Maria

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I know I know…where are freakin’ pics? Well, it’s been crazy at home, and I haven’t had 10 minutes on the computer to upload (insert excuse #2 here….insert excuse #3 here) Summary: She is amazing. We’re massaging lotion into her new skin over the burns 4 times a day, and the areas are pinking right up. She’s learned to locomotor on all fours the right way, and she can blitz across the living room anytime she sees something shiny. She’s one smiling amazing baby girl. ...

Praise God, so glad she’s doing well. Jeff Roberts - Oct 2, 2007 Praise God, so glad she’s doing well.

Nearly a week on and no update on my daughter. Sorry! As is typical with me, no news is good news–Maria’s Aquacell bandages (think big synthetic scabs) have fallen off, and her torso is healing very well. It’s trending more towards a healthy pink away from the angry red that it was. We’re not so pleased with her leg. Her wound there is still seeping in two places; we’re calling the Dr’s for opinions on that. ...

First of all, let me thank everyone for the outpouring of support we’ve been given! Family, church, friends, and mere acquaintances have all written, emailed, called, and visited. If it takes a village to raise a child, then our real and virtual “village” has closed ranks like I’ve never seen. Maria seems to be getting better. She remains comfortable during dressing changes, and her outer dressings are no longer “dirty” when we change them. Honestly, I think she’s more concerned with eating and playing with toys than her burn at this point. She’s even gotten up on her hands-and-knees to crawl for short distances. ...

At 11am Saturday, while she was out enjoying breakfast at Cracker Barrel with Whitney and her Grandmother Cathy, my daughter Maria was scalded over 10% of her body by a carafe of boiling water. The waitress sat the water too close to her, and she reached out and pulled it onto herself. She was seated in a highchair at the time, and the boiling liquid burned her from the center of her chest to her waist, and the upper part of her right thigh. A nurse behind Whitney directed them the administer first aid, and an ambulance took her directly to the University of Kentucky hospital E.R. ...

Happy Father’s day to all the men out there. As I sat in Church today, I was taken back to February 10th, to a particular moment I’d like to share. * * * The operation was over. Maria was fine–pink, healthy, and squalling. Whitney was holding up well; I hated to leave her, but I wanted to stay with the baby in her first minutes of life. I gazed upon her as she got her first examinations; the pediatrician said she was fine, with a nice twinkle in her eyes. ...

My daughter is now 14 lbs, 10 oz, and 25 inches long, and 4 months old. Back to your regularly scheduled ranting.

Pediatricians would seem to be just like veterinarians: Their patients can’t communicate with them to tell them where it hurts. Maria’s developed a new trick–caterwauling between 6 and 8 pm. My impression of her thoughts: Ah, that was a great feeding…mmmm….look at that twirly thing up there. I’m so hap–WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! WHAT THE FREAK IS THAT?!!! WHY IN THE WORLD DOES MY BOTTOM HURT! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA MAKEITSTOPMAKITSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! (add 10 mins of that) ...

After a week of exposure, I can’t get the smell of poopy diapers out of my nostrils. I think it’s scent memory.

Friday: 5:00 am - Alarm Clock rings 6:00 - arrive at hospital. One contraction in the parking lot 6:30 - Pitocin drip starts 5mL/hr. External fetal and uterine monitoring. 7:30 - Pitocin drip to 10mL/hr. Whitney and I take a 30 min nap. 8:30 - Pitocin drip to 15mL/hr. Mild contractions. 10 - Pitocin drip to 35mL/hr. Interesting contractions. Labor seems to be established. IV removed. Maria has significant heart-rate deceleration (a “decel”) 12 - Contractions slow down. 2pm - Contractions stopped. 4:30 - Water broken by midwife. Better contractions 3-5 mins apart. 6:30 - No change in dilation or station. Pitocin augmentation begun again, at 15mL/hr, upped every 20 minutes. 6:30 - 7:30: Transition 7cm to full dilation. Contractions at 100+, 2 mins apart. Whitney breathes through them like a champ. 7:30 - “Get Melody! I feel like pushing” 7:30 - 9pm: Pushing, in various positions. 9pm - Whitney’s exhausted, Maria transverse at -2 station. Her head is wedged 90 degress from her body. No position (Hands and knees, etc.) has helped. To this point, still no pain meds. Epidural offered, accepted, and the on call anesthesiologist paged. 9:30pm - Epidural placed. (Aside: This guy was GOOD…placed an epidural in a woman having contractions 40 seconds apart, exhausted, and barely cooperative.) 9:45pm - pushing attempted with epidural placed. No change. Signficant heart-rate decels. I decide we’re going for a C-Section. I’m scared to death I’m going to lose both my girls. Whitney’s BP is rising fast, she’s hemorrhaging, she’s exhausted, and Maria’s heartbeat is failing. 10:30 - O.R. team in place. Operation begins. 10:40 - Maria born 10:50 - I follow her with the pediatrician back to the nursery. Whitney goes to recovery. 11:30 - Whitney back in her room ...

