Simone is on the left and Koen is on the right in both pictures.
Glad tidings...
- Plus Two
- What a fertility adventure we had! Our children were eventually conceived through in vitro fertilization and were born in the fall of 2009. Julie is the biological mother of both kids... Diana was the gestational mother for our son and Julie was the gestational mother for our daughter [the first couple of blog entries provides more detail]. Together, we are one lucky family!
Monday, November 16, 2009
The Siblings
'Cuz they are just way too cute together....
Simone is on the left and Koen is on the right in both pictures.
Simone is on the left and Koen is on the right in both pictures.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
November's Gift -- the story
So Simone and Julie decided to take their time throughout the labor & delivery process... they had several days of getting used to each other before Simone finally made her appearance!
Julie started some pretty intense Braxton-Hicks contractions on Sunday evening, 11/8. Try 3-6 contractions an hour for oh, almost three days... During this period, Julie finished up a few projects for work, relaxed in the hot tub and tried to get some sleep.
On the evening of Tues, 11/10, her contractions started for real. She labored at home that evening and into Wednesday afternoon, with the contractions picking up a bit after 11am.
She was admitted into the Birthing Inn around 1:30pm on Wed, 11/11. Julie was 3-4 centimeters dilated and the contractions were coming every 3-5 minutes.
By 3pm, she was dilated to 5cm but her contractions were starting to slow, so she had her bag of waters broken. She was dilated at 7cm after a couple of hours but, alas, she got stuck!
After laboring at 7cm for waaaaay too long, our midwife discussed the possibility of an epidural & then some pitocin, to help move things along. There had been some meconium in the amniotic fluid and Julie's blood pressure was getting funky, so the baby needed to come out sooner rather than later. Plus, Julie was just plain old tired -- it had been a long week!
So in went the epidural around 9pm on Wed, 11/11 and Julie's relief was immediate. She and Diana* were both able to get some sleep for a few hours while the epi helped to relax Julie's pelvic muscles and the pitocin helped to strengthen the contractions.
By 2am on Thu, 11/12, Julie was dilated to 10cm and completely effaced -- it was time to push! After a bit of coaching on how to push when one's lower body is a bit on the numb side, Julie was ready.
Less than half an hour int0 pushing, Simone was borne -- our beautiful baby girl! And in case anyone missed the detail on the pictures page, Julie delivered a baby that was over nine pounds in weight & she didn't tear & she was only pushing for about half an hour. She was *amazing*!
And of course, Simone is yet another gorgeous, perfect child to join the world. She's also a trooper, hanging in for several days worth of contractions and having her cord wrapped around her neck a couple of times. We're happy to have both of them home!
*Side note on Diana & Koen -- Diana was able to accompany Julie to the hospital and be her support person during her labor process. She has pumped some breast milk to tide over the little guy while she was gone and Grandmere Fulchiron provided the needed care throughout the night. Diane Shelton also helped shuttle some additional milk between the hospital and home when the process went on longer than anticipated.
Julie started some pretty intense Braxton-Hicks contractions on Sunday evening, 11/8. Try 3-6 contractions an hour for oh, almost three days... During this period, Julie finished up a few projects for work, relaxed in the hot tub and tried to get some sleep.
On the evening of Tues, 11/10, her contractions started for real. She labored at home that evening and into Wednesday afternoon, with the contractions picking up a bit after 11am.
She was admitted into the Birthing Inn around 1:30pm on Wed, 11/11. Julie was 3-4 centimeters dilated and the contractions were coming every 3-5 minutes.
By 3pm, she was dilated to 5cm but her contractions were starting to slow, so she had her bag of waters broken. She was dilated at 7cm after a couple of hours but, alas, she got stuck!
After laboring at 7cm for waaaaay too long, our midwife discussed the possibility of an epidural & then some pitocin, to help move things along. There had been some meconium in the amniotic fluid and Julie's blood pressure was getting funky, so the baby needed to come out sooner rather than later. Plus, Julie was just plain old tired -- it had been a long week!
