Anonymous Gift?

Quick post to ask who might have sent Cooper an adorable NY Giants creeper and bootie set? The present is from "1LaptoGo" and was sent without an invoice or any indication of who gifted it to our little man, and we want to be sure to send a proper thank you to the giver. Please drop us an email if it's you!

Quick update...

Hi all,

Things have been a bit...challenging...shall we say? I'll explain why in a bit, but suffice it to say that we've definitely been given our fair share of obstacles in the past week and it's been somewhat tough. But the good news is that Cooper is still doing great, he regained his birth weight by the time we saw the pediatrician the Monday after he was born, and other than some eye schmutz that cropped up today (might be a tear duct thing), he's a wonderful, perfect, lovely little guy.

Birth story, abridged: Started induction at 1pm on 3/17 with cytotec, which didn't do a darn thing to dilate me past the 1cm I was already at, so around 5pm they put in a foley catheter...which, holymotherofgod, hurt more than I thought possible. That was put in to dilate me to 4cm, which took about 4 hours. In the meantime, I fully embraced the idea of an epidural and asked to get that put in after the catheter fell out. It worked well enough that I think I was able to rest overnight, but to be quite honest I don't really remember much other than the constant BP monitoring cuff and the oxygen mask they insisted I wear. Oh yeah, pitocin was started at the same time as the catheter and they kept pushing it up and up and up. I was also told to stay on my right side as much as possible, because it was best for the baby, and doing that meant that at some point the epidural stopped working as well on my left side. GREAT! Jump to Tuesday, and I've since lost track of when I dilated to what centimeter, but I do remember that I was progressing VERY slowly and was becoming quite discouraged...and uncomfortable...and worried about the level of pitocin I was on...and sick of being on my right side...and generally just getting wiped out and tired and frustrated. During the day I had two additional doses put into the epidural and they only worked for a couple of hours, and by 5pm I was dilated to 8cm. We got somewhat encouraged by this news, but cut to 4-ish hell hours later and I was still at 8cm, and the docs finally declared me "failure to progress". I was quickly prepped for a c-section, and since the epidural was obviously not as effective as it could have been, they took that out and did a spinal block on me. That wasn't fun, since the same guy who did the epidural did the spinal...and appeared to be a trainee on the spinal part. But by then I was in so much pain and misery that I mostly didn't care.

I'll spare you the details of the c-section (I wasn't a huge fan of all the sensations, to say the least), but Cooper was born with a major conehead - due to hanging out in my pelvis for so long - and apgars of 7 and 9 at 9:50pm on 3/18. I was stitched up and the three of us moved to the recovery room for a couple hours of monitoring. It was nice to have Bob and Cooper in the room with me, since it distracted me from the discomfort, and we were moved to the postpartum room and settled by 1am. Three days of recovery and we were discharged home on 3/21.

I was recovering fine until Sunday morning, when I woke up with some sharp stabbing pains in my incision. It didn't look all that great throughout the day, and I went in to the OB acute care clinic on Monday after our pediatrician appointment where I was told to come back on Wednesday since they weren't sure if it was an infection or possibly a hematoma. So, we go back on Wednesday...all three of us since I'm still unable to drive by myself...and after two doctor consults, it's determined that I definitely have large hematomas/blood clots that are hindering the healing of my incision, and the incision was re-opened to get cleaned out and packed with aquacell. The plan was to come back to OB for a dressing change every other day, but by Wednesday evening the bleeding had seeped heavily through the outside dressing and Bob and I drove back to the hospital to have it all looked at again. Fortunately, my mom made an emergency trip to come help us with Cooper, so at least we didn't have to lug the little guy with us.

The docs in L&D (thankfully we didn't have to go to the ER) decided that the wound was seeping too heavily for aquacell, and they switched me to a wet/dry dressing...which means packing my own wound twice a day. FUN!...not. Bob is unable to do the dressing changes, says he could do it on a stranger but not his own wife, but he's able to hold the mirror for me and either keeps his eyes closed or on the TV. While it's amazingly gross seeing the inside of your own belly (fortunately it's just the fat/skin layer, but about an inch down...seriously, just gross), I'm trying to channel the old days of my college zoology classes when we dissected things and keep myself totally removed from the process while doing what has to be done. Hopefully we'll be getting set up with a home health care nurse starting on Monday so at least I'll have a medical professional here for the dressing changes, with a practiced eye on how the wound is supposed to look, and can help if there are any issues that come up.

