A Little Scare for Daddy

I had my 30 week appointment last week, and, as is usual for me, I started measuring behind. Dr. Mahan didn't seem really concerned even though I was measuring 2 1/2 weeks behind, until she looked at my chart. Apparently, I hadn't grown at all since my last appointment (when I measured perfectly!). I had an ultrasound scheduled for my next appointment at 32 weeks, so I figured I'd just have the growth ultrasound tacked onto that ultrasound. But, she wanted to get me in right away, and that she did!

Lacy, the ultrasound tech, came right to my room and brought me back. I wasn't worried about the growth part at all, but I wanted to know about the cyst that she found at my 20 week ultrasound. She checked, and it was gone! Praise the Lord! I know they told me that it wasn't anything to worry about, but I still did a little.

I was also hoping that she could get a 3D ultrasound so that I could have one of her along with the rest of the kiddos. That baby girl was all squished and cuddled in there though. She tried, and when she turned on the 3D, I could see her furrowed eyebrows. She has a mad face just like Nora did in her 3D ultrasound, and through most of her newborn stage. I'm just going she's not actually as mad as Nora was as a small baby!

29 Weeks 4 Days

Once she finished the ultrasound, she told me that she was measuring at 30 weeks and 1 day, perfectly! I thought then that I could cancel my ultrasound before my next appointment, but apparently Dr. Mahan didn't have her check that the placenta isn't an issue with my c-section scar since it's anterior. (Maybe baby girl will cooperate for a 3D next time!)

When I got home, mom (who was watching the kids) and I were working in the kitchen when we clogged the disposal. Adam hates having to take it apart and unclog it, so when he got home, I told him I had bad news and tried to butter him up. He wasn't having it though and was pushing away wanting to know what was going on. I finally told him what mom and I had done and he looked relieved. He knew I had an appointment and thought the bad news was about the baby, not the kitchen sink. I felt horrible, not even thinking that that was where his mind went! I think that's the happiest I've seen him fix that darn sink though (not that he was smiling about it).

Review: Classroom Friendly Pencil Sharpener

My 4-year-old daughter, Nora, is starting to do more hand writing, but hates worksheets. She got a journal for Christmas from Daddy, and is loving writing sentences in it (with my help, of course), and drawing a picture to go with the sentence.

She had been using markers for pretty much everything, but I thought it was time to have her start using pencils. Being a former math teacher at a school that closed, you'd think I'd have enough pencils, sharpeners, and erasers. Nope. I had loads of unsharpened pencils, a few erasers, and absolutely no pencil sharpener! (I don't understand how that happened! Not even one of those itty bitty ones that you pinch between your fingers.)

So my search for a pencil sharpener began. Since we're planning on homeschooling for the foreseeable future, I wanted to get one that would last, and I wouldn't have to replace all the time. Being a math teacher, and having to stop my teaching so a student could sharpener his/her pencil, I also wanted one that was relatively quite that wouldn't interrupt me working the our other children. I checked some homeschool groups on Facebook for ideas and recommendations, and I stumbled across Classroom Friendly Supplies' Pencil Sharpener. It looked like a pencil sharpener that would work for our homeschool, so I requested to review one.

When I first opened it, Nora started playing with it, and the face plate popped forward. I was scolding her for breaking it, until I realized that it was supposed to come out, so that it would hold the pencil and draw it in as you were sharpening. Since we haven't mounted it, I had to hold the sharpener down while I cranked the handle, which was a little tougher for Nora's small hands, but she managed just fine! She then wanted to sharpen a bunch of pencils, so I pulled out some of those broken, unsharpened pencils I had laying around and let her have at it! I figured she'd need some help with it, but I left the kitchen and when I came back she had already sharpened several.

Once I finally got to play with it more, all that was left to sharpen was colored pencils. (Thanks, Nora!)

Fresh & Ready to Color!

