Sadie Jane's first birthday--November 1st, 2013. We welcomed this beautiful little girl into our family at 4:52pm and she weighed 7 lbs 13 oz and was 20 inches long.
Birth story:
On Oct 31st, Blake's birthday, Blake and I went for a long brisk walk. I was getting sick of being pregnant and my friend Karin had convinced me to make a cake for Blake's birthday. I wasn't planning on doing this b/c we didn't need a whole cake for the 2 of us and I don't like to give Blake sweets anyways. So, Blake and I walked to the grocery store for ingredients. Needless to say, this did not start my labor. That night though, my contractions started a little bit--not real frequent, but frequent enough and hard enough for me to wake up in the morning and tell Scott it was a real possibility that today was the day. He lingered around the house while my contractions continued through the morning. We decided he should go to his class that morning as long as he had his cell nearby.
I also had a doctor's appointment that day since I was 6 days overdue they kept a closer eye on me to monitor the baby. We decided to keep the appointment after Scott's class and I thought they could at least tell if I was more dilated than before. Well, of course, they didn't check that, but my contractions continued and were worse every time I moved. By the end of the appointment, it was hard for me to walk very far at all without having to stop and wait for the contraction to end. By this time, I couldn't handle Blake--Scott needed to keep him away from me because it was too much having him bouncing off of me.
On the ride home, I was thinking my water had broken, but I was unsure. Scott had to stop the car at one point when the contractions hurt too much to handle all the bumps in the road. By the time we got home, we started calling all the people on our list that had offered to watch Blake while we were in the hospital. We had like 8-10 names and not a single person answered their phone. We were starting to panic a bit b/c my contractions were quite hard although still not consistently spaced. My contractions with Blake were by the book--so evenly spaced there was no question that I was in labor.
I absolutely did not want Blake at the hospital with us. The last person we called was Lori and she missed our call, but immediately called back. She was home and available and could be at our house in 20 minutes. We called her last b/c she was farther away than some of the others, but she probably got there in less than 20 minutes. Both she and her husband work nights and they were both home, so her husband stayed with their 16 month old daughter and she rushed to our place. Thank the Lord!! We were sooo thankful for her!!
We hung around a little longer while Scott showed her around (Blake was napping) and while Scott grabbed some lunch. I then said we needed to get to the hospital, but he asked if he could have another bowl of soup first. Sheesh.
Finally, we were on our way to the hospital! We had to stop along the side of the road a few times b/c I could seriously feel every. single. bump. in the road and our stick shift couldn't shift smooth enough. Still, movement made me contract so it was almost constant on the way to the hospital, or so it seemed. This was definitely different with Blake where my contractions were spaced the same regardless of whether I was walking, lying down, etc. Not so with Sadie. When we got to the hospital, Scott dropped me off at the door and thankfully, I found a wheelchair. It was quite a walk to the birthing suites, so the wheelchair was a necessity since every few steps I had to stop.
The really annoying thing about St. Mary's hospital, where I gave birth, is that they have a triage room where they put women who come and say they are in labor. You go to this room where they tell you whether you truly are in labor and my goodness do they seem to take their time. I had to sit on this bed, change to a gown, and have my dilation checked, which was 5-6 cm. They decided I was in labor and wanted me to get in the wheelchair and go to the labor room. It took me a while to sit up and actually get into the wheelchair b/c my contractions were so hard with every movement.
Finally, we got to the birthing suite and they started a warm tub for me. I had requested an epidural upon entering the hospital, but couldn't get it started until I got to the birthing suite, so the triage room really slowed things up. Well, they took their sweet time with this, whereas in Indianapolis, they were right on top of it and I got my epidural soon after requesting it.
