Welcome to mommy hood Casey!
Jason is now 2 weeks old, and I need to write down our eventful weeks before they escape me. So lets start from the beginning.
CONGRATULATIONS
After flying home in August to surprise my sister before she delivered her baby girl, I went to the hospital to get an ultrasound to see if I had cysts on my ovaries. Yep. jumping into the nitty gritty right away. I was called to come back into the hospital and take a pregnancy test to rule out pregnancy because they saw something from the scan. The next day my Dr. called, and I ignored it because I was jet lagged and wanted to sleep. Well then he called Matt, who picked up and handed me the phone. Before I could tell my Dr. that I was tiiiiiiiired he had already congratulated me. "AM I PREGNANT?" "Congratulations" he said again. "Dr. Nellis, am I pregnant?" Turns out I Matt and I had conceived right before my flight back to the states. I was 5 weeks pregnant with a due date of April 24, 2014.
We called family to tell them the good news, and celebrated with our friends Matt and Nicole who were also expecting (their third child!) Feeling overwhelmed already I made a trip back to the states in October to spend time with my family, let them enjoy the pregnancy some. While I was in the states, I made a registry at Babies R Us because our selection of baby goods at the NEX in Naples is very minimal. With this being our first child, Matt and I wanted the full experience and not be limited to the Exchange or have to spend ridiculous money out in town.
First trimester was great to me. Zero morning sickness, zero headaches, zero weight gain. I had nothing to complain about. On a daily basis Matt would ask if I felt any more pregnant, sadly I'd say "no" but was relieved that I was doing so well. Fast forward to November. At this point, I still haven't felt the baby kick. It wasn't until Thanksgiving day I was able to recognize a kick, of which I was very thankful for. Black Friday was extremely tempting. I wanted to know the sex of our baby so bad but had to wait 5 more days! Good thing because I was about to purchase a bunch of baby girl products on Cyber Monday that I would have had to return.
There is a wives tale in Matts' rating with the Navy that with all of the radar equipment they work on, that the chances of having a girl increases dramatically. Of course there is no proof of this. So come December 3rd we go in for our 20 week body scan ultrasound and discover that we are having a boy. I would have sworn it was a girl because all I wanted to eat was sweets and the baby was stealing my good looks. Again, nothing scientific! Matt was a little sad. He wanted a girl that would have him wrapped around her finger. It wasn't until I mentioned throwing dirtballs, and teaching the baby how to play baseball later did he realize how awesome it would be to have a boy.
The hard part about knowing we were going to have a boy was picking out a name. We had a girls name picked out for over a year but never came up with a boys name. All we could agree on was the initials JD. After about a week of mixing and matching names we landed on Jason David. We decided then that we weren't going to share the name, considering not everyone loved our girl name. Matt was awesome at keeping the name a secret, me? Not so much. I HAD to tell a couple people. So I told immediate family and a couple close friends.
January came and it was time to fly back to the states. This was Matt's first trip back state side in the 18 months we have been living in Italy. While we were "home" we had an awesome baby shower thrown for us by my sister. And of course it was baseball themed! She out did herself, with perfect food and drinks, and super cute decorations. It was a Pinterest board come to life! We were surrounded by family and friends, and couldn't have asked for a more special way to celebrate this new life.
We purchased the left over items off of our registry, and had the Navy send movers to my dads house to do a "Baby Pack Out." This allowed us to have everything shipped to Italy for free and not have to carry it all on the plane.
I was back in time for my girl friend, Nicole, to deliver her healthy baby boy and a few weeks later she and our friends Melissa and Gracie threw a surprise shower for me here in Naples. I truly am surrounded by amazing people! With a couple weeks to go the time started to tick slowly. Braxton Hicks were minimal and didn't phase me. I still haven't had any complications during the entire pregnancy, and was wondering how my delivery would go. I never felt any contractions, but nor did my sister when she delivered her three children.
Week 39 approached and I went in for a check up. I was 1 cm dilated. Blah! Ok, I guess that's a start. During my appointment, Dr. Nelis. noticed that Jason's head was a decent size based off of palpation, but it was determined that I have a small pelvic opening. That combination doesn't work too well. So as a precaution I was sent to ultrasound to get estimated measurements taken of the baby, in the case I need a C-section. Well this is awesome news (not) but it was good to be able to mentally prepare myself for a C-section, just in case.
