So this was our first summer break in a school year sense, and man, it was very different from what I imagined. I did not think it would be much different than all our other summers with kids, but there was so much more pressure to go and be and do because of the looming "deadline" as it were of school approaching. I was very surprised. As you can tell, I did not spend much of that time blogging because I just had so much I felt like I needed to be doing. And when I wasn't doing, I was done!
Anyway, I wanted to jump on the blog and write about Skylar's birth this last Saturday. It was a completely different birth experience than all my others, in the fact that it was not scheduled. I didn't go into the hospital get all hooked up and paperwork done and then start laboring.
It all started on Thursday (September 4th). I started getting contractions, and I realized that there were enough, that maybe, "Hey, I should be tracking these." I had about 4 hours worth of contractions that were random, some were 5 minutes apart, others were 20 . . . and then they stopped. I was then woken up on Friday (September 5th) morning with some harder contractions and again I had a 4 hour block of contractions that were random, some harder than others, some were close and others far apart. I was feeling kind of frustrated. I just remember praying, "God, just give me a clear sign when I should go to the hospital."
So on Friday I had one more block of 4 hours worth of contractions, and then they once again stopped. I woke up Saturday, having not been once again woken in the wee hours of the morning with contractions and I thought, "Great, I'm never going to get a clear sign. I'm just going to have to guess and hope that I'm far enough along they'll keep me." I went ahead with my day as planned though I felt as if I was running out of things to do to prepare . . . ha! I don't know why I felt that way. Really I was just tired of cooking and cleaning the kitchen, and wanted something else to do.
Anyway, I was feeling strange like I needed a nap but I couldn't settle down, so I went to lay on the couch. I had a major craving for something sweet. I asked Philip if he could make me some cookie dough and suddenly I had a harder to talk through contraction. Huh, maybe I should start timing these? Nah, it's just one hard one, let's just see where this goes. I felt another harder one coming so I got up on my hands and knees to sway because I found that more comfortable when dealing with the harder contractions. I had no sooner gotten up and swayed one or two times when I felt a sensation like a water balloon bursting in my abdomen. I quickly jumped off the couch and sure enough, my water gushed out. "Thank you God for my clear sign!"
(Fairly calmly, kind of laughing) "Philip, you need to call mom and tell her to come over, my water just broke."
Philip: "WHAT?!?!"
Me: "Please call my parents, they need to come be with the kids."
Philip: "Ok!"
I went and changed my clothes, packed up some last minute stuff, and grabbed some towels.
Philip: "What do I need to do?"
Me: "Well, you could go hang up these wet clothes downstairs since I don't have time to wash them right now."
In walks my dad, apparently my mom was in the middle of making cookies. Ah, something we have in common -- Philip's cookies sat halfway made on the counter. I try to think of any last minute instructions, but my mind was going about a million miles an hour nowhere -- I felt crazy, but I had a singular focus of "Baby time!"
So we take off toward the hospital, I have to remind Philip to slow down and calm down several times. We make very good time to the hospital. All this started at 2:45 and we were at the hospital by 3:35. I know the exact time because the valet parking had just shut down at 3:30 and they refused to help us get into the hospital because they had just turned the keys into security(? no idea why that means they couldn't help us). So Philip drops me off at the door and I make my way in and the whole place is deserted, other than the valet parker who didn't want to do anything and a security guard. So I approach the security desk and ask if there's a wheel chair because I'd rather not leave a trail all the way up to maternity.
He looks at me with a blank stare.
"Hi, I'm leaking amniotic fluid and would like to know if there's a better approach then me just walking myself up there."
Him: "There's no one else with you?"
"Well, my husband had to go park the car because apparently we got here 5 minutes too late for valet parking."
Him: "I . . . I can't leave the desk . . . I'm here by myself . . . I can't leave the desk here."
"Ok, well, can I have a wheel chair and I'll just wait for my husband to get in?"
Him: "Uh . . . well . . . ummm . . . you're really supposed to go in through the emergency room."
"Well, I guess I can walk down there."
Random woman at the desk: "Oh for Pete's sake, she's in labor -- I'll take her up to maternity."
Yes, a random woman wheeled me up to maternity. She talked about how stupid the two workers in the lobby were the whole way up. And yes, we knew that in off hours you're supposed to go to the ER, but we figured valet parking and going up ourselves would be quicker. Based on my past history, we thought faster would be better.
We're up in maternity, Philip was footsteps behind me with the bags, and we tell them my water broke and that we've called my doctor. We're getting settled into the room and I was telling them that I was generally comfortable with the level of contractions I was having, I did tend toward a higher pain tolerance level and I should be checked right away because pain was not necessarily a great indicator of how close I was.
They went ahead and checked me and I was at a 6. My main nurse said that Skylar was turned toward my leg and if we could get her to shift, things would probably move quickly. So I hopped onto the birthing ball to try and get Skylar to shift. Things started getting more heated and my nurse told me about an option I did not know about, which was a walking epidural, taking off the edge, but a one time dose not a continuous iv of meds. I considered it, and decided maybe that would be helpful. So Philip left the room, I was continuing to experience progressively harder contractions and this guy came in giving me a documentary about what I was getting. Now, I'm sure he hurried through his speech as much as he could and he technically had to do it, but he frustrated the life out of me in that moment. Not moving, sitting uncomfortably, and without my husband and he just kept blabbering.
