Scarlett Marie Glauser

Introducing.....
3 days old and Jake captured her darling little smile!

Scarlett Marie Glauser
Born Wednesday March 9, 2011 at 8:25 am
6 lbs 14 oz and 18.25 in long

All her stats

The past two weeks has been one of the happiest, most exhausting, stressful, and long weeks of my life. Thank you so much to all our friends and family who have called, emailed, texted or visited us!!! I’m sorry if I haven’t responded yet (it’s been a little crazy in our home). But we love and appreciate all of you!!!

Here is a summary of what went down..... (warning: this is very very very long, I only expect my mom to have the patience to read it all – but hopefully you can enjoy the pictures! Also – most of this was written while I was heavily medicated and super exhausted so I apologize if it’s really boring or doesn’t make any sense.)

Tuesday March 8

41 Weeks and Breech

I was 6 days overdue and so uncomfortable. Luckily my OB said they would induce me Tues night. We went to our appointment at 4pm. When the doctor checked my cervix he said “hmm... well, this feels like a bum instead of a head”. They pulled the ultrasound machine in the room and sure enough her little head was snug up by my ribs. She was breech this whole time!!! They figured that’s why my labor stopped progressing. Since I was a week overdue, the placenta was starting to calcify (I could see the bad spots on the ultrasound) and my amniotic fluid was really low. So an external cephalic version was out of the question. The OB asked when I ate last (right before I came) so he said that we might do a C-Section at midnight that night. Holy cow! Apparently they wanted to get her out ASAP! Luckily the hospital had an opening for a 7:30 am C-section the next day. So we were able to go home, pack, and process all this information. I’ll admit it brought me to tears. I wasn’t really upset about the C-section - more that it wasn’t going to be anything like we planned, I went a miserable week past my due date, and that everything was happening so fast.

I asked why they hadn’t found this sooner. He said that only like 4% of babies are breech and that bums feel a lot like heads so they usually don’t assume it’s a breech baby. It was the first time this doctor had checked me, Jake thinks the other 2 doctors who checked me may have missed it because they both had fatter fingers so they couldn’t feel her bum as well (since I wasn’t dilated very much). The really weird thing is that my best friend Courtney (whose baby was due 2 days after mine) also had a breech baby! But they knew so she had a C-section at 39 weeks (instead of 41 weeks like me). I’m convinced that Scarlett and Parker thought they would be funny and play a joke on their moms. Little teasers! (read Parker’s birth story here)

41 weeks and soooo uncomfortable

Wednesday March 9

C-Section
We had such a hard time sleeping, I think I got 3 hours total. We had to be at the hospital at 5:30. They hooked me up to tummy monitors to get a baseline for the baby. They put in an IV and gave me antibiotics (standard for any surgery) and anti-nausea medicine. The anesthesiologist came and talked about the spinal tap. He was really funny – made me relax a little. The OB was a little late, during the maybe 15 min we had to wait for him I was able to fall asleep. I felt so much better when I woke up. I told the nurse about a dream I had last night where they gave me a hysterectomy after the C-section – she assured me that wouldn’t happen.

They wheeled me back into the surgery room. I was so nervous. There was this tiny table surrounded by a huge, cold room filled with tons of machinery. I sat on the bed and the anesthesiologist put in the spinal tap (I told him I felt glamorous with iodine running down my bum crack). I laid on the table while everything from my ribs down became numb. While I was numbing up the nurses did a count of every single piece of equipment (including sponges and gauze), they do the same count after the surgery to make sure nothing is left inside of me. Jake came in the room all dressed in his clean suit. The nurses kept asking him if he had breakfast and did he want any juice (apparently they have a problem with dad’s passing out). Jake sat by my head and held my hand (my arms where stretched out on the table). They put up a curtain so we couldn’t see my belly. When the two OBs were about to start the nurse asked me some questions:

“Your name is Jennifer Glauser” “Yes”
“You want a C-section today” “Yes”
“You do not want a hysterectomy” “haha, correct!” (everyone chuckled and assured me my dream wouldn’t come true)

