CranioSachral Therapy and 2 week check-up

We had our first visit with Patty Smith, who does CranioSachral Therapy. Patty Smith specializes in babies with feeding problems. She confirmed what Joan Young, our lactation consultant, thought which is that Cecilia has a very tight jaw. This makes it hard for her to open up wide enough to latch well on the breast. The good news is that she has good tounge placement and no other structural problems. Patty did some manipulations and gave us some suggestions for helping loosen her jaw. We'll see her again next week and hopefully we'll see some improvement in breastfeeding soon. By the end of the session we tried to latch her, and she opened her mouth wider than it's ever been, so hopefully this will really help her.

Everything looked good at her 2 week check-up. She is now 7 pounds, 12 ounces and 21 inches long. She is eating like crazy, so she's probably starting a growth spurt. She is really long and skinny, but her face is starting to fill out more. Last night she also woke up for all her feedings on her own! She's changing so fast, I just keep thinking about the new Darius Rucker song "It Won't Be Like This For Long."

The past 11 days has been quite a ride for the Swoboda family. Little Cecilia is a wonderful baby, but she does have some feeding issues. She hasn't been breastfeeding well, and not at all for the last week. We just got home from an appointment with the lactation consultant we've been using, and she has high hopes that Cecilia will eventually nurse well. For a while, we believed that the problem was suck confusion, but she took the breast at our appointment. She just has a lot of trouble latching because her jaw is tight. Our LC (Joan) recommended CranioSacral Therapy, which she says she's seen do wonders for babies with tight jaws. We have some things to try to help loosen her jaw and help her learn to open wide, and in the mean time we are continuing to finger-feed. Good news, though. She is back to her birth weight and beginning to self-regulate her feedings! It's a great thing!

I've put a few pictures up here, but you can see many more in our facebook album. The link to it is http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=96878&id=687075282&l=18e149b4e5.

Please send us any pictures you have, we can't get enough!

Birth Story - courtesy Betsy (our doula)

Hannah had contractions and crampy feelings all day on Saturday, but went about her day thinking nothing of it (oh and she also lost mucous plug, too). She ate some dinner, and went to bed, but started feeling some stronger contractions at about 2am today (Sunday). Still thinking it wasn't "real" labor, she decided to read a book :o) and let Ben sleep. Ben woke up around 4:30 amwhen the contractions started to become more intense and Hannah's labor woke him up. Ben called Betsy (our doula) at 6:30 am, and said that he thought labor was starting, but the contractions were really irregular. He said he would call back, and at 8:30am, he told me that Hannah was worried these were still Braxton Hicks contractions. We both listened to her vocalize during one contraction, and laughed, because it was pretty safe to say, she was in labor :o). They decided to make their way to the hospital but wanted me to hang back a while until they were in triage. Hannah said later she was thinking they would check her and she would be 3cm.

Finally at 9:45, I got the call telling me they were in triage and she was 7cm. I had a feeling that she was pretty far along, so I was waiting for the call in a coffee shop around the corner. I got to St. Mary's at 9:55 am and caught them just as they were heading out of triage into their room. Hanna did not smile when she saw me, and ran past me to get to the room so she wouldn't have a contraction in the hallway. YES! I love when moms don't want to talk to me or smile! After giving Ben a quick hug, I joined them in the room and helped them get settled, and started to observe the contractions, which were now on top of one another. I learned that her water broke just before I got there, and now while Ben and I were rubbing her back during contractions, she started to make pushy sounds and do little squats. The nurse checked her again and she was 9 cm, 100% effaced. Hannah labored a little longer and did such a great job with relaxing between contractions, vocalizing, and just following her body's urges. Ben was right there, comforting her, holding her, loving her, and doing everything he needed to do as well. They worked so well together.

Before long, she REALLY felt like she had to push, and nurse checked again and she was complete at 10:40 am. We helped Hannah get into hands and knees for a while, and then she really liked pushing in the squatting position, and said she could feel the baby move down. She did some of the most natural and instinctive pushing I have ever seen...it was great! The Dr. was concerned about a "big baby" or possible shoulder dystocia when baby's descent wasn't so quick, like her labor had been, so she had Hannah in the "classic" position for the last 20 minutes of pushing, which Hannah was not happy and very vocal about :o) but the Dr. (her normal family practice doctor was out of town) said she didn't know how to do it any other way, so Hannah did a great job coping with her discomfort, and Ben encouraging her that what she was doing was ok. After only 1.5 hours of pushing, little Cecilia was born, and she immediately began crying and had great color. Daddy did lots of skin-to-skin time while mom needed some repairs, but was soon placed with mommy skin to skin, and nursed wonderfully. Of course, she's adorable, and likes to use her voice a lot. While I was with them waiting to switch rooms, she loved rocking with her daddy in the rocking chair, and would make little vocalizations (much like her mom!) with every rock.

