Mini-Fob says hello!!
 

:love:

Gideon Paul finally made it out safe and sound on May 31st at 4:30 PM. I'll post more details very soon, and of course check the pool to see who came closest, but for now have a first look at our new happy family!!

AWWW! The baby is beautiful-very nice head shape, mom-and the whole family looks radiant! Great good work, Clodfobble. You look marvelous after just working your heart out and the hubby is proud as he can be! Somebody throw this woman a party! :celebrat: :rainbo: :band:

It would appear that footfootfoot was closest in the pool, however he is suspected of having a hot tip from an insider, and his winnings will be frozen pending the outcome of the investigation. :) Meanwhile, Beestie gets an honorable mention for having an almost perfect timestamp, if an incorrect date:

Only seven minutes off! Bonus points were also awarded for noting the correct timezone.

So here's how it all went down (and very much not according to plan, as babies are often known for doing):

Tuesday night, I go in for the beginning of my induction. This part of the process is mild, and I'm expected to just sleep with the dilation medication overnight, and then hopefully very early in the morning start contractions, either on my own or with a second more aggressive drug.

So I get there, and the night doctor tells me that first off, I've dilated "significantly" in just the 5 hours since my afternoon appointment (with my real doctor) to verify that all was on track for the evening induction, and secondly, I'm actually having small contractions even though I can't feel a thing, so it would appear that I've miraculously gone into labor completely on my own at the exact time they were going to begin induction. I ask what "significantly" means, and they say a full centimeter, which doesn't sound so significant to me, but I'm not a doctor. Cancel the drugs, I'm going to have a textbook delivery.

Just a couple hours later they tell me the contractions are 4 minutes apart, and though I feel uncomfortable overall I seriously doubt I would have considered these to be regular contractions had they happened at home. A nurse informs me, however, that the baby's heart rate is slowing dramatically for 5-10 seconds after every contraction, which indicates he isn't getting enough oxygen during those times and they may need to speed up my delivery just a tad in order to make sure he's not subjected to that stress for too long. So they rescind their previous prognosis, and re-order the second drug, Pitocin, to hopefully push me over the edge into real labor right away.

I sleep for awhile, and a few hours later I can definitely feel the contractions and they're about 2 minutes apart. However, no increased dilation at all. The night doctor confers with my real doctor, and admits that they were probably feeling the same thing and just estimated it differently. But at this point the dilation drug won't work fast enough, so my real doctor takes over and breaks my water.

As he's talking to me through the procedure, you can hear the sudden change in his voice, though he tries very hard to be casual about it. "O-kay, that's unexpected--nurse..." (Gross description of a common complication taken to the extreme. Apparently my amniotic fluid is full of meconium. Not just a little coloration, but Linda Blair pea soup style. Everyone has to change clothes by the time they're done.) This indicates the baby has been in distress, probably for days. But the contractions are less than a minute apart and full delivery-strength, so they make an effort for awhile to give me extra oxygen, and do some fluid transfers, in the hopes of still delivering normally. But no dice. I'm still only 4 cm dilated, and it becomes clear that a C-section is inevitable.

From that point, however, everything went very smoothly. After he came out they whisked him away to do some emergency triage and make sure everything was okay, but he was breathing and crying on his own from the start, and after a minute everything calmed down and they began the typical weighing and assessment procedures. 7 lbs., 14 ounces--a huge baby considering my measurements; earlier estimations had put him at around 7 lbs., if that.


Of course having a C-section meant we had to stay a couple extra days, but I'm feeling pretty good considering, especially with some help from my friend the Vicodin prescription. :chill: It's amazing--I bothered to go back and count, and I've only slept about 2-3 hours a day (total, including naps) since Wednesday. But I'm alert and chipper--I could be trying to sleep now, for example, since Gideon just went back down after feeding (I typed the entire first half of this post with one hand, phear my leet multi-tasking), but I don't really feel like it. Obviously I'm high on adrenaline and hormones, and they tell me that in another few days that will wear off and I will crash hardcore. But in the meantime I will leave the snoring to those who do it the cutest:

The Gid! The Gidder!

