Good news Tuesday

So all the x-rays and blood samples came back fine, there's nothing wrong. She is also not losing any weight. Since the doctors don't have any conclusions or diagnosis for why she continues to throw up, I have my own: Stress. She's had the feeding tube inserted for several days and I think that caused irritation - possibly also induced gaging.

The doctor was of the same opinion and they will not feed her until tomorrow morning, just giving her fluids and nutrition intravenously, then start with a small amount of milk.
We hope a day and a half is enough rest and she stops throwing up so she may be able to come home before the weekend.

Tuesday Update

She threw up the soy too. :(They took her off any food and are feeding her with the IV until 3 p.m. today. I'm going down at 9:30 to talk to the doctors about their next plan of action. I spent more than 90 minutes with her this morning and was so blissed out I wanted time to stop. We did some kangaroo care, which means bare chest to bare chest. It was going great, until she smelled breastmilk and then acted like a crazed maniac frantically trying to find it. I would have loved to try to nurse, but obviously couldn't cause no food is allowed. :(

Pictures of this morning are HERE.

Videos are below. Enjoy.

PS Thank you so much for all of your kind emails, prayers and well wishes. We really appreciate them.

Addendum to the Update

She threw up again. :( They're going to try soy formula at the next feeding, and if she can't keep that down, they'll feed her with the IV in the a.m. and re-evaluate the action plan tomorrow.

Poor thing.

Promising News!

We had a bit of a roller coaster day. Here are the updates:

• We tried to nurse from 9 a.m.- 10 p.m. with no absolute success, but Lucia got closer to getting it than she ever has. After that, the nurse fed her my colostrum and formula through the feeding tube. I can't remember if she threw it up or not.
  
• We came back at noon with my very proud 2 oz of pumped breastmilk, and Lucia received it through the feeding tube.
  
• Unfortunately she threw it all back up.
• At 3:45, we saw the pediatrician on duty and she said that Lucia is a very healthy, happy, playful baby and that medically they couldn't find a reason why she was continually throwing up her food. She also said they have ruled out sepsis (phew). This made us very happy.
  
• The doc decided that the feeding tube itself may be making her gag, so they took it out. Then Pete fed Lucia a small amount of breastmilk from a bottle and SUCCESS! She didn't throw it up.
  
• Pete went back down with more milk at 6 to feed her a bit more and unfortunately, she threw some of that up. The nurses asked him to feed her half of the prescribed amount, then burp her, then feed her the other half. The burping was the culprit, I suspect.
• The only thing that's preventing her from being allowed to go home is the feeding problems, or specifically, the throwing up problems.
• I ate something at lunch that didn't agree with me, so I'm feeling ill and not going back down to the NICU tonight, unfortunately.
  
• We'll see what tomorrow brings. Hopefully not more vomit!
  

PS!

Lucia is 19 inches, not 20 or 21. Why the numbers were so off is beyond me. But they measured and re-measured since I saw it on several places as being different, and they said it's 19. For a while there I thought we were gonna have a 6 ft. child!

Good News/Bad News Update O Da Day

So here's the update for the day. I'll start with the bad news so we end things optimistically.

Bad news: Lucia's bloodwork today came back looking worse than yesterday's bloodwork. It supposed to be trending down, today hers trended up. They're looking at whether she has sepsis.
Good news: if she does have it, they're ready to treat it and she won't have any long-term issues.

Bad news: Lucia hasn't figured out that sucking = key to getting breastmilk.
Good news: she's trying really hard to figure it out, and all signs are there that she'll get it sometime soon. We're just going to keep trying.

Bad news: She threw up all of her food today.
Good news: They're not going to force feed formula anymore to her (through the feeding tube). She's being fed through the IV to give her GI system a break.

Bad news: She won't be coming over to our room anytime soon. The docs want to make sure she's got the feeding issues down, and with her constantly vomiting everything right back up, that's an issue.
Good news: I won't be discharged until Tuesday, and hopefully she'll be able to come home with me. I will be sad if she can't, but I want her to have the best care and be in a great place health-wise when she comes home.

Bad news: She's a little dehydrated.
Good news: They are hydrating her through the IV and hope that she's more interested in breastfeeding when she's feeling better.


She's still absolutely adorable and we're amazed by her. We're hoping she's feeling better soon.

Videos! Very short videos!

Update to the Update

Wow. Recovery is um, hard from surgery. I'm exhausted, and for whatever reason, whenever I get down to the NICU, I'm practically falling asleep. I think I may be extending too much energy. I'm trying really hard to take it easy. This is hard for me.

