Hospital Pictures and Homecoming

These are a few pictures of Blake in the hospital and on his way home. You should have seen us trying to get him into the car seat! Ha! But we finally got him in his seat and the seat attached to the base in the car. The traveling systems are so neat now. There is also a picture of him hanging out with his Daddy the day we came home. Sweet!

Postpartum, Blood Pressure and Jaundice

The first week was extremely brutal. I cried the entire week and was not hungry at all. Every time I tried to eat I had a gag reflex. Thank God for my parents. I never would have made it through that first week if they hadn't been there.
I never had the really bad postpartum with thoughts of hurting myself or others but just a feeling of being overwhelmed and not knowing what in the world I was doing. I've never really had hands on experience with babies so this was and still is completely new to me. The first night we had him at home, he didn't sleep hardly at all which of course made me cry even more. I worried that I had his diapers on too tight or that he was too hot or too cold and just about worried myself sick. Things are much better now and we are starting to get into some kind of sloppy routine.
The first two weeks we were home, I had to go weekly to have my blood pressure checked at the doctors office, and Blake had to go to the pediatrician about 4 times within those two weeks. They put me on two different blood pressure medications as well as medicine for the bad headaches I was having. After self-regulating my meds, I'm finally feeling better and my blood pressure is much better.
Blake was a little bit jaundice so I had to take him back and forth to the pediatrician to have that monitored. He had to have his foot pricked which he didn't mind at all, and we had to keep him in a sunny window for a couple hours each day. Finally we got through that and he is doing well now.

Blake's Birthday 6-6-08

Okay so since my blood pressure had been through the roof, my doctor decided that I would be induced on Friday, June 6th at 7:30 am. I really didn't sleep a wink the night before because I was way too nervous and excited.
So, we leave the house bright and early and arrive to the hospital at 7:15 am for the "induction." Fluids were running by 7:30 am and the doctor broke my water about 8:10 a.m. I was hooked up to all of the machines to monitor my blood pressure, Blake's heart rate, contractions, etc. Everything was going good.
Brent and I had decided that we wanted a "doula" after attending our class at the hospital. A doula is a support person who you can have stay with you throughout the day. Our hospital offers their service free of charge so we decided to take advantage of this great service. Upon arrival at the hospital, you let staff know that you would like a doula. The staff then goes down the list of doulas they have and call one to come in. As soon as the doula arrives, she is yours for the day. They are not responsible for any other patients except you! Our doula arrived about 9:30 a.m. and didn't leave until well after midnight. She helped me to the bathroom, helped me change, got clean linens, brought me ice chips and popsicles, let me know what was going on, talked to Brent, massaged my back and pretty much anything I wanted her to do. This is truly a wonderful service!
At 12:35 p.m. the contractions were coming pretty good and I decided to have some Finnegan/nu bane in my iv until I could get my epidural. That stuff knocked me out, and I slept GREAT! I woke back up around 2:30 and lo and behold, I had dilated far enough to get my epidural. As with most epidurals, I'm sitting on the side of the bed with my back bent over trying not to move while the contractions are coming and the doctor is trying to get the epidural in place. She keeps asking me if I feel anything to which my reply was always "yes." I knew it was bad when she had to open a second epidural kit and says, "I can't find the spot in your back...I've never had this happen before." Super! Just what I wanted to hear. So after two unsuccessful tries at an epidural, they give me more meds via iv, and decide to come back and try again later. At this point Brent is panicking because he knows I'm in pain and I'm trying to figure out what else they can give me cause I'm not doing this without drugs :) And off to sleep I go again...
It's now 5 p.m. and the anesthesiologist is back and trying for the third time to get the epidural in place. After about 30 minutes, she thinks it's in the right place and I go back to sleep. I have to admit, I didn't really feel the contractions and thought everything was good.
From what I've been told, when an epidural works correctly, there is not supposed to be any contraction pain, but a lot of pressure. Pressure I can deal with, but about an hour before I started to push, I felt EVERYTHING which leads me to believe that my epidural never completely worked like it was supposed to. I remember panicking and being in intense pain. I started pushing at 10:40 p.m. and Blake was born at 11:20 p.m.
The doctor had to use the vacuum to get him out all the way of course resulting in the little cone head, and then Brent cut the cord. They took him immediately to the bed with the lights to check him out and said that he was in a little bit of shock. They gave him an iv and some oxygen. Finally I got to hold my baby and he is so cute!
We didn't get to our room until after 2 a.m. and didn't get to sleep till about 3 or so. Blake spent that night in the nursery so staff could monitor him. He did fine and I got some much needed sleep.

Robert "Blake" Cash was born at 11:20 p.m., June 6th, 2008. He weighed 7lb. 8oz. and was 21 1/4 inches long. He had a head full of black hair which turns a little curly when wet! He currently has blue eyes.