Adelaide's Birth Story

Since Lincoln was born at 38 weeks and 3 days, by the time the end of week 37 rolled around in my second pregnancy, I was getting pretty anxious.  Of course, the general population of the world (store clerks, random strangers, friends on Facebook) seemed determined to tell me that their "first baby came two weeks early - but then the second one was almost two weeks late!"  Thanks for that.  Super encouraging.

I started feeling some cramping off and on during my 37th week and thought it could be a hopeful sign.  Several times in the week, the weather was nice and as soon as Andrew got home from work, we went outside on a mission to "walk the baby out."  No luck.  When Saturday, November 17 rolled around, it was a gorgeous day and I said "this is it - let's get to work."

We probably walked six miles over the course of the day.  We walked to the thrift store.  Stopped at the hardware store.  Considered going to Walgreens or the movie rental store (I nixed this last idea as I hoped to be in labor, not at home watching a movie).  While we walked, I would have some pretty encouraging contractions, anywhere from every 3-4 minutes to every 10 minutes.  Each time we stopped, though, the contractions mostly stopped too (though the cramping did continue). 

We finally gave up walking after it was dark and getting cold outside.  I bounced on my exercise ball in the living room for a long time and Lincoln tried to climb on my back to have a ride.  It was pretty cute.  By around 7pm, the contractions were still happening every 5-6 minutes even though I wasn't walking.  I started timing them. 

Last pregnancy photo, Saturday night!

By 8:15pm, I decided it was time to call my midwife.  I wasn't convinced that labor was imminent, but after Lincoln's fast delivery, I felt it might be a good idea to find out if I was progressing or if it was nothing.  I had also tested positive this pregnancy for Group Beta Strep and had been told I would need to have an antibiotic treatment at least four hours before delivery for baby's protection.  Since Lincoln was born less than five hours after my water broke (after an epidural that significantly slowed labor down) - and I was having a natural birth this time around, I was worried that there would not be enough time for the treatment unless I went in early.  I actually tried to clear the GBS+ infection up naturally for several weeks before birth to avoid needing the antibiotic - it was not entirely successful, which is why I went ahead with the treatment.  That's another story altogether, though.

My midwife told me that I could come in to the birth center to be checked.  The center is about a 25-minute drive and we arrived around 9pm.  I was dilated to 2.  I was disappointed it wasn't more, but still concerned that labor could move quickly.  The midwife said she didn't think it would be right away and that I should go home and rest.  So we reluctantly left.  Andrew was feeling overwhelmed with exhaustion, so it was probably good we weren't in active labor at that point!

When we got home, we went right to bed.  Andrew was out immediately.  I tossed and turned all night, waking up at least once an hour with cramping or contractions or because Lincoln had made a noise.  Since we were unfortunately in the throes of an ongoing toddler bed battle, Lincoln woke up and crawled into bed with us around 6am.  He nursed back to sleep and I was awake, so I checked my email on my phone - and I started emailing myself the times of my contractions.  I dozed off and on until about 8:20 - the contractions were anywhere from 3-6 minutes apart and felt definitely stronger than they had the night before.  I decided it was time to get up.  Andrew and Lincoln went to play while I took a quick shower.  I was in the shower for ten minutes and had six really strong contractions in that time.  I yelled for Andrew to call my mom to come stay with Lincoln, because we were going back to the birth center.

We were on the way by about 9:20am.  I called my midwife to let her know I was coming back.  She said she wasn't at the birth center and that maybe I should labor awhile at home before making the trip.  I said I really thought I should be checked.  She waited on the line, hoping to hear me breathe through a contraction - naturally I didn't have any during our conversation.  Finally she agreed to come back and check me again, but warned that she probably wouldn't keep me.  We planned to meet at 10am.

Since we were already on the way, we arrived a little early.  I was second-guessing myself at this point, since I had only had a few contractions in the car and they were not as strong.  Andrew suggested that we walk the trail near the birth center until the midwife arrived.  As soon as we started walking, the contractions started again and were about every five minutes apart and fairly strong.

