Thursday, May 14, 2015

Ian's Birth Story

Nine months later and I'm just now getting around to typing Ian's birth story. Better late than never, right?

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Tuesday night (8/5) at about 10:00 pm, Erik and I were watching TV in the living room. I was lying on the couch and he on our giant ottoman just in front of me. I suddenly felt mildly crampy/uncomfortable. I didn’t think much of it until it happened again about 12 minutes later, and then again 12 more minutes later. It was now around 10:30 and I knew exactly what was happening. I said to Erik, “I’m pretty sure I’m having contractions.” He asked, a little shocked, “Really? So you think he’s going to be here tonight?” I replied, “No, not tonight, but definitely within 24 hours.” We didn’t talk about it anymore and went to bed soon after. Through the night I continued contracting. I was able to sleep well, but 2 or 3 ctx woke me and Erik up as I groaned through them.

Erik’s ridiculous alarm started going off at 5am (!!) every 9 minutes waking me up each time. I also realized the ctx were waking me up more frequently. I began timing them. I think they were about 7 minutes apart. Erik kissed me good bye and left for work at 6. I got out of bed as I heard him drive off (Looking back, I never should have let him leave. I expected to be in labor a bit longer because Stella’s labor took a day and a half). I decided to take a shower.

As I was getting up and around things steadily intensified. I’d have to stop and sway back and forth through contractions at this point, but they were still very manageable. Before I got in the shower I decided to check my cervix to see if it’d changed any from the day before. I’d felt it after my midwife appointment after Sheryl said I was a solid 2cm. I was definitely open more and I could feel my bag of water bulging. My eyes opened wide. I knew this was it.

I was able to shower. When I was in there I had a few ctx. They were about 5 minutes apart and ~30 seconds long and still very manageable. I got out of the shower and realized by tub was filthy so I just had to clean it. I also cleaned the toilet, the sink, and picked up clothes to start a load of laundry. The laundry never made it further than being thrown down to the bottom of the stairs.

I called Sheryl at 6:50 am to tell her I was pretty sure I was in labor, ctx 5 minute apart, able to talk through them. She agreed that it sounded promising and advised me to call back if my water broke, ctx were 2-3 minutes apart of became too intense to focus on anything else through, or at 10 am if none of those things had happened.

When I got off the phone I texted Erik. I told him I’d definitely need him home before lunch. I let him know I’d talked to Sheryl. At 6:53, I called my mom, no answer, so I got dressed and went downstairs. I picked up a bit and bounced on my birth ball a little. I was starting to get a little worried about being alone with Stella, my 3 year old, and caring for her because my ctx were definitely getting stronger.

I got ahold of my mom at 7:15 and said, “It’s baby day! Please come now!” She assured me she’d be here before 9 am. In my mind, I thought, “9?! That’s almost 2 hours! I need someone here now!” I wasn’t scared, I just wanted Stella taken care of while I focused on me.

At 7:25, I got ahold of Staci, my doula, she was going to try to get a sub for her 8 am class and come right away, but wasn’t able to, so another time of shortly after 9 was given.

Again, I began to worry. I quickly made myself stop. Worrying would only make my pain worse. I decided I should eat. Just as I was going to the kitchen, Stella woke up (7:40 am). She wanted help getting dressed. “Oh Jesus, how am I going to get up the stairs without dying,” I thought. I hobbled up to help her dress and brush her teeth, stopping every few minutes to lean over and breathe/yell through contractions. Not really yell, but vocalize loudly.

When I reached her, Stella asked me what was wrong and I told her it was time for baby goose to come out of mama and it was hurting me very much. I assured her that I was alright and I’d do my best to help her. Once she was dressed and had clean teeth we went downstairs to finally eat.

