Well,
the little man has arrived. He came to
us via caesarean on December 19th, 2013, born technically at 8:53 in
the morning (he was still breech). His
name is Spencer Iden Reid Nottingham. He
was 6 Pounds 12 Ounces at birth and 20” long and red/brown hair (which has been
lightening since).
Here
is the story of meeting Spencer for the first time.
I was
booked to be at the hospital at 6:00 am for admittance, to go into surgery at
8:00 am. We got there a little early,
and admittance didn’t even open till 6.
Once the paperwork was done, I went over to the lab for the first blood
work tests.
From
the lab I went to the maternity ward. We
got to listen to Spencer’s heart beat again.
It was sweet. They didn’t do an
ultrasound though, as the doctors had decided that I would be having a
caesarean, even if he had moved from breech due to other health concerns. Once hooked up to the BP machine that fear
was slightly founded, as my reading was 192/88, way too high. That might have been from the stress of
looming surgery, but not good none the less.
I was
one of the first caesareans on schedule, so from there we left for the OR
room. In the hallway Deb put on her
scrubs.
She
had to wait in the hallway while I got the spinal done. That wasn’t exactly comfortable. They took a few tries to get it right. They almost called it that I would have had
to have full anesthetic, but third try I was numb from the waist down. Then they let in Deb.
It
was a weird feeling, even though I was numb, I could feel them “rummaging”
around to get Spencer out and the afterbirth; very weird feeling. But then I got to hear Spencer’s numbers and
that he was doing all right. He got a 9
on the APGAR rating. He lost the point
for having purple hands and feet from lack of circulation. When I heard him cry, I started to cry, a
little. It is an unbelievable feeling,
loving someone so much instantly. I had
been worried I wouldn’t bond with him, but my heart melted as soon as I
heard/saw him. While the doctors
finished up what they were doing, Deb held Spencer beside/on me. He didn’t cry very much, and still
doesn’t. He has been and still is a
fairly quiet and content baby. We are very
thankful for that.
From
the OR we went to the recovery room. At
which point we did some skin on skin and tried to breast feed. He didn’t latch well though, breastfeeding
has been a struggle, but he is finally getting the hang of it, and so are my
breasts.
Once
I started getting feeling back in my legs I was moved from recovery to my
hospital room. Cherry joined us shortly
after I got there. It took a few hours
for my legs to regain enough movement to walk on them though, so I was confined
to bed for most of the day, other than a short walk in the evening. While in my room Deb and I both got some skin
to skin time, which was wonderful.
My
sister and husband also came for a visit from BC. They acted as substitutes as grandparents,
for visiting, as my parents aren’t here, we were able to let them in for a
visit in lieu. Just in case, we were going to give my sister
one of the green bands as a support person to be able to come in, but her
husband was able to visit too which was nice.
Somewhere
I read that you should bring a book on breastfeeding, otherwise you will be
manhandled by every nurse in the hospital.
I should have listened. I didn’t
mind though, as I learned a bit more technique.
But in my stay, I had quite a few lactation specialists fondle me. First day I learned manual expression, which
turned my right side into what looked like a cauliflower, due to edema. Not fun.
I was getting some colostrum, but not enough. Day two, I got to use the Medela Symphony to
help get things started. By the end of
the second night I was ready to give up, it seems I was sucking dust by the end
of the night. Just as I was ready to
give up, and I had supplemented Spencer with formula to make sure he was
getting enough nutrition, as he had lost weight, the next morning my milk
finally kicked in enough to give me hope.
The
first night, a nurse came in and gave Spencer his first bath. He wasn’t too happy with the experience. It was nice to have a cleaner baby from
birth, at which time they did just a quick wash.
During
the first night, it was hard for me to get in and out of bed to see to Spencer,
so every time he needed attending to, I had to call the nurse to help maneuver
me, or Spencer to what he needed. By
morning, I was a little bit more mobile and was able to change my first
diaper. Up to this point, it was either
Deb or the nurse that had handled that.
This
photo is of him in the clear crib, at 3:00 am next to my bed. Too cute not to get a photo.
The
next day was busy getting used to things, learning to breastfeed, and visitors
coming. We got to see me sister and
husband again, before they started the trek back to BC. We also got a visit from Deb’s dad and step
mom.
Like
I had mentioned the second night was hard, and I kept trying to pump
milk/colostrums for him which didn’t prove very fruitful. It was a tiring night. In the end, he had two sets of formula feeds
to make sure he was getting some nutrients.
The
third day was when we got to go home, after speaking to yet another lactation
consultant, the doctor, and a couple nurses to coordinate leaving.
His
first trip in the car seat went very well.
Calgary was cold that day, but apparently it was warmer than it had been
for the couple days prior.
At
our house, Cherry had decorated in celebration of Spencer arriving. It was a fun surprise to have balloons and
what not around the house, as well as a sign on the lawn with announcing his
details.
