Aliya Ysabel

My baby girl is a week old today yet I sometimes can’t believe she is really here. My pregnancy with her flew by so quickly, although was pretty difficult at times, especially compared to my pregnancy with Luke. Aliya was due on January 21 and came 11 days early, on January 10^th. I am so happy that she is here and I am *so* thrilled not to be pregnant anymore! I got my weekly baby center email a couple days ago that said “You’re 39 weeks pregnant, 1 week to go!” and I very happily deleted it without reading.

Huge smile while napping

On January 10^th I was lying in bed trying to take an early morning nap (Luke had gotten us up a bit past 5) and at around 7:15, I suddenly felt this light popping sensation, and then all this fluid gushed over me. I was so confused as to what was happening. Marcus was reading in bed and I called his name out and he looked at me and sprang into action. He told me later my expression was so funny because I’m normally so in control and I just looked so confused. Less than an hour later, we were at the hospital in the ER, waiting for my OB-GYN to come and do an internal exam. I’d really hoped to not have an induced labor like with Luke because inductions tend to be so much more painful (the contractions come much faster than they would naturally, giving your body less time to get over each one). Unfortunately though, when my fabulous doctor, Dr. Marie, checked me out, I was barely 1 cm dilated and was having such mild contractions I couldn’t feel them. She reminded me that ideally a woman will give birth within 12 hours of water breaking, so she started an induction.

By around 1 pm my contractions were becoming a lot stronger and more painful, and when Dr. Marie checked me again, I was 5 cm dilated. Around 2:30 Dr. Marie ordered for me to be brought to the delivery room where I would finally get some pain relief in the form of an epidural, and soon after would be ready to give birth. While I welcomed each contraction because I knew they were bringing Aliya closer into our world, I was in a lot of pain and was really, REALLY ready for an epidural. So when I got to the deliver room and was told that all the hospitals in Puerto Princesa were out of epidural catheters, I honestly thought I might die. I didn’t have the energy to react but I was told the anesthesiologist was quickly checking her personal stocks and I just prayed between each contraction that she’d have one. Dr. Marie assured me that if they couldn’t find one that I could have a spinal tap at 8 cm but I didn’t know if I could last that long.

Thankfully the anesthesiologist came back with an epidural catheter and soon enough I finally had some relief from the pain. It felt like literally 15 or 20 minutes later that Dr. Marie told me I was nearly at 10 cm and that I could start pushing. Three big pushes later and Aliya Ysabel was born. She started crying immediately and so did I when I got to see her and touch her. Even then I remember thinking beyond being happy that she was safe and sound, I was just so thrilled to not be pregnant anymore!

We spent the night at the hospital and hoped to go home the next day. However, our awesome pediatrician, Dr. Rebs (who is Dr. Marie’s husband!) had had blood culture tests done to rule out any infection since an infection could have caused my water bag to break early, and also both doctors knew about how much illness my family had been dealing with in the days and weeks before. The blood test showed that Aliya had an elevated white blood cell count, indicating an infection. Dr. Rebs recommended keeping Aliya in the hospital for a few days and starting her on antibiotics.

It was really hard to watch nurses and doctors pricking and prodding my baby and to see her in pain from the shots and needles so early in her life, but we are so thankful that we had such good care, and were happy to play it safe. Thankfully within a few days Aliya’s tests didn’t show any more signs of infection and we were cleared to go home.

And now it has been a week since her birth. Time is really flying by. So thankful for my baby girl! Welcome to this world baby Aliya :)

Aliya at 1 week old

Baby # 2

So now that my family is on the road to recovery, and I am officially on maternity leave, I am finally thinking a bit more about all the changes to come with the arrival of our baby girl. Before Luke arrived I think I was a lot more nervous about all the unknowns. I don’t feel as nervous now since I’ve gone through this all before, but both Marcus and I are a bit nervous about how baby girl is going to change the dynamic of our family. What will it be like to have two little ones? How will Luke interact with his sister? How will our relationship with Luke change? And our relationship with each other?

I know only time will tell but I would love to hear from those of you with more than one baby. What were your initial experiences like? Do you have any advice for things we should do for Luke throughout this adjustment period? Things we should make sure we do for baby girl? Things Marcus and I need to keep in mind for each other?

Any anecdotes and advice or experiences welcome! Many thanks :)

On the Mend

Thanks again to all of you for your thoughts and prayers for my family's health! 

Marcus is home now and starting his recovery. His platelet count was up to 113 yesterday (at it's lowest point on Saturday it was only 58) and his white blood cell count is up. We still have to watch out for internal bleeding but praying that won't happen. He's still very weak and we're told it will be weeks before he's totally better but we're thankful for the improvement! 

Luke is still covered in rashes and having some vomiting or diarrhea every so often but is feeling good and his doctor has definitively ruled out dengue and says the rashes should clear up in a few days. He's a little grumpier than he usually is but otherwise is up and about and generally cheerful and happy.

And I am as big as a house and feeling pretty heavy and tired but my cold is almost gone and otherwise am ok. We'd initially been excited when my doctor said she thought I'd deliver early but now we're praying baby girl will stay put for 2 more weeks til we're all better!!

Thanks again!

