detailed. I was not sure how I felt about it, but the goal was to prevent having to have a c-section due to a large baby. I was so unsure, and when he asked me I turned to John. John was down for whatever Dr. Pohl suggested, we had a lot of trust in him. John also had voiced his fear of getting the phone call at work from me telling me to go to the hospital. He liked the idea of knowing when. So, Dr. Pohl says he was going to look at his calendar and he would be back. When he came back to the room he said alright how does Monday, the 27th sound at 7:30pm? I didn't know what to say. I was in shock, I guess reality set in. I just said "uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" and tried to breath. Dr. Pohl was a little confussed. I then had to explain my reaction and tell him I am just nervous and in shock. I liked knowing she would be here soon, but I also left the appointment with the intentions of getting her here sooner, and naturally. So instead of the elevator, we took the steps out of the docotors office. Needless to say that was the last of my attempt-haha.

38 Weeks and 5 Days

So Monday, August 27th it was. I was 39 weeks and 1 day, as Dr. Pohl wanted me to be atleast 39 weeks. I spent the next few days getting ready to go in to the hospital--packing bags for her, myself and John. Making sure I had all paper work that I had already filled out. Monday came quick. I was at home all ready to go, waiting on John to get home from work. He got home, took a shower, we ate dinner and it was time to call the hospital to see if they had a room for me. The lady on the other line said "we will see you at 7:30". It wasn't until we pulled out of the neighborhood that I got real nervous and wow, could you feel it in air between me and John and both. We were both so nervous and not saying much...but we had this beatiful reminder that God would take of us. I was not able to get a great picture, but I atleast got one. We took it as a sign from God. :)

Once we arrived at the hospital we didn't have to spend too much time registering because I had pre-registered. We waited about 10 minutes for them to get a room set up. They then took us back, and into the beatiful gown I went! They then set up my IV for fluids, and placed the monitors on me to keep up with the babies heart beat and my contractions (which by the way I was having, but not feeling). Shortly after they inserted the cervidil at about 8:30pm. This was to stay in for 12 hours and it's purpose is to soften the cervix. Then it was just waiting until the next morning. I did not sleep at all that night, I was up and down to the bathroom which was no different then being at home (which involved unplugging my monitors, drap them around my neck, and wheel the IV bag with me to the bathroom each time). The only difference was that it was even more difficult to get comfortable with an IV coming out of your arm and attached to a bag of fluid and then a blood pressure cuff going off every 30 minutes on the other arm. Also, I tossed and turned and every time I moved the nurse had to come back in and re-adjust my monitor to find the babies heart beat as she moved or I moved. I slept for about an hour. John on the other hand was snoring away, but was interupted as well when the nurse would have to come in to fix the monitors. He had a not so comfortable bed--he actualy feel back in it because he had it reclinded back so far. It was halirous. The nurse helped him up and another came in asking what was going on in our room because I was laughing so hard.

As Monday night ran into Tuesday morning, Dr. Pohl came in at about 9 I believe to break my water. Not the must pleasent feeling is all I will say about that, I felt like I was peeing on myself for hours. Not too much longer after my water was broke did I begin to feel my contractions for the first time. They did not give me the Pitocin right away because I was having my contractions naturally. Not long after that I was in need of an Epidural. Shortly following my Epi they decided to go ahead and give me Pitocin to speed things up and keep my contractions going as they were because they began dipping down a little. When they gave me my Pitocin, they accidently cut off my epidural and I begin to get less numb. I mentioned it to the nurse and they realized it had been off and that was when I was given the magic button! Haha, the Epi button that I could push if I needed it or felt any pain. She did tell me I could only push it every 12 mins though. I didn't use it to much until later in the evening when it got closer to time, just to make sure I was not in too much pain. :)

AT around 4:30, I was 5cm and fully efaced. Dr. Pohl said hopefully we will have a baby before the night was over. He also was expecting time for pushing around 10 and could last 3 hours. Well, that was not happening before 6pm I was 8cm. By 7:30, I was 10cm and fighting back pushing. Then 30 minutes later (not 3 hours!), Madison entered this world at 8:21pm. She ended up weighing 7 lbs and 9 ounces. She was 19 1/2 inches long.

I will update later with more pictures of our stay at the hospital. This is a super long post already. This is only the beginning of our long journey with our new blessing from God. :)

Below are the hospital pictures!

37 weeks and 5 days.

Where has the past 4 months gone? I have obvisouly been feeling MUCH better. The first 18 weeks of pregnancy were full blown sickness. Since 18 weeks things have been great. I got energy back, motivation and my appetite back. Finish later.

