Sawyer's Birth Story

Though not as exciting as many people's birth stories, I figured it was a good idea to document the day Sawyer was born before my brain turns to permanent mush and I forget.  So here we go...

At my 38 week appointment we'd determined that I was carrying a BIG baby and that we'd need to consider a c-section if I hadn't gone into labor on my own or if I wasn't dilating.  So on Monday July 16th I took my big belly to the doctor's office with my Mom who'd just come to town.  As luck would have it, none of the home remedies we'd tried (at this point we'd tried evening primrose oil and spicy food) had worked.  I was still 1/2cm dilated and 60% effaced as I had been for over two weeks.  Then when the doctor measured my belly, I was measuring at 42 weeks, three weeks ahead of where I actually was.  This pretty much convinced the doctor we needed to schedule a c-section.  She went out to call the hospital and find out when they had openings.  There was one later that afternoon which I would have LOVED to have taken except that I'd had a string cheese that morning and was therefore disqualified (boo breakfast!) and the next available times were either Thursday the 19th at 1:30 or Friday the 20th at 7:30.  My doctor highly recommended the Friday morning since I wasn't allowed to eat anything after midnight the night before and my going more than 13 hours without food when 10 months pregnant wasn't anyone's favorite idea.  Friday at 7:30 it was.

We talked about all the details of the surgery and then what we'd do if I went into labor on my own.  She said she was fine with my trying to deliver naturally if that happened but that I should mentally prepare myself for the high likelihood of a c-section no matter what happened.

I spent the entire week trying to make that baby come on his own.  I tried walking and walking and walking. I tried caster oil.  First it was a tablespoon in a Diet Coke. Then two.  Finally on Wednesday night I tried what has worked for one of my friends three times in a row with labor starting within two hours and the baby coming out within about ten...6-8 oz orange juice, 1/4tsp baking soda and 2oz caster oil.  She had explained the process this way (and I quote because it's pretty awesome):

"So you'll drink this crap, which is the worst tasting thing in the history of things.  Then two hours later you will poop out all your organs.  All of them.   Then about a half an hour later labor will start and just when you think you can't be in more pain, you'll throw up your bones and your body will be made of nothing.  Then, shortly after that, that baby will come shooting out your butt."

I laughed for about ten minutes straight and then set off preparing the concoction.  I drank it as fast as I could and noted that it wasn't the worst drink EVER, just really oily orange juice.  Then I sat as close to a toilet as I comfortably could and waited.  Then I waited some more.  Then I gave up and went to bed, bags packed and ready to go to the hospital at a moments notice.

Eight hours later I pooped out all my organs and then felt better and ate breakfast.  End of caster oil story.  No baby.  Not even one contraction.  I was irritated but at the same time I figured at least my entire digestive system was squeaky clean! 

Thursday night I re-packed my bags and snuggled my sweet puppy for one last time before his life got rocked.  Then I curled my hair.  I figured if I wasn't going to get to have this baby my way, at least I'd look good in the pictures.  Then I went to bed and slept pretty well, all things considered.  We woke up at 4am the next morning and I put on my favorite make-up and then we dropped the puppy off with our neighbor and headed to the hospital.

When we got there it was kind of strange to check in while not in labor.  We moseyed into admitting, went to our room, met our nurse and then waited for things to get rolling.  We took the final pictures of me pregnant:

Then Matt and I changed into our super sexy surgery garb:

My doctor was a few minutes late because her car battery was dead, so at about 7:45 they wheeled me in to the room.  They had Matt wait outside while they prepped me, which included getting my spinal in place, getting me in a catheter (yay!) and putting up a sheet so I wasn't totally wigged out at what was about to happen. 

Matt came in and got the camera rolling and they got started.  It took all of ten minutes for my doctor to cut me open.  I heard some ruckus as she announced he had a VERY round head and she was going to need to use a little vacuum pump thingy to get him out because of that.  The anesthesiologist (who I loved) told me that the baby hadn't dropped into my pelvis at all and that he looked huge so I was going to be grateful we'd decided to go with a c-section.  A few seconds later I heard a bunch of "woah he's huge!" and "wow!" and "Eight Ten!" to which I exclaimed "He's only 8lbs 10oz??" The nurse laughed at me and said "No, he's bigger than that!  He was born at 8:10."  Oh.  Right.

