Cold turkey

Sorry not to put up any posts today. I know that a few of you had been reading the blog very often the prior two days. At least one person I know says they are in withdrawals. As you might imagine, I've been busy.

Stephanie and I are staying in a maternity ward at the hospital, just one floor up from labor and delivery. The room has a bed for Stephanie (the patient) and a cot for me. Ariela is sleeping in a crib in our room. We have the option to leaver her overnight with the nursing staff in the nursery, but that doesn't feel like the right thing to do. So we have an cute little alarm clock in the room with us -- that is my problem tonight because mom still has trouble moving around due to the the surgery. We will be here until Sunday evening.

It is interesting to me that this hospital seems not to have that many fathers. I've seen only three other men who appeared to be fathers since we got here last night, but I've seen at least a dozen mothers. I guess if there are older kids in the family then dad might be at home with them. Still, I think there are a lot of single moms here. Perhaps as a result, they are a little confused about what to do with me. No one has enforced it, but I'm considered a visitor, and I'm supposed to get a new visitor's pass each day I'm here. I realize I'm not a patient, but it seems like there should be a special status for dads to distinguish them from other visitors. No harm done, but it sends a funny message.

We had a huge number of visitors today. Also lots of medical visits from doctors and the like. I filled the forms for the birth certificate. Someone came to get blood for state mandated genetic testing, I think for PKU and other rare stuff. I'm not worried. Some of our friends were unlucky and came just at the wrong time, I felt bad about that. Stephanie was pretty run down and doped up, especially in the morning. In the afternoon her stomach was very upset. The pain seems surprisingly manageable for her after she turned a corner at about 4 pm this afternoon. All the visits and phone calls and emails were really appreciated. They almost completely consumed the time I had been spending writing blog entries. All out friends and colleagues have been really kind and generous and we appreciate deeply, even though our responses to the attention might not always be what people expect. We are still pretty tired.

Stephanie's parents will be here tomorrow (assuming the snow storm doesn't close the airport). We expect 4-8 inches in the next 24 hours. It will start any minute now and continue until 6 pm tomorrow. Bummer for people who don't live full time in a hospital.

I have posted this video! I'm told that a picture is worth a thousand words. I don't know the conversion is for a video, but I suggest the following: we multiply 1,000 by the frame rate (frames/sec) times the number of seconds. I don't know the frames per second, but this video is a minute long and must be at lest 4 fps (maybe 30?), which would imply that this video has more information that all the rest of my blog combined. Unlikely to be true, but I challenge my readers to identify the error in my calculus.

It's a girl!

Ariela Dulawa Palmer was born by cesarean section at 2:56 pm central time. She weighs 9 lb 4 oz and appears to be in perfect health.

As you may realize, 9 lb 4 oz is big. It is about 4.2 Kilograms. One practical consequence of this is that we will probably not be able to use all the diapers we bought, which are intended for 10 lb and under babies!

Stephanie was a champ during the c-section, in the picture below she is in the middle of surgery, there about about 10 people in the room, and her abdomen is cut open.
Pretty good attitude! Here was the scene just seconds later when I looked over the curtain (I've replaced the more graphic one I had posted earlier).

As Dr. Ismail said at the end of the surgery, "thank god for antibiotics and anesthesia". I had the interesting job, if you can call it a job, of trying to comfort Stephanie, joke with the doctors, and be the first to greet our daughter once she was born. Here is a photo that captures the surprisingly jolly mood of the procedure, Dr Ismail is shaking Stephanie's hand after the procedure is finished.

More to the point, here is a picture of our new daughter.
Mother and baby are recovering well. Here is a photo from the recovery room less than an hour after the surgery ended.
It has been a dramatic few days. Stephanie and I have enjoyed interacting with people via this blog. I'll have more posts in the next few days with new photos of Ariela and information about how you can visit us at the hospital. Stay tuned!

c-section

We just decided to do a c-section. The will prep Stephanie for surgery now, Dr. Ismail says he thinks he will be making an incision by about 2:15 or 2:30 central time. Not much time for me to elaborate, I'm going to clean up our stuff and get ready to accompany Stephanie into the OR. To say that we are nervous is an understatement, but I didn't think there will be problems.

On my next post I hope to be reporting good news, birth weight and a name. Stay tuned, I doubt I'll post before 3 PM and perhap it will be 4 or even later. I'll be busy.

