Ellie's Birth Story

I was trying to come up with a way to describe Miss Ellie's birth...I suppose one could say Kate's was a marathon, Gabby and Nate's were sprints, but Ellie's was an obstacle course.

I woke up at about 12:20 thinking maybe my water had broken.  I went to the bathroom to confirm it--thankful not to have caused a soaking bed.  I brushed my teeth and grabbed a hair tie before waking Justin.  I quickly dressed and woke the children.  Generally it takes quite a lot to wake Gabby, but I just went in and called them twice.  The kids put on their sandals and we made our way to the van, picking up the computer and Justin's insulin on the way.

Once we got on our way I called the doula (we hired a local doul to watch the children at the hospital until my parents could drive in from out of town to get them), the midwives' call service, and my parents so everyone would know what was going on.  We had some drizzle on the way in, but clear roads.  We got the very best parking spot in the garage--maybe 5 spots in from the entrance (which is directly across from the ER.  We passed through the security point and waited awhile for a nurse to come and get us.

The doula kept the kids talking and distracted.  I was so glad we found her, so we could focus on baby.  They started calling Gabby, Gate.  So the kids were Kate, Gate, Nate, and the baby was Late.

Thankfully labor was moving quite a bit slower than our last two babies.  We spent about a half hour in triage while we got a quick assessment to show I really was in labor and got my IV port placed, which took several tries and hurt quite a bit the entire time it was in and for a couple of days after.  Then we moved to labor and delivery.  At some point my parents arrived and took the three big kids home to sleep in their beds for what was left of the night.

In the mean time we were seeing heart rate decels for the baby on the monitor during the intermittent monitoring, so I had to be on the monitor continuously.  Unfortunately after two hours my feet were getting tired, but every time I tried to sit the monitor would loose her.  We couldn't find a happy medium where I could stand during contractions and sit between.  Before long though the decels were lasting longer and the midwife went to consult with a doctor.

To improve the baby's heart rate I was ordered to bed on my side, with an oxygen mask, IV fluids, and an amniotic lavage.  It was miserably painful to labor that way, and I was scared for her.  Perhaps thankfully, I don't have full memory of this time.  I remember crying in fear for her and not being able to see what was going on because of my position (all the monitors and nurses were behind me) and hearing very little because of the oxygen.  I also remember telling them I didn't like lying in the stupid bed.  And if you happened to be down the hall--sorry I know I was loud.

Finally it was time to push.  Again, everything was hazy because I couldn't hear or see (I was flat on my back--I evidently asked for that, but can't remember that either).  At the end though I clearly heard, "Call the docs!" and Justin being told to pull the emergency cord.  Almost immediately thereafter the little gal was on my stomach, but I was so confused--I didn't know if something was wrong with her or with me.  I asked what was wrong and was told that everything was fine.  Evidently her shoulder was caught, but I was able to push her out before the emergency team arrived to help.

It was definitely the hardest delivery for me.  I am so thankful that she was born safely despite all the difficulties.  The hospital pediatrician checked her shoulders closely and they are fine.  We were able to do a discharge the next day and rest at home in my own bed, which is so nice after two nights of very little sleep.

She is beautiful and lovely.  She's been sleeping well at night between feedings.  Her brother and sisters adore her.

Still Here!

I had a nonstress test yesterday.  The baby looks good, so we will keep waiting for her awhile longer.  I've never been quite this pregnant before, but I am thankful that I feel quite well.

I haven't gotten a picture this week, but here is 40 weeks:

In the Waiting

I know a lot of women get really upset that they continue their pregnancies past their due dates.  I have to say, I'm not phased, of course I've done it with the three before!  I have my moments when I'm ready to be finished, but for the most part I am just thankful.  I'm thankful that baby is healthy and so am I.  I am grateful that my discomforts are very minor.  I am choosing to be glad of each night of (relatively) unbroken sleep I'm getting and every day we're getting in of school before we have another little person who needs my attention.  I'm looking forward to meeting our little gal face to face, but until she's ready to show herself, I'll try to be thankful for these last few hours and days.

My Helpers

Shortly after Gabby was born I started having trouble with sciatica.  It was debilitating for quite awhile.  Eventually, I was able to get past the pain.  I've had a few issues with it since then, but they have been minor.  This past week I over did--I did my typical Friday vacuuming and bathroom cleaning, and then I scrubbed and waxed the wood floors on Saturday.  By Sunday, I was having trouble getting into and out of chairs and even walking.