Then the anesthesiologist (who was standing right by my head the entire surgery) started giving Jake and I a play-by-play. They began cutting, it was weird to be awake knowing on the other side of the curtain they were cutting me open! I felt my whole body flop around when they were tugging on the baby. Then they said there was going to be a ton of pressure on my ribs as they pushed her out and that I would have “referred pain” in my shoulders. My right collar bone hurt like crazy. The OB said “here comes the little bum” then all of the sudden we heard adorable little cries! They lifted her over the curtain – it was so surreal! I couldn’t believe that she was inside of me this whole time!!! They took her over to a table and started cleaning her, Jake went over to watch and luckily I could see from the bed. They kept trying to make her cry more cause she wasn’t screaming enough. Then I started to feel really nauseated. The anesthesiologist said it was from the rapid and huge drop in blood pressure. He gave me some medicine to constrict my blood vessels and oxygen while they cleaned me up. Jake left with the baby. It took them 5 min to get her out and 25 min to sew/staple me shut. They vacuumed out my uterus then stitched up all 7 layers! I lost 800 units of blood (usually you loose 600) but that’s still ok. Other than that, everything went perfectly. They wheeled me to a post-op room to watch me for an hour.

Meeting her for the first time

The Baby and the NICU
Jake came back to tell me how adorable our daughter is! They weighed her and tried to measure her length. Since her legs had been stretched out (she was folded in half inside me) they had a really hard time trying to get her to lay flat. They ended up marking on the bed where her head was then rolling her to a sitting position to mark her little feet. Then they measured the marks to get her length – creative!

Getting cleaned up – see how her legs are straight out

They cleaned her up and checked that everything was working okay. After her bath she couldn’t bring her body temperature back up, so they had her under heat lamps. Her blood sugar was also really low. So they brought her to me to breastfeed. She is so beautiful! It caught me off guard at how much she looks like me! I just wanted to snuggle and stare at her forever. But after she ate, her sugars were still low. So they took her back to the heat lamps and gave her a bottle.

They wheeled me into my postpartum room while they waited to see how her temperatures and sugars were doing. They finally decided to give her an IV of fluids to bring up her sugars. Jake kept shuttling back and forth from me to the baby. At first I wasn’t too worried, I could tell that they expected her to be better with the IV. But even the IV didn’t help her sugars and her body temp was still too low (unless she was under the heat). So they finally decided to admit her into the NICU: Special Care room. They explained that the Special Care room is for low risk babies and that she would be okay. They started her on antibiotics, anti viral medicine, and sugar fluid. They also took a bunch of blood and sent it out for all sorts of testing.

Hanging out with Daddy

In the first 24 hours we found out our baby was breech, got a C-section and admitted our newborn to the NICU. I was so stressed and overwhelmed. I didn’t want to call everyone to share the good news because we didn’t know what was wrong and I was so frustrated. I just wanted to hold my baby! This didn’t turn out at all like I had expected!

Later in the day Jake wheeled me down to see her and to feed her. It was wonderful to snuggle with her little body! I got to feed her again. I thought breastfeeding was going to be really weird, but it felt somehow very natural (expect no one warned me that you get cramps while nursing!) Jake slept on a cot in my room. I could hear little babies crying in the rooms next to us, I was so jealous! But the nurses were great to me. They would call me each time she woke up for a feeding and I would walk down to the NICU (usually pushing a wheel chair for extra support).

I asked if she was too small (for being a week over due I thought she would be closer to 8 pounds). The nurse looked her weight up on a chart and found that she is in the 12th percentile. But since her head circumference, length and weight were all proportionally small they weren’t worried. Turns out she’s just a petite little lady!

Little Scarlett hooked up to her NICU monitors

Thursday March 10

They found that she did not have a virus, so they stopped that medication. All her blood work looked normal except for some protein count was high which is indicative of an infection (even though her white blood cell count wasn’t high). So they kept her on the antibiotics while waited for more blood work results (wouldn’t be done til Friday). They let Jake, my Dad, and my Father-in-Law give her a blessing this evening. She looked so small compared to their big hands!

