Every time a baby is born, a Mother is, too. And i mean EVERY time. So, our baby #5 came along ON her due date. First time for everything... many firsts this time, actually. So, see... even with #5 there have been many NEW things/experiences... ways i've been born into being a Mother to a new little human being.
Evelyn Margaret Joy Gollihugh
We're calling her EmJ (sounds like the letters M and J).
She was born on June 10, 2013 at 4:18am.
My smallest baby: 8 pounds 2 ounces. (I did ask for a smaller baby this time. God is GREAT!)
She was 20 inches long.
At her 72 hour visit she was 8 pounds. Not bad given how difficult a time she's had fully latching!
Labor started a little while before it STARTED. Through the night for three nights before it really kicked into gear. So, starting on Thursday, the 6th, i had light contractions... the kind that don't rise and fall... they just ARE. Not fun, but also possible to sleep through (for the most part). Saturday night the contractions became rise and fall and came once each hour. They were strong enough to wake me, but i fell back to sleep after each one. It worked out all right except that i was too tired to go to church first thing in the morning. I slept (except for the hourly contraction).
Baby wasn't moving all that much and since i hadn't had my scheduled weekly visit with my midwife, i was feeling a little anxious, so called and asked her to come check on the baby. She arrived around 330pm. I was 2 cm dilated and the baby was doing just fine. The 2cm wasn't exciting at all given that i've walked 3 for MONTHS before! But at least it was more than it had been a couple weeks earlier.
By around 830pm labor kicked into gear.
I already knew i was pretty much IN LABOR because i got totally stuck on finding two things: a picture of some pictures i wanted to paint and our camera. Both are still missing... unfortunately, i've pretty sure i threw away the picture while looking for it. :( (I'm pretty sure it was in something else i threw out. grrr) The camera... still just totally missing! Pretty sure i know who has caused it to go missing, but she's not spilling any useful information. another GRRRR!
I KNEW i was in labor when i started sobbing because i couldn't find the picture. I mean, all out CRYING hard. Yes, I realized then that i was in labor.
It was probably around 130am or so that i knew things were getting close to time... or, at least, i felt like they were. Jessie called my midwife around 2am. She arrived around 3am. She had enough time to set up. Her assistants arrived right around 4am.
Backup. Karen checked me soon after she arrived. When she told me i was 7cm dilated i almost freaked out. Interally, i TOTALLY freaked out. Why? 7 is good, right? Okay, well... yes, for the most part. Especially from a 2.
HOWEVER...
When Karen arrived for Jmy's birth... over 2 years ago... i was 7cm dilated. Jmy wasn't born for another FIFTEEN HOURS!
Do you understand my reason for feeling a bit upset? If not... well, i'm pretty sure you've never had a long labor before.
So, i felt like i was going to go NUTS in my head. I went to the bathroom and applied rose oil to my abdoment, clary sage to my inner ankles and then Jasmine to my abdomen... all within about 30 minutes. Probably not the best idea if i wanted to maintain any semblance of control over pain or manage anything... at that point, i was just sure i didn't want to be in labor for another 15 hours! The pain of contractions went from around a 6 to around a 9.9 in SHORT order. The contractions also increased in length and intensity... of course.
Around 4am my waters broke. Meconium. Can't find baby's heart tones.
"Time to get that baby out, Tori. Try lying down so we can try to get these tones. Okay, baby likes this. Stay this way."
That didn't last long as i was totally ready to push very quickly. Two pushes and our little girl entered the world... tearing me front and back.
My smallest baby yet. Biggest tear yet. Ironic? Yes. Frustrating, too. ahwell....
So... considering ACTIVE labor... i was probably 'only' in labor for around 8 hours. Pretty stinking awesome considering my "shortest" labor before EmJ was 21.5 hours! Took me 4 tries.
Oh... and the fact that labor started COMPLETELY on it's own this time is completely and utterly wonderful and fantastic to me! Yes, i augmented... but i did NOTHING to get things going or make sure they KEPT going. Praise the Lord for changing me so that i can now trust my body to do what it's meant to do!!
Showing posts with label birth preparation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label birth preparation. Show all posts
Friday, June 21, 2013
Monday, June 3, 2013
Preparing for Baby
This time definitely feels to have gone, overall, faster. There are certainly some days that crawl, but, for the most part, i'm amazed at how time has flown. ESPECIALLY since we've been back from our extended trip to Virginia.