Excellent work by you Clod! Did they ever figure out what the distress was?

Congratulations to both of you on a beautiful baby!!

Did you know it takes exactly 7 minutes to boot up my computer and log into the Cellar? ;)

ConGrats !!!

Grats on a beautiful baby boy :D . Glad to hear that everyone is doing well! You look wonderful for just having had a baby. No wait, you look great. Period.

Small derail:

Your story is remarkably like my last baby's delivery. I was supposed to be admitted on June 4th at 5 PM for the induction. Was going to sleep with that and actually induce the next day. The 4th, I woke up to contractions, cleaned and did my last minute cleaning and arranging through the contractions. Arrived at the hospital at 5pm and they confirmed a full-blown labor. My daughter popped out (literally!!!) at 10 pm that evening.

Today is her 1st birthday.

Anyway, congratulations again!

Stormie

Congrats! Glad to hear everything went... er, relatively smoothly!

Congratulations on a beautiful baby Clodfobble!

Beautiful Baby! Fobular G!

You are awesome, Beautiful family!

Here comes the free advice avalanche:

The only thing you need to remember and do (which you won't) is

IF THE BABY IS SLEEPING, THEN THE MOM SHOULD BE SLEEPING TOO.

That's it.

Good luck and get napping!

SSHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Mom's probably sleeping!




Well, we can hope she is!


:) babies: the Universe's idea that life should go on!

SWEET! Beautiful baby.

Congratulations on your successful weight loss regimen. :thumb2:

Awesome! Nice job Mom!

hey, congrats!

Wow. I had almost forgotten how magical, worrisome and amazing the whole birth process can be. Glad things worked out as they should. Let's hear it for Clodfobble, Mini-Fob, and modern obstetrics!

Holy moly this last 9 months (and a few days or so) has gone by so fast!!

Well.... for the rest of us probably.

What a beautiful baby! And my goodness - your family is just picture perfect!
Congratulations on your fantastic accomplishment.

Ooooh ohhh wait - do I get to be the first to ask "when are you going to have another one"?? ;)

Great job Clod, congrats!

Conratulations, he is absolutely adorable. Ditto on the sleep advice (sorry). I felt like you, too high to sleep when I had the chance. At least lay down and put your feet up. You'll be amazed how many times you'll drift off too :)

ENJOY!!!

Thanks everyone! We're still doing great. I got 5 whole hours of sleep last night, broken into only two blocks, and I feel fantastic this morning.

Nope. It's basically equivalent to crying inside the womb, sometimes you just don't know what's upsetting them.

Don't know exactly, but I'm certainly not thinking there will need to be any specific reason to delay. I do want my kids to be close enough in age that they can play together. Given how hard it was to have the first one, it will probably entail waiting to see whether this pregnancy has kicked my body into normal behavior or whether the process will take some time again.

Giddy Lee! The Gid-meister! Giddy-AWN!

Way to go to Mom, Dad, and the newest star of the show, Gideon. My warmest and most heartfelt congratulations to all of you!!!

Happy congrats to you all!!

Giddy Lee! love it!

Welcome to Earth Gideon Paul!

And congrats to Mom and Dad. It's the most work you are ever going to love.

Weeee! Congratulations! You all look great. I'm glad you all came through the adventure well.
Three words:

Military Boarding School.

Yeah...weren't we just reading "The beauty of two pink lines....??!"... It does seem like just a couple months ago...

Anyway...congrats on a beautiful family! Ya did good, mom!

Was just checking the parenting topics again, not really used to it yet...:blush: Saw one beautiful baby over here and i may not know the parents....but stopped by to say Congrats!!! Its a wonderful thing.....;)

Facing eviction. :D



btw, the spell checker wanted to change Clodfobble to Cultivable.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Clodfobble
Nope. It's basically equivalent to crying inside the womb, sometimes you just don't know what's upsetting them.





