Showing posts with label Ruby updates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ruby updates. Show all posts
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Why do I forget to blog?
Yes, once again, it seems I've forgotten that this blog exists. It's been four months now, during which time Ruby has recovered from being dropped, come through a case of presumed pertussis, survived having her shoulder popped out of the socket by her multi-tasking mother (oops), and has learned to crawl and stand up with the help of furniture. Leonidas has turned into quite the big brother himself, and despite their rocky beginning, my children have come to love one another. We have also survived our move to Hemet (along with Granny), and are doing quite well. We have also acquired two pet rats named "Kitty" and "Mayu-Mayu" (pronounced "My-you My-you"), and will soon be adding a pair of chickens for our egg-laying delight (more on that later). Other developments are in the works...more to come...but for now, that's us, in a nutshell. :)
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Humpty-Dumpty
Latest news: The Infamous Baby-Dropping Incident of 2010.
Yep, that's right, I dropped the baby.
The story goes like this: On Friday morning around 8:00am I was giving Ruby a bath in the bathroom sink. I took her out and dried her off in a towel. Leonidas had just come out of the shower and was sitting on the potty. Well, he was wiggling around and trying to get off the potty and started to fall, so, while holding little Ruby in her towel, I reached over to make sure he didn't fall and POP, Ruby just popped herself right out of my arms and landed straight on the top of her head on the linoleum floor from a height of about four feet! My heart completely sank, and in that moment, I thought I had lost my precious baby girl. It sounded like a pumpkin being thrown to the floor. I had tried to grab her, but it was too late - she had hit. I quickly scooped her up while screaming something like, "OH MY GOD!" and calling for Brandon to help me. She began screaming and I laid her down on the carpet. I noticed there was baby poop splattered all over the bathroom, and I feared the worst. I'm not actually sure what happened, but I know my mom and Brandon were there helping me check her out. She was screaming and crying harder than I had ever seen her, and her neck and shoulders were all stiffened up. I was crying as hard as she was. We called 911 and an ambulance took her to the hospital across the street. She had a CT scan and they discovered a small skull fracture, so they transferred her over to the county hospital a few blocks away, where they had a pediatric neurologist available. We waited in that E.R. all day long until he finally meandered over to see us. There was no brain bleeding or swelling, so we were given the option of admitting her and keeping her there overnight for observation or taking her home to keep an eye on her. We decided to take her home; I wanted her to remain on me as much as possible, not stuck in a cold crib hooked up to monitors in an unfamiliar place where only one parent could be with her overnight and her brother couldn't even visit her at all. The doctor agreed with me. :) She is doing just fine now. The fracture should heal on its own - we just have to watch for certain things and take her back in if there are any complications. She just has a small bump and barely-noticeable bruise on her head and the beginnings of a black eye. She doesn't even seem to notice that anything happened. What a trooper!
Needless to say, I'm kind of scared to carry her around now. But all-in-all, we've come out alright. We are calling her "Humpty-Dumpty" now, and I think the name might just stick. One day, she'll be able to have the last laugh when someone jokingly asks if her mom dropped her on her head as a baby. ;P
Yep, that's right, I dropped the baby.
The story goes like this: On Friday morning around 8:00am I was giving Ruby a bath in the bathroom sink. I took her out and dried her off in a towel. Leonidas had just come out of the shower and was sitting on the potty. Well, he was wiggling around and trying to get off the potty and started to fall, so, while holding little Ruby in her towel, I reached over to make sure he didn't fall and POP, Ruby just popped herself right out of my arms and landed straight on the top of her head on the linoleum floor from a height of about four feet! My heart completely sank, and in that moment, I thought I had lost my precious baby girl. It sounded like a pumpkin being thrown to the floor. I had tried to grab her, but it was too late - she had hit. I quickly scooped her up while screaming something like, "OH MY GOD!" and calling for Brandon to help me. She began screaming and I laid her down on the carpet. I noticed there was baby poop splattered all over the bathroom, and I feared the worst. I'm not actually sure what happened, but I know my mom and Brandon were there helping me check her out. She was screaming and crying harder than I had ever seen her, and her neck and shoulders were all stiffened up. I was crying as hard as she was. We called 911 and an ambulance took her to the hospital across the street. She had a CT scan and they discovered a small skull fracture, so they transferred her over to the county hospital a few blocks away, where they had a pediatric neurologist available. We waited in that E.R. all day long until he finally meandered over to see us. There was no brain bleeding or swelling, so we were given the option of admitting her and keeping her there overnight for observation or taking her home to keep an eye on her. We decided to take her home; I wanted her to remain on me as much as possible, not stuck in a cold crib hooked up to monitors in an unfamiliar place where only one parent could be with her overnight and her brother couldn't even visit her at all. The doctor agreed with me. :) She is doing just fine now. The fracture should heal on its own - we just have to watch for certain things and take her back in if there are any complications. She just has a small bump and barely-noticeable bruise on her head and the beginnings of a black eye. She doesn't even seem to notice that anything happened. What a trooper!
