Nora's Birth Story

Nora’s Birth Story

Nora had been ‘presenting’ breech since 20 weeks, so Dr Deem decided a c-section was the best route of delivery to avoid complications. We were scheduled for Wednesday, July 15^th, which is perfect because it is 2 days after our wedding anniversary. When we went in for my final appointment on Thursday, July 10 Dr Deem said that Wednesday is full and they have us coming in on Monday at 7:30am! Even though it was now scheduled for our anniversary I was excited because it meant we got to meet her 2 days earlier than we thought! 

Saturday night we celebrated our anniversary with Cheesecake factory. It was perfect! We walked around Sundance Square downtown Fort Worth afterward and sat by the ‘slash pad’ fountain. Sunday we had church, then we went to lunch at PF Changs with our senior friends, Jodi and John, who are in their 80’s and we consider our Texas grandparents. After lunch we went to the nursing home that Austin preaches at and all our ‘friends’ were so excited that the baby was so close because they were some of the first to know I was pregnant. The rest of the day was spent cleaning and getting ready! We also swam for a while since I knew it’d be a while before I was back out there!

Monday morning we woke up at 6:45am and were SO EXCITED. We left the house at 7:20am and arrived to the hospital at 7:30. We went up to Labor and Delivery and they got us checked into a room. When we got to the room everything wa pretty fast from there. They had me change into my gown, put my IV in, and put wrist bands on. My mom and Lindsay then came in and hung out with us for a little while when the nurses were trying to get info put into the computers.

She kept kicking the monitors :)

When everything was ready they had Austin stay in that room and wheeled me to the OR. It was SO white and bright in there—just like on TV! The anesthesiologist then prepped me for my spinal tap. It was really scary. The scariest part was that he missed twice and I got shooting pains down my left leg. It hurt SO badly I started crying (which was embarrassing) but Dr Deem talked me through it. Once the medicine kicked in everything went like LIGHTENING!

They said “get Austin in!” and put me on my back, put the curtain up, strapped my arms down, and started! I couldn’t feel a thing….it was so weird. Dr Deem then said “I see a butt! Here comes the butt,…and a leg, another leg, an arm, and here she is!” At first she didn’t make any noise but then she started crying the sweetest cry!

They brought her over to listen to her breathing and heart, then they weighed and measured her. 8lbs 11oz 21 ¾ inches long! They brought her over to me and let me hold her by my face, which was amazing. Austin then got to hold her while they stitched me up.

We found out later that she had some irregular heartbeats, but each time they checked after that they were back to normal. They said this is normal right after a c-section. 

They then wheeled us into our room and said “you can go ahead and try nursing her and we’ll move you to Post-P in an hour.”

When we got to post-P, my mom and Lindsay/David/Caden came in first to meet her! Then Austin's parents and sister Meredith came in. They passed her around and held her. It was weird because I was confined to my bed since my legs were still numb!

I'm thankful for my c-section. God positioned her the way she was for a reason! Since she was so big I feel like I would have ended up with one anyway, but it could have been an emergency c-section which is so much worse. Because mine was scheduled, Dr Deem was able to work nice and slow on the incision and delivery, which I think is why you can't even see my scar! It's pretty incredible that Nora was delivered from it! It's about 3 inches wide and just looks like a thin line.

Because it was scheduled I think my recovery was a lot faster than others. The next morning after delivery I was walking around, sitting in different parts of the room, wearing my shorts and a tshirt.

Day 1 in hospital:

Visitors: Dr Marr (our pastor at church), my mom, my sister, David, Caden, Austin's parents, Austin's sister

Pain: My legs were numb, and I started to feel my incision around dinner time. It hurt to lay on my sides because I had to use my ab muscles to turn over, but the nurse made me :/. She also made me cough which hurt! 

Food: I was on a liquid diet because of the medicine I was taking, so I drank water, iced tea, and apple juice the first day. That night she let me have food-liquids, so I had a chocolate pudding cup....or 2 or 3 :)

When visitors weren't in the room Nora was pretty much eating or sleeping. That first night she slept on and off every 45 minutes or so and ate. I held her while she slept 

Day 2 in the hospital:

Visitors: Both sets of parents and siblings and Marcie Orjuela!

Pain: It was kind of hard to get out of bed and sit down and stand up, but the pain wasn't bad. I just had to do it slowly. Once I was up or down I was fine.

Food: I was finally able to have some solids, just nothing that would upset my stomach. I had a turkey sandwich at midnight with baked chips, another pudding cup, an Einsteins Bagel for lunch, another turkey sandwich,...and I don't remember dinner haha

Day 3 in hospital: 

DISCHARGE DAY! We pretty much got our stuff packed up and one of the nurses came in to do a whole talk on infant care and discharge information. We were packed up and out at 10:30am! On the way down to the car I ran into my old babysitter....who lived next door to us in ILLINOIS (who now lives in Texas)...Megan! It was crazy! I haven't seen her in years!!

We then got home and the journey began...

A Day in the Life: Tuesday

{Here is our day Monday at my parents written by Lindsay}

Yesterday was a fun day! I figured I would record Nora's sleeping and eating so that I would remember in a few months/years....

