Nadine Patricia's Birth Story

Fair warning! I'm going to post baby Nadine's birth story before I forget it. Don't worry, I won't be too graphic or anything. But I have to say that everything went so wonderfully that I want to be sure and write it down. Obviously, my birth with Roxanne was also wonderful and amazing because it resulted in our wonderful and amazing daughter, but in terms of the details, it was difficult and painful and scary. Nadine's birth was kind of a walk in the park in comparison! So apologies in advance for a long and rambling post. And I'm sure some of you might think this is way too much personal information to share, so I apologize for that, too.

For the whole week before Nadine's birth (my 37th week of pregnancy) I was feeling lots of contractions and just generally had the idea that things were moving along nicely. The week before, I had been checked (at 36 weeks) and was already 2cm dilated and 50% effaced, so I was really thinking I'd go early. But, a whole week later, Friday the 5th, my midwife checked me and reported that I was still 2cm dilated and 50% effaced. I have to admit that I was disappointed. But I tried not to worry about it since I was supposed to work on Monday. I kept thinking that maybe I'd go into labor on Monday or Tuesday and that would be perfect. On the flip side, I felt really sure that the baby had dropped, which seemed weird to me since I read about fifty times that your second baby drops only once active labor has started. On Friday night, I felt fairly sure that I saw my mucus plug, (sorry, gross detail) but not positive. On Saturday the 6th, I felt a funny feeling, and continued having contractions irregularly throughout the day. I was really emotional (ie: cranky and annoyed at everything) and felt this need to get some things done. I washed all of Nadine's cloth diapers, ran some shopping errands with Roxanne, etc. Thank goodness I took a long afternoon nap during a thunderstorm. When I woke up, we all went to Fellini's (on LaVista, where they have frozen yogurt inside...yum) and ate dinner. I was still irritable, and my appetite was really weird. I ate a salad but couldn't even finish one slice of pizza. Somehow I found room for frozen yogurt...

Back at home, I was just resting and felt exhausted, but I could not fall asleep. Justin was in the dining room working on work work, as he had been doing for most of the day. He had been "nesting" worse than me I think, bringing home work often to try and tie up loose strings before taking leave. He seemed to know even more than I did that the baby was coming soon. Anyways, sometime around 11:45pm, I was just laying down and playing on pinterest.com and looking at cute nursery photos. I felt a pop, and then a gush. There was absolutely no doubting that my water had broken. I yelled to Justin and told him my water had broken and asked him for some towels. I called my midwife's office, then started calling my mom to let her know we were probably headed to the hospital soon. Of course, the midwife called back while I was making other calls, and I had to wait for her to call back. She did, and I explained to her my history with Roxanne and shoulder dystocia, etc. etc. I had not met her, but she was very nice and calming on the phone. She asked me if I wanted to come to the hospital or wait at home for a while longer. Because I was nervous and felt like things might end up moving fast, I told her I wanted to come in. I guess I was also freaked out about how much water I was losing.

Justin had to finish up what he was working on before we left, so I paced around the house, which seemed to get my contractions going. Before then, they had still been irregular. After my water broke, they got to be around 15 to 20 minutes apart but got farther apart if I wasn't walking. After Justin finished, he gathered up our bags and scooped up Roxanne who was completely asleep, and we all got on the road. About ten minutes into our drive, we realized that we had forgotten shoes for Roxanne. Oops. We had her little suitcase, but no shoes. So once we got the hospital, Justin had to carry her everywhere. We waited in the triage area for a while before being brought back to a room. We settled Roxanne onto the "couch" with her pillow and blanket in our room, but of course she didn't fall asleep... Fortunately, my mom and Mike and Leah got there soon after we did, and waited with Roxanne while so we could figure out an approximate time line for when and how things would happen. I saw a nurse who came and did a few things while we waited for the midwife. Kate, the midwife (who again, I had never met before) came in and I immediately liked her a lot. She was very friendly and calming. She checked me, and I was only 3 cm dilated and about 60% effaced. She suggested I try and rest for a few hours and then she'd come back around 6am to check me again. I think by this time it was around 1:30 or 2am. I told her that was fine, and we told my mom and Mike and Leah to go ahead home with Roxanne since it would be a while. Justin settled in and tried to sleep, and I tried to relax, but my contractions were roughly 5-7 minutes apart by then and were very uncomfortable. I was still able to just breathe through them and distracted myself watching HGTV shows. I was also lucky that although I had an IV in, I wasn't hooked to anything, so I could unplug myself from the fetal monitor and blood pressure machine and move around. I was in and out of the bathroom constantly, and just generally felt really uncomfortable. I was definitely not able to rest, but I tried to at least keep quiet enough for Justin to sleep a little.