Another week went by, and another check up. I was still 1 cm dilated and now 30% effaced. A whole week went by and I hadn't dilated any more than what I was.. This was super disappointing news to me. I knew that if I didn't progress, my doctor was going on vacation the following week and I would be handed off to a different doctor. Sure enough I made it to week 41. Baby Jason was still sitting high ad hadn't dropped at all, I haven't felt any contractions, or have any other signs of labor. Time to be seen by my new doctor, Dr. Arnold. At this appointment, I was 3 cm dilated and 50% effaced. Getting there! I was scheduled to be induced on Wednesday April 30 at 8 am.
EVICTION DAY
Today is the day! The car is packed with our go bags, the baby seat is installed, we are fully ready to become mommy and daddy. I check in at the front desk and was told to wait for Dr. Arnold in the waiting room. Apparently it is a busy week for pregnancies. I was being bumped for another woman who was pregnant and has a health condition. I was taken to OB to be monitored and make sure that baby and I are doing fine to wait one more day. This was disheartening, but if we are both healthy that is what matters the most. I was sent home to wait for a phone call some time around lunch the next day to find out when I could come in to be induced. Matt wasn't thrilled with this, but there was nothing we could do. So I get home, make a PB&J only to get a phone call from Dr. Arnold asking if I could come in at 1 pm- the other patient couldn't make it in today. So I ate lunch and had Matt come back home to get me after he had gone into work for approx. 30 mins.
Checked in at 1 pm, around 3 pm I was hooked up to Pitocin because I was already 4 cm dilated. At 6 pm the doctor broke my water. Oh goody I can feel back labor now! 8:30 pm rolls around and I am asked if I want an epidural. So far I feel fine, just back achiness. I said lets see how I'm doing in 30 minutes. Ten minutes later I asked for the epidural! I wasn't ever in pain, the achiness of my back just started to get very annoying and uncomfortable. The anesthesiologist who gave me the epidural used to work with a CRNA I worked with at Sentara. The epidural insertion went flawlessly. I pretty much slept through the entire night after that. Dr. Arnold was having difficulties with my contraction monitors, and I was of no help because I still couldn't feel them. So I had internal monitors placed to help with the readings.
At 7 am, Thursday May 1, I wake up for the day. I'm fully dilated and effaced. I was hoping to have the baby by now. I know that my mom and brother are flying in today and will be landing in Naples around noon. No way was Matt going to get them and leave me hanging. Fortunately Nicole and her Matt were able to go pick them up for me and bring them to the hospital. They arrived in the middle of everything. I started pushing at 11ish. I still couldn't feel my contractions, so the nurse had to palpate and feel my belly tighten up while Matt watched the monitors and told her when I would start. "Take a deep breath, blow it out, another deep breath and hold for 10 seconds and push."
I was able to push Jason down far enough for the doctor to see that he has dark hair, but his noggin was too big to crown. It also didn't help that he turned sunny side up. After 2.5 hours of pushing, I was told that because of his position they could not use forceps to help deliver Jason (he was wedged in the canal), and that my options were to wait and push later, or opt for a C-section. I had no idea I had pushed for 2.5 hours. I was thinking more like 45 minutes. But knowing that I as having a very difficult time delivering him, and was uncomfortable with his current positioning I didn't even ask Matt for his opinion, I knew I was mentally ready for surgery and was 100% ok with that route. The OR was waiting for me. Matt told mom and Chase what was going on since they hadn't seen us at all since arriving at the hospital.
During my time pushing, I remember having the chills and shakes, yet I was running a fever. I was tachycardic (high heart rate) and whacky high blood pressure. I had gotten an infection. Chorioamnionitis to be exact. 5% of pregnancies get this infection, and it is an infection of the placenta. I was hooked up to antibiotics and closely monitored. Since starting to push I zoned in and out of sleep. Being brought into the OR I tried to keep my eyes open and stay awake because this was my field of specialty. I never saw the Surgical Tech, despite my weak attempt to look around the room. I remember the nurse telling me that she was prepping me, going to strap my arms to the arm board, and that the team was putting drapes on me etc. Surgery started and I was asleep again. It wasn't until Matt came to sit by me in the OR that I woke up in time for Jason to be born. 2:34 pm. He was here! Matt went to the warmer to see our baby boy. There, Jason was suctioned for inhaled meconium. He made a quick cry, letting me know he was breathing. I could hear the nurse read out loud his APGAR score of 5 and 9. My heart broke a little bit. Five is not a good reading for APGAR, but I was relieved to know that he did score a 9 for the second reading.