Needless to say, I'm kind of scared to carry her around now. But all-in-all, we've come out alright. We are calling her "Humpty-Dumpty" now, and I think the name might just stick. One day, she'll be able to have the last laugh when someone jokingly asks if her mom dropped her on her head as a baby. ;P
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Ruby Jane - first few weeks
Well, so far, so good with little Ruby :) Our main concern this week was an apparent clogged tear duct that was getting worse. The poor little thing had a huge bump near her left eye that was draining and hurting her and just making her miserable. It was also really distorting part of her face so that the left eye looked considerably smaller and further away from her nose than the right one.
We took her to see my doctor who suggested using warm compresses and massage from the corner of the eye toward the nose, but by the next week, it was hurting so badly that we decided on Wednesday that we were going to take her back the next day to see if the doctor could offer any more relief. That evening, I steamed up the bathroom and took her into a warm shower with me. When we got out, it didn't look any better - it wasn't draining and was getting bigger and more painful for her. She fell asleep, and a few hours later, it was completely gone! :D There was no drainage from her eye, which means the tear duct actually opened and drained through her nose like it should. There was no bump left at all! All that remained was a red spot where the skin had been stretched out over the bump, and by morning, all was completely better. Her left eye is actually a bit bigger than her right! She can open it all the way now, and we are so happy to be able to gaze into BOTH of her beautiful eyes.
We'll see what kind of adventures next week holds...
We took her to see my doctor who suggested using warm compresses and massage from the corner of the eye toward the nose, but by the next week, it was hurting so badly that we decided on Wednesday that we were going to take her back the next day to see if the doctor could offer any more relief. That evening, I steamed up the bathroom and took her into a warm shower with me. When we got out, it didn't look any better - it wasn't draining and was getting bigger and more painful for her. She fell asleep, and a few hours later, it was completely gone! :D There was no drainage from her eye, which means the tear duct actually opened and drained through her nose like it should. There was no bump left at all! All that remained was a red spot where the skin had been stretched out over the bump, and by morning, all was completely better. Her left eye is actually a bit bigger than her right! She can open it all the way now, and we are so happy to be able to gaze into BOTH of her beautiful eyes.We'll see what kind of adventures next week holds...
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Ruby Jane King is here!
Ruby Jane arrived on Monday, July 5th, 2010 at 6:46pm. Here is her birth story:
I woke up at 8:00am with my son, as usual, and contractions were there, a little more uncomfortable than normal, but nothing too out of the ordinary. I had a feeling it was the day, though. I felt a strong contraction later that morning and my first thought was, “I’m in labor.” They started to get more uncomfortable, but not regular at all (they never did get regular, even at the end), so I called the midwife around noon and told her what was going on. I said I would eat some lunch and call her back to let her know if there was any progress. I called back at 2:15pm and told her to come over, since they were really starting to hurt.
She arrived at 3:00pm and checked me. I was dilated to 5-6cm outside and about 4cm inside, but stretched to 6cm during contractions. They helped Brandon set up the pool and everything. Around 4:30pm I told Brandon to fill up the pool, because it wouldn’t be long – the contractions were killing me. I got in the water around 5:30pm and she checked me. I was dilated to 6-7cm. The water was such a relief, though! I asked her to check me again around 6:30pm or so because I was feeling a lot of pressure and slight pushing. I was 7-8cm, but she said my cervix was so soft it would probably open with some pressure from the baby, so if I felt the urge to push to just go with it. About 5 minutes later I had a really bad contraction that pushed at the end, and I said, “Oh, she’s coming right now.” Then the pushing started and my body began to push her out – about 5-6 in a row with no time to breathe in between, but I really didn’t have much control over that – she was pushing herself out. Another few of those and her head was out. I felt it hurting in the front, so I pushed her toward the perineum a little to avoid the bad labial tear I had last time. No contractions for a few minutes, then another few pushes and she wiggled her body out at 6:46pm. I reached down to catch her and Brandon and I brought her up out of the water together. The cord was around her leg and pretty short, so I unwrapped that and laid her on my chest.