By the time all that got done, I was in major hard labor. I was complete and ready to push, but my doctor had not yet arrived. I could not control my noise level at all. I tried to focus and breath and make the noise rhythmically so I could put my lamaze breathing into practice. I was relieved to see Philip walk back into the room --it was his turn to calm me down. Apparently, this was about 5:00. It seemed like there were a hundred people in there swarming me. I thought at one point they said the on call doctor was in there so I pleaded to start pushing. A request which got a resounding "No."
My doctor arrived and we got ready to push. Neither of us are really sure when the pushing began exactly, but by 5:26 and less than 10 pushes later, Skylar had arrived. She was quite calm and reserved, crying just enough to satisfy the nursing staff that they felt comfortable laying her on me. We enjoyed a bit of time together before they took her to weigh, measure and be evaluated. She was 20 inches long and 7 pounds 13 ounces with beautiful dark hair and dark blue (for now) expressive eyes. I have a feeling she's going to have the darkest eyes of all the kids, more like her daddy's eyes.
So the walking epidural? If I had thought out and executed a perfect labor and delivery in my mind, I wouldn't have done it because it seemed like I didn't really need it -- I made it through the entire labor without the medicine actually kicking in. However, it did work out for the best in the fact that the pain relief that I did need during pushing was blocked enough to make it bearable and I had the numbing effect for a little bit after labor which helped me relax despite the residual pain I would have felt without it.
Also new for this delivery was a round of pitocin after delivery as a precautionary measure against heavy bleeding and hemorrhage. I cannot say I was thrilled to be going through yet another round of contractions that made it nearly impossible to rest, especially since this last time was supposed to be the last time I had to go through all this. However, I chose the doctor I did because he is not a risk taker and if his best decision for my health was to do this, I would deal with it.
Since everything went well and everyone was doing so well, we even got to go home Sunday evening. And of course, most of you know that we've had a little bit of drama since then, with Callie coming home sick from school on Monday and then the rest of the older kids falling victim to a bug or two after that . . . it's been a little bit of a roller coaster ride here lately! Fortunately, Philip has been right in there helping and taking a little extra time off work to get things settled. One of these days we'll catch back up on everything we should be doing!! ;-)
Thanks for all the prayers and support we have received! We so appreciate hearing from our loved ones around the globe as we celebrate this new addition to our family.
God bless you and yours this week!
Anyway, I wanted to jump on the blog and write about Skylar's birth this last Saturday. It was a completely different birth experience than all my others, in the fact that it was not scheduled. I didn't go into the hospital get all hooked up and paperwork done and then start laboring.
It all started on Thursday (September 4th). I started getting contractions, and I realized that there were enough, that maybe, "Hey, I should be tracking these." I had about 4 hours worth of contractions that were random, some were 5 minutes apart, others were 20 . . . and then they stopped. I was then woken up on Friday (September 5th) morning with some harder contractions and again I had a 4 hour block of contractions that were random, some harder than others, some were close and others far apart. I was feeling kind of frustrated. I just remember praying, "God, just give me a clear sign when I should go to the hospital."
So on Friday I had one more block of 4 hours worth of contractions, and then they once again stopped. I woke up Saturday, having not been once again woken in the wee hours of the morning with contractions and I thought, "Great, I'm never going to get a clear sign. I'm just going to have to guess and hope that I'm far enough along they'll keep me." I went ahead with my day as planned though I felt as if I was running out of things to do to prepare . . . ha! I don't know why I felt that way. Really I was just tired of cooking and cleaning the kitchen, and wanted something else to do.
Anyway, I was feeling strange like I needed a nap but I couldn't settle down, so I went to lay on the couch. I had a major craving for something sweet. I asked Philip if he could make me some cookie dough and suddenly I had a harder to talk through contraction. Huh, maybe I should start timing these? Nah, it's just one hard one, let's just see where this goes. I felt another harder one coming so I got up on my hands and knees to sway because I found that more comfortable when dealing with the harder contractions. I had no sooner gotten up and swayed one or two times when I felt a sensation like a water balloon bursting in my abdomen. I quickly jumped off the couch and sure enough, my water gushed out. "Thank you God for my clear sign!"
(Fairly calmly, kind of laughing) "Philip, you need to call mom and tell her to come over, my water just broke."
Philip: "WHAT?!?!"
Me: "Please call my parents, they need to come be with the kids."
Philip: "Ok!"
I went and changed my clothes, packed up some last minute stuff, and grabbed some towels.
Philip: "What do I need to do?"
Me: "Well, you could go hang up these wet clothes downstairs since I don't have time to wash them right now."
