Dylan Randall Corning

Dylan Randall Corning

Born September 28, 2009

8:18am

5 lbs 12 oz 19 in

Big sister Lily's first reaction to meeting her baby brother

Dylan and Daddy



Our first photo as a family of four

Mommy and Dylan

Lily holding Dylan

We arrived at the hospital at 5:45 this morning for my scheduled cesarean section at 37 weeks 1 day. After some brief paperwork, we headed into Triage, where I was hooked up to the monitors and prepped for surgery. They drew some blood for labwork, started my IV, and of course took my blood pressure. My blood pressure was high, 147/95, but it was still acceptable. After being in triage for awhile, they took my blood pressure again, only to find that it had gone up to 170s/110s. Another repeat measure showed 170s/100s. This was a big surprise to everyone because I've had such great blood pressure throughout the entire pregnancy. Since my blood pressure was so high, the doctor asked for a urine sample; it showed that I was spilling protein in my urine -- that means that I had preeclampsia! God has perfect timing. If I had to develop preeclampsia, the day of my scheduled delivery was certainly the best day for it to happen!

Since we were already there to deliver the baby, the preeclampsia diagnosis didn't change my treatment plan too much. But it did mean that I have to get magnesium in my IV for 24 hours after delivery to prevent siezures. So we went to the Operating Room, where the magnesium was started in my IV and the anesthesiologist administered my spinal block. The combination of the mag and spinal made me quite nauseous. Dusty was brought into the room after I was settled on the operating table, and surgery began. Dylan was born at 8:18, crying loud and clear. When the nurse first showed him to us, my first thought was how big he looked! He weighs 5lbs 12oz, and he's 19in long.

The nurses cleaned him up and brought him over for Dusty to hold him. We oohed and ahhed over him for a couple of minutes before the nurse took him to the nursery so he would be able to stay warm. (The operating room was very cold - I was shaking.) While the nurses were transporting me from the OR to the recovery room, Dusty stopped by the nursery and found out that Dylan was being given a small amount of supplemental oxygen due to low saturations. It is common for a slightly early baby born via c-section to have some excess fluid that didn't all get squeezed out during their trip down the birth canal. So Dylan was breathing a little rapidly and needed a little bit of oxygen. The hospital's policy is to allow babies like this to stay in the regular nursery for up to six hours; if they haven't improved enough to no longer need oxygen by that time, they have to go to the NICU. Well, Dylan did great! He improved quickly and was able to come to my room at about 11:45 this morning.

We had a great surprise in all of that - one of Lily's old primary nurses from the NICU was the transport nurse who took care of Dylan in the regular nursery today! It was really nice to see Nurse Laura again, and of course we knew our baby was in good hands. Nurse Heather, another of Lily's primary nurses, came to visit us today as well.

Dylan has been a sleepyhead all afternoon. He would rather sleep than eat, which is normal for the first 24-48 hours. He had his circumcision done a little while ago, and the doctors told us that he didn't cry at all!

Lily loves her baby brother and enjoys holding him; she's also very interested in how we take care of him, like when his diaper needs to be changed. I think she's going to be a fantastic big sister. I am feeling fine. I'm not allowed to get out of bed because of the magnesium, but I've been able to move around in the bed fairly easily, shifting weight and moving Dylan around. I'm not in any pain; the pain control from my spinal block is supposed to work for about 24 hours, and the nurse also had me take some Motrin this evening to take care of any inflammation or additional pain that may sneak up on me. The magnesium will be stopped around 8:30 in the morning, and that is when I'll be allowed to get out of bed and start moving around.

We are so very blessed by this new little boy!

Thank you all for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers today - we really appreciate your love and support.

Prenatal Visit - 36 Weeks

I had my very last prenatal visit yesterday, and everything looks fine. I had one day of elevated blood pressure with some swelling in the last week, but things have returned to normal since then so there's nothing to be concerned about. My ultrasound was fun; I saw the baby's face straight on instead of just his profile, so that was cute. My NST was relatively dramatic because of course Dylan wasn't moving a whole lot (he never does in the morning) and there was a different doctor in charge of the monitoring part of clinic. This particular doctor was very conservative and hesitant to use the buzzer to 'wake him up;' so my NST lasted nearly 45 minutes before that doctor was satisfied with Dylan's movement.