Someone brought him over to my side of curtain so I could see him for a second and then they whisked him off to the baby station to make sure he was OK, weigh him and do all of that.  Matt went with them while I got stitched up and tried to catch glimpses of my screaming baby boy.  It was a bit surreal for me because I hadn't been able to hold or touch him yet, so I caught a glimpse of this gorgeous little thing and then had to wait to really get a good look.  I was overcome with emotions, mostly feeling grateful that my body had finally been able to do it's reproductive job and get our little guy here. 

I squirted a few tears which the anesthesiologist kindly wiped for me, and then a few minutes later everything was done and we were being wheeled back to my recovery room.  Matt handed him off to my Mom while the nurses checked me to make sure everything was good and then I finally got to hold my son.  I decided that he is pretty much perfect. 

The nurse suggested we try nursing right away (luckily his insulin levels were great when he was born so they didn't have to supplement with formula or anything while they waited for me to get stitched up) and he latched right on and nursed for an hour without stopping.

After that they transferred me to my permanent room where we got to know our nurse and got working on getting to know each other and recovering and blah blah blah. 

Thankfully, my recovery has been super easy.  The pain has been totally manageable with mostly Ibuprofin and Tylenol (the first two days in the hospital I was on something stronger they gave to me via IV but I never had enough pain to have to ask for anything extra), and I was on a soft food diet (which is all normal food...I guess I didn't check to see what was on the regular diet I couldn't eat, but really my options were awesome) by the end of the day and up walking (escorted) to the bathroom that night.  The next morning all the tubes and crap were removed and I was good to move around on my own.  Sunday morning the OB/GYN on call checked and discharged me and we were home by 1:30 and have been loving life ever since. 

I seriously have no complaints about the c-section and, considering my easy recovery, I have a feeling that it was easier than a natural birth would have been.  I am walking great, have minimal bleeding, very little pain at my incisions - there is a little up where the doctor cut my uterus inside but I think it's trying to shrink down and that's aggravating the scar.  I've definitely been tired, but our kick-butt baby has been letting me sleep more than I was sleeping while I was pregnant, so I feel really rested.

Matt took the week off work and has been AWESOME.  He's changed a majority of the diapers and been working on training the dog (turns out we didn't do enough of that and there's been some small issues with him listening to us when we need him to.  Ouuuurrr baaaadddd) and just being an all around rock star Dad. 

My Mom and Dad have both been here as were Matt's parents so we've had tons and tons of help around but weirdly we haven't really needed it.  I guess I hear so many new baby horror stories I keep waiting for hours of screaming and misery and nobody sleeping and so far it's just not happening.  I guess I'll keep my fingers crossed that this keeps up and we don't end up with hell next week!

I still don't understand why we had to go through what we did to get him here but I can say that he was worth every second of pain and heartbreak.  

Welcome to the world, Sawyer.  We are so glad you're here.

And Then I Had a Baby

It's hard to believe that after the two years of hell trying to get him here, we have a real, live, grown in my body baby living at our house.

Wow.

Sawyer Michael was born Friday, July 20 at 8:10am. He was 9lbs 4oz, 20.5 inches and he is absolutely fabulous.  See?!

Picture Credit: Sorensen Studios

He has gold-red hair and it's looking like his eyes will be blue, but that is still to be determined.  He has HUGE hands and feet and other than the super fun newborn rash that has plagued us since day one, he's pretty much perfect.  I'm whispering this next part so I don't jinx us, but when I say perfect, I mean it in every sense.   This kid sleeps and eats like a CHAMP, usually going at least three, usually four or five hours between feedings at night.  He latched on the first time in less than 30 seconds, which my nurse said she's never seen before.  We had to correct the latch so that his amazing suction abilities (another first - our pediatrician said in 14 years she's never seen such a strong suck from a baby) didn't pull my nipples completely off my body but now that's fixed and other than some minor discomfort, nursing is a breeze.  He definitely goes to the bathroom like a newborn, going through what seems like a million diapers a day and he seems to have an uncanny ability to pee out of the top of his diaper, which I think is related to the vaseline covered gauze we have to put on his man parts thanks to the circumcision (PS - who ever thought THAT was a good idea?  "Guys!  I have an idea!  We'll take the top tiny bit of skin off the most sensitive part of the baby and we'll CUT IT OFF!!!  Brilliant!"  Not.)  but *knock on wood* we've yet to have a blow-out.  I could go on and on but I've been around my fair share of newborns and he is literally the best one I've seen.  I swear I'm not just saying that because he's my kid.  I'll be the first to admit that he spent his first week looking a lot like a very tiny angry old man.  I'm not above admitting he looked totally weird for a while there.  Now that the swelling is going down, his rash is going away and he is actually opening his eyes he's looking pretty darn cute.  I was scared for a minute there. 

