Not a November baby

On the day I was supposed to be due, and a week after the birth of my second son, I am posting our birth story.  As this is a birth story, proceed at your own desire....

I've spent the majority of this pregnancy convincing myself that I was going to go overdue. Even though my due date was October 27th, I announced that Drew was going to be a big brother in November. After having gone 12 frustrating days past my due date with Drew, I knew it was better to be mentally prepared for a late baby than an early one.

Even as such, however, I found myself hoping baby #2 would come sooner rather than later. Everything was getting hard; my back and hips were hurting so badly and I was so exhausted that work and taking care of a toddler were becoming almost impossible. About a week ago I announced to Jason "I'm having this baby on Sunday!". I had a baby shower at work on the upcoming Friday, and a church one on Sunday, and Stacey, my "doula", was going to be out of town until Sunday afternoon. I figured if I went into labor late on Sunday, everything would work out perfectly and I wouldn't have to go to work on Monday! Jason smiled and said "remember, this is a November baby". 

My plan for the weekend was to get lots of rest. Earlier in the week the whole family, including myself, had caught a stomach bug. That had left me drained. On top of that my sinuses and chest were starting to feel congested. I woke up earlier than I wanted on Saturday, but was thankful that Drew decided to sleep in so I got to lounge in bed. (I posted on Facebook: It's almost 9am and my child is still sleeping. Crazy! Too bad I woke up at 7:30. I am enjoying hanging out in bed, though.) I felt really good. My back and hips didn't hurt like normal. I felt rested. My congestion seemed to have cleared. That should have been a sign.

While making breakfast I started to feel "twinges". I had been feeling them on and off all week so it didn't seem like a big deal. I ignored them and ate breakfast with Drew. After a while, however, I was starting to get annoyed by the crampy feeling. "I feel weird" I told Jason. I started timing the "twinges" just to see what was going on, and sure enough I was having cramps about 7 minutes apart; some 5 minutes apart, but none longer than 12 minutes apart. That scared Jason a little, but I was convinced it was a sign of false labor. There was no way I could be awake for 2 hours with nothing, then all of a sudden have contractions that close together. On top of it all, I was still a week away from the due date. "Well, I don't exactly want to birth a baby at home," he told me, "how do you know if they're real contractions or false labor?" I told him false labor contractions don't have a pattern and often disappear when you change activities. There didn't seem to be a pattern yet, at least, and only time would tell if they would die off or keep going.

Jason had a big tournament at work; staying home for false labor wasn't really an option, nor was going in to work late, so we decided he would go to work, but be by the phone in case I decided he needed to come home. In the meantime I tried a few things to see what would happen. I laid on the couch. Nothing changed. I took a hot shower. Nothing changed. At this point I started texting my mom and Stacey saying I was pretty sure it was nothing, but just wanted to give them a heads up. I took Drew to get his haircut (boy needs to look nice if his brother is actually on the way, I decided). Still nothing changed. As the hair stylist lifted Drew out of the chair for me, saying that she didn't want me to go into labor there, I laughed thinking to myself, "I think I already am!"

By the time we got home from getting Drew's haircut I was changing my mind about things. Nothing had made the "twinges" go away, and they were getting a little more intense. I told Jason it was time to come home and texted my mom and Stacey that I was pretty sure this wasn't false labor. Stacey packed up and headed out from North Carolina (I still feel bad that she left!) and my parents decided to hit the road from Chicago as well. 

The afternoon passed with me packing up a few last minute things, resting, snacking, etc. while Drew napped. By the time Drew woke up at 4:00 contractions were getting to be 3-4 minutes apart. That seemed awfully close, but I had called my midwife who told me to pay more attention to intensity rather than frequency  I was still able to talk through them so I wasn't too concerned, but we decided it was time to start making our way to the hospital since it was a 45 minute drive away and we had to drop Drew off as well. I asked Jason to snap one last belly photo....

