Thursday, June 24, 2010

Whirlwind

Just a quick note to say I will be posting a birth story and pictures and such fairly soon. We are all doing well, but it took a few days to get here. Turns out my rather unusual birth injury became an issue and I ended up having (very unexpected) surgery after a check up on Wed. We got to come home that night (there was thought that I'd be staying overnight at the hospital) and everyone from the surgeons to the anesthesiologist to the nurses were incredibly supportive of me and our little girl. I nursed her up until they rolled me into the surgical suite (first time nursing mommy in pre-op) and I was able to nurse her again less than an hour out of surgery. I could not have asked for a better team!

I am finally healing and she is a doll. There will be lots of bragging soon...get ready :)

Heather

Friday, June 18, 2010

Good News!

SHE'S HERE!!!!

We have a little girl...only she's not so little :) She weighs in at 9 pounds, 6 ounces and 21 inches long. She arrived at 5:27 pm last night at our freestanding birth center. She was born in the water and was this labor ever different than our last....

I can't wait to share the entire story, but basically we had a wonderful, completely natural water birth. Contractions kicked in big time about 2 pm and we were only at the center for an hour before she was born. Less than 30 minutes of pushing...last time 2 1/2 hours of pushing and a total of 46 hours of trying to make labor go and being in labor. What a difference for a much bigger baby.

Thank you again for all your support and prayers...more info coming soon!

Heather

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Progress?

Maybe this baby is going to come after all....

Last night lots of contractions waking me up! Right now they've been about 15-20 minutes apart and are fairly short, but intense. They've been as close as 8 or so minutes and were pretty much all night with about a 2 hour break from 10:30-12:30. I finally decided to get up and get going and see what that does for them. I also now realize that (just like during my first labor) I have a hard time waking into a contraction and being relaxed. I wake up tensing against the discomfort and have to work into letting go. Hopefully (like my first labor) I will find that being up and about will help me stay more relaxed and let them do their job even better!

Here's hoping for a baby today :) Thanks for the prayers!

Heather

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

41 and Counting

Just a quick update...still pregnant!

We've passed the official 41 weeks mark (on Tuesday) and decided to strip my membranes today. Here's hoping it did something to help move things along. Since we are starting to come up against a major shift in schedule for our family (Daddy will be gone every day for a large part of the day for about a month straight) and potential of induction we've decided to keep encouraging my body with many different things. We are still doing the herbs, the pumping and assorted other activities that encourage labor. You know, like walking :)

Tomorrow I'll be drinking the caster oil unless things change before then. Here's hoping I can avoid it! We'll be doing that in the morning along with the 5 hours (10 minutes each hour) of pumping and a dose of B&B each time. If things do not change after that we'll reevaluate. My midwife does not think a chiropractor is worth the money for me since I do not normally see one. She has only seen decent success when it is part of an ongoing treatment. However, she did say that acupuncture could be helpful if we exhaust everything else. Time will tell how far we'll have to go.

It is interesting to see how my emotions change from day to day right now. I am still very sad that my parents will not meet this baby until the middle of July. I really wish my mom could have been here for the birth. I also believe that babies come when they are ready and wish we were not having to do anything to encourage this baby. I know that it will break my heart a little if we have to do a hospital induction, especially since the chances of Mike missing the birth go up exponentially if the baby does not come by Saturday. I really want to be holding my baby in my arms, looking in his/her eyes, figuring out how to balance the baby and Little Guy and just be able to be a mom now...

Such an interesting journey, isn't it?

Still praying for labor,
Heather

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Bye Bye Grandma and Grandpa

What a week!

This has been one of the most interesting weeks of my life, I dare say. My parents were here for 8 days and we had the BEST time with them. Seriously, my husband and I agree this was the very best vacation/visit we have ever experienced with them. Often there is some type of craziness when family is all together or my parents are distracted by the dog and cat rescue that they run. We've had a few vacations that have left us feeling more than a little frustrated or just ready to be back in our routine at home.

This one was wonderful. Grandma and Grandpa played with Little Guy, were totally plugged in to us, visited with other family here in the state, spent a couple hours a few times during the week working on their volunteering, went with us to the zoo, a Brewer's game, a playground, to rummage sales and just really seemed to be on vacation with us. They also did a bunch of big projects for us around the house which was an added blessing! (I got two little raised gardening beds!!!)

It really was perfect (with one tiny little exception). They were staying for a week in order to meet their newest grandchild. Said child did not cooperate. Baby 2 is still happily squirming around in me. I cannot tell you the emotional upheaval this has caused for me. I wanted them to meet the baby. I want to meet the baby. I had debated and finally decided that I would have my mom with me and Mike during the delivery. We will probably not have this opportunity again since my mom lives 9 hours away, but it seemed to be ready to work out perfectly this time. But it didn't.

The baby reminded me...I'm not in charge here. Baby 2 hasn't found his/her birthday yet. Baby will come when baby is ready. That may mean that things get a bit challenging here as Mike heads into his very busy summer library schedule. I don't know what will happen or how we'll make sure Daddy is there for the delivery (or how I'll get to the birth center without a second vehicle) but we'll have to figure it out if Baby waits another week.

I just wish, wish, wish that Baby 2 would have arrived. I cannot believe how emotional it has made me to have to say good bye to my parents without having had the baby. I've cried a lot in the last 24 hours..A LOT. I keep hoping that means baby will come, but mostly I'm just so disappointed and sad that things were so wonderful and yet weren't.

Does that make any sense?

And since we are only hours away from 41 weeks (and I DREAD having to talk to our midwife about switching to an OB and induction and no birth center) we'd love any additional ideas that anyone has about starting labor. Our midwife gave us a few very common and simple ideas before, but she waits until at least 41 weeks to talk about other options. We'll be having that talk tomorrow at 9am!

Pray for contractions is now my motto...funny, it was the same after my water broke with Little Guy and labor wasn't kicking in hard enough. I guess God really wants me to want to have labor.

Heather

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Waiting....

That's what I'm doing. Not very patiently, but still I'm waiting. And I'm taking phone calls from those who are also not very patiently waiting for Baby 2's arrival.

My parents are driving up on Saturday to attend a cousin's wedding. But really, they are coming to meet their newest grandchild. Unfortunately they have planned the trip (based on the wedding) before we know when baby will get here! Now my mom is in a bit of a panic worrying that Baby 2 will not come before they have to leave to go home. I've told her to think patient thoughts and come prepared to play with Little Guy. They planned a trip (also due to a wedding) for a few days past Little Guys due date and he performed perfectly arriving a few days before they arrived. This baby is due 4 days after they get here and we have no signs that labor is going to start anytime soon.

I'm also slightly worried that having my parents in our home will not be the best thing for me to be relaxed and ready for labor. Anyone have any advice about having house guests and putting yourself into labor?

This waiting and watching is an interesting lesson for me. I'm working on making sure that I continue to have trust that my body will kick into labor all by itself and that Baby 2 will not be a 10 pounder! :) Here's hoping that things happen sooner rather than later and that all goes well!

Heather