Sleepy afternoon - no developments

I'd love to provide some news about Stephanie but there really isn't any. Her contractions look good on the monitor, pretty regular and about 3 minutes apart. She is feeling OK considering her situation. Tired and a little weird, but her body is doing a lot of work and so we'd expect her to feel tired.
I saw several people at lunch today, Greta, Jason MacLean, Lianne Kurina and Ken O'Neill. Nice to see familiar faces.
We are just passing the time and waiting to be finished. We were told 48 hours and that is beginning to look more and more accurate.

Pisces

Our daughter will be a Pisces. According to the CIA world fact book (check it out sometime), her life expectancy will be 81.13 years, meaning that she can expect to live until the year 2090. Who will this person be? How will the world's history unfold over the course of all those years? Will she be with me when I die?
In this blog I've been ignoring what will happen after the baby is born. Writing about this feels too personal and like it is outside the scope of what I'm trying to do. But don't think these topics aren't going through my head. This is a major undertaking, and the details of these few days are really very trivial by comparison.
Speaking of trivial, I'll be at Au Bon Pain from about 11:30-12:30, feel free to drop by and visit if you read this post in time.

Sasha and Malia Obama were born here

No one seems to know what room it was in, but Michelle Obama gave birth to both Sasha and Malia Obama here at University of Chicago -- in this very labor and delivery ward.

Signs of Obama are all over Hyde Park, where he lived until last month. Several restaurants advertise that Obama ate there or that he said it was his favorite restaurant. Last weekend I went for a walk and there were cops and plain cloths guys in unmarked cars everywhere. I finally asked one of them and sure enough, Obama was in the immediate vicinity. He was playing basketball with some of his friends at the Lab School, which if the private K-12 school run by the University. For all we know one or both of the girls were born in this very same room.

So, as you can see, there is really no baby news to report. We are going to see how much Stephanie progresses today and make a decision this evening about whether to keep trying or to do a c-section. The boring wait continues. I'm tired and distracted enough that I can't do any useful work, so I'm really just passing time.

Bright sun outside makes our little room cheerful.

Good day, sun shine

No baby yet. Water intact. Maybe 4 cm last time she was checked. Sorry not to post for a few hours, but I was sleeping which felt pretty good. Stephanie is still sleeping, which I take to be good news as well. At about 1 am she got her epidural, and they started pitocin shortly thereafter. There is a monitor that shows contractions and they look good, but Stephanie can no longer feel them. As a measure of just how effective the epidural is, she has been asleep (hospital environment permitting) since about 2 am.

Her OB/GYN poked his head in at about 7 am, and we snuck out to the hall to avoid waking her up. He said he was satisfied with the situation and that he hoped that she would continue to progress today. If not, he might think about a c-section this evening, depending on how things looked.

It is clear, sunny and cold outside. I went to get some coffee this morning and again saw half a dozen people I know from work in the hallways. Thankfully, I'm not used to waking up in the hospital having slept in my cloths. But I don't think anyone I ran into could tell and I didn't feel like a long explanation -- let them read the blog if they really want to know the details.

I've enjoyed seeing people posting responses on the blog, I also know some of you have had problems, and I actually have run into problems that feel like bugs when posting replies as well. Anyhow, don't feel bad if you are unable to post, not a big deal.

Epidural in

I'm not sure how many of you are staying up all night to read my blog (hopefully none of you), but here is the news: In anticipation of the onset active labor (possibly still along way away) Stephanie got her epidural. No problems, and she is now strangely numb, it seems hard to describe what it is like. But not like being in pain, and she can't tell that she is having contractions. So hooary for epidurals! Now we are awaiting the pitocin, not sure when or if they will use that. Stephanie and I will try to get some rest.

A little bit of nausia but we expect it to pass.

Lots of action -- 3cm and screaming and crying (not us)!

Things are progressing faster. Stephanie is 3 cm and they will start the pitocin any time now. We expect she might get an epidural first, her contractions are still not bad but clearly more painful than they were before. They are still 2-4 min apart still somewhat irregular.

We walked around a little on the L&D ward for a few minutes. Bad idea. There was a commotion the anesthesiologist we'd met came running down the hall looking for an OB/GYN. Seriously running, not walking fast. A woman had just been admitted and was having her baby in the triage area. Lots of commotion, people running, the woman screaming and then...a baby crying. No kidding, just like that. Maybe 5 minutes from the running around until the crying baby. So that is one way to do it. Our experience is a little different, but I'm thinking that February 19th will be a special day in the Palmer family...

It is night and I don't feel like I'm at work at all. totally immersed in this other parallel universe. I'm not board anymore.

