Our family welcomed our 5th baby, Catherine Joy, on July 16th. Here is her birth story:
Monday, July 16th was my due date based on the early ultrasound I'd had sometime around my 11th week of pregnancy. The Friday prior to the 16th I had a routine prenatal appointment with my OB (whom I like very much). For 3 of my previous deliveries, I had been induced within a few days before or after 41 weeks pregnant. For the sake of my emotions, I had decided on a mental due date of July 23rd. At my appointment I even set up an appointment on Thursday the 19th for the required "past due-date" non-stress test because, well, I was just planning that I would not have the baby until sometime around 41 weeks. We weren't doing a lot of school and I had a few projects I wanted to wrap up, plus a few special things I wanted to do with the girls and Silas to kill time while we waited for the baby. I planned to gather up most of the stuff I wanted to take to the hospital, get out the coming home outfits (one for a boy, one for a girl, because we don't find out the gender ahead of time), raise the crib mattress and put sheets on it, and so on. I also wanted to make soft pretzals, some cookies, a few breakfast things to freeze, and maaaybe even doughnuts. Just things to keep me from dwelling on being "past" my due date.
At my doctor's appointment on Friday, Dr. P checked me and I was 3cm, almost 4cm. She was dead serious when she said "I don't think you'll make it through next week," to which I laughed. She asked what I thought, I said I was sure I wouldn't have the baby until my 41st week. We talked through a spontaneous induction scenario that I liked, because I don't like scheduled inductions, and I came home. I did a lot of office work getting things wrapped up before I would be "off" for a few-several weeks. I made sure bills were paid, deposits put in the bank, and basically just tried to get as much done as I could. Daniel brought home dinner, and we had a nice at-home date before we went to pick up the girls and Silas from his parents' (they keep the bigger kids most Fridays while I do office work for Daniel's business).
On Saturday I felt a little uncomfortable and had some other indicators that made me tell Daniel "this is probably just from her checking me yesterday, but sometimes people have their babies within 24 hours of this." A friend from church sent me a text and asked me if I could sub for her in her Sunday School class as she needed to be home with a sick child. I said I would, IF I wasn't in the hospital. I wasn't, so I subbed for her. After church several people commented that "tomorrow (16th) was THE day!" I laughed and said I was sure it wouldn't be Monday at all.
I slept REALLY good Sunday night. I got up with Daniel, showered, and dressed and was downstairs earlier than I had been in a long time. The girls and Silas weren't even awake yet. I was going to enjoy the quiet house and a cup of coffee as I made my breakfast and prepared theirs. I sat down to put on my shoes. I tied my right shoe and leaned over to tie my left shoe when I felt an unusual sensation of wet. I quickly tied my shoe, wondering "did my water just break??" and stood up to keep the rocking chair from getting wet... IF, in fact, my water had broken. Upon standing, I pulled my skirt up and observed rivers of liquidy stuff running down my legs. I knew that it wasn't my bladder leaking. {Side note: My water has NEVER spontaneously broken before, so this was a WHOLE new experience. Shockingly surprising to say the least!!} I grabbed my phone and dialed Daniel as I walked to the kitchen. I grabbed 2 kitchen towels and stuffed them between my legs, and waddled back to the school room to wipe up the drips on the floor. Daniel didn't answer, so I walked outside to talk to him. He was on the phone, talking to a customer and loading equipment into his van in preparation for his work day. (He has his own HVAC business.) He had just hung up so I yelled at him from the kitchen porch, "You're not going to work today!!" We both looked at each other in surprise as I told him my water had just broken. He had to make several phone calls to get things in place for NOT working that day after-all, and I began calling my mother-in-law. I called and called and called, and she wasn't answering her phone. I was beginning to get a little panicked and called a friend from church with whom I had *just* discussed, the day before, this very scenario happening. She assured me that we could take the kids to their house if we needed to. Then I called my father-in-law, who had just stepped out of a meeting. He said my MIL was home, but would be leaving at 9:30 for an appointment. I called her over and over again a few more times and she still didn't answer. Since I knew she was home, I went into highest of speeds to get the kids awake and into the van so we could get them to her house before she left. I had Susannah and Sylvia put a change of clothes into their bag, picked out a set of clothes for Charity and Silas, and was giving out instructions left and right as fast as they completed each task. They were crazy excited but also working quickly, knowing the sense of urgency and the need to beat the clock that was creeping closer and closer to 9:30. If you have ever watched the original "Yours, Mine & Ours" movie (Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball), the scene where he is running down the hall banging on the bedroom doors shouting, "Red Alert! Red Alert!" came to mind. I felt like I was doing my own version of "Red Alert!" and laughed about it several times.
The girls and Silas were about ready to go and I had the girls carrying things out to the van. I was trying to make breakfast for Daniel and myself when my phone rang. I answered it and it sounded like a hen squawking on the other end. It was my MIL. To the best that Daniel and I have deduced, my FIL called their neighbor and asked her to go tell my MIL to answer her phone. Haha! My MIL was totally beside herself in excitement. We discussed how/when/where to trade off the kids and she decided to come pick them up and we would swap vehicles. That took the time-stress off of me, and Daniel came in soon after and was able to help get Silas ready to go. I called our doula to let her know what was going on; she planned to meet us at the hospital about 30 minutes after we would get there. I wasn't having any contractions though things did feel differently. I went upstairs and began throwing things into a bag for myself. I have learned over the last 4 times what I like and want to take to the hospital. The one thing I hadn't gotten out was comfy pants to wear and wear home. I had to dig around in my closet and my bin of maternity clothes to try and find them. I was feeling anxious and wanted to get to the hospital before I had the baby at home or in the car, haha!! I also wanted the kids gone so I could have a 1-track brain with which to focus.
My MIL arrived and much to my amusement took nearly very clean towel from our linen closet and not only layered a bunch on the front passenger seat of her car, but she had also basically made a bed of towels in the back seat. Hahaha!! She came upstairs to chat (I wasn't really in the mood but put on my cordial face) and gave her version of instructions for what to do if I had the baby en-route to the hospital (I wasn't overly amused; I had delivered 4 babies just fine so far and was certain that if I were to have the baby outside of the hospital between Daniel and I we wouldn't be wondering what to do with the baby. :P ) After a quick hug she left and took the kids with her. Ahh, the house was finally quiet and I could think. I finished loading my bag and came downstairs, deciding I wanted to enjoy a cup of coffee on the way to the hospital, PLUS I wanted to mental clarity and energy it would provide. (My labor and delivery with Silas was done in a complete brain fog of exhaustion; I didn't want a repeat if I could help it.) I had eaten an egg and cheese sandwich, and also began drinking water to be sure I was well-hydrated.
Daniel and I had a nice ride to the hospital, visiting and just enjoying being together. At one point I was replaying the "Red Alert" clip from Yours, Mine & Ours on You-Tube and was laughing a lot. I think I was on some kind of "new adventure" high... our baby coming ON it's due date, my water breaking on it's own, knowing we were going to have a baby within hours... it kinda puts you on a high!!
Daniel dropped me off at the hospital entrance and I stood there and waited probably at least 5 minutes for them to let me into the Labor and Delivery unit. I debated walking while I waited but baby felt much lower than before and I didn't want to start anything without anyone there. Haha!! They put me in a Triage room and I donned 2 gowns (one forward and one backward) and the nurse began the 101 questions. The big question of the day from the nurse and the midwife was "You think your water broke? Was it a huge gush?" To my response of "yes, I know it broke but it wasn't a huge gush. I did soak 2 kitchen towels while I got ready to come, though," they ALWAYS said "well... that's a good story." I don't know why they doubted that I knew what I was talking about. They hooked me up to monitors but the midwife wanted to do the test to make sure my water had actually broken before they did anything else. And the waiting frustration began. In my mind I was going to arrive at the hospital, answer the questions, and go walking with our doula, and have the baby by early afternoon at the latest, best case scenario and not outside of what would be normal for me. Lo and behold, the test strips for checking for amniotic fluid were locked up in some closet that only a security person could unlock and security never arrived to unlock the closet. The L&D was completely full and our nurse and midwife were obviously busy as well. I was thirsty and finally Amy went and got me a drink in a styrofoam cup. Finally about 12:30 (after waiting for 1 1/2 hours in the bed, with my tailbone and backside beginning to really ache because those beds are horrible) the midwife decided to check me without first doing the amniotic test. Lo and behold she discovered that I was right; my water HAD broken (hello, duh!!), and I was still between 3-4 cm, but 60% effaced. That 60% news was exciting to me, it meant progress was happening even though I wasn't having contractions.
As soon as the midwife was finished, Amy took me walking. We walked the L&D halls a few times but could not find any stairs. With permission we went and walked and walked and walked the hospital, making our way between two sections and doing the stairs at each end. She also had me do a deep squat after each set of stairs. (By deep, I mean hanging on the hand-rail, knees to my chest and backside nearly on the floor.) The squats were definitely uncomfortable but not painful, and seemed to be very beneficial in making progress. After our first walking session, we had to go back for another round of monitoring. By that time I was roasting hot from the hot stair-wells and the roasting hot hallways of the hospital, and I was starving hungry. Without asking permission from the nurse or midwife, Daniel left to go get some lunch for me and him from the cafeteria. When the nurse came in and asked how I was doing, I said "hot and hungry!" and asked for a real cup of water. When she heard that I was going to eat, she said "I didn't hear anything about that," meaning she was going to ignore the fact that I was eating before having a baby. (Eating during labor is very new in this hospital.) Daniel brought back 2 trays of food and let me choose which one I wanted to eat. The options were a meal of seasoned fish, rice and some vegetables, and a BBQ sandwich and I forget what else. Since throwing up is a possibility, I decided I would rather throw up fish than BBQ and ate the fish. It was completely tasteless to me except for the tarter sauce I put on top of it. Then I dug into the wild rice, hoping for some flavor, and it tasted like I was chewing rye seed from the grain drill back home. Hahahaha!!! We all had a good laugh about that. Daniel exclaimed how good his BBQ sandwich tasted, and knowing I love really good BBQ, offered me a bite. I took one and the flavor of electrical smoke filled my mouth. It tasted absolutely nasty to me. We decided that being in labor had changed my tastebuds temporarily. At this point I was having some mild contractions but they were irregular and not strong enough for me to really pinpoint a start or stop time.
I am going to post this as "Part 1" to keep it from turning into a longer-than-long post, and you can read Part 2 once I get it written. Plus I have some little people that need some adult encouragement to stay focused on their work. :)
Showing posts with label Pregnancy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pregnancy. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 8, 2018
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Charity's Birth Story
Since Charity was born I have thought off and on about the labor and delivery, processing a little more of it in my mind each time. Each time I re-read the extensive notes from our doula, it becomes a little more real; I remember a little more or realize that I have no memory of other details. Much of it still seems surreal.
I had switched to a new OB at the beginning of this pregnancy and really, really like her. We discussed my previous pregnancies, labors and deliveries (both induced with pitocin; one at 40w 5d and one at 41w 1d) and she was happy to let me go past 41 weeks in hopes that I could have a spontaneous labor. We were both in agreement that an induction would be the way to go in the event there would be a reason to induce. Just last night Mom told me that "people" (I assume my sisters ;) ) were asking her if I would allow an induction if something were to go wrong or start to go wrong. Yes, yes, I certainly would!!
My due date with Charity came and went, and the following week I had 2 appointments. The first one on Monday was an ultrasound and Non-Stress Test. The 2nd appointment was on Friday and was just an NST. At both appointments everything was just fine and the baby passed with flying colors.
A few times that week - between 40 and 41 weeks - I had more serious feeling contractions that I thought were the real thing, but each time they stopped after 20-30 minutes. Once I even started walking the stairs in hopes to keep them going but as soon as I started they stopped. Each time they stopped was a little disappointing but I could only keep waiting, hoping and praying that our baby would be born in God's timing. I admit that I was growing weary of being pregnant and all the discomforts and hindrances that go with being what feels like the size of a beached whale with legs.
On Sunday the 23rd, we celebrated Daniel's birthday. It was also the last day of his on-call routine. Sunday morning I felt different. The baby was again in such a way that I was experiencing frequent nerve pain in my one leg, and overall things just felt uncomfortable and achy. Daniel had a call to go on Sunday afternoon and I was wondering if we were going to have the baby that day. When the end of the day came and no labor and no baby, I breathed a mental sigh. We had gotten through Daniel's week of on-call and through his birthday. We had made it through ALL the March birthdays without having a shared birthday!
Monday morning I had another appointment for an ultrasound and NST. The lady keeping Susannah and Sylvia during the appointment met me in the parking lot and we traded cars. I had mentioned to her Sunday afternoon that I might just throw the girls' "hospital bags" in the car with them in the event something was up and I would need to have the baby Monday. She joked back that if I left the bags at home the chances were higher of that happening. :-) I went to my appointment with plans to go from there to the chiropractor to get some relief for my back.
The ultrasound technician took a good look at everything and said the baby looked good. Next I was hooked up to the NST machine and started the movement counts. Baby was very obviously asleep but I wasn't concerned because I had felt plenty of wiggles that morning already. My doctor came in and started going over the routine questions and then asked if the ultrasound tech had mentioned anything to me. I said no, just that everything looked good.