Scarlett’s feet in Grammy Seaver’s hands

Her poor little hands covered in IVs and tape

Scarlett with her Grandparents (except Grandma Glauser who was at work)

Naming Her Scarlett
We heard the name Scarlett on TLC’s A Baby Story at the beginning of our pregnancy. We put it on our baby list and it was the only name that stayed in our top 3 the entire time. I like that it is very feminine, yet strong, and that it is a unique name but not something weird that we invented.

Once we met her, with her long dark hair – she just looked like a Scarlett. We decided to wait a day and see if we still felt that way. Sure enough, it still fit on Thursday. We wanted her to have a family middle name. We really liked the way Scarlett Marie sounded, and after meeting her and seeing how much she looked like me, it seemed to fit that she should have my middle name. It’s such a weird feeling to name a person. It’s kind of powerful – yet no one checks up on you to make sure you’re doing it right. She went from baby girl to a real person with a name. After naming her, all the nurses called her by her name. It was weird to hear them in the next room using the name that we gave her, but it still seemed to fit.

For the record, I have put Gone With the Wind on our Netflix instant queue. So in a few weeks I’ll be able to tell you what I think about Scarlett O’Hara. Also, we’re not fans of Scarlett Johansson. But we do like the color scarlet. And we also call our little lady Miss Scarlett (like in Clue – which is one of my fav games).

Friday March 11

I woke up feeling so nauseated and exhausted. My body was getting so worn out from all the stress. The nurse said they couldn’t give me anything for feeling sick. So I took a Zofran I had in my purse from pregnancy. When my OB came to check up on my incision, I confessed my pill sneaking and he said he would have done the same thing. Then he gave me another prescription so I wouldn’t have to sneak pills anymore! Other than feeling nauseated, I felt really good (all things considered). The OB said my incision looks great and I seem to be recovering really well (I considered that a tender mercy since I was dealing with all the baby stuff). Most C-section patients don’t walk very much the first few days, but I was walking up and down the hall to see my baby (which aided in my recovery).

Test Results
The neonatologist came to speak with Jake and I about the test results today. She does not appear to have any serious problem. They suspected an infection but her white blood cells were normal. The Doctor said that they figure she was getting a little infection right before she was born but all the antibiotics they pumped in me before my surgery killed the bug. Her body was still weak and worn out from the infection so she wasn’t able to handle the stress of being born. Plus she was so tiny (especially for being a week over due) that she didn’t have any fat stores to give her the energy she needed to bounce back after the birth. So the Doctor said they would keep her in the NICU for 7 days of intravenous antibiotic treatment to make sure and kill the bug.

During the tests they also found that she has a little heart murmur. They did an echocardiogram to figure out what was going on. She has two little holes in her heart. One of them is very very common and will most likely heal itself within a few months. The other is common and will most likely heal itself within two years. Neither require constant monitoring, we’ll just have to visit the heart doctor and get her retested every few months til we know it’s gone. And if they don’t heal there are medicines and things they can do way before she would need surgery. Still, scary.

The worst part of the past few days was just not knowing how serious it was going to be. They tested her for all sorts of crazy things. Once we knew she was going to be ok, we slept much better. (I’ll admit I had a breakdown before going to bed that night, the huge flux in hormones on top of everything called for a good cry).

They moved her to an enclosed bed so she could get better sleep (less noise, warmer, darker)

Scarlett’s Feeling Better
Today, Scarlett started acting like she felt so much better. She ate tons and could maintain her body temperature. The Doctor let them take out her head IV of 10% Dextrose, so she was down to one IV (of antibiotics).

One of her hand IVs went bad so they had to put it in her head

Saturday March 12

I get cold sores when I’m stressed out. This morning I woke up with – not one, not two… but FIVE cold sores!!! Luckily I caught them soon so my OB was able to give my Acyclovir – so they only lasted a few days. But yikes!

