Jonah's Birth Story Part 2

I figured Mother's Day would be a good day to wrap up Jonah's birth story.  You can view part 1 here. The pictures displayed were taken professionally from Sarah Carter Photography.  Please also like her Facebook Page.

We arrived at the hospital I think around 4:00 am?!?  We got checked in, I got to skip triage because it was very obvious I was in active labor.  My contractions were still strong, but not coming any closer together, maybe every 6 minutes.  They hooked me up to the monitors like usual.  The Dr. chatted with my midwife looking over my prenatal record.  We signed the papers to get an epidural as I was ready to sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.  Before the anesthesiologist came in, they checked my dilation progress.  Before leaving for the hospital  I was a 4.  The Dr. said "Uh, you are a 9 with bulgy bag of water!" While everybody was rejoicing and joking that we should just go home,  (I would have loved to, but the thought of delivering in the car during the 40 minute ride home didn't sound appealing) my heart sunk and I thought ooooh noo!  I knew I wouldn't get the epidural, (I prefer natural birth anyways, why I opt for a home birth) but I was TERRIFIED of putting my feet up in those stupid stirrups for pushing.  I had a normal hospital birth with my first child and I KNOW the drill.  Going to the hospital for the epidural, I figured my pain would be knocked out and I could deal with the horrible positioning of the stirrups.  But if I am going to go all natural…that thought scares the dickens out of me.  (I also vividly remember the episiotomy that I felt when giving birth to my first)  I begged my nurse for at least some pain meds in the IV…she verbally agreed, but it was never administered.

I continued laboring.

I went to the bathroom as frequently as possible.  Keeping your bladder empty helps the head to drop (which we were struggling with) and with no epidural, they let me roam the room pretty freely.  

During the last bathroom stop I made, I sat on the toilet and a huge contraction came (normal) and a massive pop/plop sound. My water just broke in the toilet.  It was just my husband in the bathroom with me.  I then started yelling, my midwife came in, then the nurses and doctors.  (My main doctor was a 1st year resident, being accompanied by a 3rd year resident, being overseen by the attending physician, confused?) I started yelling "I"m pooping! I'm pooping!" I felt like I was pushing out the most massive poop I've ever had. (it's a birth story…I'm going to be honest with ya'll!) They got me off the toilet and they could tell my body was pushing the baby, I had no control over what was happening.  

The doctor wanted to move me to the bed.  The nurse was in front of me, my midwife behind me and I remember my nurse saying.  "NO she is delivering..NOW!!!" In this tiny bathroom was myself, my husband, my midwife, at least one nurse, and two doctors.  The doctor that was assigned to me (remember 1st year residency) I think was in shock/panic he didn't know what to do.  What appeared to me, was the nurse and my midwife started taking over.  The nurse (who had previously worked in a hospital that allowed midwives to practice so who is used to natural labors and mamas birthing where they birth!) told me to put my arm around her and my husband and squat.  I tried to do as I was told, my body pushing at the same time. My midwife started  yelling for towels towels! (Hello, slippery baby about to come out!) A small wash cloth was presented…ummm no!  So somebody got a chucks pad.  I squared, continued to push, and my midwife behind me and the doctor in front of my guided the baby out together.  

It was quite a scene.  

Baby was delivered safely and handed immediately to me.  Of course they wanted the cord cut quickly to get me moved to the bed.  This was not what we had wished, but we were in the hospital out of our element.  Daddy got to cut the cord…in the bathroom.

And we made our way to the bed.  

 The doctor asked if anybody had looked at the clock when baby was born.  Nobody had.  My midwife said I got up to go to the bathroom at 6:00, we returned to bed at 6:10, so it is estimated that baby was born at 6:05 am, March 8, 2014.

I had a second degree tear that required stitches.  I think I was the first victim for this residency doctor to stitch…ouch.  And then we cuddled with baby.

Later in the morning, the girls came to see their new baby brother.  We knew his first name would be Michael, but we didn't have a middle name yet (which is what he would go by).  

And then we were a family of 5.  Later that day we decided on Jonah.  Michael Jonah.  See more pictures and a beautiful video here.

We are so thankful for a safe and healthy delivery.  It did not go as planned, but we got quite the birth story out of it!  I never thought I would be a home birth that turned into a hospital transfer, but I can not tell you how thankful I am that my midwife was still an active part of my labor in the hospital, and even helped catch Jonah while he was born.  With all that said, I had a difficult time when I came home from the hospital, seeing all the unused home birth supplies, the birthing pool in our bedroom waiting to be filled with water, and grieving the birth we didn't have.  Stay tuned for part 3 of Jonah's birth story, explaining what it is like to grieve a birth that didn't go as planned.  