When my midwife arrived, I was dilated to 3-4.  She said she wouldn't send me home, since there had been a change in my dilation, but as I was not yet in active labor, she wanted us to go have breakfast or go walk for an hour and come back to see if I had progressed more.  I asked about my GBS+ and she said we could go ahead and start a central IV line, put in the antibiotic, and give me a saline lock so that I would still be able to walk around.  It took about 35 minutes to get this accomplished.  While waiting, I had been pacing the exam room and the contractions were strong enough that I had to stop to breathe through some of them.  They still weren't what I would define as really painful, more just very strong cramps - but manageable.  Once the IV lock was in, my midwife checked me again.  I was at 6!  In 40 minutes, I had dilated 2-3 centimeters.  She told us not to go to breakfast and that maybe we should go ahead and put our things in a birthing suite before we went walking.  It was almost 11am at this point.

We made one trip to our car and each brought in an armload of stuff.  I was getting excited, we were going to have a baby today!  We took our bags to the birth room and I had to use the restroom.  Before I came out, I had the first contraction that I considered to be really serious - it was painful, it lasted longer than the others had, and I had to really focus to breathe through it.  I remember describing it as "not fun."  When I left the bathroom, my midwife was standing outside the door.  She said "Don't go outside.  I think you should just stay and labor in here." 

I had brought clothes to labor in, so I changed into those and started bouncing on the birthing ball.  I had taken the water birth course offered by my birth center - and while I wasn't planning for a water birth, I had entertained the idea of laboring in water.  The idea crossed my mind at this point, but I thought "there's plenty of time left for that." I was wrong.

While Andrew worked on organizing our things and letting a few family members know that we were in labor, I breathed through about three more contractions at the same level as that first nasty one, and asked Andrew to please rub my shoulders while I bounced on the ball.  With him there, I worked through three or four more contractions that seemed about the same intensity to me.  At this point, my midwife came in and said "are you feeling a lot of pressure?  It kind of sounds to me like you need to push." 

I was floored.  I remembered being in a state of panic when I was in transition in my labor with Lincoln.  These contractions were painful, yes, but there had only been a handful of them and there was no way it could be that easy, right?  I laughed and told her I didn't know if I needed to push, as I had only ever pushed with an epidural.  She asked to check me again during the next contraction and said that I was dilated to 8, but that my cervix was moving out of the way with the contractions - and that I could start pushing. 

I remember looking at Andrew, just shocked at how fast everything was moving!  I asked him to get out the camera so that we could get some photos once the baby arrived!  It took me a couple of contractions to really figure out how to effectively push (something I probably never achieved with Lincoln, thus the vacuum delivery).  My water broke around this time.  Once I knew what to do, I pushed through about three more contractions until she entered the world! 

I was definitely better prepared for this labor than I had been the first time around - but I won't lie and say that made the final moments much easier.  In hindsight, it all went by so quickly, but those last few pushes took everything I had.  Almost two weeks later...I really can't remember the actual pain of delivery.  I just feel a sense of amazement that I was able to do it!

Just after she was born!

Adelaide Rose was born at 11:52am on November 18, 2012.  Yes - less than two hours after we arrived at the birth center.  I am pretty glad that I listened to my mommy instinct; I don't think Andrew would have been pleased if he had to deliver our daughter on the side of a major highway. 

I got to hold her immediately, and did not put her down for well over two hours.  I had a minor tear that needed attention, as well as some excessive bleeding that my midwife and nurse hurried to get under control.  Being able to have Addie lying on my chest throughout all of this made it much, much easier!  Once I was able to move a little bit, we were able to try breastfeeding and she latched on immediately like a little champion.  After having 8 weeks of traumatic breastfeeding when Lincoln was a newborn, this made me happy enough to want to cry.

