Mabel's Birth Story

Mabel Kay made her arrival at 11:04 pm on Tuesday, April 11th, weighing 6 lbs 12 ounces at 20.5 inches long.  If birth stories aren't your thing, feel free to skip this post.  (I mostly just wrote it so I wouldn't forget the details.)

Around 9 pm as I headed to bed on Monday, I started noticing infrequent contractions.  I tried not to get too excited since I had been having evening/ night contractions on and off for weeks.  I stayed up watching Netflix until about 11 pm when I finally fell asleep.  About 1.5 hours into sleep, I woke up with pretty painful contractions that felt like Charlie horses.  I couldn't fall back to sleep in between contractions, so I got up and headed to the couch for the rest of the night.  Around 4 am or so I started timing them, and they were anywhere from 10-20 minutes apart. 

Jason and Matilda eventually got up for the day.  At this point, I was pretty sure it was early labor.  Matilda had school that day and she wanted me to go with them to drop her off.  We were sure to tell her teachers that we thought I might be in labor and that one of Matilda's uncles would probably pick her up.  I was a bit worried at this point since my contractions hadn't got any closer, so I put a call into my doctor just in case.  They had me go ahead and head up to labor and delivery to get checked out. 

We headed home to finish packing our hospital bag, and probably got to L&D a bit before 11 am.  They said I was a centimeter dilated and told me to head home until my contractions were 3-5 minutes apart.  So, we picked up Chick-fil-a on our way home.  Jordan met us at the house to eat lunch and hang out for a bit.  Jason installed a car seat in Jordan's car in case anything progressed so he would have it for Matilda.  I ate and went to lay down to rest.  At this point, my contractions quickly dropped to consistently 10 minutes apart, and then all of the sudden, with little to no warning (around 1 pm), they were 3-5 minutes apart.  I had tried a heating pad to help with the pain, but what worked the best was me standing, leaning over, and Jason pushing on my lower back during every contraction.

We had Jordan head to pick up Matilda and since we were nearly an hour into the 3-5 minute contractions, we made the call to go ahead and head back up to L&D before Jordan and Matilda got back to the house.

We got to L&D between 2-3 pm.  We were only in the triage room for a very short bit before they sent us to our labor room.  I tried to labor as long as I could without the epidural, but by 6 pm, I was exhausted and fighting the contractions rather than relaxing through them.  I pretty much just sat with my eyes closed, cross-legged on the labor bed, afraid to move, with Jason pushing on my lower back until I asked for the epidural around 6 pm.  My water also broke around this same time.

As crunchy as I am, the epidural was the best decision I made that day.  It took them about an hour to get everything ready, but once it was in, I felt like a human again.  I was surprised how much feeling I still had with the epidural.  I could feel my legs and feet, the tops of the contractions, and could change positions on the bed if needed.

Mary, our L&D nurse, left Jason and I to rest for a bit.  I put on a podcast and tried to rest, but within 30 minutes or so, Mary rushed back in to start monitoring the baby a bit a closer.  Within minutes, we had 10-12 nurses and doctors in the room.  Mabel's heartbeat had started to dip to the 90 range during contractions.  They assured us this is not uncommon when a labor is progressing quickly, but because of my previous C-section, they needed to make sure I wasn't experiencing a uterine rupture or anything else that could be causing the baby distress.  Sure enough, I had dilated from about 4 centimeters when they administered the epidural to 6 centimeters within the hour.  Within about 30 more minutes, I was 7 centimeters dilated.

I was fairly calm through the excitement.  Besides some pretty bad shakes, I was feeling ok.  They put a heartrate monitor on Mabel's scalp, added some more "amniotic" type of fluid back into me, and had me rotate from side to side during contractions to see if maybe her cord was getting compressed in certain positions.  At this point, I was so thankful I had gotten the epidural.  I would have been miserable trying to labor naturally through all of that.  Also, in case they did need to make the decision to head to an emergency C-section, I wouldn't have to be put under general anesthesia.

Mabel's heartbeat finally stabilized and my doctor arrived and made the decision to let me continue to labor.  About two hours later, around 10 pm, I asked Mary if she thought Mabel was going to be born on the 11th or 12th.  She said it was hard to say.  I told her I had been feeling pressure down low and my contractions had been about 1-2 minutes apart, so she went ahead and checked me again.  Sure enough, I was fully dilated and Mabel was sitting low enough for me to start pushing. 

