Introducing Baby #4: A Birth Story

I opened up blogger the other day and noticed that it's been almost one month since I posted anything.  That's the longest I've gone in a while, and I apologize for the absence.  The last few weeks of my pregnancy were pretty tiring.  However, our little girl has arrived!  She's two weeks old today!

Introducing....

Most people who read this blog are women, and most women like to hear the birth story, so let me indulge you.  If you don't care about the details, you can just scroll through the pictures.

This is my fourth baby, and apparently I still don't know what it's really like to be in labor.  We made two visits to the labor/delivery ward before I actually gave birth.  The first trip was June 23, after having contractions for two hours, every five minutes at home, we went in, only to have my contractions increase but no progress made toward labor.  Being sent home was pretty frustrating.  The doctors and nurses continued to be surprised when I would show up for my weekly appointments.  Another false alarm on July 7, my due date, only to have the same thing happen: contractions close together and worse in pain, with no changes.  We got sent home again.

Finally, at my appointment on July 10, I happened to be in tears from something else, when a sweet doctor {this was now the 4th doctor I had seen in 3 weeks} took pity on me and agreed that I could be induced.  I was at 4 cm, and things were ready to go; this little baby girl just needed some help. We received an induction appointment for the next morning and I was elated!  I had never been induced before, so it was strange driving to the hospital, not in labor, knowing that we would have a baby soon.  It was also comforting, though, to know that the other three kids were taken care of, I'd had a good night's rest, and my makeup and hair were fixed.

When we got to the hospital my room wasn't ready, so we grabbed a bite in the cafeteria and hung out in the waiting room for about an hour.  They finally escorted me to the labor/delivery room.  It was the same room where I had given birth to Mason just 15 months before.  This had been one of my fears, but it really wasn't emotional at all to be in there this time around.

By 8:15 I was hooked up to the monitors.  At 9:00 the Doctor came in, another new face.  I was then at 5 cm, so he broke my water and they said they'd start the pitocin right away.  I was still not having any contractions at this point, but I really didn't want to feel them, so I opted for the epidural.  It took effect fairly slowly, which was actually really nice for me.  By 11:30 I could tell I was in transition, as my legs were shaky and the contractions were coming pretty strong and close together.  The epidural worked, but I felt just enough pain that I was able to tell what was going on, which I liked.  Around noon, it was time to push.  Everyone started gathering around:  the new Doctor who broke my water, his Attending Physician, and a recent Medical School graduate, 2 weeks out of school, who had never delivered a baby.  {I love providing education for new Doctors; I really do actually, I just find it humorous that there were so many present}.

Our girl, Jennavieve Lorraine, was born at 12:22pm, pink, healthy, and very big.  We all sat waiting as they put her on the table to see how much she weighed.  Even the Doctor was surprised when 10lbs came up on the monitor!  The most amazing part of all is that this was my first delivery that didn't include any tearing or need for stitches, and she is our biggest baby!  The delivery was so smooth and I had no complications, also another first.  We were so thankful and I was very relieved to not be pregnant anymore.

We had a great day Thursday and Friday together, just loving on her and holding her.  She was such a content baby, hardly crying, waking every 3 hours to eat---it was pretty much perfect!

Saturday morning, we were getting ready to be discharged when the nurse discovered Jennavieve had a fever.  Fevers are never a good sign in a newborn, so she was taken to the NICU to determine what was going on.  After an x-ray, they discovered that she had pneumonia.  I was discharged, but our little girl had to stay at the hospital.

She's now been in the NICU for 12 days, and we received word on Monday that she'll be able to come home this Sunday.  She's doing great, healing well, and we can't wait to have her at home with us!  I'll write more about this experience sometime, but for now, I just wanted to leave you with the news of her arrival.

Mason's Debut

Since today was the EDD {Estimated Due Date} for little Mason, I thought it only appropriate to share his birth story with you.  I'm so thankful he was two weeks early!  Isabella was 8 days early {you can read her birth story here} and Mallory was 2 days late {find her birth story here}, so I really had nothing to go by with this pregnancy.  Here's how the day began...