Baby Jonah's Birth Story….part 1

I figured there is no better way to start up the blog…again…for the upteenth millionth time, than to share our newest member of the family's birth story.  You really want to stick around for the whole story.  The quick version, he was an intended home birth, that resulted in a non emergency hospital transfer, then born in the hospital bathroom.  Interested?  Stick around….

I wasn't quite sure about dates - so we had ESTIMATED due dates from March 1 - March 8th.  I always "go past" the date, and my midwife likes to pick the last date so we aren't sitting around twiddling our thumbs…as much.  So March 8, baby 3 is "due".  (I hate that term)

My due date was on a Saturday, that whole week I was trying to do natural things, to encourage labor.  The night of March 5 into the 6th, I had mild contractions that kept waking me up, preventing me much sleep.  On March 6 at 8:45 PM I texted my midwife:

"Did chiro and acupunctures (and steps) Kris took me to…..Fudruckers for dinner.  After chiro and acupuncture very very intense contractions coming in a rhythm.  I'm not timing but my guess 8-10 min.  Almost home then going to bed.  Reminds me of how Natalie's labor started.  Contractions just like this at Fudruckers around 9 PM.  Went home to bed, gave up sleeping around 4 am, went to hospital around 9 am."

I knew this was finally going to turn into the real thing, and expected a baby by the next day.  Or so I thought….

Friday March 7, at 5:52 am, I text my midwife:

"I've been awake since 11:30 PM working through contractions, usually in bed because they are strong enough I can't sleep.  They remain 8-9 minutes apart and after all these hours aren't getting closer.  Any ideas on how to speed this up?  I've never had this happen before.  After one night of bad sleep and last night of 1 1/2 hours of sleep I'm pretty tired and don't want to deal with it again tonight."

It's a good thing God doesn't really tell us the future….because I was getting into…just what I didn't want to get into.  Another night (night 3) of no sleep.

My midwife texted back suggestions to get get the baby's head in place.  Later she texted:

"Do you want me to come over"

My response:

"I think I'm ok"

We conversed back and forth about suggestions on what to do to get things moving along. At 11:00 am I get:

I feel like I should come check on you.  Go ahead and get started and I will head your way shortly.  I'll be there 12:30 ish"

See…those are signs of a good midwife!  A trained midwife that puts aside whatever she had going on that day because she has a gut feeling she should come see her client.  

I had a constant pain in my side.  My midwife thought maybe gas?  Told me on the phone to drink Apple Cider Vinegar.  I hate the taste of vinegar, and back out it came with whatever I ate that day.  

My midwife and her assistant showed up around 1:00 PM ish.  We did natural things to get labor going, homeo-pathics, using a breast pump, bouncing on a birthing ball.  I continuously had mild irritable contractions through out the day.  I was mentally going down hill, wondering what is going on.  My midwife had checked my cervix and I had barely started to dilate.  And I mean barely.  Around 4:00 PM on the 7th, I wanted to get outside.  I needed fresh air and a change of scenery.  My husband and I took a walk down our long lane.  I had to stop and lean on him through contractions.  This is a good sign!  We walked for about 20-30 minutes.  Him telling me what he wants to do with the fence around the pasture, me breathing through contractions.  

When we got back, I think that is when my midwife and her assistant realized, ok, this is turning into real active labor….finally.  

My husband cooked us spaghetti (with our homemade canned sauce..mmm) and my husband and I sat down with my midwife and her assistant for dinner.  Contractions continued, very strong, getting strong enough where I am humming and moaning through them.  

Sometime after dinner, my midwife checks me…I'm a whopping 2 cm dilated.  That was a big blow considering how hard my body is working.  The baby's head was not engaged in my pelvis, encouraging dilation. 

The sun went down, my midwife and assistant continued to monitor me and baby.  around 10 or 11 PM I took a shower.  The girls were with my parents, freeing up their bunk bed.  So guess where the birthing team set up camp! ;) 

When I got out of the shower, all the lights were off, my husband in bed (not really asleep) and the birthing team resting as they should be.  Nobody was doing anything wrong, but an emotional pregnant woman in labor going into her 3rd night of very little sleep…I about lost it.  Everybody is resting and I'm working my tail off, and I am beat tired.  My emotional state was going down hill…and fast.  Mostly due to lack of sleep.  

I have a bachelor's degree….I did all nighters during college.  I have 2 kids, I understand lack of sleep and bad nights.  I have never been to this point of exhaustion in my life, on top of working through contractions.  The contractions were still intense, but never getting closer together, probably around 6 minutes apart.  

