Baby Dear

 

Baby Girl's Birth Story

 

I woke up on Sunday morning, July 18, 2010, when my 2-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son climbed onto my bed around 6:30 AM and began chattering and bouncing around as usual. After several minutes, they got down and went to play in another room, and as I lay in bed, I realized I was having light contractions, about 12-15 minutes apart. At exactly 42 weeks pregnant, I was ecstatic to finally have some indication that labor was beginning.

We considered staying home from church, but I finally convinced T that I would rather be doing something than just sitting around waiting for contractions to get stronger. After church, we went home, had leftovers for lunch, and put the kids down for naps. My mom picked me up at 1:40 to take me to a joint baby shower at church for another 3rd-time mama and me. My contractions started getting stronger and closer together during the shower. During the prayer time at the end, they were coming about 8 minutes apart and making me perspire and curl my toes!

As Mom was driving me back home after the shower, around 4 PM, I called my midwives and let them know I was ready to come to the birth center. We agreed to meet there at 5:30. I called T and let him know the plans. He was running errands with the kids, but he came home quickly and loaded our things into the van.

I had two contractions on the ride to the birth center and one more as I stepped out of the van; they were uncomfortable, but not at all as intense as our last hurried trip to the birth center when I was already in transition before giving birth to our 2-year-old.

We checked into the birth center at 5:40. I had planned to give birth to this child in the same room we'd used with our other two children, but that room was occupied, so we were shown to a very nice, large room with an extra-deep birth tub.

At this point, I was 4 cm dilated and very effaced.

My midwives made me a turkey sandwich, and after I ate it, T and I decided to go for a walk. It was a perfect summer evening, about 70 degrees with clear blue skies. Once T and I started walking around 6:15, my contractions immediately became much more intense and came every 2-3 minutes, lasting about a minute each. We would walk a block or so, then I would stop and lean on T for support, then we would resume walking until the next contraction.

We returned to the birth center at 7:15. I laid on my side on the bed to try to catch what little rest I could between contractions. I remember having one insanely strong one and saying to my midwives and T, “It won't stop! Why is this contraction going on forever?” They assured me that it was because our baby would be born very soon.

My water broke at 8:07, and I sat on the birth stool at 8:08. After 6 minutes of very intense pushing, our daughter was born at 8:14 PM, weighing 9 pounds, 2 ounces, and measuring 20 inches long with a 13 ½ inch head. I birthed the placenta at 8:27 and T cut the cord at 8:30.

We had planned to go home after a few hours, but we ended up staying overnight at the birth center because Baby Girl's breathing was a little fast. We arrived home around 1:30 PM the next day and introduced Baby Girl to her brother, sister, grandma, and grandpa. Baby Girl is doing great, and we're so thankful for her.

It's a Girl!

Born Sunday, July 18, at 8:14 PM. 9 pounds, 2 ounces, 20 inches long. Birth story to follow....

Still No News

Just in case you were wondering.

Birth Stories (Only Two So Far!)

Still no baby. I've just been reading D.L.F.'s and Cupcake's birth stories to remind myself of what lies ahead....

Baby's Due Date...

...is tomorrow. No signs of labor at all, though. I have a feeling he or she is quite cozy and will still be in there for a while.

The kids are looking forward to their new sibling, although we've been talking about "the baby" for so long, it's probably hard for them to understand that they really, truly are going to have a brother or sister soon. Whenever we mention the baby to Cupcake, she says, "I will give the baby hugs and give the baby kisses and play with the baby!"

We're planning to have the baby at the same birth center where D.L.F. and Cupcake were born. I'm hoping I'll get there in time to take advantage of the big birth tubs. D.L.F. was born in the water, but my labor with Cupcake was so fast that the midwives didn't even have time to fill up the birth tub before Cupcake was born!

Rose Garden

 

 

 

 

My Little Cutie Pie

 

At Least She Asked

Today when I was standing at the counter mixing cookies, Cupcake came and stood right on my feet and asked, "Can I be in the way?"

35 Weeks Pregnant

 

Cupcake is 2!

I made a peanut butter cake to celebrate Cupcake's actual birthday with our small group from church.

 

The next day, my family came to visit and we had strawberries with whipped cream.

 

Cupcake received a wading pool (and a cute little swimsuit) from her great-grandmother.

 

My sweet 2-year-old:

 

Baby Update--31 Weeks

I had an appointment with my midwife tonight. The baby and I are doing very well. I am measuring 31 centimeters, which is right on for this week. My midwife estimates that the baby will be around 9 pounds at birth. Baby is head-down at the moment, which is great--hopefully he or she will stay that way! I think I know when the baby turned, too--I was laying in bed around midnight a couple weeks ago, trying to fall asleep in spite of the very active baby wiggling around in my belly, when I suddenly felt a hard WHUMP!--it felt just like the baby had done a fast somersault, and it almost took my breath away! It's so interesting to have a little person growing inside of me who is dependent upon me and yet moving around independently!

I got to check out a "sibling backpack" to explore with D.L.F. and Cupcake. It contains lots of books for children about birth and new babies, a couple of movies, and cute Waldorf-style mama and baby dolls with snaps so the baby can latch on to the mama and "nurse."

"Cooking"

This morning D.L.F. saw me cracking eggs into a frying pan and asked if he could try. I told him no because the frying pan was very hot. Then I said, "But you'll be able to do it when you're bigger. Probably someday you'll be able to cook a whole meal for us, maybe when you're about 12."

D.L.F. said, "Yeah! I can go to Papa Murphy's and get us some pizza!"

25 Weeks

 

Hoodies

 

Like Father, Like Son

D.L.F. was messing with cords behind the couch while T was sitting on the couch trying to fix someone's virus-ridden laptop. After listening to D.L.F. fumble around for a few minutes, T finally asked, "What are you doing?"

D.L.F. replied, "I think I'll make something turn on!"

Flowers from Our Yard

 

Valentine's Day 2010

 

 

 

And a 20-week belly pic (halfway to meeting Baby!):

 

New Rule

Another new house rule: "Don't color your belly button."

Miscellaneous

-Our new house didn't come with a fridge, so we bought a used one from an appliance shop. Fortunately, it came with a six-month warranty, which we took advantage of when we realized our ice cream was soup and our milk was spoiling within a few days. Some guys from the shop came to our house, replaced a fried part, and voilà, no more ice cream soup.

-I dragged some shelves in from the garage and used them to organize the kids' toys in their room. It's so nice to have floor space in there again. It's still bare on the walls, though. We need to put up some pictures and get some curtains.

-Today only, if you become a friend of Babies "R" Us on Facebook, they'll E-mail you a $5 gift card for use in-store or online. Details here.