Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Christmas-time with a new baby
Wow have we had a busy December so far. Elliot has been a wonderful addition to our family and we are enjoying our time together before I have to go back to work. It's wonderful to be able to spend our evenings as a family. Hopefully one day I can work days, although for now working evenings sure does help with the daycare bill. James loves his new little brother and finds it hilarious when Elliot gets the hiccups. A big smile comes to his face whenever he sees Elliot. We are lucky enough to be able to make a trip back to ND for Christmas this year! I am most definately excited for the rest of my family to see James and meet Elliot. I'm also excited to meet/hold Seth for the first time and meet Avery and of course see my godson Austin and his sister Brooklynn. Living in WI is great but it's so far from my family and with my older brothers also having small children it makes travel for us all a little challenging. I feel like I'm almost done Christmas shopping and I mailed my Christmas letter today. I must say it's nice to be off work from Thanksgiving to New Years. All in all our family is happy and healthy and I hope yours is too.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Elliot Lucas
On November 23 at 6:16 pm our family welcomed our newest addition, Elliot Lucas Buettner. He was 8 lbs 2.8 ozs and 21 inches long.
Around 8 am on Monday Andy and I checked into the birth center. By 9 am I had started contracting on my own but at 10 am they started pitocin. By 11:15 am I was still at 4 cm (where I had been for about 3 wks) and Dr. Mascola ruptured my membranes. Shortly after I got an epidural. We debated whether or not we wanted to have an epidural but I am so glad that we opted for it! When James was born we decided not to have epidural, but of course I only pushed 3 times to deliver him. By 1 pm I was again feeling a lot of pain, at which point they checked me again and I was at 5 cm. They had the anesthesiologist come back up and he decided to give me another bolus of drugs to see if that helped with the pain. We were concerned slightly because back in May when my cerclage was placed they used a spinal block and it didn't work at all. They decided to try the bolus and if it didn't work they would have to replace the epidural. Thank goodness the bolus worked and I felt great! I was able to nap and get some good rest in and spend some great quality time with Andy before Elliot arrived. Around 3:30 Dr. Mascola checked me again and I was 8-9 cm! By 4:30 I was complete at 10 cm and they had me start pushing. I pushed for about 2 hours-Elliot came down the birth canal crooked which took longer for me push and it more difficult. I had an awesome nurse who coached me and a great med student who was there for the whole birth and Andy did great as well!! I was even surprised he watched the whole time! These 3 along with my doctor were great for encouragement etc and at 6:16 pm Elliot arrived!
Within a few hours I had the initial recovery completely and Elliot started to eat immediately. We have chosen to breastfeed and Elliot is a natural! He does great and has no problems! Today we'll be going home and I'll get to see James and he and Elliot will meet for the first time! Unfortuately with the H1N1 flu season being here they are not allowing anyone under the age of 18 in the birth center and so I have not seen James since Monday morning.
Elliot has been doing great and so am I. We're ready to go home but we've gotten quite a few visitors including a couple of my co-workers and one of Elliot's aunt and uncle, Everett and Tasha. We've also gotten to see several of our old friends from NICU and they are thrilled to see us here with a term baby!
I must say that the birth of our two boys were completely different and having a term baby is great to experience.
Around 8 am on Monday Andy and I checked into the birth center. By 9 am I had started contracting on my own but at 10 am they started pitocin. By 11:15 am I was still at 4 cm (where I had been for about 3 wks) and Dr. Mascola ruptured my membranes. Shortly after I got an epidural. We debated whether or not we wanted to have an epidural but I am so glad that we opted for it! When James was born we decided not to have epidural, but of course I only pushed 3 times to deliver him. By 1 pm I was again feeling a lot of pain, at which point they checked me again and I was at 5 cm. They had the anesthesiologist come back up and he decided to give me another bolus of drugs to see if that helped with the pain. We were concerned slightly because back in May when my cerclage was placed they used a spinal block and it didn't work at all. They decided to try the bolus and if it didn't work they would have to replace the epidural. Thank goodness the bolus worked and I felt great! I was able to nap and get some good rest in and spend some great quality time with Andy before Elliot arrived. Around 3:30 Dr. Mascola checked me again and I was 8-9 cm! By 4:30 I was complete at 10 cm and they had me start pushing. I pushed for about 2 hours-Elliot came down the birth canal crooked which took longer for me push and it more difficult. I had an awesome nurse who coached me and a great med student who was there for the whole birth and Andy did great as well!! I was even surprised he watched the whole time! These 3 along with my doctor were great for encouragement etc and at 6:16 pm Elliot arrived!
