Well, when I started writing this post, the same time last week I was at the hospital in labor. I can't believe it's already been a week!
Feel free to skip to the birth story. Since I haven't blogged much about this pregnancy, I'm going to talk about that first. And be warned, this is long with probably alot of run-on sentences and other fun errors....but, I'm tired :)
Pregnancy:
I literally started outgrowing my pants and showing around 3 weeks. I now realize how abs may come in handy to help keep those muscles tighter longer. But it was snowmageddon year and it just didn't happen. Oh well, next time...maybe...
I was very hungry AND very nauseous the first 10 weeks (something I didn't have with the boys. One night I even said to Bryce, "It's either a girl or twins" because of how different I felt). Gained 10 pounds! Literally ate, had to lay down because it made me nauseous, and by the time I got back up, I was starving again. Had my 10th meal of the day in bed to make it so I could fall asleep without my stomach growling. I grew so tired of eating that I started to not crave anything because eating became a chore and it really didn't matter what I ate, I was starving 20 minutes later. Bryce told me that I now know what he goes through everyday. My favorites were McDs french fries, snickers, and McFlurries. And that my friends, is why I gained 10 pounds during the time that you really aren't.
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| 20 Weeks. |
2 and 3rd trimesters were not bad at all. Thank goodness. We decided to accept the job in Oregon, the day after my 20 week ultrasound (to move 2 months later) so I immediately started organizing, cleaning, selling, and getting rid of things, all while trying to plan to go to all my Indiana bucket list places (I hope to post about those awesome adventures soon) that we had never done. I don't think we went to bed before 2am the entire summer. During this time, we also tried to sort out whether we would buy or rent our next home and if we needed to make a trip to go house hunting, etc. because I would be 7 months pregnant by the time we would actually arrive in Oregon and probably not be too excited to move more than once and Brycen would need to get signed up for school so we would need to know what school that would be. Also, how would we move? Are we moving ourselves? We ended up calling around for lots of price quotes but in the end, deciding to move ourselves to be able to save money and use what is leftover to pay things off and start saving for a house. And when we do move out there, where do we want to stop along the way? Hotels and meals and activities needed to be planned.
Meanwhile, Bryce was frantically trying to tie up all loose ends with his work at Purdue. It was literally crazy. I packed 95% of the household in boxes myself and feel so blessed that Brycen and Cian were basically awesome through it all.
During the move and after we arrived, my body really started to get big! The area right under my ribs is always an area that bothers me, and has for the other two pregnancies. It feels like it is being quite literally, ripped apart. Caraline hated when I sat or laid down and kicked every night, all night. My doctor in Oregon commented a time or two about how she could usually feel baby movements but with my belly, she could see them. My entire tummy would rotate and be kicked in all directions at the same time.
For this pregnancy, I did not go off sweets like I did with Cian. With all the moving and chaos, it just never happened. I had alot of pelvic pressure all summer probably due to doing too much. But come 37 weeks, I all the sudden had none! She kept me on my toes. Also due to having no abs, Bryce literally had to give me a shove so I could get up,out of bed and to the bathroom at night. All those lovely bathroom breaks made me realize that either our neighbor never sleeps or never turns out their light. My ankles did end up swelling the last two weeks after being on them all day (but nothing like they did with Brycen). And within a week after delivery, my hair already began to fall out--sad day.
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| 40 Weeks. Caraline's Due Date! |
My Perfect Birth Story
Now let's back track to last week. I went in for my 40 week check up on Thursday (October 9th), the day after Caraline's due date. The night before, my awesome neighbor had texted me asking if she could watch my boys so that I could go to my appointment and then out to lunch with Bryce. It was perfect because Brycen was off school for both Thursday and Friday so he didn't need to get to the bus during that time like he normally would. I dropped the boys off Thursday and headed in to my appointment, not getting my hopes up for much since every past appointment, I thought for sure I would be dilated more than I ended up being.
Just like the last couple appointments, my doctor came in saying, "I keep thinking we would meet at the hospital, not here again". She then explained that she would see if I had dilated more and we would make plans from there. At the previous visit, she had stripped my membranes and then I purchased the yoga ball on the way home to see if that would jump start things. Bryce and I also sped walked around the block several times after the boys went to bed for two nights in a row, to no prevail.
My doctor
really wanted my body to go into labor on it's own. Since I have had a previous c-section, the options to induce labor are limited and if they don't work, a c-section is what the end result would have to be. So she explained to me that if my body could dilate to a 3 (on it's own), she could then break my water and see if that would get things going. If it didn't, Pitocin could be used and hopefully help me dilate me to a 4, then usually at that point, the body can proceed to go into labor.