By about 4am, I was really really hurting. The contractions were much much closer together and they kept double peaking, so that I would get one, then one second later get another. I was exhausted, too. I called the nurse and asked her to send in the midwife to check me again. She came in and said that I was 6cm dilated and 90% effaced. She helped me into the glider chair in the room, which was MUCH more comfortable for my contractions, but I was really getting scared that without any rest, I would not be able to actually push when the time came. Because of my experience with Roxanne, I was just terrified that I would end up pushing for hours again. I was afraid to get an epidural because I thought it might slow things down. The midwife talked me through everything, and assured me that things were moving fast enough that a C-section was really not on the table, and that she didn't think an epidural would slow things down at all. After a particularly awful contraction, I opted to get the epidural. I think they placed it sometime around 4:30am, and I immediately fell asleep.

I woke up at 6:30am feeling a lot of pressure and discomfort. I felt like it had to be time to push, but the midwife had promised to be back at 7am, so I tried to just wait it out. I woke Justin up with my laboring, and asked him to start calling people. He was really out of it, but called people and told them he thought they might want to head to the hospital if they were coming. He didn't understand that I thought it was going to be any minute, but when he talked to my mom (who had Roxanne) I tried to make it clear that I wanted them to come ASAP. By about 7:10, my midwife still wasn't there, but I was REALLY uncomfortable. I felt the urge to push very strongly, and when the nurse came in and saw me, she said she'd get the midwife immediately. She did, and the midwife agreed that I was ready. Everyone got assembled and got things ready, and I started pushing. The midwife suggested I lay on my side, which was a million times better than laying on my back. After a few rounds of pushes, I was feeling frustrated and kept saying "I feel like I'm not doing anything!" but everyone did the usual reassuring that I was doing great. About 20 minutes into pushing, the midwife yelled, "look down! look down!" and I looked down to see Nadine being laid on my chest. They told us she was a girl, and Justin and I were both happy beyond words. She had lots of dark hair, and looked just like baby Roxanne.

The midwife told me that Nadine was bigger than she had previously thought. And the nurse who was going to weigh her guestimated that Nadine was a "hot 8." I'm kind of in love with that phrase... In the end, she was 8 pounds 12 ounces and 20.5 inches. A big girl! I'm so glad that she decided to arrive when she did, since another week or so could have ended in a very different birth situation. Everything seemed to happen exactly as it was supposed to, and we couldn't be happier with our new baby girl. We are a lucky family.

36.5 week check-up

Here's my woefully unflattering 35/36 week photo. Although if I do say so myself, Roxanne looks adorable. This photo was taken on Saturday, and I hit 36 weeks on Monday. Just to give you an idea... :)
Here's a sequence of photos I took of Roxanne in the "atrium" at Northside while we were waiting for our "family tour" on Sunday. We got to visit different areas of the labor and delivery/recovery/nursery parts of the hospital. It was very very educational. Northside is definitely very different from Piedmont. Even if just in terms of sheer size. There are so many floors dedicated to babies and mommies! It also made it all much much more real. It won't be long before we are in that hospital with a new baby. Some big differences between here and Piedmont. They don't put any cap on how many people are in your room during labor. No children other than siblings are allowed to visit once you move to a recovery room. Which is sad, since we have lots of beautiful cousins and friends we'd like for the baby to meet right away. Sigh. They encourage rooming in as much as possible, and keep your baby with you much more than Piedmont did. So good things! The guide also mentioned in passing that if we have an emergency where we have to get to the hospital in the middle of the night and bring Roxanne, they will help keep that under control. It's not their preference, but they assured us they are a "family hospital."
As you can see, Roxanne has a bandage on her right hand. She burned her finger/knuckle on the grill the other night. We didn't take her to the hospital (maybe we should have?) but we've been keeping it clean and Neosporin-ed up, and it's healing beautifully. But she loves talking about it. Her favorite part? Telling people that it was an accident, but that Daddy wasn't paying attention. Oops.

