Birth Story

So this is what "normal" is like.  A few weeks ago I remarked how strange it is to have everything going according to plan.  The whole time I was pregnant with Happy I was "waiting for the third shoe to drop" as my mom would say.  But it never did.  I had a nice, uneventful, 39 week pregnancy.  I felt pretty good almost the whole time (save for a weekend of debilitating chondritis of my ribs and just the general discomfort at the end from having a rather large baby inside).  

Saturday morning, we got up at 4 am so we could be at the hospital by 5 for surgery prep.   The actual procedure was as nice as could be. The atmosphere was totally different compared with Charlotte's birth, this time it was so relaxed and everyone was joking around.  One of the nurse anesthetists even offered to take some pictures.  

Our first picture with Abigail

Mike got take Abigail back to the recovery area and wait for me.  Then I got to hold Abigail and nurse her in the recovery area, which was sweet.  I felt so much better than after Charlotte's birth. With Charlotte I was so nervous, they gave me something to take the edge off and I was so drugged I barely remember anything.  This time, I was less nervous and I got to savor a lot more of the awesomeness of the experience.  

Sisters

One of the best things about being pregnant was that I got to share the whole thing with my sister.  She was pregnant with twins and our due dates were 3 weeks apart.  When we both found out we were having girls, I was so excited!  We grew up with a close clan of female cousins, and I always imagined the same for my own kids.  Since she had two kids already, I could ask her all my stupid pregnancy questions and we could share protein shake recipes and pregnancy complaints. 

Of course, we also had some fun photos together.

Me 24 weeks, Jess 27 weeks

Me 29 weeks, Jess 32 weeks

At first, my mom was worried we would have our babies on the same day at different hospitals.  That seemed completely ridiculous!  She was having twins and would probably have them early so the births would be over a month apart.  I would be able to help her out with her newborns weeks before I had my baby.  Then, I was on bedrest and my sister, pregnant with twins, was coming over to make me lunch.  Nobody expected her to make to full term with twins and that I would deliver >6 weeks early .  We gave birth a mere 3 days apart!  Now we can barely find time to talk on the phone with eachother, but once these baby girls are a little older they are going to have so much fun growing up together and making trouble.  Here are their first fun photos together.

Bailey, Charlotte, and Netta.

For Archival Purposes

Here are email updates that Mike sent to our families during Charlotte's first days (before we started this blog).  I pasted them together here for archival purposes.

_______________________________________________
From:  Michael Nawrocki
To:  halfdrunkcanofpop
Date:  October 5, 2010 3:09 PM
Subject:  Happy Birthday

Charlotte James Nawrocki
5 lbs 3 ounces, 18 1/2 inches
12:23 p.m.

Emily did great.  C-section birth ordered by the doctor around 9 a.m. Ben was with us and got some beautiful pictures.  Emily is recovering nicely and Charlotte is in the Special Care Nursery on a CPAP machine to keep her lung pressure at a level where the alveoli can stay inflated, but otherwise she is breathing on her own.  So she is having a tad difficulty breathing but this is pretty standard stuff for a baby born at 33 weeks, 6 days.

Pictures to follow.

So Charlotte won the race against her cousins, which we really wanted her to lose but, who cares?  She is beautiful and in the hands of some of the best medical practitioners in the world. And I almost lost a race myself.  On the way over I thought I'd take Shepard Road as a shortcut to get to Crosstown.  But at 35E and Shepard Road traffic was a at a standstill.  I was pinned with an 18 wheeler behind me and to the left of me and a Schwann's delivery guy in front of me.  I waited there for 45 minutes.  I got out and walked up to what was going on. Joe Biden was on his way to the airport and no one could pass until he went by.  He was in town to stump for So there we sat.  I thought, "If Joe Biden makes it so I miss my baby's birth, I am definitely voting for Tom Horner this fall!!!"