As it turned out, the amniotic fluid level had dropped from 8.9 (the previous Monday) to 3. I was a little let down; I'd been drinking lots and lots of water in an effort to keep the level up. Dr. P talked with me a little more and said that even though the ultrasound technician recommended an induction that day, the choice was totally up to me. The baby passed all the tests with flying colors so she felt the baby was fine but also went over the possible risks involved with waiting (all things I was familiar with). If we wanted to wait a few more days, she was fine with our decision and kindly let me have some time to talk to Daniel on the phone. I really appreciated that she was not pressuring us one way or the other.
After talking with Daniel we both felt that Monday was a good day to have our baby! I quickly sent texts to our babysitter and to our doula to let them know what was going on. I then spent some time talking with Dr. P, asking questions about the induction and skimming over the things important to me with an induced labor. Mainly, I did not like pitocin and did not want it if my body would labor without it. It was not Dr. P's day to be at the hospital, but she assured me that she would send orders to the on-call Dr. about the pitocin and told me Dr. C would take good care of me.
I headed home to meet Daniel and get my hospital bag. On the way home I stopped and ate a meaty lunch: KFC's 3 pc. chicken tenders with a biscuit and green beans. It was about 11:30 when I ate. I wasn't really hungry but my wise doula said to eat lunch so I did. I was also drinking lots and lots of water. Having had to fast before previous inductions (so cruel!), I wasn't a fan of going into labor hungry or thirsty!
Daniel and I got to the hospital at 2:00pm and I had to walk down and register myself. That took several minutes and I was surprised that neither Daniel nor our doula had gotten to my room by the time I returned to it. I had turned my phone off on the way to the hospital, so I turned it back on and called Daniel. It turned out that L&D got REALLY busy about the time I arrived and the nurses had forgotten to let him in when I got back from registering. :-)
My nurse, Susan, started the long, long process of questions and answers before giving me an IV port. Just a port was something I had requested because I wanted to be free to move around if I didn't need to be hooked up to an IV. She did a great job and got a vein on the first try. Again much better when I'm well hydrated vs. having fasted for a whole night! It was then that I met the on-call doctor for the first time. I liked her right away. She had a happy personality and without looking at notes or anything talked about what I wanted and how she was going to work with my wishes. She then did her own exam and broke my water at 3:30pm. I was 4cm dilated, 50% effaced and baby was at -3 station. I then had to be on the monitors for 20 minutes. During that time our doula, Amy, applied pressure to points just above my ankles to stimulate contractions. She also had Clary Sage and Eucalyptus essential oils diffusing in the room. Clary Sage to stimulate contractions and Eucalyptus because I was having some horrible sinus pressure (that had woken me up at 3:00 that morning). I asked the nurse for some Tylenol for the sinus pressure and that helped relieve the pain and let me focus on the bigger task at hand: having our baby!
After the 20 minutes on the monitor were up, I was free to move around. Amy took us to the stairs and I went up and down 3 flights asymmetrically 3 times. (Oh, I should mention here that another desire of mine this time was to wear my own clothes which was really nice.) Amy had me do a few other things, including some deep squats and some lunges. I did some on the side of the bed in my room, then I got on a birthing ball to do some more. At that point the baby shifted and a whole flood of amniotic fluid let loose! There went my pair of "labor" pants!! I changed into a gown, but kept my top clothes on underneath it.
At 4:50pm I spent another 20 minutes on the monitor and during this time Amy again applied pressure to my ankles and then gave me a hand massage with an oil blend including Rosemary Oil to stimulate contractions. So far a whole hour had passed with no noticeable contractions. I was a little disappointed but Amy kept me distracted and busy enough that I didn't think about it too much. During this time she also fixed me a cup of hot tea which really soothed my sore throat.
At 5:10pm I was free of the monitors again. During the next 40 minutes Amy had me go through more routines and Daniel and I also walked the loop around L&D. During this time contractions started and were about 5 minutes apart, lasting 1-2 minutes. I could still walk and talk through them just fine.
At 5:45pm I was put back on the monitors. During this time I really felt the contractions get more intense. I knew exactly why I disliked laboring lying in the bed with pitocin for my previous labors! It was no fun at all and so much more painful than other positions. Amy helped me get through them as they grew and I really enjoyed the breaks between them. The breaks were still long enough that I felt hungry; Amy brought me some jello and chicken broth. I wolfed down the jello and started in on the broth, which tasted so good and was very soothing on my throat. Towards the end of the monitoring I had to really start paying attention to the contractions.
At 6:10pm I was free of the monitors again and needed to go to the bathroom (Yay! Another thing I wanted to do differently this time: use the TOILET and not a bed-pan). I didn't realize it, but it took me 15 minutes to do that. I remember having a contraction on the way to the bathroom and having to stop for it, doing what Amy calls "slow dancing" with Daniel. Then I had one while I was in the bathroom, but I had no idea 15 minutes passed during all that time. After that I stayed out of the bed, laboring while holding onto Daniel and leaning over into him with each contraction. I remember hearing Amy tell Daniel, "It's a good thing you have your belt on today," and thinking it was funny but I couldn't laugh. I also remember shoving against him with my hands to get him to back up so I could lean over more. I felt rude pushing him away but in the moment couldn't explain why I was pushing him away. I had no sense of time anymore. I also started feeling nauseated at the peak of each contraction. Thankfully I never threw up but it did get bad enough at one point that I said I felt sick; people flew into action finding me something to throw up into!
At 7:15pm Dr. C and my new nurse, Janice, came in to check on me. I don't remember how long they were there. At that point almost everything was very background and if I didn't HAVE to pay attention to it I didn't. They did a check and I was 6cm, 100% effaced and the baby was at 0 station. I only remember hearing 6cm. and thinking "is that ALL??!!" but quickly I was distracted and back to business. I think it may have been at this time that Dr. C leaned down to make eye-contact with me and said very directly (because at that point I was not focused on anything other than getting through contractions) "I want you to know that I will deliver your baby however and wherever you want me to. Even if you want to have it in the shower I will get in the shower with you and deliver your baby," then jokingly added, "not that I really want to get in the shower with you..." I had not ever considered how or where I would have the baby,but it was nice to hear her say that.
At this point it was suggested that I might like to get in the shower. Dr. C suggested that 30 minutes in the shower might get me dilated the rest of the way, Amy joked that it might only take 15 minutes. It was 7:45 when Amy and Daniel helped me get to the shower and I labored on my hands and knees for a little bit before my arms got tired (somehow my arms seemed to get tired really fast that day?). Amy brought in the birthing ball and I labored on that. Somehow I managed to notice that the water seemed to be getting deeper around my feet and I asked if the ball was covering the drain. I managed to be concerned about flooding the bathroom, ha! It turned out that every little bit I had to stand up so they could move the ball and let the water drain. Daniel and Amy took turns holding the shower head where it was most comfortable for me and applying counter pressure to my low back. I remember at one point one of them started to apply the counter pressure when another contraction started and that time it did not feel good and I said a very curt "no". It was soon after this that I started to feel pressure with the contractions. I had gotten epidurals by this time with my previous labors so this was a whole new feeling for me, but I could feel the pressure and knew what it was. After a few more contractions like that, Amy left to get the nurse.
At 8:00pm they helped me get back onto the bed where I continued laboring on my hands and knees. I had no desire to lie down. I hadn't given any previous thought to positions, I was just going with what felt right. Dr. C came in to observe and the nurse checked me as I had started to push with contractions. I was 8cm with a thick anterior lip. The consensus was that the baby was OP (meaning facing my front instead of my back). It was at this point that I thought I had reached the end of all I could take. During the next short break in between contractions I asked if it was too late for an epidural. Right then the next contraction started and I heard someone say "It's never too late!" During that contraction I had to push with all my might and felt something that was different from what I'd felt with the previous contractions. Immediately after that feeling, the baby's head was delivered. That feeling I experienced was the baby rotating!
I wasn't aware of it until Daniel and Amy told me about it, but Dr. C didn't have her gloves on yet. The famous line from this moment is the nurse telling Dr. C, "GET YOUR GLOVES ON!!"
With the next contraction and two more pushes I delivered the rest of our baby at 8:07pm (About 3 hours since I started feeling contractions.). They passed her to me between my knees and told me to look and see what the baby was. I remember hearing them but not hearing them. Then Amy got up close to my head and said "Miriam, they're passing you your baby between your legs; reach down and pick it up!" I had to look twice since my brain was so foggy, but I saw that we'd had another girl!! :-) I immediately picked her up and laid down in the bed cradling her to myself (someone must have lowered the head of the bed, I don't remember that either) in complete awe. Not just the awe of having had a baby, but in awe that I did it!! I couldn't believe that I had just labored and delivered naturally. I couldn't believe how easy and hard it had been at the same time. It was just all mind boggling to me.
After a while Daniel was able to cut the cord and eventually they weighed her and got her all taken care of. I was guessing she would weigh somewhere in the 9 pound range, and sure enough she was 9 pounds, 6.6 ounces. When I was able to nurse her for the first time, she latched right on with very little trouble.
We're so glad our little girl is here!!!
I had switched to a new OB at the beginning of this pregnancy and really, really like her. We discussed my previous pregnancies, labors and deliveries (both induced with pitocin; one at 40w 5d and one at 41w 1d) and she was happy to let me go past 41 weeks in hopes that I could have a spontaneous labor. We were both in agreement that an induction would be the way to go in the event there would be a reason to induce. Just last night Mom told me that "people" (I assume my sisters ;) ) were asking her if I would allow an induction if something were to go wrong or start to go wrong. Yes, yes, I certainly would!!
My due date with Charity came and went, and the following week I had 2 appointments. The first one on Monday was an ultrasound and Non-Stress Test. The 2nd appointment was on Friday and was just an NST. At both appointments everything was just fine and the baby passed with flying colors.
A few times that week - between 40 and 41 weeks - I had more serious feeling contractions that I thought were the real thing, but each time they stopped after 20-30 minutes. Once I even started walking the stairs in hopes to keep them going but as soon as I started they stopped. Each time they stopped was a little disappointing but I could only keep waiting, hoping and praying that our baby would be born in God's timing. I admit that I was growing weary of being pregnant and all the discomforts and hindrances that go with being what feels like the size of a beached whale with legs.
On Sunday the 23rd, we celebrated Daniel's birthday. It was also the last day of his on-call routine. Sunday morning I felt different. The baby was again in such a way that I was experiencing frequent nerve pain in my one leg, and overall things just felt uncomfortable and achy. Daniel had a call to go on Sunday afternoon and I was wondering if we were going to have the baby that day. When the end of the day came and no labor and no baby, I breathed a mental sigh. We had gotten through Daniel's week of on-call and through his birthday. We had made it through ALL the March birthdays without having a shared birthday!
Monday morning I had another appointment for an ultrasound and NST. The lady keeping Susannah and Sylvia during the appointment met me in the parking lot and we traded cars. I had mentioned to her Sunday afternoon that I might just throw the girls' "hospital bags" in the car with them in the event something was up and I would need to have the baby Monday. She joked back that if I left the bags at home the chances were higher of that happening. :-) I went to my appointment with plans to go from there to the chiropractor to get some relief for my back.
The ultrasound technician took a good look at everything and said the baby looked good. Next I was hooked up to the NST machine and started the movement counts. Baby was very obviously asleep but I wasn't concerned because I had felt plenty of wiggles that morning already. My doctor came in and started going over the routine questions and then asked if the ultrasound tech had mentioned anything to me. I said no, just that everything looked good.
As it turned out, the amniotic fluid level had dropped from 8.9 (the previous Monday) to 3. I was a little let down; I'd been drinking lots and lots of water in an effort to keep the level up. Dr. P talked with me a little more and said that even though the ultrasound technician recommended an induction that day, the choice was totally up to me. The baby passed all the tests with flying colors so she felt the baby was fine but also went over the possible risks involved with waiting (all things I was familiar with). If we wanted to wait a few more days, she was fine with our decision and kindly let me have some time to talk to Daniel on the phone. I really appreciated that she was not pressuring us one way or the other.
After talking with Daniel we both felt that Monday was a good day to have our baby! I quickly sent texts to our babysitter and to our doula to let them know what was going on. I then spent some time talking with Dr. P, asking questions about the induction and skimming over the things important to me with an induced labor. Mainly, I did not like pitocin and did not want it if my body would labor without it. It was not Dr. P's day to be at the hospital, but she assured me that she would send orders to the on-call Dr. about the pitocin and told me Dr. C would take good care of me.
I headed home to meet Daniel and get my hospital bag. On the way home I stopped and ate a meaty lunch: KFC's 3 pc. chicken tenders with a biscuit and green beans. It was about 11:30 when I ate. I wasn't really hungry but my wise doula said to eat lunch so I did. I was also drinking lots and lots of water. Having had to fast before previous inductions (so cruel!), I wasn't a fan of going into labor hungry or thirsty!