Once
we got home, Deb took Spencer next door to Cherry’s house, Yaya, so she could
get me settled and the dogs a little more settled before bringing in Spencer. I got settled on the couch with a large
cushion protecting my stomach, in case the dogs jumped up and Deb went and got
Spencer. The dogs had a freak out
moment, and the older two got used to him fairly quickly. Tuffy on the other hand didn’t take well to
all this change. We were able to get
Spencer in the house, and Randy held him for a while, while Deb set up a change
station on the main floor, as I wouldn’t be able to handle the flight of stairs
every time he needed changing. She was
ingenious, and turned a playpen into a station with the assistance of the spare
room night stands and a couple other items.
This, in turn, was more change for Tuffy. You have to realize, if we move a night
light, he will bark at it for three days.
We knew this would be a challenge.
Over the next couple days, he got a little better, but has been avoiding
us and in recluse mostly. At one point,
I was putting some baby clothes into the dryer, he was being curious, and
sniffing around. As I went to get the
dryer sheet, he hopped right in.
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I
started howling, and because he is about twice the weight of Spencer, I had to
get Deb to get him out of there.
Unfortunately after that for the next day or two, he became obsessed
with the dryer and wanted to either sit on it and look out the window, or in
it. We had to keep the door to the
laundry room closed, but he then just scratched at that door. Once he figured he wasn’t allowed to do that,
he took solace by sitting in the bathtub upstairs. I think he just needed a cave type
surrounding to feel safe, as his home was changing drastically. Deb and I were even sleeping on opposite
sides of the bed. All the dogs had
slight issues with that.
We
had a visit from the Calgary home nurses the day after Spencer got home. He had dropped weight again, so we had to see
them the following day as well, which in turn he had lost some more weight. We also found out that he was having issues
maintaining his temperature. We have
been bundling him up more so, even in the house. He has gotten better. Over all he dropped down to 6 pounds 2 ounces
by December 23. By Christmas Eve, when
we had to see the nurses again at their clinic he had finally gained some of
the weight back, even if just 50 grams, but that is a fair amount in a
day. Other than the weight loss he has
been doing well though.
The
past couple weeks have been fantastic getting to know little Spencer. He has been a peach. He doesn’t cry much, he has learned to latch
well, even though we need to supplement with a bit of formula, he doesn’t seem
to have issue with nipple confusion. He
does go from fine to HUNGRY pretty easily, and that does warrant him getting
fussy, and if you aren’t fast enough getting food to him, he will start to
wail, but as soon as you put a nipple in his mouth he does fine.
Christmas
and New Years has been low key. We have had a stream of visitors coming to
visit. On the Monday after I got out of
the hospital, a friend from the east coast came for a visit, on his way through
town. Then after that we got to visit
with Spencer’s God Parents. They came
from the west coast. We also got to
visit with one of Deb’s friends from Ontario.
They are in town for a while visiting family over the holidays. It has been a busy time visiting, but it has
been great to see everyone.
The
past couple days he has been having some issues with spitting up. We have learned he can’t lie on his back for
a little while after feeding. He is
growing like a weed. At his two week
appointment he had gained back his weight loss and then some. He was 7 pounds 3 ounces at day 15. Some of the clothes we have are slowly
getting too short, some of which we probably a little short to begin with, as
he hasn’t grown that much in length yet.
And
here are some random photos.
Our first day home
First
photo for size comparison at home
A
cutie photos a few days old.
My first
Christmas hat and stocking
Santa
Outfit that might also fit next year.
This
outfit was from a neighbour. I love the
hat.
We
made it to one week. Woohoo
Week
two, slightly bigger
Our
little pea pod. Outfit/blanket knitted
by his godmother.
Originally
we had figured, I would get pregnant once, and then Deb the second time, as I
wouldn’t want to go through pregnancy again, as it wasn’t an easy pregnancy,
don’t get me wrong, it could have been worse, but it wasn’t easy either. While going through it, I had thought, I won’t
have to go through this again thankfully.
But now he is here, I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Deb
has been a wonderful Sherpa throughout the pregnancy, and is being a wonderful
mom. She is helping way more than most
husbands do, which is making this “new” mom experience much better. It has been a help that she hasn’t had much
consecutive work with days off for the holidays. So she has been helping with the night time
stuff as well. I know it would have been
harder without her help. I am very lucky
to have her as a friend, wife, partner, and “co-parent” (description from the
birth certificate) in this experience. She
is also helping with my scarring, which hasn’t been healing as well as it
should. Partially my fault, as when the
staples first came out, I pulled it funny and it has been weeping ever since,
slowly getting better though, hopefully it will heal fully soon. She has been tending to it carefully, as she
has been tending to me through this whole experience.
PS: I’m
1.8 pounds away from having lost all of my pregnancy weight. Woohoo.
I am currently less than I was at the beginning of 2013.
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