Life's adventures with Matt, Amanda and the girls... Makenzie and Madison!

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

The Birth Story: Part II

It felt so weird heading into the hospital to have a baby and FEELING fine.  LOL, no contractions, no nerves.  I LOVED IT!  And I was SOOOOO excited.

We headed up to the third floor and were given our room.  They were running a little behind with the induction that was scheduled before us so, we waited.  I was in no mood to wait.  Ek!  I started stressing out a little.  (Not to mention... I was HUNGRY!) 

7:30  The nurse came in and started getting me hooked up to be monitored, put the IV in, blah blah blah.  After two tries in two spots she got the IV in, in my hand... which grosses me out!  The nurse checked me to see how far I had progressed since my Dr's Apt on Monday and she said that I was at 2, maybe 2 1/2 cm.  (Remember I was at 3 on Monday).  Weird right?  Made me a little nervous thinking the baby was not going to cooperate with us.  But that pitocin will pump him or her right out! 

8:20  All the prep work was done and the pitocin was started!  Woot woot!  Here we go!  We had the heart monitor cranked up so we could listen to that little heartbeat tick away.  Love, love, love that sound and wouldn't be hearing it once the baby made an arrival!

10:00  My doctor comes in to see how things are going.  I was having contractions 3-5 mins apart, nothing bad, just noticeable.  He was going to break my water to get things moving even quicker.  But first!  He had to check me.  He looks up and says "Uh... where's the baby!?" 

*Insert squealing slamming on the brakes sound here!*  I was like 'What do you mean where's the baby?  Do you not see the massive mound of my stomach?  I'm barely having contractions, pretty sure I didn't have the baby yet!'  Then he gets more specific and says that the baby was not engaged and is "floating".  Bottom line: Not good.

He hollers at the nurse to go get an ultrasound machine and we wait.  She brings in the machine and then wait for it to turn on.  We waited a long time.  (Seriously, that machine took about 3 mins to turn on... that's a long time in this situation!)  During the wait he told us that if the baby is breech our options are to have a c-section or go home and wait for the baby to flip.  At 39 weeks the chances of your baby flipping on it's own is pretty rare, but could happen.  He also offered to try to flip the baby by maneuvering my stomach to encourage the baby to flip, but there is only a 30% chance of that actually working. 

My mind was spinning.  The ultrasound machine clicks on and he has the wand low on my stomach and we see nothing.  He moves the wand up and there is the baby's head in my right rib.  "Shut off the pictocin!!!!" He shouted to the nurse.  I just closed my eyes.  The anticipation of that day, the long night of getting Makenzie ready and aware of what was going on, the uncertainty of what was going to happen next and accepting the fact that we were going to be sent home with a breech baby nestled in my tummy with mild contractions. 

The doctor left and Matt and I just looked at each other.  We quickly called the family and got the prayer request fired up.  Then I ordered Matt to Google it!!  What do we do!?!?  I said we are going to get this baby out.  I laid on my side and was trying to maneuver the baby by myself.  Without much success.  I got up to go walk around.  Matt felt my belly and we couldn't feel the baby's head in my rib anymore.  Did the baby flip??  Or was the baby totally up and down with the head between my ribs?  We didn't know... so off we went on a walk.  Mentally I had come to terms that we were going to go home.  Things weren't going along with MY plan, BUT, the baby was safe and healthy and IF need be I have an amazing Doctor that would do the c-section at 40 weeks.  Things would be okay.

12:00-1:00  The Doctor was suppose to come in and try to flip the baby.... no Doctor yet.  Contractions were still steady.  They didn't get any worse and stayed about 3 mins apart. Now the nerves were kicking in because if the contractions didn't stop and turned into labor we would have to have a c section or try delivering a breech baby.


Wednesday, September 11, 2013

The Birth Story: Part 1

(Madison was born on a Wednesday, but this really starts on Monday.)

Monday I had my 38 week doctor's appointment.  I was a little anxious about this appointment because this was the appointment that we were going to decide if I should be induced or wait until labor actually starts.  Most women want to wait until their body says it's go time, but I have an extremely indecisive body that had me going thru LOTS of false labor with Makenzie and by time the actual labor had started my body was whooped.  I had a long labor, lost almost two nights of sleep and took a long time to recover.  I did NOT want to do that again if I didn't have to, especially with one already at home that would be needing my attention.