PROS
-Really quite compared to all the ones I've had in classrooms
-Holds the pencil in there straight to avoid little hands breaking it inside and jamming it
-Quick
-Doesn't "eat" the pencils, but gives a nice smooth point

Pencil Shavings Left on the Table

CONS
-Super fine, sharp points on the pencils quickly break when littles are still learning how hard to press (I discovered if you don't sharpen it until the face plate meets up with the sharpener it will give you a "duller" point, which is easier for my littles to write with, so it's more something to be aware of than a super big con when considering to purchase it)
-Leaves little a bit of a mess (okay, I haven't found a pencil sharpener that doesn't do this, but the shavings still drive me crazy, so I have to list it as a con)

Gender Reveal: It's a ......

Being on Baby No. 5 means that we have to start getting creative with announcements. Well, maybe not have to, but we think it's fun to announce in creative ways. We haven't done fancy gender reveals for all our kids, just the last two (now three) babies. 

The first one we did was for Nate (baby number 3). Since we had done balloon releases for Danni's birthdays, I thought it would be a perfect fit for us to do a balloon release to find out if we were expecting a boy or a girl. We didn't do a fancy party, just took a few minutes out of our day helping my mom with her garage sale to open up a box that my friend, Amanda from Two Little Gingers, had filled with balloons for us.

Finding out Nate was a BOY!

For Sam (baby number 4), finding out his gender lined up with the weekend we were going to have Danni's birthday party. So I asked my friend, Theresa from Bakery 88, to make a cake that was either pink or blue on the inside. She made a fantastic cake with a pennant banner on top that said "Danni's Gift: Bro or Sis" that turned out to be blue inside when we cut into it.

Finding out Sam was a BOY!

This time we Googled and Pinterest-ed, but couldn't really find a gender reveal idea that fit us. Adam finally came up with this idea! Props to my creative husband, as I'm pretty sure it's never been done before, because when I was trying to find inspiration on how to make the box look, I came up with nothing! Being a electrical engineer, it totally fit as something we would do, plus, I thought since this baby is due so close to Danielle's birthday, it was kinda fitting that this baby would bring new light to us in the days that we remember Danni each year. 

Adam bought two light bulbs, a blue and a pink, and a socket-thing to hook up a light bulb socket we had laying around (because when you're married to an electrical engineer, these things become commonplace in your home!). I grabbed a box, cut a hole to put the socket through, wrapped it in inside out Christmas paper (because, yes, I still had it out earlier this week), and cut hearts in it to see the light shining through. When we plugged it in, we found out we were indeed expecting a girl (as we had both suspected and hoped since we found out we were expecting). 

It's a GIRL!

If anyone likes this idea, and wants to use our box, let us know. We were thinking of selling the box and light bulbs on Craig's List, since we can't return the bulbs and have no use for them anymore! 

Halfway Through Pregnancy No. 5

I guess it goes to show that once you're a mom with littles at home, you don't have as much time to sit down and write posts about each day or week of your pregnancy, since I'm already 20 weeks and 4 days along, and I'm finally getting around to my first blog post about it. (And that while writing that first sentence, I was called away from my computer twice... and that's during nap time.) I'm sure this will be a brief post, but I'll try to mention everything that has been going on during this pregnancy.

First, let's talk about due dates. By my charting, I calculated a due date of May 21st. The nurse practitioner at my first appointment gave me a due date of May 20th, which lined up with my early dating ultrasound. But, at my first trimester screening (the one where we found out with Danielle about her heart issue), they gave me a due date of May 22nd. The same due date that the same ultrasound gave me with Danielle. For a momma who has lost a baby, things lining up so well like that aren't a fun way to go through a pregnancy. While Adam and I wanted to have more kids and weren't seriously trying to avoid getting pregnant, we didn't (and would not!) plan this timing. Which tells me that God, in all his wisdom, must have some crazy plan for this baby that I haven't a clue about yet. It's been difficult with Facebook's new thing where you can view your memories from the past when my posts about Danni show up and I'm thinking about the baby growing within me, who's the same gestational age as Danni at the time of my post. It has helped having so many friends and even a cousin, pregnant and due close to when I'm due (two are due the same week I'm due!)

20 weeks 3 days, measuring 20 weeks 1 day

The next thing I wanted to talk about was my 20 week ultrasound which I just had yesterday. (This is normally the ultrasound where you would find out if your baby has any major complications that are detectable by ultrasound.) While I was pretty sure that I could see a glimpse of a 4-chamber heart at the first trimester screening, it was wonderful to see such a beautiful 4-chamber heart so clearly on this ultrasound beating away around 120 bmp. The placenta is also placed well that I should be able to have another VBA2C. I left the ultrasound room feeling pretty good about this pregnancy.

