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Yep – I’m a Joiner!
Welcome Dagny! Homebirth with Transfer…
She’s my third, but by FAR the most difficult labor. Whew.
I went into labor on Tuesday – water broke at 9am and I got SO excited! Waited for active contractions at about 9pm and then called the Doula and the MW to come on by.
Contractions were really painful. It never dawned on me to get into the tub or the shower, though, I needed to keep walking and even walked around the block…having contractions all the way. I even ended up doing the Macarena with the Doula at about 11pm. It was hilarious and fun.
Started pushing at about 7:30am on Wednesday and Dagny came roaring into my husband’s arms at 9:56am. She couldn’t seem to get un-blue. After an hour of chest to chest contact and oxygen and sucking out of mucus from her nose and mouth, the MW told me she needed to go to the hospital because she wasn’t “pinking up” – so we called 911 and my husband went with Dagny to the hospital while I got cleaned up and dressed to go to the hospital and see what there was to see.
Luckily the hospital has changed a LOT since I was last there. They were VERY pro BFing and she made it through her two day hospital stay with not one ounce of formula! She was fine after getting the mucus sucked out of her lungs at the hospital but the required tests they had to run kept her inside the hospital for 48 hours. Frustrating, but if a two day hospital stay is the price I pay for having my labor and delivery at home and getting a healthy baby out of the deal – I’ll take it!
She was 9lbs. 8oz. at birth – no broken clavicle (the nurse acted amazed nothing was broken!) and all the nursery nurses were amazed I was able to walk into the hospital to see my baby an hour after delivering her.
My midwife and doula came to the hospital with us. I was a little scared to go to the hospital after hearing and reading how homebirth transfers are treated. I was so blissfully happy (and pleasantly surprised) to find that no one – not the paramedics, the nurses, or the ER staff – judged us or gave us attitude for having a homebirth. They all thought it was really cool and just said in regards to her having a problem, “That’s what an ambulance is for!”
So it was a great experience even though it wasn’t the picture-perfect homebirth I’d envisioned. Go figure 
The best part was that the MW and doula had cleaned everything so by the time we got home from the hospital, my bed was waiting for me covered in clean pillowcases, sheets, and chux pads. It was the first time in two months I’d been able to sleep lying down and it was pure bliss.
Update: She’s 12 days old – almost two weeks! She’s healthy, happy, and alert. I’ve been sick since before she was born so my energy levels aren’t what they should be – as a result we’ve mixed breastfeeding with pumping so I can sleep through the night and hubby can get some middle of the night bonding time feeding Dagny. She seems to be able to go back and forth between bottle and breast without horrible confusion. Considering she has a heart shaped tongue because the little attachy-thing on the bottom comes all the way out to the tip I think we’re lucky we’re getting as much breastfeeding in as we are!
Unfortunately, due to an earache I’ve been staunchly avoiding all phone contact and because I’m sick and exhausted I’ve avoided most other contact (including computer) just trying to focus on getting well and being a new mom and making sure my existing kids get the attention they need.
But hey, on the bright side my lady bits are all healed and good to go. Fastest recovery time of all the kids. Yea!
The Sleep Schedule Starts To Break Down
I’m sure we all knew this was going to happen eventually.
I really feel I’ve been terribly lucky that I’ve been sleeping this well this long (today I’m at 39 weeks + 3 days) and even in my bed. My last two pregnancies I was sleeping sitting up in a chair from 37 weeks until the inductions at 38 weeks.
It’s weird that I’m on my third kid and can honestly say I’ve never been this pregnant before!
But last night it changed. I just lay there in bed, for hours, awake and in pain most of the night. My hip – more specifically my sciatic nerve – was throbbing unless I was “just so” in bed. I finally gave up at 5am and got up, took a shower, and went out to breakfast with a friend at about 7:30am.
This afternoon I took a two hour nap and now I feel all groggy and woozy.
I’m alternately relieved and horrified that the baby will probably show up this week. I’m so used to my current state of being that I can’t imagine it being any different.
On the bright side, if I continue to be unable to sleep in my bed, you can see Abby is ready to jump in and keep my side warm. LOL
I just said to my stomach, “You ready yet baby? Because I certainly am!” She kicked a few times in response. Talking to something inside of my body and having it respond to my voice is SO creepy.
I Keep Surfing College Websites
Randy has not only been doing all the remodeling in the home, he’s also been doing all the work.
My job has seriously been “be pregnant and healthy and then have the baby.”
I may go mad.
So, in order to have a plan, I keep trying to decide what to do next. If you know me, you know I’m always trying to figure out what to do next. Resting on the past or relishing in the moment are just not how I get through the day. One of the reasons I stopped working last month is because I knew I needed to get ready to focus on the newborn – to the exclusion of most everything else – at least for the first month.
