Mia's Birth Story

Mia Jennifer Caccamo
 7 lbs, 2oz, 19"
May 25, 2011 at 4:56pm

By now, I am hoping that nobody is learning of Mia's birth for the first time from this blog. However, Brian and I are proud to announce the birth of our daughter, Mia Jennifer, on Wednesday, May 25th, 2011. For posterity, and other people's curiosity, I'd like to share Mia's Birth Story.

On Tuesday, May 24th, I had my final appointment with my OB. I had a morning appointment, but Dr. King was busy at the hospital again, so I didn't end up being seen until around noon. He did an exam, and found that I was about 2 centimeters dilated, but manually pushed me to 3 cm (which hurt like crazy, btw). He warned that I might have some mild cramping and bleeding.

After stopping for lunch at Jimmy John's, my cramps started to become a bit of a nuisance, enough so that I decided not to go into work that afternoon and lay down. The cramps "progressed" and became what I would consider contractions around 3 or 4 pm, and I began timing them at 9 minutes apart around 5. I decided to call Brian at 6pm, so that I could catch him before he left for his softball game that night. I didn't tell him that my contractions had progressed from 9 to 8 minutes apart by then, but that I'd like him to keep an eye on his phone in between innings. No use in him rushing home if the contractions went away, like I expected them to.

By 2 am, we decided this wasn't a false alarm, and it was time to head to the hospital. After gathering some essentials, taking a shower, we headed to Spring Valley Hospital, car seat already installed. Mom followed us shortly afterwards. It was a very busy night at the Labor and Delivery, so I spent the first few hours of my hospital stay in a large triage room which lots of people would periodically walk through. I was at 4 cm dilated by the time I was checked by Cindy, my very nice overnight nurse. She had the exact attitude that I needed, especially since I was so nervous about getting the all the little procedures done (like the IV, epidural, etc.), and the fact that I was still not in my own room.

Dr. Hanson, my very nice anesthesiologist came in and put in the epidural around 5 am. It was every bit as unpleasant as I expected, but Brian and Cindy coached me through and soon enough, I could only feel my toes. My contractions almost stopped once the epidural kicked in, so I was given pitocin after all to speed up my dilation. Cindy put in an internal fetal monitor, which is a little probe that gets stuck to the baby's head, and we had our first clue of what Mia looked like. Cindy had to put in two probes, because the first one got so tangled in her hair that the readings were not coming through!

By the time I was 6 centimeters dilated, they decided that I definitely needed to be moved into my own room. Since there still were no labor and delivery rooms, I was put in a makeshift room by adding the necessary machines/baby nursery/delivery table/bed with stirrups to a postpartum room. It was a bit crowded, but luckily, I wasn't moved again for the rest of my hospital stay.

Once I was settled in my new room, my day shift nurse named Haze started. Brian and I were thrilled to find that she was the nurse assigned to us, because she taught the birthing class which we attended a couple of months earlier. Haze has been a labor and delivery nurse for about 30 years. She was no-nonsense and efficient. Even though she was basically a 180 from Cindy, she was exactly what I needed as a coach during the actual delivery.

Around 4pm, after laying numbly and miserably in my bed for the whole day, I was finally 10 cm dilated. Mom, Brian and I asked whether Dr. King had been called yet, since we assumed he should be there before I start pushing. Haze said that Doctors don't get called until crowning, so we had a little work to do first. Dr. King had already stopped by to check on me a few times, since he had 8 women in various stages of delivery at the hospital at the time.

Apparently, I was unexpectedly efficient at pushing, because after about 30 minutes, Haze urgently called for Doctor King. When he still hadn't arrived 5 minutes later, Haze made a "NURSE DELIVERY" announcement into my call button and about 5 different people came rushing in to "catch" our little girl. Dr. King came in about 30 seconds later, welcomed by a crying baby. Unfortunately, Mia came out with one of her arms up by her face, rather than it staying down by her body as most babies do, so Dr. King arrived just in time to fix the damage. Luckily, it was nothing too serious.

Our first family photo!

At 7 lbs, 2 oz and 19 inches, Mia showed everyone that she was quite a bit trimmer than she was expected to be. She also had a full head of dark hair, very chubby cheeks and an adorable round nose. Our new little family spent the next two nights in the hospital, to make sure Mia was feeding properly and I was healing well. I'll write more on her homecoming in a separate post soon!