We had oatmeal, Greek yogurt and my favorite tea. Eating while have contractions every three minutes was no easy task, but I got all my food down. I didn’t even finish eating before texting Erik at 7:58 to come home and calling Sheryl at 8:05. I was no longer able to sit or talk through the pains. I was getting pretty loud and I was beginning to shake and sweat during them. Sheryl was on her way at 8:20 am. I decided I should let my dad know what was going on so I called him and let him know I was in labor and that my midwife was on her way and that I’d let him know when baby was here. After I got off the phone I put Beauty and the Beast on TV for Stella so I could focus on what was going on in my body for almost the first time since it started.

My mom arrived at 8:15, just as Erik texted me that he was on his way home. When she got here, she greeted Stella and me and saw the state I was in. We went upstairs to start filling the pool. I’m very glad it was already blown up in our room. That was one of the only things that went right with the darn thing. Mom took the hose to the bathroom to hook it up while I labored standing up and bent over my bed. I began to hear lots of expletives coming from her direction. The hose didn’t fit. Shit. So she started filing with our trash can. That was working just fine. She filled while I labored.

Erik got home at 8:30 and quickly left to run to ACE to get a different connector so the hose fit. While he was gone, during contractions my body started involuntarily pushing. I was trying my hardest not to fight against it, but not totally give into the pushing either. I had no idea how dilated I was (I thought about checking, but I didn’t know what 10cm felt like, so I didn’t) and my water hadn’t broken yet.

At 8:45, Erik got back, hooked up the hose and it barely reached from our bathroom to our bedroom! I got in as it kept filling and it felt pretty good. There wasn’t quite enough water to really float around. We filled the pool until the hot water ran out. Getting in the water, Erik finally being home and there being someone available to watch Stella seemed to relax me quite a bit. I wasn’t ‘pushy’ during contractions anymore and I was able to be fully aware and calm in between them. Stella got in the pool with me for a few minutes, but she was too loud and distracting during contractions so we had her get out.

Sheryl arrived at 9:15 and set up shop. At the end of my appointment the day before, we joked that we expected to see each other again soon, but not the very next day. Her arrival eased my mind even more. Staci arrived right after Sheryl and jumped right in.

Sheryl was preparing to check my dilation and I said, “Oh please tell me I’m at least 8 or 9cm.” She smiled and said, “Even better, you’re at 10. You can start pushing whenever you’re ready.” I was so incredibly relieved. I didn’t really feel like I needed to push anymore, so I waited and had a few more ctx. I experience the calm before the storm that happens for some women when they’re completely dilated. It was cool. I wasn’t exhausted or anything. I felt exhilarated and excited and ready to meet Mr. Baby. Once the ctx picked back up I tried pushing a bit. Hands and knees didn’t do much, so I, reluctantly, got into a sitting/reclined position. I say reluctantly because it hurt to move! Leaning over the size of the pool was so comfortable. At one point, we weren’t sure if my water had broken yet. I was pretty sure it hadn’t, but, still, wasn’t sure. I asked Sheryl to check and while she was a contraction started and POP! I couldn't get the hang of pushing in the pool so after about 20 minutes we decided to move to the bed.

Sheryl set Erik up on our bed with pillows on him so I could lean against him. When I moved over there, I was afraid I wasn’t going to be able to get on the bed because it hurt to lift up my leg to climb on. I finally got up and comfortable, and the fun (ha!) began. I pushed and pushed and pushed for what felt like forever. I don’t really think I got the hang of pushing until close to the end. I got a good handle on it when I started to actually feel him moving down. It was amazing. I saw his head with the mirror and it was so motivating after feeling like nothing I was doing was productive.

Pushing was tough because my contractions were pretty spaced out and not lasting very long. I could only get a couple good pushes out of one. Sheryl noticed as his head was coming down he was bringing the anterior lip of my cervix with him and it was acting like a rubber band shooting him back up when I’d stop pushing.  During one of my last few ctx she pushed the lip back as I pushed and HOLY SHIT did it hurt!! It worked though. I’m pretty sure I screamed. Two more ctx and he was out. During my last contraction I was able to get 3 good pushes out of it and out came his head. Sheryl delivered his shoulders and I finished pulling him out and up to me! It was miraculous. He cried and cried and cried beautiful noise! We waited until his cord was empty to cut it. Feeling the differences in it was amazing.

