Our 1st Big Update

Well life has dramatically changed for us these last 2 1/2 weeks!!! I'm exhausted, my boobs hurt, I haven't showered/brushed my teeth/combed my hair/etc in > 24-36 hours, I am wearing spit-stained clothes, I am not sure what day it is, and worst of all- beer has lost its great taste!! BUT... I am loving this new task of being a mom and it is all worth it! (It's much harder than I anticipated though.) Nico has been a relatively easy baby and has only given us a few rough nights so far. Everything is going great in the Biagini home!

We have made it out of the house a few times! We have had 2 routine appointments with our pediatrician, and she is great. Very thorough. His 1st appointment was on a Monday, only 2 days after hospital D/C, and he had gained 3.5 oz and half of an inch already, making him 6 lbs 10.5 oz, and 20 in. He had a skin tag near his ear that she tied off (just for cosmetic reasons) and that eventually fell off after 4-5 days. Everything looked great.

 

Nico's 2 week checkup was this past Thursday. He weighed 7 lbs 13.5 oz, and was 21 in. long. There was one minor concern. A slight click was felt when testing the movement of his right hip, which could mean that the joint is not aligned correctly. She sent us to an imaging center on Monday to get an ultrasound. Luckily, the results came back normal with just a little laxity in the joint. She thought that could simply be from maternal hormones and that she would recheck it at his 2 mo appt. Phew! It would have broken my heart to see him constrained in a harness!

Nico loves to eat so he will fit in well in this family! He has been on a somewhat consistent feeding schedule every 3ish hours. There have been a couple of times where things have gotten off track (Sun night he wouldn't sleep unless he was held in a standing position by David AND wanted to eat every 1 1/2 hours?! It was miserable!). We had to remind ourselves that at least he is cute :) His eating does crack me up because he gulps and gulps so quickly that he almost gets out of breath, and then he ends up eating too much and he gets the hiccups just about every time. We've tried to do a better job of burping him lately because he seems to get fussy after eating. He has a TON of dirty diapers and I can not believe how fast we are going through them! He must have his daddy's digestive system because he farts and "sharts" throughout the day.

He has a goofy little personality already. He will not sit still, even in his sleep. His arms are usually flailing around, back arching, and legs kicking. He loves to stretch! He seems pretty strong already (ofcourse we are biased!) because he lifts his neck up and can hold that position when he's held on our chest and during tummy time. He hates to be swaddled, and if we do, he usually works his way out of it. He even rolled over and was sleeping on his side the other day. He likes his hands up by his face or even above his head. If we don't keep his nails trimmed, he's bound to have scratch marks all over his face.

He does the cutest little things with his lips- he makes a HUGE pouty face with his bottom lip up that makes me smile or chuckle even when he is crying. He puckers his lips all of the time too, and I call him my little Zoolander (from the movie).

We put him to sleep in his crib ever since the 2nd or 3rd night home, and he has done well. We figured that having a monitor on the nightstand is no different than actually having him next to our bed in the play yard. Might as well start the crib routine now. He loves the vibrating chair and spends a lot of time in that during the day.

Last Sunday, we gave him his first bath at home and are on an every other night bath schedule. He just loves them and is so content while he's in the water. In the 10 foot walk from the sink to the changing table to put his diaper on, he of course peed all over me! Gotta love him.

David and I went on our first post-baby date night on Saturday! David surprised me by having his parents come over to babysit so that we could sneak out of the house for a few hrs. What a good husband I have! We went to Uncle Julio's for fajitas and a few drinks. I pumped and had a bottle available just incase, and he slept the whole time that we were gone! When we returned, he woke up and Dave gave him his 1st bottle. It didn't seem to slow him down one bit as he ate the whole 3 1/2 to 4 oz. It was such a relief that he took the bottle because now that means occasional breaks for mama!

(Just wanted to say a big THANK YOU to our parents. We are so fortunate to have you close by to be such a big part of Nico's (and our) life. Can't thank you enough for stopping by just to visit, helping out with housechores, babsitting while we sneak out, bringing over good food, and spoiling this little boy!)

And here are just a few pics. Can you tell that I take too many?!

We just love this little guy more each day. I'm not sure how it is possible to love anything more!

Hospital pics are in... 1 day old!

Our Hospital Stay

We had a great experience at Baylor Frisco! The 2 1/2 days that we were there seemed like 1 reallllllly long day! All day and into the night Thursday, I must have still been running on adrenaline. I only got 1-2 hours of sleep total because I was so excited to hang out with Nico. He was so adorable asleep in my arms and kept making little sounds or movements every few minutes. I remember looking at him and thinking that I don't think it's possible to love him anymore than I do! My heart just melts when I look at him. I had a moment when I just started crying because I was so overjoyed. And then I thought about him growing up so fast and that he won't be this little and adorable forever, and it made me really sad! Oh, the emotions of motherhood.

