the birth story





at my 38 week appointment, dr. l got us all set up to go in and get induced on the eighteenth.

we were instructed to call at about 5:30 am to make sure we were still good to come in that morning at 6.  the mister called and they told us we could come in at 6:30.

 

we arrived at the hospital around 6:30, went up to l&d and the front desk lady got us to our room.  she got me the gown to get changed into, i got changed and then we waited.

and waited some more.

finally the nurse came in - with another nurse that was training to be in l&d.

so we got to listen to our nurse train the new nurse.

 

around 8 am, dr. c came in to break my water.  i had never met him before as he was fairly new to the practice.  dr. c was having a hard time breaking my water, so he asked if little man had been head down.  little man had been, but dr. c was still having a hard time breaking my water, so he got the ultrasound machine to check where little man's head was.  it was really cool to be able to see little man on the ultrasound machine one last time before finally meeting him in person.

 

well, little man decided to be rotten and was breech.

dr. c had managed to get my water broken, so the next course of action was to do an ecv (external cephalic version).  it's where they manually turn baby by pressing and pushing on your stomach to get baby back to head down position.  dr. c spent a good ten minutes trying to get little man to turn.  you could literally see this grown man's hands shaking trying to get him to turn.  he wasn't having much luck, so he checked little man to make sure this wasn't stressing him and got dr. m to come in and help do the ecv.

 

they gave me a drug to help relax my uterus so they could have a better chance at being successful turning little man.  when dr. m came in to help with the ecv, i swear he brought in an army with him.  at this point, there were two doctors, two nurses and two student nurses in the room.  they started attempting to do the ecv again - they got him turned about halfway (so he was laying across my stomach), but couldn't get him to turn any farther.  this procedure usually takes only a couple minutes and isn't supposed to be painful, just uncomfortable.

 

at this point--another ten minutes in--i have two doctors pushing on my stomach (which by the way is super painful by now) with all their might.  both doctors sets of hands are shaking because of how hard they are pushing.  my sweet nurse is letting me practically break her fingers holding her hand.  finally, after another five/ten minutes, the doctors decide that if little man was going to turn, he would have already.  he wasn't even born yet and this guy was being stubborn.

 

since little man was still doing just fine, my next options were to either deliver him breech or have a c section.  after being told the risks with delivering breech (the mortality rate and the chance of still having to have a c section) we chose to proceed with a c section.  the doctors scheduled the OR for as soon as it was available and kept monitoring little man in the meantime to make sure he was still okay.

then, everyone left.  my nurse kept checking on baby and i, but other than that, it was quiet in our room until showtime.  when showtime came, dr. c came and checked one last time to make sure little man hadn't decided to turn at the last minute (which he hadn't.)  my OR nurses came and wheeled me down to the OR.  the mister stopped and got on all his gear while they took me in to give me the anesthesia for the c section.

it was freezing in the OR.  they scooted me onto the table, sat me up and gave me the anesthesia.  i could feel the anesthesia clear up into my chest and into my fingers.  then they started on the c section.  the most annoying part of it for me was the drape between my face and belly - it was right up against my face and kept making my nose itch - and i couldn't scratch it because of my hands being strapped down.  i could feel them pulling on my stomach, but that was about all.
 

while dr. c & dr. m were in getting little man out, they were (again) having a hard time. they discovered not only had he been breech, he was posterior too. then they discovered he had the cord wrapped around his neck. little man was going to give us as much trouble as possible. when they got him out, his color was a little off and he didn't cry right away. they scooped him away to take care of him while they stitched me back up.  

 

after they got him to cry and got him cleaned up a little, they brought him back into me so i could meet him for the very first time.

 

the original plan had been to induce me so that we could start blood thinners and be preventative about having a blood clot again.  now since i had to have a c section, it was definately the best course of action for me since i spent the next 18 hours in bed.  during those 18 hours (and the next night as well) they made me wear these leg cuffs that massage your legs to keep the blood moving.  they were horrible.  i'd wear them again if i had to, but wouldn't like it.  they went from my ankles up to mid thigh and were hot to wear.  on top of that, when the anesthesia wore off, i had part of the "itching" side effect from it, but i couldn't scratch my legs because of the cuffs.  it made for an interesting night.