The plan for tonight

We spoke with Stephanie's OB/GYN a few minutes ago. Here is the current plan: at 10 PM they will do another exam to see if the Cervidil did its job. Often the answer is no, in which case they repeat it. That would be another 12 hours so would take us to the next morning. If, on the other hand, they are happy with the condition of her cervix, they would start pitocin tonight, which could get exciting. But not necessarily. If the do another Cervidil we expect a very slow night.

We've been trying to rest in case we are kept up all night. Not easy in a hospital because various doctors and nurses keep visiting and intercoms blaring. But we're fine and feeling well taken care of. Despite the bumps highlighted in this blog, we are very impressed with the quality of the doctors and nurses here.

The snow was impressive for a few minutes but has died down now, there is a light cover on the ground maybe a quarter to one half of an inch. Nothing to worry about.

Our biggest problem is a grilled cheese sandwich

The title pretty much summarizes how the day is going. Contractions persist, but they are not progressing. Stephanie ordered dinner but what came was a chicken sandwich not the grilled cheese sandwich she asked for. She called back and they said they could send a grilled cheese sandwich, but not the rest of the dinner (which was getting cold), and not another drink, and it might take an hour. They were grumpy about it. I'm just going to walk down the hall to the cafeteria... Would we be treated the same way at another hospital? I don't think all of medicine should be run on a strict business model, but it does seem like this is the sort of little thing that chases away business but doesn't save the hospital much money.

Since I started typing this blog we talked to the nurse and she said she'd check to see if she could get stephanie's dinner replaced. She agreed that it sounded like the wrong way to treat a pregnant lady. So good for UofC. And good for us that this is the biggest challenge that we are facing.

hurry up and wait

I am typing with one hand right now because Stephanie is in the bathroom, which means she doesn't have the finger heart rate monitor thingy on. This causes an irritating alarm to go off. So I'm wearing it right now to make the machine happy. Pretty good, but I can't type with that hand. In addition to the finger cuff (back on her finger now, 2 hand typing is a joy!) there are also wireless monitors for the baby's heart rate and something that monitors contractions. The chart paper to the right shows typical output; above is the heart rate which is generally around 140 or so (normal). The lower trace shows contractions. Each heavy line is one minute, so you can see that in this case she had about 4-5 minutes between contractions (onset to onset). Good timing, but they aren't that strong.

We just watched 2 episodes of "the office" which are streamed to us via Netflix. Funny stuff. Weird watching TV in a hospital on a computer. All very weird.

The rain has turned to snow outside, but the ground is still to wet and warm for anything to accumulate. I haven't looked at the weather lately, not sure if we will see accumulation or not tonight.

Summary: no significant news. I think this is going to be a longish process.

Au Bon Pain

I just got back from having lunch at Au Bon Pain. Once again it was a strange transition from being a patient to being at work. I saw Murry Sherman (chair of Neurobiology and also my neighbor) and Harriet de Wit, who is both a close collaborator and also a neighbor. Harriet and I had lunch and talked for a few minutes. It is a relief to be distracted for a little while. I feel bad that Stephanie doesn't have that opportunity.

I took a photo while at the cafe, but it didn't come out, so I'm showing you this image I grabbed from the web instead. It is apt because Au Bon Pain is FULL of doctors. About 6 months ago I was there when a woman had a seizure. About 20 people got up from dinner to help her and it took some time for them to establish who was in charge. So it is true, no one is likely to die at Au Bon Pain unless it is really their time to go.

I'm back in the room now, lots of commotion but really nothing happening. Getting up to go to the bathroom takes Stephanie 15 minutes with all the cords and wires. Now they are drawing some blood to look at electrolyte levels.

Stephanie continues to have contractions but they aren't that strong and done seem very regular or close together. So no real news in this post, just filler.

Contractions!

Stephanie reports some slightly uncomfortable contractions. She isn't suffering, but she can feel them more than before. Progress? Seems like progress. Funny when being uncomfortable is the desired endpoint.

Time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping into the future

Stephanie is napping and nothing much is happening (still). She thought she felt some contractions earlier, but they must not be very strong yet because she can only sort of feel them.

In an earlier post I complained that I couldn't get into Stephanie's room, but that was resolved within 30 minutes. I've been here ever since. The room is nice, bigger than I would have expected with a very institutional but comfy couch for me to rest on. I can see my building form the window (see photo). Strange being so close to work physically but so far away mentally.