She set up delivery table and within an hour, Mabel was born.  I had been worried about her being sunny side up for delivery since she had been crazy active during labor and I had thought I had felt some kicks in the front.  Luckily, she was in a good position for delivery.  There was some meconium during the final phase, but the NICU nurses quickly checked her out and handed her back to me for skin on skin time.  She took about 15-30 minutes to be interested in feeding, but eventually made a decent attempt. 

I think the hardest part of the whole experience was going into labor in the middle of one night and delivering in the middle of the next.  By Wednesday morning, I realized that I had only had 1.5 hours of sleep since Sunday night. 

The rest of our hospital stay was relatively calm. Matilda meeting her little sis was one of the happiest and cutest moments I've ever experienced.  She was so excited to finally meet her.

Here are some pictures from the rest of our hospital stay...

All dressed up and ready to head home...

And in case you were wondering, newborn Mabel and Matilda look nothing alike...

It will be interesting to see if they have any similar features as they continue to grow.

My Pregnancy with Miss Mabel

This poor pregnancy has hardly been documented.  It's kind of sad compared to how detailed I was with my first pregnancy.  Last time I took such great weekly pictures with monthly blog updates; this time I was lucky to have snapped a few pictures of me in PJ's in the dirty bathroom mirror.

And I can't say it's been because this pregnancy has been so similar to the last.  In fact, this pregnancy has been very different. 

The first trimester was pretty similar overall.  I was just very, very tired the entire time.  (Jason kept saying he didn't remember me being this tired last time, but I reassured him I was.)  This time however, I had some morning sickness between weeks 10 and 18.  It was always first thing in the morning, and usually triggered by smell (like freshly brewing coffee).  I could usually curb it by eating Cheerios in bed before I even stood up.  Luckily, it went away a bit into the 2nd trimester, and it never lasted into the day like some women's do.

November 12th - 19 weeks

Another thing that was different from our pregnancy with Matilda is that we chose to do some genetic screenings at 14 weeks.  We just did one of the basic blood work screenings that showed a low likelihood of chromosomal disorders.  We also found out through the blood work that we were having another girl.  While we would have been happy with a boy or a girl, I think both of us were leaning towards a girl because we already knew what to expect and we already had a bunch of girl stuff.

November 22nd - 20 weeks

The 20 week anatomy scan was good other than the fact that they thought she might have a hole between the two lower chambers of her heart (VSD).  We had a fetal echocardiogram a few weeks later.  It didn't note any major heart defects, but apparently it's not detailed enough to pick up small holes like the one they thought she might have had.  Plus, small holes can close themselves either before or after birth.  The doctor just recommended that the pediatrician check for a murmur at birth, and we'll go from there.

 December 13th - 23 weeks

I don't remember many huge complaints during the second trimester, other than a sinus infection around 23 weeks.  I've had some hip discomfort, but not the sharp/ throbbing sciatic nerve pain I had with Matilda.  Usually, if I don't sit on the floor for long periods of time or overdo it physically, my hips are ok this time around.

December 22nd - 24.5 weeks

Another bump in the road in this pregnancy was that I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes around 28 weeks.  The test was the day after I came back from a work trip where I had indulged in too many sweets.  Based on my blood sugar levels (they had me testing 4x a day, and now 2x), I am highly skeptical that I actually have it.  I've just had to watch my carbs, but as long as I eat reasonably, my sugars have been fine.

Another weird symptom that started around this point was swelling ankles.  I already have hardy enough ankles without the swelling.  I've learned that keeping my feet elevated or wearing compression socks has helped.

January 14th - 28 weeks

Matilda grabbed my phone one day at the park and took the pictures of me above. :)

 January 24th - 29 weeks

Since I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes, they have me alternating between ultrasounds and fetal non-stress tests (NST)'s at every doctor's visit.  They've all been A-Okay.  The ultrasounds check the amniotic fluid levels, do a biophysical profile, and check her growth.  She's still been on the small side during all of the ultrasounds (less than 25%), so they haven't been worried she's getting too big (which is a complication of gestational diabetes).  The NST's just monitor her heart rate for a bit and make sure she's active.

Another plus of the frequent ultrasounds, is that we've been able to confirm she's been heads down pretty much the entire pregnancy.  No extraordinary attempts to flip this baby have been necessary!

February 8th - 31 weeks 

February 10 - 31.5 weeks

At 34 weeks, I had a bit of a scare and ended up in labor and delivery for 2-3 hours.  I was having contractions every 2-5 minutes.  Since they weren't painful and I wasn't dilating, they just made me drink a bunch of water and sent me home.  I've had contractions on and off since then.  They'll usually last a few hours, but don't intensify and usually dissipate after awhile.  Other than a few sporadic Braxton Hicks contractions with Matilda (usually when working out), I never had anything close to consistent contractions or labor. 

