Anya's Birth Story

In preparation for another upcoming post discussing the differences between my two labor and deliveries, I thought I would post Anya's birth story, because I realized that I never posted it to this blog. I wrote this almost 2 and a half years ago which happened to be about 6 months after her birth. It isn't quite as detailed and I didn't make any edits to it, so you are getting it just as it was originally written. If you have already read Felix's birth story, you will note that the two are completely different! We also had a different OB than with Felix's birth and we did not have a doula.

Again, this birth story contains some graphic descriptions, so stop here if you don't want to read about it!

Birth Story

Anya Claire
June 4, 2010
7 lbs., 7 oz., 21 in.
Born at 40 weeks, 6 days according to dating ultrasound, 40 weeks, 2 days according to ovulation

 

            I pretty much cried through my entire last doctor’s appointment because I was so upset about having the induction conversation.  They had told me our daughter would be 8 pounds, 5 ounces and my blood pressure was super high that day, so I was sure they were going to want to induce me asap.  However, my OB was really cool about it and said that there was no medical reason to induce at this point but he would not feel comfortable going past the next week, though he said we could wait a little longer if we wanted to.  I told him we would think about what day the following week we would be ok with and agreed to do another NST and ultrasound on Monday if we decided not to induce that day.  During the cervical check, I asked him to do a membrane sweep.  It definitely hurt but it only lasted 20 to 30 seconds; to be honest, I don’t even really remember how bad it was at this point.  I was almost 3 cm and about 80% effaced at that point.  Fortunately, things really took off from there.

            I started cramping and contracting that day.  I had had contractions off and on for about a week but these contractions never stopped.  That evening they were between 3 and 5 minutes and lasted at least a minute each time.  They weren’t very painful but I had heard so many stories about other peoples’ labors not being painful until the end.  In the back of my mind, I knew it had to be too easy but we went to triage anyway just to be sure we weren’t further than we thought.  Once we got there, I was told I was at the same dilation and effacement as at the appointment earlier that day, so I was told that I was still in early labor.  They allowed us to walk a little but after about 30 minutes we decided to just go home and try to get some rest before active labor started.  My OB was on call and he tried to give me some Ambien to help me sleep but we had decided that if we weren’t in active labor by morning, we were both going to work, so I wanted to make sure I wasn’t too drowsy in the morning. 

That night we got home probably around 1:30 am and went to bed.  Of course, my husband, Eric, was able to fall right to sleep but my back hurt so I had to go sit on an ab ball for awhile.  When I finally got back to bed, I only drifted in and out of sleep, but never really got any good sleep due to having to get up to pee what seemed like every 10 minutes.  Things were getting more and more mucousy and I ended up losing what I’m almost positive was my mucous plug over the next few hours. I didn’t realize how much of that stuff there is…pretty disgusting! 

I woke up at 5 the next morning with a really strong urge to have a bowel movement.  In the back of my mind, I knew it could be a contraction but I wasn’t sure if it was that or that I just had to go to the bathroom.  Several minutes later, I had the same feeling, so I decided they were contractions, and they were much stronger this time.  I woke Eric up and we both ended up calling into work because there was no way I could go to work this way, even if I wasn’t in active labor yet.  I used the ab ball and massage to get through some of them and I ended up getting in the shower as well, which was wonderful with the contractions.  We had had our bags packed from the night before so we just had to add a few more things to it.  We got dressed and packed up all the last minute things in between contractions because they were lasting over a minute and were 3 to 5 minutes apart.  In retrospect, I wish we would have stayed home a little longer, but this being our first time, we had no idea how far we were and with some of the contractions being 3 minutes apart and lasting as long as they did, we didn’t feel comfortable staying home.  When we got to the hospital, I was 4 cm, so I was admitted and given a room.  My OB offered to break my water but I told him I wasn’t ready for that.  I felt like we needed to be more in control of the contractions we were dealing with now before doing something that would intensify them. 

Eric and I used a lot of the techniques we had learned in our birthing classes and all the books we had read.  What worked the best was the “slow dance” position where I wrapped my arms around him and swayed side to side.  We turned on some music to help and I found different focal points around the room to cope with the contractions.  We did this for about 6 hours and I was still not quite to 5 cm, but very close.  The problem was that I was soooo tired.  I hadn’t really eaten in over 12 hours and I hadn’t had any kind of good sleep in over 24 hours.  I tried to lay down between contractions but if I wasn’t up and already swaying by the time they hit, they were really hard to get through.  Because I was plugged into the IV, I found it difficult to move around and get up in time.  (Even though I was negative for GBS, my screening had been over 30 days so I had to have the antibiotics anyway, which required the IV.)  After talking it over with Eric, we decided that it would be best for me to get the epidural, simply because I wasn’t progressing as quickly as I would have liked and I was already so tired that I was afraid once we got to the pushing stage, I wouldn’t have the energy to push my baby out.  My fear was that it would result in a c section and the ultimate goal (besides a healthy baby) was to be able to have a vaginal birth.  We requested the epidural and then had them notify my OB that we were now ok with my water being broken.