Well, she checked me and was so happy to say that I was dilated to 4 cm! So there
were options! She then offered to call the hospital and set up an induction that day! She explained to me that she was the on-call doctor at the hospital that night (Thursday) but then off the rest of the weekend, so if I went into labor on my own, any time after that---which my body could technically at anytime at 4cm--then the on-call doctor would be the one that would do the delivery. After a near terrible experience with the on-call doctor while delivering Cian, I did
not want to risk it. Plus, I REALLY had grown to like my doctor. She was, after all, the whole reason why we found out Caraline was a girl, not a boy! So before I left to go eat lunch with Bryce, the hospital was called and a 5pm induction was scheduled! I was having a baby!!
The rest of the day was everything I could want it to be. Bryce and I enjoyed a nice BIG lunch before we headed home. Bryce has been ready for this "break" from work ever since he found out that he could take it and also because he has never really had any kind of break over the last 6 years so needless to say, he was pretty excited that the day had come for him to inform work that he would be out of the office for the next TWO weeks (I am LOVING it, by the way).
I picked up the boys from my neighbor and informed them that baby sister was coming soon. So we needed to eat and gather our things and call Aunt Sydette, and I then cuddled them while watching a movie. They were SO excited to have a sleepover with cousins and could really, hardly wait. Especially on a non-school night? Perfectly better for us and the cousins, they ended up playing with the entire next day. After constantly worrying if labor would come in the middle of the night and I would have to drop-off half asleep boys at someone's house crying or have someone come to my house and have Cian flip out in the morning, or Brycen at school or need to be, etc, it was SO awesome to have it planned, on a non-school day, with time to prepare the boys on what to expect. Also to get ready while not actually in labor with crazy contractions? Even better. AND having a full night's rest (as much as you can while pregnant) AND a full belly. Can you see how this is laying down the foundation for my idea of perfect?
After dropping off the boys, we casually made our way to the hospital and then got lost navigating the hospital. We were told to go to the main entrance, but apparently the west wing main entrance not the east wing main entrance, so we did a lot of walking. Once again, not having crazy contractions was splendid, I even had Bryce take the stairs with me so I could bounce up and down them with the idea that it could give me a head start on the evening and then came those fun 200 questions between the reception lady and nurses...yup,
loved not being in pain for those.
When I was ready, my doctor arrived, she announced that I was at a 5 and broke my water, right around 5:15pm. So simple. And already at a 5?? Sweet. Those 5 cm were essentially painless. So over the next hour straight, I googled, "how bad does giving birth hurt without an epidural?" while walking the halls with Bryce. With a possible c-section always lingering over my head, I know that going epidural free can better the chances of having a VBAC (vaginal birth after Cesarean). But I had not made up my mind on the matter because like with Cian, I could be sleep deprived and starving, and an epidural quite literally becomes manna from heaven. And the idea of tearing without medication, scares the heck out of me!
But ultimately what I ended up deciding is that if I am already at 5cm, with the ideal circumstances of being fed, rested, and not worried about my boys, if I was going to try to go epidural free--now
was the chance.Also, since getting an epidural isn't exactly a pain-free process, I figured I would wait
until things got so bad that the idea of getting one was welcomed, not feared. So I tried. 3 hours. Contractions came hard and lasted anywhere between 1-3 minutes every 2 minutes. All in my lower back (very different from Cian's that were in the front). Even though I don't have experience with such a thing, the only comparison that I can think to use to describe the pain is a knife stabbing me in the back. I cried out for Bryce to hold my hand and massage me whenever one started, but there was really nothing he could do that made it any better. Near the end of 3 hours, I began feeling very faint by the time I managed to get through each contraction. I kinda have a history with fainting so once I started feeling it coming on, it worried me. Bryce agreed that I started to look very pale. I asked the nurse to check me to see how far I had dilated and I was ONLY at a 7 so, I asked for an epidural. The pain of one seemed like nothing compared to the back pain and faintness, so I knew that it was time.
Now, I have delivered at 3 different hospitals, in 3 different states and it's pretty amazing how much each one is different. After requesting my epidural for both the boys, there was no hesitation or discussion from the nurses. In fact, they had been encouraging me long beforehand to have one. In Oregon though, they asked me several times if I was sure. I know that I'm terrible at decision making but once I make a decision, I AM SURE. And all tolerance for pain flies out the window when I do make
the epidural decision so if they could hurry, that would be extra awesome. Lucky for me, since it was my 3rd baby and I was already 7cm dilated, the anesthesiologist must've ran because she came SO fast. Bless her heart. And even then, the nurse had the guts to ask me (again) if I still wanted it.