Daniel and I got to the hospital at 2:00pm and I had to walk down and register myself. That took several minutes and I was surprised that neither Daniel nor our doula had gotten to my room by the time I returned to it. I had turned my phone off on the way to the hospital, so I turned it back on and called Daniel. It turned out that L&D got REALLY busy about the time I arrived and the nurses had forgotten to let him in when I got back from registering. :-)
My nurse, Susan, started the long, long process of questions and answers before giving me an IV port. Just a port was something I had requested because I wanted to be free to move around if I didn't need to be hooked up to an IV. She did a great job and got a vein on the first try. Again much better when I'm well hydrated vs. having fasted for a whole night! It was then that I met the on-call doctor for the first time. I liked her right away. She had a happy personality and without looking at notes or anything talked about what I wanted and how she was going to work with my wishes. She then did her own exam and broke my water at 3:30pm. I was 4cm dilated, 50% effaced and baby was at -3 station. I then had to be on the monitors for 20 minutes. During that time our doula, Amy, applied pressure to points just above my ankles to stimulate contractions. She also had Clary Sage and Eucalyptus essential oils diffusing in the room. Clary Sage to stimulate contractions and Eucalyptus because I was having some horrible sinus pressure (that had woken me up at 3:00 that morning). I asked the nurse for some Tylenol for the sinus pressure and that helped relieve the pain and let me focus on the bigger task at hand: having our baby!
After the 20 minutes on the monitor were up, I was free to move around. Amy took us to the stairs and I went up and down 3 flights asymmetrically 3 times. (Oh, I should mention here that another desire of mine this time was to wear my own clothes which was really nice.) Amy had me do a few other things, including some deep squats and some lunges. I did some on the side of the bed in my room, then I got on a birthing ball to do some more. At that point the baby shifted and a whole flood of amniotic fluid let loose! There went my pair of "labor" pants!! I changed into a gown, but kept my top clothes on underneath it.
At 4:50pm I spent another 20 minutes on the monitor and during this time Amy again applied pressure to my ankles and then gave me a hand massage with an oil blend including Rosemary Oil to stimulate contractions. So far a whole hour had passed with no noticeable contractions. I was a little disappointed but Amy kept me distracted and busy enough that I didn't think about it too much. During this time she also fixed me a cup of hot tea which really soothed my sore throat.
At 5:10pm I was free of the monitors again. During the next 40 minutes Amy had me go through more routines and Daniel and I also walked the loop around L&D. During this time contractions started and were about 5 minutes apart, lasting 1-2 minutes. I could still walk and talk through them just fine.
At 5:45pm I was put back on the monitors. During this time I really felt the contractions get more intense. I knew exactly why I disliked laboring lying in the bed with pitocin for my previous labors! It was no fun at all and so much more painful than other positions. Amy helped me get through them as they grew and I really enjoyed the breaks between them. The breaks were still long enough that I felt hungry; Amy brought me some jello and chicken broth. I wolfed down the jello and started in on the broth, which tasted so good and was very soothing on my throat. Towards the end of the monitoring I had to really start paying attention to the contractions.
At 6:10pm I was free of the monitors again and needed to go to the bathroom (Yay! Another thing I wanted to do differently this time: use the TOILET and not a bed-pan). I didn't realize it, but it took me 15 minutes to do that. I remember having a contraction on the way to the bathroom and having to stop for it, doing what Amy calls "slow dancing" with Daniel. Then I had one while I was in the bathroom, but I had no idea 15 minutes passed during all that time. After that I stayed out of the bed, laboring while holding onto Daniel and leaning over into him with each contraction. I remember hearing Amy tell Daniel, "It's a good thing you have your belt on today," and thinking it was funny but I couldn't laugh. I also remember shoving against him with my hands to get him to back up so I could lean over more. I felt rude pushing him away but in the moment couldn't explain why I was pushing him away. I had no sense of time anymore. I also started feeling nauseated at the peak of each contraction. Thankfully I never threw up but it did get bad enough at one point that I said I felt sick; people flew into action finding me something to throw up into!
At 7:15pm Dr. C and my new nurse, Janice, came in to check on me. I don't remember how long they were there. At that point almost everything was very background and if I didn't HAVE to pay attention to it I didn't. They did a check and I was 6cm, 100% effaced and the baby was at 0 station. I only remember hearing 6cm. and thinking "is that ALL??!!" but quickly I was distracted and back to business. I think it may have been at this time that Dr. C leaned down to make eye-contact with me and said very directly (because at that point I was not focused on anything other than getting through contractions) "I want you to know that I will deliver your baby however and wherever you want me to. Even if you want to have it in the shower I will get in the shower with you and deliver your baby," then jokingly added, "not that I really want to get in the shower with you..." I had not ever considered how or where I would have the baby,but it was nice to hear her say that.
At this point it was suggested that I might like to get in the shower. Dr. C suggested that 30 minutes in the shower might get me dilated the rest of the way, Amy joked that it might only take 15 minutes. It was 7:45 when Amy and Daniel helped me get to the shower and I labored on my hands and knees for a little bit before my arms got tired (somehow my arms seemed to get tired really fast that day?). Amy brought in the birthing ball and I labored on that. Somehow I managed to notice that the water seemed to be getting deeper around my feet and I asked if the ball was covering the drain. I managed to be concerned about flooding the bathroom, ha! It turned out that every little bit I had to stand up so they could move the ball and let the water drain. Daniel and Amy took turns holding the shower head where it was most comfortable for me and applying counter pressure to my low back. I remember at one point one of them started to apply the counter pressure when another contraction started and that time it did not feel good and I said a very curt "no". It was soon after this that I started to feel pressure with the contractions. I had gotten epidurals by this time with my previous labors so this was a whole new feeling for me, but I could feel the pressure and knew what it was. After a few more contractions like that, Amy left to get the nurse.
At 8:00pm they helped me get back onto the bed where I continued laboring on my hands and knees. I had no desire to lie down. I hadn't given any previous thought to positions, I was just going with what felt right. Dr. C came in to observe and the nurse checked me as I had started to push with contractions. I was 8cm with a thick anterior lip. The consensus was that the baby was OP (meaning facing my front instead of my back). It was at this point that I thought I had reached the end of all I could take. During the next short break in between contractions I asked if it was too late for an epidural. Right then the next contraction started and I heard someone say "It's never too late!" During that contraction I had to push with all my might and felt something that was different from what I'd felt with the previous contractions. Immediately after that feeling, the baby's head was delivered. That feeling I experienced was the baby rotating!
I wasn't aware of it until Daniel and Amy told me about it, but Dr. C didn't have her gloves on yet. The famous line from this moment is the nurse telling Dr. C, "GET YOUR GLOVES ON!!"
With the next contraction and two more pushes I delivered the rest of our baby at 8:07pm (About 3 hours since I started feeling contractions.). They passed her to me between my knees and told me to look and see what the baby was. I remember hearing them but not hearing them. Then Amy got up close to my head and said "Miriam, they're passing you your baby between your legs; reach down and pick it up!" I had to look twice since my brain was so foggy, but I saw that we'd had another girl!! :-) I immediately picked her up and laid down in the bed cradling her to myself (someone must have lowered the head of the bed, I don't remember that either) in complete awe. Not just the awe of having had a baby, but in awe that I did it!! I couldn't believe that I had just labored and delivered naturally. I couldn't believe how easy and hard it had been at the same time. It was just all mind boggling to me.
No moments in time compare to the moment when you're meeting
for the first time the precious life you've carried for 9 months inside,
right beneath your heart.
After a while Daniel was able to cut the cord and eventually they weighed her and got her all taken care of. I was guessing she would weigh somewhere in the 9 pound range, and sure enough she was 9 pounds, 6.6 ounces. When I was able to nurse her for the first time, she latched right on with very little trouble.
We're so glad our little girl is here!!!
Thursday, March 27, 2014
A Birth Day!
Monday evening at 8:07pm our third daughter, Charity Kathleen, was born. She weighed 9 lbs, 6.6 oz. and is 21" long.
It was an induced labor, but no drugs (I really did not want pitocin). It was fast, everything went very well, and much of it still seems very surreal to me. :-) I am very glad we had our friend and doula with us. I plan to write Charity's birth story soon. For now we are focused on our new life as a family of 5!!
Susannah and Sylvia are pretty happy with their new baby sister. :)
Saturday, March 22, 2014
Waiting for Baby: Making Donuts!
For Christmas we gave Susannah the Richard Scary book, Humberdink's Busy Day. In the book Humberdink and his helper, Able Baker Charlie, make donuts. Susannah has been asking off and on since Christmas if we could make donuts sometime.
Making donuts isn't really that difficult, but it is a little time consuming and when it comes to the frying (because in my book fried donuts are the only REAL donuts) it is an all-or-nothing, undivided attention, must be very, very careful, part of the process. For this reason I knew it was not a project I should tackle without another adult around.
This past Thursday Daniel had the day off since his work is slow right now, and I asked if he could help at the key points of a donut making adventure. He and the girls were outside most of the morning and I mixed up the dough it had risen and was ready to cut out by about 11:30. I was going to have the girls help with the cutting out then realized that they would get just as much satisfaction out of helping me cut out a few as they would cutting ALL of them out, so I started the process alone.
They wandered in from outside in time to help with the last few rollings and cuttings of the dough. Each of the girls got a small wad of dough to roll out with their own little rolling pins.
Sylvia ended up eating her dough, but Susannah tasted some and saved some to cut into donut holes. I think we ended up with 18-20 donuts and about 10 donut holes. Then it was time for those to "take a nap" in the oven while we ate lunch. By the time we'd finished with lunch they were ready to start frying!
The girls really wanted to watch, so with very careful and deliberate safety instructions given and with Daniel's help, they watched me fry all of the donuts in our little deep fryer. It took until almost their naptime to fry the donuts. Then I mixed up the glaze and glazed a couple donut holes so they could each have a hot, fresh donut hole before their naps. Normally we don't do food or even sugary sweets before naptime but this was obviously a VERY special occasion and nothing is as good as a hot, fresh, homemade donut!!
It took me a while to glaze the donuts and by the time I had finished up the entire donut making process my legs and feet were aching from all the standing, but it was a fun way to pass another day waiting for our baby to be born.
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Waiting for Baby
While we continue waiting for our baby's birth-day, I personally don't feel like doing much at all besides, well, nothing. I feel as huge and cumbersome as a beached whale, things ache, and if you've been 40 or 40+ weeks pregnant you know what I'm talking about. :-) {For reference's sake, today is Thursday; Saturday will be 41 weeks.}
There are plenty of things that I can't do with them or do very well with them these days, so when it does suit I try to say "yes!" to the extra special, fun things they like to do. One evening Susannah asked if she could paint "with colored paint". That means the real deal. Not just the paint-with-water coloring book but the easel and Crayola craft paint (washable!!).
They loved their little painting session! Susannah picks out one color at a time and I put a tiny bit (maybe 1 tsp.) in small bowls for them. I also learned that if I add a few drops of water and stir it up, it paints easier and doesn't result in them scooping out the whole thick glob all at once.
*******
This wasn't something particularly related to the baby, but it was something that helped the girls stay busy for a few minutes after supper one evening. The dishwasher was empty so after supper I asked them to clear off the table. One dish at a time they took the dishes from the table to the dishwasher. Susannah did the glass plates and Sylvia did the utensils.
It was fun to walk into the kitchen later to see how they had loaded the dirty dishes. :-)
Saturday, March 15, 2014
Happy Due Date - A Time of Waiting
Anticipation has been high, for all of us.
For the past week or two it has been getting higher.
Today is the baby's due date. 40 weeks.
If I don't go into labor today, I will, once again, enter what we have come to call "the 4th trimester".
I try to keep the dishes and kitchen cleaned up.
I wash and fold all of our laundry every Monday and Tuesday (usually it's Wednesday or even Thursday till I get it ALL folded, but at least it's cleaned).
Last week I washed the kitchen floor one day, scrubbed toilets and sinks another day and scrubbed the shower/tub another day.
Soon it will be time to do the bathrooms. Again. If baby doesn't come first.
I keep giving little people their baths, which means getting in a most awkward and uncomfortable, stomach and baby -squeezing position for several minutes at a time. With the warmer days and outside play, baths are happening a little more frequently.
Contractions start and stop.
My ankles swell most days now.
I wonder if I should plan to make supper or not.
I think ahead, considering how many days the girls would be with grandparents and if that would include a Sunday if I were to go to the hospital "today". Then I wonder what the weather for that Sunday would be and if I have warm or cold -weather church clothes packed in their bags.
My phone rings. It buzzes with a text or two. People wondering if I've had the baby yet.
Friends empathize and give welcome encouragement.
I wonder if each twinge is the start of something.
I go to bed each night wondering if I'll wake up to a flood of amniotic fluid.
I wake up each morning wondering if we will have the baby "today".
This period of waiting is not easy on the mind. I am ready but it isn't time yet. My body is getting ready. I can tell it and the Dr. visits confirm it, but it's not time yet.
I have mixed emotions continually. I feel eager and excited about the baby coming. At the same time I feel anxious wondering if I will actually go all the way to 42 weeks and end up with my third induction. I get excited because I know that even if I would end up going as long as 42 weeks, it is only 14 days away! In FOURTEEN DAYS we will be holding our baby.
