Born To Rock

Thanks to Ben & Xuan's suggestion based on the original posting of Oliver's birth announcement, we can rest easy knowing he was Born To Rock!

"Someone needs to photoshop a microphone and some tats into this pic because Oliver is rocking out hardcore."

We received a couple of renditions shortly after:

Sweetness

Oliver James Batt

Oliver James Batt

Oliver James Batt

Oliver James Batt

Name: Oliver James Batt
Born: September 21, 2006
Time: 4:38 PM
Weight: 8 lb. 8.8 oz.
Length: 20 1/2"

( 3 )

- The number of times baby's umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck
- How many minutes it took to remove the baby from his mother's belly
- How many hours we have slept this week

MILESTONES

13 Mo. 1 Wks: Cut 4th Tooth (Top, Right)
12 Mo. 4 Wks: Started walking backwards (not all the time)
12 Mo. 3 Wks: Cut 3rd Tooth (Top, Left)
12 Months: Says "uh-oh"...alot.
12 Months: Off bottles (and boobs), officially.
10 Mo. 3 Wks: Walking boy...no more crawling...
10 Mo. 2 Wks: Starting to wave!
10 Mo. 1 Wks: First walking..across the room
10 Months: First steps..6 to 10 at a time
9 Mo. 3 Wks: First steps..2 or 3 at a time
9 Months: Stands on his own, briefly
8 Mo. 4 Wks: Cut 2nd Tooth (Bottom, Left, Front)
8 Mo. 3 Wks: Cut 1st Tooth (Bottom, Right, Front)
8 Mo. 3 Wks: Crawls up a full flight of stairs~13 Steps!
8 Mo. 2 Wks: Sits down after pulling himself up
8 Months: Pulling Himself Up
7 Mo. 2 Wks: Started Crawling
6 Mo. 3 Wks: Sitting Up, unassisted
5 Months: Eats Real Food

C - it will be

Roundabout 4PM-ish we will dig in and get that baby out!

It feels somehow relieving to say that after the long haul...

Thank You

To all you lovely people:

Thanks to everyone who has been so supportive through this arduous week... especially the last 36 hours. Your emails, calls, IMs, messages, tresspassing, and comments on the weblog have meant so much to us during all hours of the day and night. It was so nice to hear from you and yours as time stood still. We love you for that!

Hug!

Craig & Bess

Good to the last drop

One last try is in the works. We remain hopeful for some progress, enough to keep things rolling.

The Pitocin drip is back on, contractions are back, & Bess is snoozing away.

Whichever way it goes- we will have a baby later today : )

Tired

We arrived here 25+ hours ago, but still no babies. We have seemingly peaked at 6 cm. of dilation.

Things are not looking up in terms of giving birth as we had expected. The situation was such that every time there was a contraction, the baby was reacting to it by moving around, and then his heart rate would drop, then come back up after the contraction ended. This being the norm presently coupled with the fact that contractions are not happening unassisted (w/out Pitocin) is leaving us with few options.

The last intervention is the Epidural. We just got that installed. It's easing what has since this morning become excruciating pain, numbing Bess's entire abdomen, and stranding her in bed. The up side is that she is resting nicely now.

At this point it's looking like a C-Section is inevitable. There are no contractions without Pitocin, and with it, the baby is reacting negatively. At present it doesn't seem like there is much else that can be done. Dr. Katz has also mentioned that he is not "Overly Optimistic" This is not ideal, but would close this very long and drawn out process. The only other possibility is to start the Pitocin drip back up, with the hope that we can get some good contractions going again. Without the pain and with Bess a little more relaxed there is a possibility that she could still give birth to the baby vaginally. That would be great. But as optimistic as we are trying to be we are also being realistic.

The most important thing of course is that baby is healthy. Every single nurse and doctor who has been in the room (about 20 different people) has commented on how great the baby is doing and how good he looks. Our concern has never been wether baby has been okay in there, but how to get him out safely!

Nubain Notion

4 cm. and counting... Some excellent contracting, shakes & even a little vomiting.

It's looking like another 6-8 hours of labor is in the works, so we have been reviewing some relief options. Bess has been such a trooper so far but her tolerance is starting to show. We decided a little sleepy drip and a shot in the butt would be good to take the edge off. An Epidural at this point is more aggressive than necessary so we went with a narcotic offering called Nubain. There wasn't any left over to indulge her faithful support partners.

The medication will ultimately allow her to get some much needed rest for the final act.

Not Faking

After 11 hours, mild contractions yielded no real progress. All day long there has been a steady pattern of ups and downs, but oddly no discomfort to report. During the 12th hour we began noticing some definite cramping and pain- just what we've been waiting for!

That said- Bess has some concerns that after nearly 12 hours of not feeling anything that she is merely "trying" to feel pain. For the record- she is not faking it. It actually does hurt now!

On another positive note there looks to be about 2.5-3 cm of dilation which is a nice incremental difference.