 

As I sat there through the night unable to sleep, I tried to engrave it in my brain to enjoy every little phase that he goes through and not just spend time looking forward to the future. I know that I will look back on these early days and miss them, even if they become frustrating and exhausting at times. That perspective has continued to stick with me for the most part, and I definitely have soaked in every moment thus far. Each day I have continued to have that moment when I can't help but let tears run down my face as I stare at the little guy.

  

Friday brought its own set of adventures for Nico. It started with a photography session in our room, where out of nowhere, Nico became very alert and smiley! It was unbelievable to see the transformation as if he knew he was having pictures taken. The photographer got some great shots that I will forever cherish!

Coach Zea came to visit him that morning. She said that she couldn't believe how calm he was, and said that it must skip a generation. Ha! A few hours later, we had another set of visitors- my parents brought along Great Grandma Elson. She said that it was one of the best days of her life. 

 

Later that afternoon, Nico had a newborn hearing screening. It was way more advanced than I ever would have imagined. They placed electrodes on his head and measured brain activity in response to a sound. While the end result was that he passed, it took a good 45 minutes because one of his ears had to be repeated a few times. The administer said that it's common to have fluid in the ear that messes with the results. I was supposed to have an allotted nap time of 2-4 with no disturbances, but the hearing test took so long that it cut into that. I was faced with the dilemma of trying to nap for 45 minutes or taking a shower. The shower won.

Friday afternoon at the hospital was a traumatic one for Nico. He was circumcised and got the PKU painful heel blood sampling within an hour's time of one another. Poor guy. He refused to eat for 8-10 hours following those procedures. It broke my heart to see him looking so sad and angry. Cindy and Dave came to visit about the time he was getting done with that.

One of the highlights of the stay was the celebration dinner that we were served. They offer steak and lobster, but David chose steak + steak and I had steak + chicken. The chocolate cake was the best dessert EVER!

Later that night, I hit my wall and became so exhausted. I used the nursery that night so that I could get some sleep. They brought me Nico at 3 hour intervals to feed him. I was able to sneak in a couple of 2 hour naps. One thing that I will always remember is the special moment that we had in the middle of the night. The nurses brought me Nico and he was wiiiide awake with big blue eyes. It was awesome to just stare into each others eyes like that for the first time. He looked so perfect and had that fresh baby smell. That was also the time that the breastfeeding turned the corner, and he had a feeding longer than 5 minutes. That relieved some of my stress since I was so worried and starting to feel like a failure, even though the nurses kept reassuring me that it's common for newborns to feed poorly for the first 24 hours. I even woke up David to tell him the news.

I was awakened by the pediatrician, Dr. Kessinger, about 6:45 on Saturday morning. He had a good report on Nico's health and thought that he had a strong name! He was very thorough and covered a lot of the basics that I needed to know for the next few days. Nico's final weight was 6 lbs, 7 oz, so he lost only 6 oz since birth. He set up an appt for us for Monday.

The next hour or two went by slowly because I was so anxious to come home! We left about 9:30 Saturday morning.

 

                                                        Headed HOME SWEET HOME!

                                                                      

Our Birth Story

A couple of out of the ordinary things took place on Wednesday that, in hindsight, signaled labor was right around the corner! For one, I was leaky all day at work (TMI, I know!). It wasn't much fluid but enough to become noticeably annoying- about a drop or two consistently throughout the day. I chalked it up to the baby pressing on my bladder, or just my lack of pelvic floor muscles have already started an incontinence issue!  The second weird thing was Miley's behavior! She had absolutely no energy and would almost go limp when I held her, she was overheated, and wouldn't eat or drink. I searched online for the cause and even contemplated taking her to an emergency vet! I found a few message boards where others have mentioned that their dogs were able to predict that labor was coming, but I still doubted that that was the case since the due date was still 2 weeks away. I stayed up late holding a damp cloth over her head and was really sad!

7:00 am: My alarm went off, and I was dragging. Even though it was my last day at work (and it was even a half day!), I didn't want to go! I sat up and my realized that my shorts were soaked through. My first thought was "Oh great, I peed the bed since I now have an old lady bladder!" When I stood up, a small amount dripped to the floor. I woke up David and told him that I'm dripping fluid!! As I walked into the bathroom, it continued. I called the doctor, and she said that it sounds like my water broke, and I need to go to the hospital! Every few minutes, another gush would come out. I went through a few pads and pairs of shorts in minutes. It was such a weird feeling as we were half rushing to get dressed and make sure the last minute things were packed. I was still in disbelief that this could really be the day. I didn't want to get my hopes up.

8:00 am: Admitted to the hospital and a nurse checked my cervix. I was ruptured!!! Dilated at 2 cm, and she could feel the baby's hair! Ahhh! We couldn't believe it! We spent the next few hours just watching tv and hanging out. I walked around the hallway for a good 20-30 minutes and was feeling completely normal! I was anticipating a long day of labor and assumed Nico wouldn't be born until that night.