So in went the epidural around 9pm on Wed, 11/11 and Julie's relief was immediate. She and Diana* were both able to get some sleep for a few hours while the epi helped to relax Julie's pelvic muscles and the pitocin helped to strengthen the contractions.
By 2am on Thu, 11/12, Julie was dilated to 10cm and completely effaced -- it was time to push! After a bit of coaching on how to push when one's lower body is a bit on the numb side, Julie was ready.
Less than half an hour int0 pushing, Simone was borne -- our beautiful baby girl! And in case anyone missed the detail on the pictures page, Julie delivered a baby that was over nine pounds in weight & she didn't tear & she was only pushing for about half an hour. She was *amazing*!
And of course, Simone is yet another gorgeous, perfect child to join the world. She's also a trooper, hanging in for several days worth of contractions and having her cord wrapped around her neck a couple of times. We're happy to have both of them home!
*Side note on Diana & Koen -- Diana was able to accompany Julie to the hospital and be her support person during her labor process. She has pumped some breast milk to tide over the little guy while she was gone and Grandmere Fulchiron provided the needed care throughout the night. Diane Shelton also helped shuttle some additional milk between the hospital and home when the process went on longer than anticipated.
November's Gift -- pictures
Welcome to the world, Simone Marlea Fulchiron!
born 11/12/2009, 2:46am
9 lbs 6 oz (yes, you read that correctly)
21.2 inches
born 11/12/2009, 2:46am
9 lbs 6 oz (yes, you read that correctly)
21.2 inches
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Koen's home coming, etc
See below for some more pictures of the happy kiddo and family... we'll keep posting as we are able to get photos downloaded and such. Thanks to everyone for all of your well-wishes!
Julie & little man, post-glam haircut courtesy of Katie O'Boyle... and yes, she is *still* pregnant. :-)
Grandmere meets Koen for the first time. Because of H1N1 regulations at the hospital, new moms were permitted one support person during labor & delivery and one extra visitor during their recovery period, so Grandmere meet her new grandson for the first time once we got home.
Frankly, the whole H1N1 business has us a little freaked out & we haven't been traveling or visiting much with Koen. We were advised to limit visitors as much as possible until he's at least a month old... plus, Julie isn't traveling so well these days, as you might imagine.
His first car ride -- getting snuggled into his car seat for the first time... this picture was taken in the parking lot of the hospital.
Here's our little glow worm during his final few moments at the hospital. The glow you see is from his bili blanket that we used to treat his jaundice. His bilirubin levels were elevated when it was time to go home so he was placed on a photo-optic blanket over the next several days. Poor kid had to go for heel-stick blood tests every day for his first four days at home -- it was a bit exhausting for everyone! But he's fine and healthy and already past his birth weight...
Julie & little man, post-glam haircut courtesy of Katie O'Boyle... and yes, she is *still* pregnant. :-)
Grandmere meets Koen for the first time. Because of H1N1 regulations at the hospital, new moms were permitted one support person during labor & delivery and one extra visitor during their recovery period, so Grandmere meet her new grandson for the first time once we got home.
Frankly, the whole H1N1 business has us a little freaked out & we haven't been traveling or visiting much with Koen. We were advised to limit visitors as much as possible until he's at least a month old... plus, Julie isn't traveling so well these days, as you might imagine.
His first car ride -- getting snuggled into his car seat for the first time... this picture was taken in the parking lot of the hospital.
Here's our little glow worm during his final few moments at the hospital. The glow you see is from his bili blanket that we used to treat his jaundice. His bilirubin levels were elevated when it was time to go home so he was placed on a photo-optic blanket over the next several days. Poor kid had to go for heel-stick blood tests every day for his first four days at home -- it was a bit exhausting for everyone! But he's fine and healthy and already past his birth weight...
Monday, November 2, 2009
October Surprise -- the story
For those that are interested in the birth story....
