Bulking up!

Today was Juliette's final appointment with the Midwives. It was our first proper outing as the Midwives have a Baby Clinic at the St. Matthias Children's Centre on Fridays. We were scheduled in for 11 am. 

We left at 10:45 am as the Centre is about a 5 - 10 minute walk MAX from our flat. Juliette slept right up until the time we needed to leave, and then when I put her in her pram, she started screaming because the poor thing was starving! I figured we'd be there a bit early so I could feed her while my mom and I waited.

My "I just ate" face :)

Halfway to the Clinic I realised I had forgotten all the paperwork, so my mom ran back to get it and told me to keep walking to the Centre and she'd meet me there. Well, she had no idea where the Centre was so I started walking back to meet her because I couldn't just stand in the middle of the sidewalk with a screaming infant. 

Now we had the paperwork (her newborn notes) and Juliette is still screaming. My mom suggests I carry her to help soothe her. This works, but again, halfway there it now starts drizzling. So I made sure she was covered head to toe and we finally made it to the Centre 5 minutes late. By this time, I am sweating profusely, the baby is crying again and I am about to start crying myself! Thank goodness my mom was there because she took the baby so I could get myself together and organised as we were called back immediately for her weigh in. 

They made her be buck naked for the scale and she measured in at 3.41 kgs (7 lbs, 8 ounces)!! This is almost a full pound more than her birth weight, which is pretty impressive since babies lose weight in their first few days of life until mama's milk comes in. The midwives were really impressed! 

Finally I was able to feed Jules while we finished up with the midwives and then we were on our way home. 

I topped her up when we got home and she passed out. My mom offered to watch her so I could take a nap, but as soon as I laid down, my Health Visitor called and wanted to stop by! This was our first appointment with the Health Visitor so I wanted to be accommodating. She was wonderful and a wealth of knowledge. The best piece of news - because Juliette is gaining so much weight and is doing so well, there is no need for me to wake her every 4 hours like the midwives said... on demand feedings only! We'll see if she chooses to sleep longer during the night because THAT would be awesome (not that 4 hour stretches weren't already awesome)!

The health visitors hold once a week clinics that we are able to go to including baby massage and first aid for 0-1 year old. They also offer weekly weigh ins so we can track how she's growing, although Andrew is pretty sure his custom baby scale will work going forward. 

8 Weeks is when we start immunisations... I have a lot of reading to do before then as they are a tiny bit different than in the States and here they also recommend a BCG vaccine against TB (which apparently is scarily common in big cities!).  

It's amazing how quickly they grow!   

Our first Week

Juliette is 10 days old today! I can't believe we've had her that long already. 

The first week went really well for the most part. The most difficult thing was recovering from the c section (which I am still struggling with). I have irritation from the catheter, which hasn't been fun, and there is a hematoma on my internal wound under my skin incision that is pretty painful. 

But enough about me! Juliette has been such a joy! She eats like a champion, poops like a machine and sleeps like an angel at night! Other than the first night in the hospital, we've only had one "bad" night since she's been home. She usually goes to bed for the night at 10:30 pm - fed, changed and swaddled - and sleeps until about 2:30 am and then again from 3:00 am until about 6:00/6:30 am! Not too shabby for a bitty baby. I set my alarm for 4 hours from her last feed each night because the midwives said I shouldn't let her go longer than 4 hours without eating at this stage - I've woken twice this week to the alarm because she was still sleeping! 

My mom has been a really big help too! She's cleaned our whole apartment (probably better than it's every been cleaned!), done laundry, cooked and watches the baby so I can nap. It doesn't get much better than that! She also has Juliette tracking already. She's been doing so well. 

The most amazing thing though is how much weight Juliette has put on in her first week! From Monday to Saturday, she gained 4 ounces when most babies lose weight their first week. Then Andrew created a baby scale using our kitchen scale, a mixing bowl and a cutting board on Tuesday and determined she was 7 lbs 7 ounces! We have our final midwives appointment tomorrow so we will get the official weight gain, but we're hoping for a lot! We need her to be 8 lbs before she can use all her cool things - slings, vibrating chair, nap nanny, baby bjorn, etc! 8 lbs seems to be the magic number.

Here are some photo highlights from Juliette's first week: 

2 Days Old

Here is Juliette's film Debut. 

Dramatic Debut

Juliette made her debut this past Monday, 18th June, although I was having contractions since Thursday night! They got consistent Friday morning, then stopped, then started again Friday night. By Saturday, I thought for sure we were having a baby, so when my contractions were about 5 minutes apart at 9 PM, the hospital told me to come in and get checked out. 

We walked the mile to the hospital (to speed things up in case I was in full blown labor) and poor Andrew had to carry both my bags. After waiting an hour and a half to be seen, the midwife determined that I was only a little over 1 cm dilated and 70% effaced. And with that disappointing news, we were sent home to labor some more until I was further along.

