It's been a big week for PrettyGirl. She started following things with her eyes. I was holding her in her room, and she was looking all fascinated at her ceiling light, so I started walking around the room to see if she'd keep her eyes on it, and sure enough, she did. M has also been waving toys in front of her, and she's been locking in on them.
She also got weighed yesterday while M was at the Lactation Station at a local hospital. My decreasingly little girl is now 9 pounds, 12 ounces!
And tonight, both PG and I had a first... her first bottle and the first time I got to feed her myself! M's aunt is in town, and she insisted that we go out and get some ice cream and some time off from PG, since we now had bottles, a pump and a supply of pumped milk, and thus a way to feed PG even if M wasn't home. PG got hungry while we were still out, so technically, I was the second person to bottle feed PG (and the third person to feed her at all,) but I was the one holding her first bottle when she finished it!
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PG and I now have the same hairline. Just a ring of hair in the back. I'm so happy I got a fuzzyhead baby. I looooooove fuzzyheads! Babies that keep their full heads of hair are nice (they get to have pigtails much sooner, like my cousin's so-cute-it'll-drive-you-insane little girl,) but, given the choice, give me a baldy any day!
She does have a little tuft of hair (like, literally a clump of 4 or 5 hairs, if that,) about halfway between her forehead and the peak of her head. That could end up being interesting! Maybe she'll look like Jack-Jack!
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Off the PG topic for a bit. On my drive home from work, I noticed on the Howard County Fairgrounds sign that there's a "MD FM HAM FEST" coming up soon. I have little idea what this Fest will entail. Family hams? FM and Ham radios? Farm hams? Could this end up being bigger than the Sheep and Wool Festival? Time will tell!
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In the early hours of April 13, while M and I were in the Waiting Room, waiting to be admitted for Baby Launch 2K7, I thought that I ought to take notes, so I could remember everything for when I posted about the day here. That quickly evolved into an actual timeline. In honor of PG's five-week birthday, I am finally posting it.
Below is exactly what I wrote that day. Any clarifications and embellishments will be in red brackets. Names changed to protect the privacy of others will be in black brackets.
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I'm amazed how much traffic there is at 6:00 AM
~ 6:25 We enter the secure confines of The Birth Place, like entering secret HQ
~ 6:50 IV = Sad Sweetpea
6:55 - 7:00 Doc comes in [the house doc, not from the practice M was going to (there are five of 'em there) - he came later]. Determines still 3 cm, but now 80-90% effaced. Could feel the head. Almost -1 station.
7:05 From a distance of 10 ft, I can see baby kicking through gown and blanket. And M's belly, of course.
7:45 Pitocin [the stuff they use to induce labor] is connected to IV. So it begins.
7:47 The sun is peeking through the clouds. Might be a sunny day for baby! [It was!]
7:51 Pitocin actually starts flowing. Now it begins. This is the third or fourth time over the past few weeks I've said it's beginning.
7:58 First contraction that I have been aware of. Been a few before. They might not have been labor ones, though. I'm so confused. M's assessment of contraction: "Hurts like hell"
9:53 M's blood sugar was a bit low, so nurse adds sugar to IV. Kinda like the Def Leppard song.
10:15 Gonna try to take a nap so I'm fresher for Go Time
10:22 [M's sister] calls for update
10:40 Anesthesia doc comes in to tell us about epidural and have M sign consent. We'll be seeing them again - don't you worry
11:04 Gonna try again with that nap
11:40 Nap: Successful!
11:40 Doc S [M's actual doc] says it's time for epidural - best to get it done while platelet count is still high enough
Noon Dad calls for update
12:15 Doc J [I don't remember who Doc J was - another house doc, I guess] came in to clarify "schedule." Probably will have baby out by midnight. Yikes!
12:40 Put on The Princess Bride on DVD player
12:53 Epidural time!
1:05 Epidural done - hurt like hell
1:32 Doc checking dilation... about 4.5 cm
1:35 Doc breaking water
1:40 Monitor is now directly on baby's scalp. Heartbeat sounds good, in my completely unqualified opinion
1:48 [My brother] calls to respond to text update. Says we can call him at any hour of the night and he'll send the e-mail [the announcement e-mail] right away.
2:00 Resume Princess Bride [interrupted by the epidural]
2:10 Aunt A calls for update
3:30 Another check... 5.5 cm, 100% effaced, -1 station
3:35 Start watching Princess Bride again, since M slept through most of it the first time.
4:36 7 cm 100% -1. M was feeling possible push feelings. More epidural relieved that.
4:51 Off to the cafeteria for dinner [for me]
4:53 Remembered that I left the cell phone in room. Turn back. Get book to read with dinner while I'm at it.
4:56 Head out to caf again
While I was out...
5:05 to 5:10 Blood pressure low. Baby heartrate slow. Put M on oxygen.
5:15 8 cm, 100%, 0 station!
5:57 Get text msg to come back. I was on my way back anyway.
6:10 Another check, because M feels push urge again... 9 cm, 100%, +1 station
6:12 We're pushing?!?! [The fact is not lost on me that, when the doctor starting urgently telling M to push, that, instead of dropping everything to be at my wife's side, I kept writing down notes. This is the level of dedication I have to you, my readers. It's just as well that I didn't drop everything and come a-runnin' because...]
6:13 [They were doing a practice push and] Just trying to open cervix more... didn't work. My heart rate returns to normal. [They are] Gonna hold off further attempts for another half-hour.
6:18 Nurses getting excited! Want baby out before they're off at 7. Turn baby heater on in preparation.
6:39 Nurse getting Doc S. Might be time to push.
6:42 Despite epidural, contractions still really hurt. M has decided cursing works better than breathing.
6:45 Dr. S is here to try for the big one (?)
6:49 Yup, this is it. See ya when the baby does! Might be a while.
[At this point, I had completed an entire sheet of paper, front and back. There is one other sheet of paper, with the following notation covering an entire side...]
7:31 BABY!!!! 7lb. 6.7 oz.
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Thus ends my log of April 13!
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In case you're interested, I looked it up... the MD FM HAM FEST is an "Amateur Radio Flea Market type of Event," according to the Fairgrounds website. Mystery solved!
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