20 Weeks---sex of baby!

Yay--for feeling much better. I am also eating much better, including chicken. I have not been sick in a while. The only thing is that I constantly have a tickle in my throat in the mornings & nights and sometimes throughout the day. If you have been around me lately, you have heard my annoying cough that is driving my mom and John crazy. I also get winded really easily, its kinda sad haha.

I felt the baby move! Last week while watching American Idol I felt something around my lower stomach that caught me off guard. It clearly happened again and it was more like a poke than a flutter like most have told me about. It was the second poke that I decided to verbally announce I felt the baby...and following the pokes I had about 10mins of flutters. I loved the feeling and found myself frozen on the couch in fear of interrupting the baby movements. Ever since then I feel little movements every so often, mainly at night though before bed.

Today I had my 20 week appointment, the appointment when we find out the sex. John was not able to come due to work, but I was glad that my mom and mother-in-law were able to join me! The baby is healthy and looks great. Throughout the ultrasound, the tech keep going to the babies bottom to try to determine the sex but it's legs were crossed along with the umbilical cord being in the way. So in between tries she completed the measurements she needed and pointed out the different parts of the baby like the kidneys, spine, cerebrum, stomach, femur, four chambers of the heart, arms, legs and so on. While waiting to find out the sex we heard the heart beat and was able to see the baby sucking it's thumb---which I posted below. It was too cute not to share! After 20mins of trying we ended the ultrasound and I went to get a coke which I tried to drink super fast. She was going to see me again after talking to the doctor and seeing the nurse, which I gained 3 more lbs making it a total of 5 at this point. During the second ultrasound the legs were crossed, but then finally uncrossed them for us to find out! FINALLY. I would have been so bummed if we left not finding out.

Just because John still does not know...I will add the sex tonight for those who still don't know. I bought two outfits that say something about daddy on them for John to open when he gets home to find out the sex. So I will share more after tonight...but for now here is the video! :) As much as I would like to share the whole 20mins, here is only a minutes worth.....20mins would take way to long to load!

It's a girl! :)

Her hand is under her chin in this picture.


This is a face shot. Not the best view.


My favorite picture, her sucking her thumb!


Here are some of the outfits John opened to find out the sex!

16 weeks---feeling a bit better!

It has been a while since I updated. I have had another appointment since then as well, the nuchal appointment. Everything went good! Other than getting sick as we were walking out the door for the appointment and feeling sick through my whole office visit...including the ultrasound. But I tried my best to suck it up and enjoy our first abdominal ultrasound!

I have been feeling better the past two weeks, getting sick on rare occasions still. I had gone two straight weeks without getting sick and I had thought that was the end of it, but I still do sometimes just not as much. The pollen and allergies are not helping me either. Can we fast forward past the pollen?

We have discussed names a little, but nothing is set in stone yet. I guess we are kinda waiting to find out the sex before moving forward with names or even our first baby purchase. :)

I am starting to show a little bit now, and I have gained almost 2 lbs of what I have lost. I am eating MUCH better, lunch being my best meal so I try to eat a good one. The timing of dinner doesn't always agree with my stomach, but I try to force a little something down. I am loving sunflower seeds, lemon's, and chips & salsa. I still cannot eat chicken though.

My next appointment is on Wednesday. This will be the first one John will not go to, but trying to take it easy on his new work schedule and share the appointments. My mom will be going with me this week. I will update then!

Second Appointment

Since the last update I have been getting better. It has been a week and a half since I last got sick. I still get nauseous and take a Zofran from time to time. The Zofran has been helping, but has started to give me headaches every time I take them. Those of you who know about Zofran or have ever had to take Zofran know the other not so fun side effect of it as well. Although, it has been nice to not have to keep a trashcan by my side 24/7 or scope out the nearest bathroom when entering a store.

My appetite has come back to a certain extent. I am able to eat meals now, which is nice. I am still very picky about what I eat though. Arby's curly fries have been pretty good (with a cup of cheese), chicken pot pies, fruit, and I have been snacking on graham crackers when needed. I feel like I eat junk, but I eat what I can. I have lost a few more pounds.

With my appetite back, and being less sick.....now if I could get some energy/motivation that would be great. I know all pregnancies are not the same, but really I can't believe my lack of energy. A simple shower exhaust me...and then I begin to feel sick.

On an exciting note, we had our second appointment today. Compared to the first one, it was way more exciting. The first appointment the baby looked like a blob. Today we were able to see the hands and feet. The baby was very active as well. It kept moving it's hands back and forth making it look like it was dancing. Seeing the feet and hands, along with the movement was my first moment of this thing is real. I know my hormones are are all whack right now, but I did drop a tear or two during todays ultrasound. John has been able to go to the first two appointments as well. From todays appointment we got two more pictures and a dvd or the ultrasound. I will see what I can do about posting the video.