Lucia is having some eating issues. She's having a lot of reflux, meaning she's spitting up a lot. We are trying to get her interested in breastfeeding, but so far it's been very challenging. She's not really interested. They are feeding her formula and when I can give some extra colostrum they give her that too, but they are not bottle feeding her. We're meeting with the lactation consultant tomorrow. We tried for today, but she was booked.

So since they can't get the eating thing cleared up, they want to keep her in the NICU another night. I'm bummed, but also so exhausted and partially relieved that she'll continue to get some nutrients.

Saturday Update!!

Good morning everyone! I apologize if this post is a bit circuitous and rambly; I suspect it's the medication still wearing off. My brain feels a bit cloudy.

Thanks so much for your kind thoughts and well wishes. Lucia is doing great in the NICU --they are slowly tapering her off the oxygen and hope that today's check of her lungs is clear -- yesterday's was a bit cloudy and they couldn't be sure if it was a sign of fluid or possible pneumonia. The pediatricians are very hopeful that she'll get to come down to our room today, so we are excited.

I'm recovering OK. I have to say that surgery = not that fun. As go-go-go as I am, it's been hard to be immobilized. Pete has been a wonderful caregiver. I know labor was exhausting for him too; seeing someone you love in pain for that long must have been hard. He went home to sleep last night, since we didn't have the baby in the room, and I had all the help I needed from the nurses. I got some sleep and felt much better; I plan on getting a lot more today.

We can't believe how long Lucia is -- she's got her dad's grasshopper-like legs. I'm headed over to see her as soon the doc comes to check me out. I can't wait to see her again. We spent some time with her last night, I was able to hold her and love on her. It was pretty amazing -- I'm just in awe of her. I'm hoping to take a video today of her.

We tried breastfeeding last night and we're both going to need some coaching from the pros on it. She still has a feeding tube in, so they're giving her some formula and I'm sending all the colostrum I can get from the breast pump down to the NICU for the nurses to give her.

Lucia Lauryn Hansen is here!

Lucia was born earlier this morning at 8:54 am and we are all tired and relieved.
What happened was Heather stalled at 7 cm even with Pitocin and when the baby seemed to be a little uncomfortable (heart rate dipping periodically) the decision was made to use C-section.

Within an hour Lucia was delivered. They noticed she had a little difficulty screaming/breathing so they took her to the ICU to help her out. She is going to stay there for a few more days while they do some tests.

As you can see from the pictures the doctors habitual poking of tubes in all openings applies to Lucia as well.

Another update - more details

Without dwelling on the details, it is 5:30 AM as I type this and still no baby.. We are both really tired now, but excited to hear that Heather has opened to 7cm and that the baby continues to drop.
Thankfully she got hooked up to the epidural early, before they gave her pitocin so she has been able to sleep and she told me that she felt much better after sleeping.

The baby is showing some slight signs of stress -- the doctors are on it and if it continues they might -- might -- have to do a C-section. They are tapering a bit on the pitocin to see what her contractions do on their own.

The latest word is that the baby monitor is showing good signs after the took her off the pitocin and inflated her with a little extra water to pad the baby.

Another update - no news yet

Heather has been under the drugs for a while and totally calm.. This is all she typed up:
"4 centimeters, finally. Epidural and pictocin are on their way."

Photo update

(Click on photos to enlarge)

Heather is ready! Pillow and blankets!





More morphine please!

Still waiting

So we are still waiting, it is going very slowly.
We got here drowsy at midnight and was quietly admitted and given a very nice big room. Theres a big bed for heather that can be electrically moved, a fancy chair that folds out to sleep on, space age super strong lamp hanging in the ceiling and all that hospital monitor-computer- gear that beeps trough the night. There's also a bathroom so we don't have to trek down the hallway.
Heather was given some inducing medication that will work slower and more naturally that pitocin but things are really going slowly, more than 24 hours slow.

Its 11:40 am now and she has been induced for nearly 9 hours, but she has not opened more than 1cm out of 10cm, but the babys head has dropped to position "1+" thats good because she started at a 4, but she still need to go to 0 and then further to +2. I dont know exactly how they monitor this but she is making progress but it will take some time.
Further updates will follow.

Labor & Delivery Full, Please Try Again

They're full. They've assured us they'll call us if a bed opens -- no matter the hour tonight. Otherwise we're scheduled to be at the top of the priority list tomorrow a.m -- but still have to call at 7 a.m.