Pretty sure i've mentioned it, but it is much on my mind and i'm very pleased and excited... so wanted to share some more.
In the past, i have heard comments from some other Mothers about helping women who are having their _(more than second) baby. It felt cruddy to hear the meannesses, but i think it was good for me, too. As a result, i didn't really do anything different for #3 and #4 births or preparation for them. i just wasn't present enough or organized enough to do what needed to be done... and i dreaded the labor ordeal. Yes, preparing ahead of time required acknowledgement and acceptance of THAT particular step in the process. :) But i am DEFINITELY doing some things differently THIS time! And, at least, one thing the same... but that's a good thing.
This time i feel SO different. If you're interested in HOW (and potentially why) i feel different, feel free to read HERE. No worries if you're not that interested, of course.
If you want to feel better about your own upcoming birth, though, i do recommend taking a few more minutes to read there. It's all from me - so hopefully you know it's what i believe to be the honest to goodness truth. Cause i just don't do full-frontal lying. i admit that i am learning how to leave stuff out... but i think i should've learned THAT a LONG time ago. ahwell...
Back to the reason for writing today!
What more have i done in preparation? Among the NEW things i've done: i completed another 2.5 days worth of snacks!!! That means, my friend, that i have now prepared MORE than my goal. What a GOOD feeling that is, i have to say!!! (We eat a little differently around here: breakfast, a snack, another snack, dinner... thus, two snacks per day is the usual requirement.)
The same day i exceeded my goal with regard to snack preparation, i also made another dinner meal... actually, only the meatballs for a dinner. Ria is wonderfully capeable and will readily be able to make the noodles and pour premade organic spaghetti sauce over the top... hopefully have a veggie on the side (but probably something raw) if i cannot actually get up to do it. She has been fully trained in that dinner prep. YEAY! So, i only have 3 more dinners to prepare ahead of time! YIPPEE!!! I sure am hoping i can accomplish my goal of 14 dinners before the due date, which is swiftly appraoching!
Something i've done in the past that has always helped has been to accept or ask for a Priesthood Blessing. I've been meaning to ask for one for the last month or so, but just didn't get around to it. Yesterday the Brother i wanted to ask turned around after the main service and asked me how i was doing. It took a minute, but i finally remembered that i wanted to ask him for a blessing. He was more than happy to help and he and another Brother i appreciate very much administered a PB for me after church. The peace i've felt has been greatly increased since. Praise the Lord! :)
Honestly, i cannot remember if i heard about doing this or just decided to do it when i had just Ria and Kat, but it is something that has proven to be very helpful: i do an extensive clean of my vehicle and shift carseats around in advance of the birth. Usually i do this at least a month in advance. This time i did do a bit of shifting (reassigning the girls seats and practicing load-up and un-load order) about a month ahead of babys EDD, but i did not move Jmy's carseat until today AFTER we returned home from an outing. It does worry me that i've waited so long to shift him. Hopefully he'll be easy-going about it. We'll see.
Since i was moving Jmy's carseat, i decided to also complete the deep clean. Really, i keep the van very neat and orderly, for the most part. However, the children do get to eat in the van at times and regardless of how many times i tell them and require them to clean up after themselves, there is always stuff left in cracks and crannies. This troubles me a great deal... but i do my best and that's all i can ask of myself. It was upsetting to find biscuit bits (who knows how old) and other random large crumbs stuck between a seat and the side of the van. So, the "deep clean" was really beneficial! But man... i could've chosen a better TIME, maybe. i was soaked when i finished because i sweated so much. Trying to rehydrate even now an hour later!
Yesterday my midwife dropped off my birth kit. In the past, i haven't really bothered with looking in the kit or anything until labor was imminent. Last night i dug into it, reorganized things, and placed the little presoaped sponge with brush thingy in a very visible place... then put it all in a place i'll see A LOT. It's exciting! Yes, i have already been thinking about the baby a lot, but not i'm anticipating the process to GET baby, too. Not dreading... which is very nice! ^_^
It sure does feel good to have food preparations coming nicely along and to have a relatively clean van now!! I did not get around to wiping down surfaces (they are VERY dusty), but at least the carpets and seats are nicely cleaned up. :) It is SO much easier to keep the van nice and orderly and swept out... i figure it's sorta like the orderliness some women are able to maintain in their homes since their children are out of them for around 8 hours each day. Don't know for sure, of course, but i imagine.... :)
Pretty sure i've mentioned it, but it is much on my mind and i'm very pleased and excited... so wanted to share some more.
