Thursday, December 19, 2013

Thursday Birth Day: Maddox's Birth

Welcome to Thursday Birth Day!  My hope is that this series will help to encourage women who may be expecting their first baby or their second/third/fourth/etc.  These posts will provide some real life experiences that we can all appreciate and maybe even learn from.  I also hope for this to be a place where women who have gone through birth can have a place to share their beautiful stories. 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
Baby Maddox's Birth Story
 
I woke up around 3am with what I thought was an upset stomach. I hadn't had any Braxton Hicks so had no idea what to look for with contractions. I decided to lay down for a little and then had the crazy idea that they may be contractions. I started timing them and they were 3 minutes apart. I told Brian I was going to go downstairs to eat and call my mom to start driving. Brian got up around 6am and was going to go to some jobs before we needed to go to the hospital. I told him it was probably not a good idea to leave.
My mom arrived around 7am and I just walked around the house, rocked in the rocking chair and ate some more. I finally decided at 9:30am that we should head to the hospital. I walked myself in while Brian parked and told them I thought I was in labor. They all looked at me like I was nuts and took me upstairs to triage to be checked. By that time, all the family knew and was headed to the hospital.
I sat in triage for an hour being monitored before anyone checked me. She said I was at  7 centimeters!!! I was shocked. So far I was just rocking side to side during contractions and it didn't seem bad. I wanted to deliver unmedicated but being in a hospital I had to have a dry IV in my forearm. I finally got moved to a labor room around 11:30am. My doctor checked me around 12:15pm and said I was 9 centimeters. 
She asked if I wanted my water broken or to wait it out. We talked about it and since I was doing so well with the pain, decided to have it broken. The pain got really intense and in 35 minutes it was time for me to push! I pushed for 25 minutes and right when I thought I couldn't do it anymore, the next push out he came. My sweet little boy, Maddox Thomas Martin, arrived on August 22, 2012 at 1:05pm weighing 8.4lbs and 21 inches long! 

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Letters to Nolan: 12/18/13

Dear little big Mr. Nolan,

You are seven months old and continue to grow like a weed! Food is your newest adventure and you are trying to eat everything in sight! You have decided that you don't want to eat anything that is a puree' or offered to you on a spoon- I think that you have forgotten that you are still a baby! You like to gum on anything that you can get your chubby little hands on and you really go to town.  I think one of your favorite foods is pasta! 
You are starting to get into everything and really want to play with anything that Everett has and Everett doesn't want you to play with anything.  It seems that sibling rivalry is starting early with you two! You also started moving forward this past month-  not full out crawling but you have places to go and people to see!  And another fun development that we had this month- you went pee and poo on the potty!  We practiced elimination communication with Everett and are going to start incorporating that into your daily routine too.  :)
We are still cosleeping and that is going pretty well still.  You pretty much sleep all night but you also nurse on and off throughout the whole night as well!  I don't mind it so much because I know that you are getting the nutrition and comfort you need.  You only want me to hold you at night and there is pretty much a zero percent chance of me being able to put you down after 4pm every day.  Sometimes this frustrates me because I have "things to get done" but I try to remind myself that this wont last forever! 


Here's what you've been up to this past month: 


11/29/13: First Black Friday shopping trip (Best Buy) 
11/30/13: Pushed up to a sitting position from being on his stomach 
12/01/13: Started getting up on hands and feet and rocking on your knees 
12/05/13: Started sucking your thumb
12/12/13: Started picking up food and feeding yourself 
12/13/13: First time to pee and poop on the potty
12/14/13: Rolled from your back to front 
12/16/13: Moved into 9-12 month clothing 
12/17/13: Started moving forward/belly crawling 


Momma and daddy love you to the moon and all the way back! 

xoxoxox,

Momma

---------------------------------------

For more Letters to Nolan, click here
For Letters to Everett, click here!

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Thursday Birth Day: Alivia's Birth

Welcome to Thursday Birth Day!  My hope is that this series will help to encourage women who may be expecting their first baby or their second/third/fourth/etc.  These posts will provide some real life experiences that we can all appreciate and maybe even learn from.  I also hope for this to be a place where women who have gone through birth can have a place to share their beautiful stories. 
 
