Hayden's ouwy is much smaller today than it was on Saturday. It drained on it's own a little bit last night, but still has some pus in it. He saw a pediatric surgeon this morning. She said their are two schools of thought on how to handle it; one - try to clean all of the pus out of it there and two - continue with the antibiotics for a few more days and leave it alone. She said a fistula could (but that doesn't mean it will) form either way, so her preferred approach is the second and see what happens. This is Mommy's preferred approach, too.
She says that when this occurs in adults, surgery is usually performed right away, but often times in babies, it is handled more conservatively. Babies aren't annoyed by the oozing pus since they're still in diapers.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Hayden's first ER visit
Today we were in the Emergency Room at Tripler from 12pm til 6pm. It was not a dire emergency, but it was Saturday and the issue could not wait til Monday.
I took Hayden in to the ER to have the doctors look at a large pimple on his bottom that I just noticed this morning after changing his first #2 today. We finally got called back after spending about 2 hours in the waiting room. The doctors called it a peri-rectal abcess and said they had not seen this in an infant before. Hayden will probably hold this sharing of details against me some day. Anyway, he got poked and prodded for blood testing and a saline lock (just in case they decided to give him IV fluids; they didn't). He was a champ. He acted like it was uncomfortable but not intolerable.
We waited a while for a surgeon to come look at it so they could decide what to do about it. The options were send him home with antibiotics and have me put a warm compress on it several times a day in hopes that it will pop and drain on it's own, or pop it and drain it there. Bottom line, it needs to pop and the puss needs to come out. If it is left alone and the puss does not drain, it can cause a tract from the rectum to the outside and poop will come out two holes. After much debate, the doctors and surgeons decided to take the more conservative approach and send him home with antibiotics and instructions for home care. We have to take him to the Pediatric Surgery Clinic Monday morning. If it does not pop on it's own before Monday, they will drain it there.
I took Hayden in to the ER to have the doctors look at a large pimple on his bottom that I just noticed this morning after changing his first #2 today. We finally got called back after spending about 2 hours in the waiting room. The doctors called it a peri-rectal abcess and said they had not seen this in an infant before. Hayden will probably hold this sharing of details against me some day. Anyway, he got poked and prodded for blood testing and a saline lock (just in case they decided to give him IV fluids; they didn't). He was a champ. He acted like it was uncomfortable but not intolerable.
We waited a while for a surgeon to come look at it so they could decide what to do about it. The options were send him home with antibiotics and have me put a warm compress on it several times a day in hopes that it will pop and drain on it's own, or pop it and drain it there. Bottom line, it needs to pop and the puss needs to come out. If it is left alone and the puss does not drain, it can cause a tract from the rectum to the outside and poop will come out two holes. After much debate, the doctors and surgeons decided to take the more conservative approach and send him home with antibiotics and instructions for home care. We have to take him to the Pediatric Surgery Clinic Monday morning. If it does not pop on it's own before Monday, they will drain it there.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anorectal_fistula
When we got home, I gave him some tylenol and a warm bath and put him in his crib. I gave him his first round of oral antibiotics. I know it tasted horrible, but he swallowed it well. It didn't take long for him to fall sound asleep.
When we got home, I gave him some tylenol and a warm bath and put him in his crib. I gave him his first round of oral antibiotics. I know it tasted horrible, but he swallowed it well. It didn't take long for him to fall sound asleep.
4 Month Well Baby Visit
March 27th:
Hayden had his 4 month well baby check up today. He weighed in at 13 lbs. 9 oz. He is 24.75 inches long, and has a 42cm head circumference. His weight is in the 25th percentile and his height and head are in the 50th percentile. He was a happy guy today, no fussing.
Hayden took his 4 month shots like a man. He only cried for less than a minute after they poked him with the second one. He slept for 2 hours straight after we got home. The rest of the evening was uneventful.
Hayden had his 4 month well baby check up today. He weighed in at 13 lbs. 9 oz. He is 24.75 inches long, and has a 42cm head circumference. His weight is in the 25th percentile and his height and head are in the 50th percentile. He was a happy guy today, no fussing.
Hayden took his 4 month shots like a man. He only cried for less than a minute after they poked him with the second one. He slept for 2 hours straight after we got home. The rest of the evening was uneventful.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Catching up on past 4 months
Hayden was 8 lbs. 10oz. at his 2 week doctor's visit. He nursed well, slept well, and did not have any complications. Starting the day of this visit, his poop turned green, not just green tinted, but green like cooked spinach. Sometimes it looked like he ate green crayons. It was also very watery and frothy. A week before he had his 2 month appointment, I decided to eliminate dairy products from my diet for a couple weeks. I read every label and did not eat anything with milk in it. A week later, still green.