April 13:
I woke up pretty early and felt a few contractions as I was getting ready for the day, nothing horrible, but they were noticeable.  Bradley got home from work around 6AM, and I mentioned that maybe today would be the day.  He climbed into bed and I went about my day as normal.  I thought it would be a great day for a baby, but tried as much as possible to go on as though nothing was going to happen.  I didn't want to just sit around waiting for the baby to be born and miss out on life!  The girls and I went grocery shopping, we made banana bread, and I painted a few projects in the garage {posts coming soon on those projects!}.  By the time I had one coat of paint on a chalkboard I'm making, I began to keep track of the contractions I was having.

11AM - The contractions started coming pretty regularly, about every 3 minutes, but this happened for several weeks with Mallory, so I just kept doing housework.  After an hour of this, and having to stand still during contractions, I decided to pack my bag for the hospital.  I wanted to allow Bradley some more time to sleep so he would be rested, should this be the real deal, so I waited until about 12:30 to wake him up and tell him what was happening.  He got ready pretty quickly, put on his 'birthing shirt' {he has worn the same button-down shirt for all the births of our children}, and then we started calling some friends to see who could watch the girls.  This was the only day/time frame that I hadn't really lined up any childcare!  Thankfully, our friends were willing to keep the girls, so we headed out to the hospital.

1:30PM - The girls were dropped off and we were on our way!  I really had no idea what to expect, but I was definitely uncomfortable.

2PM - Arrived at the hospital, told the nurses what was going on and was desperately hoping that I truly was in labor!  I'd had contractions every 3-5 minutes for the past 3 hours at this point.  I got into the lovely hospital gown {who invented those ugly things?!} and they hooked me up to the monitors.  Right away I could see the contractions coming pretty strongly and spiking really high on the charts.  The nurse checked me...I was only at 2 centimeters!!  They wouldn't keep me unless I was 4 centimeters dilated, so they had me drink lots of water and continued to monitor me for another hour.

3:30PM - Contractions were still coming just as regularly, but when they checked me again, I was still only 2 centimeters.  I KNEW I was in labor, though; I've done this twice before, so I could tell this was the real deal.  You can't convince the medical staff of that, though, especially when you're body isn't producing anything.  They chatted with the DR and meanwhile, my contractions started getting worse.  Worse like how I felt when laboring with Mallory dilated at 9 centimeters.

4 PM {ish}- They couldn't keep me any longer, so recommended that we go walk around the mall for another hour and then come back.  I was thinking to myself, "There is no way I'm leaving this hospital!  And, there's really no way I'm going to the mall to give birth to this child on an escalator!"  My genius husband requested that they check me one more time before we left.   They agreed and we were all very thankful to find that I was now at 4 centimeters!!  So, I could stay.

5PM - I GOT AN EPIDURAL!!  I am terrified of needles, and really enjoyed my other two labor/deliveries with no pain meds.  But, this time, I seriously felt much more pain earlier on.  I didn't want to know anything about what they were doing to my spine, and I literally almost passed out right after he stuck the needle in me.  Oh my goodness, though, how amazing it is to not feel ANYTHING!  It was cracking me up to watch the monitor and see contractions happening rapidly and strongly, but not even knowing they were going on.  "Better living through chemistry," as my dad would say.

6PM - A new DR was on call, and he came in to introduce himself, and he checked me again.  I was at 7 centimeters at this point, so he broke my water and we just waited.

6:50PM - Checked again and was now at 10!!  My OB/GYN walked in the door as they were giving me this news and I was thrilled!  I have never had my actual DR deliver my babies, so it was very nice to have him present for this one.

7:09 PM - The pushing began.  Let me just tell you that this was the weirdest thing for me.  I didn't know when I was supposed to push, obviously, because I couldn't feel anything, so it was a bit of a challenge.  That was really the only thing I didn't like about having an epidural.