Needless to say- Wednesday 9/20 is not the DOB.

Keep on truckin'

Not much progress to report...

Bess's dad was here a couple hours ago, attempting to make his way to the Labor Ward. Since each patient is only alotted 2 guests he was not allowed up to the very secure 5th floor. You must be taken up to the labor area by hospital staff or Security. So- we found a back door. I sent him up to the 2nd floor, I passed through security, and then he caught the elevator up from there! Since he made it that far the nurses agreed to let him visit for a bit which was nice. We all knew he would make it up somehow!

Somewhere along the way there was a little weirdness. Baby was moving around a lot, and his heart rate went up to 199! Once we were aware of this so did ours! Nurse Lois turned the Pitocin off completely, and paged Dr. Katz. This was unsettling, but they quickly changed Bess's position, waited a bit, and restarted the Pitocin. They reeled it in to 20ml and ramped back up. Everything was stable again soon after.

Dr. Katz came in to check on things a bit ago, and noticed not much had changed. He said we'll have to "Keep on trucking along"

It's time.

We arrived at the hospital this morning at 10AM, just in time for some much needed- waiting. Sigh....

2 hours later, we finally made it upstairs for another 1/2 hour of waiting. Around 12:30 a nurse (Lois- who is very nice) finally arrived to show Bess to her labor/delivery room.

Shortly after arrival Dr. Schueler arrived, gave a quick exam, and confirmed a slight dilation of a centimeter or so.

She went into a drawer behind her, grabbed what looked like a giant chopstick and got this party started! She dove right in with her trusty stick, broke Bess's water, then ordered a Pitocin drip to induce labor. Bess is now wearing a very surgical looking adult diaper and gauze hot pants. It's sexy.

After the Pitocin was started, we went for a little walk to get things flowing. At this time (315 PM) she has had a few increments and is presently at 11 ml. The maximum level is 30 ml. We of course remain hopeful that we don't have to go that far...

The monitors continue to report good baby activity and heart rate, and contractions more regular, about 5-6 minutes apart.

Contact!

More testing this morning, with little change on the monitors. In fact, contractions seemed a rarity... Most notably, there is now about a centimeter of dilation- Dr. Klein was able to touch the top of baby's head! Tomorrow we are "On-Call" at 9:30AM for the first available opening. No pun intended.

I can't give you this.

Ok then. So we ended up going back to the hospital at around 7:30 PM for a little more testing and a 3rd dose of ripener. The rooms were noticeably familiar. We began pointing out the differences between room 3 & 4, which were subtle, but to a keen eye and frequent visitor maybe more obvious. After an hour of stress testing Dr. Schyuler noticed a change in the contraction pattern. The peaks and valleys were becoming more pronounced, and there was a bit of a pattern forming. Mild contractions were happening every 5-6 minutes or so. Bess doesn't happen to feel much of this, or isn't aware when it's happening. Baby's heart beat continued to be stable and predictable. After these observations were made she held up the ripening agent and said "I can't give you this", then sent us home. We will go in Tuesday at 9:30 AM for another Stress Test and possibly more ripening. A second appointment was scheduled for Wednesday at 9:30 AM to be induced, provided no spontaneous labor occurs.

Waiting...

...to hear back from the doctor. Not much has changed since this morning, so we may be going in for round 3. Apparently Bess is very fresh. Its difficult to tell from the outside.

If there are any openings available we may go in tonight. Otherwise we will likely have another very early morning. Bess's mom flew in today from West Palm Beach to join the waiting party. It's very exclusive- only 2 guests allowed in the delivery room! She and Bess have been playing show & tell since we got back from the airport. Let's just say the word "cute" is being tossed around here like sailors saying the F word. The Cute-ometer is off the charts!

Crack Of Dawn

We are not early birds!

The dark, still, and quiet 5 AM ambience is nice- for sleeping. I can't believe we are awake at this obscene hour. Coffee never tasted better...

We arrived here at about 615 for round 2 of cervical ripening. (FYI: the ripening agent is called "Cytotec")

Ripening is in effect, additional stress testing in progress as well. We should be out of here by 10 AM, unless of course there's a sudden fit of labor! Not likely at this point...

We will meet with Julie in awhile to discuss where to go from here. During our conversation this morning she suggested the possibility of a 3rd round of ripening, perhaps with a different agent. She also mentioned something to the tune of this Wednesday for delivery.

Plan B

Today we came as close to having a baby as we could have...

All went as planned this morning at the Hospital, with a slight change. Bess was a little uneasy about diving in to ripen and then induce the next day. Her hope was that we could wait a couple more days to see if there was any spontaneous labor, or to prolong inducing labor if possible. We discussed her apprehension with Dr. Miner (Julie) who replied with her concerns about the placenta losing its ability to perform its basic functions, such as providing oxygen, food, nutrition, etc.