It's just so odd that opening the wound is supposed to help me heal faster in this case, something to do with how the blood clots were in the way of the layers properly healing and how opening it and doing wet/dry dressing will help things heal from the inside out. But, I do have to admit to a bit less pain now that the clots have been somewhat removed, there isn't as much pressure. I still have to go to the OB every other day during the week, where they will continue to monitor my progress. And at some point the goal is to get me back on the aquacell, which in theory will reduce the number of dressing changes.

To say we're overwhelmed these days is an understatement. Fortunately, Cooper is a wonderful little guy and we're so blessed that he's healthy so far. His only issue is that he doesn't sleep as well at night as he does during the day...the lovely night vs. day thing that many newborns have...but hopefully we'll get that worked out soon. We're also blessed to have generous parents who have rallied to help us get through these tough weeks. My mom came down immediately on Wednesday when all this incision stuff started and stayed until today, which is when Bob's mom Alice arrived to stay for a week. Dad and Jeannie are then arriving when Alice leaves and we plan on having them stay as long as they can, about 8-9 days. Mom may come back for a few days, depending on my healing status, and then my cousin/sister Susan will be visiting for a little bit (yay!!), and beyond that we're really, really, really hoping that I'll be back to somewhat of a normal health level and be able to care for Cooper the way I'd like to. Bob returns to work this Monday, but we're hoping that his boss will allow him to have reduced work hours or grant him some leave, at least for another week.

So, that's the story about Cooper's birth and our adventures since we've been home from the hospital. I hope you'll all forgive my lack of response to emails and phone calls and gifts/cards for the time being. Any energy and pain-free time I have goes to Cooper, and the rest goes towards trying to mentally heal so I can physically heal. Things could be so much worse, but it's been a tough time lately and it's hard not to feel a little disappointed and drained. Bob has been truly wonderful, as have our parents, and we'll get through all this eventually...and holding Cooper in my arms for our afternoon naps together certainly takes my mind off everything.

More photos....

Still feeling a bit too wrecked to write much (plus, my incision may be infected and/or having blood clot issues...will head back to doctor tomorrow for another evaluation), but I can swing adding a few more photos.

Thanks for everyone's emails -- I'm lucky to get downstairs to the office once a day since I really shouldn't be using stairs, so I'm unable to respond right now, but hopefully this blog will tide you over until I'm able to get back into somewhat of a routine.

Here are some hospital photos. Above is Bob, in his sleep-deprived look. I think he totally underestimated just how little newborns sleep (especially at night)

Best feeling in the world! We have a snuggler, and it's pretty awesome....

Cooper with one of his startled looks....

You are getting veeeerry sleepy!


Finally home from the hospital!!!!

Introducing...Cooper Montgomery Burgess!!

Home now, recovering from difficult labor and c-section (story later), major sleep deprivation...but it's all worth it for our little son, Cooper, who was born at 9:50pm on Tuesday, March 18 (6lbs 15oz and 21"). Here are a few photos to tide you over until I'm more recovered and able to post the details:

Nursery Photos

For anyone who might be interested in seeing the baby's nursery...this is the first incarnation since we'll probably do things a little differently when we move this summer. But these photos will give you a little peek!

The photos are a bit out of order...the above shot was taken right after Bob assembled the crib and put up the Giants teddy bear mobile.

We put the quilt on the wall using cute monkey clips found online.

Last Christmas Mom and John gave me these lovely lion photographs, so up they went on the walls of our jungle/safari-themed room, along with...
...these giraffe photos I took at the Wild Animal Park in San Diego.


I have no idea when I'll be up to posting online again, since tomorrow is our BIG DAY (!!!!), but I'll post photos again as soon as I can. The hospital doesn't have internet access and Bob doesn't know how to use this blog, so please be patient and we'll do the best we can in letting everyone know when Baby Burgess arrives (and posting photos). Wish us luck, a speedy and uncomplicated delivery, and a quick recovery!!

The countdown begins....!

