Wednesday, December 26, 2007

A Little Family Resemblance

Aiden at 1 day old.

Natalie when she was a few days old.

I think Natalie's forehead is a little taller and her nose is a little longer, but other than that, they look quite a bit alike. Danielle says that their mouths are different, but I'm not convinced.

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Happy Birthday Aiden!


Aiden Daniel Smith was born at 6:23 pm on Christmas Eve. He was 9 lbs. 13 oz. and 20 3/4 inches long. That makes him and inch or two shorter than his sister was at birth, but over a pound and a half heavier.

Aiden started on his journey at about 2:30 am on December 24th, when Danielle's water broke. She wasn't having contractions then, so we took our time getting ready and headed to the hospital at around 3:30. Danielle starting having contractions every 3-4 minutes along the way.

When we arrived, Danielle seemed to be in active labor, having strong contractions every two to three minutes. She continued to have them for several hours, but after 11 am, she stopped making progress. Her doctor convinced us to try Pitocin at around 1 pm. But Danielle, being exhausted and worn down from almost nine and a half hours of labor, decided that she would not be able to bear the pain of Pitocin-induced contractions without an epidural.

The epidural turned out to a great decision. Danielle got a little sleep while she had her strongest and most frequent (and painless!) contractions. Unfortunately, after a few more hours of hard contractions, she still hadn't made any more progress. Danielle's doctor recommended a c-section around 5:30 pm. Although it was the last thing she wanted, Danielle agreed that it was probably best for Aiden.

The surgery started about ten minutes after six. Around 6:23, we heard the doctor and her 3 assistants all gasp simultaneously and cry out "Oh, my GOD!"

That, of course, threw Danielle into a panic. But we quickly realized that it was not an aortic hemmorage that has caused them to cry out, but rather shock at Aiden's size. The rest of the dialog among the surgical staff went something like this:

"Wow! That's a big baby!"
"That's 11 pounds, at least."
"I'll bet 11."
"Get that baby on the scale; I can't wait to see what he weighs."
"Ow! He bit me." (the surgeon)
"That's future linebacker there."
"Oh, he's peeing on me."
"He's breathing well. Nice and pink, that's what I like to see."
"I'll help you clean him off."
"Oh, he's peeing again."
"He got me that time."

A few minutes later it was all, "congratulations," and "here's your baby." It turns out that he was not even quite 10 pounds. But he was more than big enough. A mark on his head showed that no matter how long Danielle had pushed, he would not have come into the world any other way. So the delivery was not what we had intended, but we feel like we make all the right decisions.

Danielle says that surgery was painless, and that she did not even experience discomfort while the surgeons pushed and pulled on her belly. In fact, the only discomfort she experienced was from her IV, which was rather poorly placed in a small vein in her hand.

Danielle is now experiencing the pain and discomfort of recovering from major surgery, but Aiden is by every indication, happy and healthy. We expect to come home on Thursday.

Aiden managed to pee on the nursing staff a third time before we left the operating room. We're going to have to be careful about keeping him covered.

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Under New Management

Dan here. So I think this blog thing is supposed to be my deal now. What does that mean for you? Probably less frequent and shorter posts, and almost certainly poorer spelling.

So here's what new (I started this post a month ago, so actually, these things aren't really new any more. Consider this fair warning about the future quality of these posts):

(1) Baby shower. I thought we shouldn't have a baby shower because we've already had a baby and we have most of the stuff we need. But, I was told in a diplomatic sort of way that I'm apparently a baby-grinch, and that I should just pipe down and clean the house.

Anyhow, we had the party a few weeks ago. It was a huge success, with a much larger turnout than we expected. I think Danielle was a bit overwhelmed by the preparation and the number of people, but she had a great time. We received many thoughtful gifts. Many thanks to all those who helped make the day special for Danielle, and a special shout-out to Mia, Anna, and the Moms (Turner and Smith), who all went way above-and-beyond in helping us get ready.

Not that anyone cares, but I vacated the house during the estrogen onslaught, and went to see Dan in Real Life, which was very good.

(2) Carpet. We bought a lot of it; just shy of 900 square feet. It looks great. We should have done this a long time ago.

Those of you in the market for carpet might want to know this about Home Depot's much-advertised special featuring whole-house carpet installation for $199: it does not include removal or disposal of the old carpet, which adds $299 to the price. It also does not include installation on stairs ($4/stair) or moving furniture. After learning all that, we went elsewhere.

Pictures

Nikki was in town from Texas a few weeks ago. Amanda and Josh stopped by to catch up on old times.
And here are some pictures from Thanksgiving at Grammy and Granddad Smith's. Aunt Connie helped the kids make a gingerbread house.
Natalie loves her cousins. And she especially likes to shower Alex with hugs and kisses, whether he likes it or not. (Connie took this one.)
Grammy bought T-shirt transfers for the inkjet printer. Every kid got a T-shirt with his or her picture on it. Natalie is decorating hers with a fabric marker. (Connie took this one too.)
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Friday, December 21, 2007

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire!!!!

O.K. First off, thank you to all of you for the well wishes for Aiden's speedy and safe entrance; however, it looks like it will not be nearly as speedy as we had anticipated.

