Birthday Story Part 2

I guess with a new baby when I say I'll write more tomorrow it means next week!!! :) My Mom was here for the last two weeks so today's my first day "on my own." So far God has been very very good to me!!! Both are currently sleeping and I thought I'd try to finish the story of our daughter's birth and share a few cute pictures.

"God saw all that He had made, and it was very good." Genesis 1:31 (NIV)

I woke up at 4am having contractions and I laid in bed resting to see if they'd continue even with me relaxing and drinking water. For about 3 or 4 days before I'd been having some pretty strong contractions but if I laid down and relaxed they'd get further apart and then I'd fall asleep or they'd just go away completely. This time I wanted to make sure they were real before calling. After the 5th one about 10 or 11 minutes apart I grabbed my hubby awake thinking "this is the last one you get to sleep through honey!" When the contraction subsided I asked him to bring me the phone and number.

He proceeds to do a couple things and then get out his clothes and begin to get dressed before I say "I'd like to call before my next contraction comes so can you get the phone first." He groggily replies and smiles at me, telling me I'm beautiful. I call at about 5am and since we are all packed I get dressed, put my hair back in braids and we let my Mom know we were leaving.

We arrived at the birthing center at about 5:40am and start to settle into our room. The same room where my son was born, it has a twin bed, a comfy chair, and a large birthing tub - along with it's own bath room. The lights could be dimmed and we just tried to relax and laugh between contractions. Occasionally I'd ask my hubby if he could at least wake up when I was having a contraction and we'd giggle. I was way more aware during this labor than I remember being with my son.

After we were settled in a bit my wonderful nurse (really my best friends Mom - we go to the same church- who so wonderfully said she'd be on call just for us!) checked me and I was 5 cm. She showed me on the little diagram how big that was compared to 10cm and I was convinced we had a long way to go.

After awhile my back began to really hurt so Adam laid behind me on the bed and would push on my lower back during the contractions, I then said I was ready for the tub. I'm not sure what time it was but as soon as they started getting the tub ready for me I had 3 or 4 contractions right on top of each other which was well, eventful. Before I got in the tub I was already at 8cm and it was time to call my Dr. By the time the Dr. got there I was complete and ready to push!

The first contraction I pushed through I was thinking in my head "I'm not sure I can do this, this hurts way more than I remember!" After that contraction I looked at my hubby who was telling me how awesome I was doing and I said out loud "We can do this!" (He asked me later if I remembered saying this and I told him that I felt like I had to say it out loud since my thoughts during the pushing weren't helping me.) After the second contraction that I pushed through I said something to the effect of "Oh my goodness!" and everyone laughed at me that I was so mild manored in the throws of it all!

The third contraction was the last out she came to join us at 8:07am and they plopped her on my belly in all her chubby beauty. Adam and I oogled and googled for maybe a minute or two and then he cut the cord and they wrapped her in a warm towel. I felt like I had to use all my strength with two people helping me get out of the tub but I made it over to the bed. Adam got a chance to snuggle her for awhile and then I did. They never had to take her away from us, a scale was wheeled in and she was weighed (9lbs 4oz). Then we nursed for a good long while and called family and asked my Mom to bring our son out to meet his baby sis.

It wasn't until after lunch that we gave her a bath and got her dressed and measured and foot printed and all that stuff. It was so nice to have all that time to bond and for my son and Mom to be able to hang out until after lunch. We did more cuddling and nursing while my best friend came for a short visit. After which our family Dr. came and checked her out and we were discharged. I think we arrived home at about 5:30 pm and another friend was over just for a quick peek before work. I'm pretty sure we all were in bed by 8pm.

"I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing." Ezekiel 34:26 (NIV)

Our Daughter's Birthday Story (part one)

So it looks like my Dad ended up being the closest guess - crazy as it might be. But I'll buy him starbucks when he comes to visit in a couple days so there are 3 others that guessed the correct date and I'd love to send you all something - Heaven Sent, Ashlee from Mama's Nest, and Audrey from Pinks and Blues. Send me an email to thebutterflymama at gmail dot com with your snail mail address! And thanks for playing!

I'm feeling great. I'm rested and still resting too but really things couldn't be going better as we are all getting adjusted to our wonderful new family member. I wanted to share the first bit of her birth story with you all while I have a moment to type, it's much more slow going one handed but it's nice to have a cutie pie nursing as I go!!!

"Last Monday seems like a lifetime ago," my hubby casually said to me at some point this week. I smirked at him and we both shrugged since it basically was. My Dr. called me late that morning and said, "Heidi, you're still pregnant!" She had told me the Tuesday before that I was 3-4 cm and wouldn't make it to my next apt. Also she made that tempting offer that we could induce any day. I wanted to wait at least until my due date so that brings us back to Monday. With the next day being my due date she asked if I wanted to be induced that next morning. I was done so I agreed that I'd be at the birthing center the next morning at 8am.