I’ve been pumping after feeding her (because even though I feed her whenever they call me, they still supplement in the nursery). The nurse put the milk I pumped in a syringe then took it down to the nursery. Scarlett was drinking a bottle when the nurse got there, so they put the syringe in the corner of her mouth so she would eat my milk while drinking her formula bottle. Once they started putting the syringe in her mouth she let go of the bottle and turned toward the syringe – apparently she likes my milk more than formula! The nurses said that they’ve never seen a baby do that before!

Scarlett’s Skills
We’ve figured out that after she’s done eating she likes to smile. When Jake was taking a photo of her with my cell phone she smiled at the perfect time. I love this picture! It melts my heart!!! (it’s the first photo on this post)

She knows my voice. When I come in the room to feed her she’ll turn toward my voice and start eating the air – rooting around for me. :-) The nurses call her the social butterfly cause she’s very alert for a baby her age. (wonder where she gets that…) Also, she can grasp my pinky finger with her long toes (she gets those from her daddy!)

Sunday March 13

Being a Mommy
It was hard to feel like Scarlett’s mom cause all the nurses were taking care of her. So I asked them if I could do ask much as they would let me. They have procedures I had to follow but they let me do a lot. I got to feed her, change her, rock her, bathe her (what else is there to do with a baby?) I figure it will be much easier to change her diaper when we get home because she won’t be hooked up to all the monitors. I got to give her a bath (at like 4 am). They turned on the heat lamp, she sprawled out like she was laying on the beach and was an angel for the entire process. Many of the nurses are lactation consultants. It was like I got personal mommy training for the days I was in there. I tried to ask as many questions as I could.

Her first bath!

I Got Discharged
I got discharged this morning (the OB let me stay an extra day in the hospital to be with my baby). The nurse came in and took my staples out (Jake got to watch). It felt like little pinches. They replaced the staples with Steri-Strips. Instead of sending me home, Timpanogos has a program where they let parents of NICU babies stay in the hospital rooms for free (if they have availability). I got to stay in the same room I was in. But now the nurses weren’t bugging me every 4 hours. They don’t provide meals, only towels, linens and toilet paper. But what a blessing! I was so grateful that I didn’t have to leave my little baby alone in the hospital. I was able to continue feeding her at night. But since I was no longer a patient, I could come and go as I please. So Jake took me to my parents for a quick dinner. I didn’t realize how loud the hospital is until the car ride over, it was so quiet! Jake decided to sleep at home these nights since he had to go to school.

While my staples were being removed, Scarlett was ready to eat. So her nurse put her in a swing to calm her down til I could feed her. The funny thing is that they had to get a written prescription from the doctor for her to be in the swing! Funny! Also, the same nurse (Adam) saw my bling bling cell phone cover and said he had the perfect thing for her – he brought back this pink little gansta hat covered in bling! And we got to keep it! Awesome!
Scarlett’s bling bling beanie

Relaxing in her swing

PICC Line
Scarlett was starting to look so healthy. She was acting more alert and happy. They had removed one of her IVs. I was starting to feel better about the whole NICU thing. But then her nurse, Adam, came into our room to tell Jake and I that they had run out of veins for her antibiotic IV. Apparently IVs only last about 24 hours in babies. And since she had two IVs for several days, her little hands and feet had been poked to the max. Poor little thing! The problem was that she still had 4 days of medicine left. So the solution? A PICC line. I had heard of people getting PICCs but I really didn’t know what it meant until today. They would have to insert a little skinny tube inside a vein in her head, it would follow the vein down the side of her face in front of her ear by her temple, down her jugular, and ending right by her heart! Holy cow! I was so nervous about it. It’s considered a surgical procedure that they have to do in a sterile environment.

It took the PICC expert 2 hours to feed it through her veins (average time - they have to wait til the body opens up and accepts it). She looked so sad on the table (the green towels mean sterile). Then they brought in an x-ray machine to make sure it was in the right place in proportion to her heart. During the process they kept her asleep with sugar water – apparently it’s like a drug for little babies! Our prayers were answered and the whole procedure went smoothly. The only bummer is she looked so much worse this evening than she had in the morning.

There’s a baby under there! Getting her PICC line in. She looks so sad…

X-Ray to make sure the PICC isn’t too close to her heart (I put the cursor on the end of the line). I’m holding a piece of the tubing that went inside her.