February 25th - 34 weeks

Good thing Miss Mabel didn't come early, because my office threw me a sweet baby shower at 35 weeks.  It was beautifully decorated, the cakes were delicious, and the gifts were so generous.  :)

March 6 - 35 weeks

 

March 10th - 36 weeks

As far as weight gain, I think I'm up about 24 pounds at this point.  I gained a lot of weight early on with this pregnancy (probably due to not being as active this time around), but once I started monitoring my diet with the gestational diabetes, my weight gain plateaued a bit.  I've only gained about 3-4 pounds the entire third trimester (which is usually when women gain most of the weight).

 March 22nd - 37.5 weeks

I'm at the point in this pregnancy (39 weeks) where I am ready for Miss Mabel's arrival.  Her movements have become painful, I'm not sleeping great, my legs have been cramping, and we're just generally anxious to meet her.  Matilda comes into our room every morning and peeks into the pack and play and asks, "Is Baby Sister here yet?"  It's so sweet and pretty much captures all of our sentiments. 

March 26th - 38 weeks

We're hoping for a successful VBAC this time around.  If I don't have Mabel before my due date, my doctor will let me go to about 41 weeks to try to have her naturally.  If I'm not showing any progress, we'll have to schedule another C-section.  She won't induce unless I'm already in labor and have just stalled.  That's one reason we'd be perfectly happy if she decides to make her appearance this week.  Last time around, this is when we had our scheduled C-section with Matilda, so playing the waiting game is new for us.  We can't wait to meet Miss Mabel.

DIY Maternity Photos (x2)

Ok, I've been terrible about documenting this pregnancy.  I eventually plan on writing a post about how it's been going/ went (depending on when I get around to it), but I did want to do some maternity pics before Miss Mabel makes her arrival.  Luckily, she's stayed put to 38 weeks, so I got some in today. 

Just like last time, I just took some DIY ones here at the house.  I'm glad I got some shots in since I've been so bad about taking pictures of myself this time around.  :)

Here's a comparison of me 37/38 weeks pregnant with Matilda and 38 weeks with Mabel.  Pretty darn similar if you ask me.

I got a few of Matilda and I when she woke up from nap too.

39 Weeks

How far along: 39 weeks tomorrow. 

 

Symptoms: A big uncomfortable baby in my belly.  Not exactly a symptom, but dang it can be uncomfortable when she punches, kicks, and moves these days.  Her breech position is especially crazy... she has one leg up and one leg down, so I get kicks and stretches all over the place. 

 

Weight gain: 2.5 pounds during the last three weeks and 23.5 pounds overall.

 

Fetal Movement: Always.  There was one day that Jason and I thought she was trying to flip into a heads down position.  (That or trying to claw her way out of the top of my belly.)  She was going crazy in there.  Arms and legs everywhere.  She still gets hiccups every few hours as well. 

 

Prenatal care: Even though I'm scheduled for a C-section with a doctor in the practice, I've continued my weekly appointments with the midwives.  They midwives have been great so far.  My last three visits have mostly consisted of checking my weight, urine, fundal growth, and position of the baby, as well as answering any questions and discussing any concerns we've had about her breech position and the C-section.  Today I had my pre-op consultation with the anesthesiologists.  Looks like we're all set for the operation.

 

Nesting: Just continued putting up our shower gifts and making sure the house is nice and tidy for when we bring her home.

 

Worries: While we've warmed up to the idea of a C-section, I'm still nervous for the actual procedure and the recovery afterwards.  Sounds like the immediate recovery from the operation could involve nausea, migraines, and shaking.  I'm not looking forward to feeling hung over in my first moments with our daughter.  But, I'm mostly just hoping that Matilda is healthy and doesn't have any complications at birth.

 

What I'll Miss:  I've really enjoyed being pregnant.  Of course, being nearly symptom free (no nausea, not-so-terrible aches & pains, no significant swelling, etc.) the entire time has helped.  It's been fun having her grow and move in there.  I've also enjoyed not feeling guilty about a little extra ice-cream and sweets here and there. 

Just incase you forgot what I looked like just a few short months ago and how far I've come, here's a reminder:
 

Looking forward to: As much as I've enjoyed the adventure of pregnancy, I'm looking forward to the adventure of parenthood.  I cannot wait to see my daughter for the first time, hug and kiss her, and make sure she is okay. 