I was afraid that I was in for a long painful end of this pregnancy, not to mention trying to figure out how to get through labor when you can't sit, stand, or walk comfortably even without contractions.  I had noticed that the pain was much worse when I bent or twisted, so Monday as I went about my day, when I came to anything that required bending I asked the munchkins to help.  They handed me the plates from the dish washer, put the dry laundry into a basket for me, picked up the items from the lowest shelves at the store, and helped haul the groceries up the stairs into the house.

I adore babies and can't wait to hold a little bitty in my arms again, but I am thankful for my big helpers too.  The help they gave let my body heal and now I feel much better.

Check!

I made myself a to-do list and (well) before term (Yesterday!), I was able to get it completed.

I made cute little baby shoes.

The bags are packed with clothes, food, and stuff to keep the little people fed.

My upstairs freezer is cleaned out.

My downstairs freezer is well stocked (that's a triple batch of white chili I put up).

We have toilet paper, shampoo, soap, and sugar to last a few weeks.

The birth announcements are all but printed and assembled.

I've also managed to wash the walls, fill photo albums (I was WAY behind on that task), and do a few other odds and ends.

Now we wait...(and probably wait and wait some more).

Next

Now I can say the baby is due next month!!

Can't wait to meet her!

To Do Before Due

The weeks keep ticking by...about 7 weeks now.

I have a little list I'm working on putting together so I can check off items before this little gal arrives.  I fully intend to school up until she decides to come out and play, but I'd like not to have a lot else on my plate the last few weeks, so the time is growing short even faster.

I need to pack hospital bags for me (and Justin--since I need to be sure he has food and a meter with him this time) and one for the kids with things to keep them busy and fed for awhile.

I want to clean out our upstairs freezer.  It tends to be where leftovers go, so if they get forgotten, they may languish there.

I want to sew a pair of baby shoes from a pattern I picked up.

I want to fill our freezer with several more meals to have after baby comes home.  One can only eat spaghetti (even with homemade sauce) so many times.

I want to do all the prep work on her birth announcements so I can put them together quickly.

I want to stock up on some of the things a household needs to run, so I don't actually have to remember to buy toothpaste for a month or so.

And Justin has to put the carseat in.

I think the bags and carseat are our only needs at the moment, so we're in good shape!

30 Weeks

I haven't written much about this pregnancy, not because we aren't very excited, but because I haven't written much about anything and because it has been...obstetrically boring.  Which is a very good thing.

I saw one of the midwives this past week (for a 30 week check-up).  I've been making my rounds because it is a really big practice.  I think there are some part time gals I haven't met, but I've found some favorites and I will likely try to see them the rest of the pregnancy.  The midwife I saw this time is older, and for the first time one of them looked at my history and actually took it seriously that we may not make it to the hospital in time.  She told me to buy a shower curtain to contain the mess!  She said I will been seen weekly starting at 36 weeks because of the rapidity of my past two labors (Gabby's was 90 minutes from the time my water was broken and Nate's was 60 minutes total), but that for now I, "couldn't be more healthy,"  so I won't be seen for another 4 weeks unless something comes up.  Midwife care is awesome--typically I would be seen every two weeks at this point, but it is pointless given my health and history.

Justin and I also took the hospital tour.  It is an overwhelming place, so I'm glad we went to get some sort of idea where we're going.  If it weren't for the midwives, we definitely would choose a different place, but we'll hope to do a 24 hour discharge and spend as little time as possible there!  We had a family from our church volunteer to watch the munchins for us.  They even took them out to dinner, so they ate better than we did that evening.

We are grateful for a strong, healthy baby girl (heart rate 145 BPM), and we look forward to meeting her soon-ish!

Getting Ready

I tend not to be a procrastinator.  So we're 11 weeks from our due date and I have very little left to do as far as baby goes--I guess it helps that there was never a lot to do in the first place!

We bought a carseat, since I had a coupon that was going to expire.  After reading a lot of reviews on the quality of the fabric used to line the less expensive choices, we went with a higher weight allotment, so baby girl doesn't sit in something that makes her uncomfortable.  That may also buy us enough time in Nate's current car seat that we will move him to a booster--we'll see.  I'm not in a huge rush to put him a booster.

I bought her a coming home outfit.  Since she'll be living in hand-me-downs almost exclusively for the first year, I thought she should have something all her own.  We have a special blanket for her, as all the other littles have had their own.  My mother got her a lovey--the others all have different styles/colors of the same toy, but they aren't made anymore, so hers is different.

I think the only big thing I have left to do is pack hospital bags.  We have to move rooms, so I'll have a bag for L&D and a bag with our going home clothes and  all packed separately so it can be brought up later.  I also need to pack a bag of distractions for the munchkins, so that they have something to keep them busy and fed.  Justin will wait to install the carseat until 'term' at 36 weeks or so, even though we don't expect an early arrival.