Be sure to check out Jenn's blog and baby Alivia's birth story here

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
Baby Alivia's Birth Story  

On August 7th we were anxiously awaiting my induction on the 9th.  Justin was at work and I was home with my Gram and the kiddos.  It was a seriously lazy day.  I wanted to nap all day but I tried to take a snooze in my bed and failed.  I fell asleep for about 10 minutes on the couch but then had to make the kiddos lunch.  Around 3pm I headed to bed again to try and nap, I had dinner in the crock pot so I had some time to kill.  Shortly after I finally fell asleep Justin called to say that he was on his way home.  I got up to put rice on the stove to go with my crock pot dinner then headed into the bathroom to pee.  I finished, washed my hands, got to the door, and my legs were soaked.  I called for my gram to get me a towel as I had been washing all of them but she couldn't hear me over the tv.  The kids were even farther from the bathroom so they couldn't hear me either.  I couldn't leave the bathroom and risk getting amniotic fluid all over the carpets so I sat back down and figured I'd call Justin.  After that I called Labor & Delivery to let them know I'd be coming in.  I spoke to them for almost 20 minutes so that they could be prepared for me.  I then called my gram's cell phone but she didn't answer.  That's when I remembered that I had rice on the stove and decided to make a run for it with wet pants to turn the stove off and grab a towel.
Fast forward a tiny bit and Justin and I are settling in at the hospital.  I had Gestational Diabetes, was GBS Positive, and had the bi-lobed placenta.  I had one-on-one nurse care because of all of this so the nurse hardly left the room.  I wanted another drug free labor and delivery but with the GD I needed hourly testing & fluids with sugars.  With the GBS I needed antibiotics for at least 4 hours.  Then I needed round the clock monitoring of the baby which meant the second she was off the monitor the nurse would push the belt into my belly harder.  She was driving me nuts!  By 7pm I was finally hooked up to everything and was allowed out of bed.  I sat on the birthing ball for quite a while because I was only 2-2.5 centimeters when I arrived.  I felt the contractions but they weren't painful.  The nurse asked about my other deliveries and on the night went.  I remember the 4th time they checked my sugar (that meant it had to be 10pm) I was shocked at how fast the time was flying by with little pain.
Shortly after the 10pm check I asked to use the bathroom again but the nurse said she wanted to check me first.  Into the bed I went and of course that contraction HURT.  She reached for my tonsils and said I was 5 centimeters,  I felt so defeated!  I had been having all of these easy contractions and of course they weren't helping me progress quickly and baby was still high.  Boo.  So I headed to the bathroom where I had two good contractions that were super painful.  While I was in there I heard the nurse calling for a delivery table (with all of the gadgets and gizmos) and she was telling Justin not to touch anything blue.  I heard them counting items on the table, and came out to see them finishing up.  I thought they were a bit premature with the delivery stuff... I was only 5 centimeters!
 I got back on the yoga ball for a good contraction and told my nurse that my body was starting to push on it's own.  She had me get back into bed so that she could check me.  That's when the bad contractions started.  The contractions that you try and breathe through, then you end up moaning a bit on the exhale.  I asked the nurse if it had been 4 hours yet for the antibiotics, she said it almost was.  No sooner than she declared me an 8 with a 'melting cervix' I got the shakes.  I reassured Justin who looked scared out of his mind at my shaking.  "It's just the final stages, it's normal!  I'm ok!"  The nurse typed something into the computer and said she had to grab something but if I felt the urge to push to call her asap.  The second she walked out my body pushed down hard and I let out a curse.  I think that's when I told Justin that I couldn't do this.  I crawled into bed as the nurse said, "If she pukes we are checking her again" and right on cue I puked.  No checking needed as the doctor walked in and could see Alivia's head.  I asked for a pillow behind my back and the nurse put it behind me only half way.  You had better believe that I told her about the pillow placement after that contraction!  haha!
The doctor told me that I could go ahead and push if I wanted and I started talking a mile a minute explaining that I never actually had to push a baby out.  They always just sort of come out on their own; I told her I didn't think I could do it.  She told me to try so I did and I felt myself ripping as I counted, "1, 2, 3" in my head so I stopped.  My body did not like that and gave me a killer contraction.  The doctor told me that one push would bring us our baby. Well I have seen enough episodes of the baby story and I know that they say that over and over for hours and hours sometimes.  So I asked if she could see the baby's head.  She said she could.  I then asked if she was sure one push would do it and explained again that I never pushed before.  She assured me that one push was it and asked if I wanted her to count.  I think I snapped at her when I said, "No!"  I HATE the whole counting thing.  So I gave it one big push, felt everything rip, and out Alivia's head came.  Then she was stuck.  The easy shoulders were not budging.  And the contractions were killing my back so I pushed and said, "Please just pull her out!" and out she came.  Little stinker thought coming out with her hand by her head would be fun which made her shoulders harder to deliver.