The epidural was administered and boy, it must've been the lowest dose because it was nothing like Brycen's or Cian's. I could not have told you when I was in a contraction or where my legs were located if you blindfolded me with theirs (and as amazing as it felt, it almost cost me my VBAC with Cian because I really couldn't feel where to even push effectively). But with Caraline's, it took the edge off the pain (especially the back pain) but kept all the pressure. I could still feel every contraction; they caused my whole body to shake and when it came time to push, I knew it and could feel it. I no longer felt faint but still cried because of all the hormones and emotion as I could feel my body go through the process.Definitely a whole new experience for me and it was perfect. After having experienced it, I would not want it any other way.
When my body could not wait any longer, I told them I needed to push. There were 2 other ladies delivering at the exact same time and my doctor was finishing up with them so they asked if I could wait 10 minutes. I could not! So they called in back-up but right as back-up came, my doctor came running in. The stars were aligning! I introduced Bryce to my doctor (you have to remember that I changed doctors when I was 36 weeks along and the week that he came with me, she had been called out for a delivery) and after brief introductions, she immediately had him jump in to help me start pushing. My doctor. was. amazing. She gave me encouragement, told me exactly what was going on, and even had me feel Caraline's head at one point so I could realized how close she was to being born.
Bryce was my rock. He held one of my legs and counted through the contractions for me and then held the oxygen mask over my face in between contractions. Even though I really didn't push long (35 minutes total), Caraline's heart rate kept dropping while I was pushing so my doctor had the nurse bring out the vacuum just in case matters came to it. As soon as the vacuum was mentioned, Caraline progressed--her personality already coming through! When she didn't progress far enough, the vacuum was threatened again (more out of a joke) and she came. However, her shoulder did get stuck in the process (called shoulder dystocia, it can be pretty scary--it's actually considered one of the most serious complications of vaginal births) but my doctor was able to realize it and act quickly and carefully. She guided Caraline back in while telling me exactly when to push and NOT to push to have it work out. Having her body being born and then pulled though was truly, the weirdest feeling.
At 9:20pm, 4 hours after arriving at the hospital: Caraline was born slightly blue, completely freaking out her poor Daddy, and placed on my tummy while two nurses used towels to rub her and get her to start breathing. She soon started crying and was indeed confirmed a girl (and big!). I had been hesitant to commit completely to the idea of a girl until she was confirmed :) Daddy was able to then cut the umbilical cord--another first. While waiting for the placenta to come, my doctor informed me that I was in need of zero stitches because I did not tear! Music to my ears...and I give complete credit to the doctor. I then got to hold my sweet Caraline for one whole hour, skin-to-skin to help regulate her body temperature and encourage breastfeeding. It was another thing that this hospital insisted on, and I had no complaints! It was an experience I didn't get to have with my boys. Caraline immediately wanted to eat and has been a complete natural at the whole breastfeeding thing, the nurses could not believe it. During that hour that followed, I couldn't help but wonder how big she was and how in the world she ever fit in my belly! She loves stretching her legs and she has the longest fingers, just like I remember noticing shortly after Cian was born.
After the hour was over, Daddy got to hold her and then help her get measured and weighed. 8 lbs 13 ounces and 21 3/4 inches tall with a 14 inch round head. We love our little girl.Caraline Walker. She shares a birthday with Uncle Quinn and a special day with the bride, Aunt Katie, who got married the same evening--a few states away.
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| Hates being cold, just like her Momma. |
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| Getting all cleaned up. |
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| Showing off her length. |
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| Daddy's little girl. |
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| On one of our trips this past summer, we came across a gravestone at one of the historical sights. When I read the name of the 2 year old girl, my tummy did alittle dance and ever since then, I had a thing for the name, "Caroline". I couldn't believe it but Bryce liked the name too! However, our Caraline didn't become official until she was roughly 40 hours old. Bryce wanted to be sure of it, as well as the spelling. He wanted a "y", I wanted an "i".You can see who won :) She has no middle name with the thought that one day, Walker will become hers when she gets married. It is something I have wanted for my girls ever since I got married. |
Other tidbits about our hospital stay:
-I was able to walk shortly after, whatever dose they gave me for the epidural was SO perfect--in case, you haven't caught that already.
-They treated Bryce like he existed. He actively played so many parts during the delivery process, and they then fed him afterwards--major bonus points! Bryce ended up liking my doctor as much as I do. This was (and is) huge. He hates doctors, especially in the delivery room... but liked mine. It's decided, she is delivering all my babies as long as we live here.
-Those after-delivery contractions when Caraline fed, were killer. I forgot how much it hurts!