Eventually they took all of her vitals and we found that she weighed 8 pounds, 7 ounces and was 20 inches long - just one ounce bigger than Lincoln!  She was born at 38 weeks and 2 days - one day earlier than Lincoln.  I can now brag that I grow pretty consistent babies.

The rest of our day did not go entirely as planned.  With a birth center birth, the expectation was that we would go home 4-8 hours after her birth.  At first, that seemed possible - but it took awhile to remedy my bleeding and I was having a lot of after-birth shaking and shivering.  The shaking is usually normal, but mine went on for several hours and I was really upset that I couldn't regain control.  It was also discovered that I had some very irregular swelling that was causing a lot of pain and pressure.  I was unable to roll or sit up easily, and I wasn't even allowed to try standing up yet.  A second midwife was called in to consult, and after her evaluation, a partner OB from a nearby hospital was called as well.  I was really grateful that the OB agreed to come directly to the birth center, rather than making me transfer to the hospital.  It was a huge relief!

I was moved to an exam room when the OB arrived, and while I was on some meds for relaxation, I learned that we were dealing with a blood clot situation.  Apparently a blood vessel had been damaged during delivery, allowing an extreme amount of blood to be released into the surrounding tissue.  I don't care to go into further detail, but the clots had to be removed and I received a fair number of stitches as a result.

Edited to add - after doing research a few weeks after she was born, I learned that my clot situation was actually what is known as a vaginal hematoma.  Six weeks post-birth, I still have some remaining swelling that is taking literally forever awhile to go away.  It is no longer bothersome, at least!

As awful as this was - as soon as the procedure was over, I immediately felt much better - more like I had expected to feel immediately after the birth!  It was about 7pm by the time I got back to my room - over 7 hours had passed since Addie's arrival.  We were finally able to contact family members and friends to let them know what was going on.  We had hoped to have Lincoln and our parents come up to visit a few hours after she arrived and had also had a photographer scheduled to be there for part of the day.  Neither of these things had happened, of course, with all of the craziness going on. 

My parents brought Lincoln up to meet Adelaide around 9pm.  Andrew's mom was on call at work, so they were unable to come at all that night.  Lincoln was really tired by the time they arrived - and he really didn't have any interest in Addie at all.  He did, however, try to pull out my IV several times.  I was reminded that it was a great choice to be at the birth center so we did not have to contend with him traipsing around a hospital room and its many cords, carts, and other things!

After my parents and Lincoln had gone home, we were at the birth center for a few more hours.  Between trying to get a little bit of rest, a shift change, eating Addie's birth day cake (baked for me in the birth center kitchen) and filing paperwork, we ended up leaving around 2am.  It was not really ideal, but we were ready to go home and try to sleep.

Overall, even though my birth experience did not go entirely according to plan, I was so glad that I had chosen a birth center for Adelaide's delivery.  The labor and birth process were so much more relaxed and even through all of the difficult recovery issues, my midwives and nurses were incredibly supportive and loving.  Addie was never out of my sight.  It was a wonderful experience in spite of the unexpected problems.

It also turned out to be a blessing in disguise that I had the central IV line for the GBS+ treatment.  While the antibiotics were not in my system long enough to be effective, I was given pitocin via IV almost immediately after the birth to help with the bleeding.  I also ended up needing medication while the clot situation was remedied, and I was given a strong antibiotic once everything was done, just as a precaution.  The GBS+ thankfully did not cause any problems for Addie - it was definitely helpful that my water did not break until I was pushing, so she had very little time for exposure.

Almost two weeks after the birth, I am still in recovery mode.  It's been hard for me because I felt great within about two days of Lincoln's birth.  I find it really hard when simple things like taking a shower or walking downstairs cause me to feel weak.  I know it will get better, so I am just trying to enjoy all the baby snuggles and take it easy!  The couch is my permanent station, well-stocked with diapers, wipes, Boppy, and water.

