Parker's Birth - The Nitty Gritty Details

As with any birth story post, I begin by warning you that if you are squeamish about messy medical things or just don't plain care to read a long story about medical things, with no pics included, this post isn't for you. I do actually plan on putting up a few recent pics but they are currently on Brett's phone and he is currently not here. Since all 3 kids are napping soundly *big grin* I might as well take this opportunity to record for posterity's sake Parker's birth story.

As you know, Parker went the full 40 weeks and arrived right on schedule on his due date, August 8th. My mom had been here for a week and was leaving in 3 days so I was getting pretty anxious. Brett went off to work and my mom took Adie and Chase to the park. I started feeling contractions around 8 am. They weren't too terribly strong, but pretty consistent. I was a little hesitant to call this labor because with my other two my water broke first so I was unsure how to tell if I was in labor or not. My mom came back just before 9 and I told her things were getting consistent so maybe today was the day. I called Brett shortly thereafter and said maybe he'd better come home and then I called the birth center to tell them I thought I might be in labor and my last labor was 3.5 hrs total so with a 45 minute drive to the birth center we didn't want to wait around and they agreed.

We arrived at the birth center just after 10 am, chose a room (they have 3 rooms which are similar to a normal bedroom - a queen size bed with a quilt, a dresser, a rocking chair, a big tub and a bathroom). I chose the room with the biggest tub :) My contractions by this point were 3-5 mins apart and some were quite painful, but nothing that wasn't manageable. They checked me and I was completely effaced and dilated to a 5 so we figured we'd have go time pretty soon. This was good because we didn't bring a lot to do to entertain ourselves. Both Adie and Chase's deliveries were fast and hectic and we expected about the same this time around. They drew the bath and I hopped in for a while, which was very relaxing, but nothing was happening. After about an hour we were really bored. There wasn't even a tv in the room. Brett had a couple of movies on his phone, (to entertain children) so we started watching Ratatoille. Then, we kept waiting. The contractions remained consistent, but not much else was going on and my water wasn't breaking. Brett went to Chipotle and got us some lunch, and it was really nice to have a big veggie burrito (don't you love those with the peppers and onions - yum!) as fuel for the upcoming birth. The midwife came back in to see if there was any action and suggested I take a shower and maybe a nap, which I did. She came back just before 3 and asked if we wanted her to break my water because it didn't seem like anything was going to progress until that happened. We gladly agreed. I had dilated another centimeter or so but really we might have been there a lot longer waiting for that water if she hadn't broken it and let's just say I was very full of fluid. I really felt so much bigger and fuller this pregnancy than the others and it wasn't just because the baby was bigger. There really was so much fluid. No wonder Parker was remaining comfortably inside me.

Breaking the water was all it took though. Those contractions came hard and fast and I was trying to remind myself why I choose to do this without drugs as I wandered around the birth center, working through the contractions. And let me just state this right now, Brett is an awesome birth helper. He will do whatever he is asked and was always there to give me a back rub or hold me steady or whatever I needed for any given contraction and he doesn't get squeamish about all the nastiness that is labor and delivery. (Thanks, Babe!) After a while (can't say I was watching the clock) I hopped back in the tub. Sweet relief! The contractions that were starting to become really difficult became bearable again. I worked through a number of those and before too long I felt ready to push. I told my midwife and she said she'd check me to make sure I was fully dilated, which I pretty much was so she gave me license to push whenever I had the urge. This was also very relieving and something I didn't necessarily experience with Chase's birth. I just remembered pushing being really difficult and painful and not a relief at all. Not many pushes later I could feel the head coming, which is not a pleasant feeling but it also gives you hope that you are almost there.

Before too long his head was out, which is what you always look forward to because usually the body just slips right out without much effort. Not so this time. Poor Parker's shoulders were stuck. The midwife told me I needed to get out of the tub and onto my hands and knees. I knew she meant business because with the things I've read about child birth, that probably means the baby is in difficult position and they need to work quickly. To say being pulled out of a tub with a baby half way pushed out of you is a strange sensation would be a bit of an understatement. That moment had to have been one of the weirdest feelings I have ever experienced and will probably be what I remember most about this birth. While on my hands and knees, the midwife saw that Parker's cord was wrapped tightly around his neck so they had to cut it right then. Then, she had to rotate his shoulders to get him out, all while I was screaming and pushing on my hands and knees (told you not to read this if you're squeamish). It wasn't long before he was out, but his entire head was bruised and he wasn't breathing. After a minute of giving him an oxygen mask we heard that blessed cry and could breath a sigh of relief. Although he wasn't breathing for the first minute of his life, I never felt panicked. I felt he would be alright and we feel very blessed that he was. I was then helped to the bed where they did some fun sewing. The local anesthetic they used wasn't quite strong enough so I felt a bit more of that stitching than I wanted to, but after all I had just experienced it wasn't worth saying anything. I just wanted them to finish up and be done.

