The Sanders' Jungle: March 2012

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Sibling love

David is really warming up to Sarah:

Aar flower booty:

Good night kisses:

Sarah Ann's Birth Story - by Dad

Today was leap day Feb 29th, 2012. I read somewhere that only 1/1500 of births are on leap day, which is less than what I would expect since that is less than the number of days in 4 years, and I would think many would schedule deliveries for that day if it was in their birthing window. I always thought that it might be cool to only age every 4 years and have a birthday on leap day. Just think by age 84 your really only 21 again! :)

I had seen some TV shows earlier in the week that seemed to all be leap day themed TV shows (such as 30 Rock), which I thought was interesting. I certainly find February 29th to be an interesting day, it does only come once every 4 years, which is much rarer than any other day on the calendar :). While it is just another day, there is something special about that day. I wonder why there is nothing scheduled country wide to celebrate that day (such as Valentines Day), but then I suppose the marketing companies wouldn't make big money if they did have some sort of holiday that occurred only every 4th year.

My wife was due to have our second child (Sarah Ann) on March 14th, which was still two weeks away (but in the birthing window). She had seemed convinced that because our son was a week late that this one too would be late. While we had packed and were mostly ready for the Sarah to come, the urgency hadn't really set in yet.

For whatever reason that leap day felt just like another Wednesday. I was scheduled to work a half day, and was running around trying to get everything that needed to get done at work before heading home, and then to our normal weekly appointment at the birth center (at 1:30). It was about 9:00 and my wife calls.

"What are you doing" she asked. "Just working" I responded. There was a pause there, like I should know why she would be calling me. I recall with our son every time she would call I would ask if it was time to go to the birthing center. For whatever reason her call did not seem peculiar to me, even though most of our communication is relayed through text messaging. That is when she informed me that she was having contractions, 5 minutes apart, lasting like 30 seconds each. To me that seemed fairly progressed and minor panic set in, so I asked if I should rush home so we could get going to the birthing center (which was 90 minutes away after the 20 minute trip home, and then time to pack the car). Her response was as if it was probably nothing and would go away (fake labor), so I shouldn't be too overly worried. Since the birthing center is far away, we both thought it would be better if we were close to there, so we decided I would finish up what I needed to at work, then come home and pack.

When I got home, there was no change in the contractions, still like 5 minutes apart and 30 seconds each. Even though we would be early for our appointment we decided to go ahead and travel to the birth center. We dropped off our son with my mom, and we headed off to the birth center. We had extra time, so in a town along the way we stopped at Arby's (one of her favorite places to eat) and Long John Silvers (she doesn't like to go there, so it is special to me..). One of the Long John Silver employees was sitting in the establishment eating food from a neighboring restaurant, which I thought was funny, but understandable, I wouldn't want to eat Fried Fish/Chicken every day (and probably especially after I see how it is prepared...).

Once we got to our destination we were still rather early, so we stopped at Wal-Mart, and wandered around the whole store. Maybe we should be featured as part of the people at Wal-Mart, a couple aimlessly wondering the store while having contractions/labor. Not as weird as some, but definitely interesting :). We went looking for some baby clothes in search of something uber cute that is newborn size that would be better than what we had for the outfit to take Sarah home in, but the selection was terribly limited. Just then we found something that we just had to have! Angry Birds stuffed ball toys! Our son LOVES Angry Birds, so we just knew he had to have those. Then we went to Albertson's to see if they have some things our local grocery store does not have. To our amazement they did have the bread my wife prefers, but they stopped carrying at our local grocer. Hurray! After our shopping splurge we were still 20 minutes early for our appointment, so we went on a walk nearby the birth center. Post walk we went to our normally scheduled midwifery appointment. During this time there continued to be no change in the contractions: 5 minutes-ish apart lasting 30 seconds.

My wife was a fingertip dilated, and of course she didn't have any contractions while the midwives were there to see what the contractions were like. After discussing with the midwives a little bit we decided to shop around town until 4:00 and see if there was any progression.