We are all in love with our sweet Adelaide Rose!  Her dramatic entrance to the world will definitely be a story to share for many years to come.   

Lincoln's Birth Story

I started working on writing Adelaide's birth story this week, and realized that it wasn't right to share hers without first sharing Lincoln's.  So much of his story is what led me to make different decisions for my second birth, it seems only fair to provide the back story!  So here we go!


It was February 19, 2011 and I was 38 weeks 3 days pregnant.  I woke up that morning at 6:30am with contractions that were semi-regular, but only about 7-10 minutes apart.  I really didn't think anything about it, even though some of them were fairly painful.  Up to this point in the pregnancy, I had not had a single contraction (not even Braxton Hicks), so I assumed that this was nothing - just my body starting to prep for the labor process.  Plus I was only 38 weeks and I had been assured by everyone in the world that there was no way he would arrive before I was at least 41 weeks (yay for encouragement, right?)

I couldn't seem to get settled once the contractions woke me up that morning, so I got up and started trying to be productive.  It was a Saturday and Andrew was home, but I just let him sleep, figuring there was no reason to get him excited yet.  I gathered up the camera batteries and my ipod and spent a little time clearing my memory cards, just in case it turned into something.  All of these were things on my list to do before his birth anyway, I thought I should just go ahead and get organized even if it wasn't an immediate need.

I also started packing our hospital bags.  (note to self. pack them sooner.  always.)  Lincoln's was easy to fill with way more things than he would actually need.  Mine, of course, was just sitting on the living room chair and I would throw things in as I thought of them. (not a good packing method)

Around 1pm, I took a shower.  I had a couple of contractions while in the shower that forced me to stop and breathe through them.  That was when I thought...wow, maybe this could be it!  But when I got out of the shower - the contractions slowed to one maybe every twenty minutes.  I was bummed.  I assumed it had to be just a false alarm and started working on the nursery organization project (Lincoln's dresser had finally arrived the night before), resigning myself to be pregnant for a few more weeks.

At about 3pm, the contractions picked up a little bit again, but it wasn't anything different or more intense.  Since I had just had two hours of basically nothing, I didn't think anything of it.  Andrew was helping in the nursery by this point, and we started to make a list of things to return to Target, and what items we still needed to purchase to complete our baby registry.  I wanted to go out and do something, after waiting around all day to no avail. 

I was lying on the nursery floor organizing Lincoln's tiny shoes at about 4:40pm when I had a contraction that felt weird - a little bit stronger than most and with a strange popping sound/feeling.  I still didn't think anything of it!  But when I stood up - whoa.  That was my water breaking! 

Suddenly we were in a crazy flurry of activity, as we looked at each other and said "um...we're having a baby today!"  I started rushing to get the rest of my things packed - which is a lot more difficult to do when you are gushing fluid.  At that point, I was pretty much just throwing random things into my bag.

I called my OB - he was out of town, so I talked to his partner.  I was told I likely had 12-16 hours of labor ahead, if my water had indeed broken.  Believe me, it had.  He said I could go ahead and come to the hospital, so we layered the passenger seat with towels and headed off.  The hospital was about 25 minutes away and my contractions became a lot stronger during the drive.  They were about every four minutes apart and I was having trouble sitting still.  It was about this time that Andrew accidentally took the wrong exit and added another ten minutes to our trip.  Whoops!

We arrived at the hospital at 5:50pm and got signed in, then I was transported by wheelchair up to the L&D unit.  When I arrived at my room, the nurse looked at my literally soaking wet jeans and said "I think we can skip the test to see if your water has broken."  She checked and we were all surprised to find that I was already dilated to 4-5!

We had let our parents know that we were on the way to the hospital, and about this time Andrew's mom and dad arrived.  We hadn't expected to have any promising news by this point, but since it appeared things were moving fast, we called my parents and told them they might want to head that way as well. 