As I hinted in my last post, big baby news....I'm being induced on Monday 3/17! (well, assuming I make it that long without things starting naturally) The docs at my Tuesday appointment decided that it's probably best to get things started sooner rather than later, and I've been put on the books for Monday morning. We're to call Labor & Delivery at 7am to check for bed availability since there could be a lot of natural labors, or c-sections that tie up the nursing staff, but I've been told to take my last shot of Heparin on Sunday night and try to get some rest until it's time to head into the hospital. As if I'll be getting much sleep that night!!

So Bob and I are now officially in the countdown to enjoy these last couple days of "life without kids", and tonight we kicked it off by hitting up our favorite burger joint for dinner (if you have a Five Guys Burgers and Fries near you, we can't recommend them enough!!), then DQ for a Blizzard for Bob and Chick-Fil-A for a vanilla milkshake for me. We have errands to run tomorrow, but only after sleeping as late as possible, and we're going to try to balance the weekend with things that need to get done and quiet time to relax with each other and the kitties.

To say I'm nervous and scared is an understatement. I've always had a colossal fear of the unknown, and I'm thinking that labor, delivery and becoming a mommy is about the biggest "unknown" that I can face. But I'm trying to focus on all of the good advice we've received lately, put my faith and trust in God and the medical staff, and rely on Bob to keep me as calm as he can during the truly scary parts. As for becoming a parent, a good friend of ours said the other day that anytime we feel unsure of our abilities as parents, we should watch an episode of Cops to help us realize that we're doing more than okay. :-)

(thanks Chris D., that really made us laugh...and feel better!)

We're also a little sad to see the end of our just-the-two-of-us era. Perhaps this isn't cool to actually say/write out loud, but after almost 11 years together, it's hard not to feel a bit of melancholy for the loss of some things that being childless allowed us to do and accomplish. I'm sure our child will provide untold amounts of joy and love (and worries and stress, too!) to more than make up for the end of this era, but right now, at the very end of this pregnancy of our first child, I don't think it's all that unusual to feel a certain amount of mourning for the time when it's just been me and Bob.

That said, it will certainly be pretty amazing to finally meet the little person who's been doing cartwheels in my belly for months, using my bladder as a boxing speed bag, and see the miracle that is part of me and part of Bob. I'm also pretty happy to finally get through this pregnancy that's caused some seriously scary times for us!

I'm exhausted, so it's time for bed. I didn't sleep more than an hour at a time last night, but I did get my last NST performed today (passed with flying colors, everything still looks good), was able to hit up Target and Michael's for a few necessities, and get home without rear-ending anyone. Bob and I figure that's a good day for me indeed!

Tale of a bad day...

So, I head off to Bethesda last Friday for my NST appointment, leaving the house around 10am. Now, that may not sound early to anyone else, but seeing as how I typically sleep until 8:30 or 9:00am these days (thanks to nights with anywhere from 7-10 bathroom trips...don'tcha just love late pregnancy??), getting out of the house by 10am is somewhat of an accomplishment for me.

Anyway, the NST went very well, got the all-clear from the nurse that everything was fine. Also learned that the reason they check the amniotic fluid levels at each appointment was to ensure the placenta is remaining efficient (good placenta = good fluid levels). One of the concerns from having a two-vessel cord is that the placenta might conk out, so it's good to know that that hasn't become an issue in my case.

Last week's blood test showed that I was STILL not quite therapeutic on the Heparin and I had to adjust my dosage again, which meant that I needed another prescription filled that I decided to pick up at the hospital pharmacy after the NST. Now, I'm quite familiar with Bethesda by now, and I knew that the wait would be a while, so I'd brought a book, some water and juice and a few snacks. Good thing too, since there were SIXTY people in line in front of me....ahhh, the joys of being a patient at a major military medical center!

After a couple trips to the window, it took the pharmacy about 90 minutes to figure out and inform me tell me that "whoops, we don't have anymore Heparin...sorry 'bout that!" Well, that wasn't going to fly with me, it's kind of a major necessity in my case, so I insisted they try to track down the doc who wrote the prescription to clear things up, because they DID have some Heparin, just not in the concentration that was originally prescribed for me. Skip ahead another hour or so, and by now I've talked to the OB department, who paged and talked to the doc working up in the L&D department (thank God she was on duty that day), who sent me back to the pharmacy, where I was given 60-some pre-filled injections of Heparin and told that I needed to give myself nine....NINE....injections per day in order to fulfill my dosage requirements. Uh, yeah, that's most definitely not gonna happen.

