Drew's Birth Story & TONS of pictures!
First - thank you all for your well wishes and congratulations.
Secondly - Special thank you to Renae for being a killer angel and to Karen for posting the link to my mothers album on Facebook. Oh yeah and Liz for picking the most horrendous picture of me to post - haha, just kidding girl - thank you for sharing a few of the pictures for those not on Facebook.
And finally - here is Drew's birth story, entitled "Stubborn until the very end."
So I decided to take my maternity leave starting Monday because work was getting to be way too much. However, I forgot to unset my alarm, so I woke up Monday at 7am and couldn't get back to sleep. Around 7:30 I started to get contractions, called my mom and told her to keep her phone close that "today might be the day." She decided not to go to work and came to my house to help me time them. They got to 3-4 minutes lasting 60 seconds - so we called my substitute doctor who told me to go to L&D. So we got my bag and went. We got there and they hooked me up to monitor. The doctor came in and checked out the NST results and checked my cervix. Then he told me what every 41w1d miserable pregnant woman wants to hear "you're not dilating, we can't induce you, I'm gonna send you home. Some back when they are 2-3 minutes apart or less. If they don't make it by Thursday, we will talk about other options." This is when my mom couldn't hold her opinion anymore and said "you're telling me that you're sending her home with 175+ contractions that she's going to have to deal with for 4 more days? Shauna do you want to go get a second opinion?" This must have offended him, because he changed his tune and said "well we could give her some pain meds, that could possibly speed things up, and if it doesn't then it will at least give us some more time to monitor her and she will be more relaxed." So we decided to do that. About 30 minutes later the nurse (who was absolutely AMAZING) noticed that Drew's heartbeat was going down with every contraction. So she talked to the doctor and he came in and told us that we had to take by C-Section otherwise a natural birth would come with a LOT of complications. I told him to do what he had to do in order to bring my son into the world safely.
So Drew Alexander Cionek was born at 5:04pm at 7lbs 5oz and 20" long. He is absolutely perfect and so good. He was however allergic to the ointment that they put on their eyes when they first come out. So he has a nasty rash on his face - it looks so painful :-( But they said it would go away within the next week or so.
We spent 3 nights in the hospital. The first night he slept from 11pm - 2am, woke up for 15 minutes to eat. Then woke back up at 5:30am for another 15 minutes to eat. Then woke up again for the day at 8:30. He followed the same schedule Tuesday night. Wednesday night was different because a set of twins was born at like 1am and they screamed all night long - so Drew just fussed and cried. I brought him into the bed with me and he slept like the angel that he is. We will see how tonight goes. But I have a feeling we will be just fine.
And now the angel that has completely changed my life in only a matter of seconds...
Only an hour old. FYI - no he is not a "Cionek-Slack" - they have to give him the mothers last name if the mom & dad are not married.
Drew & Grampa Donnie (my dad)
Me & Drew with Hayli & Aleia
Perfection
Swimming in my going home outfit.
All ready in my carseat.
Secondly - Special thank you to Renae for being a killer angel and to Karen for posting the link to my mothers album on Facebook. Oh yeah and Liz for picking the most horrendous picture of me to post - haha, just kidding girl - thank you for sharing a few of the pictures for those not on Facebook.
And finally - here is Drew's birth story, entitled "Stubborn until the very end."
So I decided to take my maternity leave starting Monday because work was getting to be way too much. However, I forgot to unset my alarm, so I woke up Monday at 7am and couldn't get back to sleep. Around 7:30 I started to get contractions, called my mom and told her to keep her phone close that "today might be the day." She decided not to go to work and came to my house to help me time them. They got to 3-4 minutes lasting 60 seconds - so we called my substitute doctor who told me to go to L&D. So we got my bag and went. We got there and they hooked me up to monitor. The doctor came in and checked out the NST results and checked my cervix. Then he told me what every 41w1d miserable pregnant woman wants to hear "you're not dilating, we can't induce you, I'm gonna send you home. Some back when they are 2-3 minutes apart or less. If they don't make it by Thursday, we will talk about other options." This is when my mom couldn't hold her opinion anymore and said "you're telling me that you're sending her home with 175+ contractions that she's going to have to deal with for 4 more days? Shauna do you want to go get a second opinion?" This must have offended him, because he changed his tune and said "well we could give her some pain meds, that could possibly speed things up, and if it doesn't then it will at least give us some more time to monitor her and she will be more relaxed." So we decided to do that. About 30 minutes later the nurse (who was absolutely AMAZING) noticed that Drew's heartbeat was going down with every contraction. So she talked to the doctor and he came in and told us that we had to take by C-Section otherwise a natural birth would come with a LOT of complications. I told him to do what he had to do in order to bring my son into the world safely.
So Drew Alexander Cionek was born at 5:04pm at 7lbs 5oz and 20" long. He is absolutely perfect and so good. He was however allergic to the ointment that they put on their eyes when they first come out. So he has a nasty rash on his face - it looks so painful :-( But they said it would go away within the next week or so.
We spent 3 nights in the hospital. The first night he slept from 11pm - 2am, woke up for 15 minutes to eat. Then woke back up at 5:30am for another 15 minutes to eat. Then woke up again for the day at 8:30. He followed the same schedule Tuesday night. Wednesday night was different because a set of twins was born at like 1am and they screamed all night long - so Drew just fussed and cried. I brought him into the bed with me and he slept like the angel that he is. We will see how tonight goes. But I have a feeling we will be just fine.
And now the angel that has completely changed my life in only a matter of seconds...
Only an hour old. FYI - no he is not a "Cionek-Slack" - they have to give him the mothers last name if the mom & dad are not married.
Drew & Grampa Donnie (my dad)
Me & Drew with Hayli & Aleia
Perfection
Swimming in my going home outfit.
All ready in my carseat.
Awe! He is super-cute!
Glad it all worked out!!
Welcome, Drew!
Cindy
Surgery on 4/25/05 , Dr. Alverdy in Chicago. God Bless the DS !!!
Highest Weight = 412lbs, Surgery Weight = 359lbs, Current Weight = 155lbs (5'7" tall)http://www.picturetrail.com/gid8138761
Congratulations again, Shauna! Drew is absolutely adorable and I love those cheeks! I'm glad he arrived safely and that you are doing well. Sucks about the allergic reaction - what a rough way to start life, huh? Thankfully, he'll be none-the-wiser and will heal soon.
Thanks for sharing and wishing you lots of great time together getting to know your new son!
Hugs,
Thanks for sharing and wishing you lots of great time together getting to know your new son!
Hugs,
Jo
DS:9 yrs old / DD:5 yrs old / DS: 1 yr old