My own doctors let me know that if all is going well, I may be able to be discharged from the hospital at the end of post-op day 2, which would be late Wednesday afternoon / evening, instead of waiting until Thursday - great news! We'll have to wait and see how I'm feeling, of course, but I'll probably be happy to skip one night of sleeping in a hospital bed.

All is well, and we're gearing up for the big day!

Prenatal Visit - 35 Weeks

I had another prenatal visit on Monday. They did another growth scan with my biophysical profile this time, and it showed that Dylan now weighs about 5 lbs 5 oz, which is actually more than my own birth weight of 5 lbs 2 oz! His weight is in the 33rd percentile. It looks like he has a little bit of hair, although it's hard to tell how much from the ultrasound. Everything else continues to be normal... I go back on Monday for one last visit with the docs and another BPP.
Less than two weeks to go!

Prenatal Visit - 34 Weeks

Lily and I visited the OB's office again on Tuesday for another biophysical profile. The ultrasound was really cute this time - Dylan was wiggling his fingers and toes, and bringing his hands up to his mouth. The NST was perfect; I brought ice water this time to keep him moving so they wouldn't have to prolong the test with the buzzer. I don't mind if they have to use the buzzer, but I knew that I had a limited amount of time with having to keep Lily occupied in her stroller. So ice water was my trick; poor little Dylan always starts squirming when I drink something cold.
Laura took my blood pressure since I was there anyway, and it was good. My c-section is officially scheduled with the hospital, and we're pretty much all set. I will see the doctors again for two more visits, with BPPs at each one, and the following week is Baby Day.

At home we're pretty much ready for Dylan to arrive. We still need to paint the Cat in the Hat, but if we buckle down and do it, it can easily be finished before delivery. I want to clean the upholstery on the chair in the nursery, and that's basically all that needs to be done. Dylan's clothes are all put away in his dresser, the crib is set up and ready to go, and I picked up some bottle nipples just in case we need them. Now if only I could wrap my head around the fact that I'm not going to get a full night's sleep for months...

A baby shower!

My wonderful friends hosted a really fun baby shower for Dylan yesterday! We all met up at Pappasito's for some delicious Mexican food and a party for our little boy. Thank you all for celebrating with me!
Me and the hostesses, Katie, Meredith, and Natalie

Do you see those cupcakes on the left? They were amazing!

Trish is due Oct 15; I am due Oct 18; Meredith is due Oct 27!

The whole gang

What a fun afternoon!

Prenatal Visit - 33 Weeks

I had another prenatal visit today, and I learned a new term: Biophysical Profile (BPP). It's a test that uses a fetal ultrasound and a nonstress test to measure the overall health of the baby. Ultrasound is used to keep track of movement, muscle tone, breathing rate, and the amount of amniotic fluid surrounding the baby; the nonstress test monitors increases in heart rate with movement. If these five areas are within a normal range, the baby is considered to be in good health.
So last week was my first BPP, but I didn't pick up on the name of the test because the ultrasound last week was also a growth ultrasound. Today's ultrasound was not a growth ultrasound, so we didn't get a new estimate of his weight. However, he's still pretty cute, and I got to watch him practice breathing by watching his abdomen move. That was something that hadn't been pointed out to me before, so it was really fun for me to see. Dylan was a sleepyhead this morning, so we had to watch him for quite awhile to see enough movement. Then the nonstress test was next, and he was still not moving a whole lot so they used a noisy little device that sounds like hair clippers to wake him up. They had to do that last week too, and I suspect it will be necessary during all of my upcoming visits as well - he's just not very active in the morning, it's nighttime when he starts moving all over the place. Everything they were looking for in the BPP was normal.
My doctors' office moved to another suite over the weekend, so today was their first day in the new office. It's very open and roomy, with beautiful neutral decor. So far my favorite part of the new office is the chairs in the nonstress testing area. Last week in the old office the test was done on a regular old exam table; this week I was sitting in a big comfy reclining chair for thirty minutes! It was great.
Then I had my actual checkup with Dr. Holland, where I learned that I had gained 2 pounds in the last week (Seriously? You mean I ate too much cake at the baby showers this weekend?! I'm shocked!). And then Laura took my blood pressure with an automatic blood pressure cuff. And it was outrageously high compared to what it's been running (140-something over 106!!!). So she did it again, and it was 140-something over 100. And then she went to find the real blood pressure cuffs that hadn't been put in the new exam rooms yet so she could do it manually. And thank the Lord, that crazy automatic blood pressure cuff was wrong -- my blood pressure was really 134/87. Still considerably higher than my typical readings, but by that time it probably really was elevated from the stress of thinking I might have diastolic numbers in the low 100s. So all is well, but I was given a thorough review from Dr. Holland about all the symptoms of preeclampsia and a stern reminder to call them immediately if any of them develop. I've since taken my blood pressure at home, and it's back to normal - 115/76. Phew!
I go back next week for another BPP, but I won't see the docs again until the week after that. Oh! And by the way - my c-section is only FOUR WEEKS FROM TODAY! Does that seem really, really close to anyone else, or is it just me!?