_______________________________________________
From:  Michael Nawrocki
To:  halfdrunkcanofpop
Date:  October 5, 2010 3:16 PM
Subject:  Re:  Happy Birthday

p.s.
Full head of black hair.  Long toes.  Allegedly she has her father's eyes, but we can't confirm that because they are always closed. I miss her.  Think I'll ditch Emily for awhile and see how Charlotte is doing.  Feels weird and great actually calling her by a real name.

_______________________________________________
From:  Michael Nawrocki
To:  halfdrunkcanofpop
Date:  October 7, 2010 12;25 PM
Subject:  Charlotte Update

Charlotte is doing GREAT!!!!!!!!  After a trial run of taking her of the CPAP yesterday (and replacing it with a cannula)  failed, last night was spent getting her back to equilibrium.  She did great through the night and they tried again this morning right as we walked in late this morning.  They took out the CPAP and put in a cannula. And this time it took.  She stayed calm and her breathing and blood O2 sats stayed well over 90% (the goal), so they let us hold her.  Highlights:

1. We saw her open her eyes for the first time and she looked right as us when we talked to her.
2. We both got to hold her.
3. I changed my first diaper ever with a lot of help form the nurse.
4. She took her first feeding of Emily's breast milk.  Emily has been pumping every three hours and they have been storing it up for this moment. And they feed through a tube.

Video and pics to follow sometime between now and when Charlotte turns 18.

_______________________________________________
From:  Michael Nawrocki
To:  halfdrunkcanofpop
Date:  October 7, 2010 2:34 PM
Subject:  Emily Update

Both Ben and Beth have asked for updates on Emily.  Emily is doing awesome.  We have ditched the wheelchair and she walks to and from the nursery slowly but easily.  Her husband needs to be retrained because he keeps walking at normal speed.  Then I'll hear this "okay bye" and I turn around and she's ten yards back.

Physically there is still pain but nothing unusual.  For someone who whines about people on the radio in the morning (or any time of day, she would like me to correct), she sure is one tough lady. Emotionally, she is super happy.  So am I.

_______________________________________________
From:  Michael Nawrocki
To:  halfdrunkcanofpop
Date: October 9, 2010 9:13 PM
Subject: Re:  Cottage conference thought

Just as a heads up, I am not sure how many visitors Charlotte would be able to see.  Charlotte's immunity will not be up to snuff when we take her home.  Exactly what that means in terms of who can visit and how often remains to be seen.  We are taking this one day at a time and will keep everyone posted on that.  The possibilities range from no restrictions to a lot of restrictions.

I hope it's okay if I hijack this thread to briefly say Charlotte is doing great.  She is breathing on her own and off the IV.  She still needs the light for jaundice prevention and she still needs support to maintain her body temperature.  She now only has one tube in her, an NG tube for feeding.  Two days ago they gave Charlotte 5 cc of Emily's milk to see if she could tolerate it.  When I left tonight after her last feeding, she took 35 cc. Emily is getting to the point where she can keep up with the the demand, in tems of what she can supply.

Emily is kicking ass too,  She had a good day today.  Her soreness post-surgery persists and she is not overly fond of living at Fairview Southdale.  But we both agree it is worth it.

No word on when Charlotte comes home,  She has to be nursing independently and pass a carseat test.  So we are on her schedule.  Like I said, we go one day at a time.

_______________________________________________
From:  Michael Nawrocki
To:  halfdrunkcanofpop
Date: October 10, 2010 2:00 PM
Subject: Re:  Charlotte Update

Update #3
Things continue to progress nicely for both Emily and Charlotte.

Beginning with Charlotte,
1. Her biliruben (or however you spell it) count is back to normal so
no more blue light for now and hopefully forever.
2. She and Emily worked on learning how to nurse for the first time this morning.  Charlotte latched a few times which exceeded expectations for a first time trial.  The two ladies will have their second practice this evening.  We used to two-a-days in college for track and cross country.  Quite frankly, those workouts seem a lot easier than the work Emily and Charlotte go through.

