Dear Ari,
You had quite the entrance into this world. We are so proud of you though and know that you are amazing! Thanks for joining our family. We are so happy have you here with us!
You arrived 5 weeks early and weighed 10 lbs. 2 oz. You were huge! I still can't believe you fit in my tummy and I can't believe that you were able to come out without a c-section! I'll post the details about the labor at the end of this post. Since you came so early, you were sent to the NICU immediately after being born. You had a low blood sugar, so they had you drink formula and it dropped even a little bit lower, so you had to stay in the NICU for them to monitor it. Within 24 hours you had brought your blood sugar up and kept it up, so you had proved that you could handle it, so you got to come to my hospital room in the middle of our last night there. You were then able to come home with me the following afternoon. That was definitely much easier than what we did with your sister, who was in the NICU for 12 days, so your Daddy and I were super excited.
We were so excited to bring you home, so Mia could get to know you. She saw you a little bit in the hospital, but you were connected by tubes to the monitors, so she couldn't get super close to you. Once we got home, she was all over you. Since you were a preemie, you had a hard time staying awake for long enough to nurse and get all of the food you needed. We fed you by finger with a tube and syringe with extra milk to help you get the food you needed. For your first week or so at home, we had a doctor appointment everyday. The appointments started because you didn't poop in the first two days you were at home. Then we realized that you had started losing weight, even though you had gained it in the beginning. For some reason you only cried from 2-6am to tell us you were hungry, but never at any other point during the day. Once we figured that out, we had to switch to feeding you extra by bottle after you nursed. This lasted for about 2.5 weeks. Now you have learned how to nurse well and we only have to occasionally give you extra by bottle. I'm super super proud of you because I was super stressed about needing to figure out how to nurse and pump and feed you a bottle all day long while home alone with you and Mia. Now that you seem to be getting the nursing thing figured out, I think it will go much smoother. Nice job Ari!
You are definitely a snuggler. Hooray! Mia outgrew the snuggly stage very quickly, so we are super excited to have a snuggler back! You are also a very loud eater. It's super funny listening to you as you drink milk because you make the funniest sounds. "Squeakers" is your first nickname. You earned it before we even left the hospital. When you start to get hungry you start making squeaking sounds. Mia has even picked up on it and calls you Squeakers sometimes too.
You are definitely a snuggler. Hooray! Mia outgrew the snuggly stage very quickly, so we are super excited to have a snuggler back! You are also a very loud eater. It's super funny listening to you as you drink milk because you make the funniest sounds. "Squeakers" is your first nickname. You earned it before we even left the hospital. When you start to get hungry you start making squeaking sounds. Mia has even picked up on it and calls you Squeakers sometimes too.
Daddy liked using you as a photo subject, so we got lots of super cute pictures of you in your first couple days at home. Hopefully we can find the time to keep up with all the pictures as you and Mia get older.
Daddy and I love you sooo much! You are such a cutie! Lexi even fell in love with you right away. She was wagging as soon as we brought you in the door. She was ready to protect you instantly.
Ari, thanks for becoming the newest addition to our cute litttle family! We are so glad to have you here with us. It's crazy to think that your due date is still not for another week and a half, but that you've been with us already for 3 weeks! We love you so much already!
Lots of love,
Mommy
Ari's Labor Story:
**Our blog serves as our journal, so this is where I want to record this. Please feel free to read it, but we won't be offended if you choose to skip the details.**
For at least 2 months before Ari was actually born, I had been having a lot of contractions. Sometimes they would be so painful, I was crying and could hardly move, but usually they were just kind of annoying. I kept mentioning it to Dr. Morell and he kept saying there weren't any changes, so they weren't actually bringing me any closer to going into labor. About 3 weeks before she was born, they got bad enough that he finally said I needed to go on bedrest. I also got steroid injections, which helped Ari's lungs develop faster in case she came early. Our overall goal was to keep Ari inside me for at least a week longer than Mia was inside me and to hopefully not have another 2 week stay in the NICU, like Mia had. We achieved that goal! Luckily Grandma JJ was able to come while I was still on bedrest and extend her trip and be here for a while after Ari came too. It was super nice having all of that extra help with Mia and around the house. Thanks Mom!
On Sunday night, 3/17, I realized that my water had started leaking (just how labor started with Mia), so we went to Labor and Delivery to have it checked. The lab results confirmed that it was actually leaking and the nurse called Dr. Morell to come in. I was sooo glad that my actual OB was on call that weekend. I would have been even more stressed out if I had to explain everything to another doctor. At first they said I would need to have a procedure done that would help my cervix get to a 3 or 4 and then then they were going to induce me to encourage the labor process. When they went to start the first procedure, they saw that I was already at a 3, so that procedure didn't have to be done. I was super worried about being induced because for some reason I thought it made the contractions a lot more painful than when you go into labor naturally. I was shaking so hard, mainly because I was scared of needing to be induced. I guess I just hadn't prepared mentally for that to happen. Now I know that getting induced just makes the contractions come quicker, but not necessarily stronger. After about 2 hours, I finally broke down and asked for an epidural. Labor was a lot more intense this time around and I realized it wasn't going to go as fast as it did with Mia. The epidural definitely helped, but I could still feel pain at the beginning of each contraction and then I could feel a lot of pressure at the end of each one. It ended up being a great idea that I got the epidural since Ari was so big.