She likes her shirt that I made. The top itself is a super cute hand-me-down from my sister, and I got these flocked iron-on letters from Michael's. I've been looking for cool "big sister" shirts for a while, but no luck. This one will do. :)

So, today I had my check-up with the midwife. I'm about 36.5 weeks. I'm measuring 37.5 weeks, but I've been measuring about a week ahead for a while now, so no big news there. Heart rate sounds good, and measured at 141 beats per minute. I'm convinced this baby is a girl... I also asked the midwife to check me, and she reported that I'm currently 2cm dilated and 50% effaced. I'm very much hoping that it's an indicator that I'll go into labor in the next week or two, and maybe avoid an induction on or around 8/15. I'm having a few other symptoms of early labor, so fingers crossed it will be sooner rather than later. Of course, I'm probably jinxing myself... Either way, I've got one more week of work, and my next midwife appointment will be early next Friday. But to be on the safe side, I think I should probably go ahead and pack the hospital bag. I can't believe it's time to do that! It's crazy how things move so fast even when they feel like they are crawling... I'm also done with my summer semester, which is really a big relief. Unfortunately, I don't have much energy to do all the cleaning, etc. I need to be doing. On the upside, we've been getting in some extra pool time after work, and it's wonderful for all of us. De-stressing and de-swelling. Perfect!

I apologize if that entire thing was incoherent. I'm really sleepy. All the time... It's like I have mono. Or a giant baby in my belly...

34/35 weeks

I had my midwife appointment last Friday. It was short, and not much news, but the nice part was that the midwife let Roxanne "help" a lot. It was very cute. She got to stand up on a stool and help with the doppler and help measure my belly. So cute! I'm still measuring large, but at the same proportion as last time, so the ultrasound results should still stand, putting the baby in the 62nd percentile for size. She didn't mention anything about another ultrasound, just that "we'll have to make an executive decision at some point" about the c-section versus not. I go back in two weeks.
I'm feeling OK. Just trying to wrap up about a billion things while also keeping my feet up as much as possible. The swelling in my feet and hands is starting to be obtrusive, in part because of the heat I think. I need to be drinking more water, but it's rough! Having to run to the bathroom every five seconds is trying enough, but when you add extra water, I might as well just stay within five feet of a restroom at ALL times. The baby's room is coming along well. I'm going to post photos on the house blog, but here's a few shots of the room, just for fun.

Some Roxanne photos...

OK, so I still can't find my camera charger, but my bosses have the same one, so I charged the battery at work. I asked Justin to take a few pictures of Roxanne in her dress up clothes while I was in class last night, since she almost always puts on one princess dress or another once she gets home. These were on the camera once I checked it after class.Here's a portrait of Justin by Roxanne. She loves taking pictures these days. I find this one particularly awesome.
Here she is in her Belle dress, with the addition of fairy wings. How can one make a princess even better? Add wings.
Yeah, she really really really likes pretending to be a princess these days. Can you tell?
She's also become a big fan of making weird hand gestures in photos. She's like a frat boy making some kind of secret hand gesture every time we get the camera pointed at her. Except hers have no relation to the Greek alphabet.

Happy Fourth of (rainy) July!