The birth went very well up to those last 2 dramatic minutes, but my midwife and nurse were fantastic. They handled everything so well and so calmly. I felt we were in very capable hands. In fact, one thing that was so different about this birth was how calm almost the entire thing was. Even in the midst of hurrying to get Parker out, there was so much calm and my midwife, while coaching me, was always so calm. The whole birth center experience was a very relaxing, almost zen-like experience which I really appreciated, even if Brett and I got a little bored during the waiting periods. That being said, my midwife said mine was the messiest birth she has ever seen, so she might not have looked at as being so calm. Seriously, it was pretty bad and I was just grateful we weren't in charge of cleaning it all up. Because we were at a birth center and everyone was healthy and happy (I'd been walking around for hours and Parker was going great) we were discharged before 9 pm that very day and were home by 9:30 that night. It was really nice to not have nurses waking me up at all hours of the night to check my uterus and vitals and to be able to sleep in my own bed and not one of those cursed hospital beds. The birth center was a great fit for me.

Speaking of zen-like, I call Parker my zen baby because he also has the calmest demeanor. He almost never fusses, mostly just when he's hungry. He is content to lay in the bouncer or just about any where you lay him. He eats and sleeps like a champ. The first few nights I got almost no sleep but that's because I again attempted to put the baby in the same room to sleep with us and that just doesn't work for me. I am too light of a sleeper and all those little noises will keep me up all night, despite being dead tired. We also had to figure out the type of blanket he likes to be swaddled in. After a bedroom shuffle of the older kids and making a dedicated nursery across the hall from us (much to Adie's chagrin because she didn't want to give up her room) Parker has demonstrated he is an amazing sleeper. He is 8 days old and last night he only woke up once between 9:30 pm and 6 am, and it only takes him 20 minutes or so to finish a feeding! There is no way our other kids even came close to that. If having a bigger, later baby results in this easy of a post-partum period, bring it on! I have never felt better a week after giving birth. I almost feel normal. Don't worry, I feed him plenty during the day and he likes to cluster feed in the late afternoon / evening, so he gets plenty to eat. I suppose we can't count our chickens before they hatch, and things might change, but right now, I am reveling in the fact I don't feel like a crazed, sleep-deprived zombie. Hence, I am writing this post while all 3 kids take long naps. Normally, I'd take advantage and catch a nap myself.

So, there you are, Parker's somewhat dramatic entrance into this world. Like I said, so far, he is a newborn dream. I have felt so good I went to church on Sunday, I sent Brett back to work early and even took all 3 kids by myself to Walmart yesterday and none of those things were at all overwhelming. We are crossing our fingers that it continues, but life with young kids is always unpredictable so we shall see. We're just enjoying it while we can.

Parker

Parker was punctual, just as we hoped. Arrived yesterday at 4 pm. 9 lbs even. 22 inches long. Birth story will be forthcoming after the parents have gotten some sleep. For now, here are some pictures to tide you over.

Inducing Labor

Adie was born the day she was 37 weeks and took us by total surprise. Chase was born at 38.5 weeks. We were more prepared for an earlier birth this time and the little longer wait wasn't too bad. Tomorrow, we will hit the full 40 weeks for this pregnancy. Something about my pregnancies getting longer every time is somewhat discouraging, but I really tried to not have any expectations (of course I still did). In an effort to hurry the process along I thought helping Brett install rain gutter might do the trick. Turns out, it does make for waking up with a few painful contractions in the night, but still no labor. Let's just see if this kid is really punctual and wants to arrive on his official due date, or maybe just have a really cool birthday like 8/8.

(I say all this realizing that I have been spoiled thus far and for many people, arriving and going beyond their due date is a matter of course. I am trying to have a good attitude about it.)

Photoshoot

Brett made this post for his family's blog, so why not just copy and paste - easiest blog post for me ever!

We've been wanting to get some updated photos of the kids for a while now, but we wanted them outside and it's been too hot or raining lately. Yesterday afternoon, though, it was overcast without rain and probably only 95, so we ventured to some nearby grass to make an attempt.

Adie has never had the most natural smile for photos, but she keeps working on it.

Chase on the other hand, has a very natural, radiant smile that never seems to go away. He also seems to have grown up considerably in the last little bit. We were noticing how different he looks from the picture hanging on our wall from last summer.

