Our Sweet little Hennessey

We arrived at the hospital at about 11 am. Once there, I was checked in, set up in a room and examined by a nurse to see if I was truly in labor. 

Luckily I was! It was a fear of mine that they would send me home. I was continuing to progress at a pretty steady rate but my water had not broke yet. At about 5:30 pm the doctor gave me the choice between him breaking my water or waiting for it to break naturally. I didn’t want to be up all night with contractions so I opted for him to do it. OH MY GOODNESS!  A rush of water, some relief of pressure that had been building for the last 8 and half months and then a real contraction. OUCH!!!!  Up to this point I was thinking labor was not going to be so bad. Ha! Funny pregnant naive me. I had not gotten an epidural yet because I hadn’t been in too much pain. But after the breaking of my water I quickly changed my mind. Once the epidural was in place and doing its job to my great relief I started to relax and another contraction came on, this time completely located in my right hip! For an unknown reason the medication was working everywhere except my hip so I felt everything that was happening in my hip. Not as bad as it was when I felt it everywhere but a weird sensation nonetheless.

The OB suggested that I not eat anything because it often makes a person who is so heavily medicated to throw up. I believed the doctor but I was starving so I opted for (by his suggestion) a liquid meal of water, chicken broth and orange jell-o. Yea, bad idea. I started to feel so sick and it wasn’t until, just like the doctor said, I threw up that I felt better.

Mean while I wanted to make sure Sean was taken care of. We didn't know how long we would be in the hospital so I created a "Daddy Hospital Survival Kit" for him! It was full of all his favorite things and helped to keep him tummy full so he didn't have to leave the hospital. 

By 8:00 pm I was ready to go! The nurse came in to prep my room. She brought a huge light out of the ceiling, wheeled in a very large sterile cart filled with contraptions that looked as if they had come right from the dark ages and got the baby cleaning station ready. The next step was to help and the baby and I get ready for pushing and delivery.

Little did she know, the baby was making her way into the world with out any help.  She was already beginning to crown.

The doctor was summoned and came quickly for what was expected to be a fast, easy delivery.  Just as everyone was ready to go a frantic looking nurse ran in to let him know that his other patient (his only other patient) was in having complications. He needed to go immediately to her aid.

Now my instructions, mid push I might add, were to NOT push. And let me remind you that our baby (who was on the small end) was inching her way out with every contraction sans my desire or help. As a result she was in the birth canal for about 20 to 30 minutes. That is an incredibly long 20 to 30 minutes for a nervous dad who understands what all the monitors and machines and numbers surrounding us mean. Our baby started to have late d-cells which means her heart was decreasing with each contraction and instead of the calm cool husband I am used to he stared to go into panic doctor mode ready to deliver the baby himself!

Just like we were in a movie, the doctor came rushing back in! (He had a monitor hooked up in the other room he was in allowing him to monitor me while delivering his other patient.) He re-gowned and jumped in right in time for a final big push to welcome our beautiful baby girl into this world.

Welcome Baby Hennessey!

Tuesday March 27, 2012

8:48 PM

6 pounds 5 ounces 

18 inches

I cannot explain the joy and happiness that filled every fiber of my being when I got hold such a small lovely spirit right from heaven. I think it is really something that can only be fully comprehended once it is experienced. I was a bit overwhelmed with emotion, I wanted to cry, yelp for joy, laugh with happiness and sigh with intense love all at once. I had love for my husband, love for the blessing of the baby that represented our love and devotion and love for the beautiful baby that had just been entrusted into our care.

Hennessey was happy to be with us too. So happy that peed on me....twice! 

Even such a genster overwhelmed my new fragile mother state of mind. I was just so happy to be holding a healthy baby who was able to pee on me. I didn't mind at all.  

Hennessey came out a bit swollen from being in the birth canal for so long and another draw back, she was having trouble keeping her body heat at a stable temperature so after we had been with her for a little bit they had to take her away to be in a heated incubator until stable.  

Other than that she was healthy and thriving! Such a relief for us after the worry of a baby that may be too small. We were so blessed. 

She passed her hearing test in three minutes. Something that, understandably, Sean was a little worried about.

Our stay in the hospital was pleasant. We had a birthing suite with a pull out bed for Sean, a large bathroom and a little dinning area. 

We got to have Hennessey with us round the clock, we enjoyed our isolated time with our little family.

After a few days Hennessey and I were deemed healthy and released to go home. 

Our little baby looked like she was boing to be swallowed by her car seat but after she was bundled back up she was ready.

Now our real journey begins!

xoxo

9 months of our lives

A little over a year ago this what I looked like.

My normal self. It was July, we had just moved to Reno, Nevada for the intern year of Sean’s residency. The apartment was put together, I was waiting to hear back about a job that I had just interviewed for, (which I ended up getting by the way) and life was moving along as expected.

Except for one sneaky snag in my regular routine….I was eating a sandwich every night before bed (generally I shy away from eating after 8:30). At the time I didn’t think much of it, I was just hungry. Seemed logical to me.

Sean however is a little brighter than me and suspected my new found appétit was more than just hunger.

He suggested we buy and try an at home pregnancy test.

