Thursday, June 21, 2012
Blue Light Special
I had a very easy delivery and was surprised that I was able to stay at the hospital as long as I did. Payton and I were discharged on Tuesday, February 14th...but we got to bring home something extra. A Blue Light! Payton was jaundice, so she had to lay on a billy bed until her numbers came down. That night was a little rough because I was determined to have her sleep on that bed as much as possible - have you ever tried to lay a newborn down with nothing but a diaper on, on a light that isn't very warm?!?! She would sleep on it for about 30 minutes at a time...I do think we had a one hour stretch but that was it. Between trying to get her to lay on the bed and nursing...I was exhausted and needless to say almost in tears. At 2:30am, I gave up on the bed idea and laid her in her carseat where she slept for 4 hours...Alleluia! I was ecstatic and surprisingly well rested. The next morning we took her to Red Bud Hospital for a blood test and got the call that afternoon that her numbers had went down. They had been 14 and it went down to 11. So, we could discontinue use of the bed and the doctor wanted another blood test in the morning. By Thursday her number was at 9.1 and it was to be under 10. I was finally able to call the company to come get their bed. Everybody asked why we had to bring home a bed and not just do sunlight...I am not really sure. As a first time Mom, I kind of forgot to ask some "important" questions. I speculate it was because the sun was something that wasn't shining very brightly in February and also because babies jaundice levels actually spike on day 3 and her numbers were already elevated on day 2, so they assumed they would go up even more before coming down.
Friday, June 15, 2012
Payton's Birth Story
Saturday, February 11th...
My mom was at a Chicken & Beer dance with my brothers and sister-in-laws. At 9:50pm she text me and asked how I was doing. I replied back explaining that I had been having contractions all day but nothing consistent. I wish she would have text sooner because no sooner than I replied, my contractions started coming every 8 minutes. Around 10:30pm I decided to take a shower just in case we decided to go to the hospital. Also, I had read or somebody told me that if contractions continue during a warm shower that they are real and not Braxton Hicks. Well, they lasted through the shower. I dried my hair and we decided to go to bed at 11pm. I think I laid down for a total of 20 minutes. The contractions were now coming every 6 minutes and it was all in my back. I didn't want to disturb my sleeping husband so I moved out to the living room to watch TV and get my mind off of things. Who was I kidding...that didn't help at all. My Dr had told me to wait until my contractions were every 5 minutes for at least an hour...no need to get excited yet.
Sunday, February 12th,
At 12:00am my contractions were coming every 4 minutes and I could no longer concentrate on my DVRed Days of Our Lives. I decided that we were going to probably need to head to the hospital. So I did what any woman in labor would do...my make-up and hair. Yep I stood through the contractions in order to get my make up on and my hair straightened. I also wanted to make sure my hospital bag had everything in it. I text my Mom at 12:30am and asked if she was still in New Athens. I finally heard back from her at 12:54am and she said she was just leaving. I explained to her that my contractions were now every 4 minutes and I thought we needed to go to the hospital, but was wondering if we could stop by and get her laptop. I also told her not to rush too much because I still needed to wake up Dustin. She told me that I could have the laptop and that I should probably wake up Dustin...I figured I would let him sleep as long as possible, plus I wanted to make sure I was ready to go.
1:00am - I woke Dustin up. He normally is really hard to wake after only sleeping 2 hours but he woke up effortlessly.
1:30am - We stopped at my Mom's for her laptop and of course she talked to us for a little bit. She said she was going to try and get some sleep but text when we knew what was going on. We were finally on our way to the hospital. Dustin asked when he turned on to the highway if he needed to drive fast and I replied with a simple no.
2:30am - We walk into Labor & Delivery at St. Anthony's. I change into the hospital gown and get hooked up to monitors. The on-call Dr comes in and checks and explains that I am 90% effaced and 2 cm dilated...My thoughts: 2cm that's it!?!? Looks liek we are going to be here for awhile or maybe go home (that was my fear-that I wasn't in labor and was going to be sent home).
3:00am - Nurse comes in asks if I want Epidural...umm...YES! So she puts a call in. She asked me to lay on my side because the baby wasn't responding well to me laying on my back. She also explained that the doctor would be in shortly to break my water. She walks out and I look at Dustin and say "I guess were staying". I text my mom and let her know what's going on.
3:30am - Dr comes in and breaks my water...strangest feeling in the world. He broke my water this early since the baby wasn't responding well they wanted to do internal monitoring. The nurse informed me that they would come in at 4 to give me the epidural...My thoughts "I can do this - it's only 30 minutes".
3:45am - I told Dustin I didn't think I could do this. With every contraction the pain got worse and I still did not have my epidural. This was possibly going to be the longest 30 minutes of my life. I believe this is also when I told Dustin that we would NOT be having any more children. LOL I was also thinking that we probably should have taken a Lamaze class.
