I know it's been a week since he was born but as anyone who's been a parent before can attest, we've been pretty busy (and tired!). I expected this to happen and knew that's I'd probably be late doing this post, so that is why I took good notes at the hospital so I'd be sure to remember it all. Here is my account of the hospital stay and delivery process.
April 8th, 2012
4:30pm - We left the house for the hospital. We took like three bags of clothes and necessities which baffled me since we were only going to be gone for like 2 days and we were close enough to our home that we could go home if we needed anything else. The drive to the hospital was mostly silent since I think we were both nervous about what was about to transpire.
5:00pm - Admitted to the hospital and got our room. Jun changed into the extremely glamorous hospital gown with strict instructions not to tie the bottom tie on the back, only the one around her neck. When she got all situated and in bed, the nurse cam in and hooked her up to the fetal monitors, checked her cervix (2cm dilated, 50% effaced) and started her on her paperwork.
5:45pm - My parents arrived to the hospital and check in on us. The nurse put the IV stub (don't know what it's actually called) into Jun's hand and drew some of her blood.
6:30pm - Cirvodil is administered by the nurse and Jun is ordered to 1 hour of bedrest.
7:00pm - My parents left to go home (our house).
7:15pm - Jun's parents left.
7:30pm - Found the Rangers/White Sox game on TV. Huzzah! At this point, Jun is still feeling pretty good. She's having some minor cramping but nothing she can't handle. We're just enjoying watching the game and spending some time together at this point. The doctor comes and checks on us every hour or so.
9:15pm - My mom comes back up to the hospital and brings me some dinner. Jun's "cramps" are about 4-5 minutes apart.
10:35pm - Our nurse comes in to give Jun a 10mg Ambian to help her get some sleep.
10:45pm - Try to get some sleep. I start out on the couch/torture rack that is in the room. It's supposed to pull out into a bed, but some of the cushions are missing and there is a support bar right in the middle of the couch that stick into your spine. The hospital does not even offer blankets and pillow to me and I had to ask for a pillow. Good thing we brought extra blankets.
11:30pm - Jun needs to pee, I get up to help her since she's hooked into all sorts of monitors.
April 9th, 2012
12:00am - The nurse comes in to check on the monitors, I wake up.
12:30am - Jun needs to pee, I get up again, but I decided to get off the torture rack and sleep on the floor.
2:00am - Nurse comes in to check on Jun. I wake up.
2:30am - Jun needs to pee, I get up.
4:30am - Jun needs to pee, I get up.
6:30am - Jun needs to pee, I get up, but we stay awake at this point.
7:00am - The nurse shifts have changed over, and we get a new nurse, Marianne. She also comes equipped with an intern, Spencer who appears to be a nursing student from TCU. Jun gets to take a shower at this time and afterwords she feels MUCH better.
7:15am - Cervix check. 2cm dialated, 70% effaced. I begin to question the necessity of the Cervodil since it only seemed to give her about 20% more effacement.
7:30am - Pitocin is started at the lowest setting.
7:50am - I took the opportunity to grab a shower and change my clothes.
8:05am - Pitocin dosage upped.
8:10am - Dr. Kolar (Jun's OB) broke Jun's water. Jun described it as being "Very hot, like a hot bath" Dr. Kolar said the fluid was good and clear. I was standing as far away as possible, so I didn't see it.
8:50am - The nurse came back in and the topic of epidurals was brought up. Jun's contractions are getting more intense and are about 2 minutes apart. She's very uncomfortable and NOT in a good mood.
9:30am - Dr. Leitch is the anesthesiologist who is brought into give the epidural. Everyone except me and the nurse are ushered out of the room. It makes me nervous when he takes a phone call WHILE the 6 inch needle is sticking out of my wife's spine, but he gets it done successfully and in a few minutes Jun feels MUCH better.
10:00am - The nurse intern (Spencer) puts in a catheter and our parents are allowed back in.
10:40am - Pitocin is upped.
11:10am - Pitocin upped again.
11:30am - The nurse takes Jun's temperature and it appears to be normal.
11:30am to 12:30pm - My parents take me to lunch at Schlotzky's. It's delicious.
