No More Bandages!!

Zoe is 10 weeks old and keeps getting cuter and cuter. We have reached many awesome milestones, including:
1. NO MORE BANDAGES - this is a huge deal. After 9 weeks of daily nurse visits and two cauterizations I no longer have to change the bandages because the incision has finally closed!!! Wooohoooo!!!
2. Zoe has taken her first subway ride
3. I received my first hug during burping (at least her arms were around my neck instead of pinned to her side or by her head)
4. Zoe slept through the night (6 hours woohoooo)

Zoe - 2 Months

Zoe is two months old! Where in the world did the last two months go? It's all very surreal and Ari and I catch ourselves wondering when someone is going to pop in and say just kidding she really isn't yours, you can't be parents.

We have determined that for some strange reason Zoe is a morning person. Getting out of bed is much easier when you see that great big smile she has each morning!

Thanksgiving was fantastic, we went to my Grandparents house in Scio where 35 members of the family were there to greet her. She got to meet my grandparents, all my aunt and uncles, and most of my cousins. I was so very excited to introduce her.

Zoe - 1 Month

Zoe is one month old and has changed so much from the floppy infant we brought home. She is still pretty floppy, but looking much older too. She is also SMILING, as witnessed in the picture, which is so so cute.

My mastitis and clogged ducts are finally resolved so we're back on the increasing milk supply train. Carol, the visiting nurse, comes every day and changes the wound bandages. She says it is healing very nicely.

Zoe was a cat for Halloween - very cute and also low maintenance, thank you Aunt Gwen for the costume!!!

Ari and I went out for the first time together while Judy watched Zoe, it was very nice to be out of the apartment and the steak was delicious too.

Zoe's Birth

I started getting contractions early in the day Saturday, September 26th. Ari and I went for a walk (or waddle in my case) in Central Park around the reservoir since it was such a nice day and the contractions weren't that bad. I kept thinking they would just stop as they had on other occasions but by 3PM I had progressed to 3/1/1 contractions. As usual Ari was wonderful during the labor, he helped me stay comfortable in between contractions and supported me during them.

We went to the hospital at midnight only to find out that I hadn't progressed at all, still only 1 cm dilated, which was extremely disheartening. This lack of progress and the uncomfortable position I had to be in in triage made the contractions MUCH harder to deal with. We went till 4:30AM with the same contractions when I got an epidural (finally! after waiting for the idiot resident for 3 hours), and then the pitocin was started. I dilated to 8CM by 9PM Sunday night, when Zoe's heart rate started showing signs of distress. We went in for the csection immediately. Dr. Datta took her out of my belly and showed Ari so he got to tell me it was a girl. He was so surprised and excited, I'll never forget the way he said 'It's a girl'.

Our adventures, both good and less than desirable, were just beginning. My uterus wouldn't contract after Zoe was removed and I started hemorrhaging. Ari got kicked out of the operating room - poor guy, he looked terrible, worse than me, when I saw him after. After numerous injections and some fancy suturing I was all sewn up and we spent the night in recovery. The nurses were so kind and let Ari stay with me, even though he was supposed to leave the hospital for then night. He had to sleep in a metal chair propped up against wall, but I was so glad he was there. They brought Zoe to us and we were able to feed her and stare in amazement at the beautiful little bundle that had finally arrived a week and a half late!

Monday morning I was moved to the regular labor and delivery floor after all the monitoring Sunday night had gone well. Unfortunately by Tuesday I was really sick - I had partial paralysis of my GI (something called an Ileus) and was very distended. My belly was back to 9 month pregnant size and when the doctors tapped on it it sounded like hitting a drum. That night I started throwing up and the next day, I started leaking fluid from the csection incision after the staples were removed. Turns out the second layer of suturing (closing the outside) had opened up. Evidently they can't sew that kind of thing up again so they just opened it and it had to heal from the inside out. I had a 13 cm long, 2cm deep hole in my lower abdomen and needed to have visiting nurse service come every day to care for it. Nasty. After xrays, CT scans and various doctors pounding on my stomach I ended up being on IV fluids only until Friday and then started to slowly eat normal food until Monday when we came home.

We got to know the doctors and nurses pretty well while we were there, they were so kind to us including Jessica who taught Ari how to give her a bath and Misha who got us a window room. They all loved Ari. Dr. Bimsen came each day and cleaned my incision, I let her know she was skilled in torture. The midwives came and visited me every day as well.

Unfortunately we were back at the hospital all too soon to say hello as we had to return Wednesday night when I experienced extremely high blood pressure, headaches and blurred vision. All the tests came back normal though so I got to leave after only 7 hours instead of having to stay all night. Fortunately my Mom was staying with us for the week and was able to watch Zoe during this trip.

Staying positive during this has certainly been challenging, Ari keeps reminding me how much the situation has improved,and how much worse it could be. The wound is healing really nicely and my GI has returned to normal.

Zoe is doing amazingly well and we are so lucky.

Our Honeymoon

For our honeymoon we chartered the sailboat Safari which sails between Bonaire and these tiny uninhabited islands off the coast of Venezuela called Las Aves. The sailing turned out to be much more of an adventure than originally anticipated. The weather, engine and water challenges were more than we bargained for but the food was fantastic, the view was beautiful and there certainly is something to be said for staying 10 days in a location where few other are or have been. A few of the highlights include experiencing amazing storms as they blew threw, including one that evicted us from our bed next to the mast due to lightning, seeing the bottoms of the clouds turn green from the reflection of the amazing water and walking on a reef out in the middle of the ocean with no real land masses in site.

We ended our trip with a three day stay in Bonaire after we finally got through customs (long story, but it involves a moronic captain, no engine, and no wind on an island where there is always wind). Bonaire is surrounded by a protected marine park so all the reefs are in pristine condition. Our final certification for diving couldn't have occurred at a better location. We had such a great time!