She was placed on my chest, her umbilical cord got to pulsate until it was empty, Justin cut his first cord, and we just stared at our precious girl.  After about 45 minutes we realized that we didn't have either camera out.  Things had went so quickly that we forgot!  Whoops! Alivia Pagie was born at 11:15pm and weighed in at 7lbs. 2oz. and was 19.5" long.  They got Livi cleaned up while I got up and used the bathroom and change my gown.  Then we all settled in for a long night of nursing, with little to no sleep.  I was exhausted, but I remember the nurse commenting on my make-up (which I hardly had any on) and Justin saying, "Babe, your hair looks really good."  I told him to "shut up" and he explained he was serious. He snapped some photos of us and I must say that compared to my other kiddos I looked great.  I remember being so swollen after their deliveries, hair up like a 'hot mess', and just plain exhausted.  Maybe the quick delivery played a part?  Anywho... the nurse was apparently curious so she pulled up the computer logs for the evening.  She then told us that from the time I was checked to be 5 centimeters to the time of Alivia's birth, only 45 minutes had passed!  So very thankful for a quick delivery as I didn't have pain meds!

Our doctor was awesome and showed us the sac with the bi- lobed placenta.  I wish we had the camera out because it was super cool.  Nothing like the scary stuff they speak of, it was inside the sac all nice and cozy near the big placenta with a super thick vessel attaching the two.  Not sure how you wouldn't deliver both being they are both in the sac, but better safe than sorry I guess.


Thursday, December 5, 2013

Thursday Birth Day: Dashel's Birth

Welcome to Thursday Birth Day!  My hope is that this series will help to encourage women who may be expecting their first baby or their second/third/fourth/etc.  These posts will provide some real life experiences that we can all appreciate and maybe even learn from.  I also hope for this to be a place where women who have gone through birth can have a place to share their beautiful stories. 
 
Be sure to check out Katie's blog and baby Truitt's birth story

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
Baby Dashel's Birth Story

They say every pregnancy, labor and delivery are just as different as the babies themselves. Well 2 out of 3 ain't bad, lol. In fact...I'll just say that this labor and delivery had me feeling like a professional.  
 
So just like with Truitt, I decided to go the home birth with a midwife route. I found a new birth center that I absolutely loved and all the midwives in it. Despite the drive to Chantilly for the appointments, I would highly recommend Nova Birth Center and their amazing team to Everyone looking to do a natural birth center/home birth.  The Birth Center itself is spectacular and almost had me tempted to deliver there in one of their wonderfully unique and all encompassing birthing rooms. I did however choose to do a water birth at home which was a fantastic decision. I had rented a birthing pool that was inflatable so it was nice a cushiony where I felt I could relax the best. They say that the birthing pool is like the natural birth's "epidural". Sounded good to me!
Truitt, Nonny and I would make day trips every appointment and always found something fun to do. No one was more excited than Truitt to meet you. He loved listening to you and feeling you in my belly.  So with all the preparations made I found myself waiting, feeling like a pot of water coming to a boil. Your due date...Oct 28 -Nov 3. The ultrasound said Oct 28, midwives said Nov 1, the pregnancy app said Nov 3. Mom had decided you would definitely come end of Oct due to some crazy storm intended to take place where all travel would be impossible, leaving her and Daddy to deliver the baby by themselves! Moms... so funny.  I eventually got tired of sitting around, waiting to burst so decided Daddy and I would go to dinner with some friends and talk about our future.  And wouldn't you know it, driving home from the restaurant, at exactly 10 pm, MY Water Breaks in the car... AGAIN! If I had known I just needed to be in the car driving somewhere with DJ we would have done that weeks ago, LOL.
 
