My Birth Story

My due date was April 22nd.  It was around 5pm on April 30th and my midwife called and told me I HAD to go to the hospital NOW to have the stress test that I had missed that morning.  I wasn't feeling very well and really didn't want to go ANYWHERE.  Dan was at work, but the midwife was insistent, so I called him, he came home, and we headed to the hospital for my test.

We arrived at the hospital and they showed me to a room on the maternity ward.  They hooked me up to machines and waited for a good consistent reading.  An hour later they still weren't satisfied.  The babies heart rate was fast and fluctuating.  So, they sent me for an ultrasound.

While I was getting the ultrasound I started feeling achy and sort of crampy, like I was about to have my period.  I mentioned it to the tech and she made sure to tell my nurse.

I headed back to "my" room and they told me that they wanted me to stay the night, just to be safe.  They checked me and I was only 2cm dilated (like I had been all week) so, Dan and I settled in.  They had a big chair that extended into a bed for him to sleep on.  We relaxed, watched TV and ate the pizza that Dan had snuck in.

I didn't get much sleep.  I was feeling kind icky and just watched TV.  Every 10 minutes or so I would feel a cramp so I would put on my headphones and sort of "zone out" to some Adele. 

At around 4:00am a nurse came in to check on me. I didn't know she was there since I was in the midst of one of my "zone outs".

"How long has THIS been going on??" she asked me.  "About an hour or maybe 2... I'm not sure" I said. "Ok, well, let me check you real quick."

I was only 3cm dilated.  Ok, not much of a change. BUT they weren't letting me go home!  Around 8:00 Dan woke up and we decided that he should go home to feed the dogs.  He'd be back in an hour and there was plenty of time.

About 30 minutes after he left the nurse came in to check me again.  "How are you doing?" "Oh fine, a little crampy, but not bad."

She wanted to check me anyway, just to be sure. "Oh my god! I can't find your cervix!" "Well, where did it go?" "You're fully dilated! You could have her any minute!". I said, "Oh no I'm not, my husband's not here, I'm waiting."

She looked at me like I was nuts.  The midwife and the nurse both anxiously paced the room looking out the window. "Is that him??" "Is he wearing a red jacket?" "No." "No" "Oh COME ON DAN HURRY UP!".

Finally, almost 2 hours after he left he came back!  The nurse knew someone who lived near our house and had them go and tell him to get his butt back to the hospital! (Dan is deaf and can't use a phone).

The minute I heard them say "Here he comes!" my body gave a giant push.  He came running in the door to the room and the "fun" really began.  My water hadn't broken yet, so the midwife suggested that we do that.  I was fine with it, it wasn't meds so I wasn't that concerned.

She broke the water and I had my first big contraction.  Dan held one foot and the nurse held the other.  It hurt!  Not the worst pain that I'd ever felt, but it wasn't a tickle.  BUT I also wasn't panicking, I wasn't scared... I just wanted to see her!  So, I had about 10 contractions total.  After each one (except the last one) I promptly fell asleep.  The next contraction would wake me up, I'd smack Dan to get his eyes off the TV (all three of them were watching TV while I slept.  I guess me falling asleep was highly amusing to the floor), have a contraction, push like heck, comment on the show, then fall back to sleep.  

I will admit, for the last 30 minutes or so of labor I did use some colorful language.  My "go to" phrase was something that rhymed with "You Clucker!".  I kept apologizing for swearing and we all laughed about what she would think her name was.

I think the whole labor lasted about 2 hours.  Dani came out face up and weighed 9lbs 10oz.  I needed one stitch.  Minutes after she was born I told Dan that I wanted more kids. So I guess it wasn't that bad!

She was so awake, alert and LOUD!  I held her, Dan held her then they took her for some tests.  Her hearing was fine, she was healthy!  The put her in a little bassinet in my room and told me to ring if I needed anything.

She LOVED that puppy! He came home with us.

So calm! Little Buddha!

That night and the next day I tried to nurse, but I wasn't making much milk.  So, they gave me a bottle and a breast pump.  I would feed her the formula and whatever milk I produced. She was so SLEEPY, she just didn't want to eat.  I told the nurses that I just couldn't wake her up.  They gave me a stern talking to about how I HAD to get her to eat.  "How mean do you expect me to be?? She WON'T wake up enough to eat!"  I went so far as to put ice water on her chest!  Nothing would wake this kid up.  Finally the nurse took her and the discovered that she had jaundice.  Both Dan and I had jaundice when we were born and I guess it's very common with our shared blood type.  So I guess any kid that we have has a pretty good chance of being jaundiced! Good to know!