39 weeks exactly

Then Drew and I said some good byes. Tears started pouring from my eyes as I realized it was the last time we'd be together as a family of 3. Drew made the waterworks even heavier by deciding he wanted to give his baby brother a good bye hug too.

We were on our way to the hospital by 4:30. Even though contractions weren't unbearable yet, I was starting to feel nauseous and I didn't want to repeat my hospital hallway puking performance that I did with Drew. When we arrived we were asked to wait a few moments while they found space for me. Generally you check in and go to triage where they "make sure" you are in active labor; I guess they had no triage rooms available so I had to wait. Unfortunately they had no waiting area, no chairs, and I was forced to sit on my birth ball by the check-in counter while they figured out what to do. Thankfully my midwife, Julie, happened to be at the counter. She came and rubbed my back for a few moments. The nurses asked "do you think she's staying?" and Julie replied "oh yeah, she's having a baby today" so the nurses whisked me off to a regular room.

By 6:15 I was fully checked in. Stacey had arrived all the way from North Carolina, and my midwife checked my cervix and stated that I was a "stretchy" 5-6 cm dilated and 90% effaced. She left me to my business and it wasn't long before I threw up. I tried various positions to cope- bouncing on the birth ball, standing leaning over the bed while Jason used counter-pressure on my hips, sitting on the bed leaning on the ball...

I was staring at my birth bracelet here remembering the blessings

View of the Atlanta skyline from our room

I was coping pretty well until my back began hurting. Contractions were getting intense and I was starting to get tired. I was getting to the point that I just didn't know what I wanted to do anymore. Around 7:40 I decided to lay in bed for a while, even though laying in bed is, in general, the opposite of what I wanted to do during labor (gravity and movement help move labor along more quickly, one of the reasons I wanted to avoid an epidural). I was starting to feel a bit overwhelmed, but even as such the nurse noted in her computer that there was "no distress observed".

Around 8:00 the nurse announced that the birthing pool was ready. A water birth was something that the midwifery practice and hospital I chose offered, and one of the reasons I chose them in the first place despite the "risky" drive into Atlanta (normally a 45 minute drive, but if we were to have hit rush hour it could have been a completely different story). I hadn't fully decided if it was something I wanted to do, though. When I first arrived I told the nurses I didn't, but when asked by my midwife I decided I'd at least like to have the option. Sure enough, when the nurse announced that the pool was ready I nearly jumped right in. I was ready to try something different.

I started to ease myself into the warm water. It was quite hot so I was trying to get in slowly, but a contraction hit and I sunk right in and was instantly happy I'd made the choice to get in the water.  I could feel every single muscle in my body relax. My mood changed from serious and withdrawn to happy and talkative. Stacey noted that I started joking and smiling. It wasn't long before another contraction hit and I almost wanted to laugh at how different it felt; it still wasn't comfortable, but it was so much more manageable.

One of the reasons I wasn't sure I wanted to get in a birth pool is that I'd read that you can get so relaxed in the water that labor can stop completely. That definitely wasn't the case. By 8:30 contractions were 2-3 minutes apart but I was still coping well. I looked at Stacey and told her "next time... you MUST do this!" My only complaint was that the water was making me very hot. The nurse got me a tub of ice water and a wash cloth. I used the cloth to wipe my face between contractions, and often rested my forehead on it during contractions. It was perfect.

Feeling good enough to nibble
I made Jason give me the whole cracker at once so I wouldn't
feel like I was floating in chicken soup with cracker crumbs

Around 9:00 I began feeling a slight urge to bear down. The contractions were starting to get very intense again. I decided I wanted to have my water broken and "get the show on the road". We called Julie, and she obliged, but she warned me that once the water was broken I was probably going to be in "hot labor". She asked if I wanted to birth in the water. I had known from the beginning that, even if I got in the tub, I didn't want to actually birth in the water; at that point, however, I was so happy in the tub there was nothing getting me out. And once my water was broken there was no changing my mind anyway.