We got the epidural around 11:15/11:30, before my OB made it down to break my water.  The hardest thing about it was sitting still through contractions while they were putting it in.  I did not like the way my legs felt and the fact that I couldn’t get out of bed, but I know the contractions would have been way worse than that.   It reminded me of one of those dreams where you are trying to get somewhere but your legs don’t move fast enough.  I could still move them and feel them but they were very lethargic when I tried to move them.  I could also still feel the contractions, and though I wouldn’t necessarily describe them as painful, they were certainly uncomfortable.  Eventually, my water started leaking on its own before the OB ever made it to the room; however, my bag was still bulging so he did eventually have to finish breaking it. 

While all this was going on, my contractions had slowed to 6 to 9 minutes apart, and they wanted to put me on a small dose of pitocin.  I really did not plan on being on pitocin but they explained to me that this was merely an augmentation, not an induction, and that my risk of c section was still low since my body was already doing what it was supposed to do.  They assured me that this was just to regulate the contractions a little more so that I could progress faster.  I agreed to it and after I was given the pitocin, it only took a couple of hours to get to 9 cm.  At that point, I had a really strong urge to push but was told not to just yet.  After a little while, the nurse told me to go ahead and push if I got the urge, and eventually we got to 10 cm. 

It was probably around 2:30 or 3:00 when we started actively pushing.  I had originally thought I wouldn’t care about using the mirror, but the nurse had it brought in just in case, and it really did help me to push more effectively because I could see the baby’s head moving in and out of the opening.  The nurse also did perineal massage to try to keep me from tearing.  The nurse gave me 15 minutes breaks occasionally so I could rest up for the next pushing round, but the baby actually moved further down if I just relaxed and let the contractions do their job.  By the time the nurse came back, she decided to call for the “table” which also apparently meant the birthing team, because within minutes, tons of people showed up and the room was transformed in a matter of minutes.  When the OB showed up, I asked what was going on, but she just told me that we were close enough for the doctor to be here. 

            We kept pushing and when the baby crowned, they asked if I wanted to feel her head.  I didn’t think that I would care about doing that but when they asked, I thought, “what the heck?”  So I did and it was actually kind of cool to be able to feel her before she was even officially born.  I ended up also having an episiotomy.  We had discussed this with our doctor beforehand and had already decided that we were ok with this. 

We continued to push, and as soon as her little head completely emerged, she was already crying.  Of course, she had to be suctioned because there was meconium in my water earlier that day. When she finally came out all the way, it wasn’t even from me pushing her; she just kind of slipped out randomly and ended up ducking her head and doing a forward roll onto the table, and the doctor caught her feet first.  They held her upside down for a minute to get the blood flowing, showed me that she was a girl, which is what we were expecting, and then I finally got to hold her. She was absolutely beautiful, even though her hair was a matted mess!  The nurse was able to do a lot of things she needed to do while I was holding her.  Eventually, they took her for a few minutes to do some things they couldn’t do while I was holding her (I don’t even remember what it was…) and I immediately asked Eric for a Snickers bar.  I was so hungry!  We allowed our family to come in and see her for a few minutes but they were kicked out of the room after a few minutes so that I could breastfeed her.  Lactation came and we were able to get our little girl latched on right away.  She was a natural from the very beginning, though we did have to fix her latch somewhat before leaving the hospital. I knew if it continued to be painful, it would increase my chances of giving up.

Now Anya is almost 6 and a half months old. We are still breastfeeding and she has just started solids. So far, she’s had sweet potatoes, avocado, and bananas. She loves to eat, babbles to anyone who will listen, rolls and scoots to get places, and will probably be crawling any day nowJ It is hard to believe it has already been over a half of a year, but I still remember the day she was born like it was yesterday.  Labor was labor and it was painful at times, but I really actually enjoyed the whole process. 

 

Felix's Birth Story: Part 2 - The Real Thing

If you have not read Part 1 of Felix's birth story, you can read it here. Also, this was our birth plan.

Warning: The following contains a few graphic details of my experience. If you don't like hearing about the gory details of childbirth, then don't read it:) Also, please be aware that what I've written is either how I remember things happening or what I was told afterwards by Eric and our doula. The order of events, especially during transition and pushing, is a little hazy to me.