In the past, i have heard comments from some other Mothers about helping women who are having their _(more than second) baby. It felt cruddy to hear the meannesses, but i think it was good for me, too. As a result, i didn't really do anything different for #3 and #4 births or preparation for them. i just wasn't present enough or organized enough to do what needed to be done... and i dreaded the labor ordeal. Yes, preparing ahead of time required acknowledgement and acceptance of THAT particular step in the process. :) But i am DEFINITELY doing some things differently THIS time! And, at least, one thing the same... but that's a good thing.
This time i feel SO different. If you're interested in HOW (and potentially why) i feel different, feel free to read HERE. No worries if you're not that interested, of course.
If you want to feel better about your own upcoming birth, though, i do recommend taking a few more minutes to read there. It's all from me - so hopefully you know it's what i believe to be the honest to goodness truth. Cause i just don't do full-frontal lying. i admit that i am learning how to leave stuff out... but i think i should've learned THAT a LONG time ago. ahwell...
Back to the reason for writing today!
What more have i done in preparation? Among the NEW things i've done: i completed another 2.5 days worth of snacks!!! That means, my friend, that i have now prepared MORE than my goal. What a GOOD feeling that is, i have to say!!! (We eat a little differently around here: breakfast, a snack, another snack, dinner... thus, two snacks per day is the usual requirement.)
The same day i exceeded my goal with regard to snack preparation, i also made another dinner meal... actually, only the meatballs for a dinner. Ria is wonderfully capeable and will readily be able to make the noodles and pour premade organic spaghetti sauce over the top... hopefully have a veggie on the side (but probably something raw) if i cannot actually get up to do it. She has been fully trained in that dinner prep. YEAY! So, i only have 3 more dinners to prepare ahead of time! YIPPEE!!! I sure am hoping i can accomplish my goal of 14 dinners before the due date, which is swiftly appraoching!
Something i've done in the past that has always helped has been to accept or ask for a Priesthood Blessing. I've been meaning to ask for one for the last month or so, but just didn't get around to it. Yesterday the Brother i wanted to ask turned around after the main service and asked me how i was doing. It took a minute, but i finally remembered that i wanted to ask him for a blessing. He was more than happy to help and he and another Brother i appreciate very much administered a PB for me after church. The peace i've felt has been greatly increased since. Praise the Lord! :)
Honestly, i cannot remember if i heard about doing this or just decided to do it when i had just Ria and Kat, but it is something that has proven to be very helpful: i do an extensive clean of my vehicle and shift carseats around in advance of the birth. Usually i do this at least a month in advance. This time i did do a bit of shifting (reassigning the girls seats and practicing load-up and un-load order) about a month ahead of babys EDD, but i did not move Jmy's carseat until today AFTER we returned home from an outing. It does worry me that i've waited so long to shift him. Hopefully he'll be easy-going about it. We'll see.
Since i was moving Jmy's carseat, i decided to also complete the deep clean. Really, i keep the van very neat and orderly, for the most part. However, the children do get to eat in the van at times and regardless of how many times i tell them and require them to clean up after themselves, there is always stuff left in cracks and crannies. This troubles me a great deal... but i do my best and that's all i can ask of myself. It was upsetting to find biscuit bits (who knows how old) and other random large crumbs stuck between a seat and the side of the van. So, the "deep clean" was really beneficial! But man... i could've chosen a better TIME, maybe. i was soaked when i finished because i sweated so much. Trying to rehydrate even now an hour later!
Yesterday my midwife dropped off my birth kit. In the past, i haven't really bothered with looking in the kit or anything until labor was imminent. Last night i dug into it, reorganized things, and placed the little presoaped sponge with brush thingy in a very visible place... then put it all in a place i'll see A LOT. It's exciting! Yes, i have already been thinking about the baby a lot, but not i'm anticipating the process to GET baby, too. Not dreading... which is very nice! ^_^
It sure does feel good to have food preparations coming nicely along and to have a relatively clean van now!! I did not get around to wiping down surfaces (they are VERY dusty), but at least the carpets and seats are nicely cleaned up. :) It is SO much easier to keep the van nice and orderly and swept out... i figure it's sorta like the orderliness some women are able to maintain in their homes since their children are out of them for around 8 hours each day. Don't know for sure, of course, but i imagine.... :)
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