 

the next morning, when they finally let me/made me get out of bed, was quite painful - between the incision and the massive bruises on my stomach from the doctors trying to turn little man, i was/am incredibly grateful for pain medicine.

little man is such a good baby. like the girls, he started out going 3-4 hours between eating and sleeps really well. the nurses loved him and kept saying how cute he was. i tend to agree (although i am his mom)

 

we are happy to be home now. we're grateful that things happened the way they did - i hate to think what would have happened had little man been head down. the girls love having a baby brother and the mister and i certainly can't get enough of him either.

baby day!

sorry - this is what you get at 5:30 in the morning.

we're having a baby today!

 

39w1d

so much for hoping there wouldn't be another appointment.

there was.

but, good things happened at that appointment, because i'm going in to be induced tomorrow.

 

the doctors talked about the blood thinner and decided that the best thing for me was to be preventative about the situation (since we didn't find any blood disorder on the tests they ran before).

so we're doing a blood thinner at delivery till about 6 weeks post partum. 

and i technically have a medical reason to be induced now (even though i am past 39 weeks too).

 

my parents took the kidlets home with them yesterday for the week.

it was really quiet around the house this morning.

i finished up some of the last of the things i've been putting off.

the mister is going to take me out to celebrate my birthday tonight instead of waiting until my birthday - you know, since we'll have just had a baby and all.

 

nervous.

excited.

so ready to be done.

 

we're having a baby tomorrow!  yay!

 

37w2d

last week at my checkup, the doctor checked to make sure this little man was head down.

we also talked about whether or not i needed to go on any blood thinners because of what happened last time.  he didn't seem to think that anything was necessary.  i'd just keep taking the baby aspirin that i had been taking throughout the pregnancy.

 

today i was scheduled with a different doctor, dr. l (although i'm pretty sure i told her i wanted to see dr. m again.)  dr. l mentioned that he wasn't sure that's all we should do for me (the aspirin).  he thought that we should do a blood thinner at delivery, but he'd check with the other doctors and they'd make a decision as to what was best for me.

 

not sure how i feel about all of that.

but whatever they decide, we'll do.

 

other than that, it was just a regular old checkup - they won't check to see if i'm dilated at all until next week.  things have got to be happening though.  i feel like he's lodged in down there.  sorry if that's tmi.  maybe there won't be an appointment next week!

 

jackson

so as a last "hoo-rah" with just two kidlets, we decided to head to jackson on labor day.

i may or may not have been secretly (okay, not secretly) hoping that all that walking might do some good and send me into labor.

besides, wouldn't that be awesome to be in labor on labor day?

 

after wandering through town, we decided to go over to the ski resort and go up the tram.

totally worth it.



after just enjoying 70 degree weather, the 20 degree drop wasn't very welcome.

 

it was so incredibly windy, the mister had the girls hold on to the post to take a picture of them.

they probably would have blown away.

okay, probably not, but it was seriously windy. 

getting a little reprieve from the wind.



24w5d

 

truthfully, this pregnancy has been pretty easy thus far.

other than the all.day.long nausea at the beginning (which seemed to last longer than with the girls), i really can't complain too much.

 

since we moved, i had to find a new ob/gyn.  and since i love(d) mine in boise, i was not looking forward to it.

(some people have told me it's weird that i loved my ob/gyn - thoughts?)

i honestly contemplated just driving back to boise for my appointments.

but knowing that wasn't really rational, i found one here.

so far, so good.

hopefully it stays that way.

its a...

 

we've actually known for about a month now, but since it was "early" i wanted to make sure that he was indeed a boy before spilling the beans.  we're so excited!

the l&d story

**i really should be taking a nap while the girls are sleeping, but i'm blogging instead.
i needed to get caught up and some of you are feeling a little baby deprived, so i'm getting to those pictures, i promise!

for those of you interested in the details of l&d, here you go:

my doctor suggested that we go ahead and induce labor (since i live an hour away from the hospital and i went so quick with b we didn't want a baby being born between here and the hospital) so we scheduled for monday the 21st at 7:00am.

the mr. and i arrived at the hospital only to discover there was a line to check in.
there were four other women in front of us waiting to be induced.
come to find out later, there were ten other women being induced that day.
seems like no one wanted to be at the hospital on christmas.