Oh What a Night

What a night we just had!

My mom came and stayed with Luke so I could visit Marcus in the hospital in the late evening. I got home just as this storm hitting Palawan right now was really intensifying. Crazy wind and rain! Predictably after a while the power went out so mom and I had to do all our getting ready for bed in the dark. Thankfully the power outage didn’t last too long and I settled into bed around 10:30. The wind was howling so loudly I thought I’d never fall asleep, but I did.

Warning – only read the next part if you do not get squeamish about poop and vomit!

So I fell asleep only to be woken up an hour later by the sound of Luke gagging. I jumped out of bed and got him sitting up on my lap and rubbed his back. He eventually stopped gagging but was clutching on to me so I knew something was still bothering him. Sure enough a couple minutes later he started having massive amounts of diarrhea. I couldn’t believe how much it seemed was coming out of this poor boy. I have of course been very worried that Luke would contract amoebeasis again so I’ve kind of been waiting for this. We waited for a while then I lay him down to get him cleaned up. I changed his diaper on the diaper pad only to realize a minute later that his poop was so watery and so much that it had come up the back of his diaper and was midway up his back. I got him up and started leading him to the bathroom where he promptly started throwing up. When he was done I gave him a bath and got him in clean clothes and back in bed. Thankfully he loves waking up to find his Lola so they cuddled and got into a happier mood while I cleaned up all the nasties. Lola eventually got Luke back to sleep.

I packed up the dirty diaper and went into our living room to put the bag outside overnight, only to find a huge section of our living room floor totally wet. We’d had a leak in our roof a few months before but never got it fixed because it only let water in once and we kind of forgot about it. But the downpour last night was so strong that water had come in. So I cleaned that all up and situated a bucket and some floor mats in the area where it seems like the water comes in.

Finally went back into the room and started getting into bed only to find a portion of the bedspread and sheets by my feet damp. Sniffed it – vomit. Great. Way too exhausted to change all the sheets and it wasn’t much so I just grabbed a bottle of rubbing alcohol and dumped it on to disinfect. Of course after doing this the smell of alcohol was so strong that I worried it would set Luke off on a gagging and vomiting fit. Thankfully it did not.

Was just about to drift back off to sleep when the power went off again. Got up to get our solar fan on, got back into bed. Couldn’t sleep because of the howling wind and rain and soon started hearing what sounded like drops of water coming into the room. Got up again and realized that the rain was hitting our windows so hard that despite the windows being shut, water was coming in. So then had to mop all that up, put a towel against the window, dry off the books and things that had gotten wet and mop up the floor.

Throughout all this I was texting with Marcus who is unfortunately still just feeling so weak and rotten. I think he’s probably going to have to stay in the hospital a few more days.

Couldn’t go back to sleep cause I kept worrying Luke would be sick again and I kept checking to see if his fever had returned. Thankfully he didn’t have any more episodes and slept quite peacefully. This morning he has a slight fever but is in good spirits. I don’t actually think he has amoebeasis because the poop was so different from what it is like when he has the parasite. This seems more consistent with the flu/stomach bug that has plagued half my family for the last 10 days. So hopefully this too will pass.

Finally drifted off to sleep around 4:30 and was thrilled to realize at 6 am that the power was back on. Jumped up to turn on the coffee maker so our coffee could brew before any more potential power outages.

It is still raining so hard and throughout the night I kept thinking of all our clients who live in thatch roof nipa houses. I hope they fared through the night ok. We are under storm signal 2 right now and it doesn’t look like the rain and wind will die down anytime soon. Praying and hoping for the best.

Sigh. Onwards into 2013. At some point things have to get better right?

Sicky New Year

Well, it is now 2013 and my family has spent most of the last few days in bed, feeling pretty sick. First Marcus got sick on the 30^th of December, and by the 31^st I was down with a cold as well. We couldn’t even muster the energy to stay up to welcome the New Year, and went to bed around 9:30 (!)

By January 1^st poor Luke had joined us in the sicky department and has had a high fever off and on since. Marcus though was really so sick and didn’t seem to be improving, so he went to the hospital yesterday for some blood work and it turns out he has dengue fever and amoebeasis :( Poor guy, he is feeling so miserable. He was allowed to come home last night but nausea has set in and he was finding it impossible to keep water or other liquids down, so this morning we had him admitted to the hospital so he can stay hydrated intravenously. (There’s no medication for dengue, unfortunately, but it is imperative that patients remain hydrated). His white blood cell count is pretty low but hopefully after a couple days of rest and hydration his body will start fighting back.

Our next worry of course was that Luke might have dengue too. He had blood work done this morning and he does have a viral infection, but his WBC count isn’t abnormally low so we’re hoping the infection is just the flu. Will keep monitoring his health and am hoping and praying he will improve soon!

My cold isn’t so bad but of course in all this we’ve been worried that baby girl might make her appearance. I am full term now and though my due date isn’t until January 21, my doctor thinks baby girl may arrive early. I had a check up today and thankfully, am not at all dilated at this time and my doctor thinks it will be about another week before labor starts. Really hoping we can all get healthier before our little girl joins us!

Thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers and words of encouragement. We are hoping that 2013 can only improve from this point on!