Our first stop was a consignment store, we wandered there for a while. There was some interesting items there, but nothing we had to have. Afterward we went looking for a coffee shop, one with free wi-fi. The coffee shop was basically empty the entire time we were there, I suppose that 3:00 PM is not the prime time for the coffee shop (although our local Starbucks seems packed at all hours of the day). I tried an Italian Soda while we were there, it was definitely not for me. Hopefully I can remember to never order that again, and as I read this over the years hope to remind myself, do not order an Italian soda, regardless of how good the picture looks! We made it to four o'clock and it was time to head back to the midwifery.

There had been no change to the contractions. Was this fake labor? How long would this continue for? Without any progress we decided that instead of sticking around in a hotel we would travel back home. We went home and got there about 6:30.

My wife had been pretty tired for most of the day, so she went to lay down. I got busy getting dinner ready for our son and the animals. I had been periodically checking on my wife, and it appeared that the labor had been progressing slightly. The contractions were becoming more painful, and she was having some trouble resting. We decided we should get back to the birth center, and we left our son off at my mom’s house at about 7:30. We also called the midwife to let them know we were on our way and expect to be there at about 9:00 PM.

I think that every father-to-be's nightmare must be having to deliver the baby while on the road to the hospital. Based on the length of time of labor/pushing for our son, I wasn't really worried about it. I was expecting a long labor, with a couple of hours of pushing, so I was not terribly worried about having to do the delivery in the car. Amazingly I drove the speed limit or less (due to nighttime conditions). Her labor was definitely progressing, she was starting to breath heavier, and I could tell it was more painful. However she continued to use the contraction tracker application on her phone, so again I was not too worried about an immediate birth, based on our last birth there was a point that the contractions were painful enough and close enough together that she stopped using the application to focus on the labor.

We made it to the birth center right before 9:00. She was having a contraction so we waiting in the car until the contraction was over. She calmly let the midwife and intern know that her contractions were now like 4 minutes apart and lasting for a minute or so. We went into the birth room to be checked out, where she promptly had another strong contraction. This one reminded me of the later labor contractions she was having the first birth, so I knew we were close, but still figured about 2-3 hours away. (After discussing with he afterward this one was the same as the ones in the car, so she was closer to pushing than I thought)

My wife needed to use the restroom, so I went to start bringing stuff in from the car. Also the pilot light in the heater for the room we were going to use was out, and I was going to try to get that re-lit. I brought everything in, and went to look at the heater. The midwives had moved my wife to the other room, and I didn't hear any noises coming from the other room. I looked at the heater for a couple of minutes and decided that I should check on my wife and see how she was doing.

When I went in the midwife told me that my wife was complete, as she left the room to call the other midwife and (I presume) the other intern to let them know the status, and probably let them know they better get there quick! My wife was laying on he side on the bed clearly in pain, so I rushed over to he side to hold her hand. I could tell that these were not normal contractions, it was time to push! Wow that was quick! My wife confirmed that she had the pushing urge, and the midwife quickly came back in. Shortly thereafter her water broke. After a couple of other contractions we moved my wife to sit up on the bed, to get her in a more comfortable position. A couple of contractions/pushes later the midwife could see the head. I tried to look, but didn't really have a good vantage point. I was at my wife's right side holding he hand, not really knowing how else I could help but by trying to be as supportive as possible. This was definitely different than our first time around!

The midwife told my wife that the head was coming and she was able to reach down and touch Sarah's head. My wife was able to keep her hand on the babies head and was able to judge the progress of the birth. A couple more pushes and the head was out! The midwife was very happy that my wife was able to basically deliver the baby into her own hand. It was pretty amazing! It was just before now that the second intern and the second midwife were able to arrive, and just in time too! Here comes Sarah! Another couple of pushed and she was here, right at 9:24 (Which happens to be the exact time that our son was born at as well). We had been at the birth center less than 30 minutes and we were new parents! What a whirlwind! The umbilical cord was a little shorter and didn't have much slack to get all the way up to my wife's chest. The midwives had me cut the umbilical cord to allow free movement of the baby.

Both mommy and baby were healthy, and doing great. In fact this time my wife didn't tear, lost a lot less blood, and with the quick pushing stage her muscles weren't as soar. The midwives were able to get the cord blood, and then did all of the normal birth checks/documentation as appropriate for the birth. Sarah was 20" long and 6lbs 9.5 oz.