First: The good News:

Baby boy is doing great, though still inside. He is moving around, growing, doing everything he's supposed to. I had an u/s yesterday when I went in for my amnio appt. I was starting to get nervous about things like the cord being wrapped around him and all that stuff, but the nurse said they listen to the blood flow to make sure there isn't an issue and everything sounds great with him. She laughed several times because Aiden would get extremely annoyed with the poking and prodding. She asked, "Does he always move around this much." YES!!!! That's why he needs to come out...he is too big to move this much!!!! It actually hurts now!! Anyhow, the point of that is that he looks extremely healthy and happy to stay put for now. They estimate him to be 9lbs 14 oz (yes, 2 oz shy of 10 lbs). But, as the nurse said they are just estimates and they are based on measurements of the limbs, head, belly, etc. So, it is possible that he is just very long and not necessarily all weight! So, I am going to be wishful thinking that he is over 9lbs, just not that much!!!

Second: The irritating, disappointing, lies...

I scheduled the amnio last week for this past Thursday. There was some confusion about when the results would arrive. At first, I was told possibly not until Monday (Christmas Eve). To which I replied, "Then there's no point, because I will be 39 weeks and would not need an amnio for induction). So, after talking to the lady at the health center I decided to keep the appt. and chat with my dr. at my next appt. (which was this past Tuesday). She asked if I had scheduled the amnio, and I told her yes but that we needed to discuss the timing issue. During that appt. she said that she would get results from the amnio within a couple of hours and if they came back saying that Aiden's lungs were mature, then she would induce that night. So, based on that information Dan and I agreed to go along with the amnio. She even had her staff call to "make reservations" for yesterday. When I called back to see what I was supposed to do before and/or after the amnio, the staff at the office said that my dr. was waiting to hear from the director of ob at the hospital to make sure they could get me in Thursday night. I was confused, and kept calling to find out because neither Dan nor I wanted to do the amnio if it wasn't going to make a difference in induction. So, I made one last phone call as I was waiting to be called back for the amnio appt., and the office said they would get back to us w/in 20 min. So, went ahead with the ultrasound (which had to be done anyway), to check on the baby's well being and weight. We told the girl doing the u/s our predicament and that we were reluctant to move ahead with the amnio w/o hearing back from my ob first. So, the nurse and dr. that were supposed to do the amnio came back to talk with us, and said they didn't really see the point since I was so close to being 39 weeks and that usually these appts. are in the morning (o.k., but that's not up to me when I call and this is the time I am given!). This dr. didn't think I would be able to get in until at least Friday afternoon time. He said he would call Dr. Duroseau to talk about it and decide whether or not we would proceed with the amnio. They came back and said, "No amnio. Dr. Duroseau said she will see you 6 a.m. on Sunday the 23rd." Well, I was irritated and relieved at the same time. I am kind of glad that I did not need to get the amnio, but the whole reason we were considering this anyhow was because we did NOT want to come in on Sunday since that would be I wouldn't be home until Christmas Day at best (not counting if a c-section would be necessary). So, I had to continue on with my Non-Stress Test (something I've had to do every week since about 34 weeks), during which I called my dr. and said, "No, we will not be here Sunday...unless he comes on his own then. If he's not here by Christmas, then feel free to schedule something anytime after that."

So, the new plan is, if he is not here by Christmas I will be going in either Wednesday the 26th or Friday the 28th. You know what this means though...he's going to come on Sunday (or Christmas Eve)...all on his own!!!!!


I have been having some serious contractions since the appt., so I am hoping that it actually won't be much longer and he will come on his own.

So, we're waiting again!!!!!

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

It is time!!!

This is just a brief update for those of you who don't already know, but Aiden will be arriving in the next couple of days at the latest, either on his own or with some help. I had a follow up appt. yesterday and significant progress was reported.

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This might be TOO MUCH INFORMATION, so I suggest if you don't want a couple of details you stop reading!!!!!!!

I am 3-4 cm, and 50%. The baby has dropped (I thought he did that awhile ago, but evidently not!!!), and is at -1 station (he's low but not quite engaged yet). So my dr. tried to help me along again, to see if things would get started on it's own. Other than a few contractions, not much is going on right now.
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O.K. Now for other information that may not be too scary for you!!!

If Aiden does not decide to come on his own before tomorrow afternoon, I have an amnio scheduled to make sure his lungs are developed. The dr. has already reserved space for me, assuming that everything will come back o.k., so that I can go right to L&D upon receiving positive results. She will induce me then if everything checks out. The reason the amnio has to be done is because I am technically still 38 weeks, and because of laws/sue happy people/dr. discretion, she will not induce me before 39 weeks without an amnio. That would be Sunday the 23rd, and I didn't want to do that because even if things went exactly as planned, I would not be home until Christmas day. That wouldn't work with Natalie!!!! We kept going back and forth about this, but all of us think it's for the best that Aiden comes sooner rather than later, and with the progress I have had, it seems it was in the cards anyhow. I would like to have him come on his own, but he is getting so big and besides being extremely uncomfortable, I am worried about the complications that can result from having a big baby. Of course, I say that now, and he'll come out weighing like 7lbs!!!!!!

Anyhow, we will keep everyone posted, and will get pictures up a.s.a.p.