Maria Elizabeth Combs (“mec”) Born via Cesarean Section at 10:40pm February 10 8 lbs 5 oz 19 inches long APGAR score: 9.9 Mom and baby are doing well. I have never been more scared, elated, or tired in my life. Pics to follow

Yeah, about that: Whitney’s very strong, regular contractions just…stopped…right around 10 today. Then they went back to the irregular, 7-10-12-10 minute pattern they’ve been in for 2 weeks now. I’ve gone through the gamut today–excitement, concentration, benevolence, resignation, exhaustion, anger, disappointment, and now (post power-nap) resignation.

Contracting since last night. Moderate to hard contractions since 4am. Joey at a friends house since 6:30 this morning. Contractions in the 5-to-3 minute range. Waters intact, and no show yet.

I can only imagine, but what I’m feeling now is a nervous anticipation, similar to what I’d expect a paratrooper feels making his first jump. I’ve trained for this, but I’ve never done it before. Can I deal with having a daughter born on Groundhog Day? :-) (Short answer–sure…the nicknames they come a-plenty: Shadow, Weathergirl, Punxsutawney.) We had a bunch of snow this morning (“bunch” in Kentucky-ese is 1 or 2 inches), so I went down to work to grab my laptop and I came back home. Whitney’s had semi-regular contractions last night after her acupuncture, so we’ll see what happens. I’m attempting to stay calm, but I’ve got this dual thing going on–I’m very here in the moment, and I’m also distant from it. Can’t REALLY believe I’m about to be a father. ...

Short version: Because I’m a zombie on Fridays. Since my prolonged Christmas break, I’ve shifted my schedule around. And by “shifted”, that means getting to work earlier and leaving at the same time or later. On the whole, this works out great Monday->Wednesday, is passable on Thursday, but by Friday I’m just mental mush. In fact, I’m writing this blog just to try and get some creative juices flowing.

So I get an email from Wal-Mart with “This weeks deals” or whatever. Inside was a little pink doll. and I’m like, “AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! Maria would love that!” Yikes.

About 18 weeks from now (…ish), I’ll be the proud father of a baby girl. Found-out yesterday. I’m still sort of in shock; I was honestly steeling myself for the prospect of having a boy. . .the demands of being a father, of moulding a young man, Boy Scouts, etc. Joey’s a joy, and I was looking forard to having another. Still, Maria shows every sign of being a vigorous Combs gal, hopefully in line of her cousins–brunette, brilliant eyes (hope she gets her Mom’s eyes!)

The Lord granted us a respite last night just long enough for a clear sky for the awesome Scott County fireworks show, but this morning has been a steady, slow rain, up to 1" on my rain gauge. We need it desperately. * * * In other news, the new baby Combs is actually at 10 weeks instead of 9, putting his or her delivery date at February 5th. New ultrasound scans coming soon.

I am SOOOOO happy today: Whitney is 7 weeks along with our first child!!! She gave me the news only a few weeks ago, and I couldn’t be happier. Her first OB appointment was today, and they did bloodwork and gave her brand-name neo-natal vitamins to take. I thank God for blessing us with a new soul to bring into this world, and pray that he give us the guidance in raising him or her. (Whitney think’s it’s a girl, BTW…terrible morning sickness!)