Eternal Sunshine of Mel: December 2008

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Dave's sister and her family came down to our home for Christmas. This was a great opportunity for Sierra to meet her cousins:

Ryan and Julia

All the cousins together

Julia feeding Coco his Christmas gift

Ryan showing off his dimples

The kids showing their moves...

Christmas Day hike at Torrey Pines!

Julia is such a natural athlete! She just blazed up the big hill and was having a ball. Ryan, on the other hand, was HILARIOUS. Apparently, he is not the hiker and was having the hugest hissy fit hiking. He was screaming that we should call the Police on Julia (since she was so far ahead of him). I was just busting a gut. Notice his facial expression in this picture.

The Lius

Terry and Mary

Ryan is finally in a much better mood. He was the first one to reach this spot!

Julia is such a monkey!

Our timing was amazing as it started pouring right when we reached the parking lot!

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Post-Christmas Hike up Black Mountain - Dave, Melissa, and Sierra

December 26, 2008

Sorry for the delay in this post! I'm trying to catch up! - Melissa 2/19/09

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Finally, after an incubation of 37.5 weeks, the time has come!
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Baby Liu almost made a surprise entrance last week. Due to the fact that I had gestational diabetes, I was required to have non-stress tests twice a week starting at 34 weeks. I had gone to my NST appointment on November 25th, and my AFI (amniotic fluid index) was very low. This is unrelated to the GDM, but rather an indication that the placenta is starting to fail (common at the end of a pregnancy). My doctor wanted me to be admitted to the hospital that night to be induced (fyi, the fetal monitoring was very good. nice heart rate and movement.). However, I happened to have an appointment at UCSD afterwards (to check for excessive growth due to GDM) which allowed for a second opinion. Growth looked fantastic, but they confirmed the low AFI. The doctor there did not think it was absolutely necessary for me to go into the hospital yet. Hence, the doctors pretty much let us make the decision as my AFI was borderline (it was around 5 something. If it was below 5, they would've definitely sent me in ASAP). That is not a fun position to be in. It's a lot easier to be told what to do than to have the decision in our hands.

After some freaking out (I thought I had another month to mentally prepare, take classes, get a tour of the hospital, etc. etc.), calming down, and discussion, Dave and I decided to wait two days for another NST. Yup, on Thanksgiving Day. If the fluid levels were still low, I would definitely be admitted and induced the following morning. If that happened, Baby Liu would share the same birthday as her Mommy - November 28th!

I was forced to start maternity leave early (the next day was to be my last day, but I wasn't allowed to go). Dave and I frantically got all the bare essentials ready - my hospital bag, installation of the car seat, and some last minute decoration of the baby room.

On Thanksgiving Day, fortunately, and to everyone's surprise, my fluid levels bumped back up to the 7 range. Still low, but acceptable. It was a shock as I had a stomach virus the day before and could not properly hydrate. We were convinced that I would be admitted to the hospital... Thankfully, it did not work that way. Any extra time is great as it gives the baby's lungs more time to develop. Apparently, a baby is fully developed at 38 weeks, so the closer to that date, the better.

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The following Monday, I had a NST. AFI was okay, around 7 (doctors prefer closer to 10, but 7 is low side of normal). My doctor thinks that low levels may be the norm for me. However, to be on the safe side, they scheduled 2 more NSTs that week - Wednesday and Friday.
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Wednesday - went back. The sonographer could not find fluid pockets in 2 of the 4 quadrants. I knew, that was it! Time to come in! The timing could not have been more amazing. I left the doctor's office to pick up my parents at the airport (they had changed their tickets the week before thinking that the baby would already be here). Wait for Dave to come home. And then off to the hospital to be admitted.

We came in around 7pm. The next morning, induction began with a pitocin drip at 7am. Contractions pretty much began immediately. (I don't remember too many details, but Dave probably does.) I was curious how bad it would get, so just sucked it up for a while. After 3 hours, I thought that was enough, bring on the epidural! Unfortunately, the anesthesiologist was in middle of a c-section at the time, so I had to wait another half hour or so to get the epidural. Epidural is a funky thing. You know that feeling you get when your foot falls asleep? How it feels all numb and big? Well, my legs felt that way. I kept poking them throughout the day since it felt so strange. I think Dave thought I was being a weirdo. :)

It took FOREVER for the cervix to dilate enough. Around 7pm, the nurse said I was ready. Unfortunately, the doctor on service was in a c-section at the time. They turned off my pitocin drip to postpone things for a bit. Around 8pm, the nurse said it was time, so we started going through the last stage. It was pretty amazing, as there was only me, Dave, and the nurse in the room. If we didn't need any assistance from the doctor (I ended up getting an episiotomy), Baby Liu would've popped out much earlier without her around! The pushing was actually not too bad. Dave and the nurse were fantastic coaches. It got a bit tiring, but not as exhaustive as I expected.

At 9:16pm, little Sierra Suyi Liu joined the world!

A little video of Sierra (don't worry, not of the birth). She had quite the conehead and a good set of lungs.

The placenta that was causing me all that strife at the end....

Sierra getting weighed:

Our first moments:

We called my parents and they came around 10-11pm and hung out for a little bit.

Sierra has so much hair!

Since we were so sick and tired of being in the hospital, we tried to get discharged a day early. But they wouldn't let us. So here are some final pictures from the morning of December 6th, as we get ready to leave. (Interesting note: We actually had an appointment that day for the hospital tour!)

Getting dressed to leave!