I hope you all have had a nicer fourth than we did. Well, that's not true. Ours was nice, but not what we planned, thanks to all the storming. We went to our neighborhood pool party, which was surprisingly fun. It was a pot luck, and I brought some baked squash and zucchini, which I promise didn't taste like a wintery dish. They are both in season right now, so the Farmer's Market had a lovely selection of them. Anyways, we had a nice time at the pool, but after we finished eating, it started thundering and the lifeguards made everyone get out. It seemed like things were only getting worse storm-wise, so we ducked out and went home. Roxanne and I napped while Justin mowed the lawn... We ventured back out later and had dinner at the new Big Tex Cantina in Decatur (yum) and tried to gauge whether or not the fireworks would be cancelled. By 9:30, it was still raining with intermittent lightning and thunder so we gave up and headed home. Roxanne got a consolation "dirt and worms" sundae at Bruster's on the way home. Late bedtime for Roxanne means tomorrow is going to be rough, but oh well. That's what holidays are about, right?

This weekend has been nice, but it went by way too fast! We wanted to get as much done on the baby's room as possible, since we are closing in on delivery day. But more on that later... We got out the baby clothes we had saved from Roxanne, and rewashed all of the 0-12 month stuff and are in the process of putting the roughly ONE BILLION outfits into the dressers in the baby's room. The good news is that we have plenty of gender neutral stuff in 0-6 month sizes. After that it's more girl-specific and summery, which won't work too well based on the fact that this baby will be 6 months old in winter-time, and the fact that it could be a boy. Although that is highly doubtful... We also sorted baby gear, and washed carseat covers and put things in easy reach for when the baby is actually born. We are so lucky to have more room this time around, and also so lucky to have such wonderful family to share equipment with. The only thing we need to purchase for the baby is the crib, but since my aunt and uncle gave us a pack and play with a bassinet attachment, we aren't in a huge rush to get it. We've settled on the Gulliver crib from IKEA, which with a decent mattress (also IKEA) will cost under $200. It was not an easy decision to not use Roxanne's beautiful crib, but after hours and hours of research on the new crib safety standards, we decided that spending the money would be worth the peace of mind. It's never a good sign that we would actually be breaking the law if we tried to resell Roxanne's crib. Seriously. It is now illegal to try and resell any drop-side cribs. Even thrift stores, etc., are no longer allowed to. If we knew this baby wasn't going to be a climber, or would only be in the crib for a short time, we'd definitely have just used it. But considering this is at least a 3 year deal (including the time that it will be used as a toddler bed) the extra investment just seems worth it. Can you tell I still feel a little guilty? On the upside, IKEA's cribs are rated very well, and they conform to European safety standards, which are more stringent than the American ones. Phew. It's amazing how much has changed since we had Roxanne...

As for the nursery, we got some art on the walls, and really only have three or four things left to do. I finished knitting the pouf stool I've been working on, so now I just need to find time to stitch it up and stuff it. Soon! I'm also planning to make a mobile. I've been looking around online and I think I have some good plans, but we'll see. A big "to do" is to replace the light fixture in there. There is currently a rather rickety ceiling fan that is ugly and makes me nervous when the fan is running. I think we have a fixture we could use in basement (bought when we moved in but never installed). I'm just not sure how I'll get my 8 month pregnant self hoisted up and able to balance things well enough to switch the fixture. Justin could probably do it if I walked him through it, but I know he doesn't like dealing with the electrical stuff. Maybe we'll just call in some friends to help... :) I did finally finish the curtains this weekend though. I'd take photos, but even though I finally got our camera to work again, I now can't find the battery charger. Sigh. Trust me, the room is coming along, and looking cute. But if anyone has any leads on where to find CHEAP but large storage bins for toys, please let me know. That's one thing I haven't been able to find.

