Monday, March 6, 2017

Silas is here!

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Silas decided to make his arrival 3 days before his due date, and after 33 hours of labor. He was born in the water at 12:21pm, weighing 8lbs 5oz and measuring 20.5" long! My heaviest baby, but right in the middle for height.



So let's start from the beginning!
To preface: I had planned a home water birth, but my body and iron do not get along, so my hematocrit and hemoglobin levels risked me out of my home birth.



Contractions started about 3:20am on the 19th, and they stayed 9-10 minutes apart until the afternoon. They went down to about 8 minutes apart after a long walk around the neighborhood with Sam and the kids. I napped a little when we got home, and watched TV with the boys for a while, and then we walked up to Dunkin for coffee (because even labor cannot keep me from Dunkin). By the time we got home from Dunkin, my contractions were 7 minutes apart. Soon after my contractions jumped right down to 5 minutes apart, so we decided to get our bags and the kids bags ready. We made our phone calls and we went to the hospital/birth center. They didn't want to admit me at first, because I was 2-3cm dilated (I let them check because they couldn't admit me otherwise), but an hour later I was at 5cm so they gave us a room. Our photographer had arrived at the same time and she helped so much with the kids. We sat around the room, talking, laughing, making jokes, and playing with the kids.
 We updated our families every so often and talked about placentas (a lot). Everything was going great, except for a nurse - who wasn't my nurse - who decided to try to make my kids leave, and when we wouldn't make them leave (hospital policy allows them), she lied to the OB who was going to catch the baby, the other nurses, us, and security, and said my midwife was banned from the hospital. She then had my midwife removed from the property by security. This is all being taken care of, but was definitely a bump in the road. My midwife did continue to support me as best as she could over the phone, and she was really helpful despite not being allowed to be there in person.
Shortly after all this I got into the tub to labor, and it was amazing. I started getting really shaky though, and that usually happens around 8-9cm for me, so I got out of the tub (at this point I didn't know I could have him in the tub). I let them check me, and I was at 8cm - and still laughing and talking through contractions. This was, by far, my easiest labor. I was shocked at how painless it had been so far! I sat in the bed to rest for awhile as I'd been awake for well over 24hrs at this point and wanted a break. I stayed at 8cm for about two hours, despite going back to the birth ball, tub, doing squats, and walking. I was so tired by now that I was getting worried I'd be too tired to push if it didn't happen soon, so I allowed them to break my water. I got in the birth tub about 5 minutes later, and within 15 minutes I was pushing. While it was definitely my easiest labor, it was my hardest delivery.  His head was out in 3 pushes, but it felt impossible to push out, then I think about 3 or 4 more pushes for his shoulders and body because his shoulders got stuck. My OB gently turned him so he could come out- she was amazing! I was in so much pain, and totally shocked that I finally had my water birth, that I barely smiled in my birth photos.
 But I almost immediately felt off and I didn't want to hold him, because I thought I was going to drop him. I started bleeding a lot, and they brought me back to my bed and gave me a shot of pit, a bag of pitocin, and 2 shots of methergen (sp?) to slow my bleeding. All the medication worked, and I was fine. And now I have a 3rd perfect little bean to love on <3








All photos in this post belong to myself, and to my photographer at KML Photography and are not to be used without permission.


Saturday, February 4, 2017

After 2 years of neglecting this blog...

We have some news!

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And I'm already 37w3d:

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And I've been experiencing prodromal labor for 2+ weeks now, which is rad. And by rad, I mean frustrating and exhausting.

It's another boy...

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And like Gage, his name is a secret! Shh! We're calling him Ember for now.

This pregnancy has been the most taxing, by far. With SPD, severe acid reflux, severe anemia, severe RLS, low magnesium, low blood pressure, etc., I feel like I can't catch a break. Trying to make the best of it though! With a magnesium supplement, magnesium oil, Zantac, and sleepytime tea, I'm finally getting some sleep, which is very helpful. It makes keeping up with the house, two kids, a dog, a cat, and two rats much easier.

Speaking of the kids...

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Noah is six now! He lost his bottom front teeth recently, and he's very proud. Still home schooled and he's in first grade. His newest obsession is YouTube videos of other people playing with toys... even though he has tons of toys to play with himself. Kids, man. He does pretend to make his own videos, too. It's really cute! He's excited to be a big brother again :)
Gage is three now, and still nursing (but if you knew us, you wouldn't be surprised, haha!). Nursing through pregnancy is no joke. I hate it, but it's a big comfort for him, so it's whatever. He's not really being home schooled yet, but he does have a big interest in letters so we talk about them. He can actually name most! He's very excited to be a big brother and share his milkies with him :)

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This is our pain in the ass border collie, Ella. She loves the kids and the kids love her. She has anxiety from her previous home and we're working with her on it, but she has some behavioral issues due to it. She's very loving and gentle with the kids, so at least that's not a worry! Mostly just peeing in the house and stealing food. We still love her, she's cuddly and silly and too cute not to.

I think that's good for updates, for now... I've missed this blog and I'll try to get back into it more!