My nurse came back in after about 30 minutes and looked at the contractions on the monitor.  She mentioned that they looked a little stronger and asked if I had noticed a difference.  I hadn't really seen a big increase but said maybe.  She checked me again and I was at 7.  She immediately sent someone to page the doctor because obviously I was not going to be in labor for 12-16 hours!  The contractions began intensifying and I started freaking out because I had not yet had an epidural.  My entire "birth plan" was: Go to Hospital.  Have Epidural.  Have Baby.  So I started asking when they could get that underway.  We waited what seemed like forever as they had to run some labs and had managed to lose the epidural consent form I signed during our hospital tour.  By the time the anesthesiologist got to my room, I was dilated to 9, in a lot of pain, and very much becoming out of control.  I had not even given thought to giving birth without meds, and I was not handling transition well as a result.

Finally they put the epidural in - it was so difficult to be still through the back-to-back contractions!  It didn't seem to take at first and I was pretty upset.  Finally though, I began to feel some relief and started breathing normally again as the pain subsided.  My nurse told me at that point that if I hadn't had the epi, Lincoln probably would have arrived within twenty minutes.  It probably wouldn't have done any good, but I wish she would have told me that before!

In the moment, I was totally fine with the fact that the epidural slowed my contractions from constant to every 4-5 minutes.  I was so relieved that the pain was gone!  Since I had been basically fully dilated when they finally got my epi in, I was able to start pushing as soon as the drugs had kicked in.  It was slow-going, however, since the labor had slowed so much with the medicine.  I pushed for about an hour before the OB came in and told me that he felt we should do a vacuum delivery and that he was going to perform an episiotomy. 

I had not done much research on any of these things, so I just assumed that these were things that were necessary, said "okay" and the flurry of activity began as everyone was prepping for baby's arrival.  I was shocked at how many nurses and assistants came into the room just before delivery!  With the aid of the vacuum, Lincoln was born after just three more contractions.  I didn't have any pain with the contractions, but the pressure was still pretty incredible even with the medication.

Lincoln James entered the world at 9:27pm on February 19, 2011.  He weighed 8 pounds, 6 ounces and was 20 inches long.  He was born with very chubby cheeks and the saddest little wailing cry I had ever heard!  His hands and feet were so big - lots of people commented on this in the first few days of his life.  Andrew was snapping photos constantly as the teams of nurses started cleaning up Lincoln and taking care of me. 

Proud Daddy!

Meeting Mommy for the first time!

I couldn't believe how beautiful he was - and that he was mine!  Such an amazing feeling.

Once both of us were all taken care of, Andrew brought in all of the proud grandparents to meet the little man!  Everyone was smitten at first sight.

First family photo!

After the grandparents had each had a chance to hold him for a few minutes, we were left alone and I was able to try nursing for the first time.  A lactation consultant was there to watch me - I don't honestly remember much about this experience but I seem to remember that Lincoln did pretty well for his first time nursing.

Lincoln had been born late Saturday evening, so we were in the hospital until Monday afternoon (President's Day).  It was tough to get any rest between the new little boy who wasn't sure about being out here in the world and all of the checking of vitals throughout the day and night.  We were pretty exhausted by the time we were finally cleared to go home.

It wouldn't be until several weeks/months later that I would think back on my hospital birth experience and wonder about some of the choices that I had made, or that had been made for me.  At the time of his birth, however, I was fine with the whole process and just so thrilled that my little boy had arrived safe and sound! 

Cool dude.

It was bright and sunny outside when we left the hospital.  We were so very excited to take Lincoln home with us and start a brand new adventure as a family of three! 

Wordless Wednesday: Brotherly Love

Carmex Lip Conditioner {A Nursing Mommy's Review}

Here's something no one really tells you about having a baby - if you make the choice to breastfeed, you are going to be really, really thirsty. Like, all the time.

Unfortunately you usually don't realize this until you are parked on the couch with the Boppy, baby, toddler, and laptop all piled on top of you. And where is your water? Naturally just out of your reach.