For the baby update: I had my ultrasound last Friday. Justin came, but it was a little anticlimactic, since we didn't really get to see much of baby bumblebee. We saw the top of the head and the heartbeat, but no face, no little feet, etc. And we certainly didn't get any fun pictures to take home! Oh well. I guess getting an ultrasound to determine the baby's size is probably not the time that they do all the fun stuff. As far as that goes, they estimate the baby to be around 5 pounds 5 ounces, which puts the baby in about the 65th percentile, which is great! After that I had a good visit with Judy, the most senior midwife at my practice, who I *really hope* will deliver the baby. She is very straightforward and doesn't sugar coat things, which can be hurtful sometimes, but she definitely knows what she's talking about. She said that I've done very well with my weight gain so far (I'm up about ten pounds since I got pregnant) and that might be helping with the baby being more "average" for weight. The downside is shoulder dystocia is apparently VERY hard to predict and can happen even in second or third deliveries, and even with smaller babies. So, for now, her proposed course of action for delivery is to schedule an induction for 39 weeks if I don't go into labor on my own before then, and go ahead and have a doctor on call in case I end up needing a C-section. If they schedule the induction, she said they will watch very closely for ANY kind of slow downs at any point in the labor. If any slow downs occur, they will proceed with a C-section, under the assumption that the slow down could be related to shoulder dystocia. I trust her judgement on things, in part because she is currently researching shoulder dystocia extensively because she's helping to defend a midwife who was involved in a "bad case of shoulder dystocia." I found out after Roxanne's birth that shoulder dystocia is apparently a big source of liability lawsuits for midwives and OBGYNs. It does surprise me a little, since shoulder dystocia only happens in about 1% of births.

Here's me at 33 weeks:
On an unrelated note, Roxanne has been telling me often that she is "so excited about the new baby." She has been playing pretend babies very very often the last month or so, too. Poor kid, I hope she feels that way in two months when she isn't getting as much attention anymore... She loves putting baby dolls or stuffed animals (also called babies) under her dress and then having them "come out" even though she tells me she doesn't know how they got in there. She tells me she has lots of babies in her belly and they kick her all the time. And she reminds Justin often: "You don't have a baby in your belly, Daddy, you just ate a lot of food." Poor Justin. He really doesn't have a belly though. Honest. He's as trim as ever. She basically talks non-stop these days (what's new?) and has started really showing her social inclinations. She wants to talk to everyone. She waves at strangers on the sidewalks and if they wave back, she tells me she made a new friend that she's never seen before. We've been gently trying to introduce the whole "stranger danger" concept, but I think it's not sticking at all. She wants to talk to anyone and everyone. I think she's going to really like starting pre-school in September. And let's hope that having a sibling around will help a little, too!

32 Weeks Tomorrow

So, this Friday we are going back to the special ultrasound place to have another "photoshoot" with baby bumblebee. At my appointment two Fridays ago, my belly measured large, which I find frustrating since I'm still only about 8 pounds over my pre-pregnancy weight, but oh well. The midwife had originally said we should do an ultrasound at 36 weeks, but after the measurement, she decided to do it at 32/33 instead. Justin came with me for that last appointment, so it was nice to have a second set of ears to listen to the advice and procedures we have ahead of us. Basically, if the baby looks to be very large at the ultrasound, we'll likely be headed towards a C-section, but she also mentioned the possibility of having another ultrasound at 38 or so weeks, so we'll see. Other than that, things are pretty OK with pregnancy stuff. I get sore and swollen and uncomfortable by the end of the day and the Braxton Hicks contractions sometimes freak me out, but I know it could be much worse. Chasing 3 kids all day and then taking night classes twice a week is not ideal at 8 months pregnant (especially in this Georgia heat) but I thank my lucky stars every day that it's doable. I don't know what we would do if I had been put on bed rest, and as always, I'm very very appreciative that I'm in the home stretch and we will be having a sibling for Roxanne soon!

We have a LOT to do before baby comes, but I'm just not feeling panicked yet. I think having to focus so much on work and school makes it hard to think about the hospital tour and getting the baby's room all done, but I'm sure part of it is also just that this is our second baby. I know that in reality, the baby won't be sleeping in his or her room for a little while, so I can finish up some of these projects while I'm on leave. I'm planning to take a week off before my due date and then 8 weeks after the baby is born. So 9 weeks total. I'm also taking the semester off of school, although I'll still be registered for "thesis research" hours, which imply independent study and don't require any classroom time or graded materials. I'm hoping I can get lots of reading done for my thesis, and maybe even have a prospectus written by the end of leave. That would be amazing!