Facing eviction. :D


or:

"GIDEON?? THEY'RE NAMING ME GIDEON?? OHHHHHHHHHHHH."

;)

I'm a newbie, don't know you yet, but I'm so taken by the pics I wanted to say congratulations, your baby is gorgeous. You're right to prepare yourself for the "crash landing" - it can be rough so make sure you ask for the help and support you need...everyone will benefit, Mom, Dad, and future-ankle-biter! CONGRATULATIONS, YOUR LIFE IS ABOUT TO DO A 180! And it's one of the greatest experiences this life has to offer. (Have you heard the song "Show Me" by the Pretenders on Learning to Crawl? Give it a listen. It fits so well at a moment like this.)

Only just catching up on the news I missed - congratulations! You have a beautiful family :)

Lovely to hear that a much longed for child has been delivered safely and is already bringing joy.

And good luck with getting another Mini-Fob started while coping with the change in your life that Gideon brings...

beautiful baby and family. Nothing easier than loving a child of ones very own.

No wonder we have birthdays. Every year marks milestones and memories. Congradulations

My kiddo laughed for the first time today. Really threw back his head and cackled, completely unexpected. :lol:

Sorry, my husband's not home for a few more hours and I had to tell someone...

Cool! I love all the "firsts."

You're funny, mom!

Congratulations! What an adorable kid =)

Which joke did you tell him? Was it the one about the boy scout, the priest and Jesse Jackson on the airplane with only one parachute? :)

Actually, we were swiveling back and forth in the office chair singing a showtune...

It was "Bring On the Men" from Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde... :blush:

RAWK
 

This is the most awesome baby picture ever.

Hey, Mini-Fob. lookin' good!

:)

Great picture! It needs captioning...something like:

"Yeah, well you're not so hot yourself, fella!"

Nice. It's too bad you're an ocean apart, because a team-up with York's baby-girl would result in some outstanding reaction shots!

Simply Fobulous.

That's the look you get when he knows you are taking a picture to use against him on prom night.

Did someone order a Cutie-in-a-Bucket?

What an adorable monster! :) nice work!

Wwwoooww awesomely cool picture ( and baby offcourse )
He's getting bigger...nice to see again! :blush:

Ooppss and tnx Toad , i guess... :)

Wow, not only a cute kid, but an absolutely classic photo!

Definitely thanks, your little lass and the mini-Fob are both cuties and I just think that if the two of them were pictured together, with their various reaction faces, there could be cute overload.

That's a diaper-filling-in-progress face if ever I saw one :lol:

He looks like the littlest pirate ever--arrrh, matey!

Happy Birthday kiddo!! :celebrat:

Mmmmmmm....chocolate cake....Mmmmmmm....

Well, red velvet cake, technically... He's still young enough that I get to pick a cake flavor that I like.

Either way, it looks like he's enjoying it anyway. :) That's the main thing.

Wow, time goes so fast! A happy birthday to miniFob!
Looks like he's enjoying it! looks kinda familar! :D

WOW

Thats gone sooooo quickly!

Happy Birfty MiniFob :D

Minifob is two, and he got a very special birthday present this year. See those two stuffed characters? They could only be acquired from their native land with the invaluable help of the lovely, lovely Sundae Girl. He says thank you! (Actually, he screams "Beeyah Bah! Beeyah Bah!" but he means thank you. :))

Ohhhh how adorable. Happy Birthday Minifob:)


btw, that's one of my favourite kiddie shows lol. Very funky.

Héhé , cute indeed! Having fun dad? :D Look a bit like the Casper ghosts... Thank you here sounds like , "dangoewel" :) Bit im sure that in a little time Mini will say it all right! A tip, take notes of the funny/spelled strangly words.... if u read them years from now , ull be laughing! :D