By Sunday morning, the labor had almost stopped...AGAIN. Andrew and I went for a walk in Holland Park, I would get the occasional super intense contraction, but nothing consistent so I just powered through. We went about our day as usual. Andrew made me a yummy dinner and then the contractions started getting more intense and regular again. I didn't pay too much mind to it, because for the last few days they seemed to pick up in the evenings. So after a bath and monitoring them a bit with our handy contraction timer, I was having them about every 6 minutes and they were lasting 45-50 seconds. I was literally feeling them in my bones. But I decided to labor a bit more because I didn't want to get sent home from the hospital again - the next time I went I would be having my baby!

Around 3 am, I had a contraction and then felt a little gush of warmth come out of me... FINALLY, my water broke! After that though, my contractions slowed a bit and weren't very painful... so I waited to call the labor ward until almost 5:30 am. They said if my water broke I should come get checked out but since the contractions were back to 6 minutes apart (they were as close at 4 minutes apart pre-water breaking!) they would probably send me back home. 

We got to the hospital around 6 am (cabbed it this time because it was raining) and when I got examined around 6:30, I was 5 cm dilated! Unfortunately, during this exam, the midwife also thought she saw a bum instead of a head. An ultrasound a few minutes later confirmed this and everything changed - the surgeons were called because I needed an emergency C Section. Breech babies = automatic c section.

At this point I burst into tears because I much as I had been mentally preparing for this moment since Thursday, not once did I think about what would happen if I had to have a C Section! 

I couldn't stop shaking, but everyone was really nice. They were SUPER impressed with how I handled my contractions. The senior midwife told every other woman she's seen on her shift was screaming about how they couldn't do it. I honestly didn't they were unbearable... then again, I wasn't quite to the end yet! 

So after the surgeons came, I was whisked into the operating theatre, given my spinal/epidural and then the next thing I knew, I couldn't move from the chest down! It was the oddest sensation. They asked me to lift my legs, I couldn't. I couldn't feel the cold spray they used to test if it was working. It was the most bizarre feeling! After about 10 minutes, when it REALLY kicked in, I seriously felt like I was flying. 

I was still shaking uncontrollably because I was so nervous (I was SO nervous I was going to feel something!), but thankfully Andrew was there. He talked to me throughout the entire thing to calm me down - honestly he did a beautiful job distracting me. Other than Andrew, the Anesthesiologist was my next favorite person. She talked me through EVERYTHING - I think she saw the terrified look on my face and felt bad for me. She let me know what the were doing and when the baby was coming out and told me I was doing great. There were two midwives who were supposed to be doing this, but it was Emily, the Anesthesiologist, who made it a great experience for me. 

They were supposed to drop the screen and show me the baby when she came out, but instead they whisked her away to the pediatrician standing by. They rubbed her and ended up putting the little CPR oxygen mask on her. I started crying and asking Andrew "why isn't she crying?!" Emily assured me that her heart rate was fine, that C section babies can get a little confused since they don't go through the birth canal. The doctors took out a baby intubater but she caught her breath right before they inserted! 

Our first night in the hospital was a bit stressful with 5 other babies around in our bay and me not being very mobile with the c section. But after a little convincing on Tuesday, I was reviewed and approved to go home with my beautiful, healthy baby girl!    

Juliette Avery has Arrived!

Juliette Avery Jacobs van Merlen was born at 7:58 am on Monday, 18 June 2012. She weighed 6 lbs 10 oz and was 21.5 inches long. Here are some of her first pics: 

 

False Alarms = Major Downer

I truly thought I was having a baby last night. I have been having contractions since Thursday 5:30 PM. Friday morning they were 8-10 minutes apart and I didn't sleep at all Thursday night because of them. Then around 11 AM on Friday... they just stopped! I spoke to a midwife and she said that's fairly normal and that this could go on for a few days. 

I was getting contractions off and on all day Friday. I went to bed on Friday night and Saturday morning they were less regular again and more mild. Andrew and I went for a 2 mile walk through Holland Park with Maeby. We walked almost a mile to brunch and back with Bernie and Alison, and then to top it off, we went on an afternoon walk to Peter Jones in Sloane Square... just about another 2 miles. 

During the Peter Jones walk (around 4 PM) I started getting regular contractions. We got home around 6 PM and we have a nifty app on the ipad to track them - so I started. They were about 7 minutes apart at this point and lasting 30 seconds. 

Andrew made me dinner and the contractions were getting down to 5-6 minutes apart! I took a nice bath after dinner and they were getting as close as 4 and a half minutes apart, averaging 37 seconds long, and getting stronger, so I called Labor and Delivery because I was sure this was it and I wanted some advice. Looking back, the guy I spoke to was probably just about to end his shift because he hardly asked me any questions - just told me to come in and get assessed. 

So Andrew packed a bag (because it was 9 PM at this time so we were preparing for a long night) and he grabbed my bag, and off we went. We walked to the hospital to try and speed things up. The contractions were still getting stronger and were still about 4 minutes apart. 

When we got to the hospital, the contractions started getting super intense - about 3 minutes apart lasting almost 50 seconds. Even though it wasn't that busy, it still took the midwife on duty about an hour and a half to see me. In that time, the contractions, although getting stronger and still lasting 50 seconds, were getting further apart (averaging 6 minutes). 