Monday March 14

Felt more rested today since I wasn’t interrupted by the nurses. I finally got out of the hospital gown and put on my own PJs – I felt so much better!

Jake came to visit us after school. He said it felt really weird to get back into a normal routine now with a baby. “How can people go to school when they have kids, don’t they just want to be at home with them all day?” He’s so cute!

When Jake was holding Scarlett he looked at her like he adored her more than anything else in the world. I fall in love with him more and more everyday!

Tuesday March 15

Moving Rooms
Scarlett was in the Special Care room. But it was getting crowded, so they decided to move her to the sick baby room in the NICU. They kept reassuring me that she wasn’t moving in there 'cause of her health, just a space issue. The room was huge and quiet compared to the other room. Each baby’s bed was surrounded with all sorts of machines. It was a lot more private too (I had to nurse her at the same time as another mom and behind the same screens in the other room). This new room had actual curtains that we could pull around her bed. Awesome! The only down side is that I had to scrub out each time I went to see her, instead of just one a shift (scrub out = 5 min hand and forearm wash with sterile scrub brushes before going in the room).

Something I found interesting… she was the only little girl in both the Special Care and NICU rooms (there were 7 little boys). And she looked huge compared to some of them – of course, they were preemies).

Her very own space (she looks so tiny compared to all the machines!)

The hospital needed the postpartum room that I was in, but they found a room on the surgical floor for me to stay in. It is a room used for people that needed to be isolated (due to illness). It had a room attached for nurses to change their clothes before and after seeing the patient. They assured me that it was very sterile and I didn’t have to worry. It was just weird to go from the labor floor with little babies to the orthopedic surgery wing with all the older folks getting knee and hip replacements. But it was very quiet and I had a great view of the mountains.

Checking Out Training and Tests
Before taking her home Jake and I had to watch an infant CPR DVD and another about PURPLE crying. I hope we never have to do CPR!

Scarlett had to pass the car seat test. We took her car seat and base into the NICU. For the test she had to be buckled in the seat for 90 minutes and not have any breathing or oxygen saturation problems. They only make NICU kids take this test (sometimes the preemies aren’t strong enough to hold their heads up in the car seat).

She started the test at like 11 pm. When I came back to feed her at like 3 am I expected her to have passed with flying colors. But an hour into the test her oxygen saturation went down below 90%, so she failed. The nurse sucked her nose out and found that she had tons of bogies and figured that was the cause of the problem. So they started the test again. When I went back just before 6 am I found that she had failed the test again! No way!!! We waited all this time to take her home and they were going to keep her because of some silly car seat test. Needless to say I went to bed VERY stressed. The nurse said that after shift change they might have to wait 12 hours to test her again! NOOOO!!!

Car seat test – try #1 (she's so tiny!)

Wednesday March 16

Going Home!
I called the nurse (Reba) first thing in the morning to see if she needed to eat. The nurse said she was 2 minutes away from passing her car seat test! WOOT WOOT!!! Third time’s the charm! I was so relieved. We get to take our baby home today! The nurse said she gave her a bottle and took out the newborn headrest in the seat and that seemed to do the trick!

I called Jake and he came and helped me load all my stuff in the car. By the time we got to Scarlett (around 9:30 am) she already had her last dose of medications and they had taken her PICC line out. We said our goodbyes to the wonderful staff (I am so grateful at how well they took care of us – they said it was easy to love on her since she was adorable – I agree!)

Adam (her nurse) walked us to the car to make sure we buckled her in correctly. He also gave us a special gift (bag of diapers, wipes, formula, hair bows, hats she wore, and other goodies!) Then we got in the car. We’ve had many people tell us that the drive home from the hospital is awkward and kinda scary (like: what do we do now? they’re letting us take the baby home?) but we just felt so excited – like Christmas Eve when you’re a little kid! Though it was strange when we got home – no one told us when to feed her, we had to figure that out on our own.

Finally going home!

Jake caught us napping on the couch – look: no wires!!!