7:28 PM - After a little help with the vacuum, our little BOY made his grand debut!  I wasn't surprised that it was a boy, as I had thought it would be all along, but Bradley was shocked!  I think he was anticipating have a house full of estrogen for the rest of his life!  What joy it brought me to know that my little guy was born, he was healthy, and just perfect.

My placenta took awhile to detach, so the next hour was VERY uncomfortable for me as the DR had to work to get that out.  I'm SO thankful I had the epidural or this part would have been unbearable.  I lost a significant amount of blood during that time, but they were finally successful and I thankfully didn't need any further medical treatment.

I wasn't able to hold Mason until two hours after he was born, and that was hard for me, but when they placed him in my arms, I was rejoicing in another precious little life that God had blessed us with. He is the sweetest baby and has quickly become such a part of our lives.  We look forward to all that God has in store for this little man!

Ready to push!

First breaths 

Meeting his biggest sister

The girls got Mason a stuffed tiger, and named him 'Tiberius'

Meeting his other big sister

Sweet little baby boy

 

Napping with Granddad

Snuggling with Daddy

Thankful my parents could be here for those first days

Me and my little man

Our growing family

Birth Story of Daughter #2

11 days ago I shared with you Birth Story of Daughter #1, and I would recommend that you read that post first, if you haven't already, so that you can have a greater appreciation for this one.  


Today is my second child's 2nd birthday!  It's so hard to believe that my girls are growing up so fast.  People always tell me that it goes by quickly, and they are right.  Some days it doesn't seem so fast, but when I look back life feels like a whirlwind since I had children.

Since I shared with you Isabella's birth story, I thought it would only be appropriate to share with you about the next birth.  So, here's a little recap, timeline of the pregnancy and all, so you can join with us as we celebrate and remember our precious little Mallory.

May 1, 2009:
Isabella was just over 3 months old and I noticed that she was hungrier than normal, and nursing just wasn't cutting it for her.  After reading a few articles on why this might be happening, I thought, "Well, maybe I should just take a pregnancy test to see."  So, that afternoon, I decided to give it a go and sure enough, positive results!  Ah!  I really couldn't believe it.  I hung onto that pregnancy test for awhile, just to convince myself that it was real.  Although, the nausea kicked in pretty soon afterward, so I didn't need convincing for too long.  My due date was January 8, 2010, a year and two days after my due date for Baby #1!

I guess I should really back up a little bit further here, as some of you might be saying, "WHAT?  You can't get pregnant while nursing!"  Backing up just a bit...

February (first part of the month) 2009:
After my post-partum check up I picked up my prescription for birth control pills {the mini-pill, safe to take while nursing}, and went ahead and started taking it.  The next day, my husband declared that I was way too moody and he didn't like the effects of birth control on me.  He was somehow convinced that nursing would be a sure contraceptive, so we decided for me not to take the pill.

His job shifted slightly right after this and we had a lot of time on our hands {remember, we had previously been separated for 6 months, read this post}, so naturally, you can guess what happened....I got pregnant and we discovered that breastfeeding is most definitely NOT a sure type of contraception!

May {end of the month}, 2009:
I started having some complications with my pregnancy and ended up for a day in the emergency room, sure that I had miscarried.  Thankfully, after seeing the DR, we able to hear a heartbeat and everything looked like it would be okay.

I never imagined that I would get pregnant so quickly after having my first baby, so being pregnant with an infant was a challenge.  But, it was also wonderful!  The distraction of a new baby was great in keeping my mind off of being sick and the temptation to just lie around the house had to be overcome.  We were thrilled with the thought of another one!

Family photo July, 2009

June, 2009:
While I was back on the East Coast visiting family, my husband received orders to move to another base in California, several hours north of San Diego, and by the time I returned home July 6, our apartment was totally packed up!  The next day, Isabella and I drove north to join my husband and we settled into life in gorgeous Monterey, CA!

Monterey Bay, Monterey, CA

August, 2009:
This time around we decided to find out the gender of the baby. It was a GIRL!  We thought it would be so fun to have two little girls so close in age and couldn't wait to meet her.