4:00am - Anesthesiologist comes in...YAY! He had a difficult time getting it in because my back was so swollen.
4:15am - Epidural in...only working on my right side. The nurse and anesthesiologist told me to lay on my left side and they would come back and check on me.
4:25am - Anesthesiologist checks on me and I tell him that it's no better...so he cranked up the juice.
4:35am - He comes back in to see how I feel...my response "I love you". Yep I told another man I loved him in front of my husband. I was feeling ahhhmmaazing! At this time we decided to text Dustin's parents because they are always up at this time. We normally would not have texted my Mom at 2:30 but we knew she was up.
4:45am-5:30am - I SLEPT! :)
5:30am - The nurse comes in to check me and I am at 8cm. She was quite surprised and so was I. We still hadn't heard from Dustin's parents so we text them again.
5:45am-6:30am - I slept on and off for this 45 minutes. I woke up around 6:30 and decided to text everybody (parents & siblings) and let them know what was going on. While I was texting, the nurse came in to check me again. She explained that I was at 10cm! YAY!!! My text said this "came to hospital at 2:30am, broke water at 3:30am, 10cm now". She asked me to give her a practice push since the epidural was still really high and I passed the test. She was calling the doctor. :) This text message pretty much woke everybody up. The vast majority had pretty much been out until 2am...oops. I received a text back from my sister-in-law that read "Holy Shit". :) LOL
I pushed for about an hour...I had told the anesthesiologist not to turn the epi down and I think about 30 minutes in somebody did because I could feel more and had better control and was able to push better. (Note to self: next time have them turn that down sooner). My nurse was simply amazing. Shift change was at 7am and she stayed until the baby was born. The nurse that was replacing her also was in the room. The two of them were so awesome. They neither one could believe that this was my first time and I had gone into labor on my own and hadn't gotten any Pitocin.
7:54am - It's a GIRL!! Payton Jean Liefer was born and placed on my chest. She was absolutely perfect and beautiful!
My mom was at a Chicken & Beer dance with my brothers and sister-in-laws. At 9:50pm she text me and asked how I was doing. I replied back explaining that I had been having contractions all day but nothing consistent. I wish she would have text sooner because no sooner than I replied, my contractions started coming every 8 minutes. Around 10:30pm I decided to take a shower just in case we decided to go to the hospital. Also, I had read or somebody told me that if contractions continue during a warm shower that they are real and not Braxton Hicks. Well, they lasted through the shower. I dried my hair and we decided to go to bed at 11pm. I think I laid down for a total of 20 minutes. The contractions were now coming every 6 minutes and it was all in my back. I didn't want to disturb my sleeping husband so I moved out to the living room to watch TV and get my mind off of things. Who was I kidding...that didn't help at all. My Dr had told me to wait until my contractions were every 5 minutes for at least an hour...no need to get excited yet.
Sunday, February 12th,
At 12:00am my contractions were coming every 4 minutes and I could no longer concentrate on my DVRed Days of Our Lives. I decided that we were going to probably need to head to the hospital. So I did what any woman in labor would do...my make-up and hair. Yep I stood through the contractions in order to get my make up on and my hair straightened. I also wanted to make sure my hospital bag had everything in it. I text my Mom at 12:30am and asked if she was still in New Athens. I finally heard back from her at 12:54am and she said she was just leaving. I explained to her that my contractions were now every 4 minutes and I thought we needed to go to the hospital, but was wondering if we could stop by and get her laptop. I also told her not to rush too much because I still needed to wake up Dustin. She told me that I could have the laptop and that I should probably wake up Dustin...I figured I would let him sleep as long as possible, plus I wanted to make sure I was ready to go.
1:00am - I woke Dustin up. He normally is really hard to wake after only sleeping 2 hours but he woke up effortlessly.
1:30am - We stopped at my Mom's for her laptop and of course she talked to us for a little bit. She said she was going to try and get some sleep but text when we knew what was going on. We were finally on our way to the hospital. Dustin asked when he turned on to the highway if he needed to drive fast and I replied with a simple no.
2:30am - We walk into Labor & Delivery at St. Anthony's. I change into the hospital gown and get hooked up to monitors. The on-call Dr comes in and checks and explains that I am 90% effaced and 2 cm dilated...My thoughts: 2cm that's it!?!? Looks liek we are going to be here for awhile or maybe go home (that was my fear-that I wasn't in labor and was going to be sent home).
3:00am - Nurse comes in asks if I want Epidural...umm...YES! So she puts a call in. She asked me to lay on my side because the baby wasn't responding well to me laying on my back. She also explained that the doctor would be in shortly to break my water. She walks out and I look at Dustin and say "I guess were staying". I text my mom and let her know what's going on.