At two months, Hayden weighed in at 11 lbs. 4oz. His doctor said she wasn't concerned about his green poop and didn't think it was an allergy because we have not seen blood in his stool. He was gaining weight normally and looked otherwise healthy. I decided to stay off dairy one more week and see if anything changed. No, change, so I allowed myself to eat milk products again. We started having normal colored breastfead baby stools two days after I started eating milk products again. So, I never figured out the green poop mystery.
Hayden is what some call a happy spitter. He spits up a whole lot, but it doesn't seem to bother him. It keeps getting chunkier the older he gets.
Mike was doing a training exercise for 2 weeks in Alabama from February 19 through March 7. During this time, Hayden gained a pound and started using his hands a lot more. He has started grabbing my hair when I lean over to kiss him.
On March 12, Hayden rolled over on his own from back to tummy for the first time. He has only done it once since then. He hasn't rolled over from his tummy to his back yet, but he's getting closer every tummy time. Every time I put him on his tummy, he ends up with a face full of puke, so it just happens one in a while.On March 16, Hayden's poop turned green again. I haven't been eating anything that I wasn't eating before, so I'm once again mystified.
The Birth as Mommy Remembers it
After many prayers for a healthy baby and successful natural labor and delivery throughout my pregnancy, God could not have answered my prayers more perfectly and in his perfect timing.
I was exactly a week past my due date when Hayden came into the world. He was born on black Friday (day after Thanksgiving). If I had had him on his due date or the day after, Mike would have been unable to coach me through it. He was miserably recovering from a pepper spray training exercise on my due date and the next day. As a military policeman, he has to go through it before he can use it.
If I had gone into labor on Thanksgiving day, I would not have had my friend and delivery nurse Candy there by my side. She switched patients with another nurse when she saw my name on the board of women in labor and got to be there with us during the delivery.
Because it was the week of Thanksgiving, Mike had a couple days off before Hayden was born. He used his extra time to finish reading our book, Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way, by Susan McCutcheon-Rosegg. This enabled him to be the best coach ever.
So, here's the story: (Beware, it could be TMI for you.)
I woke up around 8am Friday morning, November 28, 2008, and felt some discomfort in my back. I have a tortuous colon, so I thought it could just be more constipation. I used a suppository to clean everything out so I would know if that's all it was. Very little came out, so I became suspicious that this was more than just constipation. I started having some light cervical bleeding and let Mike know that I thought today could be the day. He was still enjoying sleeping in. About 15 minutes later, the pain started coming in short waves and I encouraged him to get out of bed. He thought he had plenty of time to sleep while I labored for a while. I kept trying to go pee, but nothing would come out. I finally insisted Mike get out of bed and he got up and took a shower. While he was still in the shower I was urging him to hurry up, because I needed him to come put his fist in my back and ease the pain. He complained that I wasn't giving him enough shower time. He rubbed my back some when he got out and then went to get some cereal. While he was eating, I begged him to come rub my back again. He came to my aide and complained that he was trying to eat his cereal. He decided to get his watch and time my contractions. I was only feeling back labor, I was not feeling anything in the front of my abdomen. The pain was constant and it was difficult for me to determine when a contraction was beginning or ending. So, we timed the distance between the peaks of the pain. They were only five minutes apart. I was uncertain about that, since the pain was constant, so I let Mike go back and finish his cereal. He came back as soon as he got it down and timed the contractions again. They were only two minutes apart. I called the midwife pager. The midwife at Tripler that day did not take my concerns very seriously, because most of the time people don't progress that quickly. She advised me to run a warm bath of water and labor at home a little longer. Mike helped me get in the tub and he rubbed my back through the pain for about 45 minutes at most. I got out because I needed to pee. The pee wouldn't come out. There was too much blood coming out for me to be comfortable staying home any longer, so we threw some of Mike's clothes on me and got me in the car. I paged the midwife and let her know we were on our way. My mom was with us, because she insisted on coming even though we thought it would be a while before Hayden arrived. The timing was good, because we made it until after the traffic rush on the busiest shopping day of the year.