It wasn't until I saw the doctor that my heart sunk a little. Dr. McDonald shared with me that while our baby had no other complications, the baby does have a cyst in the back right side of his/her brain. Combined with other abnormalities, such as heart complications or limb deformities, it would indicate that the baby likely has Trisomy 18. With no other complications though, they don't worry about it. I have the option of having it looked at again around 32 weeks, but post birth, they do nothing. I have heard from other mommas that sometimes it disappears completely, while other times it grows. Please pray, just for my peace of mind, that it goes away completely when they check at 32 weeks.

Now, the last part, the part that everyone always asks after a 20-week ultrasound... "Do you know what you're having?"

Well, yes, we found out it is indeed a baby, not an alien, so good news there! But, for those referring to the gender of our baby. The ultrasound tech knows, probably the doctor, and a piece of paper in an envelope sitting on my kitchen counter. We will find out on Friday evening, and I'm sure I will post about it sometime on Saturday (kids willing!)

I'll leave you with the last baby bump picture Adam took for me on Christmas Day.

18 weeks 6 days

We Had A Lot to Say in 2015!

First of all, let me apologize to anyone who didn't get a Christmas picture from us. I used two different companies and had problems with both! But, here it is! And here's the letter that went with it...

Nora: "That's when Sam was in mommy's tummy."
Grandma: "Then he came out of mommy's tummy."
Nora: "Yeah, he came out in pieces then mommy fixed him back together."

While playing doctor, Grandma was trying to get kisses from Nora after a shot. Nora replies, "Doctors don't give kisses."

Nora, holding up a Chinese noodle from her salad, says, "This is an angry worm."

Nora: I got cereal down my naked. Silly cereal!

Adam: True to gender stereotypes, he appears to be a much better driver than she is.

Nora: *super excited* I just licked Sam and Sam just licked me!

Nora: I'm still hungry, I want pickles.
Sarah: You had pickles at breakfast.

Adam: *undress Sam for bed, starts putting Sam's jammies on him*
Sam: *begins crying*
Adam: *realizes he forgot the important step of a clean diaper before bedtime & proceeds to change Sam's diaper and puts jammies back on*
Sam: *coos & babbles*

Adam to Nora: Hey, you're not Grandpa, quit poking him with a stick!

Nate: *crying*
Nora: Oh, Nate, you're okay. You're so nice. You're so smart.

Adam: Do not send me to the grocery store anymore without supervision.

Nora: Thank you for putting my clothes out momma... ...maybe we should write you a thank you note.

Sarah: Sam is not a horsey, he is a little baby. Get off.

Nora: Can you let me focus on eating? Talking doesn't let me focus on eating.

Nora: Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Spider-Man, and the Doctor will hold my hand if I'm scared.

Adam to Nate: We do not strip at the dinner table.

Nora, seeing a man in a cowboy hat, says, "That's somebody else's Grandpa Mike!"

Sarah: If your tummy says, 'I'm full,' or 'I don't feel good,' you just stop eating and you can finish it later.
Nora: Umm, my tummy doesn't talk.

Sarah: *singing* You and me baby, we're stuck like glue.
Adam: I wouldn't say we're that close.

Sarah: How about a French braid today?
Nora: Oh! That's kinda like French fries.
Sarah: Um, not quite.

Modesty from a 3 year old who was wearing a cute spring dress: "But people at church will see that I'm not wearing pants!"

Adam: Nora, say, "You're the boy in our relationship."
Nora: You're the boy in our silly ship.

Adam: If you sit on a camel is it like sitting on a water bed?

Sarah: God hadn't made Sam yet.
Nora: Oh! I bet He made him out of puzzle pieces!

Nora SITS Sam in the Bumbo, then tells him, "I'm going to babySIT you."

Nora: Um, which one (bee) stung you?
Adam: I don't know, I think it was Larry.

Adam: ...Maybe I'll pick up a Jimmy John's the night before.
Sarah: For breakfast!?
Adam: It's toast... With meat and stuff.

