Welcome, Water Baby!

On September 5th we welcomed our fourth child and third daughter: Jordynn Evangeline Marie…. This is her story:

Born @ 7:42PM
8lbs 6oz
19inches

For you GUYS who might be reading, here’s an abbreviated version:
 
True labor started around 9am Wednesday morning Sept 5th and 10.5 hours later we had a live baby at home. Yes, my husband missed the very first NFL game. No, he didn’t complain about it, albeit he glanced mournfully at the TV every 5 minutes. Just kidding. 



And for the LADIES:

1. Why a homebirth?

2. Jordynn's Story


Let me first answer a pressing question… why a homebirth? 

My previous two births were attended by terrific CNMs (certified nurse-midwives) who had hospital privileges. I had good experiences with them, however, Jadyn and MJ were both diagnosed with shoulder dystocia during labor. This uncommon issue can be an obstetrical emergency resulting in damage or even death to the infant in severe cases. Thankfully our issues were never so serious. That said, my CNM with MJ was a bit shaken by our birth experience and she encouraged us to induce or grow a smaller baby the next time around. Ha!

When I returned pregnant with Jordynn, I found I had a bit of a reputation in the CNM’s office for my shoulder dystocia experience. As the months went on I grew tired of their continued mention of it and their reluctance to let me have the hospital birth I wanted simply because I was a bit of a liability. Concurrently I read “Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth,” a wonderful, albeit very crunchy, book written by one of the US’s most experienced midwives. Ina seemed unshaken by the urgency of shoulder dystocia which inspired me to do my own research about the issue.  I came away feeling strongly that my past births weren’t truly shoulder dystocia cases; the baby was simply not given time to rotate properly. Furthermore, all the safety the hospital afforded me in that situation was the possibility of a C-Section, in which event the baby is usually so stuck that the time required to prep for surgery can be too long. 

Armed with this info Matt and I confidently switched to a small home-birth midwifery practice in my eighth month.  Though so late in my pregnancy the midwives agreed with my evaluation that I most likely didn’t have dystocia issues and simply needed better support, direction and patience in labor... and they agreed to give it to me. Thus we fast-forward to September… 

Jordynn initiated her arrival in mid-August when my enemy/”friend” prodromal labor arrived. I fully anticipated a baby during week 39 and experienced contractions every day from 4pm-10pm starting around week 38. I was less than thrilled when no baby appeared days later. Ditto the following week.  Aaaaand ditto the following week. Seriously?! Me, past my due date?! Three weeks of prodromal crap?! Inconceivable!  

Me at 41 weeks

September 4th I started having stronger contractions in the morning – rather unusual from the prodromal pattern – and they continued all day at 3-5 minutes apart. I asked one of my midwives to come check the baby and she did a cervical check as well… no change. I was still 3cm and 60% as I had been for weeks. So after a Tylenol, a glass of wine and a good cry Matt and I went to bed. They stopped sometime in the night.

*Drumroll, please….*

Wednesday September 5th found me 41 weeks, 4 days preggo. And tired. And cranky. Thankfully I had a mother’s helper lined up for the morning and when she arrived I escaped upstairs to call one of my best friends. Then a *real* contraction hit. Finally! 

(Prodromal labor often leaves a laboring woman feeling so stupid when real labor starts. It’s rather retrospective in that sense… only in hindsight can you look back and say… “oh, yes, I WAS in labor”. However, there was no doubt in my mind that we finally reached a birth day. Yay!)

I didn’t time my contractions (I never do when they are the real thing since they are ALWAYS irregular. Whoever met a textbook laboring woman, anyway?) but they were intensifying so I called my midwives to cancel my office appointment and let them know I’d be needing them later. Once the kiddos were down for their naps my mom came over and we watched “Sense and Sensibility”. Contractions were now at the small land-mammal noise-making level. :-) Progress!

At 4pm… it was time to rid the house of small children. My parents graciously obliged and I finished the movie alone while waiting for the midwives to arrive. Matt busied himself by preparing our last minute items and tending to me when my primal noises approached the more mid-sized land-mammal level.