My placenta delivered 4 minutes later. MW said it was one of the quickest she’d seen. Baby was just a yelling away the whole time. While we were lying there with him Erik told me we could name him Ian if I wanted to. (This was prompted by a conversation we had a couple nights ago about me not really loving the name he had picked out. We talked about a few names and decided to name him when he arrived) I asked him if he was sure and said we could wait to name him. He insisted. After a little bit, we got up and I got into the bath to warm him up. Sheryl helped me wipe him off in there a bit because he still had lots of vernix on him. We eventually got out and dressed because I was starving. We went downstairs to relax and I ate and Ian nursed for forever! Sheryl briefed us on the next 24 hours and let us know she’d be in to check on us in the morning before she went into the office and that was that. My doula left shortly after and my mom shortly after her and then it was just us 4 snug and cozy at home.

He was born at 10:36 am, just 4 and a half hours after labor really started. He weighed 6 pounds and 9 ounces. We’re not sure exactly how long he was. Sheryl measured 20”, but our pediatrician measured 18.5”. It doesn’t matter anyway. He was absolutely perfect! 

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

38 weeks OUT!

Ian has been out in the world for as long as he was in my belly! I don't refer to his age in weeks. I stopped that a long time ago :) He's 8 1/2 months old.



How.did.this.happen?! I blinked and he was this big.

We haven't been to the pediatrician since 6 months, so I'm not 'official' on his stats, but he weighs about 22 pounds and is 27.5 inches long. He's short and chubby :D 

He's an expert crawler and is getting fast! He pulls up to everything and started cruising last night! 

He's finally outgrowing his hate for his car seat. Boy, is that a relief.

He is still nursing like a champ and shows no signs of stopping. I won't cut him off before he's ready anyway. 

He occasionally enjoys solid food. There's nothing he's tried and not liked. He prefers finger foods to being spoon fed. He's working really hard to master his pincer grasp. It's cute to watch him concentrate on picking up little pieces of food! 

He wakes up at least once or twice a night. I honestly can't tell you how often or how many times for sure because I don't wake up and check the clock. I pull him to me from his bed extender and latch him on and we go back to sleep. I get sleep. He get's sleep. It works for us.

He's a very, very sweet baby. He's silly and playful and serious and smart. He's calm as can be, just like Stella was.

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I still have about 10 pounds of baby weight left to lose. I'm going to blame breastfeeding for making me hang onto the extra fat for baby. I haven't really been doing anything to promote weight loss and I'm not super worried about it. I would really like for all my clothes to fit be again soon, though.

Things have been rough emotionally for me lately. I'm involved in a lot right now: kids, daycare kid, household stuff, school, potentially getting a job. I think I have off a little more than I can chew right now. It'll get better once everything all the scheduling gets smoothed out. 

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

DIY Babywearing Coat Zip In Insert

This is my very first tutorial for anything so bear with me through it! 

What you need:
- Sewing machine
- 1/2 yard fleece
- 24" jacket zipper (make sure it fits the coat you'll be using)
- 9" unstretched strip 1/4" braided elastic (for head opening)
- 10" unstretched strip 1/4" braided elastic (for bottom)
- Safety pin or elastic threader














Steps:
 Cut fleece with right sides together to your 1/2 yard is 25" long

Pin the short sides and sew across leaving 1/2" unsewn at the beginning and end of each row. Use about a 1/2" seam allowance

Long sides remain open at this point.

Turn work right side out.
Top stitch 1/2" from the seam still leaving 1/2" unsewn at the beginning and end of each row.

Thread elastic now. Pin in place to hold.

Sew in place where you've pinned.


Pin both zippers in place starting at the bottom and working up. 

Fold any extra material under and tuck in at the top once you get there.

Attach zipper foot to your machine and sew zipper on. This can be done without a zipper foot. Just set your needle position all the way to one side

When you get to the end of the 'female' zipper raise your presser foot and push the zipper back so it's out of the way to continue sewing to the end. Back stitch several times at the beginning and ends of the zippers.