And last of all, here's our newest son:

He hasn't quite made it out yet, but we'll ready for him when he does come.

Yes, there is your belly shot for this pregnancy, not that it's a good one, but it's about the only one that exists. 37 weeks today so any time now.

All About Adie

I can't do a post about Chase and not do one about Adie. Since she is older, she has been involved in a lot of activities and I really need to document some of these things. I have a few more pictures of her events. So, I'll just dive right in with the pictures.

This last school year she attended Apple Tree preschool, taught by a friend in the ward. It was the perfect thing for Adie. She learned so much this year, loved her teacher and all her friends and really blossomed in a lot of ways. She graduated (although she still has another year of preschool) in the middle of May. We only took video of the ceremony so we won't bore you with that, but it was cute. They had a little water party in the backyard afterward and that was a ton of fun.

Hanging with her friends at the water party.

Relaxing in the pool all by herself. It was kind of a cold day so most of the kids didn't last long in the water.

She has also been taking dance since January and had recital a few weeks ago. The performance wasn't quite as entertaining as last year's, but there were some pretty classic moments. Adie really loves dancing, but it's certainly not something that comes completely naturally (she must be related to me). I am proud at how hard she works at it. She worked on skipping the entire time she's been in dance and finally got it down, but almost didn't do it in the performance until I told her to. You'll hear me in the video telling her to skip. This fall, she will be old enough to take tap along with ballet with her teacher and she is really excited about that.

Brett will want me to explain that we just had our point and shoot, which is not the best camera, so none of our pictures turned out very well, but here are all the girls in her performance after they finished. Adie is still in the awkward smile phase, so all her pictures have her looking a little funny. She also had gotten some sort of staph or cold sore on the side of her mouth so she was self conscious of the band-aids we had on her face.

Adie with her dance teacher, Ms. Krystyna.
Modeling her costume after the dance, see awkward smile phase.

And here is the video of the performance for any who care to see it. It was very cute. I love watching 3 and 4 year olds dance.

Adie also took swimming lessons this summer for a few weeks. She really made a lot of improvement. This girl would hardly even go in the pool at the beginning of the summer (she's always been one who is scared and needs to warm up to things), but now she'll (kind of) swim underwater and has started to learn to kick her legs behind her rather than underneath her.

Her teacher, Ms. Melanie, really helped her get over a lot of her fears. I wish I had signed up for another session of lessons because she was making so much improvement.

A few bullet points for Adie:

-Besides the above, she participated in week long art summer camp, which she loved because she loves to color, draw and do crafts. She'll do one more summer camp next week with the same teacher where they will do some science experiments, cooking, etc.

-She has also been going to a little crafting group with some of the kids in our ward. We just switch off hosting weekly.

-Because of all this activity, I think I've really overwhelmed her at times, and I feel bad about that. She had a couple of really hard weeks when we were just going from one thing to the next. I am trying to learn a better balance so I keep her happy and busy without pushing her too much. I think she can get pretty introverted and just want to be home.

-Brett and I are teaching her to read. We are using the I See Sam books, which are basically xeroxed books that were developed in the 70's at Utah State. They are brilliant! Adie has really taken off. She learns new words all the time. I highly recommend the method. You can google it and find places to purchase it and you'll see all the glowing reviews. Thanks to my friend, Megan, for introducing me to these.

-Finally, Adie is working on earning a big girl bike by not sucking on her fingers. Since she was about 4 months old she has sucked on her middle and ring fingers on her left hand (like she's holding a bowling ball). She always refused a binky but has loved her fingers. Now, we're trying to break the habit. She's only got a couple more weeks and she'll have her bike earned. Then, we'll start a whole new adventure of bike riding lessons.

All About Chase

Chase is almost 2. We've not been nearly as good at documenting his life as we were with Adie at this age. I don't even know what kind of chance the next child has of knowing anything about his growing up years. I'll try to be better. Chase is in a fun and challenging stage.

Here are some bullet points (for the grandparents, of course):

-Tantrums are in full swing around here, especially if he gets hungry or tired at all. He's hungry almost any time he's awake, so keeping up with that can be tricky.

-He's been a pickier eater than Adie, although he's branching out some more, so hopefully, this picky stage is nearing the end. He will eat almost any fruit you give him and is great at eating green smoothies so I can pump him full of good stuff with those.

-He still doesn't talk much. He's been saying certain words since he was only 1. Adie was his first word. However, it seems after he masters a word he stops saying it. Right now, we can get him to say a few of the animal sounds and cheese because that's his favorite food. He also has the greatest siren sound which we need to get on video. Any time he sees anything relating to fire trucks, police cars or ambulances he makes the siren noise and I love it.