I listen to music at home and in the car when the time lends itself to enough "quiet" that I can spare my brain to listen. :) Music that feeds my heart and soul. I sing and listen to the music in church. Most of the time if there are no distractions so that I can really worship with the music, I end up in tears. Just... because. Because my emotions are a wreck and I am trying, trying, trying to wait patiently on God's timing. Because I want to KNOW and I can't know. Because I know He is in control and has all things planned out exactly as they should be. Because I know He is watching over me, gently giving me the strength I need each minute of each day to get through one. more. task. laden with the heavy weight of this precious life I am carrying within.
Perhaps it's just because I am at the end stages of this pregnancy, or perhaps there's an uptick in pregnancy related articles going around the internet, but there have been several articles and blog posts that have been an encouragement to me in various ways. I would like to share the links here, for you to be encouraged from if you're in a similar situation, and for me to be able to find again in the future.
This blog post quite possibly encouraged me the most. It put a name to the "place" I am in right now.
"The Last Days of Pregnancy: A Place of In-Between"
Reading this post about Prodromal Labor - start and stop, start and stop... helped put into perspective exactly what is going on when I spend 30 minutes having cramping or contractions that don't result in active labor. (This is the first pregnancy I've experienced anything other than a very few, painless, Braxton-Hicks contractions so this Prodromal Labor is quite new to me.)
Not related to before the birth or labor and delivery, but this post provides an excellent list of ways new (and by "new" it means had a new baby, not just first-time moms!) moms can be ministered to. I have been on both the giving and receiving end and both are a real blessing! I would add that especially after the first week of post partum, I would have welcomed a sit and chat (or come and help) visit from people most of the time. There were times when someone dropping off a meal and leaving immediately was good, other times I would enjoy some adult company and another set of hands to help with potty trips, diaper changes, reading books and another set of ears to listen to the older children. And one thing I would add to the list as something that could really be helpful to a mom would be to offer to give her older children baths. Not that I want just anyone giving my girls baths, but most people that would come to visit I would gladly let them take care of that exhausting and physically challenging for new mommies task!
On the recovery side of things, this post was good to read knowing that I have never been "back to normal" anytime near 6 weeks post-delivery! :-)
*I do want to add that aside from the linked to articles or blog posts, I am not familiar in any way with the sites of these posts. I also did not re-read over each one with a fine-tooth comb just prior to sharing these links so I may have forgotten if there was any content I specifically did not agree with.
In the meantime, this time of in-between, waiting, continues. I hope to be sharing our 3rd child's birth-day celebration with you soon!!
For the past week or two it has been getting higher.
Today is the baby's due date. 40 weeks.
If I don't go into labor today, I will, once again, enter what we have come to call "the 4th trimester".
I try to keep the dishes and kitchen cleaned up.
I wash and fold all of our laundry every Monday and Tuesday (usually it's Wednesday or even Thursday till I get it ALL folded, but at least it's cleaned).
Last week I washed the kitchen floor one day, scrubbed toilets and sinks another day and scrubbed the shower/tub another day.
Soon it will be time to do the bathrooms. Again. If baby doesn't come first.
I keep giving little people their baths, which means getting in a most awkward and uncomfortable, stomach and baby -squeezing position for several minutes at a time. With the warmer days and outside play, baths are happening a little more frequently.
Contractions start and stop.
My ankles swell most days now.
I wonder if I should plan to make supper or not.
I think ahead, considering how many days the girls would be with grandparents and if that would include a Sunday if I were to go to the hospital "today". Then I wonder what the weather for that Sunday would be and if I have warm or cold -weather church clothes packed in their bags.
My phone rings. It buzzes with a text or two. People wondering if I've had the baby yet.
Friends empathize and give welcome encouragement.
I wonder if each twinge is the start of something.
I go to bed each night wondering if I'll wake up to a flood of amniotic fluid.
I wake up each morning wondering if we will have the baby "today".
This period of waiting is not easy on the mind. I am ready but it isn't time yet. My body is getting ready. I can tell it and the Dr. visits confirm it, but it's not time yet.
I have mixed emotions continually. I feel eager and excited about the baby coming. At the same time I feel anxious wondering if I will actually go all the way to 42 weeks and end up with my third induction. I get excited because I know that even if I would end up going as long as 42 weeks, it is only 14 days away! In FOURTEEN DAYS we will be holding our baby.
I listen to music at home and in the car when the time lends itself to enough "quiet" that I can spare my brain to listen. :) Music that feeds my heart and soul. I sing and listen to the music in church. Most of the time if there are no distractions so that I can really worship with the music, I end up in tears. Just... because. Because my emotions are a wreck and I am trying, trying, trying to wait patiently on God's timing. Because I want to KNOW and I can't know. Because I know He is in control and has all things planned out exactly as they should be. Because I know He is watching over me, gently giving me the strength I need each minute of each day to get through one. more. task. laden with the heavy weight of this precious life I am carrying within.
Perhaps it's just because I am at the end stages of this pregnancy, or perhaps there's an uptick in pregnancy related articles going around the internet, but there have been several articles and blog posts that have been an encouragement to me in various ways. I would like to share the links here, for you to be encouraged from if you're in a similar situation, and for me to be able to find again in the future.
This blog post quite possibly encouraged me the most. It put a name to the "place" I am in right now.
"The Last Days of Pregnancy: A Place of In-Between"
Reading this post about Prodromal Labor - start and stop, start and stop... helped put into perspective exactly what is going on when I spend 30 minutes having cramping or contractions that don't result in active labor. (This is the first pregnancy I've experienced anything other than a very few, painless, Braxton-Hicks contractions so this Prodromal Labor is quite new to me.)
Not related to before the birth or labor and delivery, but this post provides an excellent list of ways new (and by "new" it means had a new baby, not just first-time moms!) moms can be ministered to. I have been on both the giving and receiving end and both are a real blessing! I would add that especially after the first week of post partum, I would have welcomed a sit and chat (or come and help) visit from people most of the time. There were times when someone dropping off a meal and leaving immediately was good, other times I would enjoy some adult company and another set of hands to help with potty trips, diaper changes, reading books and another set of ears to listen to the older children. And one thing I would add to the list as something that could really be helpful to a mom would be to offer to give her older children baths. Not that I want just anyone giving my girls baths, but most people that would come to visit I would gladly let them take care of that exhausting and physically challenging for new mommies task!
On the recovery side of things, this post was good to read knowing that I have never been "back to normal" anytime near 6 weeks post-delivery! :-)
*I do want to add that aside from the linked to articles or blog posts, I am not familiar in any way with the sites of these posts. I also did not re-read over each one with a fine-tooth comb just prior to sharing these links so I may have forgotten if there was any content I specifically did not agree with.
In the meantime, this time of in-between, waiting, continues. I hope to be sharing our 3rd child's birth-day celebration with you soon!!
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Pregnancy Update - Baby No. 3
I have not been blogging about this pregnancy (or much else, for that matter) nearly as much as I did for the previous two. I think having 2 little girls to keep up with makes that acceptable. ;-)
Nearing the end of this pregnancy, though, I did want to write down some things just for the sake of having it recorded somewhere.
This pregnancy continues to be the easiest one yet, I believe. I remember having different periods of terrible pain (back, abdominal muscles, whatever) with the previous pregnancies and so far other than general back aches I haven't had any huge, debilitating issues. Getting in and out of bed and rolling over in bed my back and hips sound like a bowl of Rice Krispies and have the accompanying hurt/ache to go with, but nothing lingering. I have seen my chiropractor much less this time around, too.
The past few weeks I've had a lot of heartburn. I can't pin-point it to any specific food group or meal even. A snack can even cause it! Strangely enough, it doesn't usually kick in until at least 45 minutes after I eat. Having not had much of a problem before, this is a little new. I have been having great success with getting relief by swallowing 1/2 - 1 spoonful of apple cider vinegar. I take it straight so it burns going down, but within 5 minutes the burning feeling of "all my food is backing up into my throat" goes away. Some say heartburn can mean the baby will have lots of hair or the baby is the opposite gender of pregnancies without heartburn. Since the girls both had plenty of hair I'm guessing any or all of three things: This baby is bald; this baby is a boy; this baby is another girl and I'm 2 years older than last time. :-)
Choosing a name for this baby has been an adventure. Daniel and I both have made suggestions (probably me more than Daniel to be honest ;-) ) and have talked about it at length a few times. Since we don't know if we're having a boy or girl we want to have a name for each picked out. This past weekend Daniel told me the two first names he wants to use. Both are names that I like and it's exciting to now know who our baby will be. We still don't have middle names picked out so we're continuing with the name game!
The baby's heart-rate has steadily been in the 140's all through the pregnancy with the exception of one appointment when it was 138. I am pretty sure I remember both girls' heart-rates commonly being in the 140's as well.
Since I switched to a different OB-GYN for this pregnancy, one who is fine with letting me go past 41 weeks if everything is going fine, I have been keeping a very open mind to the "fact" that this baby could arrive as late as 2 weeks past my due date. I am growing eager as the real due-date nears, and the whole mystery of "we could have FIVE people living in this house in three weeks!" (if the baby would come a week early) or... "I might have 6 weeks left... ugh" is exciting. It is also motivating to be getting things done that I want to get done before I am living on much less sleep than I'm getting now!
I have been working at getting food into the freezer by doubling casseroles and other easily frozen meals when I make dinner for us. I think I have made 6 meals so far and want to keep adding as I can and still have time. I know so well that the less I have to cook/bake after the baby is born the easier transitioning into our new, "real life" is!! I have also started adding little things to the grocery list. I had been thinking I had everything we need (since I have diapers left from when Sylvia was born), but the other day I realized I need to pick up diaper cream (Sylvia uses a very specific kind), I should pick up another case of wipes, I need to check my supply of bags for freezing milk, and so on.
Oh! One thing I do want to mention about this baby is his or her wiggle patterns. :-) The baby definitely has a sleep/wake cycle going on and I feel wiggles throughout the day, but consistently at night, usually between 11:30 or midnight, he or she is awake and active for several minutes. It doesn't matter if I'm still awake and sitting or standing, or if I'm already in bed. I will be curious to see if this goes on once the baby is on the outside.
I think Susannah is already in love with our new baby. It is not uncommon for her to whisper-talk to the baby from time to time. She hasn't been as interested in feeling the baby move as I thought she might be, but she's always happy to tell the baby goodnight and give it a "kiss." She always says the sweetest things, usually something like "Goodnight, Baby. I hope you sleep well. I love you." Oddly enough, and to my amusement, both she and Sylvia seem to think that my belly-button is what they should talk to or give kisses to for the baby! Sylvia will sometimes just walk up to me and say "see baby?" and then unless I object (usually I don't) she proceeds to pull my shirt up and the maternity waist-band of my pants down to rub my belly and say "Hiiiee, Baby!!" All a fun part of seeing the world through my children's eyes.
Right now we are experiencing thunder-snow/sleet. We got a good 8" of snow last night and the snow-sleet started up this afternoon. It reminds me that we have had snow on the birth days of our two girls, and I wonder if we will have snow on this baby's birth day, too?
Nearing the end of this pregnancy, though, I did want to write down some things just for the sake of having it recorded somewhere.
This pregnancy continues to be the easiest one yet, I believe. I remember having different periods of terrible pain (back, abdominal muscles, whatever) with the previous pregnancies and so far other than general back aches I haven't had any huge, debilitating issues. Getting in and out of bed and rolling over in bed my back and hips sound like a bowl of Rice Krispies and have the accompanying hurt/ache to go with, but nothing lingering. I have seen my chiropractor much less this time around, too.
The past few weeks I've had a lot of heartburn. I can't pin-point it to any specific food group or meal even. A snack can even cause it! Strangely enough, it doesn't usually kick in until at least 45 minutes after I eat. Having not had much of a problem before, this is a little new. I have been having great success with getting relief by swallowing 1/2 - 1 spoonful of apple cider vinegar. I take it straight so it burns going down, but within 5 minutes the burning feeling of "all my food is backing up into my throat" goes away. Some say heartburn can mean the baby will have lots of hair or the baby is the opposite gender of pregnancies without heartburn. Since the girls both had plenty of hair I'm guessing any or all of three things: This baby is bald; this baby is a boy; this baby is another girl and I'm 2 years older than last time. :-)
Choosing a name for this baby has been an adventure. Daniel and I both have made suggestions (probably me more than Daniel to be honest ;-) ) and have talked about it at length a few times. Since we don't know if we're having a boy or girl we want to have a name for each picked out. This past weekend Daniel told me the two first names he wants to use. Both are names that I like and it's exciting to now know who our baby will be. We still don't have middle names picked out so we're continuing with the name game!
The baby's heart-rate has steadily been in the 140's all through the pregnancy with the exception of one appointment when it was 138. I am pretty sure I remember both girls' heart-rates commonly being in the 140's as well.
Since I switched to a different OB-GYN for this pregnancy, one who is fine with letting me go past 41 weeks if everything is going fine, I have been keeping a very open mind to the "fact" that this baby could arrive as late as 2 weeks past my due date. I am growing eager as the real due-date nears, and the whole mystery of "we could have FIVE people living in this house in three weeks!" (if the baby would come a week early) or... "I might have 6 weeks left... ugh" is exciting. It is also motivating to be getting things done that I want to get done before I am living on much less sleep than I'm getting now!