At 9:10 Julie broke my water and I felt an instant, overwhelming, and uncontrollable urge to push. I got on my knees and rested my head on the edge of the tub and pushed as hard as I could. It seemed almost instantly I was declaring "it's burning!" a sign that the baby was crowning. The midwife told me to reach down and feel his head. I had a short break between contractions during which I felt absolutely miserable; with Drew I had been falling asleep in between pushing contractions, but this time all I could think was that I wanted the baby out. On the next contraction I pushed and felt his head emerge. My midwife guided me to push slowly, and one more push later, at 9:19 pm, James was born. I grabbed him myself, pulled him between my legs and up and out of the water. I rested back on the edge of the tub and reveled in my amazingly soft, snuggly new baby.

I will never EVER underestimate the power of warm water again. And as if the comfort and relaxation wasn't enough, I didn't tear! That, in and of itself, made it all worth it. I only needed a few stitches with Drew, but it was still so horribly uncomfortable to deal with after the fact. With a toddler in the house already, it's so nice to be able to get up, down, and around easily.

James definitely didn't appear to be an "early" baby at 8 lbs. 8 oz., and 20 1/2 inches long. He was alert and happy to nurse. And even though he decided to come a lot earlier than I expected, and even a day earlier than I "wanted", everything worked out perfectly, and I can only thank God for my answered prayers. Even as Stacey jokingly reminded me not to have the baby over the weekend while she was gone, we both acknowledged that God would choose the date that James needed to arrive; He did and I am so blessed.

Update

I know I've been quiet lately. Here's a little update on what's been going on around here...

School started back in August. It's been a bit crazy in my department. I've mentioned a few times that there have been some big changes, including layoffs and basically my department being shut down. My position is okay (for now, at least, though it will continue to be a fight), but, as usually happens with any downsizing, I've been rather swamped trying to cover for the deficits. I've been traveling to schools to help with testing, but also trying to keep up with the loads of calls and emails flooding in. Now that the school year is in full swing, though, things are slowing down, which is nice, but also not a good thing for me right now.

I also caught a fun cold which turned into a sinus infection. When you're pregnant there is so little you can take, not only to combat the actual infection, but just to make yourself feel better in general, so I was pretty miserable for a while. It actually took a LOT out of me. Even when I started feeling better I was just exhausted. I'm still recovering from the cough that always comes after the infection. I have a CF appointment coming up and am hoping it hasn't effected me too much- my doctor is a bit "trigger happy" and very quick to recommend IV antibiotics and more intense treatments as opposed to trying other routes first. I understand my health is just as important to keep baby healthy, but I've also proven several times already that given a little time and alternative methods, I can easily pull my lung function back up without stronger interventions.

Drew has being doing so much better with the potty training again. We've still had a few school accidents, but for the most part he's been staying dry. We reverted back to the "bottomless" method at home, which is what was recommended anyway. We had tried to do our own thing to get him ready for school, but it wasn't working. Since going back to bottomless he's been great, and even starting to stay dry at night again.

He's still a 2 year old so we're still dealing with stubbornness and tantrums, but the intensity that I saw at the beginning of the school year has settled down. I told Jason "he's finally like a normal 2 year old again!". I can't believe I'm excited about that.

He is talking so much these days. He loves to call people on the phone and ramble about random things. He likes to try to "show" things to the people on the phone, too. We were talking to Grandma the other day and Drew held the phone up to the car window and said "green trees, Grandma!". He tells me what he did at school each day (which pretty much consists of "played with so-and-so, and played with so-and-so, and so-and-so"), and he loves to talk about where everyone is and what they are doing (Aunt Laura- I have a video to share with you of him telling me that you're in bed... I have no idea where that came from!)

