Over the weekend, I finally felt good enough to venture out of the house, so Eddie, Aunt D and I took the little lady on her first real adventure!
First, we (of course) stopped at Epsteins to say hi to Shane and Sean, then we picked up sandwiches and headed to the East River park. It was a bit tough on me (about two miles round trip), but Matilda did great! It felt so good to be out of the house and in the fresh air...I was getting stir crazy.
Then, after we went home and rested for a bit, we took Mattie out to dinner with the 3 of us. Pala was packed, so we went to Mole, which was so fun. It was quite loud in the restaurant, but Mattie was in her car seat and slept through the whole dinner. :) She was a total little angel!
It was so fun getting out and about with her. I can't wait until I am more mobile and can take her out on my own during the week. Right now I can't lift anything heavier than the baby, so the stroller and car seat are off limits. Three more weeks and I'll be taking her everywhere. Can't wait!
Monday, July 18, 2011
Doctors, doctors and more doctors!
Matilda has done so well the last (almost) three weeks and Eddie and I are getting used to less sleep and lots of diapers!
Since we left the hospital 2 weeks ago we have had lots of visits to doctors for the new little Berrang girl. First, two days after we left the hospital, we had to take Mattie in to be checked for jaundice. She was borderline when we went home, so we needed to be sure she wasn't having any issues. It was July 4 weekend, so the doc at the hospital said we'd likely have to take her to the ER to be checked, but we were so excited when our new pediatrician offered to come in on a Sunday of a holiday weekend to check her. So we took her out when she was 5 days old, in a thunderstorm, to be checked for jaundice...she was totally fine of course. :)
Then, on her one week birthday, we had her first newborn visit. They weighed her and were amazed that she had already gained 6.5 oz. Most babies lose a bit of weight after birth, but not our little porker! She was 7 lb. 12.5 oz one week after birth.
During this doctors visit we also asked about the bump above Mattie's right eye. It was there when she was born and we weren't sure if she bumped it or if it was an issue. The doctor said it is a dermoid cyst and not anything to worry about. She referred us to a dermatologist to confirm her suspicion and decide on what should be done for it.
So, at two weeks old, we took Mattie to the dermatologist. He was really great- confirmed it is a cyst and told us the three possibilities: the cyst will go away on it's own, as she grows, it will be so small that nothing will need to be done, or it will need to be removed when she is a bit older. He assured us that it's very common and nothing to be concerned about, which made us feel much better! So we're just waiting to see how things pan out with that. He did recommend that we take her to a pediatric eye doc to be sure it's not impeding her vision at all, so we're going to do that soon.
We are so thrilled that she is happy, healthy and growing like a weed!! We are very lucky and remind ourselves of that every day....
Since we left the hospital 2 weeks ago we have had lots of visits to doctors for the new little Berrang girl. First, two days after we left the hospital, we had to take Mattie in to be checked for jaundice. She was borderline when we went home, so we needed to be sure she wasn't having any issues. It was July 4 weekend, so the doc at the hospital said we'd likely have to take her to the ER to be checked, but we were so excited when our new pediatrician offered to come in on a Sunday of a holiday weekend to check her. So we took her out when she was 5 days old, in a thunderstorm, to be checked for jaundice...she was totally fine of course. :)
Then, on her one week birthday, we had her first newborn visit. They weighed her and were amazed that she had already gained 6.5 oz. Most babies lose a bit of weight after birth, but not our little porker! She was 7 lb. 12.5 oz one week after birth.
During this doctors visit we also asked about the bump above Mattie's right eye. It was there when she was born and we weren't sure if she bumped it or if it was an issue. The doctor said it is a dermoid cyst and not anything to worry about. She referred us to a dermatologist to confirm her suspicion and decide on what should be done for it.
So, at two weeks old, we took Mattie to the dermatologist. He was really great- confirmed it is a cyst and told us the three possibilities: the cyst will go away on it's own, as she grows, it will be so small that nothing will need to be done, or it will need to be removed when she is a bit older. He assured us that it's very common and nothing to be concerned about, which made us feel much better! So we're just waiting to see how things pan out with that. He did recommend that we take her to a pediatric eye doc to be sure it's not impeding her vision at all, so we're going to do that soon.
We are so thrilled that she is happy, healthy and growing like a weed!! We are very lucky and remind ourselves of that every day....
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Happy Birthday Matilda Rae Berrang!
Well the day finally arrived, though not at all as we expected! It was a typical night of Chinese food, TV and contractions with not much pain (story of my life the last 2 wks), when all of a sudden I thought my water broke! I very excitedly went to the bathroom only to find it was lots of blood rather than lots of water, so I called the doctor to see what he thought. Everything I read online said that you can have a "bloody show" (what a name, right?) as heavy as a period, so I thought maybe that's all we were dealing with. But, when I called the doc, he wanted me to go to the hospital immediately...apparently what I described was not as common as the world wide web led me to believe.
I still thought that we would likely get to the hospital and they would send us home to finish our lo mein and wait for our doc appt the next day. I thought this so surely that we almost didn't bring our bags for the hospital, but at the last minute we decided to play it safe. We grabbed a cab and loaded up and headed to NY Downtown. Of course, there was construction on Bowery, so it took a bit to arrive...
Once we arrived, everyone was very helpful. They took my into triage and put on the monitors and examined me. The good news was the baby was totally fine- great heart beat and fluid levels...everything with her looked great. The bad news was that the sonogram showed that my placenta looked to be blocking the way out and they would have to do an emergency C-section.