Felix Todd
April 3, 2013
3:37 am
8 pounds, 9 ounces; 21 inches
Born at 41 weeks according to ovulation charting (41 weeks and 1 day according to dating ultrasound)

After realizing that my water had not broken, we went home and had dinner. I didn’t eat much because I wasn’t very hungry and I was kind of afraid to get too much in my stomach. Our daughter was still with my in laws and we told them to go ahead and keep her because we thought tonight would be the night. After dinner, I was chatting online and sitting on an exercise ball when I noticed that the contractions seemed to be getting stronger and were now coming more like 2 to 3 minutes apart. I could still talk through them but they were definitely getting more intense. I decided to go ahead and take a shower so that we could head to the hospital at some point. Also, I knew it would help to relax me through the contractions. While I was in the shower, Megan (our doula) texted me to see how things were going and my husband texted back that our contractions were now 2 to 3 minutes apart. She suggested that we go ahead and head to the hospital once we got out of the shower. I was glad that she had suggested that because I was feeling a little lightheaded and slightly nauseous, probably more from being anxious than from anything else, but it did worry me a little and I felt like there had been some changes. I also did not want to have to sit through all the stuff they do in triage while I was in a lot of pain, and I knew the hard stuff was coming soon.

When we got to triage, we were sent back so that I could be checked again. The same ER doctor from our first visit was there and she asked if I was going to let them keep me this time. At this point I was 6 cm, so I was admitted. We gave the nursing staff our birth plan and from there on out, they followed everything completely. I wasn’t sure how it all would work, but I was pleasantly surprised. We never had to ask for them to do anything specific because they followed it perfectly. They then inserted a heplock (instead of an IV) and then took us to our room. The heplock made it so there was a place to give me fluids or medication if needed, but I didn’t have to be hooked up to the IV pole the entire time.  At this point, I was still feeling the contractions but I could easily breathe through them.

When we got to the room, I decided I wanted to rest just a little while the contractions weren’t so bad. I got into the bed so they could monitor the baby. (We had requested intermittent monitoring which translated to about 20 minutes of monitoring every hour.) My husband was using heat packs on my back while Megan rubbed my feet to keep me relaxed. I also turned on our “Early Labor” playlist. Even though I may have technically been in active labor, I felt like calming music would be more effective at that point. I kept thinking about how different this labor already was from the first time. I couldn’t believe that I was able to tolerate these contractions so easily. Even the nurse commented about how relaxed I was when she came to check in on us.

A little later, I decided to get up and try to get things moving. During that time, I got in the shower several times, used the birthing ball, and tried to do some squats, though squatting during contractions got more and more painful as the contractions got more intense. I also used my “Active Labor” playlist I had put together beforehand. It finally got to the point where I couldn’t talk through the contractions very easily. The nurse came in to check for progress and I was in between a 6 and a 7. I remember feeling very discouraged and saying that I didn’t think I could do this anymore, but Megan and Eric kept reassuring me that I could. Things continued to get more intense and more painful, and at the next cervical check, I was finally at 7 cm and my cervix had completely moved forward. I felt like it took forever to get from 6 to 7 but Megan continued to assure me that things would probably (hopefully) move more quickly at this point.

Throughout the night, our doctor had been dropping in just to see how things were going. I found out later he had at least 2 other VBAC’s going on and other doctors kept asking him to scrub in on their c sections because he was there, so he had a really busy night! Around 12:30 or 1:00 in the morning, he stopped in and was trying to decide if he should go home or just crash there at the hospital. When he was told my water was still intact, he opted to go home. He told the nurse to call if anything changed and if not, he would see me in the morning. As he was leaving, I remember saying “I am NOT doing this until morning!” Megan had to remind me that things could change very quickly and that I may not be doing this until morning.

By this time, we were trying to get my water to break so that things would pick up. I kept wanting to get in the shower but even that wasn’t working as well as it had been to cope with the contractions. I was really worn out and tired and all I really wanted to do was lay down and rest, but that was no longer an option because the contractions were too intense and it took a lot of focus and concentration to get through them. I also remember feeling really hot from the hot showers and the heat packs. Megan and Eric kept turning the air up for me even though they were both freezing. I laughed when they finally told me they were cold, because I am typically cold and Eric is almost always hot, so for him to be cold meant that it must have really been cold.

At one point, I ended up back in the shower and begging both Megan and Eric for “funny stories” to try to distract myself from the pain. Megan kept asking me to do the squats during the contractions to get my water to break, but it was so painful that I either “couldn’t” do it or “couldn’t” do it for very long. Luckily, after just a few of them, my water broke part of the way. I remember standing in the shower and all of a sudden seeing a big rush of blood going down the drain. Immediately afterwards, I started to feel a lot of pressure and felt almost like I had to push. Megan insisted that I get out of the shower as soon as the contraction was over. She told me to make my way to the bed and she would call the nurse so that I could be checked again. We thought we were getting close and if so, we needed to call the doctor as soon as possible so that he could get back to the hospital in time to deliver the baby. While I know another doctor could have done it, we had developed a really positive relationship with our doctor and we knew he was ok with everything we had planned. When the nurse came in and checked me again, she said I was 9 cm, and my water finished breaking while I was lying in the bed. I knew we had to be getting close, because I felt really strong urges to push and I wasn’t really able to keep from pushing. My doctor was called and I was told that he would be there shortly and that he was only 10 minutes away. At that point, the whole “team” started to show up for the birth. I remember trying to make jokes to distract myself from the pain. I’m pretty sure I said this was our last child because I “wasn’t going to do this again.” Then, I said something like “I guess it’s too late for the epidural.”