                                                                      Our initial room

                                                    Feeling good wandering around the hallways

10:05 am: David and I were casually talking, and out of nowhere, an intense pain came over me. I didn't know what to do! It was miserable! Within seconds I was asking for pain medication! It was a lot worse than I thought the initial contractions would be. When the IV pain medication didn't change things much, I started to worry. I was only 2 cm dilated and already couldn't handle the pain?! I didn't want an epidural so early because of cost (I already knew my out of pocket cost based on length of time the epidural was in. Yeah, I know I'm cheap), plus then I'm stuck in bed alllllll day! I felt like such a wimp that I was already wanting it. Contractions occurred consistently every five minutes. As they would come on, I desperately grabbed David's hand and tried to focus on my breathing. After about 8-10 of those, I decided I was done and bring on the epidural! The anesthesiologist was busy with someone else, so the next 10-15 minutes seemed like hours!

I had David take a pic to see if I looked as miserable as I felt!

11:30 am: The anesthesiologist entered the room and I already started to feel better! Any serious or life threatening risk with this epidural that I had thought about in the last few months did not even cross my mind. All I wanted was to get that thing in me and working! David was advised to leave the room, so he decided to go get some food within a mile of the hospital. I felt a slight pressure as she inserted the needle, and I could feel it moving around in my spine, but I wouldn't call it painful. I was so focused on staying still and slumped down so the process would happen as fast as possible. With the next contraction, the pressure was lower and I felt as if I could push Nico out. Following the procedure, the nurse checked my cervix, and it was at 5 cm! They told me to call David right away and tell him to get back here!

12:00 am: The epidural was successful! I couldn't even feel when a contraction was occurring. The nurse checked again... 9 cm!! She called in other staff members to help get me into a delivery room asap, because this baby was coming out soon!!! As I was being wheeled down the hallway, it still had not hit me that we were having this baby?! Everything was such a blur and happened so fast. When we got to the room, they wanted me to flip over on my elbows and knees for a brief period of time. They also called for NICU nurses to come in the room, which scared us. I asked why they were in the room, but I got no specific answer other than reassurance that there was little concern and everything was fine. (I found out afterwards that Nico's heart rate had dropped to 90 bpm and the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck. Scary stuff.)

12:15ish pm: The pushing began. And this is when my top fear kicked in- having a stroke while holding my breath for prolonged periods of time! They wanted me to bear down and push for 10 seconds, but I just couldn't do it. They said 7 sec was acceptable. Ok, deal! I pushed 2-3 sets of 7 seconds for only a handful of times. The nurses and doctors were very encouraging and helped me through it. I had a female doctor on staff do most of the work since my doctors hadn't made it to the hospital yet because of the unusually fast progression of labor. She was applying pressure down there with her finger and told me to press down into that spot. All I felt was the sensation of trying to have a bowel movement- no pain. Dr. Shimer did show up just in time for the last few pushes. When he told me that Nico was almost out and one more push may do it, I gave it all I had and it was the coolest feeling. I don't think I've ever been so motivated before in my life. I was ready to meet the little guy.

David was far across the room AND behind a curtain! I didn't even catch him peeking around, but he told me he did! At least he "made it." My prediction was always that he would pass out or be stuck on the toilet! Poor guy.

12:46 pm: After the final push, I waited to hear the sound of his cry. He whimpered a little bit initially as they held him up for me to see. I couldn't believe that I was looking at my son. All that I remember thinking is that he was the most beautiful baby I've ever seen. He began to cry within 15-20 seconds, and it was the best sound that I've ever heard. I watched Dr. Shimer cut his umbilical cord and then the nurses grabbed him to clean him up. I couldn't help but become overwhelmed with emotion as I looked over to David and saw his face peeking around the curtain at me.

Since I only got to stare at him briefly before they grabbed him and put him on a table, I was anxious for them to clean him off and let me see him and hold him. I had been looking forward to those first few minutes of bonding for so long. David came over and we just kept saying over and over again, "He's so cute!" We were the happiest we have ever been standing there as a family of 3.

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                        

                                                                              

 

 

That day went by so fast! Both sets of grandparents came to meet Nico about an hour after birth. They all commented on how great his coloring was, how long his fingers were, and how cute his lips were! He's just perfect. They all soon went to eat lunch while we were taken to our new room. We spent the afternoon just hanging out in there. Anne came to visit Nico, and then the grandparents came back for a while. David and I had a few hours to just ourselves before he left to tell "the girls" (dogs) the news of their little brother. In those few hours, Nico opened his eyes for the first time and had a 5-10 min period of alertness. It was such a special time!

After he left, I spent a majority of the night just holding and starring at him. Breastfeeding went alright and he successfully fed for 3-5 minutes at a time. He had his first dirty diaper in the middle of the night, and I had to call the nurses to ask for help since I've never changed one before! Reality hit me at some point in the middle of the night, and I became overcome with emotion. I couldn't thank God enough for our little miracle.

It was an amazing first day. And the Rangers won too!