Thursday March 17 – Wednesday March 23

OB Follow Up Visit
Since I can’t drive yet (pain meds) Jake took Scarlett and I to the OB for my follow up visit. I fed her right before we left, but the doctor’s office was running behind – so by the time we got in the exam room I had to feed her. Luckily they were totally understanding and the doctor just came back when we were done (I have a feeling that this won’t be the only time she’s hungry at an inconvenient time). They said my incision looks great and I can remove the Steri-strips. They also said I will barely be able to notice my 6 inch scar when it heals (I can barely see it now). I will see them again in a month to double check that everything healed correctly.

I asked them if it was normal that I’ve been finding bruises all over my belly and legs. The answer? Yes! Apparently a C-section is a really aggressive surgery. Once they cut you open they use these two plates to pry the incision apart. Gross! Glad I didn’t know that beforehand – it would have just made me more nervous.

Pediatrician
Scarlett went to see her Pediatrician on Monday. I fed her right before we left but I ended up having to feed her in the exam room again. She passed all her tests with flying colors. The doctor mentioned that she’s really alert/aware for a baby her age. She is 7 lbs 14 oz (already gained a pound since birth!) and 20 in long. The doctor also said she couldn’t hear the heart murmur anymore. So hopefully that’s starting to heal. Scarlett will go see the heart specialist in a few months just to make sure.

The crazy thing is that I called the Pediatrician before Scarlett was born to see if she (Dr. Shelly Savage) would come see our baby in the hospital. She said that she doesn’t come to the hospital unless she delivers the baby and to just use the hospital doctor until the baby’s two week appointment. But I still put Dr. Savage’s name down on the paperwork at the hospital. Luckily Dr. Savage was already at Timp Hospital when Scarlett was going to the NICU so she started treating her from day one. What’s so great is that during our entire stay at Timp, the hospital would call Dr. Savage and consult with her on what to do for Scarlett. When we went to our first appointment she knew Scarlett’s history and had made all the decisions, so it was an easy transition.

Two week appointment with Dr. Savage

Visitors
We’ve had a lot of family and friends come by to see our little lady. Plus we’ve had many dinners brought to us. We appreciate it so much!!! And everyone has been great at complying with what seems like our over compulsive hand washing rules before picking her up (the NICU doctor said we have to be really careful with her over the next few weeks cause she’s still fragile).

When Jami was kissing her feet the other day, Scarlett grabbed Jami’s lip with her toes! Haha! So talented! But it’s especially funny cause Jami has a huge feet phobia!

I can’t believe how I’m already starting to get cabin fever - and I still have several more weeks indoors!

Jami made sure she had her first “birth”day cake! (look – she’s the same size as the cake!)

Hangin Out
Scarlett and I just nap and eat all day. We don’t have any routine at all. The dishes pile up until my mom comes over. But it’s all ok. Jake’s been great at allowing me to get rest whenever he’s home. He does whatever chores he can after he’s done with homework. He’s so wonderful!

Scarlett’s a great eater. She eats about every 1.5 hours in the day (snacker?) and about every 3 hours at night. I’ve been trying hard to increase my milk supply since we’ve been home (the whole hospital thing really messed up our supply/demand). The hospital would give her bottles all the time, so we’ve had to give her 2 or 3 bottles a day since we’ve been home. I’m really struggling at increasing my supply. I just started taking Fenugreek, I drink >2L of water each day, I’ve been sleeping whenever I can, and I’ve been trying to de-stress as much as possible… but I’m open to suggestions if anyone has a trick that works.

This was her St. Patrick’s Day outfit that Kandy and the girls bought her (Y socks in honor of BYU’s basketball game)

Two Weeks Old
Scarlett was two weeks old yesterday! Her umbilical cord finally fell off (cute little belly button!) She loves loves loves when I wash her hair under the faucet. She’s really squeaky – she squeaks and chirps all night (I’m finally able to sleep through some of it). I think she gets bored of staring at me all day. Maybe I should get her some toys…

She loves getting her hair washed

She’s so beautiful and fun! We’re so grateful to have her in our lives!