Belly Pictures - 30 Weeks

New belly pictures, taken at 30w4d.

Click here and here for the older belly pictures.

Some lady asked me the other day when I'm due, and when I told her she said, "Oh you're so tiny!" HA! I told her I don't feel tiny. lol

Prenatal Visit - 30 weeks

Another normal doctor visit today. Blood pressure is great, no protein in my urine, gaining weight at a normal albeit fast pace. Baby's heartbeat was normal. We did another blood test today, as an extra safety precaution because my blood is Rh-. Dusty and I have the same blood type, so there is no logical reason for any issues with Rh antibodies, but they drew blood today to doublecheck that I'm not developing antibodies. Apparently it's routine to doublecheck even when both parents have the same blood type. I scheduled all the rest of my doctor visits for the remainder of my pregnancy, which makes it seem like it's really almost over. Such a strange feeling! I go back in two weeks for a doctor visit, ultrasound, and fetal monitoring. And after that I'm going back for monitoring every week until the baby's born, but I won't see the doctor every week.

Nurse Laura is back at the OB's office, at least temporarily, and I was so glad to see her today! She is a wonderful nurse, always on top of things. The new nurse who had taken her place wasn't working out, so now Laura is back. I'm pretty happy about it, even if it's not really that big of a deal.

People have been asking how I'm feeling... I feel fine overall. I get tired pretty easily, but I think it's usually because I don't always sleep very well at night anymore. Otherwise, I'm feeling pretty well. I have some very mild heartburn, but Tums work fine. Sometimes I have some lower back pain, but a warm bath usually takes care of it. So far so good, this has been a very normal pregnancy!

I've been wondering about nesting. I went through a little hizzy last weekend when I decided that ALL of the baby stuff needed to be out of the attic and cleaned in one day. I got most of it cleaned up and put back together before I ran out of steam that day. Also went on a nursery painting stint and finished outlining one of the characters. Do you suppose I'm nesting? I don't know when it's normal to do that, or how you know when you're nesting and not just getting things done.

At any rate, we only have seven weeks left before the baby will be here! I am so excited! Oh, by the way -- The poll in the sidebar is closed, and we've decided on a spelling. His name is Dylan Randall.

Belly Pictures - 28 Weeks

New belly pictures, taken on Monday at 28 weeks 1 day...

The next picture shows why I haven't been taking pictures of my belly as often this time - it's not all round! My belly goes straight out from the middle, like I'm carrying a watermelon vertically. It does not look like a basketball. Which is totally fine, but it's not as cute as a basketball belly.
Click here to see the previous belly photos. My belly is definitely getting bigger, and so is the rest of me. I might look like I have chipmunk cheeks after I gain 15 more pounds! Gaining the weight isn't the problem, knowing that I'll have to quit eating refrigerated milky way candy bars to lose the weight is the problem. Refrigerated milky way = happy pregnant lady. Hopefully that craving goes away when the baby is born...