I keep wondering if I'm forgetting something, but I don't think so.  She has carseat, diapers, wipes, and clothes.  There is a Moses basket (and eventually a crib) for sleeping in.  We have all sorts of baby toys, an infant tub, a pack & play, a bouncer, a swing, a jumper, a high chair, two booster seats for the table, and a boppy--all things we don't need but have from before or were passed on by a friend.

Now we just need the baby!

 

Sugar, Sugar

I'm not sure why I dreaded it so, but I was sure I would fail my glucose tolerance test.  I never have before, well I failed the screening the first time (I listened to the eat something 3 hours before and evidently hadn't gotten rid of all the glucose in the sandwich and fruit I had for lunch before the test), but I passed the full three hour test that time.  The tech at the hospital, for that three hour test) gave me the wise advice to just always schedule for the morning, so I would have fasted over night.  I passed this time too!  Yay.  I can continue to eat fruit this summer!

I had the blood draw yesterday morning and when I got to my email this morning there was a note that I had a message from my midwife on the secure website.  I groaned--no news is good news, really fast must mean bad, right?  And this was sent at 7:00 last night, not even 12 hours had passed.  Evidently the lab and midwife are just both very efficient.

We still have 13 (or 14 or even 15) weeks to go, but everything has gone smoothly so far.  I am quite grateful.  I am also grateful for strawberries!

I've liked several of the midwives in the practice.  It is a very large practice, so I'm still making my rounds trying to meet a few more.  I know that no one will be like the midwife we had in Kansas who was willing to come in even if she wasn't scheduled, but we are glad to have midwifery care so close.  Many people drive in from out of state because they are so wonderful, and I only have 20 minutes to go when the traffic is good.

Life...

Life has caught up with me, I guess.  I've not been writing (obviously).  We've not had anything horribly exciting going on.  Just a good bit of the day to day busyness.

We are 10 days into 'next' school year.  We're moving fairly quickly through our history and science texts, though we are only having school three of four days a week for now.  Generally we do art on Friday, but I've been skipping that for now, with plans for several 'Fridays' in a row after the littlest one joins us, and we start to get back in the swing of things slowly.  At our most recent guess-timate of the time we'll spend prior to September, we'll need to get 22 days between birth day and Christmas to get us to the halfway point.  We generally are past that in December, so I'd like to at least hit that number if we find it possible.  That keeps a bit of a fire lit under us to do what we can now.

I spent the weekend going through every single item of clothing the children have.  All of the girl clothes have been sorted from newborn to the size 10 (!) dress I bought for Kate.  Kate and Gabby's drawers are cleaned out and the smallest baby clothes are waiting in a dresser.  The others, sorted and stacked by size from 3 month to 5's are waiting in the back of Nate's closet, with all of the dresses hung.  We found we have gaps in size 12 month, 18 month, and 2T sizes that we'll need to fill.  That gives us plenty of time to watch for sales for those items.  All the too small boy clothes have been boxed and are ready to be given away.  We'll hold on to the jeans and baby girl may get to wear some of those too.

We'll need a few of the odds and ends one needs for a new baby.  And we have to get an infant car seat.  I've been trying to decide about a travel system.  I'm leaning towards skipping it.  We have a double stroller taking up space in the garage that can accommodate a Graco carseat for any longer walking trips we would take (and it can hold a second tired kid and a bunch of gear).  Honestly I carried Nate almost exclusively in the Moby.  It allowed me not to lug that heavy seat and it also left me with two free hands to wrangle other children!  I think we may opt for a nice umbrella stroller later (one with long handles that make it easier to push) with the money we save on the travel system stroller.

Our vegetable garden is growing well.  I do find it humorous that this is the year Justin put in a bigger garden, since I'm not sure how much use I'll be in putting it all up.  I told him I'm going to just freeze it all, but he's unimpressed, citing that the freezer won't hold it all.  We'll see how it goes...I may be giving away veggies in the fall if I can't get to them fast enough!

Other than being a bit more tired than normal, the pregnancy is going smoothly.  The littles keep asking when they get to meet their little sister.  They are not impressed with the long wait.  I would guess by halfway through September I'll be tired of the wait too!

It's a...

We were able to have our ultrasound.  All is well with our healthy baby...

GIRL!

Here she is:

Thankful

We had a change of plans when we decided to have a fourth baby.  We'd lent out baby things, given away every stitch of baby boy clothes below a size 2T, and passed on some of our little girl clothes too.  Thankfully the huge list of things I put up for sale on Craig's List last summer did not sell--not one thing.  The crib I was trying to convince my husband to turn into a bench, hadn't made it to the top of the to-do list.  We still have diaper pails, baby carriers, and the crib.  All of those items I lent to a friend, who had a health emergency afterwards, came back, plus some of their now outgrown baby gear.

