One week old

Baby Madelyn is doing great! Her breastfeeding is improving everyday and she is getting less fussy at night. Yesterday the pediatrician said that she looks very good, but she should be up to her birth weight. Yesterday she weighed 7 lb 8.5 oz and was 20.5 in long. The pediatrician wants us to come back next week to re-weigh her. My mom who was a labor and delivery nurse said that she is doing great and my baby is not text book (my labor sure wasn't). My milk only came in 3 days ago and she's not fussing for more milk. I've been feeding her on demand, and sometimes she'll eat for an hour and a half in one sitting. Jeremy and I are so happy with our little family!

Madelyn Rayanne Ramer

Madelyn Rayanne Ramer

Born Sept. 23rd 2009

at 6:34 pm

8 lbs 3 oz

21 in long

39 Weeks (no baby yet!)

I'm 39 weeks pregnant today! Yohoo! I've been felling pretty good. Some days I feel like labor is coming and other days I'm like where are the contractions? I've been getting very strong braxton-hicks contractions every other night or so. I'm going to see a midwife tomorrow for a checkup. They all want labor to be a natural process. The midwives would like to wait for my body to go into labor. They wouldn't induce me until I'm 42 weeks.
I got a call yesterday from labor and delivery to prep me for my c-section today. I'm like, "what? that should have been canceled!" I guess they didn't hear that my baby flipped to head down. I've asked two nurses to cancel it for me. But oh well... I couldn't have had my baby today. I first day of fall.
My mom is in town for the birth. I'm very appreciative that she'll be here to help out with the baby and the house while I'm recovering. She knows a lot about babies and deliveries, so Jeremy and I will be in good hands.

External Version Round Two

After finding out that the baby was breech last week I was very stressed about the scheduled c-section. I really didn't want to have surgery. So I went to the women's center and talked to a doctor that was willing to delivery a baby in a vaginal breech position. After the visit Jeremy really didn't want a vaginal breech delivery because there are too many risks to the baby. The doctor said we could try another external version on Monday (where the doctor manually flips the baby into a head down position). So I went into the hospital yesterday to try for another external version. I just knew that it was going to work. And it did! I've been listening to my instincts this whole pregnancy and I've been right with everything. I thought she was a girl at the 20 week ultrasound. I knew she was breech even though the midwives said no. I knew that the first version wasn't going to work, but the second one would.
After the version I was told to stay vertical and bind my belly so the baby wouldn't flip back. After the version the doctor stripped my membranes to help start labor. Last night I was very uncomfortable. I was having camps and contraction all night, but they went away... I sleep half the night on my reclining sofa to stay more vertical. But I was waking up every hour. I made my way back into bed and then later back onto the sofa.
Every fetal movement I try to make sure she's not flipping back. I believe that she's still head down. My next prenatal appointment is on Thursday with a midwife. Hopefully she has some advise to help engage the baby's head.

37 weeks

Yesterday I went to the midwives for a normal weekly checkup at 3:30 pm and ended up in labor and delivery until 10pm. Everything was going fine at the appointment, after she did a pelvic exam she said that I was 1 cm dilated but I wasn't effaced. She couldn't tell if the baby was head down or not. I told her that I have a fear that my baby is breech. And within minutes I was in the ultrasound room where it was conformed that the baby is indeed breech.
I decided to try for an inversion, where they would push on my tummy to flip the baby to head down. So Jeremy and I went to the labor and delivery unit for a non stress test so the Dr. can start the inversion. The fetal heart monitor was picking up that the baby was sleeping, they wanted to see more drips in the heart rate. And I was already contracting every 2 1/2 minutes. After some juice and rolling from side to side the Dr. finally felt comfortable to try the inversion. I got a shot to stop my contractions. And OMG the inversion hurt! It felt like she was ripping my skin open. The Dr. got the butt out of my pelvis, but that's about all. She tried again 1/2 hour later along with another shot to stop my contractions. By the baby wasn't moving.
So what do I do now? They said I can have a breech vaginal delivery if I get a CAT- scan and if my pelvis if wide enough. Or I can schedule a c-section 7-10 days before my due date. In future pregnancies this hospital wont to VBAC's, so if I want a VBAC then I'll have to go to a large hospital that would allow me to.
I feel so disappointed that I picked this hospital to have a natural water birth. And now I'm going to have a c-section. This hospital is like 40 minutes from my house. If I would have known that I was going to have a c-section that I would have picked one closer to home.

36 Weeks

Last week I developed a nasty rash on my legs. I went to a family practitioner and he said that it was a staff infection from shaving. I was prescribed antibiotics for the infection, which I finished yesterday. The rash looks a lot better, but its still itchy and pink. I had a 36 week checkup yesterday with one of the midwives. Because I was on the antibiotics my midwife didn't test me for group beta strep. She said that we should wait until next week so we don't get a false negative. Next week I should also get an exam to see if I'm starting to dilate or efface. I'll be going to the midwives every week now until I deliver.
Last Saturday Jeremy and I went to his cousins wedding in Napa Valley. One of the attendant said that she was a nurse and she thought that I had "dropped." So that was exciting that people are judging if the baby has dropped lower into the birth canal.
The post office have me a baby shower, and I got a lot of goodies. They were all very giving! Some people got us stuff from our registry, others got us more cloths. They also gave my a diaper that said, "Becky's Diaper Fund" I was shocked when I saw that there was $200 in cash and gift cards tucked inside. My work must really like me!
The baby's room is started to look really good. We finally got our bedding from Jeremy's Dad and Step-mom. And it looks so cute! Its a ladybugs and dragonflies (I love dragonflies!).