With all concerns on the table, we quickly realized that we had to assess the inherent risks of both scenarios. On the one hand, it would be great if we held out for a couple more days to see if everything happened as nature has led us to expect. On the other hand, we could be putting the baby at risk by pushing the envelope.

Its already been 10 days overdue. We decided to change the plan a little to take the previous fast-track plan down a notch. We also came to realize that induction is not required per se after undergoing Cervical Ripening, but is considered the "Next thing to do" after 1-3 passes of ripening.

All that said- there has been a slight change in plan:
1) Sunday: Cervical Ripening, Round 1
2) Monday: Cervical Ripening, Round 2 (if round 1 doesnt invoke labor)
3) Mon/Tues: Pitocin/Induction (if round 2 doesnt produce any result)
4) TBD: C-Section (if all other induction attempts don't pan out)

Here are some pics from our visit today (Click to Enlarge):

Strapped In	Stress Test Monitor	Heart Rate	Contraction

Acupuncture

When all else fails... Bess is going to try Acupuncture this afternoon since the eggplant didn't work out. We'll see how that goes. Really though, she is going for her back which is in a lot of pain, forcing her to waddle around and be pretty immobile. In this case promoting labor is secondary to the chronic pain in her back, which is mostly unrelated to the pregnancy.

Stress Tests

All tests passed with flying colors, and I managed to scrape together a few recordings of the stress tests. These were a bit different than the Doppler Stethoscope, but very interesting in their own right.

You may notice at the end of the second one, there is a door opening and a voice. That's the doctor walking in on me in a full tribal groove, getting down to baby's little drum machine. There was just enough room in the office to bust a move. I tried to play it off when she walked in but I don't know if she understood what I was up to exactly. We wished Myles was there because he loves to dance, and I only dance with dogs.

Click on the play button to get down!
Stress Test 1:
Stress Test 2:
Stress Test 3:

Cervical Ripening?!

Everything is still "normal", but our patience is growing thinner than the cervix in question. We reviewed the options, talked about how to proceed. Bess and baby had a stress test to see how the heart rate is doing and gauge the baby's tolerance for possible intervention.

Cervical Ripening?

Now this is an unfamiliar term, and definitely not on the previous list of possibilities! I don't recall hearing about this in the class we took either- I suppose it was called something else. In any case- its supposed to thin out and soften the cervix to promote some dilation. Since we're not discussing the matter in metric terms as of yet we could really use a promotion!

On Sunday we will go in for another stress test and bit of ripening and then off to brunch! If that doesn't produce any results then we go back on Monday for the next step. If Bess isn't tender enough Sunday evening to break some water and start contracting we're going to have to pull out the big guns. Monday morning she would be induced if deemed unripe.

So the schedule is as follows, provided there is no spontaneous labor:

Wed 9/13 - Wait
Thurs 9/14 - Wait
Friday 9/15 - Wait
Saturday 9/16 - Wait

Sunday 9/17 - Stress Tests & Ripening
Brigham & Womens 9:30 AM
(Arrive 15Mins Early)
Bring overnight bag in case of eruption!

Monday 9/18 - Induction
Arrive 6AM for 1st round of Labor intakes - Ugh!
(Apparently they start lining up down the street at the crack of dawn!)

No Babies Yet...

After a long weekend of patiently waiting for a sign- we didnt have a baby yet. Last week we took some photos, made meals to freeze, sorted out our addresses for announcements, packed our bags. Nothing. So now that everything was done last week, we didnt have much to do other than wait. We heard that Eggplant Parmesan might get things rolling, so we went to Vinny T's to give it a shot. Still no labor. Theres a lot of wiggling though.

Bess thought it was going to be early. I thought it was going to be on the day- September 8th. Tomorrow we visit Dr. Miner at 9AM, and see where things will go from there. I think these will be the options:

1) Wait until the end of the week to see if anything happens
2) Get an Ultrasound and then go from there
3) Go to the hospital and induce labor
4) If all else fails - Cesarean Section (Worst case scenario)

Whichever the case, we should be having a baby this week at some point!

Fuzzy Shoe Test

Test - 1, 2 Camera to phone to Blog... Weeee!

Mim's Baby Batt Peeks

Here are a few photos that Mim Adkins took of the belly- fun! Click on the link below to see some more....

http://www.mimspeak.com/peeks/babybatt/








http://www.mimspeak.com/peeks/babybatt/


Life is beautiful. Live it, Love it, Savor It, Share It.
~ Photos Last Forever. ~
________________________

"Listen, See, Speak, Be"
Mim Adkins Photography
http://www.mimspeak.com

email: mim@mimspeak.com
cell: 617.233.9057
Mim Adkins is a documentary and fine art photographer.
She photographs weddings, families, pets, and events
in a fresh, artful, intimate and insightful style. Mim's work
has appeared in LIFE magazine, the Boston Globe,
the Improper Bostonian, and other national publications.
She teaches at the Santa Fe Workshops, and works
as a creative consultant helping photographers with
their books and websites.
For more information, visit: http://www.mimspeak.com