June 5, 2011 Hailey is 11 days old
Well its been an interesting 11 days with little Hailey, but before I talk about the abrupt stop to the life of having more than 2 hours of sleep at one time I want to at least finish up the last two weeks of my pregnancy.
During the last 2 weeks of pregnancy I tried to get in as much exercise as possible, knowing that when she got here it might be a little challenging both physically and time wise to get in a workout for a while. I did cardio just bout every day, I got in one more session on my trainer, weight training (I could still do a few pull-ups!!), swimming when the weather was nice so I could get some sun, and the elliptical was my new best friend. I almost felt like I was running when I was on the elliptical. I gradually started cutting back my hours at work, the early morning and late evenings were starting to take a toll on me and it was getting harder to get a decent night's sleep.
At my 38 week dr appt my doctor was concerned that my measurement they take on the outside of my belly hadn't changed much the past two weeks so she scheduled an ultrasound that day. Right before I was going to go in for the ultrasound the main machine broke and they had to scan me with an older piece of equipment. The Doctor told me it looked as if my amniotic fluid was low and the baby's size was a little small, so she sent me over to triage to do a Non Stress Test to check on baby and scheduled me for a more advanced ultrasound later that day at a high risk center. I wasn't panicked because I just had a gut feeling everything was fine. I felt her kick and move often, and I just felt that if something was wrong I might have some other signs from my body. The NST was long, but she had a strong healthy heartbeat and they could even see I was having regular contractions. They discharged me and the nurse said I should refrain from any strenuous physical activity until I got cleared by my doctor. Later that day I went the high risk ultrasound and the ultrasound tech said everything looked great! For whatever reason my amniotic fluid was well within normal now and while her head circumference was a little small, but all her other measurements put her right in the middle of the chart for growth. They estimated her weight at 7lbs, and the tech said her head was really low too. It was good to get some peace of mind that everything was good. I still had to go to NST appointments 2xweek until I got cleared by my doctor, my regular weekly OB appointment, and I was still going to the chiropractor at least 1x week too to ensure I was pain free for labor. I felt like I was going to doctor appointments nearly everyday. Also I have to admit I kind of ignored the nurse's discharge orders to refrain from physical activity and just tried to make sure I stayed hydrated. I had 3 ultrasounds/NST tests in a row that all showed good heartbeat and amniotic fluid levels, so the doctor said I didn't have to keep going to the NST appointments.
I went to my 39 week appointment the next week and I was dilated about 2, which was the same as the week before. I had convinced myself that she was coming May 21st...but the date came and went. The due date that my doctor had calculated was May 24. My doctor had mentioned that we could do a procedure called "stripping the membranes". She said it can encourage labor, but usually only works if my body and baby are ready. The chiropractor also mentioned she could do pressure points that could cause uterine contractions to start. On May 23 my chiropractor did some of those pressure points, and on Tuesday May 24th I did some cardio, then went to my Dr appt and she did the membrane stripping. I trained a couple of clients and finished at 12pm. At 12:30pm my water broke! I had planned on trying to stay home as long as possible when I went into labor, but I knew that when your water breaks they want you to go to the hospital sooner than later so there isn't a risk for infection. I showered and got my things together. Then we went to the hospital around 2pm. They checked my fluids to confirm that my water had actually broke, then admitted me to labor and delivery. They wanted to see if my body would go into labor on it's own before intervening with pitocin...they gave me till midnight, then had to start enduce labor with pitocin because it had been close to 12 hours with no real movement...I was only dilated to about 3.5cm. I made it till about 5am, then I wanted to drugs! They first gave me something to take the edge off, then after a little while longer I got the epidural. My legs felt so heavy and I had little control over them, but with the epidural the nurses were able to crank of the pitocin and get labor going will little pain. My labor was progressing, but I got stuck at about 8cm for 4hours. The doctor came in and noticed that part of the amniotic sac had not broke all the way, so they broke that with the hopes that I would progress quickly. The doctor told me that she had to go into surgery for a c-section, but that if by the time she came back I wasn't fully dilated I would have to have a c-section because it had been over 24 hours since my water broke and it starts to put the baby and myself at risk for infection. They were doing monitoring of the baby and me constantly, there were a few times the big contractions caused her heart rate to dip low, but she would recover each time luckily. When the doctor threatened the c-section it was the first time I got nervous and upset...that was the one thing I was hoping to avoid. The nurses saw how upset I was and I begged them to help me do whatever it would take to avoid a c-section. That last hour, they cranked up the pitocin 4 and 5x the amount I was already getting to get the contractions coming faster and stronger. It got so intense I could feel them through the epidural. I had the option to give myself a little more pain relief with the epidural, but I was nervous it would make me too numb that I wouldn't be able to push effectively. Finally the nurses convinced me to go ahead and give myself some pain relief. 20min later the doctor came back and checked to see if I had fully progressed. Luckily I had...and I was given the green light to push! I was so relieved. I told the nurses that I had worked really hard to stay fit and strong during my pregnancy and I really wanted a chance to PUSH! The doctor did warn me that sometimes pushing can take a while, and that she had been in an awkward position. She said there was still a chance I may have to have a c-section after everything if I wasn't effective with pushing her through the birth canal. Then the doctor left and they got everything set up...I guess the doctor is literally just there at the last minute to catch the baby as it comes out! The nurses gave me a few pointers on how to make the pushing effective and I finally got my chance to see if all my working out was going to payoff. I told myself there was no way I was getting a c-section...and I used every once of strength I could during the contractions! After the first two pushes the nurses said they could see hair! After the next contraction and set of pushes they had to tell me to hold off, that they needed to get the doctor asap because baby was coming! There were two nurses helping me...one was very experienced and the other was a newer. The more experienced nurse left to go find the doctor, and the other one looked at me and said, "Please don't have this baby while I'm the only one here!" One more contraction and push, and she was out! Everything after that went just fine...I felt like I as a car being serviced in NASCAR...there were about 5 people in there quickly cleaning the baby and taking care of me...everything happened so fast.