I remember being on the bed on my hands and knees and trying to breath in such a way to keep myself from pushing until I was in a position I could easily deliver in. I ended up in this position only because it allowed me to rock back and forth to cope with the contractions. I was in this position for quite awhile but the nurse couldn’t get a good heart rate on the baby. I also did not plan to deliver in this position but felt like I was stuck and couldn’t get turned around very easily. The ER doctor (the same one from before!) was called to my room in case my doctor didn’t make it. Apparently (though I didn’t hear it), she made a comment that that position was a hard one to deliver in and that she would need me to be on my back if she was going to deliver the baby. It’s probably a good thing I didn’t hear that comment, because even though I wasn’t sure of the position I wanted to be in when I delivered, I knew for sure that I did not want to be on my back. (I delivered Anya while on my back and it felt really unnatural to do it that way.) While I was waiting for my doctor to arrive, I couldn’t not push. I will never understand how some women are told to wait to push for whatever reason because it really was not an option. At that point, it was involuntary and the contractions pushed the baby down further even if I didn’t consciously try to bear down. I remember saying that I had to push, though Megan was trying to get me to just “nudge” a little. She knew it was important to me that our doctor be the one to deliver the baby so she was trying to help me buy a little more time until he could get there.

It’s really funny what I remember and the thoughts that ran through my head while I was in transition and pushing. I was trying so hard to focus but I heard bits and pieces of conversations going on around me. I remember walking out of the bathroom completely naked even though a bunch of nurses were showing up for the birth. I remember not caring until they told me my doctor was in the building, and then all of a sudden, I was worried about making sure I had some kind of clothing on. Apparently, that was all in my head, though, because no one else remembers me saying anything about it. I also remember hearing some of the nurses comment that I was “so controlled.” I remember thinking it was funny, because I didn’t always feel “controlled!” Afterwards, one of them said I did better than some of their epidural patients, so at least I didn’t get mean or anything at the end.

When my doctor finally arrived, he made some joke about being confused and almost driving to the wrong hospital. I was told later that he also commented about having never delivered a baby in the position I was pushing in. However, Megan thought he would have been up for it but wasn’t sure how he was going to do it at that point. As I was pushing, I remember Megan saying that I could make noise but to make low sounds. I remember reading about that in an Ina May Gaskin book…something about how low sounds help to open things up down below, so I tried my best to do that.

I remember bits and pieces of the music that was playing at certain times. Bob Marley was on at some point after our doctor arrived, because I remember him commenting on it. It’s Time by Imagine Dragons came on right as we were getting ready to push the baby out and I remember Eric and Megan commenting that it was fitting. At some point, we switched to my “Pushing” playlist and I think a Bon Jovi song was playing when Felix was born, just because I remember our doctor saying something about really liking that song. Unfortunately, we totally forgot to switch the music to the “After” playlist once Felix was here, but we have been listening to that in the mornings at our house instead.

Eventually I was able to turn on my side so that they could get a heart rate to be sure the baby was tolerating this stage of labor, and thankfully, he was. He crowned while I was in a side-lying position but I eventually ended up sitting up at the edge of the bed with my feet in the pedals. Just being able to sit up made it so much easier than being flat on my back. Our son was delivered in this position. It felt like it took forever to push him out, but my husband swears it was only 10 or 20 minutes. I remember the doctor saying "hold on" and then saying that he had to move Felix's hand out of the way. Apparently, our little guy tried to come out with his hand up by his face. The doctor moved his hand out of the way so he wouldn't twist his arm when he came out and then Felix reached out and grabbed the doctor's hand. I remember hearing the doctor say something like "he's strong!"

They handed me our son immediately afterwards while he was still attached. I remember wondering why he wasn’t crying as someone suctioned him, but it took only a few seconds after that for him to open his mouth and cry a little. I kept trying to pull him closer to me because I forgot that we had asked them to pulse the cord for at least 3 minutes. After about 3 minutes, my husband cut the cord and I was able to pull him closer to me so we could nurse. Looking back, it’s a good thing I wasn’t on my back or the cord probably wouldn’t have stretched far enough for me to hold him immediately after he was born. I either wouldn’t have gotten him right away or they wouldn’t have been able to pulse the cord.

One thing I hadn’t given much thought to when planning a natural birth is that I would be able to feel everything afterwards so much more. For example, this time I could actually feel the placenta being delivered and they even asked me to push a little to help get it out. I had some second degree tears that needed to be repaired and because I didn’t have an epidural, I was able to feel the needle go in that would numb things while my doctor did the repairs. It wasn’t nearly as bad as what I had just gone through and it wouldn’t have changed my mind about how we wanted to do things, but I had totally forgotten about this part. Luckily, I was holding my son, so I was very easily distracted. The staff delayed all of the newborn procedures until after we had had a chance to bond, as was stated in our birth plan. It was so cool to know that I was one of the first things Felix saw when he entered the world as his own little person.