I have been working at getting food into the freezer by doubling casseroles and other easily frozen meals when I make dinner for us. I think I have made 6 meals so far and want to keep adding as I can and still have time. I know so well that the less I have to cook/bake after the baby is born the easier transitioning into our new, "real life" is!! I have also started adding little things to the grocery list. I had been thinking I had everything we need (since I have diapers left from when Sylvia was born), but the other day I realized I need to pick up diaper cream (Sylvia uses a very specific kind), I should pick up another case of wipes, I need to check my supply of bags for freezing milk, and so on.
Oh! One thing I do want to mention about this baby is his or her wiggle patterns. :-) The baby definitely has a sleep/wake cycle going on and I feel wiggles throughout the day, but consistently at night, usually between 11:30 or midnight, he or she is awake and active for several minutes. It doesn't matter if I'm still awake and sitting or standing, or if I'm already in bed. I will be curious to see if this goes on once the baby is on the outside.
I think Susannah is already in love with our new baby. It is not uncommon for her to whisper-talk to the baby from time to time. She hasn't been as interested in feeling the baby move as I thought she might be, but she's always happy to tell the baby goodnight and give it a "kiss." She always says the sweetest things, usually something like "Goodnight, Baby. I hope you sleep well. I love you." Oddly enough, and to my amusement, both she and Sylvia seem to think that my belly-button is what they should talk to or give kisses to for the baby! Sylvia will sometimes just walk up to me and say "see baby?" and then unless I object (usually I don't) she proceeds to pull my shirt up and the maternity waist-band of my pants down to rub my belly and say "Hiiiee, Baby!!" All a fun part of seeing the world through my children's eyes.
Right now we are experiencing thunder-snow/sleet. We got a good 8" of snow last night and the snow-sleet started up this afternoon. It reminds me that we have had snow on the birth days of our two girls, and I wonder if we will have snow on this baby's birth day, too?
Friday, January 10, 2014
Happy New Year!
We did have a happy New Year's Day, spending the day with almost all of my immediate family at my parent's house. It was a busy, full day but much fun for all of us. That was on Wednesday and then Saturday morning we hit the road for a 3 hour drive to a family get-together with my Mom's family. It was fun to see my aunts, uncles, cousins and Grandpa again; the last time we saw most of them was about a year and a half ago which is hard to believe! On the way home our car heater decided to really work (instead of just sort-of work, like it's been doing despite all of Daniel's efforts and work to get it fully functioning) and it was nice to finish the trip with nice, warm toes. :) The girls handled all of the festivities and traveling very well, but we are all SO glad to be home and finished with parties for a while!!
I have spent a lot of time working in my sewing area, cleaning it up, doing some re-arranging and now I am eagerly awaiting 2 pieces of furniture from my sister that will fit perfectly with my storage and surface needs!! There are some other, very exciting, new things going on in the sewing department but I want to save those for another post. :-)
On Tuesday I had my 30-week appointment and I continue to really like my new OB (I switched from the one I used for the first two pregnancies). It was another good appointment and everything is going great and healthy. The babies heart-rate was the lowest it's been yet, 138, which made me wonder for the first time if maybe this baby is a boy. Only another 10-ish weeks until we find out! I did do something that was a little different for me and got the recommended D-TaP vaccine. Ouchie!! The shot didn't hurt, but about 30 minutes later my shoulder started aching and the next 48 hours it was very sore. Thankfully yesterday was a little better, and today it only aches a little. Now I know why Sylvia kept saying her leg was "ouchie" for several days after her last round of vaccines!
It has been cold here (undoubtedly the topic of everyone's conversations lately!) and we have been keeping the hungry wood stove well fed! Daniel does a great job of hauling in firewood which makes my "feeling super pregnant lately" days so much easier. When all the conditions are just right (mostly the dampers adjusted perfectly, which I'm still learning!) and the 2 box fans running on low, it can get the old part of our house up to a comfy 70° - 72°! It is nice to keep our electric bill low even though it cost Daniel lots of energy to split and stack the wood.
I have been in a forever-long slump for meal inspiration (maybe just tired of the recipes I've been using for years? I don't know), and this week decided to go back to The Nourishing Home's menu plan for this week and next (and for however long I decide to keep doing it). I have followed her menu plans loosely before, and all the recipes have been very good!! The menu suggestion for lunch today (these sandwiches) looks really different and I hesitated making them. However, after reading the reviews I decided to try them regardless of how "strange" they looked. The girls loved their sandwiches and I thought it was very good myself! I think my carrot:cheese ratio was a little different than the recipe calls for, so next time I'll cut back the carrot and up the cheese and it will still be yummy!
Yesterday was the day to make another big grocery shopping trip to Costco and Kroger. I don't remember when the last trip was but it was before the week of Christmas at least. I always feel like the stuff I bring home should last several weeks or a few months! I guess in reality some of the stuff does, like the toilet paper, laundry soap and so on. This trip I did buy a few things in preparation for when the baby comes: paper cups, paper bowls and plastic utensils (we already have a big supply of paper plates). Since we can't skip eating (so I will have to cook or heat up food), we can't wear disposable clothes (I'll have to do laundry), and my last two babies took an HOUR to eat each feeding for the first many weeks, I am aiming for "less is more" in the work department this time around. Less dishes to do will make a huge difference in the transition period, I know.
Today it is cold and rainy. Just warm enough that it's rain and not snow. I wouldn't mind the snow but I know the rain is a good thing when I consider that it is watering the earth and eventually ends up filling our well providing us with running water.
Breakfast with her new curly straw.
I have spent a lot of time working in my sewing area, cleaning it up, doing some re-arranging and now I am eagerly awaiting 2 pieces of furniture from my sister that will fit perfectly with my storage and surface needs!! There are some other, very exciting, new things going on in the sewing department but I want to save those for another post. :-)
Coloring with new Christmas gifts from Aunts and Uncles
On Tuesday I had my 30-week appointment and I continue to really like my new OB (I switched from the one I used for the first two pregnancies). It was another good appointment and everything is going great and healthy. The babies heart-rate was the lowest it's been yet, 138, which made me wonder for the first time if maybe this baby is a boy. Only another 10-ish weeks until we find out! I did do something that was a little different for me and got the recommended D-TaP vaccine. Ouchie!! The shot didn't hurt, but about 30 minutes later my shoulder started aching and the next 48 hours it was very sore. Thankfully yesterday was a little better, and today it only aches a little. Now I know why Sylvia kept saying her leg was "ouchie" for several days after her last round of vaccines!
Both girls, but especially Sylvia, love to rock.
Their new rocking chairs from Grandma and Grandpa are perfect!
It has been cold here (undoubtedly the topic of everyone's conversations lately!) and we have been keeping the hungry wood stove well fed! Daniel does a great job of hauling in firewood which makes my "feeling super pregnant lately" days so much easier. When all the conditions are just right (mostly the dampers adjusted perfectly, which I'm still learning!) and the 2 box fans running on low, it can get the old part of our house up to a comfy 70° - 72°! It is nice to keep our electric bill low even though it cost Daniel lots of energy to split and stack the wood.
After supper one evening Susannah asked Daniel
if they could snuggle specifically like this.
I have been in a forever-long slump for meal inspiration (maybe just tired of the recipes I've been using for years? I don't know), and this week decided to go back to The Nourishing Home's menu plan for this week and next (and for however long I decide to keep doing it). I have followed her menu plans loosely before, and all the recipes have been very good!! The menu suggestion for lunch today (these sandwiches) looks really different and I hesitated making them. However, after reading the reviews I decided to try them regardless of how "strange" they looked. The girls loved their sandwiches and I thought it was very good myself! I think my carrot:cheese ratio was a little different than the recipe calls for, so next time I'll cut back the carrot and up the cheese and it will still be yummy!
Coloring
Yesterday was the day to make another big grocery shopping trip to Costco and Kroger. I don't remember when the last trip was but it was before the week of Christmas at least. I always feel like the stuff I bring home should last several weeks or a few months! I guess in reality some of the stuff does, like the toilet paper, laundry soap and so on. This trip I did buy a few things in preparation for when the baby comes: paper cups, paper bowls and plastic utensils (we already have a big supply of paper plates). Since we can't skip eating (so I will have to cook or heat up food), we can't wear disposable clothes (I'll have to do laundry), and my last two babies took an HOUR to eat each feeding for the first many weeks, I am aiming for "less is more" in the work department this time around. Less dishes to do will make a huge difference in the transition period, I know.
Today it is cold and rainy. Just warm enough that it's rain and not snow. I wouldn't mind the snow but I know the rain is a good thing when I consider that it is watering the earth and eventually ends up filling our well providing us with running water.
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Saturday Surprise
Yes, Baby #3 is on his or her way. :) This is the picture we sent to our families back in July. (It was right at bedtime when I got this idea so we were all a little worn-out from our day!)
To answer everyone's first question - or at least I am sure I hear them asking it in their heads even if they don't verbalize it - having all our babies born in March (Lord willing) has been God's doing. :) If this baby does come in March (likely late March), we will have 4 birthdays and our anniversary in March!
I had several weeks of almost-all-day queasiness and yuck. Faithfully eating something every 1 1/2 to 2 hours helped, but it was still no picnic. If I didn't HAVE to be moving, I was parked on the couch holding still.
Thankfully the sickness has passed and I am feeling good again. We are planning to wait until the baby is born to find out if the Lord is giving us a son our daughter. Susannah says she wants a brother and I ask if she will still love the baby if God gives her another baby sister. Her answer is always "yes". :)
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Sylvia's Birth Story
For memories' sake, I want to write down Sylvia's birth story. Both for myself and maybe someday she would like to read it, too. {I have yet to write Susannah's birth story, I hope to one day before too long.} It has only taken me 2 weeks, lots of editing, and writing in little spurts of time here and there to get it down. I am probably forgetting some things and don't have it as eloquently written as I'd like, but for now it is what it is.
For several weeks leading up to Sylvia Hope's birthday, I was continually dialating 1 cm. each week and staying at 50% effaced. My Dr. - and myself - really didn't think I was going to make it to my due date. I was occasionally having a Braxton Hicks contraction, but nothing very noticeable. Only a time or two did I have contractions that I thought could be the real thing. At my 39 week appointment I was at 5 cm. and she really didn't think I would make it another week. So much so that for my 40 1/2 week appointment, Daniel took off work and we went prepared to stay if I had progressed another centimeter or more. Nothing had changed, so we came back home. With a detour to a park so I could swing for a while :) I bought and ate a second pineapple. And there was nothing to indicate labor was thinking about happening.
Sunday marked 41 weeks of pregnancy (you can read about it here). Hesitant to go much beyond than 41 weeks, several weeks earlier Daniel and I had prayed about, thought about, talked about and decided to be induced the following Monday (which would be 41 weeks and 1 day). I don't know why, I just didn't feel at peace about waiting much longer.
Early on in the pregnancy when people would ask the baby's due date, I would tell them "Feb. 26th, but I won't be surprised if it's a March baby." I just didn't think it was going to be THAT much "March."
Sunday afternoon I finished up some laundry and packing the needed bags, Daniel emptied the garbage and helped with some general picking up and cleaning up. We met up with Daniel's parents so Susannah could spend Sunday night with them since we had to leave early Monday morning for the hospital. After dropping off Susannah, we went to church and afterward celebrated our 8th anniversary 2 days early by going to dinner at Chili's. It was a special, sweet time together since we hadn't been on a date for several months, and I savored every moment.
Bright and early Monday morning I dragged out of bed, showered and got myself ready to go. And it was snowing. :-) We were going to have a snow baby after-all, in MARCH, no-less! (We have some cuh-razy weather in these parts!) Daniel dropped me off at the hospital entrance and went to park the car. I didn't have to wait long before being taken back to my room, and Daniel was soon with me as well.
At first I wasn't too sure that I liked my nurse. Oh, I was sure she was competent and knew her stuff, but she seemed a little drill-sergeant-ish. One of my favorite things at that point in the game was that I didn't have to take off my rings or watch! I was getting ready to take them off and she said "oh, you can leave those on!" In all the "here's what to do" information they give you, it says to remove all of those things. I was very happy to be able to keep them on. She got me all hooked up to everything and we waited for the Dr. to arrive. I said that I would like to hold off on the pitocin for a bit, and see if just breaking my water would start anything. My Dr. and nurse were both fine with that which made me happy, too. :) So that's what we did. And nothing happened. Not a single blip on the screen.
Eventually the nurse started pitocin and labor started at 9:30am. I was still at 5cm. and 50% effaced. The contractions quickly got very intense with just a low dose of pitocin. By about 10:15am Daniel was wondering if he was going to have any fingers left by the time the baby was born (but he never said a word to me about it - I thought that was really sweet of him!), and I was going through each contraction with my face buried in a pillow. Getting an epidural was not far from joining my "birth plan", but I wanted to wait a bit longer to see how I could handle the contractions.