From cloth diapering to breastfeeding, figuring out how to just be a mom is going to be the biggest challenge of my life. Because even if I’m “just” a mom, that’s the biggest, hairiest, scariest JUST in history. For me it’s right up there with saying something like “it’s just nuclear warfare” – you can say just but that doesn’ t make it smaller.
So I keep thinking of what’s next.
Do I want to go back to writing after the baby is old enough? Do I want to be a stay-at-home-mom for a while and focus on keeping a nice house and cooking dinner and enriching the lives of my children?
I have no idea. I also know that any decisions I make now are probably going to be pointless by the time I’m actually able to do something else. Because in a few months my life may look drastically different and planning for the unknown is usually pointless.
It’s like trying to figure out X+Y=Z without knowing what X and Z are.
But even though I know it’s pointless, I still peruse and search and think and plan and plot.
Because I don’t like sitting here waiting for the baby to be ready to come into the world. I don’t like not knowing what happens next. I’m just not wired to sit back and enjoy my status around here as “She who is about to give birth so has to do nothing but rest and relax.” It’s BORING.
So this weekend I’ll go to the bookstore, and probably have some crazy water-breaking-in-public fiasco to distract me. Or maybe I’ll just waddle around the bookstore and glare at people who stare at my abdomen looking like an alien is trying to bust its way out of my stomach - it could go either way.
Until then, I’ll keep visualizing my cervix opening. I searched for a picture of a cervix online to see what I was visualizing. Don’t do that. It’s not pretty.
38 Weeks = Insanity
So – Friday the magic ticker clicked over to 38 weeks and I realized that baby is done cooking and could now come at any time. Sure it still might be four more weeks (many a woman goes to 42 weeks, so I’ve heard) but it could also be tomorrow, or in fifteen minutes.
The control freak in me does not like this.
In the meantime those Humane Society commercials keep coming on. Those make me cry SO hard, but I also can’t make myself change the channel and I snuggle my dogs a little to make me feel better.
Laundry is being done – I’m not sure if the front bathroom is even going to be done in time but who knows. I am pretty excited the last layer of patch is going on right now, then a coat of primer on the greenboard, then … finally … it will be time to paint!
Everything else for baby is basically ready. Well, as ready as anyone can be for a baby to come into the world. (Which really isn’t very ready at all. LOL) My job at this point is to just finish gestating. Stay active but not too active, relax but don’t stay in bed 24/7 (not that I could with my girls running around!) keep my feet up but drink lots of water.
And avoid Humane Society commercials like the PLAGUE – because they make me CRY.
Oh, and I have to put together a potential playlist as well as the “Honey, I’m in labor, call these people” and a “Honey, we have baby, call these people” lists.
The problem is if I think about it for too long I get all freaked out and then just get all distracted and listen to an archived episode of the Dave Ramsey Show (His voice is so hypnotic and calming, maybe I should listen to him while I give birth! Ha!)
I’ve had some practice contractions every few hours, so just in case I forget she could come any moment…well…yeah, my body is kind enough to remind me. You know, just in case I manage to relax.
Oh! One other thing…the Swiffer SweeperVac is awesome! It has just enough suction to pull up the junk that ends up on my floor (cereal bits, etc) but is pretty quiet – that means my kids don’t freak out and my dogs don’t bark incessantly at it while in use – the way they used to with the vacuum! So now I have this cool habit where on one day I’ll use the sweeper vac and then the next day I’ll use the wet cloths and so on…that way the floor stays looking good. Anything I can do while pregnant to not feel utterly worthless around the house is great for my self esteem – plus it keeps the house looking great!
Note: I bought my Swiffer Sweep Vac all on my own. Okay, to be honest, my husband drove to the store and bought it, so I did have assistance…but I didn’t get it free and am not being sponsored by the company. I just dig having a clean floor.
My Pregnancy Craving: Cherry Slurpees
My last two pregnancies didn’t see a whole lot of craving action.
But this one…oh my…the cherry slurpee has been my demon mistress. Cravings visiting me at random times from dawn ’till the wee hours of the morning. Singing her sugary-frozen lullaby into my ear.
This time around I noticed there was a code on my slurpee cup and I got all excited, thinking I could win a t-shirt or some other fun reminder of my craving for years to come…or take a picture of the baby in the shirt…or something…
But after entering codes into the online slurpee site, it’s all point based. You can’t just, you know, spend points on a shirt. You have to spend points to enter the sweepstakes to win the shirt.
Bunk.
At that point, without the possibility of instant win, it’s just not worth the effort to enter in all those flippin’ codes after having to log into the system and then type in the stupid captcha code – because some asshat wants to game the stupid slurpee.com site and win all the amazing prizes…you know, prizes like iPhone wallpapers of slurpees. (There are other prizes but I’m just not feeling them either.)
So I will just drink my slurpee and toss the cup without entering the code. And no, I will not send you my codes. Because typing in sixteen digit codes for sweepstakes entries is pointless, typing them in to give to someone else for their sweepstakes entries is even MORE pointless – if that’s even possible.