In walks my dad, apparently my mom was in the middle of making cookies. Ah, something we have in common -- Philip's cookies sat halfway made on the counter. I try to think of any last minute instructions, but my mind was going about a million miles an hour nowhere -- I felt crazy, but I had a singular focus of "Baby time!"
So we take off toward the hospital, I have to remind Philip to slow down and calm down several times. We make very good time to the hospital. All this started at 2:45 and we were at the hospital by 3:35. I know the exact time because the valet parking had just shut down at 3:30 and they refused to help us get into the hospital because they had just turned the keys into security(? no idea why that means they couldn't help us). So Philip drops me off at the door and I make my way in and the whole place is deserted, other than the valet parker who didn't want to do anything and a security guard. So I approach the security desk and ask if there's a wheel chair because I'd rather not leave a trail all the way up to maternity.
He looks at me with a blank stare.
"Hi, I'm leaking amniotic fluid and would like to know if there's a better approach then me just walking myself up there."
Him: "There's no one else with you?"
"Well, my husband had to go park the car because apparently we got here 5 minutes too late for valet parking."
Him: "I . . . I can't leave the desk . . . I'm here by myself . . . I can't leave the desk here."
"Ok, well, can I have a wheel chair and I'll just wait for my husband to get in?"
Him: "Uh . . . well . . . ummm . . . you're really supposed to go in through the emergency room."
"Well, I guess I can walk down there."
Random woman at the desk: "Oh for Pete's sake, she's in labor -- I'll take her up to maternity."
Yes, a random woman wheeled me up to maternity. She talked about how stupid the two workers in the lobby were the whole way up. And yes, we knew that in off hours you're supposed to go to the ER, but we figured valet parking and going up ourselves would be quicker. Based on my past history, we thought faster would be better.
We're up in maternity, Philip was footsteps behind me with the bags, and we tell them my water broke and that we've called my doctor. We're getting settled into the room and I was telling them that I was generally comfortable with the level of contractions I was having, I did tend toward a higher pain tolerance level and I should be checked right away because pain was not necessarily a great indicator of how close I was.
They went ahead and checked me and I was at a 6. My main nurse said that Skylar was turned toward my leg and if we could get her to shift, things would probably move quickly. So I hopped onto the birthing ball to try and get Skylar to shift. Things started getting more heated and my nurse told me about an option I did not know about, which was a walking epidural, taking off the edge, but a one time dose not a continuous iv of meds. I considered it, and decided maybe that would be helpful. So Philip left the room, I was continuing to experience progressively harder contractions and this guy came in giving me a documentary about what I was getting. Now, I'm sure he hurried through his speech as much as he could and he technically had to do it, but he frustrated the life out of me in that moment. Not moving, sitting uncomfortably, and without my husband and he just kept blabbering.
By the time all that got done, I was in major hard labor. I was complete and ready to push, but my doctor had not yet arrived. I could not control my noise level at all. I tried to focus and breath and make the noise rhythmically so I could put my lamaze breathing into practice. I was relieved to see Philip walk back into the room --it was his turn to calm me down. Apparently, this was about 5:00. It seemed like there were a hundred people in there swarming me. I thought at one point they said the on call doctor was in there so I pleaded to start pushing. A request which got a resounding "No."
My doctor arrived and we got ready to push. Neither of us are really sure when the pushing began exactly, but by 5:26 and less than 10 pushes later, Skylar had arrived. She was quite calm and reserved, crying just enough to satisfy the nursing staff that they felt comfortable laying her on me. We enjoyed a bit of time together before they took her to weigh, measure and be evaluated. She was 20 inches long and 7 pounds 13 ounces with beautiful dark hair and dark blue (for now) expressive eyes. I have a feeling she's going to have the darkest eyes of all the kids, more like her daddy's eyes.
So the walking epidural? If I had thought out and executed a perfect labor and delivery in my mind, I wouldn't have done it because it seemed like I didn't really need it -- I made it through the entire labor without the medicine actually kicking in. However, it did work out for the best in the fact that the pain relief that I did need during pushing was blocked enough to make it bearable and I had the numbing effect for a little bit after labor which helped me relax despite the residual pain I would have felt without it.
Also new for this delivery was a round of pitocin after delivery as a precautionary measure against heavy bleeding and hemorrhage. I cannot say I was thrilled to be going through yet another round of contractions that made it nearly impossible to rest, especially since this last time was supposed to be the last time I had to go through all this. However, I chose the doctor I did because he is not a risk taker and if his best decision for my health was to do this, I would deal with it.
Since everything went well and everyone was doing so well, we even got to go home Sunday evening. And of course, most of you know that we've had a little bit of drama since then, with Callie coming home sick from school on Monday and then the rest of the older kids falling victim to a bug or two after that . . . it's been a little bit of a roller coaster ride here lately! Fortunately, Philip has been right in there helping and taking a little extra time off work to get things settled. One of these days we'll catch back up on everything we should be doing!! ;-)
Thanks for all the prayers and support we have received! We so appreciate hearing from our loved ones around the globe as we celebrate this new addition to our family.
God bless you and yours this week!
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God's continued blessings.