Oh, and once labor started, Drill-Sargeant-Nurse turned into Much-Nicer-Nurse. She offered that I could try a birthing ball and see if I liked that at all. I was on that through a handful of contractions and knew an epidural was the next step in the plans. The nurse checked to make sure I wasn't too far along for one, and I was only about 6cm. and 80%. It seemed to take forever for the anesthesiologist to get there (a nice Scottish guy who did my epidural for Susannah's birth), but I was soon getting more comfy and my legs were becoming "decorations" as Daniel calls it. :-) Going from the intensity of labor to resting/dozing so quickly, my blood pressure dropped and so did the contractions. A shot in the IV fixed all that and we were quickly back in business.
About 12:30pm I mentioned that I was starting to feel a little uncomfortable. My Dr. stopped by right then and checked, and I was ready to push. I was a little surprised that it was time already. Just a few hours had passed! The nurse got everything ready, an intern who was shadowing her arrived to take her place through the birth, and my Dr. returned from a super-fast lunch.
I started pushing right after 1:00pm, and after the first push I was really surprised when Daniel said he could see the head already. (I pushed for 30 minutes with Susannah, so I wasn't expecting a head-sighting so soon!) After the 2nd push my Dr. offered that I could feel the baby's head if I wanted to. 3 pushes later our little Sylvia Hope was born at 1:13pm.
My Dr. has a neat practice in that she does not say what the baby is. Instead (as long as there is nothing life-threatening) she holds the baby up for the parents to see for themselves. Through blurry vision I could see that I had just given birth to our 2nd daughter, and said something like "It's another GIRL!" As soon as Sylvia was born, I right away felt much better - seemingly than I had for several weeks prior (I'm sure adrenaline helped a little :)). I was pretty clear-headed and really enjoyed meeting our daughter while she was on my stomach waiting for Daniel to cut the cord and all that goes on in the first minutes following birth.
She was then moved to the warming tray to be cleaned off a little better, get weighed and all that fun stuff. Oh, and to exercise her lungs a little. :-) Daniel was by her side most of the time, and one thing I do not want to ever forget: The emotions that crossed his face as he looked at our daughter for the first minutes of her life. There was a mixture of enormous daddy-pride along with some blinking, wet eyes and hard swallows. I doubt he would admit all of that, but I saw it. I think I fell in love with him a little bit more right then.
A few minutes after being placed on my chest, Sylvia started rooting around looking to eat. I was excited to help her start eating right away and with little trouble, she was eating like a champ.
I started regaining feeling and use of the lower half of my body, and continued to feel really good overall. Shortly after being moved to my post-partum room, I was cleared to take a shower. I was pleasantly surprised with that, and that I even felt like taking a shower to boot!
I rested and slept great in the hospital, Sylvia continued to be a good eater (though sleepy and slow sometimes!), and we came home shortly after noon on Wednesday. We are all settling into our new lives as a family of four.
I praise God for our daughter, and at times am overwhelmed that He has blessed me again with the privilege and joy of mothering another child. My heart is filled with thankfulness for this.
For several weeks leading up to Sylvia Hope's birthday, I was continually dialating 1 cm. each week and staying at 50% effaced. My Dr. - and myself - really didn't think I was going to make it to my due date. I was occasionally having a Braxton Hicks contraction, but nothing very noticeable. Only a time or two did I have contractions that I thought could be the real thing. At my 39 week appointment I was at 5 cm. and she really didn't think I would make it another week. So much so that for my 40 1/2 week appointment, Daniel took off work and we went prepared to stay if I had progressed another centimeter or more. Nothing had changed, so we came back home. With a detour to a park so I could swing for a while :) I bought and ate a second pineapple. And there was nothing to indicate labor was thinking about happening.
Sunday marked 41 weeks of pregnancy (you can read about it here). Hesitant to go much beyond than 41 weeks, several weeks earlier Daniel and I had prayed about, thought about, talked about and decided to be induced the following Monday (which would be 41 weeks and 1 day). I don't know why, I just didn't feel at peace about waiting much longer.
Early on in the pregnancy when people would ask the baby's due date, I would tell them "Feb. 26th, but I won't be surprised if it's a March baby." I just didn't think it was going to be THAT much "March."
Sunday afternoon I finished up some laundry and packing the needed bags, Daniel emptied the garbage and helped with some general picking up and cleaning up. We met up with Daniel's parents so Susannah could spend Sunday night with them since we had to leave early Monday morning for the hospital. After dropping off Susannah, we went to church and afterward celebrated our 8th anniversary 2 days early by going to dinner at Chili's. It was a special, sweet time together since we hadn't been on a date for several months, and I savored every moment.
Bright and early Monday morning I dragged out of bed, showered and got myself ready to go. And it was snowing. :-) We were going to have a snow baby after-all, in MARCH, no-less! (We have some cuh-razy weather in these parts!) Daniel dropped me off at the hospital entrance and went to park the car. I didn't have to wait long before being taken back to my room, and Daniel was soon with me as well.
At first I wasn't too sure that I liked my nurse. Oh, I was sure she was competent and knew her stuff, but she seemed a little drill-sergeant-ish. One of my favorite things at that point in the game was that I didn't have to take off my rings or watch! I was getting ready to take them off and she said "oh, you can leave those on!" In all the "here's what to do" information they give you, it says to remove all of those things. I was very happy to be able to keep them on. She got me all hooked up to everything and we waited for the Dr. to arrive. I said that I would like to hold off on the pitocin for a bit, and see if just breaking my water would start anything. My Dr. and nurse were both fine with that which made me happy, too. :) So that's what we did. And nothing happened. Not a single blip on the screen.
Eventually the nurse started pitocin and labor started at 9:30am. I was still at 5cm. and 50% effaced. The contractions quickly got very intense with just a low dose of pitocin. By about 10:15am Daniel was wondering if he was going to have any fingers left by the time the baby was born (but he never said a word to me about it - I thought that was really sweet of him!), and I was going through each contraction with my face buried in a pillow. Getting an epidural was not far from joining my "birth plan", but I wanted to wait a bit longer to see how I could handle the contractions.
Oh, and once labor started, Drill-Sargeant-Nurse turned into Much-Nicer-Nurse. She offered that I could try a birthing ball and see if I liked that at all. I was on that through a handful of contractions and knew an epidural was the next step in the plans. The nurse checked to make sure I wasn't too far along for one, and I was only about 6cm. and 80%. It seemed to take forever for the anesthesiologist to get there (a nice Scottish guy who did my epidural for Susannah's birth), but I was soon getting more comfy and my legs were becoming "decorations" as Daniel calls it. :-) Going from the intensity of labor to resting/dozing so quickly, my blood pressure dropped and so did the contractions. A shot in the IV fixed all that and we were quickly back in business.
About 12:30pm I mentioned that I was starting to feel a little uncomfortable. My Dr. stopped by right then and checked, and I was ready to push. I was a little surprised that it was time already. Just a few hours had passed! The nurse got everything ready, an intern who was shadowing her arrived to take her place through the birth, and my Dr. returned from a super-fast lunch.
I started pushing right after 1:00pm, and after the first push I was really surprised when Daniel said he could see the head already. (I pushed for 30 minutes with Susannah, so I wasn't expecting a head-sighting so soon!) After the 2nd push my Dr. offered that I could feel the baby's head if I wanted to. 3 pushes later our little Sylvia Hope was born at 1:13pm.
My Dr. has a neat practice in that she does not say what the baby is. Instead (as long as there is nothing life-threatening) she holds the baby up for the parents to see for themselves. Through blurry vision I could see that I had just given birth to our 2nd daughter, and said something like "It's another GIRL!" As soon as Sylvia was born, I right away felt much better - seemingly than I had for several weeks prior (I'm sure adrenaline helped a little :)). I was pretty clear-headed and really enjoyed meeting our daughter while she was on my stomach waiting for Daniel to cut the cord and all that goes on in the first minutes following birth.
She was then moved to the warming tray to be cleaned off a little better, get weighed and all that fun stuff. Oh, and to exercise her lungs a little. :-) Daniel was by her side most of the time, and one thing I do not want to ever forget: The emotions that crossed his face as he looked at our daughter for the first minutes of her life. There was a mixture of enormous daddy-pride along with some blinking, wet eyes and hard swallows. I doubt he would admit all of that, but I saw it. I think I fell in love with him a little bit more right then.
Since I was feeling so good, when the nurse offered that I could have some skin-to-skin time with Sylvia, I was thrilled to accept.
A few minutes after being placed on my chest, Sylvia started rooting around looking to eat. I was excited to help her start eating right away and with little trouble, she was eating like a champ.
I started regaining feeling and use of the lower half of my body, and continued to feel really good overall. Shortly after being moved to my post-partum room, I was cleared to take a shower. I was pleasantly surprised with that, and that I even felt like taking a shower to boot!
I rested and slept great in the hospital, Sylvia continued to be a good eater (though sleepy and slow sometimes!), and we came home shortly after noon on Wednesday. We are all settling into our new lives as a family of four.
6 Days Old
I praise God for our daughter, and at times am overwhelmed that He has blessed me again with the privilege and joy of mothering another child. My heart is filled with thankfulness for this.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
It's A....
Girl!!!
Our second daughter, Sylvia Hope was born Monday, March 5th. She shocked us all with her weight of 8 lbs. 14.5 oz.!! I guess she was really fattening up while waiting to make her appearance. :-) She measured 20.5" long. (She is the same length that Susannah was, but 1 1/2 lbs. bigger.)
We are so happy to finally have her on the outside where we can see her and hold her and love on her. Oh my, there is nothing more heart-capturing than a squirmy, snuggly, miracle-of-life baby that grew inside of me for 9 months!!! We are in love, plain and simple.
Thrilled to no end, enjoying some skin-to-skin with my daughter.
Labor was induced Monday morning and contractions started about 9:30am. After about 10 minutes of pushing (5 pushes in 4 contractions - yes, I was proud of that!) Sylvia was born at 1:13pm after a little under 4 hours of labor. I was already 5cm. when we got there (and had been for 2 weeks) so once things started, they went fast.
All showered and snuggled the first evening.
Susannah got to meet her little sister Tuesday morning.
I had packed a few books to be able to have some
"quality time" with Susannah when she came to visit.
Daniel is reading "I'm A Big Sister" to his 2 girls. :-)
"quality time" with Susannah when she came to visit.
Daniel is reading "I'm A Big Sister" to his 2 girls. :-)
We came home Wednesday shortly after noon. Aside from being a little tired from lack of sleep, I'm continuing to feel really good (and the pain meds help. ;-) ).
Sylvia ready to go home, wearing the same outfit
her big sister wore home from the hospital.
her big sister wore home from the hospital.
Susannah loves her baby sister, "Sigh-ee-uh", though we can't get her to say her name very much. She is very protective and wants to make sure Sylvia has her paci and blankie if she notices that they aren't with her.
Well, it will soon be lunchtime for everyone, so in wanting to get this posted already, I will have to save more for another post.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
41 Weeks
Today marks the 41st week of pregnancy for me with our 2nd baby. I do feel like I have been pregnant for-ev-er. :-) I won't deny that. I know that I really haven't been and won't be. I feel like "this is the longest I've EVER been pregnant in my LIFE!" but as this is only our 2nd child I don't know that I can proclaim that too loudly. ;-)
The past week or two have certainly been more trying, physically and emotionally. My emotions haven't been terrible, there was one weekend where for a day and a half I just wanted to sit down and cry "just because." The rest of the time I am just exhausted almost all of the time.
Not as a way of complaining, but more just sharing and recording for my own sake, most days I feel like I am barely going to survive. Some mornings I wake up and think "there's no way I can have the baby today, I'm too tired!"
Sleep eludes me several hours each night and if I try to nap in the day I rarely fall asleep very deeply or for very long at all, I just lie there dozing and resting (wishing I could be sleeping!). Saturday and Sunday mornings are my catch-up and recovery time when it comes to sleep. I don't have to bust out of bed early to get Daniel's breakfast and lunch, so I can stay asleep and get a second cycle of good sleep. I have not checked for sure, but I think I usually fall asleep the first time at night around 1 or 2am... then I usually HAVE to get up about 4:30 or 5 and it takes me a bit to fall back asleep from a bathroom visit. Then on workdays the alarm starts going off around 6 or 6:30, so not really any time for another good "sleep" in there. Without feeling guilty about it, I do not bust myself out of bed Sunday mornings so we can get to Sunday School because that is ONE day that I can sleep more and not feel dead all day long.
The other downside to the past 2 or 3 weeks of this journey has been that my back has been bothering me more and more. Especially if I lie on my left side, for some reason my back just doesn't like it very well. But I get weary of being on my right side. :-) So in the mornings I cripple out of bed and creep around for most of the morning until my back gets most of the kinks out and then I'm a little better for the rest of the day. Susannah goes in circles around me quite a bit lately, and I feel like it takes me 5 minutes to get from one side of the kitchen to the other! I have been going to the chiropractor weekly for the last month or two, and that really helps.