She got a spot in the Special Care Nursery where they had her under lights like a rotisserie chicken with sunglasses on.  My time at the hospital was up but I asked to stay as long as she did.  Thankfully they weren't that busy, so they had room for me to stay.  I would have thrown a FIT if they had made me leave her there!

After two days in her tanning booth she was finally alert, happy and eating!  She could go home!

You should have seen those cheeks jiggle!

Hypno-Birthing

It's been a while since I've posted anything.  Dani has been born and is doing great, but more on that in my next post :)

First I want to say a little bit about "hypnobirthing".  We didn't take any of the typical Lamaze or normally recommended birthing classes.  I decided that I wanted to try hypno-birthing.  Because of my Multiple Sclerosis I was told that I would be unable to get the much coveted epidural.  My choices were natural/unmedicated birth or I would be put under general anesthesia and given a cesarean.

After a not so brief moment (read: days) of panic I finally settled down and decided that I could do this without medication.  I always had the fall-back of getting knocked out.. right?

So, luckily, my local hospital offered a class in hypnobirthing.  Ok, a little hippie-dippy... but hey, at this point, anything that might help me was worth trying!

The woman who taught the course was VERY nice and due to my special (medical) situation she let me attend a few classes with some women who were farther along than I was, so I could start early. After I attended those, I started my "real" class with 2 couples who were due when I was.

I really enjoyed the classes.  I can't say that I was truly hypnotized.  I didn't cluck like a chicken.  What DID help me was the mindset.  Women have been giving birth for millions of years without medication.  Our bodies are designed to do this!  Most of the pain of childbirth is caused by fear and the tension that it causes.  Just relax and trust your body!

We watched videos of women giving birth without any medical intervention.  Usually they just had nurses popping in, checking their progress, and basically observing.  There wasn't any screaming, they just sort of groaned, gave a louder grunt, and BAM, there was the baby!

So, with that "ammo" in my head I felt SO much better about having my baby.  I could do it.. I absolutely KNEW I could!  So, the classes, more than anything, were reassuring and helped me overcome all the mental pictures of screaming pain-ridden women that had been installed in my head by the movies and stories I'd been exposed to my whole life.  For that reason alone, the class was more than worth it!

This is the book I was given for my class.  If you are considering an unmedicated birth, read this book! It is so reassuring and encouraging!

BOTH due dates have come and gone...

and she is STILL in there!

 40 weeks and 4 days... *sigh*

I have been to many more appointments with stress tests, ultrasounds and blood pressure checks.  I had another appointment today and I guess my blood pressure is high... But the baby is doing GREAT!  She isn't complaining at all.  I hope this isn't a glimpse into the future to when she's 39 years old and living in our basement.

I am SO ready for her to move out!  Dan is bringing home, as requested, an atomically hot spicy pizza tonight.  I tried extra spicy curry last week, now we're going for the Italian food... Lets see if she dances for this like she did for the curry... 

Don't get me wrong, I love her... but I do admit, I am trying to make her mad so she decides to move out! :)

I know that lots of my family follows this blog, so I thought I would share my baby item shopping list on here just in case anyone wins the lotto.  I do lots of my shopping on Amazon.com... so this is my personal list of "gonna gets" for the baby for when I have the money :)

CLICK HERE

 Stay tuned... I am REALLY hoping to post pictures of her screaming face VERY SOON!!!!!

Tomorrow is my "First" due date!

So, according to the Docs in Albany, tomorrow is my due date! According to my local doctors, my due date is Thursday. (Of course, at first my local docs thought I was due on St Patty's Day.. so, *shrug*).

As of my last appointment on Thurday I am/was 50% effaced and 1cm dilated.  I am having wimpy contractions... but nothing crazy.  The Doc said that my water could break at any time... so now I'm paranoid to go ANYWHERE.  And, much to my husbands delight, we were encouraged to have as much sex as possible.  Since I want this kid OUT, I am more than agreeable to that! LOL!

I think even the dogs know that something is up.. They have been very quiet and good... Not that I'm complaining!