The evening continued, my midwife and her assistant taking turns monitoring me and baby while the other one rested, my husband in and out of bed, giving me support. Intense contractions continued, but did not get closer together.  Eventually in the wee hours of the morning, a cervix check was done to fine I was a 4.  Seriously?? a 4???  I wanted to die. And I'm serious.  Not from pain, from an emotional state I have never experienced before.  I felt like I was loosing myself.  I believe this is all from lack of sleep.  

My midwife sat my husband and I down.  She said we need to make a decision.  We can continue on laboring at home.  My stats were good and baby's stats were good.  But, I'm a 4, labor will probably continue on for another 6+ hours.  We have no clue how long.  Or, we can go to the hospital, I can get the epidural (you know the one word that every home birth natural laboring mom stays clear of!) and sleep until I'm a 10, get the rest I need to keep it together, and push this baby out!  

She left the bedroom to allow my husband and I talk.  I fell apart.  I melted into a puddle on our bed.  And I'm tearing up as I write this, remembering it all. Kris held me as I cried, and cried, and cried.  The back of my head I was screaming…let's go…let's go now!  I want relief so I can sleep.  I have had a home birth before, a beautiful water birth.  The pool was set up, the birthing supplies set out, all ready for baby 3.  I wanted it so bad. But I felt like the worlds' biggest failure.  Kris and I talked, and we agreed to go to the hospital so I could get relief and sleep.  My midwife came in, I told her decision…and then I fell apart again.  She said "You are not a failure for doing this".  I told her that's what I feel like.  And then, God gave her the perfect words for me at that time.  I don't remember the exact words but it was something like…

I think you are making a smart decision.  An Epidural is a tool, a tool that is overly used.  In this instance, an epidural is good idea, giving you the rest you need to continue, instead of tuckering out at the last minute and then we are really in trouble.  

She brought me out of that failure mentality, and we began packing for  the hospital.  I didn't have anything ready to go, after one successful home birth, I never thought I'd be one of those "hospital transfers".  Since it was not an emergency, we could take our time…and pack our stuff in Walmart bags since our luggage was in storage.  

Around 3:00 am we left for the hospital. I texted both of our moms:

"On way to cox south.  Not an emergency.  Hard hard labor and I'm only a 4.  Baby's head must be funny bc I'm slow dilating.  Night 3 of labor and no sleep.  Debbie thinks it is a good idea for me to get an epidural to sleep.  Don't come yet as I need rest.  Kris will keep you updated." 

Stay tuned for part 2.  Part 2 has great professional labor/birth pictures.  I planned on having a birth photographer present for the labor/birth.  We never called her to our house (which I now regret) because my contractions were not close together so I don't have any from laboring at home.  

OOOooopppsss!!

So yes, it's been four months since blogging.  That's been purposeful.  I'm a blog junkie, I love reading blogs for inspiration....just that...inspiration....  

That left me lost with this blog, if I read for inspiration, then I too shall be inspiring and encouraging others.  I feel nothing like that, nor worthy of that.  I'm just an upper 20's gal, trying to swim my way through life, getting through each day through prayer because I stumble more than I do good.  I have two little girls, with a little BOY on the way.  But as I pluck through this life, through conversations with others, they find something fascinating, oh, you had a home birth?  Oh, you garden?  Oh you can your own food? (eh, I don't, my husband does, I'm the grouchy assistant) Oh, you are homeschooling? Oh, you teach piano?  So I slowly gravitate back to this little blog, maybe, just maybe, something inspiring can come out of it to bless someone else.  If not, a way to document our family's journey, something to look back on our triumphs or more likely, our failures and how we learned from it.

Our garden this year has had its' ups and downs.  For how much we planted, we should have yielded a LOT more.  BUT, we've canned more beans this year than we did last year, so that's a plus. Our tomatoes weren't what we expected (not as big) but were bountiful.  We couldn't keep up with the processing so our freezer is full of them, ready to be turned into spaghetti sauce.  We enjoy supporting our local apple orchard and did our first batch of apple pie filling tonight.  We've probably got 3 more batches to do, also apple sauce and apple butter.

