Monday, August 30, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Stre-e-e-etch...
Maddie does the BEST stretching when she wakes up. Here's some video to let you in on the enjoyment...
Friday, August 20, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Happy Birthday, Maddie...
...wow, what a day! How blessed we are to have this beautiful, healthy baby. We were also blessed with an extremely easy labor.
We arrived at the hospital (for the scheduled inducement) at 5:30AM. We were shown to our room around 6:15 and saw Dr. Cowan close to 7:00. He came in, broke my water and told us he'd be back to check later. (One of the neat things about where we are, is Dr. Cowan's office is one floor down from us). Brian and I were both expecting the labor pains to start slowly and increase in both intensity and frequency.
Oh Boy were we wrong!
After my water broke the contractions came immediately and they were awful. I waited for about 30 minutes before requesting the epidural (and received it about an hour later). I wasn't a fan of the needle in my back (it didn't hurt, but was VERY uncomfortable); however, I WAS a fan of the results...epidurals rock!
At around noon, the nurse, Carrie, checked and said I was dilated to a 5 1/2. She had told us earlier that her other patient was a woman who was having her 3rd baby and would probably deliver before I did so we may have some one else with us during delivery. Brian, his mom, my mom and I were all excited about how far I had progressed. Both moms left to get lunch and Brian and I had a few minutes alone. We were both too over-stimulated to realize they were our last :o) About this time, I started to have a lot of pain in my left side with each contraction and the pain started to move around to my pelvis. The anaesthesiologist was called back and he dosed me with an epidural so strong I couldn't move my legs. Carrie gave me a pillow to put under my knees to make me more comfortable, but the pain mostly subsided.
At 1:00, Carrie came in to change the linens and noticed the pillow was soaked with blood. She said it was referred to as "bloody show" and wanted to re-check my cervix. An hour earlier I had been at 5 1/2, but she pronounced me at a 10 and ready to push.
Brian flipped out!!!
So, Carrie got us ready and we started. We had some Christian music playing softly in the background, and in between pushes, we were all talking and laughing, telling stories. It was very relaxed and easy. Brian and I kept looking at each other asking, "isn't it supposed to be harder than this?" After about 35-40 minutes Dr. Cowan was called in and after 3 more pushes, at 2:09 PM, Maddie came into the world! It took about 50 minutes of pushing total. (AND we beat the mother of 3 down the hall...not that it was a competition or anything) :o) She weighed 6 lbs 15 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long with lots of black hair and beautiful dark blue eyes.
We arrived at the hospital (for the scheduled inducement) at 5:30AM. We were shown to our room around 6:15 and saw Dr. Cowan close to 7:00. He came in, broke my water and told us he'd be back to check later. (One of the neat things about where we are, is Dr. Cowan's office is one floor down from us). Brian and I were both expecting the labor pains to start slowly and increase in both intensity and frequency.
Oh Boy were we wrong!
After my water broke the contractions came immediately and they were awful. I waited for about 30 minutes before requesting the epidural (and received it about an hour later). I wasn't a fan of the needle in my back (it didn't hurt, but was VERY uncomfortable); however, I WAS a fan of the results...epidurals rock!
At around noon, the nurse, Carrie, checked and said I was dilated to a 5 1/2. She had told us earlier that her other patient was a woman who was having her 3rd baby and would probably deliver before I did so we may have some one else with us during delivery. Brian, his mom, my mom and I were all excited about how far I had progressed. Both moms left to get lunch and Brian and I had a few minutes alone. We were both too over-stimulated to realize they were our last :o) About this time, I started to have a lot of pain in my left side with each contraction and the pain started to move around to my pelvis. The anaesthesiologist was called back and he dosed me with an epidural so strong I couldn't move my legs. Carrie gave me a pillow to put under my knees to make me more comfortable, but the pain mostly subsided.
At 1:00, Carrie came in to change the linens and noticed the pillow was soaked with blood. She said it was referred to as "bloody show" and wanted to re-check my cervix. An hour earlier I had been at 5 1/2, but she pronounced me at a 10 and ready to push.
Brian flipped out!!!