The tub helped immensely, especially for in between contractions. They started my IV in the tub, which I needed for the epidural. My legs and arms started getting tingly and numb b/c I wasn't breathing quite right. I was breathing too fast, so not enough oxygen was getting to my extremities. I tried slowing it down, but it wasn't helping. Meanwhile, Scott was feeling so guilty for requesting to eat a second bowl of soup while I was in misery and ended up not having time for an epidural. He was thinking if he had been faster, I would have been able to get my drugs :)
Anyway, I was moved to the bed, checked for dilation and Sadie's head was right there when they checked, so the doctor was called and I started pushing. 20 minutes later our little Sadie was born. Scott announced "It's a girl!!!" seconds after she came out. I was still trying to get my breath back after the pushing and the "ring of fire" pain as it's called when the baby crowns and emerges into the world. Plus, I was shaking uncontrollably. This was normal I was told and was due to adrenaline. It took me a while to stop shaking, but wow the relief after that baby is born. The immense pain stops immediately (although there is still discomfort) and thankfully, I didn't tear at all!!! Throughout pushing out Sadie's head and shoulders and right afterwards, there was a song that kept going through my head..."I fell into a burning ring of fire. I went down, down, down, and the flames went higher..." by Johnny Cash. Haha...I'm serious.
Scott had to run back down to the car shortly after Sadie's birth b/c one of the video's that I really really valued was the video Scott took of Blake right after he was born. I really wanted one of Sadie too, but the way we rushed to the hospital and everything happened so quickly, we didn't have time to bring in our bags. On video, we have a nurse exclaiming that Scott had guessed Blake's weight correct to the ounce, so he guessed again for Sadie, and we have on video that his guess was absolutely correct again!! That was pretty cool. Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures of Sadie right after she was born, but that's the way it went. Can't always plan for things or expect them to be the same with every child!
Ok, so that's the very detailed account of the birth of our second child--sorry if it was too detailed :)
All in all, I'm happy with the way things went. Before labor, I still preferred a natural child birth and with the drug option not available, that's the way it went, so I am happy Scott got his second bowl of soup :) (I had declined quicker drugs (narcotics) b/c they would have affected the baby and I didn't want that).
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| Sadie's first bath. They no long require you to keep the umbilical cord dry before it falls off. She enjoyed her bath :) |
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| Picture with Mommy and Daddy |
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| The whole family |
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| Sleepy Sadie all bundled up |
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| Auntie Priscilla who came to watch Blake--thank goodness for her!!! |
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| Skin-to-skin time with Daddy. We really like to do a lot of skin-to-skin while in the hospital. It is good for baby and good for bonding. |
This may sound strange, but I'm actually glad that we have had children somewhere other than Minneapolis. Scott and I really enjoy having visitors at the hospital, but also not having too many. The one on one time with Sadie was really nice and we enjoy the privacy of being able to do skin-to-skin or me being able to breastfeed without trying to be discreet. It is hard enough with a new baby and I hate using the nursing cover.
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| The flowers Priscilla bought us, which she had big brother Blake bring in. Melt my heart. |
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| Cuddling with Daddy |
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| And there are her eyes! |
Sadie wasn't awake much in the hospital and didn't want to eat much the first 24 hours, but I was really thankful that the nurses told me not to worry and that was normal. I don't particularly remember them telling me that with Blake, but I just had to write down that I had an "attempt" feeding and was to try again in a couple hours. That sure took the stress down when Sadie didn't want to eat. She had swallowed a lot of amniotic fluid, so she was really spitty, so I was really glad at night that I could send her to the nursery otherwise I would have gotten zero sleep trying to make sure she didn't choke on her spit. This was another reason she probably wasn't very hungry. I guess they recommend rooming in with your child in the hospital, but at night, I see no reason at all. We are both to be sleeping and I need to grab my sleep when I can get it! The nursery is great for that!
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| All bundled up |
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| Daddy time |
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| Mommy time |
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| Being gentle with the baby |
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| Kissing the baby |
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| Jumping on the bed near the baby |
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| Leaping on the bed |
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| Forgetting to be gentle |
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| Awww, love cuddling with her! |
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| And she's out. |
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| Time to go home!! |
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| Daddy dressing her to go home |
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| First car seat picture-- she hated it |
And, apparently I insist on having children near my birthday. This year, we were discharged on my birthday and with Blake, our first day home was my birthday. I arrived home to find a Dairy Queen ice cream cake from my parents in the freezer! Thanks Mom & Dad and thanks Priscilla for picking it up!
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| 33rd birthday |