When we got to Tripler, we checked in while Mom parked the car. They took us into the triage room. It seemed like an hour before the midwife finally came in to check me. It probably wasn't very long at all, but when you're in labor, it seems like forever. When she came in, she checked my dilation, and I was already between 6 and 7 cm dilated. (You get to start pushing when you reach 10cm). A nurse wheeled me into the delivery room and filled the jetted tub with hot water. I labored for a while in the delivery bed while that was filling. Again, it seemed like hours. They wrapped a belt around me that monitors the baby's heart rate and put a saline lock in my hand. I went ahead and let them give me a bag of fluids since I had not had anything to eat or drink so far that day. The head nurse on duty that day was my nurse until she came in and notified me that my friend Candy had just seen that I was there and wanted to switch with her. I gladly did. I couldn't wait to see her. She came in after I was in the tub with the jets. I want one of those tubs in my house one day. It was so awesome. Mike didn't have to put his fist in my back while I was in the tub, but he did have to coach me through the contractions, remind me not to start pushing, tell me how to relax the way he learned by reading the book, hold my hand, and feed me ice chips. Candy told me that back labor could mean the baby was turned posteriorly so I needed to try to turn him by moving side to side regularly. I just wanted to stay in one position. It was all I could to keep myself from pushing. I did my best to turn from side to side, but I don't think I moved much. (He came out the right direction anyway). She was in and out of the room because she had a few other patients in labor, too. Every time she left the room, the labor pains seemed to get worse. It's just comforting to know that if the baby comes shooting out, there's someone there who knows what to do next.
I finally got out of the tub when I got too hot. Mike helped me back to the delivery bed. I had a few standing contractions on the way. I put my arms around his neck and he supported my weight while I tried hard to relax. I labored for a while longer in the delivery bed and Candy came to check on me regularly. They wrapped the heart rate belt around me again and a blood pressure cuff for my blood pressure. I heard cries from the delivery room next door and said "Ahh, someone just had their baby!" The midwife came in to check my dilation and I was nearly there. Candy told me that when it was time to push I'd feel like I had to poop. I said, well I've felt like that all morning! When I was finally dilated to a 10, I was so relieved to be able to push. Then I heard the cries next door again, and I realized it wasn't the baby I was hearing, it was the screams of another mom going through natural childbirth! Mike said, "Yeah, I knew that, but I wasn't going to tell you that." Candy was there for all of the pushing. My water bag was still intact at this point. Just after I started pushing, the midwife came back in. She told me she could break the bag or I could push it out with the baby. I chose to have her break it. It seemed to me that decreasing the size of what was coming out might decrease the amount of pain. The flow of warm water over the parts involved felt great for that small moment, but the pain after that probably was not effected much. They put a big mirror on a pole in front of me so I could see the baby coming out. A lot of people think that is just too much, but I recommend it. I'm one of those freaks though that loves everything having to do with anatomy and physiology.
The greatest pain was when he was fully crowning. Candy very gently said, "Soon, you'll feel what's called The Ring of Fire." I said, "MmmHmm, that's a good description of what I'm feeling right now!" Not much longer, and he was in my arms. He looked just like his daddy when he came out.
I was exactly a week past my due date when Hayden came into the world. He was born on black Friday (day after Thanksgiving). If I had had him on his due date or the day after, Mike would have been unable to coach me through it. He was miserably recovering from a pepper spray training exercise on my due date and the next day. As a military policeman, he has to go through it before he can use it.
If I had gone into labor on Thanksgiving day, I would not have had my friend and delivery nurse Candy there by my side. She switched patients with another nurse when she saw my name on the board of women in labor and got to be there with us during the delivery.
Because it was the week of Thanksgiving, Mike had a couple days off before Hayden was born. He used his extra time to finish reading our book, Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way, by Susan McCutcheon-Rosegg. This enabled him to be the best coach ever.
So, here's the story: (Beware, it could be TMI for you.)