So, I make my way back up to L&D to track down Dr. Wortman and spend about another 30 minutes working with her to clear up the situation. Ultimately, I'm put on a higher concentration because they found vials that could be used, with a lower dosage in a smaller syringe, and I'm sent back to the pharmacy to swap medication (with another wait in line, but this time there are only 20ppl in front of me...wooohooo!). By this time it's about 3pm-ish and while I'm walking back to the pharmacy, the hospital PA system announces a "Code Delta", which from experience I know is a lock-down of the base. Apparently there was a security issue and they even locked down the hospital, no one in or out until the code was cleared. Not a huge deal since I still had to wait at the pharmacy, but at this point I'm starting to lose my sh** because I'm tired, I haven't had a real meal all day, I'm feeling dehydrated, I'm two weeks from my due date and majorly hormonal, and I'm feeling every inch of physical discomfort from walking all over the hospital.

Ultimately, I work out the Heparin problem, and they finally release the Code Delta shortly after 4pm. It takes me about half an hour to get off the base (normally it's about 3 minutes from parking garage to the gate), and oh by the way, it's pouring rain and we've officially entered the DC rush hour time period....I'm facing about a two-hour drive home (would normally take about 45 minutes on a good traffic day). I was doing my best to keep my emotional cool, I kept telling myself that things could be so much worse, at least I was heading home and hadn't been admitted to the hospital with pregnancy problems, etc.

Just as I was about to convince myself that the day was almost over, I was almost safely home where I could get back into my PJs, elevate my leg and figure out a good takeout place to get a warm meal....I rear-ended the car in front of me on the DC beltway!! YAY JEN! Way to make your rotten day even worse!

Fortunately traffic was still very much stop-and-go, so I wasn't moving more than 10-15 mph and none of the airbags deployed, either in my car or the other. Other than being REALLY ticked off at myself, I was physically fine...his car has some paint damage on the bumper and the license plate was a bit bent, whereas Bob's truck actually seemed to be a bit more damaged on the bumper (the EZ Pass transponder is most likely inoperable now) so who knows how this will shake out financially. The other driver said his neck felt a little stiff from the impact, which I guess I can understand since he certainly wasn't expecting to be hit from behind, and he said he'll check with his "regular chiropractor" to see if there is any problem. I asked him several times whether we should call 911 and he turned me down each time, and after exchanging insurance info he drove right off...while I sat in the truck and completely lost it. Long day, late-pregnancy hormones, first accident I've ever been 100% responsible for, tired, achy, annoyed, irritable, etc. made for some serious tears, that's for sure!

I talked with our insurance company today and the adjuster had heard back from the other driver that he's probably wanting to get covered on the damage to his car. He'd originally told me (and Bob, later) that his was a used car and he'd probably not make a claim, but I didn't believe that for a second. At this point, the adjuster said he hadn't made any comments about needing to make a claim for medical coverage, so I'm hoping that he's physically okay and this won't blow up into something ridiculous. Oh, and here is the big coincidence: the guy I hit, is a neighbor who literally lives about 6 doors down from us. Can you believe it? Twenty miles away on the DC beltway, and I happen to rear-end a neighbor. Irony...you suck.

So, that's the tale of my awful Friday last week. Thanks for reading if you've made it all the way through, and hopefully this will become something we can laugh at later. Bob and I are sort of laughing now, but mainly because it could have been a MUCH worse accident and we both realize that "accidents happen". I'm still mad at myself, we certainly didn't need this headache at this point in our lives, but I figure if this is the first fender-bender I've had in almost 20 years of driving, that's not too bad. Granted, I have no plans on repeating anything like it, but I do need to cut myself a little slack.

I'll do another post later, because there is news on the baby front! Still pregnant, but suffice it to say that we don't have much longer to wait at all...

Speedy post...

Nope, no baby...still pregnant as of Saturday night.

Will write more later, with details as to why yesterday was quite possibly one of the two worst days of this pregnancy - not as bad as the day I was diagnosed with the DVT, and the pregnancy itself wasn't what made it a bad day (baby's fine), but man-o-man was it a doozy.

Hope our friends/family in Ohio and Indiana are doing okay after today's blizzard!!

Happiness for the anal retentive, almost first-time mom...

WE HAVE THE NURSERY FURNITURE!!!!!!!!!