A photo to break up the monotony of this post
My boys cheering on Wisconsin

The pregnancy is going well, though I have to admit I have never felt so pregnant in my life. Yes, that includes when I was nearly 42 weeks pregnant with Drew. I am so tired and so so SO sore! I'm starting to feel like I can hardly move because my hips and lower back feel like they are falling apart. I know a large part of it is that I haven't been nearly as active during this pregnancy. Cassie, Stacey, and I have been doing pregnancy yoga still (yes, Stacey too- there's some pretty decent stuff), but I haven't been as good about getting out and walking. I know it will help. When I was pregnant with Drew I just didn't get to that "I'm so uncomfortable" point. But I've still got 2 months to go and I'm already there. :-/

I've finally more or less decided to change my "vocabulary" when asked when I'm due. I was SO tired of the bulging eyes and startled comments when I said I was due in early November. By saying late October, even though it's really only a week difference, it seems to have a completely different effect. For the first time I've had a few people tell me, "you look great! You're not very big at all!". Still, at work the other day people were fussing over me and I said "guys, you realize I still have 2 months left, right?". They were more than a little shocked. And today I had a guy walk past me and say "well, you look just about ready to pop!" to which I responded "in about 2 months!". Sigh....

Really, the reason for the "lie" in the first place was to take some pressure off myself. Sure enough, the people at work, when told I still have 2 months left, told me, "no way! That baby's coming early!". That's exactly what happened with Drew, and that's exactly what made it so frustrating to go 12 days overdue. EVERYONE told me that there was no way I was going to my due date with Drew. He certainly proved everyone wrong. And as much as I had tried to ignore people, it still got into my head, and I don't want to do that again. By telling people I'm due in early November not only do I take some pressure off myself, but I've also started believing it. I'm convinced this is a November baby.

Besides the whines and complaints about aches, pains, and my size, things have been going very well. Floodlet is growing and kicking (and Drew will tell you this, after he points out where his baby brother is), and I've still been lucky to avoid a lot of typical pregnancy complaints. I'm seeing a midwife practice instead of a typical Ob/Gyn. They are much MUCH more natural birth friendly (in fact, they encourage it). I really like all the ladies and feel very comfortable there. My only complaint is that the head midwife hugs me at the end of each appointment. Not only do I feel strange being hugged by my "doctor", but you all ought to know by now my feelings on hugs...

Stacey snapped those pretty photos of Jason, Drew, and me that I posted on Wednesday and today Cassie and I got together and did some maternity shots for each other. So there will be more to come. :) Let me go ahead and say that toddlers are NOT cooperative when it comes to photo shoots. Even if you just try to play and not pose... Drew knew the instant that camera was out and clicking that he should NOT smile or be cute in any way. :-/

In general we're finally starting to act like we're going to have another baby in the house. I feel like I've been such a procrastinator this time. Seriously- I just signed up for birth class last week. And before you say anything, yes, I know I've done this before, but considering how little I remember about when Drew was a baby, I certainly don't remember enough about labor and delivery.  Still, we're taking a one day class instead of a 4 week one. We also signed up for a water birth class since the hospital actually offers that option, but you have to be "certified".  I'm not sure if that's the route I'd like to go, but I'd love to learn more and have the option available. The baby's room is finally painted as well, thanks to my mom. We're doing a fun alphabet nursery based around this sheet. The walls are more or less that light blue/teal color- very pretty! :) I've started picking up and making a few things for the walls, but hopefully I'm going to have some help from a friend to do something really fun on the walls! Pictures will, of course, be posted.

And I suppose if I'm going to do this much updating, I should put in a little piece about Jason, though I try to leave him out of this for the most part (he's prefers not to be online). He's doing well. Recovered from the appendix surgery. Work has been busy as you can imagine a golf course is in the summer. And his at home work has been keeping him busy, too. I'm certainly looking forward to the days getting shorter so we have him around more often.

Alright, is that enough to make up for my absence around here? I have a video for Monday, but other than that I make no promises. Keeping up with everything has been rough. And I think I'm allowed that. :)

Groovy Booty

I told Jason we must be becoming hippies... natural birthin', breastfeedin', cloth diaperin' hippies.

