Birth Day

Wallis Adele Henderson arrived on September 4, 2011 at 5:16 p.m. She weighed in at 6 lbs 4 oz. Her hospital length was recorded at 18 inches, but she measured 19.5 at the doctor's office a few days later so we aren't sure exactly how long she is. But she is itty, bitty in either case.

On September 3, I was very, very tired but I swore that I was going to swim in Deep Eddy so my Dad, Wyatt and I went to the pool in the late afternoon. I still wasn't having contractions. We went to get pizza after swimming and I started having some mildly painful contractions. The contractions continued 6-8 minutes apart so I called the doula and Ross, who was at the football game. I told my parents to just be on stand by. I went to bed and the contractions stopped. The baby, however, also stopped moving. I woke up at 12:30 a.m. and started to panic at her lack of movement. By 5:00 a.m. I had done two kick counts and called the OB to tell them I was going to Labor and Delivery to get the baby checked. I hadn't slept more than an hour or two all night and I was ready to stop worrying. On the way to the hospital, the contractions resumed. They placed the monitors on and could see that Wallis was sleepy but fine. They could also see that I was contracting every 6-8 minutes again. An exam showed I was at four cms. The on-call OB wanted me to stay in the hospital, but I was not convinced that I was really in labor and I didn't want to stay at the hospital for days. I went home around 7:30 a.m. and continued with our plans to meet our friends the GVZs for breakfast at 9. Half-way through a huge plate of migas (okay, and Wyatt's pancakes, too) I gave it a 30% chance that she was going to born on Sunday. At the end of migas, I was frantically calling my parents, doula, and L&D and hoping she wasn't going to born at home.

I got to the hospital within 45 minutes in active labor. Lucky for me, the on-call doctor was off and my OB was on. Very lucky for me. I also got a wonderful nurse who had been with me when I had the cerclage placed. She was really great. I could barely stand the pain by that point. I was only at 6 cm so I got in bed and tried to labor without the epidural. That did not last long. I was begging for the epidural pretty quickly. After a few hours, I was ready to push. We "labored down" by waiting a while to push. I pushed for about an hour, but the baby's heart rate monitor wasn't picking up properly. The internal monitor showed that her heart rate was falling and not returning quickly. After a few more pushes like that I started to panic. I asked the doctor whether it was time to get a c-section and she said yes. Apparently, I have an unusual shaped pelvis and Wallis, like Wyatt, could not get her head in a good position under the bone. In the meantime Wallis's heart rate was not returning to normal even though I wasn't pushing. We rushed to the OR, got the spinal going, and delivered her immediately. She was tiny and beautiful. She cried and turned pink right away. I was so very relieved. Ross went with Wallis while I was getting repaired. But the repair was taking a long time. Even my state of medicated unawareness I knew there was a problem. I kept asking what was wrong and kept hearing about bleeding that couldn't be stopped. It wasn't a lot but it wouldn't stop. I was shaking and trembling for hours while the OB tried to figure out a solution. I heard another OB suggest removing the uterus and my doctor telling her that was not a good plan after everything else I had endured to get to this point. So thankful that my OB was there because she was very invested in my delivery and knew that this hadn't gone well, but everything should be done to make sure it didn't get worse. Two different specialists were called in all the while my OB was holding the vessel closed for more than four hours. Finally, one of the specialists arrived, put me under general anaesthesia and repaired the vessel with five titanium clamps. At about 10:30, I finally got to hold my baby girl. She was tiny and perfect and a champion eater.

So after everything it took to get here, here she is, our perfect tiny miracle baby. Many thanks to everyone who has sent good thoughts our way over the past six months. We are very grateful to all of you!





Grandmothers and big brother looking at the new girl.
I told Ross to take a picture of of the baby belly in a hurry because Wallis might be coming soon. This was right before we left for breakfast.
Seeing my sweetness for the first time.