The placenta was born about 20 minutes later. We didn’t cut the cord for about 1 ½ - 2 hours. I stayed in the water for a few minutes after the placenta was born, then decided to get out and lie down in my bed, so off we went. We popped some pink champagne and made a toast. The midwife took a look at me to see if I had torn. I had one very tiny labial tear, but no stitches required and it’s not even in a place where I can feel it, so no pain at all. She nursed like a champ within about 10 minutes of being born, and nursed about three times in the first hour or so. We finally decided to cut the cord, but not to clamp it. Then she pooped and we did the newborn exam while I ate some dinner. She weighed 7 lbs. 12 oz. and was 19 ½ inches long.
She went out to the living room with daddy to see all our visitors while I nursed Leonidas to sleep. Then she and daddy came back and we all went to bed. I didn’t sleep much – just watched her a lot. Leonidas did great with her – a little jealousy once when nursing, but other than that, he was amazing with her.
As of today, she is 5 days old and doing great. She has a clogged tear duct, but nothing too serious. Leonidas has some jealousy, of course, especially when she is nursing, but today he's been really great with her and just loves her. The tandem nursing thing is going well so far - I've got the nursing-both-at-the-same-time thing down pretty well. The family bed is working well, too. We've all been getting plenty of sleep, and as of right now, are sleeping at the same time. I'll keep updating this of course...
I woke up at 8:00am with my son, as usual, and contractions were there, a little more uncomfortable than normal, but nothing too out of the ordinary. I had a feeling it was the day, though. I felt a strong contraction later that morning and my first thought was, “I’m in labor.” They started to get more uncomfortable, but not regular at all (they never did get regular, even at the end), so I called the midwife around noon and told her what was going on. I said I would eat some lunch and call her back to let her know if there was any progress. I called back at 2:15pm and told her to come over, since they were really starting to hurt.
She arrived at 3:00pm and checked me. I was dilated to 5-6cm outside and about 4cm inside, but stretched to 6cm during contractions. They helped Brandon set up the pool and everything. Around 4:30pm I told Brandon to fill up the pool, because it wouldn’t be long – the contractions were killing me. I got in the water around 5:30pm and she checked me. I was dilated to 6-7cm. The water was such a relief, though! I asked her to check me again around 6:30pm or so because I was feeling a lot of pressure and slight pushing. I was 7-8cm, but she said my cervix was so soft it would probably open with some pressure from the baby, so if I felt the urge to push to just go with it. About 5 minutes later I had a really bad contraction that pushed at the end, and I said, “Oh, she’s coming right now.” Then the pushing started and my body began to push her out – about 5-6 in a row with no time to breathe in between, but I really didn’t have much control over that – she was pushing herself out. Another few of those and her head was out. I felt it hurting in the front, so I pushed her toward the perineum a little to avoid the bad labial tear I had last time. No contractions for a few minutes, then another few pushes and she wiggled her body out at 6:46pm. I reached down to catch her and Brandon and I brought her up out of the water together. The cord was around her leg and pretty short, so I unwrapped that and laid her on my chest.
The placenta was born about 20 minutes later. We didn’t cut the cord for about 1 ½ - 2 hours. I stayed in the water for a few minutes after the placenta was born, then decided to get out and lie down in my bed, so off we went. We popped some pink champagne and made a toast. The midwife took a look at me to see if I had torn. I had one very tiny labial tear, but no stitches required and it’s not even in a place where I can feel it, so no pain at all. She nursed like a champ within about 10 minutes of being born, and nursed about three times in the first hour or so. We finally decided to cut the cord, but not to clamp it. Then she pooped and we did the newborn exam while I ate some dinner. She weighed 7 lbs. 12 oz. and was 19 ½ inches long.
She went out to the living room with daddy to see all our visitors while I nursed Leonidas to sleep. Then she and daddy came back and we all went to bed. I didn’t sleep much – just watched her a lot. Leonidas did great with her – a little jealousy once when nursing, but other than that, he was amazing with her.
As of today, she is 5 days old and doing great. She has a clogged tear duct, but nothing too serious. Leonidas has some jealousy, of course, especially when she is nursing, but today he's been really great with her and just loves her. The tandem nursing thing is going well so far - I've got the nursing-both-at-the-same-time thing down pretty well. The family bed is working well, too. We've all been getting plenty of sleep, and as of right now, are sleeping at the same time. I'll keep updating this of course...
