The Kumquat Has Arrived!

A little over 4 weeks ago. We have been so busy adjusting to this new life of being parents, that we haven't updated the blog. But, I'm here to remedy that!

Dominic Matthew Spano made his arrival on August 1, 2010 at 6:31PM CST.

[caption id="attachment_263" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Just Arrived"][/caption]

We went to Garden City on Saturday the 31st as I was hoping that walking around would help get us ready. I had had a non-stress test in Lamar on Friday and they did an internal check and I was dilated to 2cm and 80% effaced, so we really thought we had a good chance. We walked around Target and Walmart and my contractions were starting to get (what I thought was) painful. We had lunch at El Camino's hoping that the spiciness would also add something. Then we headed straight over to the hospital at about 1PM. They checked me and I was still only 2cm and 80% effaced. :( The nurse told me to walk around for a half hour, so we did, and when she checked again I was 3cm. They decided to admit me and the doctor on call (my doctor was on vacation) decided to augment on low pitocin in hopes to regulate the contractions. However, this boy was stubborn. The pitocin kept going up and my contractions got regular but I got stuck at 4cm. They broke my water at 9PM and I stayed at 4cm and no change in effacement. The contractions were about a minute apart and horrible ALL NIGHT LONG. I had planned on birthing with no pain control, and the night nurse thought I was trying to be a martyr and kept pushing pain meds on me. So, I fought it even harder. We did two showers, sat on the birthing ball and stood when possible. The contractions were awful, I've never experienced anything like that in my life. Jason was amazing! He stayed up all night with me and massaged or held me through the contractions. I was exhausted and would sleep for the minute to five minutes between the contractions, but Jason didn't. Around 6am I was crying through every contraction and I was done, I couldn't do anymore. Unfortunately I was still at 4cm. I gave in and asked for pain medicine, which they gave me in my IV. It did nothing for the pain, but it made me feel pretty loopy and like I couldn't hold my eyes open. I asked for the epidural.

The anesthetist came in around 8AM and gave me the epi, it was uncomfortable and kind of painful to get, but brought sweet relief. I could feel that I was having contractions, but it wasn't painful. This allowed me to rest and by about 1PM I was dilated to 9cm, but I still wasn't fully effaced. About this time the epi wore off, and he came in with more medication, but it didn't do anything and left me feeling the same as before I'd had any medication. At about 5PM the nurse checked me and I was STILL at 9cm and she could still feel my whole cervix. :( She also said she could feel that the baby's head was molding since he was partially in the birth canal and had been since 1PM. They spoke with the doctor but recommended a c-section. :( It was the best option for us as I'd been in active labor for 29 1/2 hours at that point. Jason went in with me and got to watch them cut me open and bring out our little boy. Maybe he'll post the details of that, I was a little out of it! ;-)

So, Dominic weighed 8#8.3 oz and was 21 1/2" long. He has big feet too! :-D And he's adorable!!

We thought we had breastfeeding down pretty well, but it turns out we didn't. On Friday we met with a lactation specialist and found that Dominic had lost over a pound and was severely dehydrated. We were admitted to PMC and I had to start pumping breastmilk. He was given as much breastmilk as I pumped, but we had to supplement with formula because it wasn't enough yet. My milk had come in, but I had a super low supply since Dominic hadn't been eating. His tongue would go to the roof of his mouth and he would not get latched. Then he'd get angry and his sucking wasn't productive. It was very sad. :( We stayed in the hospital until Sunday morning when he'd gained about 13oz and we were able to come home. Now I'm pumping and Dominic is getting lots of milk, just not straight from the source. It's a little sad, and totally inconvenient, but he is worth it. We want him getting the best stuff!

We're extremely blessed and feeling it every moment...even at 2AM when we're up for a feeding! ;-)