Full Term

Baby Wallis has officially made it to full term, as defined by the doctors. She is at 37 complete weeks of gestation. Three more weeks to go until her due date. This week has been physically difficult. While I was still feeling pretty decent at 35 weeks, that's not really the case anymore. I am an achy, grouchy, insomniac now. It hurts to lie down for long periods, sit for long periods, and stand for short periods. Such is life carrying around 30+ extra pounds and a full-size baby on your front. But, the end is near. And at the end is a hopefully healthy full-term newborn. I no longer worry about her having to go the NICU. At my last appointment with the MFM when I was at 32 weeks, he told me that three babies were born at 24 weeks gestation at Seton hospital that week. I almost cried, my heart just broke for those families. That could have been us. But instead by many strokes of luck or the grace of god, we are just waiting on our fully cooked baby girl to arrive.

It is amazing how quickly I went from thinking daily that I hoped she would stay in even just one more week to now thinking every day that this could be the day with a slight relief at the thought. I really do hope she makes it until 39 weeks for her sake, but it is hard to think about continuing on two more weeks at this point.

The cerclage was removed today. It wasn't comfortable but it wasn't terrible. We also had an ultrasound and Wallis was very active. The sonographer could not get good measurements because the baby's head was so far down (a good thing) and she was so wiggly (also good). She guessed the baby was a little over 6.5 pounds but didn't think that was probably too accurate because her measurements weren't reliable. The MFM did an exam after removing the cerclage. Already 3 cm dilated, 75% effaced, and -1 station. So it could really be any day. Or it could be weeks. No way to guess. Either way, it is good news because we will be starting labor from a fairly advanced point. Hopefully it will be a quick labor. I was induced with Wyatt (meaning on pitocin during labor) but I started at 3 cm when they started the pitocin and was at 10 cm within four hours, so there is definitely hope that this one could go fast as well, though it will not involve pitocin, so who knows.

Anyway, baby is doing well, I am hanging in there and really hoping we are done with 112 degree days. And we are waiting. Just waiting for Wallis, our last chance miracle baby, who could arrive any day now. Oh, and I get to go swimming since the cerclage is out. Deep Eddy here we come.

Week 35: The Final Month

Today is 35 weeks + 1 day! There are a little over 30 days left until my due date of September 23. This means that we will very likely have our baby girl home in less than a month. It is hard to believe that we are so close now.

Activities for this week included our meeting with the doula. That went fine. She made a cast of my belly which looks less large than it feels when I carry it around every day. Ross got to meet her and we discussed the birth plan. I had an appointment with the OB on Tuesday that included a sonogram. Baby Wallis appeared to be doing well and was estimated just under 6 lbs. If accurate, we expect her to weigh 7.5-8 lbs at birth. Not too bad. Wyatt and I also made a trip to Babies R Us where we picked up a few things, but not too many. I now have a baby sleeper to use next to the bed until the nursery is ready, some newborn diapers, and clothes. Good to go. Hopefully, we won't have feeding issues and she will breast feed like Wyatt did so we don't need any supplies right now, but I do have some new bottles for when the time comes for her practice taking the bottle or me to get out of the house for an hour or two.

*****

Physically, I am still doing well. I am starting to swell and get a few pains, but nothing too bad. I have gained a lot of weight overall and that is pretty uncomfortable. I can't exercise, so I shouldn't be too surprised that I will probably gain a little more this time.

*****

Sleep is in 1.5 hour increments generally. Occasionally, I make it three hours and it is bliss. I have been having a lot of bad dreams. I didn't have that problem with Wyatt but it's been a problem that has come and gone throughout this pregnancy. It was really bad right after the misdiagnosed miscarriage. I was having terrible dreams, mostly about Ross and Wyatt, every night. That has returned the past couple weeks. I also keep having dreams that our baby is an animal (mostly a cat, I think). And I realize that I am nursing a cat. That's a little disturbing. Especially when I catch sight of the teeth!

*****

Emotionally, I am still hanging in there. Last time I recall being very grouchy the last few weeks of pregnancy. And it wasn't even 105 every day (or any day) that time! I am a little irritable and less patient that normal, but not too bad. I have, however, stopped reading any news stories involving harm to children. I really can't handle that right now. That puts me over the edge. I also keep getting teary when Wyatt tells me "I'm growing up on you!" He's so ridiculously cute and sweet to me lately (except those times when he is arguing with me incessantly, because he is three and he knows EVERYTHING (takes after his mother in that respect) ;-)

Activities for the coming week include another OB appointment (every week now). Getting the car seat cleaned and installed. Not sure what else.