I looked for something to sit on and found DJ's sweatshirt, Then called Mom. Truitt had just gone to sleep so Poppy came over, grabbed him and the dog while we were still making our way there.  Next call was to the midwives. Peggy Franklin asked if I wanted them to come now or wait until I started having contractions and I decided it would be nice for her and the birthing assistant, Joann to come now.  While we waited for them to arrive, Daddy and Nonny went about filling the pool, which we had already blown up, with nice hot water! As enticing as it was, I waited until the midwives arrived before getting in.  Mild to moderate contractions started around 11pm and the midwives got there at 11:30 pm. Peggy checked me and I could tell by the response that I wasn't too far along. Plus she said that you were head down but facing the wrong way. Not a medical emergency but much easier to deliver if we could get you turned. She recommended we all find a place to lay down and try and get some rest and in between contractions for me to do the "Shake, Rattle and Roll" technique. Lay on one side with my top leg up into my chest for 5 contractions, then flip (as if a 41 week preggers can "flip", lol) onto the opposite side and do the same thing and then flip up onto my hands and knees.  Repeat. Mom and I stayed in my room, the midwives off to the spare room and Truitt's room and Daddy vanished to the basement we found out later. 
 
I tried to rest but the contractions started to get more intense and more frequent though still irregular in timing. Well, much in line with my pregnancies, it wasn't long before I felt like I had to puke. Yuck! So up came the very yummy burger and fries from dinner and on came the contractions even more.  I decided it was time to get in the pool. So with the midwives approval I changed and into it I seeped. Ahhhh.... I still remember the instant relaxation. This was about 1:45 am. 
 
Soon a friendly face peered into the room, Auntie Katie. Much to our surprise, due to her coordinating coming up (which I was totally cool with) with Daddy who no one had seen since 11:30! and because he feel asleep and wasn't answering his phone she was waiting in the car for 45 min! Sheesh! Nevertheless, glad to see her I proceeded to keep track of the contractions and decided it was time for the energy boosting pucker ade I had made, frozen and instructed DJ to be his only responsibility during the entire process. So in search of him she went and by the time they got back I had gone into transition and was pretty sure I was about to start pushing. Ready or Not, Here You come!!  The midwives came in, checked me, said I was good to go and to just listen to my body.  Push when I felt like pushing, rest when I needed to rest, etc. So that's what I did. 
Katie told me later that as her and Daddy watched she asked if he was going to help.  His response, "Naa, I'm good over here.  They got it." LOL! Thank the Lord for my mama who definitely talked me through it and in 15 min baby Dash came swimming out, literally you were kicking your legs even after they laid you on my chest. 
Dashel Alexander Marcussen had arrived on Nov 5, 2012 at 3 am, 8 lbs 8 oz, almost 22 inches long. Blue Eyes, Dark Brown Hair and the most beautiful newborn I had ever seen. Perfectly shaped from head to toe, no vernix, blood, nothing on him. Lots of hair. It was truly love at first sight. 
The midwives said it was such a clean, beautiful birth they didn't believe it could be my last. I told them, bet me, lol. We'll see who laughs last. It may not be me though because you have helped me slow down and fully appreciate the gift of a newborn baby to hold and cherish. Only time will tell...
Five hours from start to finish and you had already lived up to your name as you dashed out as if you were excited to meet everyone.  Daddy, Aunt Katie and Nonny cried, while you and I just chilled. Daddy finally came to and took pictures, cut the cord and stuck around while the midwifes measured and checked you out.
After about an hour Daddy went back to sleep, the midwives left, Nonny went to work since it was a Monday and Auntie Katie stuck around to help me while we caught up on some sleep. Truitt and Poppy came to meet you after lunch, and I never saw a more excited little boy. He had been asking and waiting for your arrival with more anticipation than anyone else.  He wanted to introduce you to all his friends, hold you and kiss you.  It was truly Love at first sight all over again.  And although he had picked out 3 names for you, Moose, Dash and Flash... he conceded to Dashel and has never called you anything but.