December 2009:
We had to stay home for the holidays, since I was extremely pregnant, which really was fine with us.  Isabella started walking right before Christmas, which was really wonderful in my opinion, because I didn't know what I would do if I had to carry two children all the time to run errands.  All month long I had contractions, pretty much every day and was pretty uncomfortable.  At my 36 week check-up, I had dilated to 3 centimeters, and stayed there through check-up at 39 weeks.

January 2, 2010:
Bradley's mom came to stay with us and wait for the baby to be born.  She had planned to stay for 2 weeks, and we were SO thankful!  I was sure the baby would come early, as her sister had, but after one week of my mother-in-law there, still no baby!

VERY pregnant and ready to have a baby!

January 7, 2010:
For about 5 hours one day I had steady contractions about every 10 minutes.  We went to a friend's house for dinner, and around 7PM I told Bradley I felt like we needed to head for the hospital.  Of course we didn't have anything ready, so we headed home to pack our bags and go to the hospital.  By the time we got home and started getting ready, my contractions had stopped completely!  Ugh!

January 9, 2010:
Since there was still no baby, we decided to take a great walk to a nearby beach where we would be required to walk a lot, through hilly sand dunes, and I was sure that would put me into labor.  Nothing.

The dunes we climbed through.

January 10, 2010:
7AM, I woke up and started feeling some light contractions.  I was pretty sure this would be the day, so I took my time getting out of bed, showered and dressed.  This time around I was bound and determined that I would look good in the first pictures with my little girl.  By the time I was putting on my eyeliner, I was doubled over the sink with each contraction.  I told Bradley it was time to go and we headed to the hospital.  Being the loving husband that he is, we parked the car, and WALKED into the hospital.  He refused to drop me off at the door because he wasn't thrilled about a false alarm.  Walking, he assured me, would keep the contractions coming, if this was the real deal.

We got into the maternity ward and they put me in a room right away.  I was dressed and in the bed within minutes, and a DR came in to check my progress.  When he told me I was dilated to 9 centimeters I said to him, "Are you serious?  Because if you're joking, that's really not funny."  He was totally serious, broke my water, and immediately the pain intensified.

Less than an hour later, and after only 4 pushes, out came our little Mallory Daire.  She was a beautiful, healthy, big baby, at 8lbs 15 oz.  I was so relieved and couldn't believe how easy it was compared to my first delivery!  I was recovering, holding my clean baby by the time lunch came around at the hospital.  Visitors showed up soon after and it was great to have a baby in the morning, after having a full night's rest, to then have the rest of the day to enjoy her, relax, recover, and visit with friends and family.

Arrived at the hospital and ready to go!

First glimpse of my new little girl.

Looking much more like myself this time around :)

Bradley wears the same shirt for the births of our children; love it!

So glad Mom could be there!

Grateful for my mother-in-law and love her dearly!

Chubby cheeked little girl.

Ready to go home.

Because it was winter, and flu season, Isabella couldn't come visit us in the hospital, which was too bad, but it honestly was really nice to be in the hospital by myself with Mallory for one night.  They sent me home the next day and Isabella immediately fell in love with her new little 'baby doll' of a sister.

Peeking in on her little sister.

My two girls and me.

Mallory has brought such joy to our family.  She definitely likes to make us laugh and is quite successful!  She has a terrific love of life and a strong personality, which we pray will be channeled in the right direction to serve the Lord with passion and tenacity.

Happy 2nd Birthday, sweet girl!

Birth Story of Daughter #1

Yesterday marked a special day in our family:  our oldest turned 3 years old!  She has been such a blessing in our family and I thought I would take a few minutes to share with you the story of her entry into the world.  Most women {which I think most of you readers are} love a good birth story, and I've never before shared this on my blog, so what better time than now?  In fact, three years ago today I was sitting in a hospital bed writing down the story in my journal.  Come back with me a few years as I remember the day I became a mother...