The appointment went well.  I was dilated to 3 cm and thinning so the Dr gave me the thumbs up to be induced!  We scheduled it for 6:30 Wednesday morning.  He ran me thru the procedure: start pitocen, break water, labor, baby by dinner time.  Rock and Roll!  That sounded fantastic!  Baby by dinner that's not even 12 hours in labor!!  I was happy!

The rest of Monday and Tuesday I spent doing some final touches and spending LOTS of time with Makenzie.  I was really really sad about having those be our last days of just us home while Matt was at work.  I tried to make the best of it but in turn I was an emotional mess and went thru the day with lots of tears. 
Getting gifts ready for Cousin Natalie & Zachary's Birthdays!

Nothing better than homemade wrapping paper decorated by my favorite 2 year old!!

Last picture of Mama and Makenzie!  Her seat is about to disappear!

38 Weeks Day 7!
Makenzie and I did a lot of talking on Monday and Tuesday on what the rest of the week would bring.  I wanted her to know where I would be and where she would be and what would be going on.  In hopes that there wouldn't be any nerves or uneasiness while Mom and Dad were away.  I wasn't sure she really understood what was going on and where we would be, but I think she did!  Putting her to bed that Tuesday night was a JOB.  'Mama!?!?  Do you hear me???  Are you here?'  'Mama??  Are you going to the baby dokter yet?'  'Mama!!  Where's Daddy?  Is Daddy here?'  This went on for a long time before that little mind stopped spinning and she was able to doze off.

I was worried about how I would sleep, but having everything all planned and ready to go... I happily fell into a nice sleep.  Just after 5 the next morning our alarm went off to start the birth day!  Oh I was SOOOO excited.  Girl or boy, girl or boy!?!?  I just couldn't wait to find out and couldn't wait to see this babe!  Just after 6 we headed off to the hospital.  The morning was just perfect.  Beautiful sun rise, the air was a bit cool and smelled like a nice summer day... I was definitely at peace!

OFF WE GO!!

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Wrinkled Laundry, A Messy House, Lots of Tomatoes & Crumbs

To say that my life has been busy these past 7 weeks is an understatement!  And I can't believe how fast it has just flown by.  I have a 7 week old already!!  That's almost 2 months.  Jeez... really??? 

I have been working on a pretty impressive juggling act. 
Obviously Miss Madison gets lots of attention as feedings and diaper changes and getting her calmed down or to sleep take up a better part of my day. 
Then there is the busy Makenzie that's always looking to play.
A garden that is in FULL harvest mode!
A Husband to keep an eye on (so this kind of thing doesn't happen all the time)!

And as I'm trying to juggle those four things... I have forgotten the laundry that I was working on that is now wrinkly in the dryer or tossed on my bed to be folded.  Makenzie's breakfast crumbs are everywhere.  I have tomatoes all over the counter and some pesky fruit flies.  Dirty dishes are in the sink waiting to go into the dishwasher, but those dishes are cleaned and waiting to be put away.  It's now lunch time and oops!  Forgot to go to the store... we are out of bread.  :-)  How about another bowl of cereal Makenzie!?!?  Haha! I am sure many of you Mama's out there are nodding your head saying ' Yup!  I remember those days!'.  

Things really have been going very well.  We had a great little honeymoon with Madison and then she turned into a real newborn and we haven't left that yet.  She needs a lot of attention, especially when she is awake.  When she's awake she is crying unless you are holding her.  When she's tired she needs to be rocked to sleep.  So I have left the house messy, left my wrinkly laundry in the dryer, left the tomatoes to wait along with those cracker crumbs that Ruger isn't eating and turned my attention to the girls! 
Which isn't the easiest thing to do when my mind set is to get all my housework done before play.  Grr... a constant struggle I deal with.  I am a stay at home MOM.... they don't care if I have dirty dishes or wrinkly laundry... they just want my attention. 

While Madison has been napping, Makenzie and I have gotten tomatoes canned and salsa made!  This girl LOVES helping Mama in the kitchen and I LOVE my time spent with her there. 


Throughout all this, we have managed to freeze about 40 meals of green beans and canned over 60 jars (peaches, salsa, tomatoes, pickled peppers).  We are pretty much done with the tomatoes now and on to pickling some more peppers and maybe another batch of salsa.  We'll see.

Yesterday was so nice.  I don't have any garden veggies sitting on my counter waiting for me to do something with so it was a pretty mellow day where I did very little housework.  How refreshing!!  Now that I can see the garden wrapping up I'm noticing how much time it has taken up and how much more time I will have to busy myself with something else :-)  Maybe I'll get to hop on here more often!