The Hospital Experience

While home with Zak, I find myself watching tv. A lot. The other day I saw an episode of Scrubs that had me laughing out loud. It's relevant to today's topic so I'll quote it here. In this episode, J.D. is describing the realities of childbirth:

You'll fart, pee, puke, and poop in front of ten complete strangers who'll be staring intently at your vagina which, by the way, has an 80% chance of tearing!

Hilarious and disturbing! For those of you wondering what to expect from childbirth in a hospital setting, here are some highlights:

• The nurses are the ones who do almost all the work. With Zak, the doctor was present for about 30 minutes of my 36 hour stay.
  
• That being said, my nurses were awesome and extremely competent. I can't imagine why anyone would want to give birth at home, they really do a great job taking care of you in the hospital.


• Meals are served at old people hours. Breakfast is at 7AM, lunch at 11AM, and dinner at 4:30PM.


• Moms get all the attention. Dads have to sleep on the equivalent of a park bench with a cushion, so you fellas might want to bring a pillow.


• Did I mention attention? Moms get a LOT of attention... at all hours of day and night. Nurses come in to poke and prod you every few hours, sleep or no sleep.


• If your hospital is like ours, there are all kinds of free things you can take home. Almost everything in the baby's bassinet is yours to take: diapers, wipes, a bowl for sponge baths...


• For you technonerds out there, the hospital likely has free wi-fi so bring your gadgets


• Your prize for a successful delivery? Adult diapers and disposable underwear! You can tell Kyle thinks it's very sexy.

Naps

I've always been a light sleeper, but with Zak's arrival I find I can nod off at a moment's notice. And Kyle's always been good at taking time out for some much needed shuteye!



And speaking of sleep, Zak is a good little sleeper. He sleeps around 3 or 4 hours between feedings at night, so when you throw in a nap for me during the day, I'm feeling pretty well rested. However, as the pics show, some days we are more tired than others!

Big Sis and Little Man

What are these two up to???

Yay Me (almost)!

Tried on a pair of pre-pregnancy jeans today and lo and behold, they fit! Of course, they fit a lot better if I leave them unbuttoned... details, details.

More Zak Pics

Sleeping in the boppy, first sponge bath at home, and wrapped up in the bili blanket to correct his jaundice.

Two Weeks Old

Zachary is two weeks old today! Over the last 14 days I've gotten much better at changing boy diapers - the trick is to hold a washcloth over the danger zone to catch any sudden sprays - but sometimes he slips one by me. Today... well, there's no nice way of saying it. Today he managed to pee on his face. I'll make sure to embarrass him with that story when he's older!

Grandpa Bill Keeper

I'm sad to report that Kyle's grandfather, Bill Keeper, passed away on Monday after a long illness. Zachary's middle name comes from him and my grandfather, both named William. Unfortunately he was not able to meet his newest great-grandchild, but here he is with Isabel when she was a baby:


We'll miss you, Grandpa Bill.

Zak and Isa

One of my biggest worries about having a new baby in the house was how Isabel would react. So far, I have been pleasantly surprised! She hasn't shown any jealousy of Zak yet. She enjoys showing off "her baby Zak". She asks to help with his diapers, and brings him toys or makes silly faces when he cries. The only unhappiness she has shown is when Kyle or I don't meet her needs with the speed our little diva has been accustomed to.

The other night after a nap-less weekend, Isabel had a major meltdown during bath time. I went upstairs to relieve Kyle. By that point, she'd worn herself out and collapsed on me in a big hug. As I rubbed her back, she asked "Why do mommies love you even when you're bad?" Well, I don't know if it was the post-partum hormones or the sweetness of the question, but it brought tears to my eyes. I said, "Because that's a mommy's most important job. Mommy and Daddy will love you and Zak even if you're bad". She replied, "But Zak isn't bad!" I responded, "He will be, when he's older! Everyone is bad sometimes, but Mommy and Daddy will always love you".