May 8, 2008:
That morning I took a pregnancy test and my suspicions were confirmed that I indeed was pregnant!  We were thrilled!  My first trimester wasn't horrible, and I was working from home at the time, so it was easy to nap whenever I wanted, eat whatever was in sight {which I did} and enjoy having my husband home.  The due date was set for January 6, 2009.

July 21, 2008:
My husband left for training with the Navy, and I moved from our home in SC, to live with my parents in VA. Life was a bit uncertain at this point, not knowing when we would be together again, where we would live next, and whether or not Bradley would be with me for the birth of our first baby.  But, we trusted that the Lord would take care of it all and there was no need to fear.

December 20, 2008:
I finally picked Bradley up from the airport for our 2 week time together before he officially moved to San Diego to report for duty.  I was hugely pregnant, he was exhausted, and we were hoping and praying that our little baby would arrive early so he could be present when she was born.  We enjoyed a few days before Christmas with both of our families, and then settled in to wait for things to start happening.

December 26, 2008:
I had contractions ALL day long, about 3 minutes apart, so we finally went to the hospital in the afternoon, bags packed, ready to meet our baby.  After walking the hospital halls for a couple of hours, my contractions weren't getting any more intense, so they sent me home.  Ugh!  Anyone else who has had false labor knows that is one of the most discouraging things to hear!  Thankfully, I had dilated to 3 centimeters, so something was happening, just not enough.

December 28, 2008:
Around 10AM, Bradley and I were getting ready for church when I felt my water break.  Yes!  I had been told to come to the hospital if that happened, and I knew that once my water broke they'd have to get the baby out within 24 hours.  God had answered our prayers, and Bradley would be with me for the delivery!!

Checked in and waiting for things to start picking up.

We arrived at the hospital, got settled into our room, and the midwife finally showed up to completely break my water, and once she did the contractions started coming.  Around 5PM. the contractions began to pick up and I was pretty uncomfortable.  My goal was to have a natural delivery, no drugs, mostly because I HATE needles, and couldn't stand the thought of having a long needle in my spine.  My husband, and my parents, were fantastic labor coaches and got me through the long hours of contractions until about 10PM, when I was finally at 9 centimeters and ready to push.  This is when it got difficult.

Don't you just love those hospital gowns?  

I pushed, and pushed, and pushed, and nothing really happened.  After about 3.5 hours, the midwife finally called a DR to come because they were going to have to vacuum out the baby {I guess a midwife is unable to do that}.  I was exhausted, sweaty, and just ready to get that child out of me!  After about 30 minutes, including one point when my husband thought the baby's head had been ripped off from the vacuum, we finally met our sweet baby GIRL, Isabella Claire, at 1:51AM, December 29.

Moments after birth

Holding her for the first time

Daddy and his little girl

My parents, aka Nini and Granddad

Family of 3

Never have I felt such amazing relief and joy than I did in that moment.  Immediately I began crying because I was so thankful that Bradley had been with me to meet our precious girl for the first time.  God's faithfulness to us was incredible, and I will never take that for granted.  Isabella Claire was 8 days early, and just as perfect and beautiful as ever.  She weighed in at 7lb. 14 oz., and 20 1/2 inches long {I think; not sure about the length}.

I finally asked to look in a mirror and almost didn't recognize my face.  After pushing for 4 hours, my entire face had swelled, and I had burst multiple blood vessels in my face and eyes.  Not the way you picture looking for those first photos with your new baby.  But, oh well!

My parents and siblings had all waited long hours to meet our baby, and they came in soon after to delivery to see our sweet girl.  

We spent 2 full days in the hospital and then went back to my parents' house where we enjoyed another three days before Bradley left for San Diego.  That was a difficult day, especially for him, but we were still so thankful that he had been able to be there for Isabella's birth.  {We were reunited 3 weeks later when Isabella and I moved to San Diego to join him}.

Feeling better the next day

Heading home

Saying Goodbye for 3 weeks

Isabella has brought us such joy over the years and we are proud to call her our daughter.  Our biggest prayer for her is that she will grow to know and love Jesus, and desire to follow Him with wholehearted devotion.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Isabella!