12:30pm - Cervix check: 4cm, 100% effaced. Getting closer.
1:00pm - Pitocin is upped again.
1:40pm - Another increase in Pitocin. Cervix exam shows she is dilated to 7.5cm, 100% effaced. Bloodly show and progressing nicely. It's at this point that the nurse says that at the last cervix exam they thought it would be necessary for a c-section since it is a big baby and she was only dilated to a 4. Now that she's progressed a lot, a normal birth is expected.
2:00pm - Upped Pitocin again. They are having trouble getting her contractions normalized.
2:45pm - Upped Pitocin again. Getting ridiculous.
3:25pm - Cervix check: 8cm, Station 0 to -1.
3:50pm - Dr. Kolar checks Jun and disagrees and says she is dilated to a 7, but the baby moved down. She broke more of Jun's water that she apparently didn't get earlier.
4:50pm - Cervix check. The nurse says the baby has "done a lot of work," and we would be pushing soon. Jun is starting to experience pain with each contraction and addition pain medication is added.
5:25pm - Drinking too much water caused Jun to throw up. Good think I was quick with a barf bag. Only ice chips from now on.
6:05pm - Cervix check, baby has descended and we should be about ready to push.
6:24pm - After only 10 pushes during 3 contractions, Casen Kai Robbins is born into this world at 8lbs, 0oz and is 22.5" long. I'll save you all the "messy" details, but everything went very normally and the delivery is a complete success.
I pretty much quit taking notes at this point since I had the more important job of being a dad to attend to, but there was a lot of picture taking, holding of the baby, grandparent fawning, crying and feeding. After all that was over, we were moved to a postpartum room.
That's the story! I'll get back on later and add some pictures.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Exactly 40 Weeks! We're Headed To...
...work.
So, unless the baby decides to come later on today (It's 12:30pm right now), he's going to be late. Oh well, we've been told over and over again that first babies tend to come later than their due date... which makes me wonder why they don't just make the due date for first time moms a few days after a normal calculated due date.
Jun had her final "check-up" appointment with her doctor on Monday and according to the doctor everything is progressing just as it should. She was still only a little more than 1cm dilated, but she is right where she needs to be. For the last week or so before the appointment, I heard a lot of "I'm ready to have this baby!" talk from Jun and she expressed this feeling to the doctor as well, so the doctor and nurses tried to find ways to give Jun and excuse to get induced early. The nurse who took Jun's blood pressure tried to convince the doctor that it was "very high" even though it was only slightly elevated, but that didn't work. The doctor then told Jun to go down the hall and get an ultrasound on the off-chance that her fluid was low, which would require an early induction.... nope! Fluid levels were normal. No luck.
Oh well, we will just have the baby when he's ready or on our originally scheduled induction date of April 9th... but wait.
As we were walking out the door of the doctor's office, the nurse at the reception desk yelled at Jun, "Hey! You wanna have this baby tonight?!"
What?
Jun and I just stood there in shock and stared at this lady, not knowing what to say. She repeated what she had just said then added that some lady who was scheduled to be inducted that night had gone into labor on her own earlier that day and so now there was an opening in the doctor's schedule for an induction.
We really didn't know what to say, they kind of dropped a bombshell on us. I knew better than to answer that question myself so I turned to Jun and said, "What do you think? You wanna do it?"
The other nurses that were in the reception area were all telling us that we should definitely do it, and that we probably wouldn't get another opportunity to be induced early. However, Jun decided that she still wanted to give the baby a chance to get to his due date, so we declined the offer.
It's weird to think that I could have already been a dad by now, but I'm willing to wait a few more day if I have to.
Also, I'm kind of glad that we didn't have the baby that night and be worried about trying to get the baby home yesterday with all the bad weather. I've heard the first drive home is already stressful enough...
Here's a picture of Jun today at 40 weeks. This will probably be the last "baby bump" picture. Doesn't she look like she's about to pop?
Edit: Sorry for the fuzzy picture. iPhones weren't meant to capture precious memories.