After two aborted attempts to get the furniture delivered, the stars aligned and today I was actually able to take receipt of the crib, dresser and mattress for the baby. This makes me quite happy because it means I can finally start getting the nursery better organized. Now, if we could just snap our fingers and the crib would be miraculously assembled! Good thing Bob got a new set of power tools for his birthday...

;-)

Heparin...and contractions...and dilation (or not)

So I got blood drawn last Friday to measure the Heparin levels since upping the levels to 1.25ml/dose, went to my appointments and headed home after getting the all clear from the NST clinic. Did my 1pm shot, and of course about 30 minutes later Dr. Peterson calls with the results. He originally upped my dose after getting a 47.5 on my first test, and he wanted me to be over 50. (I have no idea what those numbers actually indicate but, whatever...) But 4 days of increased dosage later, my number was up to 72, so Dr. Peterson decided that perhaps it would be wise to go back to the 1ml per dosage. He'd rather I be slightly under the recommended levels than that much over. I had more blood drawn today, so we'll see what that number comes back at, which I'm quite curious about since I've now been on Heparin for two weeks. It's done a number on my belly, lots of bruising, some swelling, some pain depending on the site, and I tend to bleed/ooze more easily. Definitely a difference from the Lovenox!

Tuesdays are my OB appointments, and today's big news is that I am....not dilated at all. Okay, well maybe I might be a "fingertip" but the doctor opted not to, um, examine me that deeply to be sure (sorry if that's TMI). She could feel enough to determine that all of my Braxton Hicks and increasingly "patterned" contractions aren't affecting my cervix as of today. Sure, things can change immediately, but today's lack of cervical activity means that we're going to wait until next Tuesday's appointment, check again, and THEN decide when to induce. I don't have a date yet, but I spoke with Dr. Peterson a little while later and he said that next week, they'll consult after my exam and decide whether to induce me early in my 39th week or later that week. It's my understanding that Bethesda does NOT use cervical ripeners, so they'd like to wait and see if my body does its thing naturally.

Dr. Peterson did say that while normally they'd let me go to 41-42 weeks before considering an induction, they will definitely want to induce by my 40th week because of my oh-so-fun complications, regardless of my cervical activity. So I guess at this point, we'll have a baby by Easter at the latest. But who knows? Things can physically change at any time...maybe sooner?!

In the meantime, I'm still being monitored with NSTs/ultrasounds twice a week, and that's to keep an eye on the baby's growth and two vessel umbilical cord situation. So if anything changes there, I imagine an induction will start immediately. Today's NST showed increasingly stronger contractions, but they don't hurt...they're just sometimes a little uncomfortable, and lately almost all of them make me a little short of breath. My fluid levels are great, the baby gave us a thumbs up during the ultrasound, it's still head down....and Baby Watch 2008 continues!

In other news, our cat Riley had to go to the vet last Thursday because something was wrong with his right eye. They didn't find any scratches, which is good, and he was given a steroid shot in case there might be an infection somewhere, but otherwise the doc didn't know what was bothering our little guy. Maybe allergies, maybe an irritant? Riley is doing much better now, and we're trying to come up with a diet plan because apparently our "little guy" is now 15 pounds! I think he was around 13 lbs last year, so this is a bit of a concern and I think we'll have to start exercising him a bit more than his usual chase/play sessions with Sophie.

So...how is everyone doing these days? :-)

36 weeks - Photo (a week late)

Bob and I took a belly photo last Saturday, but I haven't felt up to doing one yet for this week. Some days are more draining than others, and today was one of them...

Anyway, here is what I looked like a week ago!

I had blood drawn at the lab yesterday and was dismayed to realize that my primary technician was "being trained". I'm totally in support of teaching hospitals, but not so much when it involves needles and my notoriously small veins. Anyway, the two male techs were talkative and happened to ask when I was due (perhaps to distract me from the training aspect of our interaction?). When I replied 2-3 weeks, they both did a double-take, immediately looked at my tummy and said they didn't believe me...that I could only be about 7 months at the most! Well, well, well...you two guys are my new best friends! Maybe they were told somewhere to flatter all pregnant women, particularly those who are in the late stages and constantly getting stuck with needles, but hey, I'll take that little mood enhancing compliment any day, regardless of its veracity! :-)

By the way, the blood draw went surprisingly well; I was quite impressed!