3:30am - Dr comes in and breaks my water...strangest feeling in the world. He broke my water this early since the baby wasn't responding well they wanted to do internal monitoring. The nurse informed me that they would come in at 4 to give me the epidural...My thoughts "I can do this - it's only 30 minutes".
3:45am - I told Dustin I didn't think I could do this. With every contraction the pain got worse and I still did not have my epidural. This was possibly going to be the longest 30 minutes of my life. I believe this is also when I told Dustin that we would NOT be having any more children. LOL I was also thinking that we probably should have taken a Lamaze class.
4:15am - Epidural in...only working on my right side. The nurse and anesthesiologist told me to lay on my left side and they would come back and check on me.
4:25am - Anesthesiologist checks on me and I tell him that it's no better...so he cranked up the juice.
4:35am - He comes back in to see how I feel...my response "I love you". Yep I told another man I loved him in front of my husband. I was feeling ahhhmmaazing! At this time we decided to text Dustin's parents because they are always up at this time. We normally would not have texted my Mom at 2:30 but we knew she was up.
4:45am-5:30am - I SLEPT! :)
5:30am - The nurse comes in to check me and I am at 8cm. She was quite surprised and so was I. We still hadn't heard from Dustin's parents so we text them again.
5:45am-6:30am - I slept on and off for this 45 minutes. I woke up around 6:30 and decided to text everybody (parents & siblings) and let them know what was going on. While I was texting, the nurse came in to check me again. She explained that I was at 10cm! YAY!!! My text said this "came to hospital at 2:30am, broke water at 3:30am, 10cm now". She asked me to give her a practice push since the epidural was still really high and I passed the test. She was calling the doctor. :) This text message pretty much woke everybody up. The vast majority had pretty much been out until 2am...oops. I received a text back from my sister-in-law that read "Holy Shit". :) LOL
I pushed for about an hour...I had told the anesthesiologist not to turn the epi down and I think about 30 minutes in somebody did because I could feel more and had better control and was able to push better. (Note to self: next time have them turn that down sooner). My nurse was simply amazing. Shift change was at 7am and she stayed until the baby was born. The nurse that was replacing her also was in the room. The two of them were so awesome. They neither one could believe that this was my first time and I had gone into labor on my own and hadn't gotten any Pitocin.
7:54am - It's a GIRL!! Payton Jean Liefer was born and placed on my chest. She was absolutely perfect and beautiful!
Payton Jean Liefer
8lbs 7oz
20.5 inches
7:54am
February 12, 2012
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
The End
of my pregnancy that is. (yep about 4 months after the fact-better late than never)
On Thursday, Feb 9th I had my 40 week dr appointment. I was so hoping she would tell me that I was at least 3 cm and should head to the hospital...wishful thinking. The report was dilated 1-2 cm and we set an induction date of February 15th. She was so nice and didn't book us for the 13th...I told her I really didn't want a Valentine's baby if we could help it. She was fine with that and she was willing to let me go a week over my due date.
On Friday I woke up with a false sense of security..."I have an induction date set so of course that's when the baby will be here". Dustin had to remind me that I could still go into labor at anytime. That morning was a little rough...I wasn't feeling the greatest and ended up throwing up - just a normal pregnancy thing for me. While I was getting ready I received a text stating that a friend (who was due Feb 12th) was in labor. That's what every overdue pregnant lady wants to hear...that somebody went two days early. :P I went to work like any other normal day, received word that she did have the baby and that all were doing great. :) Around 11am I had a contraction (I had a few all morning) so decided to see when the next when would come. At 12pm I gave up on trying to time it. Around 3pm my Mom text and asked how I was doing and I explained to her that my back was hurting but I figured I maybe was sitting wrong or just too long. I came home that evening and decided to walk on the treadmill - hoping to start labor. While walking my contractions would come consistently about every 5 minutes, but as soon as I stopped so did the contractions. I really didn't want to be a hamster so decided to make supper and take it easy.
On Saturday I woke up and decided to clean the house and while cleaning decided we needed to go grocery shopping. So around noon we headed to Waterloo. I also had a craving for Taco Bell so why not include that in the trip. While shopping I started having contractions every 10 minutes...a few times I even had to stop and catch my breath. Well, I made through the shopping trip and came home to relax. While we made supper my contractions were every 9 minutes, but once we sat down to eat they became very inconsistent again. Later in the evening I decided to try rocking in the chair to help the contractions...it worked but only if I kept rocking. Around 9 pm Dustin's sister dropped off a gift for the baby, stayed a few minutes and then left. I was done rocking, walking or doing anything else so we decided to watch TV.