Jason was brought over to me, and Matt followed. The first words I was able to say to him was "Happy Birthday!" Unable to do skin to skin I nuzzled my face against his for about five minutes- better than nothing. He looked absolutely perfect. It wasn't until later when I saw pictures of him in recovery that I saw he had many blemishes from the traumatic 2.5 hours of pushing. I would have never thought, but seeing him for the first time that love and joy shined brighter than his blemishes.
Matt went with Jason to the nursery, while the surgical team worked vigorously to stop my bleeding and repair me. After 18 + hours of an epidural, the effects start to wear off. I still couldn't feel any pain, but I could feel pressure like no other. I recall telling the Anesthesiologist that it felt like I was being stepped on by an elephant. It was intense pressure. Since baby was out of me, I was slipped some more medicines and slept the rest of surgery. Next thing you know I'm in recovery and the nurse is pushing on my belly- NOT FUN! I cursed the nurse out, but eventually was cracking jokes with him when he wasn't pushing on me.
I asked to see my mom and brother while in recovery because it was close to 6 pm and they hadn't seen me. It was nice to know that they flew across the world to be with me. Mom got to see the baby, and Matt made all of the phone calls to let family know our precious bundle of joy had arrived. At this point I am un aware of how long I was in surgery for, if there were any complications, those details I receive later. All I know is that I want Apple Juice!
Matt slept by my side and changed all of the diapers the first few days. I couldn't move much at all. My lower body was extremely swollen from all of the fluids and antibiotics pumped into me. Jason was also hooked up to antibiotics because of the infection. Since it was Chorio, he was susceptible to it while attached to the placenta. He was cleared a couple days later, but I was still having high heart rate issues. I also had lost 1.5 liters of blood during my surgery, so I received fluids to replace what I lost.
While walking around the floor, my anesthesiologist asked me if I wanted to see my chart. He showed me that I was in surgery for 1 hour 40 minutes and spent 2 hours 20 minutes under anesthesia. He also showed me how my heart rate was doing during the delivery, and after Jason was born. I didn't realize I was in surgery for SO LONG. C-sections take about 45 minutes to an hour. When I saw the surgeon who deliver Jason, Dr. Maroney I started to ask questions to put the puzzle pieces together.
Because Jason was too big for my pelvis to deliver naturally, he was essentially wedged into the birth canal. When removing him, my cervix tore- which was paper thin because it was fully effaced. Dr. Maroney was also concerned about my bladder and ureters being damaged from pulling Jason out of the canal. I ended up losing more than the normal amount of blood from the cervical tear- it is super vascular, and became anemic and iron deficient. I had labs drawn every day it seemed to see how I was doing. The IV in my hand came out so I told the nurse to just put a new one in the bend of my arm because I know I have a decent vein there. That sucked because every time I bent my arm the alarms would go off on the pumps. The last two days in the hospital they left the IV in, but I wasn't hooked up to a pump, but they kept it there just incase I needed more fluids.
Mom and Chase were able to hang out at the hospital on Friday, and Chase slept the entire time. He was pretty jet lagged, but mom was up and loving on Jason. We had a photographer come by take pictures, sadly I hadn't been able to get out of bed and take a shower yet or put on make up, so I look a mess but it's ok- all part of the moment. Saturday, Mom and Chase took the train up to Rome and spent two nights there while I was in the hospital. This gave Matt and I time to have privacy and to adjust to the new baby. Besides what would they do in a hospital for 48 hours?? Go crazy probably. Monday Chase flew home and Mom came back to Naples, I was discharged around 5 pm.
Tuesday I hung out on the couch all day, resting and healing. I was still extremely swollen. In fact I weighed 3 lbs more on Tuesday than I did the day I went into the hospital. So moving in general was very difficult. Fortunately after another day or so the swelling started to go away. Within a week of being home I lost 30 pounds. That's a TON of swelling. Wednesday, Jason had his first check up. He was back to birth weight and everything was looking positive. We started the paper work to get his birth certificate, and once that is in, we apply for his passport before we can get a social security number for him. Things are handled backwards here in Europe than what we are accustomed to.