I woke up around 8am Friday morning, November 28, 2008, and felt some discomfort in my back. I have a tortuous colon, so I thought it could just be more constipation. I used a suppository to clean everything out so I would know if that's all it was. Very little came out, so I became suspicious that this was more than just constipation. I started having some light cervical bleeding and let Mike know that I thought today could be the day. He was still enjoying sleeping in. About 15 minutes later, the pain started coming in short waves and I encouraged him to get out of bed. He thought he had plenty of time to sleep while I labored for a while. I kept trying to go pee, but nothing would come out. I finally insisted Mike get out of bed and he got up and took a shower. While he was still in the shower I was urging him to hurry up, because I needed him to come put his fist in my back and ease the pain. He complained that I wasn't giving him enough shower time. He rubbed my back some when he got out and then went to get some cereal. While he was eating, I begged him to come rub my back again. He came to my aide and complained that he was trying to eat his cereal. He decided to get his watch and time my contractions. I was only feeling back labor, I was not feeling anything in the front of my abdomen. The pain was constant and it was difficult for me to determine when a contraction was beginning or ending. So, we timed the distance between the peaks of the pain. They were only five minutes apart. I was uncertain about that, since the pain was constant, so I let Mike go back and finish his cereal. He came back as soon as he got it down and timed the contractions again. They were only two minutes apart. I called the midwife pager. The midwife at Tripler that day did not take my concerns very seriously, because most of the time people don't progress that quickly. She advised me to run a warm bath of water and labor at home a little longer. Mike helped me get in the tub and he rubbed my back through the pain for about 45 minutes at most. I got out because I needed to pee. The pee wouldn't come out. There was too much blood coming out for me to be comfortable staying home any longer, so we threw some of Mike's clothes on me and got me in the car. I paged the midwife and let her know we were on our way. My mom was with us, because she insisted on coming even though we thought it would be a while before Hayden arrived. The timing was good, because we made it until after the traffic rush on the busiest shopping day of the year.
When we got to Tripler, we checked in while Mom parked the car. They took us into the triage room. It seemed like an hour before the midwife finally came in to check me. It probably wasn't very long at all, but when you're in labor, it seems like forever. When she came in, she checked my dilation, and I was already between 6 and 7 cm dilated. (You get to start pushing when you reach 10cm). A nurse wheeled me into the delivery room and filled the jetted tub with hot water. I labored for a while in the delivery bed while that was filling. Again, it seemed like hours. They wrapped a belt around me that monitors the baby's heart rate and put a saline lock in my hand. I went ahead and let them give me a bag of fluids since I had not had anything to eat or drink so far that day. The head nurse on duty that day was my nurse until she came in and notified me that my friend Candy had just seen that I was there and wanted to switch with her. I gladly did. I couldn't wait to see her. She came in after I was in the tub with the jets. I want one of those tubs in my house one day. It was so awesome. Mike didn't have to put his fist in my back while I was in the tub, but he did have to coach me through the contractions, remind me not to start pushing, tell me how to relax the way he learned by reading the book, hold my hand, and feed me ice chips. Candy told me that back labor could mean the baby was turned posteriorly so I needed to try to turn him by moving side to side regularly. I just wanted to stay in one position. It was all I could to keep myself from pushing. I did my best to turn from side to side, but I don't think I moved much. (He came out the right direction anyway). She was in and out of the room because she had a few other patients in labor, too. Every time she left the room, the labor pains seemed to get worse. It's just comforting to know that if the baby comes shooting out, there's someone there who knows what to do next.
I finally got out of the tub when I got too hot. Mike helped me back to the delivery bed. I had a few standing contractions on the way. I put my arms around his neck and he supported my weight while I tried hard to relax. I labored for a while longer in the delivery bed and Candy came to check on me regularly. They wrapped the heart rate belt around me again and a blood pressure cuff for my blood pressure. I heard cries from the delivery room next door and said "Ahh, someone just had their baby!" The midwife came in to check my dilation and I was nearly there. Candy told me that when it was time to push I'd feel like I had to poop. I said, well I've felt like that all morning! When I was finally dilated to a 10, I was so relieved to be able to push. Then I heard the cries next door again, and I realized it wasn't the baby I was hearing, it was the screams of another mom going through natural childbirth! Mike said, "Yeah, I knew that, but I wasn't going to tell you that." Candy was there for all of the pushing. My water bag was still intact at this point. Just after I started pushing, the midwife came back in. She told me she could break the bag or I could push it out with the baby. I chose to have her break it. It seemed to me that decreasing the size of what was coming out might decrease the amount of pain. The flow of warm water over the parts involved felt great for that small moment, but the pain after that probably was not effected much. They put a big mirror on a pole in front of me so I could see the baby coming out. A lot of people think that is just too much, but I recommend it. I'm one of those freaks though that loves everything having to do with anatomy and physiology.
The greatest pain was when he was fully crowning. Candy very gently said, "Soon, you'll feel what's called The Ring of Fire." I said, "MmmHmm, that's a good description of what I'm feeling right now!" Not much longer, and he was in my arms. He looked just like his daddy when he came out.
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