Prenatal Visit - 28 Weeks

I had another routine checkup with my doctors today. I had another ultrasound to check the baby's growth; Dylan weighs about 2 lb 7 oz, which is in the 41st percentile, right on track. He is breech, but of course it doesn't really matter since I'll have a c-section. I go back to see the doctors in two weeks, and I learned today that I'll be having weekly ultrasounds and fetal monitoring starting at 32 weeks. I'm so excited about that! Today we didn't get any good pictures because the cord was in front of his face, but I'm sure I'll get a better look next time. So this means only one more regular old office visit; after that one, there will be ultrasounds and monitoring every week until Dylan is born at 37 weeks. This is starting to feel very close. Maybe I should think about starting to wash the baby clothes and get things put away in the nursery!

Prenatal Visit - 26 Weeks

Another normal doctor visit today, in and out really quickly. I was happy to have NOT gained any weight between visits this time (not that gaining weight at the last several appointments has slowed down my chocolate intake or anything, we wouldn't want that). My glucose screening last week was normal, thank goodness. I was nervous about that, and I'm glad to have it out of the way. I'm only a little bit anemic, which is apparently relatively normal at this point. I get a break from doctor visits next week, but I'll be back at 28 weeks for a checkup and ultrasound.

Making Waves

Or at least ripples, anyway... I saw my belly move last night! I was taking a warm bath to try to ease the pain in my lower back, and Dylan was kicking like crazy. For several minutes, I watched my belly make these adorable little jumping movements, making little ripples in the bath water. I know this is perfectly normal and probably not all that exciting to the rest of the world, but to me it's pretty exciting! Baby boy is getting bigger!

Prenatal Visit - 25 Weeks

I did my glucose screening today, to test for gestational diabetes. This is just routine testing, and we'll have results within two days. I am at slightly elevated risk for gestational diabetes because of family history, but I'm not overweight and I'm relatively active. So we'll just see how this turns out. Blood pressure is fine, baby's heart rate is normal, etc... All the regular checkup stuff was good.

Prenatal Visit - 24 Weeks

Another routine doctor visit - everything is great! I had an ultrasound today to check Baby's growth. I thought it would be a quick little scan, but it turns out that my doctor's office always repeats the anatomy scan during the first growth scan; so today's ultrasound was actually longer than the "big" ultrasound a few weeks ago, and they did all of the measurements again. I think the next growth scan will be a shorter one though. Dylan weighs about 1 lb 8 oz today, and his overall growth is right on track at the 50th percentile. And he's sooo cute! hahaha... Obviously we can't really see his features very well yet, but there were some very cute little ultrasound pictures today!
I go back to see the docs next week.

24 Weeks Today

I have this strange feeling today, thinking about the fact that Lily was born at this point in my first pregnancy. Ironically, I received my weekly email update about what's going on with the baby's development, and here's an excerpt from a series of questions about preterm labor / delivery:

Will my baby be okay if he's born early?

The closer your baby is to full term at birth, the more likely he is to survive and the less likely he is to have health problems. Premature babies born between 34 and 37 weeks generally do fine, although they are still at higher risk for short- and long-term problems compared to babies born full term. On the other end of the continuum are babies who are extremely premature: These days, some babies born as early as 24 weeks (or even a bit earlier) may survive thanks to advances in neonatal care, but these extremely preterm infants require significant medical interventions and long stays in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), and the survivors often have serious long-term problems.

I am constantly reminded of what a miracle Lily is... I try not to take her health for granted.

While there is a sense of victory in reaching 24 weeks with no problems, it will still be awhile before we're "in the clear." That being said, I am enjoying every moment of this pregnancy. I feel great, and I love feeling Dylan kick. I do get tired more easily than usual, but I'm sure that's a result of playing with a two-year-old all day. I am looking forward to experiencing the third trimester! I hope to see my belly move when Dylan moves around, and I cannot wait for his kicks to be strong enough for Lily to feel.

Prenatal Visit - 23 Weeks -- And Hermann Park

Another normal check-up. My blood pressure has been very consistent, and my visit with the doctor was only about a minute long - not because they're trying to rush through patients or anything, just because there's nothing to talk about! Next week will be a little more interesting because I'll have another ultrasound.