Nora: I just have to go potty. You watch my food and make sure it doesn't get moldy.

Adam: Who do you want to read the story to you?
Nate: Dinosaur read!
Adam: Dinosaurs can't read.
Nate: No, they have hands. See!

Nora: Mom! You forgot something in your picture of our house... Oh, and the sun and the moon... And the earth.

Adam: Do you smell licorice?
Sarah: I smell spray paint.
Adam: Yeah, or that.

Sarah: Sam, can you say treadmill?
Sam: *some utterance that's not even close*
Sarah: Can you say dada?
Sam: DA-da DA-da dada dada dada...
Sarah: Can you say mama?
Sam: Dada.
Sarah: *sigh*

Nora: Mommy, do you have a baby in your tummy?
Sarah: I do!

So from our family to yours we hope you have a very blessed Christmas season!


View our other Christmas Letters!
2010     2011     2012     2013     2014     2016     2017

Our First Year of "Homeschool"

Well, we are just about done with our first year of unofficial homeschool with Nora. She has been doing the 2 Year Curriculum at ABCJesusLovesMe.com, and I think we've both been having a great time with it. With Nate (and Nora too), I've been using a book called Slow and Steady, Get Me Ready by June R. Oberlander, which has activities for each week that are developmentally appropriate for the child's age.

Let's start with Nora.

While she loved to listen to the ABC song on several of her toys that played it, she couldn't sing it herself. Part of that was language development, and part of it was just learning the song, I think. Fast forward to now: She not only sings the whole song by herself, but she recognizes over half of the capital letters, and several lower case letters. She can also write the letter "O."

I think she was beginning to grasp counting, as she would say "one, two, wee!" when grandma would play with her), but I don't think she understood the concept of what numbers represented. Now, she can count to 11 most days, and point and count to at least 7, but sometimes more. She recognizes 2 items right away without counting, but will often count them just because she can. She also knows her age and Nate's age.

She didn't know any colors or shapes before we started, but now knows all her colors (though she confuses pink and purple sometimes), and all her shapes.

Since we pray before our meals, she could kind of make the sign of the cross, but now she can make the sign correctly and say the whole prayer by herself. She has also learned several other prayers before bedtime. The Our Father, Hail Mary, Memorare, Angel of God, Come Lord Jesus, St. Michael the Archangel, and many others! She also knows the creation story, the Christmas story, and is learning about the Palm Sunday, and Jesus' Death and Resurrection. She also knows some memory versus to different tunes.

She has picked up quickly on lots of songs and finger plays, like "Red Light, Green Light," "The Itsy Bitsy Spider," and many more. Adam has also taught her a tap dance move that his mother taught them when they were kids called "Tick, Tock, Stomp."

When we started she called herself "No-wa" or "I-nor," but can now tell you her name is Eleanor Elisabeth. She can sometimes tell you what city she's from, but often gets that mixed up with her last name. She also knows the first names of her siblings and her parents.

About half way through the curriculum, I bought a large map for our office. This isn't part of the curriculum, but it's fun for her to "explore the world" from our office. I made magnets to go with one of their books called "Furry Friends." She can usually correctly place all the animals on the countries (or state) which they are from in the book (Alaska, Brazil, Scotland, South Africa, Russia, India, and Australia). I also made magnets with pictures of our family members that live out of state, so she can usually tell me what state they are in and put them there (Washington, Oregon, Texas, Georgia, Florida, and Minnesota).

While kids are always trying to be more independent and do things for themselves, here are things that we have specifically worked on getting Nora to do by herself: undress herself and put her dirty clothes down the chute, then dress herself (though sometimes articles of clothing end up backwards), pick up toys (with help and direction), wash her hands (especially now that Grandpa Jack made her a step stool, so she can reach!), and help set the table. We have always been working on manners as well, so Nora knows to say please, thank you, you're welcome, and excuse me, though she doesn't always remember. We are always working on improving these skills, but before we started she couldn't really do most of these things. A few things we haven't worked on are brushing her hair and her teeth, washing herself in the bathtub, helping to make her bed, and helping to clear the table after meals. She can kind of do some of these things, but since we haven't had her do it much, she hasn't gotten really good at any of them (expect maybe clearing the table when we ask, but it's pretty much like setting the table in reverse).