Getting to Know Zak

Here's a few fun facts about baby Zak:

• Isabel's shouts, screams, and tantrums don't faze him a bit. I guess he got used to hearing those sounds in the womb.


• He's had high bilirubin levels which caused jaundice. The doctor asked us to put him in a "bili blanket" to help with the jaundice. Obviously we're glad such a device exists but it's a huge pain and makes everything twice as hard to do. However, it worked quickly and today Zak has gotten a clean bill of health. Bye bye, bili blanket!


• He hums when he nurses. I happen to know it's his mommy love song.


• So far he's a better sleeper than Isabel. We'll see if I've just jinxed us!

Ants and Itches

A few funny conversations with Isabel...

Isabel: Mommy, can you sing the ants song?
Jacqui: Ants song? I don't think I know an ants song. How does it go?
Isabel hums a few lines, sings "Hello, hello!"
Jacqui: Oh! You mean the Beatles song (Hello Goodbye). That's the Beatles, honey, not the Ants!

***

Jacqui: (noticing Isabel scratching herself) Does your underwear itch?
Isabel: Noooo.... my butt itches.

***

Kyle's addition:

Kyle: (after forgetting to unbuckle Isabel's car seat) Isabel, let's go get out of the car.
Isabel makes noises indicating she can't get out.
Kyle: Oh sorry, I forgot to unbuckle your seat belt!
Isabel: It's ok. Sometimes we forget things because there's a lot to remember.

Zachary William Keeper!!!

Friday was my last day at work, and I stayed a few minutes later than normal, wrapping things up. After all, I was going to have a baby on Monday and was starting maternity leave! That night, Kyle, Isabel, and I went to eat at our favorite pizza joint, and then Kyle surprised me with an "end of pregnancy celebration" cake from Golden Delight, the same place that made our wedding cake. We joked that the baby seemed to really like the cake because he was kicking me like crazy. Little did we know that he had other plans in store for us...

We had some last minute things to take care of... bills, library returns, cleaning up a bit... that we thought we'd take care of during the weekend. But at 1AM Saturday morning, I woke up with pain in my belly which went away, only to come back a few minutes later. After this happened a few times I thought, "Hmm.. this sounds familiar... could I be in (gulp!) labor???" I woke Kyle up and he couldn't believe it either. The pain was not very intense, but it was happening every few minutes. After an hour of this, we decided to call the doctor's emergency line, and based on my history the doctor on call recommended I come in to the hospital.

Crap! We were prepared for MONDAY, not 2AM Saturday morning! We called our friends Steve and Manju and asked Steve to come over to watch Isabel. This was funny, because Kyle had joked that very day with Steve that this was the only night that he would need to be on call since Kyle's parents were coming the next day. Steve came over right away. I was starting to feel worse as the contractions got stronger, and Kyle was running around like a madman trying to find all the odds and ends we wanted to take to the hospital.

Finally we got in the car and drove off. The contractions got a lot stronger and I started to get concerned that I wouldn't get to the hospital in time to receive an epidural. By "get concerned", I mean that I screamed, "F***! I'm not gonna be able to get an epidural!!!" The doctor on call had phoned the hospital so they were expecting us and led us straight to a room with a gurney and gown for me to change into. As soon as I saw that, it was like my body had permission to go into full-on labor and my water immediately broke. I have never been so happy to be anywhere as I was to be in the hospital at that moment.

They wheeled me into the delivery room, Kyle following with our bags and gadgets (laptop, Blackberry, cell phones, iPod touch, camera, video camera, sheesh!). The contractions had gotten really strong now, much more painful than they had ever been with Isabel. I was so happy to hear they were sending in the anaesthesiologist! At this point I was already 8 or 9 cm dilated, so once the epidural was in, I just let my body do the work. The doctor came in, and just two contractions worth of pushing later, Zachary was born at 6:30AM!