Mom had to leave Thursday morning. Matt and I dropped her off at the airport at 5 am, then Matt took me to the Emergency Room because I had noticed I had quite a bit of bleeding from my incision. The Dr. said I had just popped a skin stitch an to not worry about it. He put steri strips on it and sent me on my way. Forty hours later on Friday night, I was still bleeding my from incision, and was very concerned it was more than just a popped skin stitch. Back to the ER we went. This time I was seen by a different Dr. who called the Director of OB to come in and see me. Twenty minutes later Dr. Knittig comes in, tells me what is going on and goes to fix my problem. I didn't have just a popped skin stitch, I actually had a seroma under my incision. A seroma is a pocket of fluid that is formed from the excess fluid in my body looking to go somewhere. So he applied some lidocaine jelly to my incision, took a syringe and flushed the seroma with saline, and cut open about 4 inches of my incision to drain out the pocket. Poor Matt was pretty grossed out seeing this, and on top of that baby had puked on him while waiting for Dr. Knittig to make his way in, and we had been in the ER for 3 hours by now. It just wasn't his day! After the drainage, the next day I felt 100 times better and moved around a lot easier too. Everyday since has gotten better, and I've felt stronger and healthier.
Learning Jason's routine has been a task. Fortunately he is a very happy baby and only cries when he is hungry. I've even learned his cues to feed him before he cries. Matt has been phenomenal at being a dad. He has been extremely supportive and hands on. He loves to push Jason around in his Bob Stroller (aka the Cadillac), he isn't passing him off to me to change diapers, he even acts goofy with him. My favorite though, is seeing Matt give kisses and snuggle with Jason. It melts my heart. Jason isn't latching, and I am having difficulty producing a decent supply of milk, so we are supplementing with formula on top of what I pump. So it's nice that Matt has the time to bond with baby while he feeds him. It also gives me a few minutes to take a shower! The past two weeks have been crazy, but completely wonderful. We are both loving the joys of parenthood, and are slowly learning how to get some sleep back into our schedules.
Maiori is a little town right on the water. A lot of the Amalfi Coast towns are propped up on the cliffs, but this town is mostly on the beach. We took the long way to get to our destination, driving through Positano, stopping for a cappuccino and caprese salad at our favorite little café along the way. Shortly after our pit stop, we stopped at a ceramics store and got a price quote for a lava table. What's a lava table? It's a stone table top that is cut from lava rock, glazed, hand painted and glazed again. We got a price quote for a round 4 person patio table- only 1,800 Euros. ONLY!! Holy Cannoli!
After getting settled, Matt grabs Jason in his stroller and we head out for a stroll. Though it was sprinkling, nothing was putting a damper on our mood. We were just happy as can be, the three of us walking to the edge of the Mediterranean Sea, Matt sipping on a Becks and I another cappuccino, Jason warm and cozy in his carrier. Soon after we walked from one end of town to the other, stopping at a couple ceramic shops along the way. We spotted an open air restaurant across the street from our hotel that served mussels- the one thing Matt really wanted for dinner. It was picture perfect, sitting outside, along the edge of the water, watching the sun set, enjoying a glass of wine and each others company. Matt got his mussels and steak and I got to dine on a delicious Lemon Ricotta Ravioli dish, followed with Tiramisu. 
After the sun set, we called it a night. Woke up early to get breakfast on the roof of the hotel. Fresh warm croissants, and frothy cappuccinos welcomed us. A quick family picture with our breath taking view in the back ground and we were off to Vietri. 
Vietri is the last town on the Amalfi Coast drive, it is also a great stop for broken ceramics and sea glass washed up on the beach. Majority of the beach was taken over by beach chairs and umbrellas to be rented out, so our selection of sea glass and tile pieces was very limited. We grabbed a few pieces, dipped Jason's feet into the Med. Sea (which he wasn't too fond of) and headed into town to browse the shops. Vietri is the "capital" for ceramics. Many, many, stores, full of bowls, cups, clocks, stacked on top of each other- and of course, I had to go inside almost every single one of them.
It was a perfect weekend getaway, only to come back home and hang out with some great friends. Matt and I learned a couple of things from this small trip. 1) Having a newborn and no agenda is ideal 2) Baby requires his own suit case! We packed his stroller, the ergo baby carrier, bottles, formula, water, clothes, blankets, more clothes, and his travel crib. Better to have too much than to not have something we want or need! Just a quick taste for us before we head to Venice next weekend when my dad arrives. 