EEEEK!! No way! (I’m not sure why this idea scared me so much because we were trying to get pregnant but the whole idea of it actually happening had not sunk in yet) So I told Sean he would have to go buy it, which he did, happily, but then he drew line at him trying it.

The day he bought test we were on our way to Pyramid Lake for a day in the sun and water. 

There was an outhouse on the beach near where we had set up our little day camp. Sean was so excited he wanted me try the test in the OUTHOUSE! (At the time I was thinking Sean was crazy! No, I’m wondering a little bit where my sense of adventure was. I need to branch out more, one of my goals). I have a very patient husband though, he waited until we got home and showered to find out what the results of the test would be.

After a very long 3 minutes we were thrilled and a little nervous (a lot nervous) to discover that the results were positive!

After the first 12 weeks were safely behind us we sent out the first picture of our little baby! Only the size of peanut we were already in love!

Through out the pregnancy we had ups and downs like any pregnancy but I was very blessed to have a very easy pregnancy.

Some of our pregnancy adventures include:

Dr. Daddy doing the ultrasound and discovering the sex of our baby!

When we had our appointment we told the ulturasound tech that Sean was doctor and asked if it was all right if he used the wand to find out if we were having a girl or a boy. Just like the pro he is he found out right away that we were expecting girl! It’s a good thing he found it when he did too because for every ultrasound after that (and we had quite a few because of the growth restriction) our baby was super shy and wouldn’t show her sex. What a fun experience for a super excited dad!

Our baby decided that best way to ride was wedged on my sciatic nerve for the greater part of October through December. My OB said to picture a shot glass that the baby had her bum wedged into and that was about how the baby was sitting on my right side. This position caused a sever limp and pain with each step. Sean, not fully comprehending, found these months most entertaining.

I had the most bizarre craving of pickles and peanut butter cookies….at the same time! And now I wouldn't recommend it, resulted in a very bad tummy ache.

Early on all I wanted to eat was mint…mint cookies, mind andies, mint ice cream sandwiches!

Later caramel became my dearest friend. Followed shortly by a encour appreance of peanut butter (minus the pickles).

Towards the end whole-wheat club crackers with Colby Jack cheese. YUM!

We had a scare when our baby was diagnosed with Interuteirne growth restriction (IUGR). She was about 3 weeks behind in her development and I was put on immediate bed rest to encourage her growth. Her body was sending all the nutrients it got to the brain for development which left her abdomen needing more. This was causing her internal organs to fall behind in development and growth. We were warned that she would probably either come early or they would have to take her early if she didn’t catch up on her growth. My OB had us coming in twice a week for check up’s and to monitor the baby’s heartbeat and my contractions. We were so worried she was going to come very early and be very small. What a blessing and miracle when she made it to week 38! Thank you to Sean who is the best husband ever. He cooked and cleaned and catered to my every whim. I wonder everyday how I got so blessed.

Our little baby was an active one! She loved to move around. Many times she would push up against me, I would touch her and she would immediately move and push in a different spot not wanting to be bothered by me. She would continue this pattern until one of us gave up.

When snuggling at night the baby loved to kick to Sean. Sean loved it too!

She would wake up when I took hot showers and had me chewing tums and taking Maalox like crazy! Once, we were buying the MEGA bottle of tums at Costco, cashier asked me if were buying them because of the baby. I thought it was pretty funny that he knew exactly why we would need such a large supply.

I tried to be as prepared as possible for her arrival. Since we didn’t know for sure when she would be coming I didn’t want to be caught of guard. I packed our hospital bag early, had her bed set up months before she came and washed all of her clothes and blankets. In my pregnancy state I accidently threw the shout bottle into a load of laundry I was washing. I was having a hard time understanding why that load was so noisy!

One of our biggest stressors of this pregnancy was the medical Step 3 board-certifying exam that Sean had to take. It is an 8-hour, 400-question exam that costs $700 and is non-refundable. Rescheduling was out of the question and interruptions during the exam are not permitted. 

Our due date was April 8^th. Sean was scheduled to take the boards on March 20^th, which, we thought was far enough in advance that there would be no problem. After the diagnosis of IUGR however, our doctor was thinking we might not even make it that far. As the boards drew nearer our concerns of having a baby on test day grew as well. One week before he was scheduled to take the exam I was dilated to a 2 and 75% effaced. I was progressing…. With baited breath we approached the 20^th. I had instructions from Sean to be as calm and still as I could so as not to encourage labor. The 20^th came….and went! The boards were a success (Sean passed well above average) and our little girl decided to take another week to join our family.    

 On Thursday March 22, 2012 we had our last OB visit. My doctor was shocked to see us thinking we would have had baby long before now. She took me off bed rest and instructed my to be active and walk around to let that little girl know it was all right to come. She said if we didn’t come before the next Wednesday, the 28^th she would have me induced.  The walking helped. It increased the contractions I had been having for the last several months but not enough that we thought we needed to head in.

Then Tuesday came, Sean took the day off to be with me and we woke up ready to do some more encouraging. We were excited for the baby to come! We were not far into our day when I started having contractions that doubled me up. Hospital…here we come! 

xoxo