Within less than an hour after getting the epidural, Dr. Morell checked me and said I was already at a 9. He left the room to start charting. I think it was only 2 contractions later that I could feel Ari pushing her way out. I yelled out to the nurse that I could feel the baby coming. She pulled an emergency cord and within seconds an entire team of people were there in the room. Dr. Morell must have still been just right outside the door because he was right there instantly too.
This labor was quite a bit more intense than my labor with Mia. I had to push for 14 minutes this time around, which doesn't sound long, but compared to Mia coming out in 3 pushes, that felt super long to me. Unfortunately, one of my worst fears happened. Right before her head came out, I said, "Please don't get stuck baby girl. Just please don't get stuck." We knew that Ari was measuring to be a big baby. Dr. Morell had explained that if she was too big (thinking it would be closer to full term), we would need to deliver by c-section because there was a risk that he'd have to break her shoulders if she got stuck and that it could lead to permanent damage. Before the pitocin was started, Dr. Morell made a guess that Ari was going to be somewhere between 7.5 and 8 pounds, so none of us thought she would get stuck. Well, Ari's head came out and the next thing I know, Dr. Morell is saying that we really need to work together because her shoulders are stuck. Eric also told me later that her head was out, but the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck. She wasn't able to breathe for a full minute, so she was turning blue as all of this was going on. All I was aware of was that her shoulders were stuck though and I think that was probably a good thing. Eric was praying the entire time that she would come out and survive. Luckily, she did come out and only had a hairline fracture in her clavicle. Apparently such a small fracture is not a big deal for babies because it is able to heal quickly. She didn't even need a sling or anything. We were just told not to put pressure or weight on her right shoulder to allow it to heal. Also, since she was able to move her right arm and hand and fingers right away, there was no permanent damage.
Ari was handed over to a team of nurses who cleaned her up in my room and I was able to see her right away. This was super awesome because one thing that I still find sad about Mia's delivery was that the medication they had me on made my vision so blurry that I wasn't able to see what she actually looked like for 2 days. After she was cleaned up, they took her over to the NICU and ran some more tests. Her blood sugar was a little lower than it should have been (due to my levels running higher as a diabetic), so they gave her some formula. This should have raised her blood sugar, but instead it dropped a little bit. They monitored her blood sugars for the next 24 hours and since the rest of them were all in the target range, she was able to be moved back to my hospital room. She came to stay with us in the middle of the night on our last night there. Then we were able to go home together the following afternoon. I think the combination of having had the steroid injections to help her lungs develop and her larger size helped her with being able to get out of there sooner.
Recovery took longer this time around than last time. I had a large tear this time and it took a long time for me to be able to walk around. It hurt a ton just to bend my knees and I finally had to give in to taking narcotic pain killers. Now, 3 weeks later, I feel like I am basically fully recovered and I am not on any pain killers.
Even though it was a super hard and scary labor, I know that we are super blessed to have such a sweet baby girl in our family. It was all worth it! Ari is darling and we are so happy to have her with us now.
*If anyone is looking for an OB on the Eastside, Dr. Morell was awesome. Even though it was a stressful labor, he did great. He felt bad that he didn't know to do a c-section ahead of time. He was just as shocked as everyone else that Ari was over 10 pounds. He also did everything he could and more to make sure Ari and I were okay. The nurses told me that he felt super bad too. I highly recommend him. I'm super grateful that he was on call and I was able to have him deliver Ari, especially considering everything that happened.*
For at least 2 months before Ari was actually born, I had been having a lot of contractions. Sometimes they would be so painful, I was crying and could hardly move, but usually they were just kind of annoying. I kept mentioning it to Dr. Morell and he kept saying there weren't any changes, so they weren't actually bringing me any closer to going into labor. About 3 weeks before she was born, they got bad enough that he finally said I needed to go on bedrest. I also got steroid injections, which helped Ari's lungs develop faster in case she came early. Our overall goal was to keep Ari inside me for at least a week longer than Mia was inside me and to hopefully not have another 2 week stay in the NICU, like Mia had. We achieved that goal! Luckily Grandma JJ was able to come while I was still on bedrest and extend her trip and be here for a while after Ari came too. It was super nice having all of that extra help with Mia and around the house. Thanks Mom!