 

When people ask me how long our labor was, I don't really know what to say. I feel like we had bouts of early labor for weeks beforehand, but none of it was too intense or difficult. I think we arrived at the hospital around 9:30 in the evening and Felix was born at 3:37 am, which comes out to be about 6 hours of labor at the hospital. However, the hard stuff didn't start until I was halfway between 6 and 7 cm. My guess is that the difficult part of my labor was probably something like 4 hours. Ultimately, our doctor was totally right about things going quickly once my water was broken. I don't know the exact times, but I would guess that Felix was probably born within an hour after my water broke in the shower.

I do have to admit that immediately after Felix’s birth, I remember thinking that I didn’t know if I ever wanted to do that again. That being said, once I had the time to process the whole experience over the next week, the more I realized how glad I was to have had the experience we had. Even now, a little over 3 weeks later, I still can’t believe we were able to do everything completely naturally and without medical intervention. It was really cool to allow things to happen the way they are supposed to and to not be made to feel that we needed any kind of medical intervention. And while it was frustrating to wait to have our baby until 41 weeks, it was well worth the wait to be able to have the experience we had. While we were waiting for Felix, almost everyone we knew who was pregnant had all had their babies, either due to elective inductions or inductions related to medical reasons. Though we didn’t feel so lucky, I suppose we really should be thankful that I was healthy enough throughout our pregnancies to carry both our children past 40 weeks and that I was able to work right up until we had them. We should also be grateful that both our children were healthy enough that we could wait it out.

Having had two completely different birth experiences, I noticed a lot of differences between the two. Stay tuned for another post discussing my comparison between the two births and reflections on my postpartum recovery with Felix.

10 Things You Should Never Say to a Woman Who Is Nine Months Pregnant

Since I recently gave birth at 41 weeks, I got a lot of random comments from people - mostly people I didn't know, which was always interesting. I guess people don't realize that women who are 9 months pregnant, especially when they have gone past their due dates, are very hormonal and to make any of these comments or ask any of these questions is opening you up for all sorts of things.

Disclaimer: I am sure that I have said one or more of these things in my lifetime, but now I know better! This post is not meant to offend anyone who has made these (common) "mistakes" and should be taken with a grain of salt;)

Here is my list of top 10 things you should never say to a woman who is 9 months pregnant.

1. "Are you sure you're only having one baby?"

I suppose it's possible to be carrying multiples and not know it, but if I knew I were carrying multiples, then why would I tell you I was only pregnant with one baby. Besides, it would be highly unlikely that a second baby wouldn't have shown up on an ultrasound by this point in a pregnancy.

2. "What are you doing at work?" (When the person finds out your baby was due last week.)

Yeah, I'm at work. Where else would I be?

3. "How far will your doctor let you go?"

I guess I will "go" until the baby decides he/she is ready....and it's not just my doctor's decision. I am in charge of my body, thank you very much.

4. "So when is your induction scheduled?"

It's not. Not everyone wants to pump themselves full of drugs to force a baby out before he/she is ready if there is no medical reason to do so, no matter how miserable or frustrated they feel.

5. "You look like you're ready to pop!"

Thanks...just in case the amount of weight I've gained this pregnancy doesn't make me feel bad at all, your comment sure helped out with that!

6. "So when are you going to have that baby?"

Seriously?! If I knew when I was going to "have that baby," don't you think I would just tell you? And I would be much happier and more comfortable if I knew the answer to that, too. Unfortunately, though, babies don't usually tell you when they plan to come out...

7. "When does the doctor think the baby will be born?"

Doctors are not fortune tellers. They really have no idea. They can guess, and some of them do, but it really doesn't mean anything. I don't think our doctor really thought we would make it to 40 weeks, but we got to 41 weeks before Felix decided to show up. Again, babies come when they're ready and not before.

8. "How big does the doctor think the baby will be?"

This is another one of those things that the doctor really doesn't know. Ultrasounds can be off up to 2 pounds above or below the "guess." We had ultrasounds with both our children and both were off. Anya was almost a pound less than what they projected the day before and Felix was a half pound more than what was projected the day before. I have known people whose ultrasound weight "guesses" were right on, so you just never really know. Our doctor also "guessed" the weight of Felix by feeling him inside my belly, but guess what? His guesses were never consistent from week to week, because it is just a guess.

9. "How much weight did you gain?"

Seriously, just don't even go there. I don't think this needs any explanation. Thankfully, no one ever really asked me this, but it is definitely on the list of things not to ask!

10. "You don't want the baby to get too big...."