I feel I’m already doing more than enough to participate in the success of the slurpee industry by repeatedly paying two bucks for flavored shaved-ice water.
Image Source: beej55
Ha! Things are NOT as Bad as They Seemed!
Randy (aka the BEST husband EVER) decided he did not want to sleep without me.
So, fifteen minutes and seven pillows later, I was propped comfortably in my bed and able to sleep. Pain-free for the most part. I had to reposition a few times during the night, but that’s certainly nothing new.
Best husband ever is also at an interview right now. I’m excited for him. The fact that if he did get and take this job it would start Monday after next (the 31st of August) and would mean he would be working full time while I’m having the baby increases the chances he will actually get the job by like ten thousand percent. You know how it is. The more it will throw your life into a huge bushel of chaos, the more likely it is to happen.
Unless that’s just how my life works.
But I’m excited for him. I’m excited that baby is almost here. I’m excited I can still sleep in my own bed. I’m thrilled my husband is smart and resourceful and found a solution so I didn’t have to spend a month sitting up on the couch trying to sleep and being utterly crabby.
All is well.
Totally Torn Between Sleeping and Working
Don’t get me wrong, working isn’t even remotely possible. I stare at the computer screen and basically drool on myself while trying to concentrate for more than ten seconds.
Because last night is officially the first night of the rest of my pregnancy.
That means I’ll be on the couch (probably) every night from here until baby decides to make her grand entrance. Head down, cramping all over the place, and the hip thing make it totally impossible for me to sleep in my own bed. So it’s couch time for me for the next four weeks and two days (ish). This means my quality of sleep will suffer simply due to the fact that I won’t be sleeping in my bed. It’s not like you can snuggle up and turn over when you’re sitting upright.
In between drooling on myself and not sleeping I keep thinking of things I might like to do once I’m on the other side of being pregnant.
Then I remember that this isn’t the worst part of pregnancy. The worst part is when it’s over and I become a human feedbag. (FYI, I laugh when I refer to myself as a human feedbag. It’s not a bitter thing.)
But I’d love to be able to lay down and go to sleep right now, but with my mom here and the girls here I kind of have to be a referee between them and her to make sure they don’t freak her out or overwhelm her too badly. While I’m thrilled mom is here, she’s not the suzy homemaker type so it’s not like she shows up and cleans my house and cares for my kids and stuff. Although she did watch them this morning and I’m totally thankful for that. I’m not an ingrate, I just know my mom’s limits and I respect them.
Oh, I’m part of the My Best Birth Ning social network and they have an interesting video of Melissa Joan Hart talking about her homebirth experience. (Part 1 is of her hospital experience and gets a wee bit gruesome toward the end, just a warning.) It still kind of hurts my brain to think of Sabrina the Teenage Witch having babies. Maybe I’m just being narrow minded.
Disclaimer: I was not compensated for this post. There will be a book giveaway (possibly) that I feel is worth participating in because I like what they’re saying and want more people to have access to the information. Too many people look at me with shock and fear when they hear I’m having a homebirth. Yes, it could go wrong. Yes, I could end up with a c-section in the hospital. That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try!
Keeping My Feet Up (And I’m Sick! WooHoo!)
Gram’s birthday was great yesterday.
There was some serious family drama to the tune of a family member trying to convince us she needed my gram’s photo ID, proof of income, and the wheelchair to “take her places sometimes” and how she needs a reference for something (because references need photo IDs and proof of income..uh huh…suuuuure they do…)
So today we had to send over the muscle to talk to them about how they know gram was diagnosed and anything she signs, since they know she was diagnosed, is fraud because she is unable to sign anything at this point.
Gaaaah!
My mother will be here tonight. Her flight leaves at 4:55 Las Vegas time (that’s Pacific for those of you who can convert easily) and she’ll be in Chicago at 10:30pm. Oh, wait, looks like her flight is early and she may be back here with us by 10:30pm! Woohoo!
I’m hoping she’ll watch the kids tomorrow so Randy can take me to the midwife appointment without the kids. They’re still sick. I’ve had my feet up most of the evening because I had a heart palpitation earlier and I’m not taking any chances. Nothing has happened since, so I’m sure I’m fine (this happens every pregnancy so it’s not unusual or new.)
I’m sick now, too. Like, put me in bed I feel warm and unhappy and my voice is all kinds of whiny sick. I bet you money those darn kids gave it to me. That’s what I get for putting my kids in summer programs – germs, germs, germs!
Of course, why wouldn’t I be sick when my mom comes to visit. It will make her visit SO much more enjoyable for me to be flouncing around the house whimpering and acting like the drama-queen I am when I’m not well.
Of course, after spending the first four months of this pregnancy sick with everything from an ear infection to the flu, maybe I’ll be able to power through a little sinus/throat bug. My fingers are crossed.
I’m going to give the kids some Vitamin D and take some myself. Get this bug right outta my house!