Here's the big baby belly as it appears today.
Belly cast from last weekend.

Feed and Grow Baby

Today marks the completion of week 34. Wallis is officially a "feed and grow baby" as the MFM call them. This means that if born now she is very unlikely to have any lasting health issues. Of course, we want her to hang on for several more weeks. Truly, since the two weeks following the cerclage, I haven't felt like she wouldn't make it to term. I always worry, but I have been feeling pretty normal since the post-surgery contractions stopped. The past few weeks I have really just felt like a totally normal, if sedentary, pregnant woman. I can't really tolerate the heat, but who can? We are nearing 60 days of 100+ weather and about the past 25 have been consecutive. Yikes. Misery, even if you aren't huge and pregnant.

This past week my sweet and thoughtful coworkers threw a little baby shower for me and another attorney. It was extra special for me because (1) it was on my 7th anniversary of employment there, and (2) they also had a shower for Wyatt before he was born, so this was just a really nice celebration for the baby girl. Every week my friends at work cheer on Wallis's progress!

This weekend Ross and I are meeting with the doula to discuss our birth plan. Plan seems too strong a word, maybe birth aspirations, is a better description. We are also making a belly cast, which should be fun. I will also probably hit the Babies R Us to pick a few more items for Wallis's nursery using my shower gift card. Tuesday is another OB appointment and sonogram. We will probably have at least one appointment per week now until Wallis's birth. That is just around the corner. I am both excited and nervous. I can hardly recall what it is like to have a newborn. Seems such a strange and foreign notion now. While I actually have forgotten the pain of child birth--other than it was great--I have not forgotten the pain of months of sleep deprivation! I hope baby Wallis isn't a worse newborn sleeper than Wyatt. He was really good starting about four months, but it was very hard before that. That first four months of sleep deprivation has been the hardest part of motherhood for me.

Next week I'll update with pictures--I should have some of the shower and belly cast. And one of Wallis, too.

32 Weeks

Wallis had a 32-week weight check, biophysical profile, and sonogram with the MFM. He estimated her weight at about 4.5 lbs. She is expected to gain another 4 lbs. The sono estimates have a pretty big margin of error at 10 ozs. But, Wyatt was estimated at 4 lbs 9 ozs at his 32 week sono and I accurately guessed his birth weight of 7 lbs 13 ozs. He was born at 39 weeks, 2 days, so he would have weighed closer to 8.5 if he went to 40 weeks. Sounds like Wallis will be very close to the same birth weight as Wyatt if she makes it to term. Her biophysical profile went well--she did all the things she was supposed to do in about five minutes. She was, again, noted as very active. Our next and last appointment (given any luck) with Dr. Berry will be on September 2 to remove the cerclage.

Our other activity this week was meeting the doula. She seemed experienced and is a vbac mom herself. Hopefully, she can help us safely deliver this girl the old fashioned way. I figure I should get an easy (okay, that's relative) delivery given the difficulty of the pregnancy. I am holding out hope.

This picture above is a 3d shot of Wallis's smooshed face. The cord was blocking the right side of her face. Looking at the 3d sono on the screen at the doctor's office was pretty cool. I could see her putting her hand in her mouth (hand is on the left side above) and moving all around. The resulting picture is a little less clear, but still sweet for her mom.

Profile picture of her at 32 weeks. On to week 33!

It's Time For . . .

Yep, it's that time. Too bad the exhaustion is more overwhelming than the urge to nest. This is going to take a while. Poor sweet Ross brought Wyatt's old nursery dresser in from storage, even though he thinks (wishfully) that it is much too early! I have washed one load full of pink things. Now I am just worn out after working all day and meeting the demands of a very inquisitive and verbal 3-year-old. I don't know how pregnant moms of toddlers and infants make it the last couple months. Wyatt did start my day by serenading me while I was in the shower with a song that went, "I love you, I love you, I love you, Alllllllllllll the time." How sweet is that?