The dog got his pre-baby haircut, the baby's crib has been made and re-made, her clothes, towels, diapers, butt paste, etc has been organized.  Her bottles, pacifiers and the breast pump are on the counter ready to be boiled.  The rubber sheet is on our bed in case her water-slide turns on in the middle of the night.  The hospital bag has been packed and re-packed and is by the door and ready to go.  I have two outfits packed for me and about seven for her (haha).  The car-seat is installed.  The camera is charged with a fresh memory card.  My music is all loaded into my "pseudo-pod".  I have two copies of my "call list" and I have all the registration papers and birth-plan filled out and labeled. I have reading materials... I even hid some candy in my bag.

Ok kiddo.  I'm ready!  Hurry the heck up! We all want to meet you!!!!

It's getting closer!!

Just 17 days until our due date!  I'm not expecting her to show up "on time" since the only one who decides what time IS the right time is her... and she hasn't sent me a memo.

We had another ultrasound on Thursday! It is AMAZING how big she is!!! (They estimate 6-7lbs). I mean, I know she's a baby.. but look at these pictures... This is a BABY not a little inch long alien... How AMAZING is that?? I am so excited!

  She has HAIR!

I have been driving Dan crazy with my "We need this!" "We need to do that!".  He has had to MAKE me stop doing things around the house a few times... But he has to go to work... MUAHAHAA!  So, I've sorted the baby clothes into "Now", "Laters" and "RIGHT NOWs!".  I have them all ready to go to the laundry.  I've set up the crib and I even practiced swaddling a Cabbage Patch Kid since I have NO idea how to do that!

As of right now we haven't really been searching in earnest for a new apartment.  We are too distracted with baby things.  We also figure that we can last a little while in this little one bedroom house.  At least until summer.  So, we're not panicking... yet.

Our good friend Pete is GIVING us a car as a wedding present! Can you believe it??  The title is "in the mail" and we are hoping that little Danielle holds off on her arrival long enough for us to make the trip over to Vermont to pick the car up.  I've been teasing Dan that it would make a heck of a story if I delivered in an old Volvo on the ferry between Vermont and New York... That is SO "North-Eastern Hippie".. Haha!  Maybe we'll tell her that's what happened... hahaa (But it BETTER not!!)  We will have to get a few pictures, for her baby book, of me and my big belly on the hood of the car on the ferry though!

So, I've been keeping myself busy obsessing over getting the house ready for Earth's newest resident and finishing up the "Birth Announcement" I'm making for her nursery.  It's not a traditional announcement... but I liked it so much I'm making it into one!

Lots more to do!

We're Officially Hitched!

Well, we did it.. We're married!  It was just a "quickie" ceremony at the town hall in his home-town... but, that's all we needed.We have each other, and that's what's important.  Now all three of us will have the same last name, and now he's stuck with me forever... LOL!

 Our wedding bands on the bouquet of roses that my mother sent for the ceremony

 No, I'm not wearing heels.. lol

The Married Couple!

New Ultrasound and Epidural Rant

It's one week until Christmas! I can't believe it.  Last week we started feeling Danielle kicking like mad... We can actually feel her outside my stomach now.  It used to be something just I could feel... Oh well, I guess it's time to share!

Last Friday we had our most recent ultrasound.  The ultrasound tech was very nice and got me some nice pictures to take home to show my step-daughters.

Thumbs Up!!

(She was actually sucking her thumb)

The tech was nice... the doctor was a jerk.  We were there for almost 2 hours and I think we saw the doctor for 5 minutes.  He said 2 things to me:

1. "So, did your ultrasound look ok?" I just looked at him like he had 3 heads.  I wished I had said something like "Wow, if I knew I had the ability to judge those sorts of things I wouldn't have drven an hour to see you!"  But I just stared at him like I wanted to kill him.
2. "There is no way that you are going to find anyone that will give you an epidural" Then he said, "Ok, I'll write up a note for your local doctor, have a nice day" and LEFT!  Nothing like dashing my hopes of having a relatively pleasant delivery then beating it to the door!  *ARGH!!!!*

So, I made a few calls and got a call back from a very nice lady who runs a "Hypnobirthing" class at our local hospital.  She asked me to come to the class this coming Wednesday.  I hope I can get into this.  I've never been hypnotized, even at parties!  She has helped many women with other spine related disorders and it's worked great for them... Here's hoping!

On the upside of all this I will be able to deliver at the hospital 5 minutes from our house as opposed to being forced into driving an hour just so I can get some drugs.  The local place has a really nice birthing center... 

*Sigh* I am TRYING to look on the bright side and not be scared... Hopefully by the time April rolls around I will be so anxious to get this kid out of me that I won't worry so much about the pain of squeezing a diamond studded watermelon out...