On a lesser note, I'm looking forward to all the luxuries of not being pregnant: sleeping on my stomach (eventually), not peeing what feels like every two minutes, sushi, deli meat, beer & wine, greater quantities of caffeine, etc.  After a few weeks of rest, I look forward to working out again and eventually running again. 

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers this week! 

DIY Maternity Photos

Since we're getting so close to our "new" due date and I really hadn't taken many belly pictures other than the quick weekly snapshots, I decided to try my hand at taking a few DIY maternity pictures.  For an hour out of my day, I don't think they turned out half bad.  I had fun playing with the silhouette pictures.  I've never tried anything like that before, so it was fun.  Glad I got these in before our little girl's arrival!

 

Breech Update

Today we had our ECV to try to flip Matilda into a heads down position.  Unfortunately, it was unsuccessful.  We could get her almost half way there, but there just wasn't enough room in my tummy to get her all the way over.  As a result, we've scheduled a C-section for April 9th... 13 days away! 

I'm a bit bummed.  I've spent the past 8 months preparing for a natural birth.  My prenatal care has been with a group of midwives that promote natural births.  I read Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, researched the Bradley method, and took natural childbirth classes with a doula.  I've continued exercising and eating healthy.  I've been sitting in the tailor position and doing pelvic tilts.  Ha.  I don't know what else we could be doing to prepare for a natural birth. 

But, the universe (and this silly baby) had other plans for us.  Now we'll just make the best out of the situation and try to go into the C-section with good attitudes.  I guess either way we get to meet our daughter, so in the end that's what counts. 

Jason's been a super duper wonderful husband and was a huge help through today's procedure.  It was a bit rougher than I had imagined, so it was great having him by my side (or rather behind my head) reminding me to breathe.  He's already done a ton of research about C-section recoveries, and he's taking extra time off when the baby comes to help with things around the house.  He's the best.

Now we'll just be counting down the days until we get to meet sweet Matilda.

36 Weeks

 

How far along: 36 weeks today.  One more month to go.  28 more days until Matilda's estimated due date.

 

Symptoms: Ummm... I don't think there's anything new to report.  Still having achy hips, especially while sleeping.  I'm looking forward to not flipping from side to side every couple hours when I wake up from achy hips. 

 

Weight gain: 3.5 pounds during the last four weeks and 21 pounds overall. 

 

Fetal Movement: So, after my 34 week appointment, Matilda learned to flip.  And flip and flip and flip.  Too bad she won't stay in a head down position.  As of our appointment this morning, she was still breech.  :(

 

Prenatal care: I'm kinda tired of going to doctor's visits.  My prenatal appointments are every week from here on out.  Plus, I've been seeing a chiropractor once or twice a week to help flip the baby.  On top of that, my allergies and asthma have flared up in the past couple of weeks (dang tree pollen), so I had to go see an allergist last week.  Also, I've had to go get my blood work done a few times to make sure my thyroid levels are in check.  Ugh.  So needless to say, I'm exhausted from all of these appointments.  I can't imagine how women with high risk pregnancies feel with more frequent visits and monitoring. 

 

Nesting: After our shower a few weeks ago, we washed all of Matilda's goodies and Jason put together the stroller.  Her room is pretty much set up and ready to go. 

 

Worries: This whole breech thing is stressing me out.  I feel like we've been doing as much as we can to turn her ourselves, and nothing is working.  I'm seeing a chiropractor that specializes in the Webster Technique.  I'm doing the inversion, breech tilt, and rebozo techniques from Spinning Babies.  The only thing we haven't tried is moxibustion, because honestly, burning an herb that smells like pot at your toes sounds a bit wacky to me. 

 

We have an appointment for a doctor to perform an External Cephalic Version ("ECV" or "version" for short) next week.  The procedure freaks me out a bit.  They prepare you for a C-section just incase anything goes wrong.  Also, I'm not looking forward to the drugs they give you to relax your uterus during the procedure.  They can make your heart race, and usually I'm pretty sensitive to medications, so it just scares me a bit.  But, our other options at this point are to hope Matilda turns on her own or schedule a C-section for 39-40 weeks, so I guess attempting an ECV will be worth it.  Let's just pray she turns on her own before the procedure so we can cancel it.

 

Looking forward to: I'm looking forward to Matilda turning on her own so we can have a natural, worry-free delivery.  Ha.  Well, either way, no matter what the labor/ C-section outcome is, I'm looking forward to meeting Matilda.  We're getting so close!  Down to the final stretch!  Let's hope for the best outcome!