Quick Update

No time now for details on the birth (maybe later tonight), but I thought I'd add a quick update. Cecilia Jo Swoboda was born Sunday May 17, 2009 at 12:06 pm. She was 7 lbs 11 oz and 20 inches long. Labor started about 2:00 am and we went to the hospital at about 9:00 am. I was 7 cm in triage, and by the time we made it to the birthing room I was 9.5 cm and pushing by 10:40. Cecilia was born at 12:06 pm and cried right away.

We've been doing pretty well, but Cecilia hasn't been eating well and lost more than the usual amount of weight and got a little jaundiced. She's in a billi-blanket tonight and as of today she's really started eating a lot more. Hopefully, the blanket will be gone tomorrow and she'll be eating better. More details when we get a little time ...

Something might be happening ...

We had an eventful night last night, or rather Hannah did since Ben slept through it. I woke up around 3:30 REALLY having to go to the bathroom, but didn't have to go so much. So, I think the baby may have moved down, which unfortunately has possibly seriously impaired my bladder control. After that, I started having a few contractions, maybe 10 or 15 minutes apart. Of course, since the baby moved down, I had to go to the bathroom about every 5 to 10 minutes. I think I lost my mucus plug, too, so I was thinking that things may actually be starting. After an hour of trying to get back to sleep, I decided to get up and time a few to see if I needed to wake up Ben. I spent another hour sitting and watching TV. The contractions weren't too bad, were more than 10 minutes apart, and not progressing. I got bored after that hour, and sleepy, so I decided to try to sleep again. It took a little while, but eventually I drifted off to sleep. I have had a couple of contractions today, but mostly we're worried that I might be leaking some fluid. It could be that the baby has moved and I've lost some bladder control, but we're keeping an eye on it. Something has been happening, though, so we may not be too far from having a baby! Hopefully this won't go on for more than a couple days because it is not comfortable or conducive to productivity.

Doctor's Appointment

We had our 38 week doctors appointment yesterday, although our doctor is out-of-town until Tuesday. Hopefully the baby won't come until she gets back so that we don't have to deal with the uncertainties of a new doctor. Everything looks good, and the baby's heart rate was 130. So, for those interested in those superstitions, that means it is a boy. The Chinese calender is predicting a girl, though, so we'll just see. The weather is gloomy here and it looks like we're supposed to have more thunderstorms tonight and/or tomorrow. I'm supposed to start an irradiation sometime between Monday and Wednesday, so lets hope that the baby either comes before it starts or after it ends.

We're trying to decide on a fun thing to do this weekend. We saw the new Star Trek movie last weekend (which we very much enjoyed and recommend), but are trying to decide if there is anything else worth seeing. We had a terminator marathon last weekend, too, which I liked a lot and I am now eagerly awaiting the release of the new terminator movie. Although, as fate would have it, we probably won't be able to see it for a while because of the baby's arrival. Ahhh, the sacrifices of parenthood :).

Blackout

Starting around 5:45 tonight, we have had thunderstorms. At 6:57 pm, when the chicken was 3 minutes from being done on the George Foreman grill, the tater tots were 4 minutes from being cooked in the oven, and the corn was waiting for 3 minutes in the microwave, the power went out. This was unfortunate, since we were very hungry. We lit candles, got out our emergency lamp, and spent some time in our dark apartment. The best candles we have for power outages are the ones left in our room on our wedding night. They give off a lot of light and burn really slowly! I tried to take some pictures, which are what we posted, but it turns out it is not so easy to take pictures in a dark apartment. What we have posted are the ones that sort of came out. After waiting a half an hour, and worried that this could go on all night (thus making opening the fridge unwise), we decided that dinner would need to come from somewhere else. So, we had an impromptu dinner at Panera. Just as we were leaving Panera, the somewhat gentle rain became a torrential downpour and we got soaked running the 10 feet to the car. Granted, Hannah's run was more of a fast waddle, but it was a heavy rain none the less. Luckily, by the time we got home, the rain had settled down again so we didn't get too wet on our way in. We spent some time chatting, and the lights came back on around 8:30pm. This was a relief, because the apartment was becoming very humid and I was not looking forward to a night without air conditioning (for reference, see "Is it just me or did 60 degrees suddenly become hot" post). The storm is still going on, but we have power now! We've been joking that this would be the night for the baby to be born - thunderstorms raging, power on and off, etc... The story could start "It was a dark and stormy night ..." There's no indication this will happen, but it would be a great story.

Profile Picture

We took a couple of profile shots, since we haven't really been doing that. This is the baby at 38 weeks!

37 Week Doctor's Appointment

So, we're really closer to 38 weeks, but this is the schedule we got on initially. At 37 weeks 5 days we had our 37 week doctors appointment today. There was a lot of discussion because I'm both O negative and GBS positive. Here's a link, Group B Strep FAQs from the CDC, for anyone interested in finding out more. I don't think they did the screening when my Mom and Kathy were having kids. GBS, or group B strep, is "colonized" in about 15-40% of healthy adult women (about 25% of pregnant women - I don't know where they get the statistics) and naturally lives in the digestive tract. You can test positive for one pregnancy and not another, so it is the kind of thing that comes and goes. They don't really know where it comes from, but it can cause some serious problems.

