Michelle’s Birth Story

The due date for our baby was August 18. After the 36th week of pregnancy, we had doctor’s appointments every week. On August 11, we had an appointment with Dr. Cernadas at 3:15pm. She did a vaginal exam and told us that the cervix was still completely closed. The fetal heart rate seemed normal. However,… Continue reading Michelle’s Birth Story

Labor and Delivery: A Technical Note

During labor, an external fetal monitor is used to record the baby’s heart rate and the uterine contractions. The sensors are placed on the mother’s belly. Later, during the pushing phase of labor, a sensor is connected to the baby’s head to record her heart rate more accurately, thus becoming an internal fetal monitor. Older… Continue reading Labor and Delivery: A Technical Note

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The Proudest Day

Michelle Zakaria was born at 6:57pm (that was the correct time, though the St Peters clock said 7:01pm and that’s what they recorded) on August 12 at Saint Peters University Hospital, New Brunswick, NJ. She weighs 6 pounds 9 ounces (3 kg) and is 20.5 inches (52 cm) long. She is healthy and the most… Continue reading The Proudest Day

It’s Time

Well, not exactly. But we had a doctor’s appointment today and the amniotic fluid seems to be a bit low while the baby seems to be doing fine right now. So our doctor has asked us to go to the hospital right now for labor induction. I am taking the laptop with me. I don’t,… Continue reading It’s Time

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Breastfeeding Class

When we registered for the class at St Peters, we asked if it was for women only or for couples. Since the breastfeeding class was open to couples, we both attended it. However, when we got there, I wondered what I was doing there. There were only 3 of us guys while there were 13… Continue reading Breastfeeding Class

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Childbirth Class

Saint Peters University Hospital offers childbirth classes in two formats. Either you can take the class one day a week for a month or spend a whole day one weekend learning about childbirth and specifically Lamaze. We decided that spending 7 hours (9am—4pm) was the better option. So, off we went with 2 pillows (for… Continue reading Childbirth Class

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My Surprise Baby Shower

I was really surprised to have one. Baby shower seems like a big pregnancy thing in the US. When we started our baby registry at Babies R Us, the lady asked Zack if he needed shower invitation cards and hesitently he said No…Yes…may be… So she gave us 50 free cards which are useless for… Continue reading My Surprise Baby Shower

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Buying Baby Stuff

What better way to start shopping for our baby than to buy new bedroom furniture for ourselves? It makes the expense of the baby’s things trivial by comparison and postpones the day when you can buy stuff for the baby by throwing a wrench in your finances. Looking at a Babies R Us list of… Continue reading Buying Baby Stuff

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Doctor or Midwife?

We had been seeing a doctor but the question came up some time ago whether we would like to see a midwife, associated with the doctor’s office, instead and have the baby delivered by the midwife. So, we scheduled our next appointment with the midwife. Talking to the midwife and some friends, it seems that… Continue reading Doctor or Midwife?

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What’s in a Name III

This is the last post in my series of thinking aloud about our baby’s name. We were thinking about our daughter’s last name when I found an article about the issue of women taking their husbands’ last names. A debate then started in the blogworld about this issue. For example, see Crescat Sententia. Matthew Yglesias… Continue reading What’s in a Name III

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