The Birth of Sweet P

Friday my mom and I went out shopping, to lunch and then to The Farmer's high school soccer game. I had been feeling more regular BHs and so my mom started timing them. I sort of lost track of them at the game so I thought maybe nothing was going to happen (I was in huge denial). Went home, made dinner and The Farmer called to tell me he was going to stay at the girl's soccer game (after his) a bit longer. I told him tonight might be the night and he says he remembers thinking I hope not, I'm exhausted. Little did he know.

After dinner we started timing the contractions while I was laying down and they were coming every 5 mins for a minute for an hour (still in denial) even when I was laying down. I said, I reallly want to shower and my mom said you better do it now. So I showered and laid down on the bed. All the sudden I felt the baby kick and then pain and knew that was my first real contraction so I called our midwives. Sandy (who was on call) called me back (it was about 11:00pm) and said to try to rest and that if my water broke to go in, but not to go in yet. So we put on Nacho Libre and I tried to lay on the couch. I decided to sit on the birthing ball and when I stood up felt something trickle out. I went to the bathroom and leaked even more and knew it was probably time to get going.

We decided it was probably my water breaking and rushed around to get everything in order. Amazingly we didn't really forget anything. We got to the hospital at 12:30am and they checked to see if I was ruptured and as soon as she went to check, it broke completely and she said, WELL we don't even need to check.

One crazy part: We were put in the c-section portion of the maternity ward because there were 21 babies born Friday, May 1st!!!! We got the last room! If we'd been any later we wouldn't have! There were women laboring in triage, and 3 laboring in an old nursery!!!! I was pretty active walking around, on the birthing ball, etc. and about 5:30am I started to really feel the pain. I was exhausted and only dilated to 4cm and began considering my pain medication options. I was upset because I really didn't want to do it, but it was getting really hard and I knew that if I didn't get some rest I'd be too exhausted after being up all night if I didn't start progressing. I kept asking The Farmer if he was okay with it because I so badly didn't want to. I even asked him and my mom if they'd think less of me if I did it. I had made up my mind a long time ago that I didn't want an epidural because I've had one (for hip surgery) and didn't want to do it again. Exhaustion was taking over and I made up my mind to do it. I started with Fentanyl and they started an IV in case I wanted an epidural. The Fentanyl just made me drunk and only sort of masked the pain. After a half hour, I decided to go for an epidural. Because of all the laboring in the ward it took awhile for the anesthesiologist to get there. Once it was going I fell asleep for about an hour and a half. My nurse went off duty at 7am and a new one came on and they decided to check me again at about 8:45am. They were afraid the epidural had slowed things down so they were worried they'd have to start me on Pitocin. I was not happy about that but they checked and I was at 8-9 cm! They were really surprised and 45 mins later I started pushing.

It was tough and the epidural wore off so I felt absolutely every contraction while pushing. After 2.5 hours my midwife asked if I would be opposed to a vac (also on my birth plan, as was no pain meds). At that point, I said, please just get her out. 45 minutes later (lots of laboring mamas in the hospital) they brought in the presiding OB (my midwives are not certified to do vacs) and as she was explaining what would go on I siad, I DONT CARE what you're going to do, Just DO IT. I was a little impatient at that point and ready to have my baby! She said, "I have to tell you what's going to happen." The vac wasn't the rough part it was the numbing before and then she said if it didn't work we'd have to c-section and I was just praying that she'd get her out on the first go. I don't know how my body was still working at that point, but after 2 pushes, our beautiful daughter was out and on my chest crying and looking around! The Farmer, my mom and I were bawling messes and The Farmer even checked to see what song was playing when she was born. He then cut the cord and they cleaned her up before giving her back to me. We were together for the rest of the time after that. They said the problem was that I would push and get her head down and as soon as I rested, her head would go back up and I just couldn't get it in the pelvic area to stay. This was due to how big her head was. There was also a lip on the cervix in the way that my midwife would have to hold down while I pushed. I have no idea how many stitches I have but I know I have internal and external. My child just has a large head!
She was 8lbs 11.9oz and went home 8lb 4oz. She's just awesome. The Farmer was also amazing. I couldn't have done it without his calmness and encouragement. I was a bit sad my midwife didn't get to deliver the baby, but the fact that she was out and safe was all that mattered. We spent 2 days in the hospital and are now home and doing great!