We need some things, obviously.  A new baby always means a few new things for chewing, toiletries, and such.  We'll need a new car seat, which was inevitable, as Kate's original infant seat expired not too long after Nate was finished with it.

So, while at this point with Kate I had ordered a travel system, baby furniture, and I had purchased a small selection of gender neutral clothes, this time I have bought almost nothing.  We got the little onsies, so the kids could do something and I have bought one new changing pad cover, evidently we lost one of our two covers.  That's all.  Part of that is the lack of cute neutral clothing, but that will all be sorted out in the end.  I'm convinced it is a girl, so I may get a surprise and need to buy some blue.

I'm thankful we don't need much, but it does seem odd not to wander the baby aisle each and every time I happen to be in a store.  In a couple of months I'll make a run for diapers and cream and good smelling baby wash.  In the mean time I'm eyeing those car seats...thankful that we had the forethought to purchase a convertible car seat when we replaced Nate's out of date seat this winter, so we can go with the lower weight infant seat.  After all, that's the only thing they won't let us leave the hospital without...that and a name.  Still no idea what we will name this baby if Goliath is a boy.

What is in a Name?

Justin and I are good at naming baby girls.  Baby boys...ugh.  We had a couple of names picked out when we were expecting Kate and Gabby, but by the time we were expecting Nate they were out for various reasons.  We didn't have a boy's name chosen until the very end.

I like names he doesn't like, and he likes weird names names I don't like.  We called Nate, Ehud, because I thought it was a joke.  Justin actually wanted to name the kiddo that.  We used it as a little pet name, that obviously didn't stick around after we truly named the boy.

We were discussing the name quandary the other day and the children have put in their votes.

Kate chooses Glibert Blythe. (I love that book, can you name it?)

Gabby decided on Goliath.  (I think we have our pet name for the itty bitty.)

Nate looked around the room and made suggestions to the best of his ability: wall?  stairs?  couch?
I tried to help him out by asking him his friends' names.  He named off two, so I prompted him for more.  He told me, "I don't know their names, but I love all my friends in class."

Laundry

If you've been around long, then you know that laundry is not my favorite thing to do to keep the household running.  I decided to do a couple of things to make it more enjoyable.

 The first is I made cute labels for the jars I use for my laundry ingredients.

I had them labeled, practically, with a Sharpie, but I much prefer these pretty labels.

The second is I'm going to add some of these to the wash rotation in September.

We're expecting our fourth little one in September of this year!

We can't wait to meet him or her!  The girls are over the moon excited.  They are dancing and singing about the baby.  Nate, well, I'm not sure he quite gets it.

  

Birth Story

I woke up at 3:30 in the morning with some contractions that quickly moved from 20 minutes apart to about 5 minutes apart. I got up and took a shower and got dressed. At about 4:30 I woke Justin. He got a shower too. At about six I called a friend to come and sit with the girls.

By the time she got here my contractions had slowed down. I sent Justin on to work and tried to send her home. She decided she and her son would stay, and sent me up to take a nap.

About 10:30 I had three contractions about five minutes apart that were quite intense (they had been 10-20 minutes apart before that). I called Justin to come home. I had time to get on my shoes before he walked in the door. I called the midwives' office, where the nurse asked for me to come in to their office. Not what I really wanted to do—I thought we should go straight to the hospital. Then my water broke! As we were on our way up I called back and said I didn't think we'd make it to the office with broken water and contractions now 2-3 minutes apart. We got stuck in lunch hour traffic for 10 minutes or so.

We got checked in, two nurses working to get a lock in, and vitals taken. They started the water in the tub for me. I had an intake time of 11:20. The midwife came in to see me right away—the doctor I saw for my discharge said Lindsey took off running with the call I was here (their office is just across the street). I had a few minutes in bed for the line to be put in and basic evaluation, then they let me get on the birthing ball—I had maybe five contractions there, they were still trying to get a good baseline on baby when I felt the urge to push, so in to bed and maybe 10 pushes (27 minutes after arrival), Nate was born. The tub had been forgotten and nearly overflowed—Justin remembered it. How does he remember that and not the garbage? :)

I still wasn't finished with the admission questions, so I finished those after delivery. We did a one day discharge and we were home Saturday evening.
We’re enjoying our little man. Happy one week Nate!

Your sisters love you too!

Still Here

Yep. I'm still here. This baby has decided that he/she wants to hang out awhile longer.