Diana's water broke on the evening of Thu, Oct 29 around 9:30am, while watching a comedy special (who knew humor was so good at stimulating labor?)... Julie had been watching with her but decided she needed to watch birthing videos instead -- rather providential, yes? She's just so smart... :-)
Contractions started about half an hour later and it was soon evident that it would be best to head to the hospital in a timely fashion!
We headed to the Birthing Inn at Loudoun Inova Hospital, a birth center where we were able to use a mid-wife practice (Loudound Community Midwives -- love them). Wendy Dotson was the midwife on-call that evening and was a great support & coach for both Julie & Diana.
Diana labored between 10pm and 7am and was finally given the go ahead to start pushing... things went well for a while but slowed down towards the end... Diana was tired, Koen was tired (and he had a big head)... so a small episiotomy was cut & about ten minutes later, Koen was born! And a good thing, too, as he did have his cord wrapped around his neck... It was evidently time for him to enter the world....
Of course, the full story of this adventure is really difficult to convey in words right now... too many special moments, too many "we'll never forgets, too much happiness to process right now.
One thing to note is that Koen's arrival (being two weeks early) took us by surprise, to say the least... Based on the assumption that most first-time moms hang on past their dues dates, we had planned on getting a LOT of stuff done this past weekend, including getting a list together of everyone we needed to call... for those who we love & have not spoken with yet, please know that we're sending love your way! We just packed in such a hurry that we had lots of things we didn't need (numerous pajama bottoms for Diana) and forgot most of the important things (like a list of people to call and their numbers)... I am surprised that we did manage to get the car seat in the car and the camera in the bag... Actually, I should say, that I am surprised that *Julie* was able to get those important things in the car as much as she did... Diana was the one throwing pajama bottoms in her bag... :-)
And no, Julie doesn't seem like she is going into labor any time soon -- at least we hope not!
Diana's water broke on the evening of Thu, Oct 29 around 9:30am, while watching a comedy special (who knew humor was so good at stimulating labor?)... Julie had been watching with her but decided she needed to watch birthing videos instead -- rather providential, yes? She's just so smart... :-)
Contractions started about half an hour later and it was soon evident that it would be best to head to the hospital in a timely fashion!
We headed to the Birthing Inn at Loudoun Inova Hospital, a birth center where we were able to use a mid-wife practice (Loudound Community Midwives -- love them). Wendy Dotson was the midwife on-call that evening and was a great support & coach for both Julie & Diana.
Diana labored between 10pm and 7am and was finally given the go ahead to start pushing... things went well for a while but slowed down towards the end... Diana was tired, Koen was tired (and he had a big head)... so a small episiotomy was cut & about ten minutes later, Koen was born! And a good thing, too, as he did have his cord wrapped around his neck... It was evidently time for him to enter the world....
Of course, the full story of this adventure is really difficult to convey in words right now... too many special moments, too many "we'll never forgets, too much happiness to process right now.
One thing to note is that Koen's arrival (being two weeks early) took us by surprise, to say the least... Based on the assumption that most first-time moms hang on past their dues dates, we had planned on getting a LOT of stuff done this past weekend, including getting a list together of everyone we needed to call... for those who we love & have not spoken with yet, please know that we're sending love your way! We just packed in such a hurry that we had lots of things we didn't need (numerous pajama bottoms for Diana) and forgot most of the important things (like a list of people to call and their numbers)... I am surprised that we did manage to get the car seat in the car and the camera in the bag... Actually, I should say, that I am surprised that *Julie* was able to get those important things in the car as much as she did... Diana was the one throwing pajama bottoms in her bag... :-)
And no, Julie doesn't seem like she is going into labor any time soon -- at least we hope not!
October Surprise -- Pictures!
Welcome to world, Koen Alexander Fulchiron!
Born October 30, 2009 at 8:37am
6 lbs 13.4 oz, 20.34 inches
Born October 30, 2009 at 8:37am
6 lbs 13.4 oz, 20.34 inches
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)