Roxanne is getting fairly excited about the baby, although I know it's still pretty abstract to her. She usually says she wants a sister, and she often wants to buy things like tiny tutus for it when we are out shopping. She has been playing with her baby dolls a lot more, and tells me she is a good big sister to them, and that her dollies can be "friend babies" for baby bumblebee. She also often puts the babies under her dress and then they "come out" and she takes care of them. She "nurses" them, but apparently that takes place through her knee. She is very curious about all of that stuff, and I'm sure it will get more intense once the baby comes, but I'm not worried about it. She usually asks funny questions of the midwife, like "is the baby going to come out through a door in Mommy's tummy?" or she asks me and Justin: "Have you ever heard of the name ___" complete with some really really weird combination of sounds. Although she has suggested "Felicia" several times lately, because she says it sounds like a flower. She will sometimes ask, "don't you love that name? Can we name the baby that?" and Justin and I always tell her we'll put it on the list of choices for the baby's name. Usually she is fine with that answer, but sometimes, she'll push and want to know why we won't just go ahead and pick that name as the baby's name. She spent close to a week pushing a name that sounded like "awful-cough" and still sometimes brings it up every once in a while. She definitely means well, and it's hard to tell her no!

Oh, and I'm sorry for the lack of photos. Our camera has been acting up a lot lately, giving this "lens error" thing and then shutting itself down, and from what I've read online, it is something we can keep temporarily fixing by banging it into things (I have not resorted to this yet...) or blowing out the lens cap until I feel woozy, and doing a little bit of rough handling with the lens as it comes in and out. But the bad news is that this seems to be usually a sign that the camera is on it's way to dying. Considering we've had it almost four and a half years, I guess we shouldn't be surprised. It was not a super fancy camera to begin with. Just like our Mazda, which is also breaking over and over and bleeding us dry, there is no money for a replacement right now. Here's hoping the special tricks keep working on this thing for a while. Or else we'll be taking baby photos on my Blackberry. :)

Oh, and just for fun, here's my 30 weeks pregnant photo at our old apartment when I was pregnant with Roxanne.
And here's me at 30 weeks with baby bumblebee. I guess my belly does look bigger... I guess I'm just confused because I always have been told that your belly is always bigger faster with your second baby. Better safe than sorry, I guess!

Baby Bumblebee Update

So here's my belly tonight. And my exhausted face after a day of work and a night of class... I am 29 weeks pregnant as of yesterday. I seriously thought I was 30, but after double checking in a half-hearted way, I guess it's actually 29... I have NO idea how I lost track of such an obvious thing, but I do remember that happening with Roxanne sometimes, too. I haven't been as good this time around about taking weekly photos (close to it though) or posting on the blog, so I have less occasion to "announce" or record things. I can say with certainty that I'm now on the every 2 weeks schedule for midwife visits. Once I'm 36 weeks, it will be weekly. Ugh. I had my last appointment last Friday, and my next one will be next Friday. Last week I had my second gestational diabetes screen, and I found out today that I passed! I'm very relieved, since it looked like I might not based on my borderline results from the first test. I also talked to the midwife about my due date and the shoulder dystocia/giant baby concerns. She told me that they would not let me go past 39 weeks, so I will either be induced or have a C-section by then. They will have me do a late ultrasound probably around 36 weeks to check on the size of the baby, and that will dictate a lot of the decisions about delivery. I'm sincerely hoping the baby looks to be a smaller size than Roxanne, and based on the fact that I've been measuring "on track" for where I am in the pregnancy, I think maybe I have room to hope...? I feel pretty sure that with Roxanne I was always measuring ahead. I've also gained about 5 pounds to date this pregnancy, although the weight gain has picked up and I'm having more trouble keeping it off. Partly because I'm starting to have some swelling, especially at the end of the day... But I swear I had cankles with Roxanne way before this point, so that has to be a good sign... The baby's heartrate was in the 140's, so not great for pin-pointing a gender, but again somewhere in the middle. Sneaky! I have to admit, in my mind, the baby is a girl. It just seems more likely. I'd be perfectly happy to eat those words, though! We'd be happy with either. I'm just hoping for a healthy baby. I'm still so relieved we've gotten this far. We feel very lucky. :)