My nerves are shot. I'm headed to bed. We'll update you when we have one.

They said call back at 9, or I could come in at 1:30 tomorrow as a "priority"

I'm beyond mad.

Our Last Pregnancy Video

Notes about this:

1. Yes, I am that fat. I really am. Can you believe it? It's almost hilarious. Who knew my body could get this big? Rest assured, I haven't let myself go -- the doc says it's cause of the diabetes and that most of it is water. Thank god! Even my elbows look fat! I'm looking forward to getting back down to a reasonable size.
2. We called at 6 p.m. as instructed, and labor and delivery said they were really busy, so we should call back at 7 p.m. We called at 7 p.m. and they said call back at 8 p.m. We're hoping this doesn't continue for another few hours. Gawd help us. We're packed and ready to go.

The Day (So Far) in Pictures!

I didn't get much rest, so I'm running around like a crazy woman this morning, in anticipation of crashing fairly soon for a loooong nap. Here's how the day is going so far:

Mrs. B's birthday is tomorrow, as you might know. She'll be 12. She gets Frosty Paws on her birthday, which is dog ice cream. She loves and wags her tail like crazy when you ask her if she wants Frosty Paws.


These muffins have no added sugar, and are DELISH. Highly recommend (available at Trader Joe's).



I have this magazine and Vanity Fair (my favorite) to read tonight at the hospital. Along with the fully charged ipod, and possibly some movies to watch on the computer.




Organizing the hospital bags: on the left is the cooler weather outfit for LG. On the right is the warmer weather option: a T-shirt, with the hat, booties (thanks Robin!) and mittens and swaddle blanket. The bunny is for comfort <--- for me mostly. :) We're bringing diapers because we really want to stick with the ones that are unbleached.

Ouch. This is what happens when you're sleep deprived/distracted and trying to park quickly. I initially thought this was just a scrape. Then I inspected it last night and was more bummed about it. I'm heading over to the body shop shortly to get an estimate (and to see how long it will take, so we can plan in the next few weeks to take it in).

The Finishing Touches

.
I would have posted earlier today, but it's been super busy, and then I wasn't feeling well tonight. We thought (again) it might be early labor, but alas, we don't think it is/was. I think we're both thankful we only have 45 hours left!

My blood pressure was fine today. I also had a non-stress test for the baby, which is basically a fetal heart rate monitor hooked up to my belly, and a belt across me to look at my uterine contractions (there weren't any). LG was very quiet this morning (after a very busy night), so I was a little worried going in. But as soon as they hooked me up, I could hear her little heart beat thump thump thump thump and felt better. After 20 minutes of monitoring, the nurse said, "she's really active." I said, "No, this is a quiet day." Like I was making it up all this time -- the kid is SPAZZY, ok?

We borrowed a GORGEOUS bassinet from our friend Sara today (see above) so LG can sleep right next to me for the first few months. We hear this is critical to maximizing sleep and success at breastfeeding. Today I also bought some night lights at Ikea so we won't have to turn on the light to see LG in the middle of the night.

Tomorrow's big tasks: laundry and organizing the hospital bags: pre-delivery and post-delivery (great suggestion Kate B!). And cleaning up/organizing the baby room/guest room a bit more. Return blood pressure cuff to Wal-Mart. Make a few phone calls. Try to relax. :)

The Countdown Begins

• Approximately 150 kicks left to count and enjoy the rustling of Little Girl as she continually tries to make more room for herself in my womb. Tonight I had to actually tell her: "It doesn't go that way (sideways)! Try the other way!"
• 69 hours until we arrive at the hospital for the induction
• 12 more times I have to test my blood sugar and stress out over the results
• Nine more times (approximately) I'll have to get up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night
• Three more nights we'll sleep in our apartment as just the two of us
• Two bags of cookies we have to bring for the nurses
• One more non-stress test for Baby Hansen at the doctor tomorrow
• One more blood pressure check (also tomorrow)

I still can't believe we're having a baby. You'd think it woulda sunk in by now. But on some level, I still can't believe it. Wow.

Josh is Here!

My brother Josh moved here and arrived late Tuesday. He started his new job Thursday and is liking it so far -- it's with the same company. He found an apartment today and is excited to start his new life in California. It's great to have him close by.

In the meanwhile, Pete and I have been hanging out at home, doing last minute chores/errands and getting rid of this cold. And waiting for baby...

Update

I'm going to be induced Sept. 24 at 8 p.m. This is *awesome* because our friend Essie's birthday AND Mrs. B's birthday on Sept. 25, so it's very likely we'll have our LG on that day. She'll be in great company. I'm really relieved and excited to have an end date and in the meanwhile will try to recover from this cold!