Drew is a hippie too!

He says we're not hippies because hippies smell bad (and we obviously don't).  I say we're rebels!  Either that or just too poor to afford anesthesia, formula, and disposable diapers!

So, cloth diapers you may be asking?  First off, take a look! Not the cloth diapers you may be imagining.

They're called gDiapers.  I've talked about them before.  Basically they are considered a "hybrid" diaper.  You have a cloth outer and a disposable inner.  The inner part is biodegradable; all you have to do is rip it open into a toilet, swish with a stick, and flush!  No diaper genie, no landfill mess, no piles of stinky diapers... BUT the biodegradable refills are more expensive than regular disposable diapers (and Jason and I don't have a lot of extra $$ to spare).

But the "gee"niuses at gDiapers came out with the cloth insert (since I last discussed diaper options)!  A perfect choice for us!  No worries about folding and pinning regular cloth diapers, no worries about leaks or plastic diaper covers (the outer shell has a plastic liner inside), and it saves us moolah!

gPant on the left, plastic snap-in liner, gCloth insert on the right

All put together

The biggest inconvenience I've found so far is all the stair climbing I'm now doing!  Instead of having "diaper changing stations" around the house I find it easiest just to change him in his nursery where I keep the pail for the dirty inserts and where I keep the clean and pre-loaded gDiapers.  But hey, I'll have a nice buttocks, right? (YOU try carrying a 12 lb. baby up and down the stairs 5+ times a day!)  Really though, I keep a bunch of the gPants preloaded so all I have to do during a diaper change is take the old one off, toss the insert into a pail and put the new one on.  I toss the inserts in the wash every evening or every other evening, then put them on the line in the morning (or in the dryer if I don't have enough clean ones left over). We installed a diaper sprayer for the particularly messy inserts, but in general breastfed baby poop is water soluble and doesn't need to be cleaned off (or so I've been told).

Is it really more environmentally friendly?  Well, besides the fact that disposables don't break down for at least 500 years (at least that's not as bad as the 1 million+ years it takes styrofoam!), there also aren't as many chemicals used in the production of cloth diapers (or the packaging and shipping!).  I know there is more water waste and chemicals used in cleaning, but I am trying to offset that by using environmentally friendly detergent and by line drying!  (Line drying is supposed to help bleach out any stains too!)  Check out the clothesline Jason and I built:

And does it really save money?  Our initial investment was a bit high.  I paid about $110 to get 6 gPants and 12 inserts on diapers.com (with coupon code workingmom15 for 15% off).  Because I can't resist cute colorful things I bought another gPant in a color I wanted for $15 off Amazon.com (because I had 20% off + free shipping).  Then I also bought another package of 6 inserts for $25 at Babies R Us (I used a $2 off coupon that came in one of my packs of gPants).  So I spent about $150 and I have more than enough gPants and inserts to last me 2 days.  Let's say we go through 8 diapers in a day (fairly average for us).  That's 240 in a month.  A box of 150 diapers costs about $40 making each diaper 27 cents; that's about $65 a month.  So, in less than 3 months we will have paid for our gDiapers.  And unless Drew is miraculously potty-trained by 5 months that means we will be saving money!

Leaks?  Well, so far, yes....we've had a few.

Oops!

I'm attributing it to a) the fact that I bought size "Medium" which fits 13-26 lbs. and Drew is not yet 13 lbs. (It didn't seem worth it to buy "Smalls" knowing that he will be 13 lbs. sooner rather than later).  And b) me still learning to put them on properly.  I've been having less leaks as each day passes.  I'm actually surprised how absorbent the liners are.  They are made of cotton fleece and hemp- the cotton helps keep the moisture off his skin and the hemp absorbs all the liquid.  I actually have a hard time telling if he's wet sometimes!