Emily...
1. Has a swollen ankle which she researched thoroughly and learned is normal post-pregnancy. But it was pretty painful and stiff through the night and improving today.
2. Had some issues with expressing milk but thanks in part to Jessie's nurse and mostly to a nurse we had here, Emily learned a few tricks of the trade to make things work and now she is doing a great job.  This is a huge relief both mentally and physically (literally) for Emily. And that is really the most I want to talk about my wife's mammary glands with everyone.  Bottom line is she is 100% happier today than she was 24 hours ago.

Charlotte's Birth Story

On Monday October 4, I had an ultrasound to measure the amniotic fluid and it was low.  My doctor said that she'd repeat the next day and if it was still low we'd deliver.  Well, she said that a bunch of times and it didn't happen so I didn't take her seriously.  I didn't even mention it to Mike that night.  The next morning, my doctor came in at 5am on her rounds and told me again that if the fluid was low this would be the day and she told me not to eat breakfast. Well, we'd been through this before, so I didn't bother to call Mike.  At about 9 am, I had the ultrasound and the fluid was still low.  The nurse said that they could get me in the OR for a c-section at 11:30am.  I was not prepared - I had some loose ends to tie up!  I wasn't completely mentally prepared either. I knew we would be having her early, but not >6 weeks early!  So, I called Mike and hastily emailed a few people at work.  The nurse kept coming in to start prepping me for surgery, and I'd say, "I need ten more minutes!"  Then, Mike called and he was stuck in traffic.  Joe Biden was at Macalester giving a talk and the road was closed for his safety.  He was worried that he wouldn't get there in time, but the nurse said they wouldn't start without him.  I called my sister.  My brother-in-law, Ben, had offered to come take pictures so he was on his way.  The nurse started prepping me for surgery and packing up my stuff since I would be moving from an antepartum (my home the last two weeks) room to a postpartum room. 

Ben got there before Mike since he didn't have to deal with the Joe Biden traffic.  Mike arrived and put on his scrubs.  He looked so cute!  Then the nurse said we would walk down to the OR.  What!?  After 2 weeks being confined to bedrest, I was going to walk down the hall!?!  As we were walking down the hall, I had to ask them to slow down because I couldn't keep up.  Even though the childbirth class instructor came and talked to us for almost 2 hours one night, and we knew what to expect, I was really nervous.  I mean, holy crap!  We were going to have a baby in 20 minutes! 

I went in the OR without them and they gave me the epidural and strapped my arms to the table (did you know they do that?  It's instinct to reach out to grab the baby and that would compromise the sterile field) and the guys came in. It didn't hurt, but I felt lots of pulling and tugging. After <15 minutes the doctor pulled Charlotte out.  I heard her cry and it was the most amazing moment.  She was here!  And she was OK!  Crying meant she was breathing!  My doctor said, "say hi!" and lifted her up to the curtain for a split second and all I saw was the top of her head.  Mike could see everything and he just kept saying, "she's so beautiful, she's so beautiful." 

Because Charlotte was a preemie, I knew that I wouldn't get to hold her right away since the neonatologists would take her away for assessment.  During this part, Ben came over and showed me the pictures on his camera, the first time I got to get a good look at her.  Charlotte was breathing on her own, but then she stopped and was in respiratory distress.  Ben had to leave and Mike was with Charlotte. I don't know what was happening while they finished stitching me up, Mike can tell that part of the story.  While I was in recovery, Mike and Ben were in the Special Care Nursery with Charlotte and took more pictures and came back to show me. 

Having Ben come to take pictures was so wonderful.  The nurse had told Ben that he wasn't allowed in the OR, but he would not take no for an answer and kept asking until she said it was up to the anesthesiologist and he was fine with it.  So, Ben got some scrubs.  It was really cool to share such an important day with him.  It also allowed me to see what was going on throughout the whole thing.

Once I was recovered I was wheeled through the nursery to see her for the first time and I put my finger in her hand she grabbed my finger.  She is amazing and beautiful and we are in love.

our first family photo