Of course all these things don't even put a dent in the list of things she's learned I'm sure (like being completely day time potty trained and almost night time potty trained)! But it's been so fun watching her grow and develop new skills and knowledge!

So, onto my little guy Nate...

We haven't really started any homeschooling with him, but have just been playing with him and teaching him all the things you teach a 1-year-old. He's learned to crawl, walk, climb, & scare Momma with new stunts while trying to follow his big sister or explore on his own. He wants to use a fork or spoon, and has actually been getting okay at using it, but he still prefers using his hands (it's much quicker and easier to stuff his mouth full that way!).

He has really started to develop his language skills more, which excites me! He signs more, eat, thirsty, please, and poop (toilet). He also says "ma" which can mean more or mine depending on what he's doing. He says "ma ma," "da da," and "ra ra" (Nora). One word he uses a lot that I'm not as much a fan of is "dis" (this) while pointing to something. I am trying to work on the actual words for the objects with him, but I'll take that he's communicating what he wants with me. And one of his new favorites is "ba" (ball), since he just got a couple wiffle balls for Easter. He can also tell you what a puppy (va va), sheep (baa), bear/ dinosaur (raa) say.

He may (or may not!) also have some understanding of the color blue. Though, whenever you ask him what color something is he says, "bue." But sometimes I will catch him pointing at something and saying "bue" and more often than not it's actually blue.

Samuel David's Birth Story: A VBA2C

Since I was having a vaginal birth after two c-sections (VBA2C), and not all doctors and nurses are for that, I wanted to make sure that I had everything set up ahead of time that I could to ensure a successful VBA2C. At one of my appointments a few weeks before I was due, I brought a copy of my birth plan for my doctor to sign, so that if any nurses had questions or problems with it, they could see that my doc was okay with it. (For example, I wanted to be able to eat and drink during labor, but I guess it's against hospital policy for a VBAC momma. My doc was okay with it though.)

We also kept going back and forth as to whether or not we would use a doula to support us during labor and delivery. We were originally going to just use the volunteer doula at the hospital, but my friend convinced me to get a doula outside the hospital in case the volunteer on call was with another momma. We ended up finding Nancy Pone a few days before I went into labor, and she was wonderful, as you will read.

Well, onto the start of birthing our fourth child, Mr. Samuel David. As with Nora's birth, I started having contractions early on, but (luckily) this time it wasn't only at night for a week straight, leaving me near delirious come birth-time. It was on and off, and quite often during the day. On Friday, as per usual, my cousin, Linda, came over to visit. I started having contractions around 2pm before she came and started timing them on and off. At that point they were anywhere from 5-11 minutes apart, and were a little stronger than before, but I could still talk through them just fine. She didn't stay too late so that we could get some rest that night though.

We went to bed, and I started timing them again around 9:30pm, as they were getting more painful, and I couldn't sleep though them, and since they were coming anywhere from 6 to 15 minutes apart, I wasn't really sleeping in between them either. Adam slept most of the night, except for the two times Nora came in at 4am and 5 am to tell us she had to "go potty in the potty." I kept timing them on and off throughout the rest of the night and into the morning. When we got up that that Saturday morning, I told Adam to call my mom to come get the kids. I didn't think it was time to go in yet, but, I knew it would be at some point that day, and I wanted to be able to labor at home without a toddler or two crawling across my aching belly.

We spent the morning watching Doctor Who and relaxing at home. Adam actually ended up re-wiring an outlet in the office and setting up some internet thing in the office while I sat and watched. He kept wanting to retreat to the office to play video games, since there wasn't much for him to do at that point. They were starting to get stronger to the point where I couldn't talk though them, but there wasn't anything I wanted him to do at that point to relieve any pain. I just wanted him near me. Just his presence made me feel more at ease. He brought me peaches to eat and water to drink as I asked, and that was all I really needed. Shortly after noon, I decided to stop timing them, as it was getting annoying and difficult for me to get the timer on my phone started and then try to concentrate and relax my way though a contraction. So at 2pm when I started feeling like I wanted to be at the hospital, I don't really know how far apart they were, or if we were at the "5-1-1 rule" to go in or not. But, I started to get the shakes, and thought that was a good sign to go in. I texted Nancy to let her know that we were heading in, and Adam texted my mom to giver her an update, and then we were off!