I'm working on his birth story, though it's not as involved or as interesting as many are, but I figure I might as well document it anyway.  I'll try to find the time to get it out there really soon, which in my new timeline means maybe by December?

Thanks to those of you who have already reached out with well wishes and congratulations.  I am so grateful to have had all of you with me on this journey.  It has really been a rough couple of years for us, and although the pain of the miscarriages may never go away, having this little man here does make so many things make sense.  We are so lucky to have him.

----------------

OH, as an FYI to those of you who care, I just discovered that my other blog is broken.  I can't get into the admin page to publish anything.  I don't even remember how to get into my host files...oops.  My best friend's husband is my host so I need to get a hold of him to get in but after that, I'm worried because I seem to have forgotten all the things I taught myself about HTML and running a real blog so I'm not feeling hopeful that I'll be able to get in soon, but I'll sure try!!

The Plan, Stanley

I'll be 39 weeks tomorrow and I woke up last night thinking that maybe my water broke.  Turns out I probably peed my pants just a little and the primrose oil I've been, um, putting there to help me dilate probably just leaked.  It was disappointing and disgusting all at the same time. 

My doctor ordered an extra ultrasound for me at my weekly checkup this week.  The first words out of her mouth after she saw the results were "you have a big old baby in there, woman!"  Monster Baby has continued to grow and turned into Super Monster Baby.  He was measuring at 8lbs 9oz and in the 89th percentile for growth, which are both higher numbers than were estimated at the last ultrasound.  His head is still up in the 90th percentile somewhere as well.  Um, yikes.  Even more interesting is that he seems to be sucking the life out of me.  Since my last appointment I've lost three pounds and he has continued to gain size at an uncanny rate.  Fan freaking tastic, right!?  Oh and even more fun, I've made no progress at all.  1/2 cm dilated and 50% effaced, just like the last appointment.

Normally, ultrasounds can be a pound or so off, and are usually estimating high, but knowing Matt's family history of large babies and emergency c-sections, my doctor decided that if I show up to my next appointment on Monday morning and I'm not making any progress, she will probably schedule a c-section.  If I'm dilated to at least a 1 1/2 she'll schedule an induction.  Obviously a c-section isn't ideal, so I'm doing everything I can think of on my end to encourage some dilation and softening up in here.  Thus the primrose oil.  I'm really hoping to get some dilation happening so we can go for the induction rather than a c-section.  Now, in an ideal world this baby would just come on it's own.  I'm not a huge fan of inducing and I doubt anyone is a huge fan of a c-section, but I'm especially not fond of being in labor for a whole day and THEN having to do a c-section.  I think in that case you basically put your body through 90% of natural birth and the side effects of that and then you have to also recover from major surgery.  So, hopefully I go into labor today or tomorrow and avoid both situations, but I have a feeling I'll be in my appointment on Monday where we'll be making a plan and most likely this kid will be born Tuesday or Wednesday.

SO, this weekend I'll be doing last minute things like installing the car seat and getting the co-sleeper set up in our bedroom as well as hopefully doing some cleaning.  I also have to figure out a plan for the puppy since our existing plan is on vacation in California until Wednesday.  Luckily there are plenty of people around who love Watson and have offered to help out. 

Hopefully I'll be back here Monday with a final update as to when our lives get turned upside down!  I'm excited to meet this little boy but I'm also nervous and I think in a little bit of denial that it's actually happening.  Hold me?

Aaaaand....I'm done.