Supposedly, babies gain approximately a half a pound a week during the last several weeks of pregnancy. However, as I mentioned before, ultrasounds can be way off. I am sure that in some select cases, a baby that's is really "big" (whatever that means to you) can cause problems, especially when there are medical conditions involved (such as gestational diabetes, etc.), but in most cases, the baby will probably be as big as he/she should be. According to our doula, "your body typically will not create a baby that you cannot birth." There are exceptions to that from time to time, but even the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is now saying that a suspected "big" baby is not necessarily a legitimate reason for an early induction. (I should say that every case is different and should be discussed with a doctor you trust...induction isn't always "bad" and there are reasons for them sometimes.) I am convinced that since most women do not make it to 40 weeks (much less beyond that) so people aren't used to hearing what a typical baby would weigh if born at 40, 41, or (gasp!) 42 weeks.....

I have definitely caught myself getting ready to make some of these comments without thinking, but having had two children who were born past their due dates, I am now learning to think twice before I speak.

Yes, I was uncomfortable, exhausted, and ready at 41 weeks, but the worst part of going that far was the shocking looks and comments I got because I did not have an induction date set. Even when calling the doctor's office at 39 weeks to schedule my 40 week appointment, the receptionist seemed to be trying to hide how surprised she was that I did not have an induction scheduled already. Luckily, I was perfectly healthy and so was our son...not everyone gets that lucky! As I watched everyone else who was pregnant (with due dates around mine) have their babies, I have to admit I was a little jealous. However, most of them were due to either elective inductions or inductions due to medical-related issues. I guess I should consider myself lucky to have been healthy enough to carry both of our children past 40 weeks. I can say that, especially this time around, waiting an extra week or two was well worth it to get the have the experience we had!

March

I realize I am almost 3 weeks late in writing an update about my goals and how we did in March. What can I say? We've been a little busy;)

1. Exercise: I actually did pretty well in March. The weather was kind of back and forth but I really tried to do as much walking as possible. Mostly this was to try to induce labor, but it counts!

2. Reading: I think this slowed down a little. At the end of March, I believe I had read 5 books and 4 e-books. I also think I had started on the sixth book but hadn't quite finished it. The Bible reading ensued as well!

3. Writing: I wrote several blog posts during March and did one at least once a week. They were mostly all on this blog, so I need to step it up on the others at some point.

4. MT Business: I really did nothing new with my business, simply because I was in survival mode until the baby came. I worked hard to keep up with all my billing as closely as possible so I wouldn't have as much to do after Felix arrived. I also worked out a few things for some of the coverage I had planned for while I was gone.

5. House Projects: I went through a few drawers and other things during March, but that was about all I had time for. Most of our time was spent getting things set up for Felix.

6. Finances: Thanks to our tax return, we were able to save a ton of money this month! That being said, I don't know what our hospital bills will be this time around, so hopefully we won't be pulling all of it right back out.

We did pretty well with eating out and were able to stay under budget, and we also came out a little over $100 under budget with our groceries and toiletries, so I was pretty happy with that.

7. Miscellaneous: By the end of March, we had 16 meals frozen in the freezer. I figured we would just keep cooking until Felix arrived. At least it gave me something to do!

We also spent a lot of time working on getting things together for Baby Felix. I also tried my best to get a nap on days I didn't work, just in case we went into labor. Another thing I tried to do was spend as much time with Anya as I could since I knew things would change after he was born. One morning we spent fingerpainting:

 

 

 

 

One afternoon, I took her to get our nails done and out for ice cream. Hopefully, we can do that again soon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Felix's Birth Story: Part 1 - Beforehand

Part 1: Beforehand

With this pregnancy, I had contractions probably starting somewhere around 36 weeks, which I hoped would mean that we would actually have this child a little early. We went over our due date with our daughter and it was frustrating to have everyone constantly asking when we were going to induce. As everyone knows by now, little Felix had his own plans, but he was well worth the wait to get to do things the way we had hoped and planned!

For this pregnancy (our second), we switched to an OB who was willing to allow us to do things as naturally as possible at the hospital. Also, not only was he willing to allow us to do things naturally, he was also very supportive and respectful of our wishes throughout the pregnancy. In addition, we hired a doula (at his suggestion) to increase our chances of doing things this way. My main goals were to allow our son to choose his own due date (so no scheduled induction!), to have a vaginal birth, and to do things as naturally as possible with as little medical intervention as possible, assuming both he and I were safe. I was hoping to be able to do it without pain medication and everything in our birth plan was based on both of us tolerating labor appropriately. Of course, if something had come up, we would have changed our plans immediately to keep the two of us safe and healthy. Luckily, we had no issues.

The Monday before he was born (April 2), we had an ultrasound with a BPP (biophysical profile) and an appointment with our doctor. Everything checked out fine on the BPP, so there were no concerns about the baby at all. In fact, our doctor gave us the actual report and Felix had earned an 8/8 on the scoring.