Shortly after the birth gave both our parents a call to let them know that Sarah was here. My mom was actually on the phone with my wife's parents when I called, none of them expected that the birth would be so fast. Neither did my wife or I, but it did. It did allow for a quick recovery for my wife, and for that I am thankful. The next time I think we will just stay the night near the birth center, and not risk the trip home and then back up to the birth center.

The midwives let us stay the night at the birth center, which allowed us to relax and settle in for the night. The next morning we had the day after wellness check, and everything was good, so we went home to enjoy the new addition to the family. When at home our son did fine with the new addition, while he did not want to be near Sarah, he did want to know where she was at. He has been great with the newest member of the family, and I know he will be a great older brother! :)

Sarah Ann's Birth Story - by Mom

I was 100% convinced that Sarah was going to arrive late, just like her brother (who joined us at 41weeks gestation). She was due 3/14/12, I had planned to work until Friday 3/16. I had a plan in my mind to make a midwife appointment for the morning of the 16^th and have my mom go with me then go out for pizza, just like we did when waiting for David, then hope she would join us a couple days later, just like he did. Well, she decided to surprise us early.

On the morning of February 29^th I woke up a few times with stomach pains, but didn’t really think about it, as random pains had become common with my very pregnant body. I got up for the day around 7:30 when David let me know he was awake. I soon noticed that I was having what seemed to be very mild contractions, they were slightly painful, which the Braxton hicks that I’d been having for months never were. I didn’t believe that they were real, as it was far too early. I set up David with breakfast and jumped in the shower. We continued on with our morning and I decided to call Robert to tell him that I thought I was having contractions. When I called he said it didn’t even cross his mind that this could be “the” call. I told him I wasn’t sure they were real and I’d call him back if anything changed. He sounded pretty excited and said he would try to get a few things wrapped up. David and I then headed to the barn to feed the horses, I was timing my contractions with an iPhone app and they were anywhere from 4-10min apart and lasting only 30sec. Robert called back and said he would rather be home just in case and left work.

I texted my friend Kelly to see if she was available to watch David until Robert’s mom got off work. We had a midwife appointment at the birth center in Taos scheduled for 1:30 that afternoon anyway, so I just called them to let them know what was happening, we decided we shouldn’t take David (we usually do) just in case. We dropped David off with Kelly and headed up about an hour early. We stopped at Arby’s (for me) and Long John Silver’s (for Robert) in Espanola for lunch. On the drive my contractions were pretty consistently 4-5min apart, but no more painful. (For those of you that don’t know, the birth center is a 1.5 hour drive from our house, we chose it because of the wonderful midwives, and it is the closest option that isn’t hospital or home, this is also where David was born.) We got to Taos and walked around Walmart for a bit and the contractions spaced out, we then walked a path outside near the birth center, it was about 45 degrees and sunny but the wind gave us a little chill. We headed back to the birth center for our appointment, I was a bit upset at that point because I wanted the contractions to either go away so I could head to work, or show some sort of progress. They took my blood pressure at the beginning of the appointment and it was a bit high, but they retook it at the end after I had relaxed and it was normal. Our birth center has three midwives that rotate and some interns, that day Madrona was in the office/on-call. She checked me and I was only a finger tip dilated and 70% effaced. She suggested that we go see a movie or something and come back to talk to her around 4/4:30. No movies in town started before 4, so we just found a coffee shop with some comfortable couches and free internet and hung around for a bit (we had everything we thought we might need with us, including our laptops). My contractions were still continuing every 4-6 min at that point, and maybe a few were a tad stronger, but nothing that really made me feel like they were really progressing. We went back to the birth center and told Madrona we had decided to go home. I was pretty disappointed that we had spent all day in Taos and nothing had changed. We called Robert’s mom and told her we were heading back to pick up David.