So, unless the baby decides to come later on today (It's 12:30pm right now), he's going to be late. Oh well, we've been told over and over again that first babies tend to come later than their due date... which makes me wonder why they don't just make the due date for first time moms a few days after a normal calculated due date.
Jun had her final "check-up" appointment with her doctor on Monday and according to the doctor everything is progressing just as it should. She was still only a little more than 1cm dilated, but she is right where she needs to be. For the last week or so before the appointment, I heard a lot of "I'm ready to have this baby!" talk from Jun and she expressed this feeling to the doctor as well, so the doctor and nurses tried to find ways to give Jun and excuse to get induced early. The nurse who took Jun's blood pressure tried to convince the doctor that it was "very high" even though it was only slightly elevated, but that didn't work. The doctor then told Jun to go down the hall and get an ultrasound on the off-chance that her fluid was low, which would require an early induction.... nope! Fluid levels were normal. No luck.
Oh well, we will just have the baby when he's ready or on our originally scheduled induction date of April 9th... but wait.
As we were walking out the door of the doctor's office, the nurse at the reception desk yelled at Jun, "Hey! You wanna have this baby tonight?!"
What?
Jun and I just stood there in shock and stared at this lady, not knowing what to say. She repeated what she had just said then added that some lady who was scheduled to be inducted that night had gone into labor on her own earlier that day and so now there was an opening in the doctor's schedule for an induction.
We really didn't know what to say, they kind of dropped a bombshell on us. I knew better than to answer that question myself so I turned to Jun and said, "What do you think? You wanna do it?"
The other nurses that were in the reception area were all telling us that we should definitely do it, and that we probably wouldn't get another opportunity to be induced early. However, Jun decided that she still wanted to give the baby a chance to get to his due date, so we declined the offer.
It's weird to think that I could have already been a dad by now, but I'm willing to wait a few more day if I have to.
Also, I'm kind of glad that we didn't have the baby that night and be worried about trying to get the baby home yesterday with all the bad weather. I've heard the first drive home is already stressful enough...
Here's a picture of Jun today at 40 weeks. This will probably be the last "baby bump" picture. Doesn't she look like she's about to pop?
Edit: Sorry for the fuzzy picture. iPhones weren't meant to capture precious memories.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
T-Minus One Week; All Systems Go
Yesterday marked 39 weeks of pregnancy for Jun. Everything seems to be moving along right on schedule. She had another doctor's appointment on Monday where we found out she was about 1cm dilated and around 50% effaced. That doesn't mean she's going into labor, but it means that her body is starting to prepare for it. Jun's OB/GYN seems to think that the baby will be late (apparently it's common for first time mom's to be late), but still left open the possibility of the baby coming early.
There is an end in sight, however. If the baby does not come before his due date (April 4th), she is scheduled to be admitted to the hospital on April 8th, and induced early on April 9th. So, at THE MOST, there's only a week-and-a-half left before the baby gets here.
Jun is still going to work everyday like a trooper, for which I'm proud of her. She's off work tomorrow (scheduled day off), and if the baby doesn't decide to come on time, she's only got 5 more day of work remaining. I know she's excited about that.
Thank you (again) to all of our friends who have given us gifts and helped us get prepared for the baby, and thank you to those from whom we're STILL getting gifts. It's really very generous of you and we really appreciate it.
I don't have a 39-week belly bump picture yet, but I'll try to get one and add it to this post later on.
There is an end in sight, however. If the baby does not come before his due date (April 4th), she is scheduled to be admitted to the hospital on April 8th, and induced early on April 9th. So, at THE MOST, there's only a week-and-a-half left before the baby gets here.
Jun is still going to work everyday like a trooper, for which I'm proud of her. She's off work tomorrow (scheduled day off), and if the baby doesn't decide to come on time, she's only got 5 more day of work remaining. I know she's excited about that.
Thank you (again) to all of our friends who have given us gifts and helped us get prepared for the baby, and thank you to those from whom we're STILL getting gifts. It's really very generous of you and we really appreciate it.
I don't have a 39-week belly bump picture yet, but I'll try to get one and add it to this post later on.