Overall I'm very pleased with them.  Besides the fact that it saves us money and is better for the environment I haven't even mentioned that he has less diaper rash!  Without all the chemicals next to his delicate skin his diaper rash has cleared up!

And on top of all that they're just so darn cute.  Check out Drew's cutie "g"roovy booty!

Snuggling with Daddy

Drew looks good in green!

Girls, we know you gotta have neutral toned under-garments too, right

 I still want this one though:

Won't help with the money saving aspect :P

We will be still be using disposables when we're out and about, on vacation, or when someone else is watching Drew, but these work for us at home!

Considering cloth diapers? There are so many different types and styles.  Research them and find one that's right for you! 

Happy One Week Birthday Drew!

Drew is one week old today.  It doesn't even feel like it's been a week yet!  Time has already flown, I can only imagine how the next 18 years will be!

One week ago today Drew made his slow entrance into the world.  If he made anything clear it was that he was not going to be rushed into anything!

I started having "contractions" Sunday night, but they were very mild and not really timeable.  I slept through most of the night and even slept a good 3 hour interval before I started waking up more frequently.  Monday morning I was pretty sure things were getting started but still didn't really feel like the contractions were timeable, nor were they unmanageable so I decided to just go ahead and go to my regularly scheduled OB visit that day at 11 and see what the doctor had to say.  Turns out I was already 4-5 cm dilated; she wanted me to go ahead and go to the hospital.

I called my doula Kim for advice.  She said I was getting close to being in active labor and maybe wanted to stay kind of close to the hospital since I had dilated so quickly without much "work".  I decided to get some lunch, head home and pick up a few last minute things, then headed to the hospital.

We had to wait a good hour or so in the waiting room at the hospital before going through triage (where they decide if you're in active enough labor to admit you).  Contractions were starting to get more intense so I lost track of time.  By the time I did get into a room I was already 9.5 cm dilated- almost time to push!  How did that happen!?  My contractions had never been closer than 4 minutes apart. What happened to "transition"?  We were sure Drew was going to arrive by dinner time at the pace things were going.


Well, hours passed and I felt no urge to push. Contractions were still coming every 4 minutes; I breathed and tried to relax through them with lots of help from Jason and Kim.  Between contractions I kept falling asleep. I finally decided to have the doctor break my water hoping it might speed things along.  Still nothing.  A few more hours, midnight passed, and we finally decided it was time to do "guided pushing" since I still was feeling no urge to push.  After an hour of pushing Drew finally arrived at 1:25 am on Tuesday, June 29th.  He was almost 2 weeks late and he still didn't make it on the day we thought he'd arrive!  This little guy knows no time schedules! Guess he takes after Mom...

The hospital was awesome.  I never even gave them my birth plan and yet I got everything I wanted, including holding Drew right away- yup, before they even cleaned him up!  I only said once that I was going naturally and they never offered an epidural.  When things started taking a while and they were concerned about Drew handling everything ok they sought out and hooked me up to wireless monitors so I could still move around the room but be constantly monitored.  The nurse even had to take a while to find the machines and get them working, but she did.  On top of all that the doctor I ended up having was 6 months pregnant herself!  I asked her after the delivery if she planned on having an epidural, and she said she wanted to go naturally too!  She said that I was a real inspiration, so I told her about the classes I took.  It turns out she had just been checking them out online that morning!

Happy one week birthday, Andrew!

This is my version of our birth story... Kim, my doula, is writing a more detailed one that I will post later when I get it.  I was honestly shocked when I realized that it was no longer Monday the 28th; time had passed almost meaninglessly to me!  I can't wait to see Kim's version and see an actual "time line" of events.

Introducing...

Andrew Steven Flood

Arrived at 1:25 am Tuesday, June 29th.  

8 lbs. 6 oz.

20 inches

And yes he's got hair!

Proud Mommy

Proud but tired Daddy (he worked very hard last night too! I couldn't have done it without him!!)

Birth story to come later, but everything went as planned, if not better!