The weather in Chicago is about 40 degrees and raining. It might snow this evening, perhaps 1 inch. I'm not sure if I'll go home at some point today or hang around here the whole time. It is really slow but I think Stephanie doesn't want to be alone.

For those of you who are interested, we are in Labor and Delivery which is approximately above the emergency room. The room is 236. You should not try to visit because only one guest can be in the room at a time, and I'm the guest. Also, it would be a weird time for her to get visitors.

No news for now, really nothing at all. It is the proverbial calm before the storm. I'm glad I brought my computer.

Abraham

Cervidil in, 1 cm dilated, 50% effaced

We got here at 7:02. At 10:18, the thing we came in for finally happened, they gave stephanie the Cervidil. Just prior to putting in the Cervidil (a Prostaglandin) they did an exam and found that Stephanie was already 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced. So that suggests that her body was already getting ready for this on its own. Nevertheless, they continue to think this will be a 48 hour process.

Dr. Ismail is here

A little before 9 am Dr. Ismail, Stephanie's OB/GYN got here. He seemed unhappy that nothing had happened, I think there had been a miscommunication...it seemed he thought they would have already given her the prostaglandin thing by now. It turns out that has to come from the pharmacy and so this delays us an hour.

Stephanie got a room!

We've now been here a little more than an hour. Stephanie just got into a delivery room, but they wouldn't let me stay in the room with her. So I’m back out in the waiting area. No one knew how long I’d have to wait.

The promised photo of Stephanie in the wheel chair is here.

The waiting begins

The advice that we've gotten over and over is that we should get as much sleep as we can now. We tried. Stephanie did get a lot of sleep last night. Not me. The night before I slept poorly so last night I took sleeping pills figuring this would help. I was asleep from about midnight to 3:30 am, but before and after that it was very fitful. Not really nervous and anxious, just not sleepy. I was counting down the hours until I could get up. I finally got up at 5:58, 2 minutes before the alarm was set to go off. So much for sleep.

We got to the hospital at 7:02. I wondered a little what would have happened if we'd got there at 7:30 or 8 instead. It turns out we would have missed out on some valuable time in the waiting area. They never admit people at 7 because that is when the shifts change. So...the waiting begins.

Lots of women are here trading war stories of past deliveries. Interesting. We've now been waiting to be admitted for 30 minutes. Seems unnecessary.

Stephanie is in a wheelchair, just for her comfort. I'll try to post photos soon.

We saw someone we knew in the parking garage this morning. She opened her car window to ask us something. We assumed she knew why we were at the hospital. But this is also where we work, and it turned out this woman wanted Stephanie to email her some slides...Funny. Funny to do something so personal in the same building where we work.

Summary: our day of waiting has begun.

Twas the night before...

Tomorrow we go to labor and delivery at 7 am for Stephanie's induction. We are told this might be a long process, perhaps 48 hours before we get a baby out the other end. It begins by using prostaglandins to 'soften' the cervix. That might trigger her body to go into labor, but if not, they will use iv pitocin after some time (12-24 hrs? we aren't clear) to get things moving. Due to all this uncertainty, there may few entries on this blog or there may be a LOT of entrees. We have no idea. Welcome our uncertainty. Welcome to the threshold of our control.

One of the purposes of this blog is to let people get the amount of information they want when they want it. This way you will not need to call or email to get updates; I will post news as it comes. If there isn't a new post, then there is no news or something really interesting is happening so I'm too busy to post.

As my brother Jesse pointed out, it is strange that a medical procedure will dictate a birthday that someone else will celebrate for a long time to come. Anyhow, this is just one of the dozens of strange things going down here in Chicago. I will try to post developments as they happen, not sure if this will be practical or not, but there is a good wireless Internet signal in the parts of labor and delivery we've been to so far. Stephanie is complaining right now about being kicked, I can't see it right now, but in the past few weeks there have been VERY visible baby movements that can be seen by the unaided eye.

Pertinent facts: last estimated weight of the baby was 8lb 6oz, that was last Friday. Tomorrow (Wednesday) Feb 18th 2009 will be exactly 39 weeks from conception. Stephanie probably doesn't want me to publish her weight, but she has gained a healthy amount (see photo). The baby is a girl and has the right number of chromosomes. We had a newer test done at Baylor to identify copy number variants not found in either Stephanie or me; there were none detected.

We have gotten a flood of calls and emails from well-wishers. Very touching, we are certainly not going into this alone. The main priority for tonight is to get some rest, easier said than done...

Singing off. Abraham (still not a father) Palmer