 -- Might I interject here how AWESOME it was not to have to prepare to head to the hospital! It was SO much more relaxed and comfortable at home. Using my own bathroom :-). No pressing thoughts of who else had been laboring on the toilet... --

My 3 midwives, Jill, Tanya and Alison arrived at 5pm. Two focused solely on me and my comfort while the other joined Matt in filling the birth tub in our living room. I still had no trouble working through these contractions; my biggest hurdle was the knowledge of what was coming and dreading… dreading… dreading. There is bliss in first-time birth. Not so much in subsequent ones.

Around 6pm I climbed in the tub and fell in love. I thought for sure I wouldn’t like it or would feel out of control working through contractions. Not so. Though the "pain" wasn't lessened for me, the weightlessness afforded more opportunities for movement without feeling like a beached whale. 

For the next half hour or so I floated through the “squeezes” and chatted about random topics. Matt was a huge comfort in the tub as he rubbed my back and the midwives helped me keep my voice low. I was encouraged to gauge my own labor progress (a very empowering thing) and finally close to 7pm I was starting to struggle with the intensity. 

--Enter aquatic-mammal noises and lots of whining.—

By this time my mind was chanting “no, no, no” while the rest said “oh yes, oh yes, oh yes.” I told the midwives I was feeling “pushy” and lo and behold the next contraction had a double peak… the first peak broke my water (a lovely and non-messy thing being in the tub!) and the second peak brought Jordynn completely down to crowning. It was so fast that she was very bruised afterward, poor thing.

The midwives helped me control my pushing more than I had with the previous three, which I both loved and loathed them for. During this time it was great to be floating in the water, leaning into Matt’s arms. Pushing in the water didn’t annoy me at all like I thought it would. I still felt very in control and as my contractions eased off I found I could relax much more than being in a hospital bed. And who couldn't with Enya playing in the background and my favorite candle burning nearby?

 After those few intense minutes of waiting, I delivered her head and breathed a sigh of relief. Jordynn had her cord wrapped firmly around her neck but it was still pulsing so the midwives decided to just let her be and summersault her out when the time came.

And now the moment of truth was here… would she be “stuck” like the other two had been? The midwives waited quietly and patiently, watching Jordynn’s color and asking me if I felt any further contractions. I didn’t. So we waited… and waited. For two entire minutes the midwives sat back and just let my body do its thing. It was wonderful. I was in no discomfort and thoroughly enjoyed the rest, floating in the warm water. Sloooowly Jordynn rotated as she was supposed to, but I had no further contractions. My senior midwife suggested I flip to my hands and knees to see if that would trigger a contraction. It was so easy to manipulate myself in the water and the very process of moving definitely kicked things back into gear. One push and out she came… with no shoulder issues whatsoever.

They left Jordynn floating in the water while I turned back around and sat down. I was able to pick her up out the water on my own and lay her on my chest. (‘Tis a very strange thing to see your new baby grayish-blue and floating face down in the water. I’m so glad I had watched numerous water birth videos to prepare me for that!) I rubbed her back and the midwives gave her a few pumps of air. Her first little cry was a pathetic one but within minutes she perked up and let us have it!
 

I climbed out of the tub minutes later and walked to the couch carrying our new child. I delivered the afterbirth there quite easily. Then the midwives excused themselves and Matt and I had a good hour just staring at her by ourselves. It was wonderful! Afterward I had a snack, went upstairs, took a shower, put on my own pajamas and cuddled up in bed while they did the newborn assessment. I felt terrific! I could never have hoped for a more peaceful and beautiful home birth experience.

 

 

Home birth is certainly not for everyone, but to those who are interested I would heartily encourage them to give it a try. My midwives were intuitive and confident in their work (much more than even the CNMs I’ve had in the past) and amazed me with their support and good humor. Moreover, they chose to encourage me in being confident in my body’s ability to do its thing, especially as we moved further past my due date, and in my own intuition. Jordynn showed no signs of being post-term and my placenta had no calcification either. Clearly, my worrying was for not.

Overall the homebirth and waterbirth experience was empowering and peaceful and I would do it again in the future. I loved avoiding the medical stresses of being "watched" in the hospital with the chaos that surrounds most moments at birth and finding comfort and deep peace in remaining at home. It truly reduced the birth experience to the natural, God-ordained physiological event that it is.That's not to say there isn't a place to medical intervention, but I'm a firm believer it should be the exception and not the norm. I hope this story encourages others to believe likewise.

Our new family of six!

All About Roo - She's Here!