In weeks prior, my cervix had still been posterior and we had never had an accurate estimate of how dilated I was, though I had been 80% effaced for weeks, was “very soft” (according to the doctor) and the baby was at the -1 station. The day we met with the doctor at what was our last appointment, I could tell that even he was starting to get a little nervous. If he went by my last menstrual period, the baby had actually been due March 22, though my cycles are always really long so I was certain that was not the correct date to be going by. According to the dating ultrasound, he was due March 26, but my charting showed March 27. The doctor mentioned that if we did need to induce he would just break my water so that I could still do the rest of the labor without being hooked up to IVs and Pitocin, etc. He insisted that this being the second time my body had gone through a labor and delivery and with everything being so “favorable,” things would go quickly once my water was broken. We consented to try a membrane sweep to see if that worked first. Though I would rather have not had any kind of intervention, a membrane sweep was really the only thing I was comfortable with doing because it is relatively low risk. Fortunately, during the cervical check, the doctor said my cervix had moved forward quite a bit, I was 90% to completely effaced, still “very soft,” and 3 cm (though he said he could have “stretched it to 4” if he wanted). He did the sweep but admitted there wasn’t much left to “sweep” because things had already started to separate on their own. He seemed encouraged by the progress and thought it would only be a day or two until we went into labor. However, he suggested that if Felix hadn’t come on his own by the weekend that we consider letting him break my water to get things started. We went ahead and scheduled an appointment for the following week, though I had a feeling we wouldn’t need it.

We went back home and I had lots of cramping and contractions into the evening. Anya went to stay with my in-laws so that we could try to rest in case we went into labor. Unfortunately, by morning, our contractions had slowed down quite a bit and I felt really discouraged. I spent the day doing some housecleaning and trying to stay busy. I also scheduled an induction massage for that evening to see if it helped. I had contractions throughout the day but nothing too intense or consistent at that point.

Right around lunchtime, I felt what I thought might have been my water breaking. I called Megan (our doula) and we decided to stay home for a couple of hours and do some walking to see if we could get things going. After a walk a few hours later, we opted to go to the hospital to get it checked out because nothing seemed to really be progressing, so we met Megan at triage. I was so sure it was my water (though just a slow leak) and we were in the process of making a decision about whether or not to allow the doctor to break the rest of my water once we were admitted. The main reason we did not want to artificially break my water in the first place was so I wouldn’t put myself “on the clock,” so to speak, but if it was already broken, then that reason was no longer an issue. Much to our surprise, when the nurse did the litmus test, she confirmed that my water had not been broken, but we were shocked to hear that I was already dilated to 5 cm. I couldn’t believe it because the contractions weren’t bad at all. In our last labor, I had already gotten an epidural at about this point.

The nurse and ER doctor just assumed I wanted to be admitted but we opted to go home because we knew this could go on all night. The ER doctor was not pleased and tried to get us to stay by saying that the baby’s heart rate had dropped while they had been monitoring, though the times it had dropped happened to be the same times that I had been on my back for cervical checks. She also made several comments about my pregnancy having already been 41 weeks and insisted there was no reason why someone at this stage in pregnancy couldn’t be given Pitocin and have the baby. She clearly did not like that we had waited for our son to come on his own and that we were currently 41 weeks. I really wanted to remind her that not everyone wanted to use drugs to force the baby out when there was no medical indication for it, but I didn’t. When I told her I thought we were fine and would like to go home, she insisted that I would have to have another BPP to confirm that the baby was fine. At that point, we asked to speak to our own doctor to get his opinion. When he arrived, he said he wouldn’t break my water that night (even if we wanted him to) because he didn’t like to start things like that in the evening when we would already be tired. He also looked at the baby’s heart rate and said it was “beautiful” and that there was no reason to keep me at the hospital. So we left. Of course as soon as we got back to the car, my contractions had seemed to become more regular. I had a feeling that we would be back at some point that night.

Birth Plan

As I am working on writing Felix's birth story, I have been reflecting back on the birth plan we wrote months ago. I have been referring back to it to see how close we were to following it and I think we pretty much followed just about everything in it for the most part. Here is a look at what we had planned. Hopefully, the full story will be finished soon! (There is a section about my wishes should things end in a c section, but I did not post it here because, thankfully, that didn't happen.)

MISSION

We are planning a natural vaginal birth with as few medical interventions as possible. We realize that certain circumstances may call for medical intervention. If this happens, we ask for informed consent and would like to be involved in the decision-making process. My husband and our doula will be my support team and we prefer to be assigned to a nurse who is supportive of and willing to help us achieve a natural birth. Thank you for your assistance with our birth.
*My blood type is O- and our baby’s blood is incompatible, so I will require Rhogam after his birth.

LABOR

·         Please notify Dr. Scordalakes when we are in labor, even if he is not on call.

·         We prefer to use natural pain management techniques whenever possible. Please do not offer pain medication; I will ask for it if I need it.

·         We prefer a saline lock instead of an IV to allow for more movement.