 Zip it in and wear all the babies!!



Thursday, September 18, 2014

6 weeks old

How is my sweet, precious boy 6 weeks old already?! I'll never stop feeling like he was just born yesterday, but been here a million years.




He's still a very calm baby. He doesn't like to be put down much, and luckily that doesn't bother me. He stays awake quite a bit during the day and he's an alert little fella. His night of sleep starts around 7pm and he wakes up every 3-4 hours until 7 ish. 



He's still nursing incredibly well. It shows in his growth! He weighs 11 pounds and is 22 inches long (20 inches at birth ended up being accurate). He's currently going through another growth spurt and nursing non stop during the day! He's in his 0-3 month clothes and, after the last few come out of the dryer, I'm packing up his newborn cloth diapers ::insert sad face here:: Stella was in newborn diapers until she was almost 12 weeks old (she also wasn't 11 pounds until she was closer to 2.5 months). 




Stella absolutely loves brother. She's an excellent helper and she loves holding him.


Here are some pictures now to catch up :D


Little guy is a happy belly sleeper

Ian with great grandma Sherry & grandpa Ron

3 weeks old in the first onesie he ever wore

First ride on mama's back

Sleepy, smiley boy

Enjoying some naked time outdoors

His perfect little hair swirl

The one picture he's even remotely looked like me! 

Thursday, August 14, 2014

1 week old

A week! How has is already been a week since this little guy entered the world? It seems like just yesterday, but a million years ago at the same time. I feel like I've known him all my life. We informally celebrated by having lunch with grandma Shelley yesterday. It was a very lovely day.
2am with a belly full of milk and a dry butt. 

He is an excellent baby. He's very calm and relaxed and everything we could ever ask for. He rarely cries. I know he's hungry because he'll fuss a bit. He doesn't care for having his diaper changed. He nurses about every 2 hours. His latch is beautiful. Night time is going well since he's not a crier. He wakes up between every 2 and 4 hours, nurses, gets a clean diaper and is fine. Sometimes he'll be awake still, but is content to just snuggle me while I go back to sleep. 

I feel like I have so much to say about him, but I can't manage to verbalize any of it. A new baby, a new addition to a family is such a beautiful thing: a gift, a journey, a blessing. I can't begin to describe the feeling of one's own heart growing to make more room for more love for a new person, but it's miraculous. I didn't know how it would be possible to love another baby the way I love Stella. I feared they'd have to share love, but I was absolutely wrong. 


Cloth diapering is going well (Erik's even been helping wash them!). He fits in all his newborn diapers and probably will for quite some time. Sweet pea has the chickenest of chicken legs!

On Monday, Ian had his first pediatrician appointment. He's perfect in every way (of course, I didn't need anyone to tell me that). He had a touch of jaundice and we did a day on the bili blanket. That was no big deal. His numbers were: 19 on Monday, 17 on Tuesday (after the day on the blanket), and 15.4 on Wednesday. He weighed 6 pounds 4 ounces (a very, very acceptable weight loss) and we discovered that he's much shorter than we had though. Sheryl measured him at 20", but at the doctor he was only 18 3/4". He's a shorty like sister. His head circumference is 12.25". He'll go back next Thursday for his 2 week check up. 

Monday, he also visited the chiropractor for the first time. She mentioned that he just had a slight rotation of his spine and got him straightened out. He slept right through his adjustment. Why do babies need chiropractic care?

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1 week post partum

153 pounds (-12)

(my memory card in my camera took a crap the day he was born, so selfies for the blog it'll have to be ::ugh::)

It's funny to look at pictures of me from the past week because from birth to now I get progressively more tired looking. We've been going to be kind of late and waking up with Stella around 7. The sleep I get is pretty good though. 

I think I can finally talk about cravings again. Since Ian's been born I've craved grilled cheese and apples, New York style cheesecake, Olive Garden and plums. I eat just about in the same schedule he does (every 2-3 hours). There simply is no hunger like that of a nursing mom. I try to drink 150 ounces of water a day. 