Jadyn Elizabeth Marie
11/30/2009 @ 2:41AM
8 lbs, 18.5 inches

The Proof

"Mommamama" might have been the first spoken word... but it only counts when you get it on camera. And so, friends, I give you... "Da-Da". Forgive the shaky video. :-)

Gettin' 'em started early...

My dad has been hinting for a while that he wanted to take Morenna for her first ride on a 4-wheeler. Until recently, my answer was an adamant "NO!". But for whatever reason - perhaps the fact that I wholeheartedly trust my Dad? - I gave in and let him take her for a ride. I completely expected the typical Morenna breakdown that occurs anytime she's around loud noises, people she doesn't know, things she doesn't like, etc. But I was pleasantly surprised that she took it all in stride and even gave a brief smile at the end. I guess she trusts her G-Daddy, too. :-)

This video is a little blurry and there's no sound (I need a new camera!), but at least you can get the gist of the event.

PS: Naked content disclaimer - It was a really hot day and Morenna had spit up all over her clothes, so I just gave up. :-)

Our Day (By Morenna, and by proxy, Mommy)

Our day included getting up at 6:45 for no apparent reason...

Our day included a mega trip to Harris Teeter for triple coupon days where we passed the time trying to overcome the hiccups without crying too loudly...

Our day included one 10-minute morning nap that was prematurely ended by the trash truck...

Our day included three poopy diapers...

Our day included ruining clothes four different times, though not by said poopy diapers...

Our day included one 10-minute afternoon nap that was prematurely ended by the recycling truck (no offense guys, but could you please keep a twenty-mile radius from our house during sleeping and non-sleeping hours? Otherwise you will have a bad case of Mommy-Rage)...

Our day included more than two clocked hours in the rocking chair and two Andy Griffith Shows trying to induce sleep...

Our day included petitioning Daddy to skip class to rescue us from the brink of sleep-deprivation insanity...

Our day... still continues.

But sleep must come sometime, right?

On the move!

There are two new things at our house... Goodnight Moon and a baby on the move!

Pearly Whites

Pray for us. We're teething today...

I'm Alive!!!

Yes, I'm still alive - contrary to the recent state of my blog. As I mentioned before, my writing time has been channeled towards composing a newsletter once a week on all our recent household happenings as well as updates about our baby girl for our family and friends. (It's easier for me to write the e-newsletter than to post on my blog, for some reason. If you want to receive a copy of the newsletter just shoot me off an email at first initial, M, last name at gmail dot com).

But things have been hopping here for us. My mother-in-law paid us a two-week visit in the middle July. It was a real treat to have her here (hey, live-in babysitter!) and I know she appreciated getting some quality time with her first grandchild. Morenna certainly loves her Nana.

M's been really busy at work and has been forced to work some crazy hours, much to our disappointment. He's actually in the process of considering a new job with a large consulting firm near our home. Feel free to keep that in your prayers! I think he's enjoying fatherhood on the whole. I remember back in our college days I often wondered what M would look like as a dad. He always told me he didn't want to have children (a little white lie at the time) and I figured I could see why - he never seemed like the daddy sort. But boy could I ever be more wrong. He is so great with Morenna and seems to enjoy her more and more everyday!


Morenna herself is, well, just amazing. She continues to surprise us with her developmental growth. She's starting to teeth now, but so far it hasn't been too traumatic for baby or mommy. She rolls from tummy to back and back to tummy.

She likes to sleep on her side (at least I think she does since I put her to bed on her tummy and she's always on her side when I go to get her in the morning). She's sleeping through the night like a champ (8-9pm to 6-7:30am) and she loves to scoot around and knaw on her toys. Sitting up is also a new activity.

I have to say her favorite place is probably either outside or on her Mommy and Daddy's bed. We're keeping my parent's golden retriever for a couple of weeks and she's enjoying the presence of another slobbery companion.



And me... well, I'm just loving life. What a joy it is to be a wife and a mother. A challenge, yes, but what life-endeavers aren't? I'm really enjoying my new hobby of bargain shopping. Since we've gone down to one income, I'm gripping my wallet a little tighter these days, but the resulting effect has been terrific. I'm loving all the deals I am able to score each week at places like CVS.

