you can have fun with a son, but you have to be a father to a girl.
my life has changed immensely since last i wrote. it appears to have been over two months since i took the time to write something.
on tuesday, the tenth of april, charlotte had a regularly scheduled appointment with her obstetrician. for various reasons, it had been three or four weeks since she had been to see dr. sweeney. everything seemed fine except for the baby's accelerated heart-rate and the smallness of the size of charlotte's belly. as i had been quite familiar with the size of her belly, i thought it funny that it could be "too small." we were instructed to get a sonogram "sometime this week." no hurry. don't be alarmed. just to be on the safe side.
friday came and we went to the sonographer's office in austin. after resolving the requisite fubar concerning medical referral forms, we were admitted into the examination room. the doctor's assistant came in and performed a perfunctory examination. at each measurement, she mentioned something along the lines of "that looks good." or "just right." she then called for the sonographer to perform the examination proper.
he repeated the same exact measurements, and for ten to fifteen minutes; we pleasantly looked at pictures of our daughter. the placidity of the moment was broken when he explained that our baby's low weight was a bit alarming. she was just inside the tenth percentile of babies in their 37th week, and if it were his choice, we would be on our way to the hospital to deliver. for some reason, she was not getting the nutrition needed to grow. a baby outside the womb can be fed and will catch up quickly without much fear of death. a baby in this situation left in the womb can find itself in trouble and the mortality risk can be drastically increased. with that, he left the room to call charlotte's doctor for instruction. leaving us alone to ponder these final remarks could have been handled better.
dr. sweeney was out of town. one of her associates would like us to come directly to the office where charlotte could be examined and a plan mapped out. this woman was wonderful. dr. abikhaled immediately put us at ease. she told us that our daughter needed to be born today. most likely, because of her size; she would need to spend a few days in the newborn icu. this was not in our scope of possibility as we left the house that morning. charlotte had not even packed a bag for the hospital. nevertheless off we went. considering our previous experience with hagen, it is an immense understatement to say that we were pretty worried.
seton medical center is the best. our nurse put us at ease immediately. while she was preparing to induce labor, she made us feel confident and comfortable. i notified all of our family of the situation; and hunkered down for whatever might come. charlotte was responding well to the medications given her. she had decided she did not want an epidural. when she delivered jackson, an epidural was given, and she felt as if it had blocked her nerves so fully that she had no control over her ability to push effectively. our nurse let her know that an epidural with partial blockage was a possibility she could choose. after an hour or more of labor, charlotte said a partial-blockage epidural was starting to sound really good. could one be ordered? in the time it took for the order to be placed and the anesthesiologist to make his way to our room, charlotte was already pushing. too late. dr. abikhaled had made her way to the hospital and was ready to do her work. while holding one of charlotte's legs, i watched my beautiful wife deliver a lovely little girl into the world.
my first thought was the same thought i had when jackson was born. "my wife is one bad-ass chick. i can't believe she did this." i couldn't believe how happy i was or how proud of my wife i had become. it is a miraculous thing to see the delivery of one's child.
our little girl was only 4 pounds and 12 ounces when she was born. apart from her weight, she was perfect. she is beautiful. she didn't need to have even one treatment that was divergent from the typical. she was born at 4:05 on friday, april thirteenth, and we went home sunday at noon.
ava is now 10 weeks old. she is wonderful. i am so proud of jackson because he is a sweet, loving brother. he kisses her, reads to her, and sings songs to her when she is grumpy. he loves her and it is obvious to anyone who sees them together. we have been blessed with two wonderful children that bring happiness and hope into our home.
as happy as we are, we could use a little sleep.
on tuesday, the tenth of april, charlotte had a regularly scheduled appointment with her obstetrician. for various reasons, it had been three or four weeks since she had been to see dr. sweeney. everything seemed fine except for the baby's accelerated heart-rate and the smallness of the size of charlotte's belly. as i had been quite familiar with the size of her belly, i thought it funny that it could be "too small." we were instructed to get a sonogram "sometime this week." no hurry. don't be alarmed. just to be on the safe side.
friday came and we went to the sonographer's office in austin. after resolving the requisite fubar concerning medical referral forms, we were admitted into the examination room. the doctor's assistant came in and performed a perfunctory examination. at each measurement, she mentioned something along the lines of "that looks good." or "just right." she then called for the sonographer to perform the examination proper.
he repeated the same exact measurements, and for ten to fifteen minutes; we pleasantly looked at pictures of our daughter. the placidity of the moment was broken when he explained that our baby's low weight was a bit alarming. she was just inside the tenth percentile of babies in their 37th week, and if it were his choice, we would be on our way to the hospital to deliver. for some reason, she was not getting the nutrition needed to grow. a baby outside the womb can be fed and will catch up quickly without much fear of death. a baby in this situation left in the womb can find itself in trouble and the mortality risk can be drastically increased. with that, he left the room to call charlotte's doctor for instruction. leaving us alone to ponder these final remarks could have been handled better.
dr. sweeney was out of town. one of her associates would like us to come directly to the office where charlotte could be examined and a plan mapped out. this woman was wonderful. dr. abikhaled immediately put us at ease. she told us that our daughter needed to be born today. most likely, because of her size; she would need to spend a few days in the newborn icu. this was not in our scope of possibility as we left the house that morning. charlotte had not even packed a bag for the hospital. nevertheless off we went. considering our previous experience with hagen, it is an immense understatement to say that we were pretty worried.
seton medical center is the best. our nurse put us at ease immediately. while she was preparing to induce labor, she made us feel confident and comfortable. i notified all of our family of the situation; and hunkered down for whatever might come. charlotte was responding well to the medications given her. she had decided she did not want an epidural. when she delivered jackson, an epidural was given, and she felt as if it had blocked her nerves so fully that she had no control over her ability to push effectively. our nurse let her know that an epidural with partial blockage was a possibility she could choose. after an hour or more of labor, charlotte said a partial-blockage epidural was starting to sound really good. could one be ordered? in the time it took for the order to be placed and the anesthesiologist to make his way to our room, charlotte was already pushing. too late. dr. abikhaled had made her way to the hospital and was ready to do her work. while holding one of charlotte's legs, i watched my beautiful wife deliver a lovely little girl into the world.
my first thought was the same thought i had when jackson was born. "my wife is one bad-ass chick. i can't believe she did this." i couldn't believe how happy i was or how proud of my wife i had become. it is a miraculous thing to see the delivery of one's child.
our little girl was only 4 pounds and 12 ounces when she was born. apart from her weight, she was perfect. she is beautiful. she didn't need to have even one treatment that was divergent from the typical. she was born at 4:05 on friday, april thirteenth, and we went home sunday at noon.
ava is now 10 weeks old. she is wonderful. i am so proud of jackson because he is a sweet, loving brother. he kisses her, reads to her, and sings songs to her when she is grumpy. he loves her and it is obvious to anyone who sees them together. we have been blessed with two wonderful children that bring happiness and hope into our home.
as happy as we are, we could use a little sleep.
posted by cm at 6/24/2007