·         We request intermittent fetal monitoring, unless there is a medical indication for continuous monitoring.

·         We prefer to use natural methods to augment labor (if necessary) and would like to wait for my water to break on its own.

·         I plan to eat and drink lightly as needed.

 

DELIVERY

·         During delivery, I would like to be in a position that is comfortable for me and would like to push spontaneously. We would also like to push without time limits, as long as both myself and our baby are not at risk.

·         I would prefer to use perineal massage, warm compresses, and position changes before resorting to an episiotomy, even if it means I may experience a tear.

·         After delivery, we would like to allow the umbilical cord to pulsate for at least 3 minutes before cutting it. Please allow my husband to cut the cord.

·         I would like the baby placed on my chest immediately after delivery for skin to skin contact and want to breastfeed as soon as possible. Please delay newborn procedures until we have had a chance to bond and breastfeed.

BABY

·         We prefer for our baby’s medical exam, procedures, and bath to be done in the room.

·         Our baby will be breastfed only. No formula or pacifiers.

Just For Me...

To counteract all the hormones, lack of sleep, and overall stress I am expecting now that this little bundle of joy has FINALLY made his arrival, I am working on coming up with things I can do just for myself in the next few weeks or so...

1. A week or so ago, Groupon had a great deal for a Starbucks giftcard (pay $5 for a $10 giftcard). I got one for myself and am looking forward to some caffeinated goodness (spaced out between the nursing, of course).

2. When I went in for a prenatal massage a couple of weeks ago, I had a different therapist than I had originally scheduled with because my original therapist was sick. This therapist is working on her lymp drainage training and told me to give her a call after I have the baby and she will come to my house and give me a free treatment. There's no way I would turn down any kind of free massage! And this should help some of the water retention to go away sooner rather than later...

3. For those of you who know us well, we love to have a glass of wine (or two) on occasion (ok, frequently). I have missed my glass of dry red more during this pregnancy than my first, so I am really looking forward to having some. Of course, the timing will be spaced appropriately with nursing so that no babies are harmed in the process;)

 

The bottle on the left is a bottle that Eric and Anya gave me for after the baby is born. It is a Chilean wine that is our favorite and our normal go-to wine. The 3 bottles on the right are from our European trip last May. Because we got pregnant within only a couple months of returning home, we didn't have time to drink all of it beforehand.

 

 

This is a part of a sample pack we bought while in Boppard, Germany. It is a really big wine region so we bought this package while there so we could try a little of several things.

 

4. This isn't necessarily "just for me," but a couple of months ago, we found a great deal on Groupon Getaways for the Chattanooga Choo Choo in Chattanooga. We had been trying to decide where to go on vacation this year and we were hoping to be able to go while I am off on maternity leave. Chattanooga was one of our options and this kind of settled the deal for us. We got a room that cost less than $100 a night and includes a $25 restaurant credit every day that we are there (which is 5 nights). There are several restaurants at the hotel to choose from and this will certainly help cut down on costs. We have done a couple of weekend trips since returning from Europe last May but don't have anything "big" planned for the near future until we see how our new little one deals with travel. I am looking forward to getting out of town by ourselves (that doesn't have to do with a wedding, holiday, family get-together, but is just for the sake of travelling) for even just a few days.

 

5. While I was pregnant, I opted not to continue getting highlights. Even though it is probably fine, our doctor said it's always better just to wait until after the pregnancy if possible. It wasn't that big of a deal and saved us quite a bit of money, so I have not had it done since last summer. I already have an appointment made so that I can have it done. I hate to start spending the money again, but it will be nice to feel good about something since it will take awhile to get all the weight off again.

 

6. Now that I'm no longer pregnant, I don't have to follow all the "food rules" of pregnancy, other than the seafood rule of no more than 2 6-ounce servings a week (because we are breastfeeding). It is nice to no longer have to worry about the "good" cheeses being pasteurized, Caesar salads, cold deli sandwiches, etc.

 



Baby Brother Is Finally Here!

Anya's baby brother FINALLY made his appearance early Wednesday morning (3:37 am to be exact). My theory is that he wanted to wait just a little longer until the weather was a little nicer. Felix Todd was 8 pounds, 9 ounces and 21 inches. He passed all his tests with flying colors and neither of us had any complications or concerns during labor and delivery or in postpartum recovery. We were discharged from the hospital yesterday morning and are adjusting to life as a family of 4. So far, Anya is excited to be a Big Sister and has been helping with diapers and wipes and talking and singing to Felix when he cries.

So far, Felix is a lot like his sister. He is catching on to nursing really well and is a champion pooper, much to Daddy's dismay. Since Mommy is pretty much in charge of all feeding issues, Daddy is kind of in charge of all the output;)

Here is a quick picture to hold you over until I get a chance to post more!

Also, his newborn nursery pictures are up. Go to https://www2.deaconess.com/bodyTWH.cfm?id=12.

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