7 Days and Counting

With less than 7 days left before I am going to the hospital, it's lucky that my Mom got here on Tuesday. It turns out that even in the midst of my nesting fervor, there were still quite a few things that we did not have. Swaddling blankets! Bath thermometer in the shape of a turtle! (to use in the bathtub in the shape of a whale, of course!) Baby lotion and shampoo! (to ensure that our baby does not lack the distinct baby smell!) Thankfully, I have only been going in for half days since the beginning of this week, and my Mom and I made an emergency trip to Babies R Us to fill up on the final essentials. Several hours and too much money later, my Mom is satisfied that it is safe for the baby to come back to our apartment. We also decided that this baby did not have enough knit/crochet items, so we had to make a quick pit stop at Michael's.

We are really starting to get excited about this baby's arrival... those little questions that we've all had from the beginning are finally going to be answered. Like every parent, we really wonder what she will look like. 1/4 asian babies are all over the spectrum in terms of coloring, from the very asian looking Jon and Kate plus 8 kids, who are in fact, only 1/4 Korean, to untraceable fair skinned kids with light eyes and hair. We'll find out in a week!

On a totally unrelated note, Chipotle has just surpassed its previous levels of awesomeness in my mind by picking my business card out of its fishbowl! My entire office will get free lunch at Chipotle on Monday! For ths first time, I am hoping NOT to go into labor until I can redeem this lunch for everyone.



Confirmed!

On May 27, I am to report to the hospital at 9am. That's in one week and one day. I guess I'm definitely not going to that hearing we have scheduled for May 27 at 10am!

Attack of the 10 pound baby

Yesterday, I had my birthweight ultrasound. As of May 17, 2011, she weighs 7lbs 12oz. Since my due date is still 2 weeks away, my Doctor said she still had the potential to gain 1 1/2 to 2 pounds, bringing her close to the 10 pound mark. Not to mention any time that I may go past my due date, which in a first pregnancy, is highly likely. If I wanted to avoid a C-section, Dr. King recommends an induction on the weekend before my due date, which coincides perfectly with his on-call schedule at the hospital. So, that's the plan!

I have to wait for confirmation from the hospital scheduler or something like that, but it looks like I will begin my induction the evening of May 27th and have a baby by the end of next weekend!

At this point, I think Brian and I are in the Holy-Crap-This-Is-Really-Happening-We-Have-To-Buy-Diapers mode.

Day 12309823476 of pregnancy

For lack of a better title.

Last Thursday, my co-worker's threw me a mini-shower at work, despite the fact that those to whom I am "related" (to be used according to the loose Filipino definition) are also throwing a baby shower at my Boss's house this coming Saturday. I guess some people from work aren't going to be invited/attending the Saturday shower, so they brought in some subway sandwiches, lots of salt and vinegar chips, and we had a lovely lunch. They surprised me by all contributing to the Pack 'N Play that Brian and I registered for. We added the Pack 'N Play at the last minute, when we thought having one would probably be useful when we go to Chicago in the summer, or if our plans to take an RV trip to Yosemite with my parents come together. Unknowingly, the Pack 'N Play we registered for is top-of-the-line, with all the bells and whistles. I've got very little clue about what all these things are for, but there are all sorts of attachments, a remote control and a little sound machine/baby vibrator. That was the last big-ticket item remaining on our registry, so anything else that we will need should be easy enough for us to fill in our own!

On Saturday, I spent the morning knitting a baby gift for Jackie's friend (now our friends) Kate and Tim. Although they had their baby 8 months ago, there were quite a few medical complications for her, so they are just now celebrating their baby's arrival. We spent a couple of hours at their apartment, where my craving for good Mexican food was satisfied (Tim's family is Mexican) by amazing Tamales with green sauce. They were from a restaurant, so our quest for a Las Vegas mexican restaurant may soon be over. We'll wait until we have the baby to go, so that I can test out the margaritas (the true test of a Mexican restaurant).

I made "Fish on the Line", which is a decoration/mobile made up of several fish knitted in different colors. I bought some jingle bells and put two in each fish, to provide a little extra stimulation for baby Ty. He actually couldn't take his eyes off of it when they took it out of the box, so I think that means he really liked it. The fish twirl around nicely, and I was pretty happy with the finished product.

From now on, Brian's only days off will be Sundays, because of some staffing changes at his branch. So, this Sunday, we had a combination of lazing around watching movies, and obsessively cleaning (as usual). I am hoping this sunday's cleaning fest is the last deep clean necessary before Mia makes her appearance.

I am still hoping for the 22nd, so that our Las Vegas baby shower stays sans-baby, but as of midnight tonight, Brian has given me permission to go into labor, because he will officially qualify for his paid week of family leave. Of course, as soon as that deadline rolls around, my constant false labor contractions will stop.

TGI tuesday?