She's here!!

Little Miss Sunshine
Birthdate: May 2nd
Arrival Time: 12:49pm
Labor Time: 12 hours
Weight: 8lbs 11.9oz
Length: 20.5 inches

We are so thrilled to have our little peanut here! She is absolutely amazing. We just stare at her in awe and talk about how beautiful she is. God has blessed us with this adorable and loving little baby. We came home from the hospital on Monday and are doing great so far at home. She is doing great with feedings and sleeping quite well. Posting may slow for a bit until we get the hang of things, but I will be updating when I can. Can't wait to share her progress with you!

Hard as a Rock

My cousin had her baby this morning at 3am. I have not. Had my baby that is. She is still snuggled comfortably in my uterus with no signs of emerging any time soon. I have an appointment tomorrow, but I'm sure it'll just be a check up and then I'll continue the waiting game.

I have spent the morning cleaning my apartment from top to bottom. My mom is on my way here so I blame her impending arrival on my sudden nesting instinct. This constant cleaning (all while listening to Harry Potter 6 on CD) had put my uterus in a constant state of Braxton Hicks. This might be exciting for some, but all they do for me is make my lower back ache and give me the urge to use the restroom (for the 100th time today). Am I complaining? Yes. I may have said this before, but I very much loved being pregnant until week 35. I'm not sure if it was the increasing uncomfortability or the growing PUPPPs, but whatever the case I stopped enjoying my pregnancy sometime in there.

My Braxton Hicks are not some fleeting muscle contraction either. No, they last a good 3 minutes and pass only if I am able to lay down. This makes driving any where for longer than 5 minutes quite a chore should one occur while in the car. Many times I have wanted to leap out of the car in hopes that the change in positions would make things feel better. But I digress, I hate to sound like a Negative Nancy when I have in fact had a very enjoyable pregnancy. I simply hope that my little girl will make an arrival sometime in the near future.

The Farmer is at the farm today cleaning up and also preparing the garden for us to plant the seeds we bought on Sunday. We plan (with the help of my mom, hehe) to plant a decent sized garden this year and are very excited about our purchases. We bought:

Snow Peas
Zucchini
Spinach
Carrots
Cherry Tomatoes
Regular Tomatoes
Eggplant

Grandpa has already planted potatoes and possibly onions so this will be a decent start to what we hope to eventually be a great garden. The Farmer also bought flowers to plant. I'm very excited about this task, much to his surprise. I think he worries about my excitement towards the farm because it dwindled quite a bit once I became pregnant. I was just nervous about making myself sick or something biting me out there so I didn't go out much. I know, lame excuse, but it's the truth.

Hopefully we'll both have a good blog for you after we plant on Thursday. That is unless of course we are at the hospital having a baby!

For the past few nights The Farmer has been quite the chef! Saturday he made calzones (which we ate immediately) and a pizza (which we had last night), Sunday afternoon he made fajita quesadillas (with green peppers, spinach, and mushrooms) and Sunday evening he made chili with white, black and red beans. In case you are unfamiliar, we are vegetarians and my husband is quite the cook. This is why when pregnancy books encourage you to make meals before delivery, I laugh--because I have an amazing cook of a husband. Sunday evening before the chili though, we made ourselves sick on Peanut Butter Popcorn. The reason for creating this concoction is because we have 6 open jars of peanut butter in our pantry from The Farmer's soccer teams first (and pretty much only) away game. I have been racking my brain for ways to use the peanut butter. I could have donated it to the food pantry at church had every single jar not been opened. Instead, I am coming up with ways to use it. So far we've made Thai Peanut Sauce, a few batches of peanut butter oatmeal cookies and Peanut Butter Popcorn. It was simple, easy and really good. Here is the recipe:



Pop 6-8 cups of popcorn (we use air popped, but microwave is fine)
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c honey
2/3 c peanut butter
2 tbsp marshmallow creme (optional)

Heat sugar and honey on medium heat until boiling. Boil 4 minutes. Remove from heat. Add peanut butter and marshmallow creme stirring continuously. Pour over popcorn and toss. Lay out on aluminum foil or wax paper and allow to cool. Break up and enjoy!

Not the most healthy of treats, but at least it uses honey instead of corn syrup, right?