Between lack of good rest, back pain, and feeling like an over-inflated beach ball that an elephant is sitting on, no, it has not been easy lately. Many days I feel like I simply cannot go on. I cannot move another muscle. I cannot bend over or squat down to pick one more thing up off the floor, or lean and stretch to wash another dish, or figure out one more meal to eat. Multiple times each day though, I just pray for God to give me strength and grace to get me through the moment. Through another few minutes, another hour, another day. And He does. And I make it. I have Scripture verses taped to my cupboard door, and the lyrics to the hymn, O Love That Will Not Let Me Go, taped up at the kitchen sink. I find comfort and identity in the 2nd line "I rest my weary soul in Thee!" as well as throughout the rest of the song.
A few good things that have come from being pregnant this long...
I was able to attend church this morning which was a surprise mini-concert and then message from Steve Green. If the baby was already born (and hadn't come extra early), I probably would not be up to going to church yet. This morning was a HUGE blessing to my soul and I'm so glad that I am still pregnant so that I could attend.
I have been keeping the laundry caught up and the floors better picked up. :-) I am working with Susannah very purposely helping her keep her toys picked up when she finished playing with them, or before naps and bedtimes. (Plus it's SO much easier for her to pick them up than for me to!) We have had more time to implement "room time" into most of Susannah's days where she plays in her room by herself for 20 minutes (we started out with just a few minutes and worked up to 20). This gives me a chance to sit down a catch my breath, close my eyes if I really need to, or give my undivided attention to a task (which will soon likely be one of the baby's feedings).
A continued blessing for this pregnancy is that the baby and I are continuing to do great. I still am not experiencing any swelling (aside from the big beach ball, of course!), my blood pressure and heart rate have been great, and baby continues to pass with flying colors each visit as well. Now if I could just have a little more lung room to breathe deeply again!!
To close out this update, which will most likely be my last pregnancy update before the baby comes, here is a picture from today. Officially 41 weeks pregnant. Yes, it was 51° when we left for church this morning and I wore short sleeves and no jacket. :-) And yes, I do wear jeans to church lately!! I grew out of my (non-maternity) skirt around 37-38 weeks (rather, I had it hiked up as far as I dared hike it and it was getting too small to fit around and over), and as I have never found a maternity skirt I like, I figure a couple Sundays wearing jeans is not going to hurt anything. (And it helps that in our church some dress to the nines and others dress in jeans, so I'm not an oddball wearing jeans. :-) )
The past week or two have certainly been more trying, physically and emotionally. My emotions haven't been terrible, there was one weekend where for a day and a half I just wanted to sit down and cry "just because." The rest of the time I am just exhausted almost all of the time.
Not as a way of complaining, but more just sharing and recording for my own sake, most days I feel like I am barely going to survive. Some mornings I wake up and think "there's no way I can have the baby today, I'm too tired!"
Sleep eludes me several hours each night and if I try to nap in the day I rarely fall asleep very deeply or for very long at all, I just lie there dozing and resting (wishing I could be sleeping!). Saturday and Sunday mornings are my catch-up and recovery time when it comes to sleep. I don't have to bust out of bed early to get Daniel's breakfast and lunch, so I can stay asleep and get a second cycle of good sleep. I have not checked for sure, but I think I usually fall asleep the first time at night around 1 or 2am... then I usually HAVE to get up about 4:30 or 5 and it takes me a bit to fall back asleep from a bathroom visit. Then on workdays the alarm starts going off around 6 or 6:30, so not really any time for another good "sleep" in there. Without feeling guilty about it, I do not bust myself out of bed Sunday mornings so we can get to Sunday School because that is ONE day that I can sleep more and not feel dead all day long.
The other downside to the past 2 or 3 weeks of this journey has been that my back has been bothering me more and more. Especially if I lie on my left side, for some reason my back just doesn't like it very well. But I get weary of being on my right side. :-) So in the mornings I cripple out of bed and creep around for most of the morning until my back gets most of the kinks out and then I'm a little better for the rest of the day. Susannah goes in circles around me quite a bit lately, and I feel like it takes me 5 minutes to get from one side of the kitchen to the other! I have been going to the chiropractor weekly for the last month or two, and that really helps.
Between lack of good rest, back pain, and feeling like an over-inflated beach ball that an elephant is sitting on, no, it has not been easy lately. Many days I feel like I simply cannot go on. I cannot move another muscle. I cannot bend over or squat down to pick one more thing up off the floor, or lean and stretch to wash another dish, or figure out one more meal to eat. Multiple times each day though, I just pray for God to give me strength and grace to get me through the moment. Through another few minutes, another hour, another day. And He does. And I make it. I have Scripture verses taped to my cupboard door, and the lyrics to the hymn, O Love That Will Not Let Me Go, taped up at the kitchen sink. I find comfort and identity in the 2nd line "I rest my weary soul in Thee!" as well as throughout the rest of the song.
A few good things that have come from being pregnant this long...
I was able to attend church this morning which was a surprise mini-concert and then message from Steve Green. If the baby was already born (and hadn't come extra early), I probably would not be up to going to church yet. This morning was a HUGE blessing to my soul and I'm so glad that I am still pregnant so that I could attend.
I have been keeping the laundry caught up and the floors better picked up. :-) I am working with Susannah very purposely helping her keep her toys picked up when she finished playing with them, or before naps and bedtimes. (Plus it's SO much easier for her to pick them up than for me to!) We have had more time to implement "room time" into most of Susannah's days where she plays in her room by herself for 20 minutes (we started out with just a few minutes and worked up to 20). This gives me a chance to sit down a catch my breath, close my eyes if I really need to, or give my undivided attention to a task (which will soon likely be one of the baby's feedings).
A continued blessing for this pregnancy is that the baby and I are continuing to do great. I still am not experiencing any swelling (aside from the big beach ball, of course!), my blood pressure and heart rate have been great, and baby continues to pass with flying colors each visit as well. Now if I could just have a little more lung room to breathe deeply again!!
To close out this update, which will most likely be my last pregnancy update before the baby comes, here is a picture from today. Officially 41 weeks pregnant. Yes, it was 51° when we left for church this morning and I wore short sleeves and no jacket. :-) And yes, I do wear jeans to church lately!! I grew out of my (non-maternity) skirt around 37-38 weeks (rather, I had it hiked up as far as I dared hike it and it was getting too small to fit around and over), and as I have never found a maternity skirt I like, I figure a couple Sundays wearing jeans is not going to hurt anything. (And it helps that in our church some dress to the nines and others dress in jeans, so I'm not an oddball wearing jeans. :-) )
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Waiting Patiently (most of the time)
Today was my 39 (and a 1/2) week OB appointment. Everything is still great and silently (and fairly painlessly) progressing towards what will hopefully be a good, safe, normal labor and delivery.
Today I was thinking back to my first pregnancy and remembering how anxious (and eager and excited) I was for the baby to come. I had my own idea of when the baby would come, how it would happen, and I certainly didn't think that I would go past my due date. It was very much an emotional struggle for me the last few weeks of my first pregnancy because ... well, because I wasn't being content. I'm sure that it being my first made a difference, too.
This time, yes, I am very eager and excited, but not nearly as anxious. I think the most anxious I have been yet was Tuesday, when my chiropractor - for the 2nd week in a row - predicted that Wednesday would be the day I would have the baby. My mistake on Tuesday was trusting more what the chiropractor was predicting and letting myself brush off the fact that ONLY God knows this baby's birthday. I might have inwardly freaked out a little as Tuesday went on and I was thinking what all "needed" to be done by the time I went to bed that night because the baby is supposed to come tomorrow!! (Nope, the chiropractor was wrong, as much as he was hoping he would be right!)
Knowing that this baby could come at any moment does make life a little interesting and sometimes I stress over the silliest things like "should I start supper?" ... "should I give the kitchen a thorough cleaning or can I let it go a bit and work on something less pressing?" ... "if I start making bread, will I be able to finish it?" Overall, on the whole though, I have noticed that I am much more at peace this time. Since Susannah was born late, my whole thought process throughout this pregnancy has been that this baby will probably be late, too. Only in the past few weeks has the "any day" reality started to kick in.
Yes, I would love to be holding our baby in my arms already :) Yes, I am very ready to be done being pregnant for this time. I would love to know if we get to use our boy name or our girl name (I think Daniel just changed the girl middle name this evening! To one we both like and had talked about. :) ). I would love to be able to roll over in bed without doing an extensive exercise workout :) And to be able to put on my bottom-half clothes normally. And all of those other things... but it's just not time yet. And I'm fine with that. Those things are certainly inconveniences, but I can't (and don't want to) make this baby be born just for convenience's sake :)
In the meantime, as I wait, I remind myself that each day that passes is one day closer to having our baby even though I don't KNOW when that day is going to be. I remind myself that God is in control, and He must not be quite finished knitting this child in my womb yet (Psalm 139.13) :) I think it also helps that I have Susannah as a distraction to keep me busy, a lot of cleaning, purging and organizing projects that I've been working on and still have to work on when I get the urge, and a husband who goes about every day like it's just another day :) And when the baby wiggles around - or gets the hiccups like today! - I remember to pay attention to them and enjoy the sweetness of them, because very soon I won't be feeling them on the inside anymore.
Today I was thinking back to my first pregnancy and remembering how anxious (and eager and excited) I was for the baby to come. I had my own idea of when the baby would come, how it would happen, and I certainly didn't think that I would go past my due date. It was very much an emotional struggle for me the last few weeks of my first pregnancy because ... well, because I wasn't being content. I'm sure that it being my first made a difference, too.
This time, yes, I am very eager and excited, but not nearly as anxious. I think the most anxious I have been yet was Tuesday, when my chiropractor - for the 2nd week in a row - predicted that Wednesday would be the day I would have the baby. My mistake on Tuesday was trusting more what the chiropractor was predicting and letting myself brush off the fact that ONLY God knows this baby's birthday. I might have inwardly freaked out a little as Tuesday went on and I was thinking what all "needed" to be done by the time I went to bed that night because the baby is supposed to come tomorrow!! (Nope, the chiropractor was wrong, as much as he was hoping he would be right!)
Knowing that this baby could come at any moment does make life a little interesting and sometimes I stress over the silliest things like "should I start supper?" ... "should I give the kitchen a thorough cleaning or can I let it go a bit and work on something less pressing?" ... "if I start making bread, will I be able to finish it?" Overall, on the whole though, I have noticed that I am much more at peace this time. Since Susannah was born late, my whole thought process throughout this pregnancy has been that this baby will probably be late, too. Only in the past few weeks has the "any day" reality started to kick in.
Yes, I would love to be holding our baby in my arms already :) Yes, I am very ready to be done being pregnant for this time. I would love to know if we get to use our boy name or our girl name (I think Daniel just changed the girl middle name this evening! To one we both like and had talked about. :) ). I would love to be able to roll over in bed without doing an extensive exercise workout :) And to be able to put on my bottom-half clothes normally. And all of those other things... but it's just not time yet. And I'm fine with that. Those things are certainly inconveniences, but I can't (and don't want to) make this baby be born just for convenience's sake :)
In the meantime, as I wait, I remind myself that each day that passes is one day closer to having our baby even though I don't KNOW when that day is going to be. I remind myself that God is in control, and He must not be quite finished knitting this child in my womb yet (Psalm 139.13) :) I think it also helps that I have Susannah as a distraction to keep me busy, a lot of cleaning, purging and organizing projects that I've been working on and still have to work on when I get the urge, and a husband who goes about every day like it's just another day :) And when the baby wiggles around - or gets the hiccups like today! - I remember to pay attention to them and enjoy the sweetness of them, because very soon I won't be feeling them on the inside anymore.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Baking, Building and Making Memories
Last week I had a huge [what I suspect was a] nesting spurt and spent the better part of 2 days in the kitchen. I had been planning to get some baking done before the baby comes, and those days it just seemed like I wanted, almost NEEDED, to do it and get it out of my system :) For some reason these last few weeks of the pregnancy I have been very un-motivated and un-inspired in the kitchen (or much of anywhere else, really!), so I had great fun doing something that I actually WANTED to do (besides sleep, that is :) ).
The first day I felt almost giddy with everything I got made and frozen:
My brothers gave me those stacking cooling racks a couple years ago for Christmas and I put them to good use a few times a year and REALLY like having them!!!
I did not get a picture from the second day. That day my top priority was 3 angel food cakes (from scratch) for a family birthday party we were going to. Aside from the 3 cakes, I also made a double batch of Chocolate Chip Cookies and a big batch of mini crustless quiche (I think it was 3 1/2 doz? Baked in regular cupcake pans.). For the chocolate chip cookies, I baked 4 dozen cookies, then the rest of the dough I scooped out onto waxed paper covered plates and froze, getting enough for another 2 dozen cookies, I think. Of course after the dough was frozen I bagged up the dough balls :)
Susannah had great fun helping me over the two days. I was shaping the first round of bagels while she was awake, and I gave her one of the little dough balls to play with. After I made her stop taste-testing it (she'd eating probably 1/3 of it, ha!), she had fun mashing and kneading and stretching and attempting to imitate my bagel shaping. When I finished with the rest of the bagels, I did help her make her little dough wad into a bagel and she was pretty thrilled :)
Her favorite place in the kitchen - if I'm in there working on ANYthing - is on her "ng" (like "ing" without the "i"), which is what she calls the kitchen stool*, RIGHT at my elbow watching and ready to help with whatever I'll let her help with. If I am making something in the mixer, I've started dragging it out to the middle of the counter where she can see into the bowl and watch it mixing. She loves to help dump ingredients in and help stir if I'm mixing something by hand. She can't wait to be able to crack eggs and measure oil :) And she is always ready and eager for a "gaze" (taste) and lets me know it! I actually almost always enjoy having her company while I'm cooking or baking. I want her to have great, fun memories of helping me in the kitchen - not only because I want her to grow up knowing and enjoying how to cook and bake, but because I just think it will be a fun thing to look back on many years from now.