So, Carrie got us ready and we started. We had some Christian music playing softly in the background, and in between pushes, we were all talking and laughing, telling stories. It was very relaxed and easy. Brian and I kept looking at each other asking, "isn't it supposed to be harder than this?" After about 35-40 minutes Dr. Cowan was called in and after 3 more pushes, at 2:09 PM, Maddie came into the world! It took about 50 minutes of pushing total. (AND we beat the mother of 3 down the hall...not that it was a competition or anything) :o) She weighed 6 lbs 15 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long with lots of black hair and beautiful dark blue eyes.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
38 Weeks...
...And we're almost there. We had our doctor's appointment this morning where we were told that I'm dialated to a 2 and 80% effaced. Maddie should arrive any day now; however, we're set to induce at 6:00AM next Thursday (the 19th) if she hasn't arrived on her own by then.
In other words, within a week I'm going to be a mom! How crazy is that?
In other words, within a week I'm going to be a mom! How crazy is that?
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Stan the Man...
...is blind.
Its the weirdest thing. We noticed Sunday night that he was acting kind of strange. I held out a piece of food from my dinner to him and he just sat there looking around with my fingers no more than 2 inches from his face. I touched him with the food and he started, then took the food from me. I though it was weird, so we kept an eye on him (he had been fine, running around earlier in the day).
On Monday, we noticed that he would run into things. If we (or the other dogs) were walking in front of him and stopped, he would run into the back of us.
Tuesday we took him to the vet who said that his pupils were responding to light, but that he had lost sight in his left eye, but seemed to have periferal vision at best in his right eye. Blood test were run and Dr. Hamby (our vet) said that his kidney levels were elevated (which could have been from nothing more than dehydration), his lymphnodes were swollen (which may only be from allergies), and he seemed kind of lethargic. We were referred to an opthamologist because Dr. Hamby didn't think it was systemic after the tests.
Wednesday, Stan went to the eye doctor. She ran another set of blood tests which showed that his kidney levels are normal (and it was only dehydration). However, she discovered that his left retina has completely detached and his right has mostly detached. No idea what has caused it. Usually it's some kind of trauma, (big trauma like being hit by a car), but in Stan's case, nothing like that has happened.
Our next step is chest X-rays on Saturday and if they don't show cancer or any underlying problems, then we have to go in for more tests at the opthamologist (looking for infectious diseases). I pray it's nothing like that. We can figure out how to help him and have ordered a book on blind dogs, but I can't handle losing him.
It was all so random and sudden. Brian has really taken to Stanley and helps him out. Its heartbreaking to watch him trying to adapt though. He used to be so hyper and playful and now he's easily scared and timid. He still plays with the other dogs, but gets startled easily and runs into things. I want to cry when I think about him not being able to chase tennis balls (his favorite thing), or not being able to take him to the water or to the dog park, etc. Bless his heart. I love that boy.
Its the weirdest thing. We noticed Sunday night that he was acting kind of strange. I held out a piece of food from my dinner to him and he just sat there looking around with my fingers no more than 2 inches from his face. I touched him with the food and he started, then took the food from me. I though it was weird, so we kept an eye on him (he had been fine, running around earlier in the day).
On Monday, we noticed that he would run into things. If we (or the other dogs) were walking in front of him and stopped, he would run into the back of us.
Tuesday we took him to the vet who said that his pupils were responding to light, but that he had lost sight in his left eye, but seemed to have periferal vision at best in his right eye. Blood test were run and Dr. Hamby (our vet) said that his kidney levels were elevated (which could have been from nothing more than dehydration), his lymphnodes were swollen (which may only be from allergies), and he seemed kind of lethargic. We were referred to an opthamologist because Dr. Hamby didn't think it was systemic after the tests.
Wednesday, Stan went to the eye doctor. She ran another set of blood tests which showed that his kidney levels are normal (and it was only dehydration). However, she discovered that his left retina has completely detached and his right has mostly detached. No idea what has caused it. Usually it's some kind of trauma, (big trauma like being hit by a car), but in Stan's case, nothing like that has happened.
Our next step is chest X-rays on Saturday and if they don't show cancer or any underlying problems, then we have to go in for more tests at the opthamologist (looking for infectious diseases). I pray it's nothing like that. We can figure out how to help him and have ordered a book on blind dogs, but I can't handle losing him.
It was all so random and sudden. Brian has really taken to Stanley and helps him out. Its heartbreaking to watch him trying to adapt though. He used to be so hyper and playful and now he's easily scared and timid. He still plays with the other dogs, but gets startled easily and runs into things. I want to cry when I think about him not being able to chase tennis balls (his favorite thing), or not being able to take him to the water or to the dog park, etc. Bless his heart. I love that boy.
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