I remember having a contraction as I was trying to walk down the couple of steps from our laundry room to the garage, but on the car ride to the hospital (not that it's that far!), I think I only had one. I'd heard that sometimes changes in surroundings slowed labor, but I was hoping it wasn't going to slow it down too much. I also remember walking though the ER doors and a security guard coming up to me asking if I wanted a wheelchair. I held up with "one-minute" finger, and he said something about waiting until the contraction was over. Once it was, I decided to take the wheelchair up to the L&D floor, which I remember deciding against with Nora, but the pain was worse this time around.

Once we got up to our room, the nurse, Barb, hooked me up to the monitors, and said she needed a 20 minute strip on the baby, then she could take me off the monitors. She checked me, and I was at 3cm, which kind of disappointed me, especially since my "purple line" had said I was at 10 cm (ha!) a couple days ago. I thought I would at around a 6 and be closer to active labor instead of still in early labor. So we focused on trying to get a 20 minute strip of the baby's heartbeat so that I could get off the monitors and move around more easily. This we found to be a difficult feat, since the bands that they use to hold the monitors on my belly didn't actually keep them in the right places. However, Adam was a pro at holding them in place through my contractions (and when I wasn't contracting), and getting a solid 20 minute strip in just over 20 minutes.

Once the monitors came off, Nancy had us start some belly dancing to help labor progress. She really wanted me to get my hips into it swinging and swaying them side to side. Adam danced with me and held me through contractions. They were painful,but manageable at this point. We found this really helped me progress, because when Barb came back to check me, less than an hour after she checked me before, I had gone from "thick" and 0% effaced to 80-90% and 4 cm.  Hearing that brought my spirits up after the disappointment I had from the first check.

We kept dancing and moving to help shake the baby down and out of me. We did have to take a break to get an IV placed so that I could get some antibiotics since I was Group B Strep positive. Part of my birth plan stated that they could not do any blood draws, and that if they needed any blood it needed to be taken when the IV was placed. Adam mentioned this to Barb. Nancy mentioned this to Barb. I mentioned this to Barb. Serveal times each. She insisted that she didn't know why they would need to draw any blood. "Are you sure?" was repeated several more times. She doubled checked, and still assured us that the hosptial did not need any blood samples.

Since I wanted it numbed before the IV was placed, Barb had another nurse come in who was more familiar with placing IVs when numbed. Well, the numbing didn't work in the first spot, and the vien didn't cooperate either. So they numbed another spot, and tried there. That vein wouldn't cooperate either. I don't do well with needles and was trembling (on top of the contactions) before this all started, it didn't get any better after having been poked so many times either! They finally decided to call in, I kid you not, the SWAT team. Yep, the SWAT team. I don't know what it stands for. I never asked, but they were pros. One try, and the IV was placed without a problem.

Once that fiasco was all over, and my nerves were calmed a little we continued to dance, but I got tired of that quickly, and Barb suggested I get in the bath once the first round of antibiotics was finished. I liked this idea a lot. I knew I couldn't have a water birth that I dreamed of since I was pregnant with Danielle, but at least I could have some relaxing labor in the tub. It did help me relax through the contractions more, so much so that I had to tell Nancy when they were coming so she could time them, because she couldn't tell by my demeanor. I wasn't in there too terribly long though, because I started feeling too hot and almost suffocating-like.

After I put my lovely gown back on, Nancy would squeeze my hips through contractions while Adam helped me stand, but it was this point that the contractions started getting to be much stronger than I ever remember with Nora. I worked through several on the verge of tears, thinking in between the contractions that I could handle it. But, eventually told Adam I wanted the epidural I couldn't do it anymore. The nurse, now Shelly, of course, wanted to check to see how far I was to make sure I wasn't past the point of being able to get one. I wasn't. I hadn't changed much since the last check. The baby was lower, but I was still at 4 cm and 90% effaced.