On the drive back my contractions were definitely getting stronger, but I could still talk through them, so I wasn’t worried, but it did make me wonder if going home was the right decision. When we got to Robert’s mom’s I was having contractions that made me pause, and I could talk through them, but really didn’t want to. She later told us that after seeing us then that she knew she should take the next day off of work so she could watch David. We headed home and decided to leave the car packed. I had taken my wedding ring off while in Taos because my hands were slightly swollen, I had put it in what I thought was a safe compartment in my car, but we soon discovered that it actually had a large opening. Robert and I spent quite a while searching the car with no luck, I was bummed, but decided to go lay down and rest while Robert kept looking as I was having pretty painful contractions at this point. I wasn’t able to sleep but did rest for a while, within half-an-hour my contractions had gotten pretty bad, Robert thought we should head back, but I was resistant because I didn’t want to feel stupid driving all the way back to Taos and bothering the midwife if it was still nothing, looking back there was no way those were non-productive contractions. He convinced me so I changed into a nightgown (with David’s labor the pressure from the waistband of my pants was the worst part of the drive), we packed back in the car, dropped David off and headed north. We called Madrona to let her know we were headed back and would be there around 9pm.

This drive was much less comfortable than the last one, when we started my contractions were 3 min apart and lasting 30sec - 1min and I could not talk through them. I decided this was probably it so I decided to call my parents, I hadn’t earlier because I didn’t want to get them excited for nothing. They were quite surprised and excited, they suggested that Sarah might be here before they went to bed, neither Robert or I believed that would happen. As the drive continued the contractions were about 4 minutes apart, but lasting 1.5-2 min each and I was having to really focus and breath. About 10 minutes from the birth center Robert mentioned that if I wasn’t progressed enough to be admitted to the birth center that we would just get a hotel room. I told him that if they wouldn’t keep me at the birth center I was going to the hospital. Those that know me, I really don’t want to be in a hospital for birth, I clearly wasn’t communicating my level of pain very well. I was thinking to myself that I had better be at least 6cm when we arrived.

As we pulled into the birth center I had another contraction, we got out of the car and went in as soon as that one ended. I was able to tell Madrona the timing of my contractions and she asked if I wanted to be checked, I told her yes. They brought me into the pink room, the heater pilot had gone out so they had just turned on a portable heater but it was still quite chilly. I had another contraction and it was better to be standing and having Robert hold my hands than being in the car. I decided that I didn’t want to wait for the pink room to warm up (I had been hot during contractions in the car, but cold between them) so we decided to move to the green room. I decided to use the rest room before moving and had two contractions right on top of each other that were definitely stronger and made me question if I could really do this, a thought that I never had while in labor with David. Robert was working on unloading the car and starting the pink room pilot light. When I got to the green room I had another contraction and had to grab the changing table while Madrona rubbed my back. These last few contractions my hands were really tingly, which I was later told might have been because I was breathing really shallowly. I had another contraction soon after and I definitely felt my body starting to push. Madrona then checked me and found I was complete. She asked Aviva (the midwife intern that was there) to call Kiersten, the second midwife and tell her I was complete and pushing, Kiersten’s daughter was going to be at the birth too to take photos for us. Taya, the other intern, was also called and told to head over, I’m told they were all speeding and running stop signs to get there. As soon as I was checked I started pushing, I was laying on my back on the bed, and I’m not sure everyone else knew I was pushing, but I was. They got me turned so I was not laying at a weird angle on the bed and checked the baby’s heart rate. They also got a blood pressure cuff on me, but never actually checked it. This time I was able to feel exactly where I needed to push, and I know my pushing was much more effective because of it. My water soon broke during a push and I felt it as a big pop. I rolled onto my side and Robert helped hold my leg up, it is interesting how our bodies know what position will work for us. I soon felt her head crowning and was able to hold her head as she was born. This is about when everyone else arrived. The cord was pretty short so she could only come up to my belly, but as soon as it was cut I brought her to my chest and really got to look at the perfect little girl I’d been carrying for almost 9 months.

The midwives collected the umbilical cord blood that we had chosen to save. I was able to hold Sarah for quite a while and nurse her, which she took to pretty quickly. Her newborn exam was then done, she tested at 39 weeks and was 6lbs 9.5oz and 19.5” long (we originally thought 20”, it is hard to measure a curled up newborn). We were allowed to stay the night at the birth center rather than going to a hotel (or home), we had brought Sarah’s bassinet but she wanted nothing to do with it, so she spent her first night in this world in her daddy’s arms. The next morning we nursed and cuddled then headed home.