To Be Continued...with Payton's Birth Story!
On Thursday, Feb 9th I had my 40 week dr appointment. I was so hoping she would tell me that I was at least 3 cm and should head to the hospital...wishful thinking. The report was dilated 1-2 cm and we set an induction date of February 15th. She was so nice and didn't book us for the 13th...I told her I really didn't want a Valentine's baby if we could help it. She was fine with that and she was willing to let me go a week over my due date.
On Friday I woke up with a false sense of security..."I have an induction date set so of course that's when the baby will be here". Dustin had to remind me that I could still go into labor at anytime. That morning was a little rough...I wasn't feeling the greatest and ended up throwing up - just a normal pregnancy thing for me. While I was getting ready I received a text stating that a friend (who was due Feb 12th) was in labor. That's what every overdue pregnant lady wants to hear...that somebody went two days early. :P I went to work like any other normal day, received word that she did have the baby and that all were doing great. :) Around 11am I had a contraction (I had a few all morning) so decided to see when the next when would come. At 12pm I gave up on trying to time it. Around 3pm my Mom text and asked how I was doing and I explained to her that my back was hurting but I figured I maybe was sitting wrong or just too long. I came home that evening and decided to walk on the treadmill - hoping to start labor. While walking my contractions would come consistently about every 5 minutes, but as soon as I stopped so did the contractions. I really didn't want to be a hamster so decided to make supper and take it easy.
On Saturday I woke up and decided to clean the house and while cleaning decided we needed to go grocery shopping. So around noon we headed to Waterloo. I also had a craving for Taco Bell so why not include that in the trip. While shopping I started having contractions every 10 minutes...a few times I even had to stop and catch my breath. Well, I made through the shopping trip and came home to relax. While we made supper my contractions were every 9 minutes, but once we sat down to eat they became very inconsistent again. Later in the evening I decided to try rocking in the chair to help the contractions...it worked but only if I kept rocking. Around 9 pm Dustin's sister dropped off a gift for the baby, stayed a few minutes and then left. I was done rocking, walking or doing anything else so we decided to watch TV.
To Be Continued...with Payton's Birth Story!
Friday, February 10, 2012
Well...
That little ticker to the right of my blog is full of shit!!!! That's all I got for today! : p
Monday, October 31, 2011
100 DAYS!!
Wow only 100 days left!! Tomorrow we will be in double digits...yay!!! It's a little hard to believe that we are already at this point.
The last couple of weeks I have felt really good (other than my hips and back starting to bother me occasionally). I guess that just goes with the territory. I am excited for my next ultrasound, maybe Baby Liefer won't be so stubborn and show us his/her face. :) It's also hard to believe that this will probably be our last ultrasound.
A little less than 3 weeks until our third trimester begins!!
The last couple of weeks I have felt really good (other than my hips and back starting to bother me occasionally). I guess that just goes with the territory. I am excited for my next ultrasound, maybe Baby Liefer won't be so stubborn and show us his/her face. :) It's also hard to believe that this will probably be our last ultrasound.
A little less than 3 weeks until our third trimester begins!!
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Week 24
I had my regular 4 week check-up on week 24. Baby Liefer has a nice strong heartbeat! I have one more four week appointment and then I start going every 2 weeks. Oh and I also get to take the glucose test before my next appointment (really not looking forward to that). No pictures this time so I will just leave you with some stats...
How far along? 24 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: Still down 4 lbs from original weight
Sleep: What's this? - If I sleep longer than 3 hours - I am impressed.
Best Moment this week: Of course hearing the heartbeat at the doctor's office.
What I miss: Other than a good night's sleep (which won't happen again for years) - nothing
Movement: Definitely getting stronger
Food Cravings: The most defined craving was a Whopper from Burger King...one weekend I was bound and determined to get one of these things. I did too. :)
What I am looking forward to: Ultrasound in four weeks
How far along? 24 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: Still down 4 lbs from original weight
Sleep: What's this? - If I sleep longer than 3 hours - I am impressed.
Best Moment this week: Of course hearing the heartbeat at the doctor's office.
What I miss: Other than a good night's sleep (which won't happen again for years) - nothing
Movement: Definitely getting stronger
Food Cravings: The most defined craving was a Whopper from Burger King...one weekend I was bound and determined to get one of these things. I did too. :)
What I am looking forward to: Ultrasound in four weeks
Something New...
It has come time to say good-bye to the two door car and hello to a family vehicle.
After eleven years and 127,000+ miles, this has finally been traded off...
I would have used a picture from when I purchased the car but I believe that was before digital cameras were even invented!!!
And we are now the proud new payment makers of this...
A 2012 Chevy Equinox!
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