-He loves animals and driving his cars and trucks all over the house. He really likes babies too, so hopefully, that will make his transition to being a middle child a little smoother.

-We just weaned him from his binky. I was deathly afraid of doing it. I didn't want to lose any sleep, but it was so easy. I just didn't give it to him during his nap one day and that night I didn't give it to him when he slept. He never complained, so I just trashed them, didn't even mention it to him, so easy!

-He loves books, especially Goodnight Moon or any book that has animals or cars / trucks in them.

-He loves to steal cups from people. He starts to have a tantrum when you offer him his own cup if he has found someone else's that he wants.

-He wasn't sure at the start of the summer if he liked going swimming, but he has mastered his water wings and now really likes the pool.

-We have started (very casually) potty training him. He does tell me sometimes when he needs to go to the bathroom, so we've caught it in the toilet a few times, but I am just going to be as low-stress about it as I can, like I did with Adie. I don't know how the new baby will affect him so I figure it may be a little while still. I don't think it will be too long though. I can tell he is starting to get the concept.

-In the last month he got a nasty high fever (but it passed quickly), fell on the garage floor carrying a lock that made a half inch long gash near his eye and it might leave a permanent scar and got nursemaid's elbow (elbow out of socket) while trying to thwart Brett's attempts to have him come in from outside for lunch which resulted in an ER visit. However, he still remains a very happy kid most of the time and has fully recovered. He's a total toddler boy.

Told you he like Goodnight Moon. He always wants to take a book to naps or bed with him. I guess he falls asleep reading to himself.

He's always willing to help out with projects around the house. Here he is testing out the cabinets we hung in our laundry room (post on that should be forthcoming).

This is a pretty average meal time scene. He likes to collect cups, stack them up, move food from one receptacle to another and, in general, make a huge mess. As long as he's getting the food eaten though, we just let him do his thing.

I can't believe this kid is almost 2. I still call him Baby Chase but I am going to have to retire that name. Maybe having a new baby in the house will help with that, but I am enjoying having him be my youngest for a little longer.

I Love My Garden

Well, it's high time I get caught up on my backlog of photos and events. We've been busy the last few months and hardly taken any pictures. I know, awesome of me. I'll do my best to at least give you an idea of what we've been doing. First, we've been enjoying our garden and trees, and we are finally starting to really harvest. I really enjoy gardening. There is something so gratifying about watching your plants take off and actually produce food you can eat. Last summer, after attempting many different veggies and herbs, we only ended up with tomatoes, zucchini and basil. This year has been much for fruitful (pun intended).

So, here is our garden and it is even fuller now, actually, since I took these pics about a week ago. We've been harvesting greens for a while: spinach, kale, lettuce, broccoli. However, I've pulled the broccoli and spinach since they've gone to seed. I am surprised how well they have all held up in this heat though. We have carrots that we're waiting a little longer on, but they're about 3 inches right now and really yummy. Our corn has really taken off and new corn silk is popping out everyday. We have a couple of sunflowers and marigolds, our strawberries are starting to turn red and we have quite a few green tomatoes, with lots of blossoms for more. I don't know if any beans will actually be harvested. The plants stay green, but I've only seen a couple of blossoms. I think it's too hot for them. Our canteloupe plants are crazy and our zucchini and yellow squash are all sorts of full of blossoms, so I expect to be harvesting them pretty soon. We also have a watermelon plant which seemed pretty dormant, but it's starting to take off. I am crossing my fingers on our pumpkin and cucumber plants. Not sure they are going to do anything this year. Anyway, lots and lots of fun.

Here is some spinach and kale I harvested a while ago for a green smoothie. Totally delicious!

Lettuce for a salad and we made a green smoothie with the last of the spinach here, combined with the entire carrot, greens included.

Most of our trees seems to be thriving, but this guy in particular grows inches per week, seriously. It's an asian pear tree and when we bought it a year ago Adie was definitely taller than it. It's over 8 feet now. We have only seen one pear on it, but that's ok because the first few years you often can't expect much fruit. We just hope its roots are looking as good as its top.

And here is our one token pear. We'll see if it gets to maturity.

This has little to do with our garden, but they were so pretty I thought I'd put them on here. I was really tired and not feeling well a week or two ago, so Brett went out grocery shopping in the evening for me and brought these home with our groceries. I love sunflowers. I wish more than a couple would grow in our garden. They made things nice and cheery in our house for a few days.