Friday, July 2, 2010
Adventures in Childbirth - Part 2
Still no baby...still waiting...
Progress is being made, I suppose. Dilation, as of Monday, was 2cm. That's something, right?
So it looks like I may be making it to my due date after all - whichever date that may be, the 4th, 5th, or 6th. Maybe longer. Who knows? I'm still having contractions, and they're there all day long. Sometimes I'll go for hours with regular contractions 5 minutes apart. Then they'll stop or at least slow down for the next few hours. Maybe I'll be lucky and just labor like this all week long instead of super-painful, quick laboring all in one day! That would be ok. That would be well worth it, I suppose.
In the meantime, we are ready for her. I was in a crafty mood again today, so I hit up Jo-Ann for some elastic ruffles and fabric flowers for making headbands. Haven't made them yet, but I bought the stuff. One step at a time! Maybe it will give me something to do while I'm in labor...
We have our birthing pool, brought out of storage. We have the pump to blow it up. Unfortunately, we're not quite sure how we're going to fill it...last time we used a hose with a connector that attached to our faucet. This time, we don't have the connector, and our faucet is weird so it wouldn't work anyway. I guess we'll have to do buckets. Lots and lots of buckets.
Aside from that little hiccup I think we're all set. We've got our birth kit ready with all our supplies. We've got plenty of clothes for her. I got an extra waterproof wool pad for our bed (half-price remnant at Jo-Ann - score!). Now all we need is Ruby!
Progress is being made, I suppose. Dilation, as of Monday, was 2cm. That's something, right?
So it looks like I may be making it to my due date after all - whichever date that may be, the 4th, 5th, or 6th. Maybe longer. Who knows? I'm still having contractions, and they're there all day long. Sometimes I'll go for hours with regular contractions 5 minutes apart. Then they'll stop or at least slow down for the next few hours. Maybe I'll be lucky and just labor like this all week long instead of super-painful, quick laboring all in one day! That would be ok. That would be well worth it, I suppose.
In the meantime, we are ready for her. I was in a crafty mood again today, so I hit up Jo-Ann for some elastic ruffles and fabric flowers for making headbands. Haven't made them yet, but I bought the stuff. One step at a time! Maybe it will give me something to do while I'm in labor...
We have our birthing pool, brought out of storage. We have the pump to blow it up. Unfortunately, we're not quite sure how we're going to fill it...last time we used a hose with a connector that attached to our faucet. This time, we don't have the connector, and our faucet is weird so it wouldn't work anyway. I guess we'll have to do buckets. Lots and lots of buckets.
Aside from that little hiccup I think we're all set. We've got our birth kit ready with all our supplies. We've got plenty of clothes for her. I got an extra waterproof wool pad for our bed (half-price remnant at Jo-Ann - score!). Now all we need is Ruby!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Adventures in Childbirth
With Leonidas, it was pretty simple. I went to my appointments, found out I wasn't dilated, not really having many contractions, went home and waited. Then suddenly one day, my water broke, I started having contractions, they got stronger, and I had a baby.
Ruby Jane...why can't you be like your brother? I've stopped jumping on the "I think I'm going into labor" wagon and just started dealing with the fact that I'm going to continue to have contractions for the rest of my life with no baby to show for it. She's never coming out. I go to my appointments. I find out I'm very slowly dilating (about 1 cm as of yesterday). I'm having semi-regular contractions that are sometimes painful, sometimes close together, and never leading to anything significant except a backache. When's the baby coming? No idea. Could be tonight. Could be four weeks from now. Who knows? I'm pretty sure that when she does finally decide to show up, I won't believe it until I see her head popping out. Then she'll look at me, as if to say, "Mommy, why weren't you ready for me?" To which I will reply, "Let me tell you a little story about a boy who cried, 'wolf'..."
Ruby Jane...why can't you be like your brother? I've stopped jumping on the "I think I'm going into labor" wagon and just started dealing with the fact that I'm going to continue to have contractions for the rest of my life with no baby to show for it. She's never coming out. I go to my appointments. I find out I'm very slowly dilating (about 1 cm as of yesterday). I'm having semi-regular contractions that are sometimes painful, sometimes close together, and never leading to anything significant except a backache. When's the baby coming? No idea. Could be tonight. Could be four weeks from now. Who knows? I'm pretty sure that when she does finally decide to show up, I won't believe it until I see her head popping out. Then she'll look at me, as if to say, "Mommy, why weren't you ready for me?" To which I will reply, "Let me tell you a little story about a boy who cried, 'wolf'..."
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