So the one thing I really wanted to write about, was our homeschooling adventure so far.  My oldest is 3, almost 4.  So we are doing a basic preschool curriculum.  Do you need to school preschool?  Absolutely not.  Read books, incorporate school in your every day life.  However, my not so little, little girl really strives on structure.  I teach at a Homeschool Academy on Mondays, she's in the nursery and calls it "School" so she's excited about doing school at home.  We've been doing Heart of Dakota's Little Hands to Heaven.  It's for ages 2-5.  I've absolutely loved it so far.  (umm yeah, we started about a month ago, then took off for 2 1/2 weeks for travels, family, appointments and just back into it) She loves Bible stories, and that's basically the core of this.  Using Bible stories to teach other concepts.  She's working on the A sound, we have a chant about all the A animals that God made.  We do small art projects, very active, read out of a kids Bible, etc.  It works really well for HER.  Here she is today, slithering her "A"naconda (her toy snakes) on a giant A I taped on the carpet.  Tomorrow she will be gluing cheerios in the shape of an A on a piece of paper.

A lot of this you could get off of Pinterest, I'm sure, but I'm not on there.  I know there are programs/educational games on the internet for this age.  1) Our internet is horrible.  2) I just have a personal conviction about her education being solely in front of a screen.  If you know her, you know that she gets sucked into screen time and like turns everything else off, a bit freaky.

With that, we are supplementing with Rod and Staff's A, B, C, D workbooks for 3-4 year olds for fine motor skills, which my chica lacks.  We are working on pencil holding, coloring, and eventually cutting.  (umm yeah you should see her cut, it would entertain you)

With Heart of Dakota's program, we are done with that in about 20 minutes.  With other supplements I'm using and library book reading, about 40 minutes or so.  Now she's my oldest, I do this while the "baby" naps, and I can spend this 1:1 time with her. When my two oldest are "bigger" I don't see being able to spend this much time of preschool with #3, but the basic Heart of Dakota program and sitting in watching the bigs, they soak up so much.

Tonight we started something new.  I bought the Read and See Bible from a used curriculum sale.  It's basically Bible Stories with a DVD that goes along with that.  It was 30 minutes before bedtime for the little one, the girls were cranky, so I popped the DVD in for the first time.  It goes over the Bible from beginning to end, tells a short Bible story, then a fun song after it.  The girls loved it.  They watched about 25 minutes of it, then bed time routines went very smoothly.  I may skip the book part (we have lotsa Children's Bibles) and do 20 minutes or so of the DVD before bed.


So all in all, it's going well.  I just need to be more structured in my day to get the most of the time we have for household chores, kitchen stuff, education, and playing.

Where We Are At

It's been awhile, and I've got several blog posts rolling in my head (my life change of quitting full time work to stay home, breastfeeding, the (home) birth story of Emri that's about to turn 1, our garden, etc.) but it's been so long, I probably just ought to start with Where We Are At.....

Starting from the littlest....

Emri -

Oh my, she's 11 months old...creeping up on that big one year!!  I seriously can't believe it! This kid has a STRONG and BIG personality in a little body!  We are still breastfeeding (this didn't go so well with Natalie, so every month is huge for me!).  We've had some issues with weight, but after readjusting her feeding schedule and how she eats, I think things are resolved.  She is TALKING!!!  Mama, Mommy, Dada, Mimi, Papa, NaNa (Natalie), kitty cat, uh oh, buh bye.  She is standing alone, walking should be in the near future!

Natalie -

She's growing intellectually leaps and bounds.  Things that come out of her mouth floor me!  We've started the whole, letting her play outside....alone....with rules.  She's confined to the sandbox (where I can see her easily). She's an outdoors girl that would live in the garden if we let her!

Myself -

I've picked up some piano students this summer which is a blessing.  I'm trying to get into a groove at home with housework, kids, garden, etc.  I'm always way behind in everything...but I've come to conclusion that's just life.

Kris -

Work is keeping him busy, and any free moment, he's outside working on the garden, mowing, etc.  So much to do, only so many hours in the day. Once again, feeling like we are always behind on our outdoor projects, but coming to the conclusion that's life! ;-)

Animals -
The chickens are venturing farther and farther out during the day free ranging, and we've had an egg reduction.  Laying elsewhere?  It's always as cycle with them.  Too many eggs, or too few.  But with free ranging, they are getting nature's food, and we don't have to feed them.

We've added a cat.  Mostly to help keep the mice down.  Living in the middle of a hayfield, field mice have become quite the problem.

Garden-

It is planted and mostly doing well.  Lots of our seed plants didn't do so well transplanted, so we had to buy new plants.  I've finally got my strawberry garden planted. I'm hoping to add more June bearing plants next year.  We hope to can even more this year. We've added quite a bit of fruit trees.  Lesson in gardening, the very FIRST thing you should do is plant your fruit, as it takes years for it to take off.  I wish we had done this 3 years ago when we moved....lesson learned.  We've added a giant fence around our garden so the deer can't get our beans this year.  We hope to add on next year a small raised bed of cooking and medicinal herbs.  Each year we add on, and it's exciting to see the progress!