When I was talking to the midwife, I could tell she didn't think I was in labor. Because the contractions were getting longer apart, she said she wasn't obligated to do an internal exam unless it was a maternal request. I requested it. She was super nice... said I was about 2 cm dilated and 70% effaced. BLAST! Then she said labor could continue and get stronger, or it could just stop. She wouldn't say which way she thought it would go but she didn't expect me to sleep that night because of the intensity of the contractions. 

Well, we got home, I was still having fairly regular contractions but was so exhausted from all my walking that I passed out not too long after. I woke up a few times to the contractions, but they weren't close enough to keep me awake. I slept from about midnight to 7:30 AM. My contractions are still really intense today, but now are few and far between. 

THIS IS SO FRUSTRATING! I really thought I was having a baby today, but it doesn't look like that will be happening now... when I read other women's experiences online, it seems like my stats are not promising for an early delivery. 

Andrew and I went on another 2 mile walk through Holland Park this morning... I hope that things speed up again. It's so disappointing, all this starting and stopping. I keep getting mentally prepared to have the baby. Everything aches now from almost 3 days of contractions - from my knees up to my belly button. The contractions themselves are intense, but not crippling because you know it will end. It gets mentally exhausting though because it's kind of like being punched in the arm, in the same spot, over and over - each punch doesn't really hurt that much, but the combo of hitting the same spot over and over starts REALLY hurting.

I really hope this doesn't last much longer. 

Ready to Pop!

I'm 39 weeks tomorrow. Every day I wake up feeling like today could be the day! I've gotten my Maternity Benefits sorted, my Hospital bag is by the door, all the baby clothes are washed and put away, the crib is made up, changing table stocked... it's time! 

I keep getting a lot of aches and pains in my lower abdomen and in that general area. Sometimes they are sharp, sometimes like cramps, sometimes it's just a general achy feeling. When I walk for an extended period of time, it feel like the baby may literally fall out of me! I guess these are all normal signs that your body is preparing for labor? 

I go to the midwives on Thursday for a check up, but they do not do internal exams here so I'm not too sure if they'll be able to tell if I'm effaced or dilated at all! 

I've also started looking into sleeping techniques and parenting methods. I'm sure Andrew and I will go with whatever feels natural, but I feel like I should read up on some of the suggestions out there. Suggested reading is welcomed!  

2 weeks to go...

Today I am 38 weeks pregnant. Pregnancy really hasn't been bad at all until 2 days ago. 

Monday night around midnight I started getting horrible stomach pains where I couldn't lay down at all. At that time of night, the only number I could call was NHS direct - nurses that give you medical advice. The baby was moving fine, so she told me if it got worse to call the labor ward as I could be going into labor. After about 45 minutes, the pain subsided a bit and I was able to sleep. My thought was, if I was going into labor, I'd have to ride it out at home for awhile anyway. 

When I woke up yesterday, I felt much better, but the pain wasn't completely gone. It moved from my upper to my lower abdomen. I called my midwives to run it by them and I was told just to monitor and if it escalated, I was probably going into labor! So I packed my hospital bag completely - as a procrastinator I hadn't packed any entertainment materials or my toiletries - just in case. 

More presents for baby JVM

So now we are on the second full day of pain/cramps but it still hasn't escalated into contractions. I think this must be the stage of pregnancy that everyone complains about - things just get uncomfortable! Now, my whole body is achy and I have constant lower abdominal pain. Fun times! It's kind of crazy though... I could go into labor any day! 


We also got a nice package from Grandma Catherine (Andrew's mom) today filled with a Winnie the Pooh book in Spanish, tons for super cute Ralph Lauren outfits, and sleeping gowns! It's great because they are for 6 and 9 months which we don't have much of yet! One of the cutest items is USA bows for her hair! I really hope she has hair when she's born because those bows would be super cute for next month on the 4th of July! 

How far along? 38 Weeks

Total weight gain: 27 lbs 

 

Maternity clothes? Maternity shirts are a must.

Stretch marks? Nope. Two weeks left...

 

Sleep: Sleeping OK. I had wicked insomnia over this past weekend. And now, if I lay on one side for too long, my hip falls asleep...no bueno. But I did sleep in until 11:30 today and it was phenomenal! 

Best moment this week:  Feeling like labor could be any day! 

   

Miss Anything? My body. Can't wait to exercise again. And drink a big glass of wine.   

 

Movement: Big stretching still plus her little bum moving all over the place. I can even feel her stretch her hers sometimes really low in my abdomen.    

Food cravings: Water. And rice krispy treats.   

 

Anything making you queasy or sick: Starting to feel queasy for no apparent reason these days.  

 

Gender: Baby girl
 

Labor Signs: Lower abdomen pain. Nausea.  

 

Symptoms: tiredness, swollen feet and hands, loose pelvis, hot flashes..the works! 

Belly Button in or out? It seems more of an innie since the baby has dropped. 

Wedding rings on or off? Off. I have sausage fingers this week again.
 

Happy or Moody most of the time: Very very happy :) Slightly annoyed with how these last days are dragging! 

 

Looking forward to:  These early symptoms escalating to labor!