37 weeks and holy crap did all the symptoms I haven't had for nine months show up all at once!  I knew this easy pregnancy thing was too good to be true!

Heartburn...check.

Huge belly and non-existent stomach muscles impeding sleep...check.

Baby dropped and pelvic pressure is out of this world.  I feel like I'm carrying a 20lb bowling ball in my cha-cha.  When I walk it looks that way, too.  You're welcome for the visual.

Swelling is not horrible but I am retaining some fluid so my engagement ring doesn't fit anymore.  My wedding band and still fits but not nearly as comfortably.  Some of my shoes have straps that are leaving marks in my ankles but it's not too bad, I suppose.  Just there.

My personal favorite symptom right now is pregnancy induced Carpal Tunnel.  Yeah, I'd never heard about that one either.  Basically both my arms go completely numb and then scream at me in pain.  It happens mostly at night, making the little sleep I was getting non existent.  I spend the majority of the night trying to find a position that doesn't hurt my hips, doesn't involve being on my back and allows my wrists to be straight so they don't DIE. 

My attempts to get comfortable are not working well and I just wake up pissed off and for the most part, miserable as far as my body goes.  At that point I limp to the couch where I sit like a lump all day with the fan on full blast praying the dog behaves so I don't have to attempt to get up and run after him.  Matt is such a lucky guy. 

I had my 37 week check up today, the first of my cervical checks.  I gained two more pounds, I'm 1/2 a centimeter dilated and 50% effaced, blood pressure and protein levels are perfect, so basically nothing is happening.  He is definitely head down, which is good.  I'm measuring right at 37 weeks but due to the family history of monster babies, my always amazing doctor scheduled an extra ultrasound for next week so we can measure him again.  If the tech was right and he was 6.5lbs two and a half weeks ago and is growing according to the expected half a pound a week, he's almost eight pounds right now.  If they measure him there again she might consider an early induction.  I'm almost praying for that because three more weeks of the non-sleeping discomfort might cause permanent mental damage.

Matt finished the board and batten in the nursery last night after probably 50 hours of really hard work and it looks AMAZING.  I almost started crying when I saw it done.  It is better than I could have imagined.  Today I'm going to clean out the closet (there's a lot of dust in there), wash and sort everything (again) and then tonight or tomorrow we'll probably set up the crib and really get things moving.  The crib bedding came last week and it's better than I could have hoped for, so it's nice to have that all done.  Now we have to buy the bookshelf, dresser, light, twin bed frame or base, curtains (which I may paint if I get the courage) and bedding for the twin bed , then we'll probably paint the dresser and eventually paint stripes on the one wall that doesn't have board and batten.  I'm also trying to figure out some kind of cool, original mobile type thing that won't cost a million bucks to go above the crib.  Obviously we're nowhere near done but the rest of the stuff is easy compared to the walls that Matt completed and hopefully one trip to Ikea will take care of most of the things we need and then we can get it all put together.

I had maternity pictures taken last week.  I found a photographer who I love and she had a full year package for babies - pics are taken when they're brand new, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and 12 months, so we decided to go with that so we didn't have to think about it anymore than that.  She was super generous and threw in a maternity session for me which I got pretty excited about until I remembered I was NINE MONTHS PREGNANT.  I spent all sorts of time trying to find outfits that didn't make me look like a whale, then my great friend Janae curled my hair, I spent for-ev-er on my make-up and my sister helped trek us out to the middle of the desert for our shoot in 106 degree weather.  God smiled on us that day because, despite the horrid temperature, there was a nice breeze and beautiful clouds from an impending Haboob which gave us amazing lighting and an even more amazing sunset.

Here's one of the pictures that the photographer posted on Facebook.  There are plenty more she took but I haven't seen them yet.  I love love love this one and I also promise I don't usually look like this.  She worked some serious magic.  If anyone who reads this lives in Phoenix and needs a photographer, you should probably hire Selena of Sorensen Studios.  She is really so so so amazing.

Well, that's it for now.  This chair is starting to hurt my butt and I've successfully made my hands numb while typing so I think it's time for me to resume my position on the couch and watch the final season of Felicity and pray about taking some caster oil to get this baby out of me.