The contractions were getting much less manageable, and I knew the epidural would take a while to get with paper work and waiting on the anesthesiologist to make it up, so I asked for phentenol right away in my IV. Plus, I knew it would help me relax through the epidural placement, since each contraction I was trying so hard not to cry and be miserable.

This is the point where all hell broke loose in anger from not only me, but Adam and Nancy as well. Shelly, the nurse that had taken over for Barb, realized that Barb missed in my chart that I was a VBAC mom. That meant that the needed blood. And while, I think they let me go a while without bringing it up, once I asked for the epidural, they said in order to get it, I needed to have blood drawn. I was beyond livid. I don't think there is a word in the English language to describe how furious I was! I cried tears of anger and fear of going through what I went through with the blood draw from Nora. While Shelly tried to apologize, she didn't seem to understand what she was asking of me. She wasn't there when the lab tech butchered my arm at Nora's birth leaving me with a welt for days. She wasn't there when it took two nurses and a SWAT team to finally get an IV placed only hours earlier. But she had the upper hand. She had the epidural. She said the anesthesiologist wouldn't even come up until labs were drawn. So I consented. But, I said they had one shot at this. I said if they didn't get it the first time, there was not second chance. I said I wanted the phentenol first. And I said they better call in the SWAT team the first time. And she did. And it was actually an okay blood draw.

Shortly thereafter, the anesthesiologist came up to place the epidural. He must have been the same one from Nora's birth, as from what I understand, there's only one anesthesiologist there that likes his patients laying on their side instead of sitting up. I was thankful for that, as I think it made it easier on me. Now I could just lay and relax in bed. It was getting late, past our normal bedtime, so I was tired.

Eventually, Shelly came back to do another check, and to give me my second dose of antibiotics. Looking back at my notes from Nancy, I was at 6 cm and 100% effaced. With that I decided to try to take a nap. With Nora, Adam had kept coming in and out of the room, and each time he would, I would kinda wake up and look for him. This time he just laid on the couch and watched House, while Nancy and I took naps. I remember at one point Nancy asking Adam to turn the volume down, which helped me be able to get more rest. 

After about an hour and a half, Shelley came back to check me again. She said I was at 8 cm, and my bags of waters was bulging. She asked if I wanted her to break it. I said no, but then through the epidural, I felt like I was suddenly peeing, and I heard Shelley say, "Oops." I wasn't upset though, as I figured that if it was bulging that much, it would probably have popped soon anyway. But, then she changed her answer on how dialated I was. Apparently, the water breaking pushed me up another cm to a 9. I was definitely okay with that! 

Shelley went to her computer next to my bed to update my file or whatever, and within a few minutes, I told her that I thought I felt the urge to push. It wasn't something I expected to feel at all! With Nora, I was told that it was time to push, and then I was told when I was having a contraction, so that I knew when to push. But this time, I could feel my son actually decending into the birth canal. It was amazing! I could feel lots of pressure, but no pain. By the time Dr. Nelson, the on call doctor from my clinic, arrived, my baby was just about ready to be born. She was amazed that as he was crowning, he was turning his head side to side, and commented on his strong neck muscles. It only took about 10 minutes of pushing before Samuel David entered the world! He cried loudly, as he was placed on my chest, and I tried to nurse him. At first he just wanted to cry, but he soon found my nipple, and started nursing like a champ. 

These are the notes that Nancy took for me during Sam's birth. I had to refer to them a couple times for the order of events since I finally finished his story over a year after his birth, but I still remember those moments very vividly. 

Sarah gibson
Conx occ night
9:27 830, 3-12 min
215 leave hosp, strong shaky
3:50 -tight cm 3cm, "thick" cont monitoring 20min
440 - 80-90% eff, 4cm, baby stn 0 nurse: Barb
545 nurse alicia IV
Trembles starting
Pee
630 - bath!
715 Pee -standing hip squeeze - Shelly on
730 90% 4cm baby low
800 fentinol/IV/labs
830 ep
930 pencill #2, check: 6cm, 100%?
NAP! (Or stay up and watch House for Adam :)
11 - switch to left side...check, cervix soft 7cm
1130 checked 8, water broke during check 9 bleeding
1150 dr nelson in
1212 pushing

1222 born