somehow, we managed to be the second ones called back to our room.
i'd like to think that our distance from the hospital had some play in that decision.
we got back to our room at 7:10am.
the nurse got me all hooked up to my iv and then my doctor came in to check me and broke my water around 7:30am.
i started out at 1 1/2 cm and 75% effaced.
my doctor told my nurse that i could have an epidural whenever i wanted it (gotta love that epidural!), so we went ahead and got all the paperwork signed so that when i wanted it, i didn't have to wait around.

sometime in the 11:00 hour, my contractions started to get painful, so i had the nurse call the anesthesiologist to come give me the epidural before they got any worse.
my doctor checked me before they did the epidural and i was only 3cm and 80% effaced.
i started thinking that there was no way that i was going to have a baby anytime soon because i'd barely progressed any.

after i got the epidural i.was.in.heaven!
that was THE best epidural EVER!
i got an epidural with b, but i was in alot of pain so i never felt the needle.
no one told me that that needle can really hurt!
i barely felt any contractions at all the rest of the time.
aaannd some of you are going to hate me for this, but i pretty much slept through labor.

around 1:00pm, my nurse checked me again and i was only 4cm and 90%.
the doctor came back in around 2:00pm and i was at a 7 and 100% effaced.
my doctor was just going into a c-section after he checked me, so he told the nurse that if i was complete before he was back, to just let me sit around until he was back.
i wasn't allowed to practice push because with b i only pushed for 8 minutes.

literally 5 minutes after my doctor left to go to his c-section, i started feeling pressure so the nurse checked and i was complete.
we waited about a half hour for my doctor to get back and get prepped and within 3 contractions m made her entrance with her full head of hair!

sidenote:  how did b get so gipped(sp?) on the hair?
poor girl!
m has more hair right by her ears than b does.
yeah b can't grow hair by her ears apparently.
at this hospital, they put her right on my belly (something they didn't do in with b) and i got to have her there for about 15 minutes before they cleaned her up a bit for us. 

first family photo

look at all that hair!

'twas the night before...

the baby came and boy don't i look huge!

39 weeks

25 weeks

here's my baby bump at 25 weeks.

only 15 weeks to go!

baby bump - 24w3d

i've been trying to take pictures of my belly at the same time that i did when i was pregnant with b so that I could "compare" my belly.

so here's when i was pregnant with b:

and here's with this baby girl:

i feel like i'm alot bigger this time around......maybe it's just my imagination.

there's going to be...

plenty of these...

lots of these...

hopefully not very many of these...

and hopefully every day will end this way.

b is getting a little sister!

camping

every year, there's a k/m family reunion. (grandma kesler and her brothers and sisters and everyones kids)
the m part of k/m couldn't make it this year so we camped in oregon on the north fork of the malheur river.
b wasn't too sure about the water at first, but then decided that she was going to play in it.
i barely wanted to put my feet in it.

it was COLD!

 eating rocks

not too sure about the water

 mmm... sticks taste good too!

b also got her first horse ride at the reunion.
i don't have any pictures because i was on the horse with her (c i need pictures please:) but she liked it.
she's got to go on another ride with grandpa here at home too.
she did okay at night sleeping once she was in between the mr. and i and was warmer, but then i couldn't sleep because between her and this baby, i was soo hot.
either way, we had fun though!

blog overload

i know i've been on a bit of a blog strike, so i figured i would fix it with a blog overload.

we've been super busy the last few weeks, and i just haven't had time.
we are back in the "promised land" as the mr. calls it, (northern utah, southern idaho, eastern oregon) for hopefully a long time.
so after packing our stuff back up, driving the horribly long drive from houston to idaho, then turning around the next weekend and driving to reno for o's baptism, then driving down to see my parents while the mr. went fishing, we're finally "kinda" settled in.
"kinda" being we're in limbo living in a place that the mr.'s dad rents out while we find a job and a house to rent.
we're not heading anywhere soon....at least not the rest of this week.
next week, my niece gets baptized in rexburg, so we'll be off to that too.

this is the other reason i haven't had time.
see this little mischievous child i get to play with everyday?
during the recent visit to my parents, my mom said that my child is a handful.
for four other grandchildren older than b, my mom has never had to move her magazines.
not only did she have to move her magazines, she had to move the kleenex (which b LOVES to just pull one out after another), hide the remote control, the portable radio and another basket full of things.
yeah....my child gets into everything.
she may look cute and innocent, but she's totally not.

oh yeah, and did i mention this on top of everything else?