Now I had prepared myself for many scenarios with having this baby, but this was not one I had considered. I had skipped this section in all the books and basically not considered it as an option at all. Now I was told that I was being prepped for surgery and the baby would be out within the hour- not exactly part of my birth plan!
I didn't have much time to fret though, Eddie was in scrubs and we were in the OR within the hour.
The surgery itself was pretty scary. I had seen C-sections on TV, but nothing prepares you for that being YOUR body and you being fully awake. Also, it took what felt like forever...come to find out the surgery was complicated even more because they had to cut through the placenta to get to the baby...not the norm. So the exit wasn't totally blocked like they'd assumed, but the placenta was pulling away from the wall of the uterus, which caused the bleeding and could be dangerous for me and the baby. Thankfully my doc was cautious enough to get her out quickly and safely.
Eddie was next to my head the whole time and we got to hear her little cry for the first time as soon as she was born- 2am on the dot. She weighed in at 7 lb 6 oz and was 20 in long! Tall and skinny like her daddy :)
Eddie got to go with her to the nursery while I was stitched up- another long process. Then they wheeled me into recovery and brought little Mattie Rae in to hang out while they set up our room.
Once we made it to our room it was about 430 AM and we were exhausted. Mattie nursed for the first time and was instantly a pro at it- we were thrilled. The pediatrician and doctors start rounds at 5, so we did not sleep at all. So Tuesday was really rough for me...I really was not prepared for major surgery at all.
Tuesday night the doc recommended that Mattie sleep in the nursery because my blood pressure was really low and I needed to rest, but apparently Mattie didn't like that idea- they brought her back at 130 because she was upset and wanted mom and dad. But Wednesday and Thursday night she cooperated and slept in the nursery from 12-430 so that mom and dad could sleep a little. It totally changed things for me and I really felt better after sleeping a few hours. I felt so bad sending her, but knew I did the right thing when Eddie and I could both function on Thursday! It had literally been almost 72 hours since we'd slept at that point.
On Thursday I finally felt well enough to shower, so Aunt Tink (aka Wendy) stayed in the room with Matilda while Eddie helped me shower. Felt great to be clean! It's tough doing normal tasks with the incision pain, but I'm trying. Eddie was great and did all the diaper changing and lifting.
We finally got to come home on Friday. Wendy and Mom came to the hospital to help while Eddie went and got a Zipcar to bring us all home. Eddie had also decorated our apartment building with balloons-so sweet!
Here are some great pics from the hospital and homecoming:
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I still thought that we would likely get to the hospital and they would send us home to finish our lo mein and wait for our doc appt the next day. I thought this so surely that we almost didn't bring our bags for the hospital, but at the last minute we decided to play it safe. We grabbed a cab and loaded up and headed to NY Downtown. Of course, there was construction on Bowery, so it took a bit to arrive...
Once we arrived, everyone was very helpful. They took my into triage and put on the monitors and examined me. The good news was the baby was totally fine- great heart beat and fluid levels...everything with her looked great. The bad news was that the sonogram showed that my placenta looked to be blocking the way out and they would have to do an emergency C-section.
Now I had prepared myself for many scenarios with having this baby, but this was not one I had considered. I had skipped this section in all the books and basically not considered it as an option at all. Now I was told that I was being prepped for surgery and the baby would be out within the hour- not exactly part of my birth plan!
I didn't have much time to fret though, Eddie was in scrubs and we were in the OR within the hour.
The surgery itself was pretty scary. I had seen C-sections on TV, but nothing prepares you for that being YOUR body and you being fully awake. Also, it took what felt like forever...come to find out the surgery was complicated even more because they had to cut through the placenta to get to the baby...not the norm. So the exit wasn't totally blocked like they'd assumed, but the placenta was pulling away from the wall of the uterus, which caused the bleeding and could be dangerous for me and the baby. Thankfully my doc was cautious enough to get her out quickly and safely.
Eddie was next to my head the whole time and we got to hear her little cry for the first time as soon as she was born- 2am on the dot. She weighed in at 7 lb 6 oz and was 20 in long! Tall and skinny like her daddy :)
Eddie got to go with her to the nursery while I was stitched up- another long process. Then they wheeled me into recovery and brought little Mattie Rae in to hang out while they set up our room.
Once we made it to our room it was about 430 AM and we were exhausted. Mattie nursed for the first time and was instantly a pro at it- we were thrilled. The pediatrician and doctors start rounds at 5, so we did not sleep at all. So Tuesday was really rough for me...I really was not prepared for major surgery at all.
Tuesday night the doc recommended that Mattie sleep in the nursery because my blood pressure was really low and I needed to rest, but apparently Mattie didn't like that idea- they brought her back at 130 because she was upset and wanted mom and dad. But Wednesday and Thursday night she cooperated and slept in the nursery from 12-430 so that mom and dad could sleep a little. It totally changed things for me and I really felt better after sleeping a few hours. I felt so bad sending her, but knew I did the right thing when Eddie and I could both function on Thursday! It had literally been almost 72 hours since we'd slept at that point.
On Thursday I finally felt well enough to shower, so Aunt Tink (aka Wendy) stayed in the room with Matilda while Eddie helped me shower. Felt great to be clean! It's tough doing normal tasks with the incision pain, but I'm trying. Eddie was great and did all the diaper changing and lifting.
We finally got to come home on Friday. Wendy and Mom came to the hospital to help while Eddie went and got a Zipcar to bring us all home. Eddie had also decorated our apartment building with balloons-so sweet!
Here are some great pics from the hospital and homecoming:
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