Tristan's Story

Tristan is 8 weeks old now, so it's obviously been a while since I've updated.

Things are going great. I'm sooo in love with my "Super Baby", as my niece calls him. He's soo active and alert, and has been for weeks. His new favorite thing to do is jump up and down - and then he laughs out loud and gets this HUGE grin on his face, which of course just melts my heart. :0)


Yesterday was my postpartum appointment. We showed Tristan off to all the nurses, of course. ;) Everything was good with me, so that's the last time we'll be there for a while. I'm kind of sad - I really liked my OB, lol.


Oh, and we went and picked up the baby's birth certificate while we were in Tyler. I'm so disappointed - they typed it up while we were there and it totally looks like a fake. It only has our names and his birthdate on it. What the heck?? It doesn't look at all like all the ones I've ever seen. Not sure what the deal is with that.


This past weekend, we took Tristan on his first-ever road trip. The Hoodies threw a "Welcome Baby" shower for us, and it was tons of fun. It was soo nice to get to see everyone again - plus, the baby got lots of cute new outfits and a great blanket that Esther made for him.

Here are some pics from this weekend:


Now leave some comments so I can be inspired to post more! ;)

Tristan is one month old today! It was also his first holiday (Valentine's Day!) so here are some pictures to commemorate the special day :0)

Tristan's first week was a pretty eventful one.

We got home from the hospital on Wednesday afternoon. We had a few visitors and then just enjoyed our first night at home.

On Thursday morning, he had his first appointment with our family practitioner. He had developed jaundice overnight! =-0 He was also down to 8 lbs., 3 oz. - 12 ounces down from his birth weight. The average loss is usually less than 10 ounces. So, we started pushing fluids and had to feed every 2 hours. He did good for a while, but that night, he started refusing to breastfeed. We had to start supplementing formula to make sure he was getting enough calories.

On Friday, I stopped breastfeeding altogether and started alternating between formula and expressed breast milk. He started eating much better, and his color started to improve. We continued that all weekend.

On Monday, he turned one week old. :0) We took him back to the doctor and his weight was up to 8 lbs., 13 oz.! He had gained 10 ounces over the weekend, so that's a wonderful improvement. His jaundice was also much better, so she said we could start spacing out his feedings. His umbilical cord was starting to get a little infected, so we were told to increase the cleanings with alcohol to every diaper change.

Today, he's eight days old and his jaundice is all but gone. His umbilical cord fell off today... which is worrisome to me, but we called the nurse and she said to keep cleaning it and he should be okay. We've got another appointment tomorrow to get his PKU follow-up, so we can check everything else out then, too.

And now, pictures from his "One Week Birthday":

Short Story: Tristan Colbie was born on Monday, January 14th at 3:57 am weighing 8 lbs, 15 oz. with a length of 21 inches. And no, I didn't get the unmedicated birth that I wanted.

Long Story: I started having contractions at around 4pm on Saturday (the 12th). I went to Labor & Delivery but was only at 2cm with no progress, so they sent me home. We got home at 1 am and I got a few hours of sleep before waking up at 5am on Sunday (the 13th) with strong contractions that were about 7-8 minutes apart. I tried to rest, but couldn't, and finally got up at around 7 am. I took a bath, got dressed, and started timing the contractions. After they had been 5 minutes apart for about 2 hours, I told Brandon I thought it was time to go to the hospital. I wasn't in horrible pain, but at that point I could no longer easily walk through the contractions.
We go to the hospital at around 12:30 pm and I went to L&D triage... I was 90% effaced, and dilated to 4 cm, but barely, so my OB suggested that I walk around for an hour and get checked again. She didn't want me getting admitted prematurely. So Brandon and I walked the hospital grounds... up and down the stairs of the parking garage and all around inside. When they checked me again, I was almost to 5 cm, 100% effaced, and my bag of waters was bulging, so they decided to admit me.

We got to our room and the contractions were about 3 minutes apart, and mostly in my back, but still bearable. I tried doing my relaxation breathing, tried different positions, used my birthing ball, etc. When my OB came in to check on me, she said I looked amazing and that if I wanted to go unmed, that was fine with her. But... she decided to break my water since it was still bulging.

