The first days at home

Well, we have been home now for 4 days and 3 nights, and we hate to say too much...but it is going very well! Anna was fussy for a couple of days, but now she seems to be happy with the food supply and has been much calmer today. Her little voice is hoarse, even from crying just a little bit. I guess she is getting used to using it. She is sleeping very well, and likes to be wrapped up, unlike Erin. She also has used the pacifier a few times, but isn't crazy about it yet. She had a busy day yesterday with meeting her cousins and seeing Grandma and Grandpa A. She also went to her first Mass this morning and slept right though it. We think she absorbed some of the blessings anyway. She had a fun visit with Yannis and Sofia tonight as well. We have also been on walks every day in the double stroller, and both girls (plus Bella) have enjoyed that.

We are having lots of fun with her, and are really enjoying this early stage. Bob especially likes being able to hold her and rock her in the chair. She is very sweet, and we are noticing some little lines on her arms, like fat rolls are in the making! Maybe she will be our chubby baby. She also has a dimple in her left cheek that we can't get enough of. She got her first at-home bath on Friday and tolerated it about as well as Erin did. We think she'll get over being undressed and start to enjoy her baths more in the future.

Erin, however, has had a rough weekend. She has been super irritable and even had a low-grade fever last night. We think she may have picked up something mild from the pediatrician's office on Thursday. She was feeling better this afternoon, so hopefully she will sleep better tonight and be back to her old self tomorrow. It's no fun having a sick big girl while trying to get used to the new little girl too. She isn't having much to do with Anna, but is definitely aware of her and is starting to keep an eye on her from afar.

So, all in all, we are doing well, and I am happy to say that Bob will be at home with us all week. I am pretty nervous about handling both of them alone, but we will get used to it. He has been a big help with chores around the house and running errands so I get to play with/entertain the girls. He even took both of them to the grocery store yesterday while I took a shower. Very impressive!



(can you tell who the problem child is?)

Anna's birth story (don't worry - not gory)

So I don't have the best memory to begin with, and I understand that we will be a little busy in the coming weeks/months, so I thought I would write out what Anna's first 24 hours were like. Here we go:

Thursday, May 13 - due date, no baby, nothing all weekend
Monday, May 17 - doctor appointment in the morning. They did a non-stress test where they hooked me up to a monitor for 30 minutes or so and watched the baby's heartbeat and movements. I was having contractions every 10 minutes, but they weren't painful and they weren't getting more frequent. The doctor scheduled me for an induction on Friday the 21st, said I was about 3cm and 50% effaced, and sent us on our disappointed way.

During the day, I continued having contractions every 7-10 minutes, and they were a little stronger than in the past, but still not painful. At 4:40pm, they were consistently 7 minutes apart and I called the OB - before they closed - and told them the situation, also reminding them that I was going to need my 4 hours of antibiotics in labor for group B strep. They told me to come on in to the hospital, so we got here around 5:30pm and checked in.

They monitored me from about 6:00-6:30pm, and not much had changed. I was still about 3-4cm and 50% effaced. The day nurse told us to walk for an hour and they would reassess the situation. We did that, and ended up getting to about 4cm and 80%. The night nurse called the midwife, who arrived around 8:30...we kept walking around while waiting for her. She said I was about 5cm with contractions about 5 minutes apart...and we had 2 choices. 1. she would break my water, start pitocin, and get things moving, or 2. go home and come back when I started hurting more. I emphatically voted for #1, and Bob reminded her about the antibiotics...so she realized that I should be admitted for that. Thanks, Bob!

Soooo...I got the IV and first bag of penicillin. Around 9pm, Dr. V (who was not my friend at this point since he had no good news at the office earlier that morning) stopped by to say hello. He was on call for c-sections, etc. At 10pm, penicillin bag #1 was done and we were instructed to walk. At 10:15, I was ready for the epidural. Obviously, things had started moving quicker on their own by this point. So we started the epidural process (such a wonderful thing), though the very nice (but tardy) doctor was backed up and I didn't actually get the magic until 11:45, about a half hour later than I could have. That was a long hour and a half! But I eventually got it, my water broke on its own, and I got a catheter all within a very short time. Right after this, the nurse reported that I was 8cm. So I get to tell everyone that I made it to 8cm without an epidural...not by choice, though!

The epidural was not as wonderful as with Erin - we speculate that because my water had broken, maybe the contractions were a lot stronger or something. I had a little relief at the beginning when I got the initial bolus, then some at the end after several doses...but definitely not the same magic as last time, and I had it for less than 2 hours before she was born. But, alas, it was still worth it! Also, my blood pressure went a little low and I had to get 5mg of ephedrine to try to bring it up and I had to wear an oxygen mask. But I didn't feel bad (not related to the blood pressure, anyway), and it wasn't really that low, according to Dr. Bob.

So now comes the bad news. The nurse, who I had a love-hate relationship with, was insisting that I get the second dose of antibiotics before delivery. The second dose had to be 4 hours after the first dose, which meant the earliest it could start would be 12:45 with the 30-minute window. The reason for this was so that the baby would not have to have blood drawn and that they would consider the strep to be treated (we found out later from the pediatrician that only one dose is needed now to be considered treated...)

I was feeling like I needed to push, but we had to wait on the pencillin to be done, which was done around 1:15. The nurse, midwife, and two baby nurses came in and set up for the delivery.

I started pushing and 4 pushes later, at 1:31AM, Anna Kathryn was born! She cried right away and we saw that she was a girl (double 9 apgar score for our medical professional readership), and she was perfect!

All in all, it went very well, once things (finally) got started. We are so happy that she is finally here and healthy, and that Erin has a little sister to play with!

Anna is here!

It's another Girl!

Anna Kathryn Callaway was born on May 18, 2010 at 1:31AM. Anna was 8 pounds and 2 ounces and 20.5 inches long. See pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/bob.callaway/AnnaKathryn. We will be at WakeMed Cary Hospital for the next day or two.

Mom and Anna are doing wonderful! Thank you all for your well wishes, thoughts, and prayers!

Love,
Bob, Gina, Big Sister Erin, and Anna (Bella too)

No Baby Yet!

We are still 8 days from May 13th, but no baby yet. Bob thinks it will be born this Saturday (perhaps wishful thinking on his part, since he wants to start his paternity leave early), but I think it will be next Friday - one day late. We'll see who's right! My checkup yesterday did not reveal much, and I will go back on Monday for another checkup. Everything looks good, so we continue to wait!

Feel free to cast your vote in the 3-item poll to the right for the chance to win an all-expenses-paid opportunity to babysit a middle-aged basset hound in the comfort of your own home! We also have talked about the first person to see the baby after us winning a similar opportunity. There's plenty of basset hound to go around!

Seriously though, don't avoid seeing us because of that. We could always arrange some sort of alternate prize : ) We are also taking write-in votes for names...yes, a cheap ploy to get some name ideas at the last minute!