*We have no idea where or how she came up with "ng" to be her word for the stool. We call it the stool and try to get her to say stool, and she just keeps calling it "ng" :) I know one day she'll say it and it will no longer be the "ng".
While I worked in the kitchen on Saturday, Daniel was working on the addition. Susannah loves it when her Daddy is home and she can be with him. If he is out there and she is not, it doesn't take long for her to ask to go out there, too. She loves to "hammie" (hammer) and "bang-bang" (what you do with a hammer, of course!) just like he does. I always make sure it suits him for her to be out there (for her safety), and when it does she has so much fun! Saturday evening was one of those times so I bundled her up and out she went. I finally remembered to grab my camera and get a couple pictures. It was dark outside and the lighting isn't the greatest out there (yet!), so this was the best one I got.
I still love being a mama, seeing things through Susannah's eyes, watching and helping her make memories (even though she doesn't realize it yet) of helping her mama and daddy with the things they do. The things we simply enjoy, or do just because they are something we do, and yet they are big and exciting and so much fun for her! It is a thrill to my heart :)
The first day I felt almost giddy with everything I got made and frozen:
Double batch Cinnamon Raisin Bagels (yield 20)
Double batch Onion-Parmesan Bagels (yield 20)
Double batch Strawberry-Blueberry Muffins (yield 24)
1 batch bread (yield 3 loaves)
Double batch Onion-Parmesan Bagels (yield 20)
Double batch Strawberry-Blueberry Muffins (yield 24)
1 batch bread (yield 3 loaves)
My brothers gave me those stacking cooling racks a couple years ago for Christmas and I put them to good use a few times a year and REALLY like having them!!!
I did not get a picture from the second day. That day my top priority was 3 angel food cakes (from scratch) for a family birthday party we were going to. Aside from the 3 cakes, I also made a double batch of Chocolate Chip Cookies and a big batch of mini crustless quiche (I think it was 3 1/2 doz? Baked in regular cupcake pans.). For the chocolate chip cookies, I baked 4 dozen cookies, then the rest of the dough I scooped out onto waxed paper covered plates and froze, getting enough for another 2 dozen cookies, I think. Of course after the dough was frozen I bagged up the dough balls :)
Susannah had great fun helping me over the two days. I was shaping the first round of bagels while she was awake, and I gave her one of the little dough balls to play with. After I made her stop taste-testing it (she'd eating probably 1/3 of it, ha!), she had fun mashing and kneading and stretching and attempting to imitate my bagel shaping. When I finished with the rest of the bagels, I did help her make her little dough wad into a bagel and she was pretty thrilled :)
Her favorite place in the kitchen - if I'm in there working on ANYthing - is on her "ng" (like "ing" without the "i"), which is what she calls the kitchen stool*, RIGHT at my elbow watching and ready to help with whatever I'll let her help with. If I am making something in the mixer, I've started dragging it out to the middle of the counter where she can see into the bowl and watch it mixing. She loves to help dump ingredients in and help stir if I'm mixing something by hand. She can't wait to be able to crack eggs and measure oil :) And she is always ready and eager for a "gaze" (taste) and lets me know it! I actually almost always enjoy having her company while I'm cooking or baking. I want her to have great, fun memories of helping me in the kitchen - not only because I want her to grow up knowing and enjoying how to cook and bake, but because I just think it will be a fun thing to look back on many years from now.
*We have no idea where or how she came up with "ng" to be her word for the stool. We call it the stool and try to get her to say stool, and she just keeps calling it "ng" :) I know one day she'll say it and it will no longer be the "ng".
While I worked in the kitchen on Saturday, Daniel was working on the addition. Susannah loves it when her Daddy is home and she can be with him. If he is out there and she is not, it doesn't take long for her to ask to go out there, too. She loves to "hammie" (hammer) and "bang-bang" (what you do with a hammer, of course!) just like he does. I always make sure it suits him for her to be out there (for her safety), and when it does she has so much fun! Saturday evening was one of those times so I bundled her up and out she went. I finally remembered to grab my camera and get a couple pictures. It was dark outside and the lighting isn't the greatest out there (yet!), so this was the best one I got.
I still love being a mama, seeing things through Susannah's eyes, watching and helping her make memories (even though she doesn't realize it yet) of helping her mama and daddy with the things they do. The things we simply enjoy, or do just because they are something we do, and yet they are big and exciting and so much fun for her! It is a thrill to my heart :)
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
37 Weeks
And all is well :)
In some ways I feel badly for not recording and journal-ing as much with this pregnancy as with the last (Susannah), but most of the time there really hasn't been anything exciting to write!
This past week I had my first of the weekly doctor appointments that I'll be going to until the baby comes. As has been the normal for each appointment, everything is fine, measuring good and "on schedule", my blood pressure is good, the baby's heart rate is fine... and all that good stuff. The baby has been head-down for a while now, so while I wasn't worried about him or her being breech, it is nice to know everything's in the right place.
With a few short-lived (yet I wondered if surely they weren't going to last forever!) serious aches or pains that have cropped up from time to time, this has been a very easy pregnancy. Those aches and pains are just my muscles and bones stretching and shifting to accommodate the change my body is going through, and while they can be most painful at the time, they have all eased up and gone away in a week or two. Probably the worst was when an abdominal muscle stretched all.at.once. one evening, doubling me over in pain and tears. I moved at the pace of an inch-worm for several days after that, and things as simple as getting in and out of bed, rolling over in bed, or lifting my legs to go up stairs would bring tears to my eyes and sometimes I would flat-out cry. I was so very glad when it started getting better and I could move easier. I was also relieved when at my next Dr. visit she assured me that nothing had torn in two (that is what it felt like) and that what I experienced does happen sometimes, but everything was fine and would be o.k.
Right now I am just feeling huge, awkward, waddle-y, and like everything I reach for is 100 miles away :) In the mornings when I wake up it takes me several minutes to get up to full-speed as the kinks of being mostly still all night get worked out.
Almost everyone that has told me what they think we are going to have is guessing the baby is a boy. I think only one person so far as told me they think it's going to be a girl. Everyone asks, of course, "what do you think it is?" and "what do you want it to be?"
I don't remember how I carried Susannah to know if I am carrying this baby differently or not (some say that is a gender indicator). I don't remember Susannah's heart-rate, but I think it was on the low side, this baby's has been as well the few times I've asked what it is. I'm just excited (and amazed!) that there is a little baby growing inside me, and that the time to meet our little baby is growing closer and closer! I am already in love with this little person - the wiggles, the hiccups, the rolls and squirms. I am ready to see his or her face, kiss the tiny nose, marvel at how the fingers and toes are so miniscule and yet perfectly sized, drown my senses in the scent of his or her baby-freshness, and fall in love even more.
Do I care if it's a boy or girl? I do not. I am so excited to find out! I think it would be so wonderful if it is another girl! A little sister for Susannah, and wouldn't two little girls be so much fun?? And at the same time if it is a boy, it will also be so exciting! We would have a girl AND a boy! A brother and sister! We could have dump-trucks AND dollies :) It is not that I am blah and "ho-hum, I don't care" about the baby's gender, I just have no way of knowing (well, we COULD know if we wanted to) so why not just be so excited to see who God has been knitting together down there for the past several months?! Even when people ask me what do I think or "feel in my gut" the baby is, I am clueless.
My energy level has been decent. It could be better if I would be more disciplined about going to bed earlier :) Coffee has become my friend, most days I have a cup mid-morning for a nice boost to push me through the rest of the day. I don't know if I am nesting yet, but I have been on some serious missions around the house lately. Lots of purging and cleaning in the bedrooms and re-arranging to make room for the new baby.
About the coffee in the previous paragraph - I do want to note that before this pregnancy, I did not like coffee. I have never liked coffee. I love the smell of coffee and liked the coffee flavor in some things (chocolate mousse, ice cream, a little bit in some hot chocolate), but I did not like coffee. My bloggy friend, Alicia, wrote a post about coffee late last summer, and just looking at the pictures made me want to try it. I had some coffee on hand for guests, so I brewed up a batch and have been enjoying it ever since with some sugar, milk, and either a little cinnamon or chocolate syrup.
I also want to note that grapefruit is another thing that my taste-buds have changed their mind about. I can't say that it has exactly been this pregnancy, or maybe my tastebuds simply matured or changed since the last time I tried grapefruit (which would be long, long ago!). I now love grapefruit and could eat it frequently if I kept it around :)
In some ways I feel badly for not recording and journal-ing as much with this pregnancy as with the last (Susannah), but most of the time there really hasn't been anything exciting to write!
This past week I had my first of the weekly doctor appointments that I'll be going to until the baby comes. As has been the normal for each appointment, everything is fine, measuring good and "on schedule", my blood pressure is good, the baby's heart rate is fine... and all that good stuff. The baby has been head-down for a while now, so while I wasn't worried about him or her being breech, it is nice to know everything's in the right place.
With a few short-lived (yet I wondered if surely they weren't going to last forever!) serious aches or pains that have cropped up from time to time, this has been a very easy pregnancy. Those aches and pains are just my muscles and bones stretching and shifting to accommodate the change my body is going through, and while they can be most painful at the time, they have all eased up and gone away in a week or two. Probably the worst was when an abdominal muscle stretched all.at.once. one evening, doubling me over in pain and tears. I moved at the pace of an inch-worm for several days after that, and things as simple as getting in and out of bed, rolling over in bed, or lifting my legs to go up stairs would bring tears to my eyes and sometimes I would flat-out cry. I was so very glad when it started getting better and I could move easier. I was also relieved when at my next Dr. visit she assured me that nothing had torn in two (that is what it felt like) and that what I experienced does happen sometimes, but everything was fine and would be o.k.
Right now I am just feeling huge, awkward, waddle-y, and like everything I reach for is 100 miles away :) In the mornings when I wake up it takes me several minutes to get up to full-speed as the kinks of being mostly still all night get worked out.
Almost everyone that has told me what they think we are going to have is guessing the baby is a boy. I think only one person so far as told me they think it's going to be a girl. Everyone asks, of course, "what do you think it is?" and "what do you want it to be?"
I don't remember how I carried Susannah to know if I am carrying this baby differently or not (some say that is a gender indicator). I don't remember Susannah's heart-rate, but I think it was on the low side, this baby's has been as well the few times I've asked what it is. I'm just excited (and amazed!) that there is a little baby growing inside me, and that the time to meet our little baby is growing closer and closer! I am already in love with this little person - the wiggles, the hiccups, the rolls and squirms. I am ready to see his or her face, kiss the tiny nose, marvel at how the fingers and toes are so miniscule and yet perfectly sized, drown my senses in the scent of his or her baby-freshness, and fall in love even more.
Do I care if it's a boy or girl? I do not. I am so excited to find out! I think it would be so wonderful if it is another girl! A little sister for Susannah, and wouldn't two little girls be so much fun?? And at the same time if it is a boy, it will also be so exciting! We would have a girl AND a boy! A brother and sister! We could have dump-trucks AND dollies :) It is not that I am blah and "ho-hum, I don't care" about the baby's gender, I just have no way of knowing (well, we COULD know if we wanted to) so why not just be so excited to see who God has been knitting together down there for the past several months?! Even when people ask me what do I think or "feel in my gut" the baby is, I am clueless.
My energy level has been decent. It could be better if I would be more disciplined about going to bed earlier :) Coffee has become my friend, most days I have a cup mid-morning for a nice boost to push me through the rest of the day. I don't know if I am nesting yet, but I have been on some serious missions around the house lately. Lots of purging and cleaning in the bedrooms and re-arranging to make room for the new baby.
About the coffee in the previous paragraph - I do want to note that before this pregnancy, I did not like coffee. I have never liked coffee. I love the smell of coffee and liked the coffee flavor in some things (chocolate mousse, ice cream, a little bit in some hot chocolate), but I did not like coffee. My bloggy friend, Alicia, wrote a post about coffee late last summer, and just looking at the pictures made me want to try it. I had some coffee on hand for guests, so I brewed up a batch and have been enjoying it ever since with some sugar, milk, and either a little cinnamon or chocolate syrup.
I also want to note that grapefruit is another thing that my taste-buds have changed their mind about. I can't say that it has exactly been this pregnancy, or maybe my tastebuds simply matured or changed since the last time I tried grapefruit (which would be long, long ago!). I now love grapefruit and could eat it frequently if I kept it around :)
Picture courtesy of the camera's self-timer
and late at night :)
and late at night :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