My most recent trip was just yesterday. It wasn't one of my most glorious trips ever, but I was pretty excited to obtain the following items for just over $2:

• 1 package of make-up remover pads
• 1 16 oz bag Skittles
• 1 package of Bandaids
• 2 bars of Dove dark chocolate
• 3 packages of Mentos
• 1 Revlon lip gloss
• 1 package of M&M Premium candies
• 1 Clairol Natural Instincts hair color (and no, I don't color my hair... it was for a friend :-))

What's even better is that I have $4 in CVS money to spend on my next visit. Whoo hoo! I'm loving it! And to make things even better, my local grocery had triple coupon day last week. In all I spent over $90 just in coupons alone... and some items the store actually "paid" me $0.10. $0.25 or $0.90 cents to buy. Tee hee :-)

And one other money-saving activity has been our little garden: two tomatoes and one pepper plant. Somehow or another, our little pepper plant has become the fertile king of the land, popping out eight peppers so far and leaving 40 blooms to go. Very interesting.

So that's a little glimpse into our lives. Hope all is well with you!

What's New...

Here's the truth of it: I'm horrible at blogging. Finding time to blog each day (even each week) continues to be a losing battle for me, but I'm trying. :-)

Things continue to be busy for us. M finished his finals last week (whew) so I've been able to redeem some of my free time for other things. He now has only 15 credit hours left before he will officially be finished with his degree.

I celebrated my 25th birthday last week as well. For once in my life I felt old and tired... but I blame Morenna for that since I was up with her most of the night before. :-) My parents made a last-minute trip over for my special day, and so M and I were able to have a date-night together and went shopping. Yes, shopping. I hate shopping, but I recently discovered that none of my pants/shorts fit. Surprisingly it isn't due to weight (I was back to my pre-pregnancy weight a week after Morenna was born) but the fact that my hips expanded more than I had thought. Thanks to hip-hugger jeans, none of my pants would fit and a shopping trip was a necessity.

It was nice to get dressed up for a date with M. We grabbed a quick family picture before leaving Morenna with my parents (she didn't want to cooperate for the picture):
This past weekend our little family packed up and went to Virginia Beach for the law school graduation of one of our good friends from undergrad. It was our first overnight trip away from home (not staying with family). Morenna did great and we even had the opportunity to take her to the ocean for her first visit. It was cold and she was bundled up like an Eskimo, but nevertheless... she was there.
I should add that part of the reason I haven't been blogging is because each week I put together a newsletter about Morenna for our family and close friends. That pretty much exhausts my creative writing abilities. :-) If you'd like to receive the newsletter I'd be more than happy to send it to you. Just shoot me off an email at: *first initial**middle initial (M.)*last name*@gmail.com.

Homemade "Geddes"

Ok, so maybe this image isn't as good as the professional artistic photographer's, but seeing how it's my baby in the picture I think it's close to perfect :-).

I'm trying to decide whether to title it
Firefly or Ladybug

More Firsts!

I'm sorry these posts are few and far between at the moment, but M is preparing for finals and what little bit of free time I have each day (which after household chores ends up being about 45 minutes) has been devoted to helping him prepare his study guides. So bear with me for another two weeks until finals are over. :-)

Morenna has certainly been busy with lots of new things. She had her first bath... laid in her crib for the first time... and took her first bottle all within the last week. We are absolutely loving our time with our little girl. Her personality appears a little bit more and more every day. On the whole, she is a very well-mannered baby. She is sleeping well and nursing well. She does have her cranky periods every evening, but they're short-lived. Car-rides, however, are not her favorite. So pray for us as we intend to travel to Ohio over this weekend to visit my ailing grandfather. I'm not so sure a 6 hour car-ride will be very much fun. :-)







Tummy time














My first bath













My first time in my crib











An afternoon snooze

My first bottle with Daddy




(As usual, all pictures can be viewed on my facebook or here)

Baby's First Outing

Earlier this week, Morenna got to go on her first outing downtown to see the cherry blossoms. Seeing how we call her our "little cherry blossom", we thought it only fitting that we should have some baby pictures with some real blossoms. Unfortunately M couldn't get off of work to meet up with us, but Grandma, G-Daddy, "Aunt" Rachel and Baby Kavan came along for the fun.















Mommy, Morenna, Kavan, "Aunt" Rachel






























Grandma with her lil' blossom

Alive, Alert, Awake...