Here's her "routine" as a 2 week old (Routine is in quotes because it changes daily lol)

Monday night/Tuesday morning feedings

Sleeping 11:45pm-2:50am 
Eating for about 40 minutes to an hour..... she sometimes goes for a long time

Sleeping 3:50-7:25
Eating for about 35 minutes

Sleeping 8:00-9:32

Eating for about 30 minutes

Then she was up for a few hours just looking around and hanging out. She went in her swing for a little while, had some tummy time, and I held her on the couch for a bit

Here's a pic of her hair so I'll remember the length :)

Tuesday afternoon

I fed her a few times throughout her little hang-out period but then fed her at 11:30 because my friend Rebecca was coming to see her and I wanted her to sleep!

She fell asleep at Noon  as the doorbell rang! Perfect!

Sleeping: noon-3:30

While she slept I made cookies and Austin came home for lunch from work. We ate left over barbecue from yesterday at my parents and then listened to Hunger Games books on tape....we're losers.
Eating for about 40 minutes

My mom came over then and Nora was awake hanging out. I then fed her at about 5:30 and my mom watched her while Austin and I swam in our pool. It was really fun. We just got a solar cover, though, so the water was BLAZING hot. It felt like a hot tub! I had to get in slowly. While we were swimming our neighbors behind us put a present over the fence for Nora. It was 3 really cute outfits. It was thoughtful of them because I've never met them and Austin's met them once!

While we were outside my mom gave Nora a bottle, that she drank in 10 minutes with 3 burps! ha! She then went to sleep! My mom held her for about 30 minutes while she slept and Austin and I took showers and watched some Jimmy Fallon. I then put her in her basinet so she would keep sleeping. She ended up...

Sleeping 6:20-9:50pm!

We didn't know what to do with ourselves! My mom made us dinner (pesto ravioli...it was so good) AND she cleaned the kitchen and did all the dishes! WE'RE SPOILED!!!!!

Watching our favorite show...her monitor :) {Thanks Grams for the monitor!!!}

When she left Austin and I ate some cookies I had made earlier :) and started Mission Impossible 1. We didn't want to go into the bedroom and wake Nora.

She woke up at 9:50 and I changed her and fed her only for about 20 minutes and she went to sleep...

Sleeping 10:15-12:00am

Now here is where the struggle hit. At midnight I think she realized she'd been sleeping all day and did NOT want to sleep! She was up until 2am falling asleep, waking up, crying, eating, etc. Usually this happens at around 9pm but because that was in the middle of her sleep she pushed it back tonight...

Austin was a HUGE help and let me sleep through most of this and he bounced her... he then woke me to feed her when she seemed inconsolable at 11:30.

Sleeping 2:00am-4:45am

Eating 4:45-5:15

Sleeping 5:20-9:20am

Usually I wouldn't let her sleep for 4 hours straight but now that she went to her 2 hour checkup and she's confirmed to be gaining weight I don't have to wake her for feedings anymore, she'll wake herself when she's hungry. I still don't want to let her go past 4 hours though...

She then did some tummy time, ate, and fell back asleep :)

Dinner and Airplane

Grandma and Grandpa's house for dinner!!!

My mom and dad flew to Llano, tx to pick up meat from Coopers BBQ! It was delicious! We went over around 3:30/4pm and hung out for a while. Lindsay and David got there at 5 or so and we had dinner. Brisket, mac n cheese, mashed potatoes, fruit,...

Nora slept through dinner in Caden's old vibrating seat. She was so peaceful. She woke up after dinner and I fed her and then she kind of went in and out of sleep after that.

My dad, Austin, and David then took the airplane up! I was nervous for Austin to go...I don't know why!

 We then went to get frozen yogurt in Midlothian. It was really good. Nora slept :)

 Group pic! Caden loves frozen yogurt!

Recent Happenings Weeks 1-2

 Aunt Meredith came to visit last week!

Nora being wide awake at night :)

 Sleeping after church 

 Wide awake at 10pm :)

 Costco :)

 Great American Cookie Co. in the mall :)

Some pics Austin took of Nora and I napping 

The doctor suggested we clean her umbilical cord so it will fall off

 :)

13 days :)

2 Week Check-up

Nora had her 2 week check up this morning! Our doctor schedules newborns for the first slots in the morning so that they're not around sick kids, which is great, but she usually doesn't wake up until 9am so having a 9 o'clock appointment is hard. I had to wake her this morning to get her dressed and feed her a little bit before we left. Austin then went in to do the paperwork and I fed her a little more in the car. We got to see our actual pediatrician this time (she was out of office last week for our appointment and we had a different doctor). She is GREAT!! She doesn't accept new patients but we have friends that have been going to her for years so she made an exception.

Nora's stats:

Weight: 8lbs 7.5oz (she's up 8.5oz from last week, which the doctor says is amazing considering usually newborns will only go up 1/2oz per day). This made me VERY happy, because I had been concerned that she wasn't gaining weight. Post pardem hormones make me worried/paranoid about everything....hehe

Her face after her appointment haha

Her eyes, ears, breathing, etc. sound great!
Her umbilical cord is STILL attached so Dr put some stuff on it to dry it up faster.

I talked to the doctor about how I'm concerned because at her last feeding at night she eats FOREVER and I feel like she's not getting any milk because when I try and lay her down she screams and acts hungry. She said I can always supplement with some formula at that last feeding before bed because I might just be out of milk by then if she had recently fed before then. She gave us some samples to try,..we'll see if we need them. At least we have options!











We then had to go to get her blood work done at a lab for the 2 week screener. It was sad watching her little foot get pricked :( She cried during it but then stopped when the lady had finished! She slept in the car on the way home so Austin and I drove through In-n-Out and split a burger :).