Within a few hours I had the initial recovery completely and Elliot started to eat immediately. We have chosen to breastfeed and Elliot is a natural! He does great and has no problems! Today we'll be going home and I'll get to see James and he and Elliot will meet for the first time! Unfortuately with the H1N1 flu season being here they are not allowing anyone under the age of 18 in the birth center and so I have not seen James since Monday morning.
Elliot has been doing great and so am I. We're ready to go home but we've gotten quite a few visitors including a couple of my co-workers and one of Elliot's aunt and uncle, Everett and Tasha. We've also gotten to see several of our old friends from NICU and they are thrilled to see us here with a term baby!
I must say that the birth of our two boys were completely different and having a term baby is great to experience.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
With a new addition coming to our family soon I've decided to start a blog so everyone can keep up with the whole family. I'll still occasionally update caringbridge for James.
Currently our family is doing well and growing. James has been healthy for the most part and Andy has been keeping busy taking care of James and myself and the household duties while I've been on bedrest for the past 9 weeks. I am currently in the hospital. This is the second time I've gone into preterm labor with baby #2. I am on a drug called magnesium sulfate which they are using to stop my contractions. I received a dose of steroids yesterday evening to help the baby's lung develop. At 6 am on Wednesday October 14 they will discontinue the magnesium sulfate. If I start to contract again they'll allow me to deliver. I am currently 33 1/2 weeks gestation. A whole world of difference from 25 1/2 weeks when James was born.
This pregnancy has brought about a lot of emotions for our family. Early on in the pregnancy I had surgery to place a cerclage on cervix to help keep it closed as they suspect I have an incompetant cervix. That means the cervix cannot hold the weight of the baby as it's growing and the cerclage helps give extra support. A short while later we had a scare that they may be something wrong with the baby. On an ultrasound they detected extra fluid around the baby's neck which could have meant a variety of things including Down's Syndrome and Turner's Syndrome among other chromosomal or heart problems. We opted to have an amniocentesis done and thankfully everything turned out ok. Since then the baby has been progressing very well and is about 85% on the growth charts-a big baby :) We hope and pray that will all the bedrest and steroid shots and such that this baby will be able to join our family at home shortly after birth.
Stay tuned for the announcement of our baby and to hear how James is doing and what Andy and I are keeping busy doing!
Currently our family is doing well and growing. James has been healthy for the most part and Andy has been keeping busy taking care of James and myself and the household duties while I've been on bedrest for the past 9 weeks. I am currently in the hospital. This is the second time I've gone into preterm labor with baby #2. I am on a drug called magnesium sulfate which they are using to stop my contractions. I received a dose of steroids yesterday evening to help the baby's lung develop. At 6 am on Wednesday October 14 they will discontinue the magnesium sulfate. If I start to contract again they'll allow me to deliver. I am currently 33 1/2 weeks gestation. A whole world of difference from 25 1/2 weeks when James was born.
This pregnancy has brought about a lot of emotions for our family. Early on in the pregnancy I had surgery to place a cerclage on cervix to help keep it closed as they suspect I have an incompetant cervix. That means the cervix cannot hold the weight of the baby as it's growing and the cerclage helps give extra support. A short while later we had a scare that they may be something wrong with the baby. On an ultrasound they detected extra fluid around the baby's neck which could have meant a variety of things including Down's Syndrome and Turner's Syndrome among other chromosomal or heart problems. We opted to have an amniocentesis done and thankfully everything turned out ok. Since then the baby has been progressing very well and is about 85% on the growth charts-a big baby :) We hope and pray that will all the bedrest and steroid shots and such that this baby will be able to join our family at home shortly after birth.
Stay tuned for the announcement of our baby and to hear how James is doing and what Andy and I are keeping busy doing!
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