Here's two recent videos of Morenna. Unfortunately I don't have sound options on my camera, but at least you can see how alert she is becoming.








I'm continuing to post pictures at this location: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=16761&l=7c4fe&id=701008116

Two weeks

Our sweet baby girl was two weeks old yesterday. As I was reflecting at an early AM feeding just how much Morenna has changed, it occurred to me that I had yet to post the story of her arrival. I'm still adjusting to the lack of sleep and overall physical recovery, hence the delay... but without further ado (and I apologize for the length):

Thursday March 17th marked my last official day in the office. I had cleaned out my desk, said my goodbyes, trained my replacement and turned in my security badge. Needless to say, Friday morning I was more than anxious to begin the transition to motherhood. I was still battling my third sinus infection of the season, but my Mom was home with me and so we decided to try our luck at inducing labor with a really... really... long walk. I promptly took a nap when we got home and to my surprise, contractions started about an hour and a half later. They were regular... a bit too regular in fact, coming every five minutes right from the get-go. But despite the frequency they were very manageable, so we waited all evening with baited breath for them to increase in intensity. Unfortunately the night passed by and Saturday morning found me wondering whether this was really it or not. As the morning progressed contractions became irregular, some at 5 minutes, some at 8 or more - all completely manageable. So, M and I decided to take another walk followed by a nap. (See a pattern here? :-) ).

Saturday evening one of M's friends came over and we all played a game. Still irregular, my contractions suddenly started getting a bit more intense around 8:30pm. They continued to get stronger, but failed to become consistent. 5 min... 7 min... 3 min...

By 1am I was starting to get thoroughly discouraged. Anyone who knows me knows I hate being up all night, and although my contractions were very strong, they were still all over the map. My OB's words echoed through my head all night long... "call me only when your contractions are 5 minutes apart for one hour and you can't talk through them." I certainly couldn't talk through them, but they certainly weren't consistently 5 minutes apart. We kept waiting anxiously for them to become more regular. Boy, were we in for a surprise.

Around 6:30am the contractions made a drastic change. They started coming every 2-3 minutes apart and were so severe that I was getting sick with each one. At my wits end, I told my mom to call the doctor. Unfortunately my OB was at Disney World for the Easter weekend so I spoke with her replacement who told me I was welcome to come to the Birthing Inn to get checked, but they would likely send me back home. What a great thing to say to a weary laboring woman.

M and my Mom packed up the car and ate a quick breakfast. An hour later, we were on our way. I don't remember much about the trip other than my constant worry about how I was going to walk from the backseat of the car into the hospital. My contractions were so intense I didn't even realize I was pushing through them... until my Mom started hollering at me to stop pushing and start breathing. I think that was the first time in years I ever blatantly disobeyed her. ;-)

Somehow I made it into the Birthing Inn where a nurse ushered us into an observation room. While changing into a gown, my water broke... and I was thrilled. I knew now they wouldn't send me home. :-) The doctor came in shortly thereafter to discover me on all fours on the bed. Moments later, she announced that I was actually at 10 cm and the baby was already +2! I was so relieved. Nurses immediately came from all directions, shooing M and my mom aside so that they could wheel me down the hall into a labor room. It all happened so fast. In retrospect, it reminded me of something out of an ER episode. Drama, drama, drama. Thirty-five minutes of pushing later, our little girl was born.

While it certainly was no easy task, its amazing to all of us that labor, including transition, ended up being completely at home. I'm just glad I didn't have the baby in the car. :-) M and my Mom were fantastic coaches and I couldn't have pursued a natural, unmedicated birth without them. However, if there ever is a future baby expected I think we'll be a little wiser in our timing in heading to the hospital. But for this experience, ignorance was bliss. I guess. :-)

Pictures!

Thanks for your patience in waiting for the baby pics. I have loaded them onto facebook, and you can access them here. I hope to upload them to blogger soon.

Enjoy!

The Long and Short of It...

Today marks the two-week point in the countdown to my due date.

And the long and short of it is:

My bags are packed.
The nursery is ready.
My resignation paperwork is complete.
Matt's bag of snacks is waiting by the door. (Like a true man he insisted I buy beef jerky for his snack. I think he thinks a stay at the hospital is comparable to roughing it).
The carseat is clean and installed.
My mom is packed and ready for departure.
There is food in the house.
There are clear liquids in the house.
My big purple ball is fully inflated.