I think that hits the major stuff!  Keep your eyes open for some more topic related posts that I listed above. =)

These Days

These past few weeks has been a whirlwind!  We took a week and went up to Illinois.  It's always nice going back to my stomping grounds.  It was nice to take a "break" from things.  

I didn't cloth diaper, and didn't miss the extra laundry.  

I didn't have to worry about my typical household chores.  

I *gasped* used a microwave....and *more gasp* secretly enjoyed it.  Oh it was so nice to warm up left overs in 30 seconds instead of 10-15 minutes.  However, I kind of forgot how to use one and cooked my daughters noodles into nasty mush once....oops  

However with that being said, being gone gives you appreciation for home.  Rejuvenated us to get back into the swing of things and even more craziness for garden season.  

While in Illinois, Emri loved cooking

When we got back, we learned new tricks and was quite proud! (no the stroller is not about to fall on her)

Now you will find us working outside.  Our latest project is fencing in our garden with a 7-9 foot fence to keep the deer out.  It's no the prettiest, but should work well!   

Remember how we ummmm recycle trampoline frames? (Chicken coop)  The bottom of that gate is part of a trampoline frame.  

I wish I had a picture of Natalie doing her favorite activity..helping Daddy outside in the evening after Emri is in bed.  She gets her "tools" (Melissa & Doug wooden tool set) and is right along "helping" Daddy with the fence building.  I'm usually pretty strict about bedtime, but she's been getting to stay up a bit later with this nice weather to spend some time outside with her Daddy.  

Our garden reeeeally needs to get planted.  Because this is just a sampling of what's in our dinning room:

All of this was started from SEED!!!  Kris counted our tomato plants......101 plants!!  He said he planted a few extra in case some didn't make it.  As of right now....they are all making it!  Anybody want to buy a tomato plant? 

That's what our days have consisted of.  Kris and I just got done attending a Home Educators Convention.  It was great and really reinforced this is the right thing for our family, for this time.  I'm super excited!  

The BLESSINGS of Canning

Our (not so little) seedlings are growing!!  Our tomato plants from seed are looking great.  Today I pulled out a jar of spaghetti sauce that was canned on my due date last year.  While pregnant, I always go past my due date.....and last year due date was celebrated by canning spaghetti sauce! Anyways, I'm going to be honest, while I enjoy being outside, enjoy being in the garden, I do not enjoy the prep or process of canning.  I never have, probably never will.  Last year didn't help between being massively pregnant, and then juggling a newborn.  BUT, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the blessings of canning.  It can make throwing a meal together so easy.


About a week in a half ago, a sweet friend of mine gave birth to her third little son.  A sign up sheet was floating around for meals for them.  I jumped on it because I remember from almost 9 months ago, that is one thing I would have loved, more meals to be ready and not have to cook or worry about dinner!  But, I was a bit stuck.  We are at the point of needing a grocery run and while I can scrounge around for dinner for our family, what I would serve would be an embarrassment for me to serve to another family! ha! I got to really thinking about what I had on hand that could make a suitable meal.

1) We have whole frozen chickens that we butchered for meat.  So I thawed one, roasted it, deboned it it and added some spices.

2) Garden Green Beans, we added garlic to ours because we are garlic fans! :)

3) Jar of apple sauce from when we went picking apples in the fall

4) For dessert, I took a jar of canned apple pie filling and made an apple crisp.  I got a bit apple crazy, but this is what I had on hand and to work with

5) I made a homemade loaf of bread

6) I threw in a jar of apple butter just as an extra.  (see an apple trend! haha!)

All that for very little effort.  The apple crisp, all I made was the topping which took maybe 5 minutes

The "sides" were in jars, ready to be served

I used my bread machine for the bread (10 minutes to throw ingredients together?) and bake in the oven.  A COMPLETELY homemade meal, and mostly farm/local grown as well!

I was sooo thankful for our effort and time spent on canning last year. Hopefully this year we will can even more to decorate our shelves with!

We've been SPRINGing

It's been a bit.  So here's what we've been up to:

We have loosely been doing "school".  Right now our schooling consists of lots and lots of library books.  Natalie is loving it.  Each day it isn't raining or nasty cold, I force myself to take the girls outside.  Oh, I love being outdoors, but it's a chore getting everybody dressed (well the less clothes they wear inside, the easier it is ha!)  and out the door. We enjoy swinging, Natalie picks flowers, torments the chickens, and we go on nature hikes. Emri got her first feel for grass, and well, tried to consume it.  

So that's what we've been doing...just SPRINGing. :) Soon I'll post pictures of our growing garden.  (umm the garden that's taking over my dinning room!)