Lily went with me again today, and when we were finished we went to Hermann Park. It was a little bit of a sentimental visit for me... You can see the park from the NICU at Children's Memorial Hermann, and I used to look out the windows on the way to the elevator and think to myself that someday I would take Lily to play at Hermann Park. And today we finally made it over there to play! Back in April we rode the Hermann Park train, and I was surprised to learn how big the park is. Because of our train ride, I kind of knew where I was going when we got there today - straight to the spray park! There are picnic tables and covered pavilions, easily accessible restrooms, birds and ducks near the lake... Lots and lots of fun! We only stayed a little over an hour because Lily was getting sleepy, but I'm sure we'll be back again soon when I have another doctor visit.

Belly Photos

I wasn't going to post these, but they've been requested. So here are the pictures of my belly... How big I look still depends on what I'm wearing, but I definitely feel big! Dusty and I both think my belly is as big now as it was when Lily was born.
These pictures were taken at 18 weeks 5 days, 20w6d, and 22w3d.

Prenatal Visit - 22 Weeks

I saw my doctors again today, and I have absolutely nothing interesting to report. Everything looks fine, and they'll see me again in a week.

Since I knew it would be a short visit at the doctor's office today, I took Lily with me and we went to the zoo when we were finished. I think her favorite animals today were the elephants, but the giraffes and monkeys were lots of fun as well. We also caught the sea lion show today, which we usually miss because it gets so crowded long before the starting time. Lily liked watching the sea lions eat their fish more than she liked the tricks they did to earn the fish! I guess that's almost everything we saw at the zoo today... It was so hot that we ate our lunch really quickly and headed home. Sorry no pictures from the zoo, I forgot to take the camera with us.

Prenatal Visit - 21 weeks

The doctors and I just laughed with each other today... There's not much for them to really check right now, and I was just there a week ago. We chatted for a minute and then Dr. Holland said, "Well, let me press on your belly so I can feel like I'm actually doing something." And to think that I had to park on the roof of the parking garage just for that!

But we did go ahead and decide on 37 weeks for delivery; it will probably be September 28th, which is a Monday, sometime in the afternoon. Don't you like how I have this all planned out 3 1/2 months ahead of time? We'll see if my blood pressure will cooperate with me!

In other news... we've chosen a name!

Dylan Randall Corning

Prenatal Visit - 20 Weeks

I had my 20-week checkup with the docs today, and everything is looking great so far. Because I'm so wound up about wanting to figure out when this baby is going to be born, we talked again about what will happen if we decide for/against the amniocentesis at 36 weeks. (I'm sure Dr. Holland is getting a little tired of my what-if questions, but I'm ok with that. She doesn't seem to mind.) If we do the amnio and baby's lungs are mature, we would actually go ahead and do my c-section that very same day! The other option is to wait until 37 weeks, when baby will be delivered no matter what. There are benefits and risks to each scenario; it will probably take us awhile to decide which option we prefer. All this is assuming, of course, that the pregnancy is still healthy at that point. If I'm developing mild preeclampsia, that's a totally different situation and we would more than likely go ahead and deliver at 36 weeks.

So far so good - my blood pressure has been great, weight gain is fine, baby is growing and moving and kicking (Dusty felt the baby kick last night for the first time!), I'm not spilling protein, everything is good! Now I will be seeing the doctors every week for awhile because we're at the point in my pregnancy where things were getting a little out of hand in my first pregnancy. Nothing to indicate that's going to happen, but if things start to change the doctors want to know about it right away. So weekly visits for at least a month, and then we may go back to bi-weekly.

Oh, and by the way...

It's a Boy!

Our ultrasound technician was great. She was very efficient, pointing out everything she was measuring and explaining what she was looking for. He weighs about 12 ounces right now, which is perfectly normal. Watching the heart beating was really neat; I don't remember watching such a vivid image of that when we had an ultrasound of Lily. At the end of the ultrasound she said, "And you already know what it is, right?" We were surprised because we did NOT already know - I don't know if she had already shown us a glimpse or if it was noted in the file from a previous ultrasound or what... But of course we told her we didn't know but we wanted to, and she showed us that the baby is very clearly a BOY!

So now we have to come up with a name for this little guy! Maybe we'll have a name picked out before my next ultrasound in four weeks (not likely!). Any suggestions?