When faced with becoming slightly dehydrated for the time being or having to move the whole operation to get that errant water...well, I'll let you decide which option typically wins. For me, the first sign that I am dealing with dehydration is my lips. They start bothering me - they get chapped and dry. And I'll be honest - if my water is out of reach, usually any sort of lip care product is even further away.

BUT I am striving to improve my track record when it comes to keeping these things nearby.  And right now, my go-to in lip care is the amazing new Carmex Everyday Lip Conditioner. 

Carmex sent me a sample to review and I was a little skeptical.  I am pretty picky about my lip products. They can't be too dry.  They also can't be too gooey.  There's nothing grosser than having sticky lips for twenty minutes after lip gloss application, am I right?  But this new lip care - I am pleased to admit - is fantastic. 

First off, let's talk about the scent.  It has an all-natural orange flavor, which tastes exactly like a Creamsicle.  Can you say delicious.  Hubby normally hates most of my lip products but this one even met his approval.  This conditioner has a matte base, which makes it a go-to product when you want to wear something to soothe your lips before applying a coat of lipstick.  No smearing!  And the best part, it is super smooth and silky - not sticky or gooey.

As I'm writing this - I am sitting on the couch balancing all of the things a nursing mommy needs.  I even have my water.  And right at the top of the list is my Carmex Lip Conditioner! 

Okay, fine.  Technically the lip conditioner is hidden under my leg because the toddler keeps trying to eat it.  But it's within reach.  So I get points for that, right?  :)


Thanks to Carmex for providing sample product to facilitate my review.  I received no other compensation and all views expressed are my own.  For more info, you can read my Disclosure Policy.

Lincoln's Reading Corner November 2012

 
Wow, I can't believe it's already time for another installment of our reading corner!  This month, I have to admit that books have not been as big a priority.  While I was still at the end of pregnancy, I lost motivation to encourage finding new books to read.  Trying to do better now that there is room for Lincoln to sit on my lap again!  Regardless, we did add a few new favorites.  Here are Lincoln's Top 5 Books in November 2012!

1. Toot! Toot!  This book is from the $1 section at Target (Andrew purchased it probably a month ago).  It is literally the best book in our collection right now.  We have memorized it from reading so much - it's only 4 pages long.  Andrew has even invented actions to go along with each page and we all have to participate.  This is our go-to book during diaper changes, tantrums, etc.  And sometimes we'll just randomly quote it to entertain him.  The train is at the station.... Allll aboard! 

2. My Little Book of Trucks, Trains & Tractors.  We were given this book as a hand-me-down from a friend this month, and it has been a big hit.  It seems like a lot of the car/truck books out there just feature the same vehicles over and over again.  This one has some interesting and different trucks, trains, and tractors to see.  I would give examples but as I am writing this, Lincoln has apparently stashed this book somewhere in the house that I can't think to look.

3. The Truck Book.  Another book that joined our collection this month - this is a Little Golden Super Shape Book.  Normally I don't let Lincoln have books with paper pages because I don't trust him to not rip them yet - but he's done pretty well with this one so far!  This book features interesting trucks such as a bakery truck, telephone truck, snowplow, and more.

4. Two Bad Mice.  This is a lift-the-flap book from LeapFrog based on the original story by Beatrix Potter.  I'm not sure why Lincoln is obsessed with this book, maybe he just wants to be naughty like the two bad mice?  Tom Thumb and Hunca Munca don't really cause that much trouble, so I guess it's all right.

5.  Noah's Ark.  This is in the same collection as All Things Bright and Beautiful and The Good Shepherd (both featured in October).  It features pop-up flaps and Lincoln enjoys seeing all the different animals, and the places Noah goes to find them.


I am really excited for December, we are going to (hopefully) start a fun holiday book tradition based on this idea I found on Pinterest.  Did you miss last month's reading corner?  You can check out all our recent favorites here!