Anyway, there are 2 important impacts on labor. First, I will need antibiotics during labor. It's given every 4 hours and takes about 50 minutes, at least the first time, to administer. When I'm not getting the antibiotic, I will have a Hep-lock (open IV line that is capped off). It will change the rhythm of labor a bit due to the interruptions. The second big impact on labor is that in order to administer the antibiotics, they want me to come into the hospital as soon as my water breaks so that I can start antibiotics because the chance of infection. While there's about a 0.5% chance of the baby being affected by GBS without any treatment, it can cause some serious problems (menangitis, sepsis, pneumonia) in the unlikely event the baby is infected during labor and delivery. There's no risk as long as my waters are in tact, but as soon as they break the chance of infection increases as time goes on. After much consideration of the risks and benefits, we decided to go ahead and go to the hospital right away if my water breaks and get the antibiotics. We really, really hope this doesn't happen, because it would involve being restricted to the birthing and baby area, possibly for a long time, and I wouldn't be able to eat, even if labor didn't start right away. We've talked to our doctor, and we should be relatively undisturbed at the beginning, which will help things out. Also, there's little to no risk to the baby if it is born within 4 hours of my water breaking. Please pray that it takes a while for my water to break so we can wait to go to the hospital and there's less chance of infection for the baby! Just to be clear, the baby should be absolutely fine since we're going to get the antibiotics.

Sooo, since we may be going to the hospital MUCH earlier than we originally planned, we are strategizing ways to make a longer labor in the hospital more comfortable and homelike. The birthing suites at the hospital really are wonderful (recovery rooms are not, but that's another story). Still, we may have many hours there without active labor to keep us occupied. So, we're looking at bringing DVDs (there's a DVD player in the room), books, pillows and blankets from home, and board games to pass the time of early labor like we planned to at home. I'm trying to look on the bright side, one part of which is that if my water breaks really early we don't have to worry about moving from a comfortable nest at home to the hospital in the middle of very active labor. I can just stay in one place! The down side is that "THEY" will be watching the whole time, and we may have to struggle against time limits and more interference. Our doctor seems to be on our side, so hopefully all will be well!

One last note - our doctor will be out of town, starting this weekend or next week, for about a week. If we go into labor in the next week, our doctor will miss the baby! We got checked today, and we're at 0 cm dilated, 50% effaced, soft, and the baby was at a -4 station, and cephalic. Last week the baby was at a -3 station (all other stats the same), so it looks like baby is bouncing a little. Although they say that these checks aren't great indicators, there is also not a whole lot going on at the moment to indicate delivery very soon. She also said that the baby is probably just under 7 pounds (probably close to what Ben was at 38 weeks) and that there's a lot of fluid around the baby. By a lot of fluid, she means more than normal. It may be why I'm so big! Anyway, the fluid doesn't mean anything bad, just a comment. Granted, the weight estimate was from just feeling the baby's position, so we'll see how accurate it turns out to be.

Baby is actively kicking and stretching all the time! I've been working a lot the past few days, so ankles are a little swollen, but other than that everything is going well. Especially since Ben has been doing all the dishes and he did the laundry yesterday. What a guy!

Is it just me, or did 60 degrees suddenly become hot?

So, it appears that the over-heating of late pregnancy has hit me as temperatures soar into the mid-60s. Granted, it leans closer towards the low-70s in our apartment. Lately it's been a lot of ice water, windows open or AC's on (thanks Jarrod for helping Ben get those setup during your visit - I am eternally grateful) and a lot of sweating. For the most part, I think it takes me longer to adjust to temperature changes, but I can tell you that at night with the window AC on and the covers thrown off it is still REALLY hot.

I have outgrown some of my maternity clothes! The baby went straight out and hardly up at all, so a lot of my clothes aren't long enough to cover the belly anymore. Who knew! So, I decided I would just abscond with many of Ben's T-shirts to supplement the clothes I can no longer wear, either because I grew out of them or they were winter wear and, like I said, I am very hot. I try to avoid wearing some of the cardinals ones he's particularly fond of, especially since I tend to lean over into things in the lab or cooking (water, sauces, powders ... nothing is safe). Still, his wardrobe is becoming depleted. Only a couple of weeks left, though, so that's about 3-4 laundry days. I think he'll survive.

Our First Blog

I decided to create a blog to keep everyone up-to-date with the end of our pregnancy and the birth of Baby Swoboda!

Update:
Everything still seems to be fine. Sometimes my ankles swell a little at the end of the day, but I find that if I'm very conscious about my diet I can avoid pretty much all swelling. The baby has recently discovered my ribs, and very much enjoys banging on them during the night. This means that between the bathroom, the baby moving, and the need to roll over I wake up regularly throughout the night. Rolling over is the worst, and on a few occasions Ben has helped to foist me over. The baby is definitely getting bigger!