At my midwife appointment on Tuesday Sheryl said everything looks and feels excellent. My uterus is shrinking back down nicely and my vulva/bottom area looks wonderful. She commented that if another medical professional happened to look down there and I told them I had a baby a week ago they wouldn't believe me. My bleeding is incredibly light. Not even heavy enough to compare to a regular period. 

I felt like my regular self right away after birth, but if I over did it doing anything I could definitely tell. A week later I'm easing back into doing a little more and I still get tired. Erik was an amazing help the first 5 days or so while I was on orders not to do anything. He did everything without being asked and would tell me to go sit down if he caught me up doing anything. As I've jumped back in his help has diminished a little. I definitely still need help and will probably have to nudge him along with gentle reminders from now on. 

My belly is mostly down. It's just kind of wobbly and that's alright with me for now. I'm not worried about it at all. I wondered if I'd notice any new stretch marks after he came out, but I don't seem to have any. All that's there is what I got from Stella. 

I'll try to write my birth story soon.

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Happy Birthday Sweet Boy


Ian David
6 pounds 9 ounces 
18.75 inches long 
August 6, 2014 at 10:36 am

He is perfect in every way and we are so incredibly in love it is ridiculous. He's a very calm baby and an excellent nurser already :)

He arrived after a very short, rather loud, but calm labor in our bed at home into my hands. 



Tuesday, August 5, 2014

38 weeks

38 weeks

165 pounds

I'm sure glad I didn't gain a bunch of weight in the beginning of this pregnancy because I'd be seriously screwed right now! I think what I'm adding now might just be water weight ðŸ˜“ 

I'm finally starting to notice my belly looking different from when I was pregnant with Stella in the last few weeks.

I'm starting to feel done. I'm not quite so full of energy anymore. I have plenty to do what I need to do, but not much extra. 

I woke up no fewer than 6 times to pee last night. I think I woke up about every 2 or 3 hours. (Maybe my body's way of getting ready for feeding baby?)That sucked. With all the layers on our bed it's been pretty uncomfortable. I've been sleeping alright other than waking up to pee. 

I'm still not having much swelling. If we're outside for too long when it's hot I notice it increase, but when I get back in air conditioning it goes down. 

Baby is definitely getting more cramped. It's starting to become a bit painful when he changes positions and gets his butt up in my ribs. Last night we were sitting in bed and he got so squished up in there I was having a hard time taking a breath.

Thursday after I posted about baby dropping, I got curious. I decided to see if I could check my cervix myself. I was certain it would still be posterior and I wouldn't find it. Much to my surprise, it was right there plain as day. I felt and a finger definitely fit in. It was very short (maybe 1 cm deep) and soft. Then, I felt something solid! It was baby's head! Holy crap, there really is a baby in there and he really is going to come out! I don't know how many finger widths are how many centimeters, so I can't even begin to determine that. I'm dying to hear Sheryl's official thoughts on it today. 

I've been having cramping here and there, off and on all weekend. It never gets regular and only happens once or twice throughout the day. I've definitely been trying to encourage this. I've sat on the birth ball a lot. I had to beg Erik to have sex with me Sunday night. Yesterday I was kind of nauseated all day. I was fed and hydrated, but I still just felt like I gagged whenever I ate or thought about food. I had some diarrhea in the morning ðŸ˜³  I'm never around people so I doubted it was the start of a bug. Things are definitely beginning to happen. I guess the less I have to do when the actual time comes, the better. 

My appointment wasn't until 1 o'clock today! Why did I make it for so late?! It was a pretty uneventful appointment. Sheryl doesn't think I'll make it to 40 weeks. I don't either. I don't think I'll make it to 39. Last week she mentioned stripping my membranes this week, but she didn't mention it today and I didn't bring it up. That's alright. He'll be here soon enough. 
  • Blood pressure was good
  • Baby is head down
  • Dilation: 3
  • Effacement: 80%
  • Station: -2