But on the flip side:

I'm soooo tired.
I'm fighting a cold.
I feel miserable.
I can't sleep.
I'm getting impatient.
I'm suddenly emotional! (A phenomenon that has been MIA for the past nine months.)
I'm a grouch.

In medical terms:

I'm ready to have a baby. Let's get this show on the road!

La De Da

I know it's been a little while since my last post. Sorry 'bout that. Last weekend my parents came to visit and bring over the baby furniture that M and I had received as Christmas gifts. Although my poor Dad was recovering from the flu, they all made it over in one piece... dog included. :-)

While M and my Dad put all the furniture together, Mom and I headed over to a friend's for a lovely baby shower brunch. It was so nice to get to celebrate the coming of Morenna with so many good friends (including many old roommates) and my Mom.


Here's a showing of the ex-roomies who were able to come. It says a lot that they are all still my friends. :-) More pictures from the shower can be seen here.

After the shower (which carried on for almost 4 hours as we were having so much fun!) my Mom and I trekked home to check up on the boy's improvements to the baby nursery. We were not disappointed. And after just a few minor tweaks and decorating additions, we had ourselves a nursery. The video below provides the best view of the nursery, but I've also included some pictures (you can click on the slideshow to view the pictures individually).








So after the busy weekend, M and I spent President's day quietly at home together. This weekend was rather quiet as well. Friday showed every possibility of being a snow day... but alas, the bad weather was skittish. To boost my spirits, though, M treated me to a wonderful steak dinner. *sigh* My husband is so sweet to me. On Saturday we spent some much needed time with friends, tidied up the house, and got the rest of the nursery in order. Sunday we relaxed... and watched our childbirth education videos. Ack! No further comment.

News in our House

Well, things here on the East Coast have been nothing less but hectic over the last month. As we moved past Thanksgiving and ushered in the Christmas season, our little household hit some rough times.

M's work contract at the Pentagon kicked into high gear the beginning of December, requiring him to work 15 hour days, including weekends. At the same time, my father-in-law came for a long-awaited visit. Needless to say, my father-in-law and I had a nice loooong visit together... absent my husband. Very interesting. Then Matt's old college roommate came to visit us with his 2 year old son. Again, Matt got to spent very little time with him. Major bummer.

For Christmas we were grateful to head to Ohio for a visit with my family and a chance to pull Matt away from work. The visit was nice, but very busy. Unfortunately I came down with a really bad cold on Christmas day and spent some of the day in bed. :-P

After a quick two-day time back in VA we were happy to fly out to California to spend New Years with M's family. This was a much needed visit, since we hadn't seen some of his family since the wedding in March, and others since last new year. We squeezed a lot of visiting in with the time we had, which unfortunately left us rather drained. New Years we spent in Fresno with my mother-in-law's family eating home-cooked crab, watching Ratattoui and playing Mexican Train. It was lovely.

In other news, here is my most recent "belly" pic:

Pregnancy has certainly not been a breeze, but it's fun to look back and see how far we've come. My second trimester has now come and gone and I must say it was certainly more enjoyable than the first. The aches and pains are there at times, but M has been so supportive and any bad times quickly pass.

Our baby girl is growing like a weed and we are getting so excited to welcome her into our little family. Last week I got to have a second ultrasound, since the technician apparently made some mistakes with the first. This second "viewing" of our little cherry blossom was so much more fun than the first. She was quite animated, yawning all over the place and smiling. I think my favorite part was getting a picture of the little foot that has been vainly attempting to push itself through my side. :-) You can see the picture of it, below.



Morenna weighed in at approx. 2 lbs and 9 oz and was about 14 inches long. Whew. I sure hope she finds the room she needs in there over the next 2-3 months, because I honestly don't know how she's going to fit. :-)

So anyway, that's the news from our little neck of the woods. I'm looking forward to posting more this new year and keeping everyone up-to-date on our lives.

Rock-a-bye Baby

So here are the before and after pictures of the new nursery (paint-job, that is). Now on to the furniture... :-)

Our nursery theme is cherry blossoms, so aside from the green walls the rest of the room will be light pinks and whites with cherry furniture. We'll see how it turns out.