Hailey Rochelle Manatt was born 5/25/11 at 3:43pm. She was 20.5 inches and weighed 6pounds, 13oz. She cried right away, but as soon as they put her on my chest she was quiet and just looked at me. She was beautiful...and had quite the cone head! Now I know why the put those little hats on newborns...to disguise the cone head. haha.
The next couple of days were surreal in the hospital. She ate well and slept well. On Friday the doctor discharged us both and we took her home. The next few days at home went from good to challenging very quickly. Breastfeeding started to get extremely painful. I was told that this is normal, but it got to the point that I was in tears at the thought of feeding her. She would want to nurse of over an hour, then 15min later want to nurse again. I was in extreme pain, but tried to push through it thinking it was normal. Wednesday we went to our first pediatricians appt. She weighed 7lbs 5oz, so they assumed she was getting enough food. I was also trying to pump in between sessions because breastfeeding her was getting unbearable. But even pumping caused pain. Finally on Thursday I couldn't take it any more and went to a lactation educator at the hospital..I was in tears because I felt like I couldn't feed her. She would cry because she was hungry, and I didn't want to have to use formula and have her miss out on all the health benefits of breast milk. The lactation educator was beyond helpful. She helped me get her in a good position, so the pain was a little more tolerable. She weighed Hailey before and after 20min sessions and found that she wasn't actually able to extract milk. She also suggested that I talk to my pediatrician about the possibility that Hailey had a posterior tongue tie...this can inhibit her ability to get a good latch and extract the milk. It can also be what was causing the extremed damage and pain to my body. Because Hailey wasn't able to get much milk, it was starting to decrease my milk supply already...my body thought I didn't need to make as much because she wasn't taking as much...simple supply and demand. Our bodies are pretty ingenious that way. She also discovered that I was using the wrong size attachments on the pump. As soon as she put the correct size on, I had a significant decrease in the pain. She had me pump while I was there....and as I was pumping she was literally pouring the contents from the storage bottles directly into Hailey's bottle...we did that for about 40min. I was SOOO relieved that I at least had a way to get her the food she needed. I called the doctor later that day and scheduled an appointment to see about correcting the "tongue-tie". While pumping was better now, I felt like I still couldn't keep up with her demand. It also would take 45min to an hour, or more to get the amount of milk she needed. The lactation educator told me to pump every 2-3 hours to get my milk supply back up. The next couple of days I was trapped in the bedroom attached to the machine for hours and hours and hours....finally after day 3 I started to see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. I came to the realization that I just need to pump longer, but that I was starting to produce the amount she needed. By Saturday I was actually able to leave the house for a few hours! Not being able to be outside or have visitors was starting to take a toll one me...not to mention I haven't been able to workout! I continued to pump every 2 hours...and actually feel asleep pumping last night. I think my milk supply is starting to catch up, and we go to the doctor tomorrow to hopefully fix her tongue tie, and the other GREAT NEWS... I was able to go for a short 2mile slow jog today and workout in my gym!! I have to say that made me feel like a normal person again!! I am still tired, but I needed to be outside in the nice warm sun, getting my heart rate up, and getting a little sweat on!!
By the way I had gained a total of 23lbs from my 8 week appt to delivery, probably more like 25 or 26lbs from when I found out I was pregnant. 11 days post partum I have lost 14 of those pounds. Its nice to feel smaller, not have the aches and pains of pregnancy, but it is VERY true that your body is not quite the same. There's a lot of squisiness going on in the midsection. I am doing my basic core exercises of just drawing in...trying to get those muscles to remember that they used to be firm and tight! :)
Today was the San Diego Rock N Roll marathon...I ran down to see some of the racers, and was pretty excited I didn't have much discomfort. It actually felt so good! I just kept saying that to myself...that it felt so good to run again. I am going to sign up for the America's Finest City Half marathon in August!! And I am still debating on doing a sprint triathlon the end July. I might give myself a little longer to see how the bike feels before I commit to that race!
Also...my running partner had her twins 3 days after Hailey was born!! :)
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