Still Sick

Not much to update over here. Still sick. Pete has it worse than me um, thankfully? We're doing OK otherwise. We go to the doc in the a.m. and will post an update here when we have one.

We Haven't Had the Baby Yet

But promise to update you when we do. Really. We will. Really.

Impossibly Larger

This was going to be a picture, but we didn't realize the camera was on video mode. So here's a video, no extra charge.

Unfortunately/Fortunately

Unfortunately I cannot sleep.
Fortunately Pete can.

Unfortunately Pete has a cold.
Fortunately I do not (for now).

Unfortunately I have not had the baby yet.
Fortunately we've got more time for just the two of us. (I could add some other fortunatelys in here, but I'll stick with just one).

Unfortunately our dog is getting older and turns 12 on Sept. 25.
Fortunately we bought her a present today and she's still super springy, so we think she'll be around for a long time.

False Labor = Annoying, Exciting or Good Practice?

So last night I had "contractions" for about two hours. This is the second time this has happened. We did the same thing as last time; I laid really still and we timed them, and tried to discern a pattern and/or if they were getting stronger or more intense. I tried changing positions; they say that if it's false labor that if you change positions they'll go away. They weren't going away.

The funny thing is I was really tired; it was 1:30 a.m. and I just wanted to stay in bed. I thought that if this was the real thing, could someone just wake me up when it's time to go to the hospital? Cause I'm pretty sure I'm not going to get any sleep there; and apparently labor is very tiring. ;)

They finally decreased in intensity and frequency around 3:30 a.m. I'm not sure if it's exciting or annoying or good practice. Maybe all three.

Let's Hope That...

Aside from hoping the baby comes soon, let's also hope that:

Breastfeeding is NOT like surfing/waterskiing (as some have said) where you can't understand how or "get it" until you're actually doing it. Pete has tried to teach me to wakeboard many times, and I always give up. Giving up on breastfeeding is NOT an option. 

The baby comes soon; I bought and froze two dozen chocolate chip cookies for the nurses and doctors at the hospital and am finding myself sneaking them throughout the day. They are so tasty. I may have to hide these further back in the freezer. 

New Poll on the Right!

Come on, take a guess! 

Tour of the Nursery

Come with me for a lil tour of the nursery!

Video to come. I tried to upload it for 2.5 hours tonight. I'm working on figuring out what's up.

Aha! Moving to sit right next to the wireless router somehow worked!

Blood Pressure Update!

My blood pressure was fine yesterday. Phew and double phew. We go to the doctor tomorrow for a nonstress test (fetal monitoring) and possible doing some things to speed up labor. We'll update you then!

Baby Watch, 24/7

When we're not watching the political coverage of the conventions, we're basically on Baby Hansen Watch 24/7. My blood pressure got really high this week and the doc was concerned it might be preeclampsia, but it looks like it might just have been nerves/emotions. Now every time I have a symptom that MIGHT be a sign of labor, Pete and I are on high-alert that THIS COULD BE IT!

It's a weird place to be -- sorta a holding pattern. It also feels like a roller coaster or soap opera -- we're calling it As the Fetus Turns.

New beach

We took a trip to a new dog-friendly beach in celebration of our 1-year wedding anniversary, but leaving the beach was not very human-friendly, like that old song: "You can check in but you can never leave".
We had a long walk and had a great time!
More pictures will soon be available at frogstar.smugmug.com

One Year Ago Today Part 2

One year ago today we had our big wedding in Delaware. It was a magical, magical night, complete with 80 family members and friends, pomegranete martinis, filet mignon and a black and white photo booth. It was more fun -- I was able to really let go that night and fully enjoy every moment. The weeks (ok months) prior with all the planning was super stressful, but that night it was all worth it and I just relished in the joy and love and happiness. It was so much fun. I predict the same thing when Little Girl arrives; I suspect I'll be so thrilled with happiness to see her and hold her and just LOVE her that I'll be able to forget all this pregnancy is really a pain in the butt stuff.

Pete and I sat on the beach today and talked about how the year has been for us. We agreed that we've both changed a lot; for the better. There's no doubt he's made me a better person; more patient, more kind. As cliche as it sounds, my love for him deepens every single day. It becomes richer and more textured and more well, deep. I love him in all different ways. The past year we've really grown as a couple and grown as friends to each other. Happy Anniversary Pete. I love you dearly.