On Sunday night, 3/17, I realized that my water had started leaking (just how labor started with Mia), so we went to Labor and Delivery to have it checked. The lab results confirmed that it was actually leaking and the nurse called Dr. Morell to come in. I was sooo glad that my actual OB was on call that weekend. I would have been even more stressed out if I had to explain everything to another doctor. At first they said I would need to have a procedure done that would help my cervix get to a 3 or 4 and then then they were going to induce me to encourage the labor process. When they went to start the first procedure, they saw that I was already at a 3, so that procedure didn't have to be done. I was super worried about being induced because for some reason I thought it made the contractions a lot more painful than when you go into labor naturally. I was shaking so hard, mainly because I was scared of needing to be induced. I guess I just hadn't prepared mentally for that to happen. Now I know that getting induced just makes the contractions come quicker, but not necessarily stronger. After about 2 hours, I finally broke down and asked for an epidural. Labor was a lot more intense this time around and I realized it wasn't going to go as fast as it did with Mia. The epidural definitely helped, but I could still feel pain at the beginning of each contraction and then I could feel a lot of pressure at the end of each one. It ended up being a great idea that I got the epidural since Ari was so big.
Within less than an hour after getting the epidural, Dr. Morell checked me and said I was already at a 9. He left the room to start charting. I think it was only 2 contractions later that I could feel Ari pushing her way out. I yelled out to the nurse that I could feel the baby coming. She pulled an emergency cord and within seconds an entire team of people were there in the room. Dr. Morell must have still been just right outside the door because he was right there instantly too.
This labor was quite a bit more intense than my labor with Mia. I had to push for 14 minutes this time around, which doesn't sound long, but compared to Mia coming out in 3 pushes, that felt super long to me. Unfortunately, one of my worst fears happened. Right before her head came out, I said, "Please don't get stuck baby girl. Just please don't get stuck." We knew that Ari was measuring to be a big baby. Dr. Morell had explained that if she was too big (thinking it would be closer to full term), we would need to deliver by c-section because there was a risk that he'd have to break her shoulders if she got stuck and that it could lead to permanent damage. Before the pitocin was started, Dr. Morell made a guess that Ari was going to be somewhere between 7.5 and 8 pounds, so none of us thought she would get stuck. Well, Ari's head came out and the next thing I know, Dr. Morell is saying that we really need to work together because her shoulders are stuck. Eric also told me later that her head was out, but the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck. She wasn't able to breathe for a full minute, so she was turning blue as all of this was going on. All I was aware of was that her shoulders were stuck though and I think that was probably a good thing. Eric was praying the entire time that she would come out and survive. Luckily, she did come out and only had a hairline fracture in her clavicle. Apparently such a small fracture is not a big deal for babies because it is able to heal quickly. She didn't even need a sling or anything. We were just told not to put pressure or weight on her right shoulder to allow it to heal. Also, since she was able to move her right arm and hand and fingers right away, there was no permanent damage.
Ari was handed over to a team of nurses who cleaned her up in my room and I was able to see her right away. This was super awesome because one thing that I still find sad about Mia's delivery was that the medication they had me on made my vision so blurry that I wasn't able to see what she actually looked like for 2 days. After she was cleaned up, they took her over to the NICU and ran some more tests. Her blood sugar was a little lower than it should have been (due to my levels running higher as a diabetic), so they gave her some formula. This should have raised her blood sugar, but instead it dropped a little bit. They monitored her blood sugars for the next 24 hours and since the rest of them were all in the target range, she was able to be moved back to my hospital room. She came to stay with us in the middle of the night on our last night there. Then we were able to go home together the following afternoon. I think the combination of having had the steroid injections to help her lungs develop and her larger size helped her with being able to get out of there sooner.
Recovery took longer this time around than last time. I had a large tear this time and it took a long time for me to be able to walk around. It hurt a ton just to bend my knees and I finally had to give in to taking narcotic pain killers. Now, 3 weeks later, I feel like I am basically fully recovered and I am not on any pain killers.
Even though it was a super hard and scary labor, I know that we are super blessed to have such a sweet baby girl in our family. It was all worth it! Ari is darling and we are so happy to have her with us now.
*If anyone is looking for an OB on the Eastside, Dr. Morell was awesome. Even though it was a stressful labor, he did great. He felt bad that he didn't know to do a c-section ahead of time. He was just as shocked as everyone else that Ari was over 10 pounds. He also did everything he could and more to make sure Ari and I were okay. The nurses told me that he felt super bad too. I highly recommend him. I'm super grateful that he was on call and I was able to have him deliver Ari, especially considering everything that happened.*
2 comments:
She is darling and you look great. What a scary delivery and way to go delivering a 10 pounder! I ended up the c-section route with my 9.5 guy which really stinks!! Have fun with two! It's so fun!
She's adorable! I'm so glad both mommy and baby are healthy especially with such an early delivery.
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