Two months old and I love being a mom!

Wow - where does time go - our little man is already two months old!!! Just a quick hello- I am still trekking to the hospital once a week for my incision we are just about done - it is just BARELY open - so hoping this is the last week!
and well I LOVE being a mom - I could seriously take the whole day and just stare at Alexander - of course I am biased but he is perfect!

A WHIRLWIND almost two months!!!!! (long long update)

Wow where to start - so much has happened in the last month and a bit - most importantly the arrival of our SON!!! Alexander Jozef was born August 28, 2013 at 8:29 p.m. arriving in at 6 lbs 9 oz and 19.5 inches!!! Now there is quite the story with his arrival, so let's start!!

So as you all know I had an ultrasound on August 09 because he was measuring small - so we had a follow up ultrasound on August 23 - now it was a different ultrasound because of a few different things a) it took super long - it took the tech over an hour and a half to complete it b) she kept on asking me to hold my breath - breath quickly etc. c) when it was done she was gone checking with the dr. for about 15/20 mins

So upon the completion of my u/s I had asked the tech if my dr. would have the results that day because he had asked me to check with them if they would send them right away and she said he probably would - so when she finally got back to the room - now normally the tech's are not suppose to say anything to the patient - however this tech proceeded to ask me " Are you on your way to the hospital to be induced" well my response was - "well I guess that really depends what you found today" she responded to me "well the dr. is completing the report right now and is faxing it over to your dr. right away" so in that instant I knew something was up. So before I left the parking lot I called my Dr. well they hadn't received the fax yet - and they said well that's not something they should have said to you on a Friday at 3:30 p.m - duh I figured that out!! So I called my DH and we decided not to read into anything really until we heard from the dr. well - he called my house instead of my cell and left me a message (I missed the phone call by literally 2 mins) and he said "Hi "M" its Dr. B - we received the results from you u/s and there is nothing extremely worrisome, so have a good weekend and I will call you on Monday" Ok - WTF nothing extremely worrisome?  obviously there is something up - so I really did not try to stress over the weekend but its obviously on the back of your mind after going through something like that. So the dr. called on Monday and said well the concerning thing is that the umbilical cord is around the baby neck - but to make sure things are ok we will send you for a NST (non stress test) what day of the week works better - well I said the sooner the better, as my due date is Wednesday so let's get the ball rolling I will make any day work. So I got a call that evening to come to the hospital the next morning at 9 a.m. and that the test would take 20-60 mins. I went to the hospital the following morning and well my NST lasted 4.5 hours and included a bedside ultrasound that lasted an hour - turned out our little man was having depressions in his oxygen levels when he had movements. So the doctor sent me home in the early afternoon and asked me to come back the next morning for another NST. 

So fast forward to the next morning (my due date) August 28 - we got to the hospital - hooked up to the NST machine - and within 1.5 hours the dr. on call had told us- well your having a baby today, your not leaving the hospital without a baby - Ok HOLY $h!t this is happening -well at least the baby is coming on its due date - so DH called work and said - well I need more than the morning off - I am having a baby so I'll keep in touch - he went home to get our stuff - because we didn't bring anything with us - and we called our parents & siblings. 

At 11 a.m. I was 3cm dilated and the doctor swept my membranes to get things going - they also tried to induce labour by putting me on oxytocin - well time went on and the most I ever got was some cramps - they played with the oxytocin - raising the amount and then decreasing it - well then they finally took me off the oxytocin -and the cramps disappeared - so through the afternoon - the on call doctor said - you will probably end up delivering via c-section because the depressions are continuing to occur. OK - baby by dinner is what we were told- well 5:30 rolls around - I am no longer on the oxytocin - the cramps have disappeared and I am still 3 cm dilated. So now the evening dr comes in my room (he is actually my OB's partner) and says "Ok M, here are your choices, we can continue to induce your labour and break your water and attempt to push, but there is a 50% chance you will have a c-section.....well lets change that to 75% chance of a c-section after labouring or you can just choose to have a c-section" well I looked at my DH and I knew our choice - C-section - I said to the dr. "Well we are almost four years into our journey to have a baby and about $30g  into it - so I really don't want to have a risky delivery, so lets just do a c-section" The dr. said ok - I have a quick surgery to do and then we will have you in OR by 7:30 to prep and then the baby will be here. So we called the parents (who had left earlier) and let them know what the plan was along with our siblings. 

So this show is on the road - slightly nervous and slightly excited. 

So speed up - in the OR - all prepped - things are moving along I had my spinal, DH is now in the OR with me, dr's are doing their thing - the nurse stops the dr - comes behind the curtain and asks DH if he wants to call the sex of the baby (as we did not know) and DH said yes - so out came baby - DH stands up - and announces its a boy!!! YAH - omg ( I hazily remember this, turns out I was pretty drugged up) and then they look - holy $h!t the cord was around his neck FOUR yes FOUR times - the dr. looked at my DH and said good call on the c-section - because $h!t would have hit the fan and we would have rushed into emerg to do this delivery.