I just have to add that watching my son that day was amazing. He and my Mom were making cookies and even though it took them at least twice as long to do it together sitting in the chair and seeing the look on his face made one thing clear. I know why I love to do those things with him and it was great to sit there and see his smiles and the look of satisfaction on his face while he was helping. It IS worth spending this extra time with our kids while they are little since they are only this big today, tomorrow they'll be bigger. (He now seems gigantic next to his little sis!)

Anyway, it was sort of a hard decision to induce vs. got naturally. I was nervous all evening even after my nurse called and explained everything. My husband has since mentioned that I never gave this decision to God and he was right, I didn't have much faith. Especially since I awoke with contractions at 4:00am my worry and emotion was unnecessary. When I woke up I also had the song "I surrender in my head which was a nice one to be singing going into labor.

Since this much has taken two sittings to type I'll write another segment tomorrow!

My Son's Birth Story

I woke up this morning and realized that today was my due date with the baby that was lost. At our first ob apt back in September (10 weeks along) we found out that the baby had stopped developing at 5 and a half weeks along. I miscarried two days later.

It's been a long, hard, wonderful road since then. There have been many wonderful things that have happened to us, being more than half way through a healthy pregnancy tops the list! Knowing that God has plans for this child is great. As He has plans for all His children - but knowing that had our previous pregnancy gone to term this specific little girl coming in August would not have been created. She's quite a fiery little kicking kiddo already!

I've been meaning to share my birth experience with my son for some time know so I'm finally getting around to it!! Mostly it's excerpts from my journal.

One Sunday in August 2004 I woke up without much of an appetite - it was my due date, when was my baby going to come?!?! I had thought I was in labor four days before on Thursday but as soon as we got to the birthing center the contractions totally stopped. (Now having been through it I know that these were NOT the real thing LOL!) They did continue irregularly until Sunday.

That Sunday morning I went on with my plans, mending a frame with seashells on it that an Aunt gave us for our wedding and watching the women's marathon on the Olympics (Athens). As the morning went on the contractions got closer and stronger so I went upstairs to relax, I took a bath and shower to see if the contractions would stick around through that.

Adam started timing the contractions at about 2:30pm and by 4pm they were about 4-5 minutes apart. We spoke to a nurse from the birthing center and she said to call her again in an hour, that first baby's usually take awhile and I'd be most comfortable progressing at home a bit more. But by 5pm my nervous and anxious hubby was wanting to get there since some contractions had been 3 minutes apart. Having one of those big green exercise balls at home really helped relax me during this part of the labor and my "coach" made me walk up and down the stairs in between contractions a few times because I had read somewhere to stay active during labor...easier reading about it than doing it!!!

The tub at the birthing center was very relaxing and one nurse met us there but another was just coming on shift soon took over. Adam called nurse Hazel and Dr. Julie the "Dream Team" - remember the Olympics were going on and he's a basketball fan. They were also amazing and much of what made our birth experience wonderful. It was Dr. Julie's son's birthday so she brought us one of his balloons - so sweet! But I still felt bad taking her away from party and cake.

I spent most of the time after 6:30pm in the birthing tub. I just felt WAY more comfy in there than anywhere else. Adam sat right next to the tub and would rub me and tell me to relax and that I was doing great! Only once did I get a little feisty, my hubby can be a bit chatty and he started talking with the nurse and Dr about something non birth related and I told them all to SHHHH. I'm not exactly sure of the words I used but I'm sure I wasn't too pleasant ;)!!!!

Our birth plan was to have a water birth and it did work out that we were able to do that. *Here's where time gets fuzzy even in my journal entry from a couple days later* Somewhere around 8pm nurse Hazel checked me and I was fully dilated. She said I could push since I was feeling like it with the contractions while she went to get Dr. Julie. When she left Adam was begging me not to push during the contractions which was really hard because I was really feeling like itI needed to. I guess he didn't want to be the only one there to deliver him!

Then at 8:19pm in one giant push out came our beautiful boy all at once. It sort of shocked me because I'd only ever seen or heard of the head coming out first and then the body but apparently that's not always the case!

Dr. Julie picked up our little son and placed him on my belly and after a little cry he reached over and grabbed on to Adam's finger which we thought was the cutest thing ever. Love at first sight! He weighed 8 pounds 6 ounces and was 21 inches long.

I loved the whole birthing center experience, nurse Hazel was there to help me with nursing pretty much right away after he was born and she even gave us yummy muffins to eat and juice! We went home a little after 2am about 6 hours after he was born and it was so nice to eat some food and settle into our own bed. With our wee one in between us!