I had a very lengthy appointment today. There evidently was a bit of a mix up (or three) with the gals in the front office, so we had a late start. I saw two different midwives and a student midwife today, due to one of those little mix ups. I had another NST. The baby fell asleep though. This made that test take a little longer, since we have to have an awake baby to see if the heart rate increases appropriately with movement. I was contracting through out the test, but that's not exciting, as that's how I spend the last weeks of all my pregnancies.

After the baby finally passed on the NST, we discussed the induction date and moved it up to Monday. First, I am pretty sure that regardless of how long we give baby we're going to end up in the same place anyway, as is my midwife at this point, though she is ever hopeful that we'll have a spontaneous labor. Second, she has mentioned several times that she thinks this baby may be a pound bigger than my previous babies, despite the gestational size ultrasound (which can be off up to two pounds in either direction) from a few weeks ago. So rather than allowing the baby to get even bigger, and since we'll likely end up in the same place (an induction) within a couple of days anyway, we'll go ahead.

After that I waited for the very busy ultrasound room. The gal there checked to be sure the baby had enough fluid. She can't tell me anything, but as no one called and told me to get to L&D, we'll assume that all was well with that too.

So baby is happy and healthy, mama is tired, and the eviction date has been set, unless of course, with all our plans laid the baby decides to come earlier--no complaints here, other than the headache it may cause in getting my mom here/care for the girls, but I'll gladly take that one.

Over Due

It's so interesting that if someone says that her baby was three days early, or even two weeks, no one blinks an eye, but once you reach your due date people start questioning your practitioner's sanity with allowing you to continue your pregnancy.

I will admit there are some nice draws to an induction...I could pick the date of my child's arrival (at least probably--with a third, it's not likely we'd continue to the next day). I could have child care arranged. There's no mad dash to the hospital.

But, with every intervention there is extra risk. If I wait it out, perhaps I will avoid Pitocin...

I'm also kind of hoping to avoid an IV, which will be placed if I go in for an induction. I used to be hugely needle-phobic, and I'm sure that doesn't really help the situation, but over the years I've been poked and prodded several times with out running away in terror or even crying. The real reason for not wanting this is that evidently placing an IV in the forearm (where they like them for labor) for me is very difficult. My arm hurt as much as the labor did last time because they blew out several veins in my left arm before the nursing supervisor had to come and try for a second time in my right. I looked like a junkie for a good month. It wasn't just unattractive--it was quite painful.

That said, at some point in the next week and a couple of days, this baby will have to be born for safety's sake. We're looking forward to meeting him or her, but I'm trying to be patient. I am so very thankful that the end of this pregnancy has been so comfortable. I have the occassional late pregnancy malidies, but nothing that is so difficult I can't stand it another week (at least once the moment of discomfort has past!).

The baby looked great on my first NST (non-stress test) yesterday. I will go back on Thursday to check the fluid levels and have another NST. We will re-evaluate again then, but at current, the date is November 19th, unless baby decides to come more quickly.

Due Date

Here's Baby Ehud at 40 weeks! We'll see when he or she decides to show up.

Ack!

I am the organizer in our family. I keep track of receipts, who needs to be where and when. This week though is open enrollment through Justin’s work and I can’t organize that. Whomever put it together either didn’t have everything very organized or someone had difficulty understanding their organization. Needless to say, when you’re nine months pregnant health insurance is the last thing you want hanging over your head.

It took a couple of days to get the paperwork home—I married the epitome of the absent minded professor. Then as we sit down to look through it we find that none of it pertains to health or dental insurance. It’s all life insurance. So we have to try again. The following night we have the information about the policies, but no prices. Why it’s not all together I have no idea, but it isn’t.

That’s okay, we’ll just find it, surely it will be online. Wrong. The place he works doesn’t post this information on their website. Actually there is some information for dental—for the 2006 calendar year! So we get on the provider site, thinking perhaps we can log in there. The site is down for maintenance.

At this point I’m sure I’ll go into labor during the night and we’ll forget the paperwork in all the hub-bub and wind up without any coverage for any of us. Don’t mix up-tight planner, always early for every deadline and pregnant—it’s not pretty. We did finally get all the paperwork we needed and it’s all safely filled out. Including adding the girls to our dental plan, which was the big deal this time, since Kate is now seeing a dentist bi-annually and that’s rather expensive out of pocket for some reason.

That’s life here.

Oh, and I saw the midwife today. All is well, with baby due a week from Saturday. We did discuss when we would look at an induction, since my girls never wanted to come out to play without some prodding. We’re looking at November 19th, just sort of 42 weeks. We’ll see if baby decides to come before that, but three weeks of pregnancy left maximum.