-This hospital does not push pain medication. OR it may be that since it was my 3rd baby, they figured I would tell them if needed. But for the boys, the nurses just brought in pills when it was time, never asking if I wanted it. For Caraline, I finally requested medicine at 6:30am the next morning because my lower back hurt so bad. I literally could not get out of bed without a crazy amount of pain.
-No such thing as a baby nursery! The baby does not leave Mother's room for anything (except maybe the NICU), all tests are brought to the room to be preformed. It was really interesting to see how the hearing test is done.
-Caraline didn't urinate until she was 38 hours old and didn't poop until she was 43 hours. Why do I know this? Well, after not needing to change her diaper the entire first day, I found it super odd for a newborn and then we were going to be discharged when she was 36 hours old but they couldn't let us go because she hadn't pooped! So we waited and waited and finally when they called the pediatrician and got permission to give her a glycerin suppository, she went
the minute it was mentioned. Full on explosion. Through a stack of 10 blankets, it just kept on coming.
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| Presents from Caraline. |
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| Big brothers. |
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| Wearing the coral outfit picked out for Aunt Katie's wedding that we never made it to. |
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| All ready to go home. |
Over the last week:
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| Joining us at dinner |
-As much as I loved my delivery, I was completely wiped out for days. I told Bryce our first night home from the hospital that everything hurt from my head (from fatigue) to my knees. It literally felt like I ran a marathon but since I never have, I guess I really can't say that. If I HAD ran a marathon, I imagine it to feel like how I felt. :) Granted, it probably doesn't help that I haven't taken any pain medicine since coming home. I can be a wuss when I wanna or I can be so super stubborn. It also probably didn't help that I got the flu shot the same day that we were discharged. Not only did everything ache but my whole insides felt completely drained.
-However, come day 4 of being home, I started feeling 99% better. I still need more sleep but goodness, how amazing it has been since that day. The overall recovery has been so much better than with the boys.
-Bryce being home has been a dream come true. I basically feed, nap, and cuddle Caraline.
Bryce has cooked and done laundry and gotten the boys dressed and fed and Brycen to and from the bus and taken Cian grocery shopping and spent hours playing and having the boys help him do things around the house. The idea of him going back to work next week has potential to make me really emotional.
Caraline:
-I held a newborn just days before she was born and I found myself wondering if I was ready for that stage again. I remember wondering the exact same thing right before Cian was born. And both times, the
immediate love and attachment for them...I can't even describe. I LOVE this stage. And I have forgotten how much. Bryce and I call her our baby bird just like we did with the boys. When she wakes up and doesn't even necessarily open her eyes but instead, her mouth in all directions looking for food.
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| Trying out the carrier. It's so perfect for her and me. |
-Caraline is SO content. So much more than she seemed to be while in my belly. I swear she never stopped kicking. And now, she sleeps all day...and night. She is literally only awake 2 hours (1 in the morning and 1 in the evening and during that time, she is almost always happy). Cian is the one not sleeping....
-Her belly button umbilical cord stump fell off at 6 days old, seemed early but it was starting to stink so I wasn't necessarily sad to see it go.
-She only lost 4 oz from her birth weight and had gained it back by 5 days old. She is a champ at eating! Done in 10 minutes, literally.
-She still has the hiccups all the time.
-Allergic to the sun just like Bryce and the boys. The light can sure make them sneeze.
-She smiles. I know it may not be on purpose, but she does. In her sleep AND when she is awake. It is one of the best things ever.
-I love seeing Bryce hold her. Something about a newborn and my man, it's heart melting for sure. And I love when he talks to her. It reminds me of our first days with Brycen when I told Bryce to talk to him. His reply, "Why? What do I say? It's not like he can talk back..." Oh, good memories.
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| The hospital offered to take a few pictures for us. I wasn't exactly ready to shell out $165 for them, but I truly love this free one they sent us in the mail! |
-The boys can't get enough of her. Brycen always wants to hold her and rub her head when she is sad. And Cian proclaims, "The baby needs you!!" whenever she cries. Not Daddy, only Mommy.
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| He has mastered the climb. |
-She loves to have her hands up by her face and to not be swaddled.
-Her and I have matching popped-blood-vessel-in-our-right-eye from delivery. I had one with Brycen as well...they sure take their time to heal.
-I love her cuddles but even more, I love when she is awake. Her eyes are a beautiful blue and I love everything about her. Oh, the love!
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| One week old. I can't believe it. |
Random favorite Cian moment of the day: He bumped his back on Caraline's bed and said, "Baby's bed hurt my dinosaur". He then had me kiss his spine. Ha! Love it.
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| Is it just me or does this camera feature remind you of Harry Potter and their pictures? ...OR, I just may need more sleep. |