I don't really remember much after this - I remember them asking DH to take the baby out of OR while they put me back together... 

So finally after all these years I finally had my baby in my arms - BEST FEELING EVER!!!!
Night one was a bit rough - I was sick from im guessing the drugs - so I had a few visits with the bowl (as I was in bed and walking to the bathroom made it worse) we didn't sleep much that night- DH kept getting up to make sure baby was breathing - new parents huh? He was fine lol.

We spent a total of four days at the hospital - night two - $h!t hit the fan - Alexander was put on the light as he had slight jaundice - and I had a hematoma *WARNING TMI NEXT*  (collection of blood in my incision and it burst - literally squirting out) so needless to say it was quite the sleepless night - of worry about Alexander and his poor little light machine which was such a pain in the a$$ and dealing with my incision -

Well the next few days went along - we tried breastfeeding which wasn't working too well so we were supplementing - had our visitors and figuring life out as parents - we got to go home on Saturday and started our lives.

The next week went by alright - on the following Thursday (8 days post delivery) I had an appointment to have my staples removed as they left them in because of my hematoma. Well we couldn't have them removed - I guess the bruise I had earlier in the week - which I thought was a good thing because wouldn't one think bruising = healing? Well I guess not in my case - I had a massive collection of blood in my incision and my OB's office did not have what he needed to deal with it in the office - so the next day we went to the hospital - we had to go to emerg for a 2 p.m. appointment - well by 5 p.m. we were still waiting in emerg to see the OB - we finally got in - staples removed **TMI WARNING*** my incision split open and I had a massive collection of blood within it - it was sorta like jello is the best description - and the OB literally removed it by handfuls - it was pretty gross, but thats why we didn't heal - well needless to say the next three weeks of my life was soon to become a gong show - starting that evening - I had homecare nurses coming to our home twice a day to change my dressings. Then the next week - I was back at the hospital four times to be assessed to have something called a wound vac placed on my incision to help with the healing. Finally on the Wednesday - homecare placed in my wound vac - this is to help healing up by 70% 

So the wound vac was great - it reduced my visits with nurses from 14 times a week to 3 times a week, however I became an ambulatory patient (I had to go to their clinic office) so I had to go to the hospital Monday/Wednesday/Fridays and each appointment took about 30mins to change the foam that was placed in my incision- well Alexander has gotten to know his babcia (grandma in polish) very well - she thankfully would come to the house so I wouldn't have to pack up Alexander to the hospital for all the appointments. I had the wound vac for a total of 19 days - my body did very well with it - at first they were saying I might have it for up to ten weeks - so 19 days is much better! They removed the vac but I still have to go to the hospital because my incision isn't completely closed, but we are also down to just one appointment a week there so yahoo!!!! One centimeter to go and I'm done!! It's been a pain in the a$$ but it's been worth it - I just will know for next time if we decide to have a c-section with baby #2 that if I have a bruise I'm instantly going to see my OB - 

I've had my 6 week checkup so I have clearance to slowly return to normal activity working out etc. so that's a good thing - time to get back to pre baby shape!! We also talked about getting pregnant again - ideally dr would like us to wait till Alexander is 9 months old to try again, a minimum of him being three months before trying - our original plan was to try again when Alexander is 6/7 months - so I'm meeting my OB I'm the middle - lol - we will see if we actually try that soon!!! 

Alexander is an AMAZING baby - thank goodness - they say however active the baby is in womb that's how they will be in person - and well he was a pretty chill baby in womb and well wouldn't you know it he is such a chill baby in person! I could spend all day staring and cuddling him - it's amazing how much love you feel for your baby so quickly! I LOVE LOVE parenthood so far - what they say about enjoying it because it goes by fast is true - he is already 7 weeks old today, it honestly seems like I just had him yesterday. 

So other than my healing process things have been pretty great - the hardest thing (even harder than dealing with my incision) I would say is breastfeeding. We unfortunately are formula feeding. I gave it a good shot, three lactation consultants, hours of attempts with a screaming baby and a crying mother - he had a poor poor latch, oh did we try but he would just fight and turn beet red in anger attempting to feed, so I had made a very difficult decision to formula feed. I did try to pump and feed him EBM but with all my appointments, it made it too hard to keep up, so after many tears we decided to exclusively formula feed. It was hard but in the end it was the best decision for us and our situation, both baby and mama are much much happier and much less anxious at feeding time - you will as a parent figure out what is best for your baby and you and your lifestyle. 

So life is great, it's busy - I now get it. I now get how friends with kids would be late or cancel plans, I now get how to enjoy a quick shower every second day or third day lol - things I never understood until I had a little person solely depend on me for everything !! 

I do hope to continue to update this blog - its a great journal of our journey. However it's taken me over a month to write this update, so they may be few and far between!!