The PaXveNturEs

It's been increasingly difficult to find time to blog and take pictures. So we definitely are still taking pictures, but the blogging has taken a back seat. The weather here has been really nice, so we have tried to get out and about but still stay cool. We have been going swimming, taking walks, going to the library (and doing summer reading), going to the park, and trying to keep the house clean, kids fed, clothed and bathed.

Tyler, North and I went to the Jack Johnson concert this week. It was SO chill, but amazing. Ahh..

North slept the whole time. This was during the brief time he decided to eat. Since we were in the lawn we could easily cover his ears and sit far away enough it wasn't too loud.

The girls love him. They also love to take pictures of each other with him while I am not around.

I think this one is super cute of North.

North is already almost too big for Violet to carry, although she tries. Yikes! I think I missed out on the whole newborn stage. I now have a baby the size of a 3 month old, but he is only 3 weeks.

Funny faces by Violet AND North.

Here is North on the blanket he got from his Great Grandma Carol.

And some more pictures taken by the girls.

The day we had North.
Betty, our Doula, Dr. Zaidan, and our Nurse.

Me after labor. I think I was in shock - and this captures how I felt pretty well.

This is the sacred birth story of our son, North.

My previous births were good. But I think Violet's could have been better if I had been more educated. Understanding that things can go wrong, and that serious medical intervention is sometimes necessary, I was open to whatever had to happen, but I wanted to prepare for the best-case scenario for me. A natural childbirth.

I practiced a little bit stepping out into the snow in bare feet. Tyler also helped me through a Bradley relaxation exercise once. But the real practice came at 38 weeks when I started listening to my hypnobirthing cd every other night, or every night. I gained 10 lb. more than the girls, and was in constant pain from my skin stretching. The CD's offered some relief, and gave me a mental break.

My doctor appointments continued without incident. There was a small hiccup at 36/37 weeks when the doctor thought he was breech because he was crammed in there so tightly. But he was head down, and everything was fine.

At 38 weeks I was dialated to a 2! No pain, some contractions (depending on my level of activity). Every time I had a contraction, even though they weren't painful, I would visualize myself opening up and relaxing. This was really easy.

The next doctor appointment, no change. I was disappointed, I'm not going to lie. But 2 cm is better than nothing. With the girls I never dialated before so I figured I would take what I would get.

My next doctor appointment was June 24. One day away from my due date and our anniversary. I was ready, although fearful of actually having the baby. Over the past week we had taken 4.5 mile walks, I had taken black and blue kohosh sparingly, experimented with evening primrose oil. I didn't get as far as castor oil, but was willing to try it if I got any more miserable. (I did with Ava ... and knew the effects) I felt some pinching, but that was all. No regular contractions.

As I went to the doctor I was really nervous. I always get overly emotional and stressed out on doctor days. Not to mention the doctor on call over the weekend (it was a Thursday), was the one that I would prefer not to have. She's the one who said she was busy doing c-sections all night at one of my appointments. So the doctor I liked checked me, and he said I was a 4, and could stretch me to a 5!!!! WOW! I was excited because other than the pinching, I wasn't having painful contractions at all. He also said my bag of waters was bulging.

Tyler and the doctor were talking, and I said casually that Tyler was ready to have the baby that night. The doctor said, "Why not?" and called the hospital with our approval. They were busy (it was a full moon), so we agreed to come in that evening at 8 p.m. We called my mom and told her to go pick up my suitcase, arranged for the girls to be picked up, and headed out for another walk and to eat some spicy food. We also called the doula and told her to come at 8:30 p.m. We had a really nice walk in downtown Rochester.

The doctor came in to break my water at 9:30 p.m. Prior to, I was having small contractions about 5 min apart. Once again, not painful, but I was surprised I was having contractions regularly. While the doctor broke my water Betty, our doula, distracted me with pictures of her two beautiful daughters. I was nervous, so this was a good distraction. I was hooked up to external monitors, but I was able to get a hep lock - so no IV! The external monitors weren't too annoying after my water was broken because my skin wasn't hurting and itching so badly from being stretched by the baby.

The rest of the story is pretty short. I used the restroom, then got on the birthing ball. Tyler massaged my back. I began with the hypnobirthing cd's, which helped, and after about 30 minutes I decided to stand up and use gravity to my advantage. Tyler held my arms and I kept listening to the cd. The contractions really started to pick up, and I remember Tyler and Betty talking to each other surprised that I wasn't complaining about pain. The nurse kept reinforcing if I felt like I had to push I had to get in bed. I was feeling like I had to push, but waited as long as possible before saying anything. At 10:50 I was checked again and was a 7, 80% effaced - this was my goal, and I knew transition was close. At 11:10 I was an 8, with just a little effacement left.

In a matter of minutes I felt like there was nothing stopping me from pushing. By 11:33 p.m. I was a 10 and ready to push. I got into bed, and Betty was coaching me through breathing and massaged my feet. Tyler got into the bed with me and held me from behind. It was very comforting. The rest is pretty much a blur, but the hardest part was breathing through contractions where I felt like I had to push. I had to roll from side to side a few times when North wasn't tolerating certain positions well.

Three pushes and he was out at 11:39 p.m. I had to push out his head, his shoulders, and his butt. Tyler said, "He just kept coming!" Then I got to hold him right away, all covered with amniotic fluid and everything. It smelled weird. My belly was hurting very badly. Tyler cut the cord and then they gave me pitocin to help shrink my uterus. This KILLED and I told them I didn't want it. The nurse at the beginning told me if I didn't want treatment of any kind I have the right to refuse it. So I told her no, and she unhooked it. They never asked if I wanted it, they just gave it to me, so this was probably the worst part.

Over the next 24 hours I was in a significant amount of pain. I am not sure if it was from after pains or gas bubbles, but it was terrible.

Overall the birth was awesome. I didn't even bring in my birth plan, but Tyler and I had both discussed it so we knew what we wanted. In the books I'd read it said to visualize the kind of birth I wanted to have. For some reason the only thing I could think of was hard and fast. That's exactly what my birth was. Definitely fast, and sort of hard.