Roller Coaster

I've never been one for roller coasters... in fact, the last time I went to Great America, I hurled after a stomach-turning ride. Today started with drama, but ended well. Here's the deal...

I was checking Sam's e-mail for her before heading to the hospital this morning and noticed an e-mail from Kaiser. Sam had lab results back for her Group B Streptococcus ("Strep B" or "GBS") screening. She was supposed to have an appointment for that this week, but Siena had other plans. They did a test of Sam while she was in labor. The test came back positive.

Of course, I immediately jumped onto google and found this information about Strep B:

"Group B streptococcus, or group B strep, is a bacterium that causes life-threatening infections in newborns. Group B strep can also cause disease in pregnant women, the elderly, and adults with other illnesses.... Many people carry group B strep bacteria in their bodies without developing infection or illness. However, the bacteria can become deadly to people with weakened immune systems. Pregnant women can transmit group B strep to their newborns at birth. Group B strep is the most common cause of blood infections and meningitis in newborns. Most cases of group B strep disease in newborns can be prevented by giving certain pregnant women antibiotics during labor." (red letter to show the only parts that I remembered)

Armed with this information, I called Sam and told her the news. She didn't seemed as alarmed as I was, and mentioned that Siena had a temperature of 101.3 at her early morning diaper-change. At that point, I went drama king (internally), and readied myself for a day of sad news and zoomed away to the hospital.

On my way there, a Davis motorcycle cop was lurking in the oak trees on the south side of Russell, before the on-ramp to 113. I was the only car in view, and he caught me going 52 in the 35 mph zone. Instead of running my driver's license or license plates (which would have revealed my connection to the Yuba County DA's office), he quickly wrote me a citation for speeding and told me that he hoped my day got better. I "thanked" him (I was only slightly sarcastic), and let him know that I was on my way to the hospital to see my newborn baby in the ICU. I wish I had video-taped the encounter. He seemed taken aback and I "thanked" him again. Then, not having learned my lesson I drove 80 mph all the way to the hospital. Go figure.

At the hospital, the good news started pouring in (thank God). We went to check on Siena and discovered that her temperature was down to 98.1 degrees. The nurse had turned off her heat lamp, and attributed that to her high temperature earlier. Then, the doctor came in with the "news" that Sam had tested positive for the Strep B bacteria. She said it wasn't a big deal, because 25% of women have it and most never realize it. Also, Sam had been on antibiotics during the birth, and Siena had been on them ever since. Siena's "cultures" (brings a different flair to the phrase "getting cultured") came back all NEGATIVE and they were going to discontinue the antibiotics. I was so relieved.

Also, her blood gas levels had normalized and they planned on weaning her from the oxygen supplementation. Not only that: Siena was going to start feeding! Sam has been pumping and freezing the colostrum for this time, so Siena was in for a treat.

Siena has been feeding from a bottle every 3 hours, with great success. We are able to hold her while she downs her colostrum, and the nurse even gave us burping lessons (see below). Poor Siena has an IV in her forehead now, because her wrist was swelling a bit. She's a cute little unicorn, but it kinda cramps her style.


As soon as Siena has been feeding on colostrum/milk exclusively (she is still supplementing with liquid from her IV) for 48 hours and breathing normal air for 24 hours, we can leave the hospital. Her jaundice levels aren't abnormally high, so they aren't too worried about that. The doctor said that we would get out on Saturday at the earliest, so we're hoping to get out on Friday. :)


Here are the videos from today... with some photos at the bottom.


Bottled Up:



Sleeping Sucker:



Burp Sesh:




Sam about to feel the relief from her epidural...

In the delivery room, ready to make it happen... and our last picture taken as a two-person family...



Thumbs up = mission accomplished!!!

Alienesque baby decompressing soon after entering the world! :)

Sam with Siena seconds after birth... happy that it's all over... or, really, that it's all about to begin...

Another one soon after birth...

Poor Siena hooked up to all kinds of tubes... the teal one was the CPAP machine... which is code for "extremely uncomfortable"...

Picture taken today without CPAP or mouth tube (which Siena ripped out... I promise it wasn't me). Notice the sweet hood ornament (IV) coming out of her forehead. Also, note that she is already working out... gripping my thumb. :)