Monday, March 12, 2012
36 Week Doctor's Appointmet
March 8th was a big doctor's appointment for Jun and the baby. It marked 36 weeks and we finally got to have another ultrasound, which we hadn't had since sometime around week 25. It's been a long time since we've gotten to drop in and check on our little boy.
According to the ultrasound tech, little Puff is still doing very good and everything is right on track. It also turns out that he's done a good bit of growing as well, since the ultrasound lady estimated his weight at 6 lbs, 13 ounces already. Wow! That's a big as some babies are when they are born! The doctor said that babies tend to grow about a half pound a week in the last month. If that holds true, we are are looking at having a big baby. I suppose the baby could come a little bit early, but the doctor did a cervix check on Jun (which she didn't enjoy very much...) who confirmed that the baby wasn't ready to come anytime soon. That's fine with us... I'm sure he needs a little bit more time to cook anyways.
Along with the ultrasound and cervix exam, Jun had a strep test as well to see if she would need additional antibiotics when it was time for the actual delivery. The doctor gave us another clean bill of health and said that Jun was doing great. We'll have to start going back every week from now on so that there are hopefully no surprises as far as the delivery date is concerned. (Well, it won't be exactly every week since we our doctor is out of town this week in Surprise, Arizona to watch the Texas Ranger's spring training... jealous.)
Hopefully this good health for mama and baby will continue right up until our little guy is born.
According to the ultrasound tech, little Puff is still doing very good and everything is right on track. It also turns out that he's done a good bit of growing as well, since the ultrasound lady estimated his weight at 6 lbs, 13 ounces already. Wow! That's a big as some babies are when they are born! The doctor said that babies tend to grow about a half pound a week in the last month. If that holds true, we are are looking at having a big baby. I suppose the baby could come a little bit early, but the doctor did a cervix check on Jun (which she didn't enjoy very much...) who confirmed that the baby wasn't ready to come anytime soon. That's fine with us... I'm sure he needs a little bit more time to cook anyways.
Along with the ultrasound and cervix exam, Jun had a strep test as well to see if she would need additional antibiotics when it was time for the actual delivery. The doctor gave us another clean bill of health and said that Jun was doing great. We'll have to start going back every week from now on so that there are hopefully no surprises as far as the delivery date is concerned. (Well, it won't be exactly every week since we our doctor is out of town this week in Surprise, Arizona to watch the Texas Ranger's spring training... jealous.)
Hopefully this good health for mama and baby will continue right up until our little guy is born.
Maternity Photos
It's good to have talented and artistic friends, especially those of the photographer variety. Last week Jun and I had the opportunity to have our good friend Mandy take some maternity pictures for us. We had hoped to get 5-10 pictures out of the session, but we ended up with 130! Mandy, you do too much! Anyways, we were VERY happy with how they all came out.
Here are a few of our favorites:
Thanks again, Mandy! You're a lot of fun to take pictures with. We had a great time.
Here are a few of our favorites:
Thanks again, Mandy! You're a lot of fun to take pictures with. We had a great time.
A Third and Final Shower
Just when we think we have been sufficiently blessed with friends and family who have generously given our little boy tons of gifts and clothes, more people come forward to show us how much they care. Jun's co-workers threw her a baby shower last week and they really came through for her.
I couldn't be there because I had to be in San Diego to eat the world's largest chimichanga.
Ok, so I was actually there for work, but still... look at that monster. But I digress...
Here's some pictures from the shower and some of the neat gifts that our little man received:
Looks like some good times and great stuff, right?
I was sad that I had to miss this shower, but by all accounts, everything went great and Jun really enjoyed the party. Thanks to all of you who made it possible and to Pat, Jenna, Margret, Annette and the rest for setting everything up.
I couldn't be there because I had to be in San Diego to eat the world's largest chimichanga.
Ok, so I was actually there for work, but still... look at that monster. But I digress...
Here's some pictures from the shower and some of the neat gifts that our little man received:
Looks like some good times and great stuff, right?
I was sad that I had to miss this shower, but by all accounts, everything went great and Jun really enjoyed the party. Thanks to all of you who made it possible and to Pat, Jenna, Margret, Annette and the rest for setting everything up.
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