First Dr.'s visit

We were excited to learn on her first Dr's appt, when Siena was 6 days old, that she had already gained back her birth weight, plus one ounce! So last we checked, she weighed 7 lbs, 8 oz. She has her next appt on Tuesday this week, so we will see how much she weighs then. Also, she apparently grew an inch in those 6 days, because at the Dr's office, the measured her as 19 and a half inches long. They said that usually the measurements they do in the hospital aren't very accurate. Interesting.

Also, Siena had to get her foot pricked on 4 separate occasions to check her bilirubin level. The first time, she slept through the entire thing, while I cried through it all! I just couldn't stand the thought of having my little girl's foot pricked like that. She handled it like a pro though! Apparently one of the best things a mom can do to help the baby get rid of the jaundice is breast feeding. And I tell you what, Siena is a good little eater. So now she is officially in the clear :)

Bringing her home

My mom took pictures furiously as we were preparing to bring our little angel home. She even pulled up beside us twice as we were driving to get a picture of the big event! This is her


first granddaughter (she has two grandsons) and was SO excited!

Meeting Siena

SHORT VERSION:

Our beautiful little Siena was born Wednesday, June 11^th at 4:13 pm after only 6 hours of labor (not bad for a first time mom!). She had a natural birth (no epidural or drugs) and made cute whimpering sounds when she was born. She weighed in at 7 lbs 7 oz, and was 18 and a half inches long. Her initial APGAR score was 7 after 1 minute and 9 after 5 minutes, despite some minor complications (check out “long version” for details). She is happy and healthy. Thad was an AMESOME birth companion. We left the hospital 2 days later. Mom is recovering well and getting used to 2 hrs of sleep at a time during the night. We couldn’t be more in love with our little Siena!

LONG VERSION:

I started having more intense contractions than usual (I have been having Braxton-Hicks contractions regularly for a couple of months now) around 10:30 am on Tuesday, June 11^th. My due date was the 24^th, so I wasn’t really convinced that I was in labor. After all, this was my first time, and I really wasn’t sure what to expect. Also, I hadn’t felt her “drop,” so I was thinking it might be a false alarm. A couple hours later, I called my friend Amanda, who is my Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner and works at the midwife clinic I have been going to. Since her last labor was about 72 hours, and this was 2 weeks before my due date (it’s pretty common for first time moms to go a week or two late), she wasn’t convinced it was really labor. She suggested that I lie down, rest and watch a fun movie and see if they would go away (incidentally, I took her to Harry Potter in the movie theater while she was in labor to get her mind off it and we went out to eat several times while waiting for her contractions to get closer together). I didn’t even get 2 minutes in to Shrek before I realized this wasn’t just going to go away. My contractions were 3 to 5 minutes apart and were getting more intense.

Amanda advised me to come to the clinic (which happens to be attached to the hospital), and said she would check me out, but that if I wasn’t dilated to at least a 4, she would send me back home. This sounded pretty reasonable to me, because I didn’t really feel like laboring in a hospital for 2 days. I have to say that she was more than shocked when she checked me out and said, “I think you’re at a 4! Let me get a second opinion on that though….” When the other midwife came in and checked me out, she said, “No, she’s actually at a 5.” So I waddled over to the hospital section as Thad drove the car around.

Apparently the barometric pressure was higher than normal because of a storm that had come through the day before, which had caused a lot of women to go in to labor, so when we got there all of the rooms were full. We checked in about 2:15. After 45 minutes later, a room opened up for us (and a good thing too!) They announced I was now dilated to an 8. I could tell I was getting close, especially when I started to vomit (I’ll leave out those details for now- you can thank me later). The labor hadn’t been too bad that first 5 hours, which I will accredit to the strategies I learned in my hypnobirthing class about deep breathing and relaxation. Things started to get more and more intense that last hour, though, and I needed frequent reminders to stay calm and not freak out. That’s where Thad was such a lifesaver! Amanda and my mom were there as well, and were HUGE helps too!

A half hour later, she started to crown. At this point, most babies are out in 5 minutes. But I would have really deep contractions, and then nothing for 3 to 5 minutes in between. During those times in between contractions, I felt my body go limp, exhausted from the hard work and go into an almost trance-like state. I think everybody thought I was sleeping on the job! Anyway, when my water finally broke, the midwife realized there was meconium in it, and sent someone to get the respiratory therapist to be ready to pump her stomach when she came out. She had apparently had a BM in the womb a few days earlier and had ingested it- scary! I got tensed, pushed hard through the contractions, and made a little progress. 20 minutes after she had crowned, the midwife warned me that her heart rate was starting to slow down, and I needed to try really hard this time. The nurse suggested that I take deep breaths and start grunting. To my amazement, I made more progress just breathing deeply and grunting than I did the whole time I was pushing. I few more deep breaths and another hard contraction and she was out! The cord was wrapped around her face, under her nose as she emerged. The midwife calmly and quickly took control over that, clamped the cord, and the respiratory therapist was able to do his job and clear her lungs and stomach. That is why I was so impressed that her APGAR score was a 7 after one minute and a 9, only 5 minutes after birth. With these complications, I expected it to be much lower. I was so impressed with how the hospital staff handled the situation. Everyone was calm and focused. She was definitely a “hypnobaby” though, because she was so calm and just whimpered a little. No major crying or fussing.

We were able to stay in the same room the whole time, which was nice and private. It was pretty big too. It felt more like a hotel suite than a hospital room, with a pull-out couch for Thad to spend the night, which was a big reason I chose this hospital (Orem Community). She opened her eyes just a few minutes after birth and seemed pretty alert. It was nice to not have to worry about the effects of an epidural or painkillers on her. Although her face was a bit purple and bruised because of the cord. She looked much better the next day though! Siena latched right on and had 4 good feelings that first day, complete with 5 poopy diapers the next day (a very good sign that everything is functioning well). The hospital food was even pretty tasty, and birthing didn’t change my healthy appetite one bit! I was hungry right after, even though I had been eating practically the whole time I was in labor).

We finally got to take our precious cargo home yesterday, 2 days after she was born. I am healing very quickly, and Siena is doing great. She has slight jaundice, which is apparently common for Asian kids, so we are taking her back to the hospital today for a check-up on that situation. She has been sleeping almost the whole time she has been home now, except for feeding time. We are loving every minute with her and sometimes spend hours just staring at her beautiful face! Since I am doing all the feeding, Thad has agreed to change all the diapers! I couldn’t ask for a better, happier family than the one I’ve got!