About 3 weeks ago, on Thursday, I couldn't believe it wasn't already Friday. About 2 weeks ago, on Wednesday, I couldn't believe it wasn't already Friday. Last week, on Tuesday, I couldn't believe it wasn't already Friday. Yesterday, I actually managed to channel my uber-nesting-energy into work, being extra productive and working from 7:30am-5:30pm, even though I was allowed to leave at 3:30 since I started early. This morning, I slept in until 9 am because I had an 11am doctor's appointment, got to work around noon and immediately had lunch. It's now 3pm, so I've been working for about 2 1/2 hours, and can't believe 1) I still have 2 hours until it's 5 pm 2) Tomorrow isn't Saturday. I even caught myself reading the Pregnancy Calendar post for week 38 (which I usually do on Fridays) in anticipation of my new pregnancy week. I had to remind myself that it's only day 2 of week 37. The moral of this story is that pregnant ladies get tired REALLY fast when they are 9 months pregnant, despite these monster energy bursts.

I had my now weekly doctor's appointment this morning. The waiting room misadventures were at a minimum today, except for one lady campaigning for her daughter to be voted Miss Teen Nevada (she was there for a postpartum visit, she had a baby girl with her named Hermione). My blood pressure went up from 118/80 to 130/90. This explains the slight sausagey appearance of my fingers, and the slight mooniness of my face. As long as my ankles and toes don't swell, I'm OK to stay pregnant (signs of preeclampsia would likely require an induction). My uterus actually didn't grow since last week's measurements, so the Doctor actually withdrew his prediction of a big baby. We'll find out next tuesday, when we do the birthweight ultrasound and my first dialation check. OH, and YES, I still have that darned UTI. I'll be taking Amoxicillin until I deliver.

I had another (slightly more severe) case of Nesting this weekend, where I once again took my energies out on poor Swarley. He was innocently shedding all over the carpet I had just vacuumed, so I took him out on the balcony and brushed him for about 30 minutes. When he kept on shedding, I switched to a comb. When that didn't work, I took him into the bathtub and washed him. I promptly took him back onto the balcony and brushed some more. Then, I decided to grab my blow-dryer, turn it to "cool", and blow out all of his extra hairs (probably all over our downstairs neighbor's balcony...). After this 3 hour process... I've got a lovely smelling, fluffy puppy... who continues to shed. But, I'm telling myself that this was not a useless saturday afternoon, because at least the hair he's shedding is now squeaky clean. Right?

This boy is going to miss doing this when the NEW baby comes!

Nesting Strikes at Work

Even though it is only 5 days into my due-month, I have convinced myself that I will not be going into labor by myself. This isn't 100% irrational (albeit about 90%), my contractions have slowed since my calendar flipped, and my desire for her to be born in May rather than June make believe that she will be born after my May 30th due date.

But, seeing as this could still happen anytime (May 22nd would be lovely, you listening, baby?), I must still diligently prepare for my departure from work. They say not to 100% make plans about your maternity leave until you have actually had your baby, the nature of my position with the company is that I cannot be 100% off for the entire 6-8 weeks. I have immigration petitions that have to go out between May 27th and June 30th, all of which have to have my signature on them. I, of course, do not feel comfortable signing them before I have reviewed them and they are ready to go, so I will have someone deliver the stack to my apartment to review and sign in between feedings. Let's hope this works.

Today, I looked around my office and realized that If I was to to into labor tonight and not be able to return tomorrow, it would be embarassing for the person who is somewhat taking over my responsibilities to sit at my desk and have to sort through my documents. There is an order to the way they are arranged, but that may not be obvious to anyone but me. So... I organized:

About 1/4 of the petitions that need to be reviewed, signed and sent out afer May 27th, now looking nice rather than being arranged in different piles according to what is missing.

The front of my desk, which used to be littered with the above pictured petitions in various stacks and the below pictured books.




My bookcase, whose contents used to also litter the front of my desk. Come to look at this picture now, maybe these books should be arranged my size... perhaps a Friday project.

I've also begun to make a list of the files and books that need to be dropped off at the apartment before my pseudo-replacement leaves on June 12th, for me to begin working at home once she leaves. She's already prepped on the hearings that are already scheduled for the next three weeks, but things get scheduled and rescheduled all the time, but I can only prep someone who hasn't been around for the past year so much. Or, I just have trouble relinquishing control (this seems like the most likely culprit).

I am looking forward to maternity leave, but I know that things will be a bit more stressful for me since I will continue to have my work responsibilities. I'll work from home from mid-June until the end of July, and then transition into working a few days per week in the office, or a few hours per day in the office and finishing everything else I can up from home. Even though I may not give 100% of myself in either my role as a mother, nor in my role as a full-time employee, I think this might be the best solution for us to cut the cost of daycare, and for me to continue spending as much time with the baby as possible. At least on days when Brian is off, I'll be able to a full uninterrupted day at the office. Let's hope she's a good sleeper, otherewise, this is going to be impossible.