After that, the contractions immediately got more intense and much closer together. I was having a hard back labo and I started finding it hard to relax, but I did the best I could, because I was so intent on having an unmedicated birth. The next three or four hours are kind of a blur for me. I remember being checked and being at 6 cm. I was frustrated, but continued to breathe through the contractions. Then I started feeling a lot of pressure but was only at 7 cm. Almost two hours later, I was still at 7. My labor had stalled.

They wanted to use pitocin, but I hesitated, and kept trying to breathe through the now VERY intense contractions. I agreed to a small dosage of IV Stadol so that I could try to focus more. The Stadol only made me drowsy, and I was pretty out of it, but all of a sudden, the nurses started rushing around and I didn't understand what was going on. Finally, one of them told me that they couldn't find the baby's heartbeat and that they were going to attach the internal fetal monitor. When they did so, they checked me again and my cervix had started to swell b/c I was unable to control my strong urge to push. They now said that they pitocin was necessary in order to keep my cervix from swelling closed.

At that point, I gave in and said I would get the epidural. My labor had stopped, the baby was in danger, my body was in danger, and I was getting closer to a C-section by the minute. So at around 8pm, I got the epidural.

Admittedly, things got much better. I was finally able to be free of the horrible back pains that came with each contraction, and could relax and tell jokes with Brandon. I was also able to get a little bit of rest. By midnight, my cervix had recovered and I was fully dilated.

At 1:30am, my nurse told me to start pushing. The baby's head was still very high, and he was posterior (which was causing my back labor), plus as we had been told, he was a very large baby. At one point, I overheard a nurse say that I might need a C-Section b/c of the size of his head, but another said that I had worked too hard for too long. Thank goodness for her!! She's my angel! :) I ended up pushing for 2 1/2 hours. I got very nauseous and vomited several times. By 3:30am, my OB had came in for good and we got down to business.

At the last minute, Tristan rotated so that he was anterior and his head could fit more easily through the pelvis. He ended up being born without forceps or any other intervention. Once his head was in place, the rest was smooth sailing. Finally, at 3:57 am, almost 36 hours exactly since my first contraction, my beautiful baby boy entered the world. He had a small sore on the top of his head from my pelvis, and I got a 2nd degree tear, but otherwise we both came through just fine.

He was perfect and healthy and scored 9's on both of his Apgars. He was incredibly alert and has been ever since. And of course, he's the center of our world. :0)

All through labor, I felt like quite a failure that I was unable to get my unmed birth. But, he was posterior, and almost 9 pounds, and under the circumstances, there was just no way to go through with it. Everyone told me that I did wonderfully and had an incredibly hard job and eventually, I let myself believe it. I know I did what was best for my son, and that is truly all that matters. :)

Today was my follow-up ultrasound. The baby's head was measuring 3 weeks ahead last time, so they wanted an update. It's still measuring ahead, but so is the rest of him, so it looks like he'll be a normal - but big - baby. :0) The ultrasound estimated that he weighs 9 lbs., 4 oz. at this point - but it can be off by as much as 2 pounds. By the look of things, the tech thinks that he should be arriving pretty soon.

After the ultrasound, I had my usual appointment with Dr. Carl. I've officially gained 40 pounds this pregnancy. :( But I'm trying to stay confident that I'll be able to lose it. Blood pressure was fine. I was also negative for Group B Strep, which is a relief. Now I don't have to worry about getting antibiotics during labor.

I'm up to 2cm now - not sure about the effacement, since she didn't mention it. She seems to think that the baby is closer to weighing eight pounds than nine, and she thinks I shouldn't have a problem delivering him the natural way. I'm scheduled for an appointment with her next Monday, but she said that there's a chance I won't make it that far (yay!). So feel free to send labor vibes my way! ;)

Wow! As of today, I am 38 weeks pregnant. I can't believe it! It seems like just a few weeks ago, Brandon and I were back in Killeen and found out that we were going to have a baby. So much has happened since then, but it's all gone by so fast! I'm really, really ready to meet my beautiful baby boy, but things have gone just as planned thus far, so I think we might have a few more weeks to wait. I just want him to be healthy and happy, but I do wish he would hurry just a little. ;)