The Sanders' Jungle: 2014

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Monday, September 1, 2014

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Emily Kathleen's birth story by Dad

It was August 4th, 2014 and Emily was not due for another 4 weeks (August 30th). I was relieved that we had made it to 36 weeks and now we could go forward with the birthing plan: A Home birth. Claire and I had been slowly preparing for the birth by getting Emily’s room ready, generally cleaning the house, and amassing the stuff our midwife had asked us to get for the birth. However we did not really expect anything to happen soon, and we had only finished amassing the stuff… Then it happened: my mom had told me she guessed Emily would be joining us on the 10th. That’s when I finally realized it, she could be here any day, and that was less than a week away! I am going to have to get busy!

Over the next week I got busy trying to finish up stuff at work (in case of an imminent birth), finished painting Emily’s room, moved stuff into storage and more general clean up around the house. With two little ones that general clean up never is really completed, so we focused on the place of birth (our bedroom and getting stuff in case we chose an outdoor birth). I still did not expect it to happen soon, but at least we were getting more prepared now that we were past 36 weeks. The 10th came and went without the arrival of Emily, and there were no signs that she was going to be imminent either, however that was definitely an eye opener for me that it could be any day now. Sarah was born at 38 weeks, so at least we had some time till then.

Tuesday the 12th of August had been a normal day for me. First work then home, today was slightly different in that Claire had her monthly doula meeting and was going to be home late (9:00ish, after kids are in bed). I was getting the kids in bed (7:55) when I received the text:

“I’m feeling really cramps… Not sure what to think but different than the Braxton hicks I’ve been having.”

Hmm, to me that means something is happening, could be nothing, but probably is something. I had suggested she come home early.. Which she was in the process of doing. I finished up getting the kids in bed, then set out to getting any last minute cleaning I could get done before she got home. I also started the early warning system to let Kelly know she might be called over this evening (she would help watch the kids during labor/birth). After what seemed like a long time Claire got home, and went straight to the restroom.

In talking about how she was doing she indicates that she thinks her water might have broke while at the Doula meeting. WHAT?! Her water had only broken on the last two births during active labor so now I figured this was happening and happening soon. For whatever reason Claire did not seem to have the same sentiment as I did, but I can not tell how she is feeling so it must not be soon. She called the midwife to let her know that her water broke, but didn’t seem to think it would be too soon, so no need to come up yet (Although she did have some bloody show too, meaning she was dilating). The midwife asked Claire to call if Emily wasn’t moving so she could come up and check Emily. Claire started to track her contractions and noted that Emily wasn’t moving much, so she had the midwife come on up. No rush…

We did what we could to clean up the bedroom as best we could. The contractions were getting more painful as Claire started to focus on her breathing. Since we had considered an outside birth we went outside to check on the temperature and see if it was something we wanted to do. It was nice and cool outside, so we labored outside on the driveway working on the contractions as they got closer together and more painful. Claire had finally decided it will be tonight, so she texted the midwife that she should have her backup come also, and let Kelly know that she could come over.

As the contractions got more and more painful, I started to wonder where was everyone? How long has it been? It had only been 20 minutes since the midwife was on her way! Was I going to get to delivery the baby?! I hope they hurry! The midwife hadn’t sent me the what to do in case baby comes before the midwife gets there list yet! (That was going to be at tomorrow’s appointment!). She had called to say she got the text and was about 20 minutes out still, and asked how strong contractions were, I believe I indicated they were strong and we were close…

Since we had talked about a potential outdoor birth, in between contractions I started to ask what we wanted to do, if I should bring the stuff outside in order to be ready or not. While we were outside and I was acting as her support, if we waited any longer then I knew it was not going to be possible. She could not decide, so ultimately that meant it was not going to be an outside birth. I think neither of us wanted to try to take the time at that moment to be apart and make that happen that and it was dark (during Sarah’s birth I was working on the pilot light for the heater late in labor).

Claire’s contractions were starting to run together and she was getting tired of standing outside. So we came into the house and got on the bed, where she continued to labor using the yoga ball (arms/head on ball and in crouching position). I know we must be getting close, everything appears ready, except for having anyone else there! But then at last, Kelly has arrived. At least now there is an extra pair of hands to help deliver the baby! Claire asks who has arrived, and I let her know that it was Kelly, and NOT the midwife! When we had Sarah the moment we got to the birth center her knew it was ok, and she started pushing immediately, I was not ready for that to occur. Kelly peaks in at us on the bed, and not wanting to intrude hangs out in the dinning room. My focus at this point was with Claire, so unfortunately I couldn’t really relay how close we were getting or any info on how close the contractions were getting.

Not long after that the midwife shows up . She comes in and see us on the bed laboring, I think she recognized it would be soon… Kelly helped her bring bags in from the car, and thats when Claire utters the word, “push”. Oh-its time now! So I let her know Claire feels the need to push (there was no time to check either Claire or the baby yet).

Claire had previously mentioned that David wanted to be part of the birth, so I went and got David. When I brought him over he was still half asleep, and he didn’t quite understand what was happening and went back to bed.

Unlike with David or Sarah, I was holding Claire’s hands from the top of the bed and helping her with the pushes (well as much as I can, not being the pusher) and I could not see any of the action going on down stairs. However I was able to see from my view that the lens cap was still on the camera, so maybe I earned my keep with that one. In both previous instances I could see them coming out, and watch as they are born. That was not going to get to be the case this time, and then the midwife says (paraphrase): “The baby is breach, your doing great, and everything looks great, when I tell you to push, push like you've never pushed before. I also have to call the paramedics to let them know, but I do not think they will be here before the baby is here.”

I didn’t really have time to think about all the implications of a breach birth to both baby and mommy at the time. I was getting ready to support Claire for the big push. The midwife called the paramedics, indicating it was an undiagnosed breach birth, and baby would be here momentarily. Claire had a few contractions/pushes and then a slight pause. Unknown to me the baby was half out through to about the stomach. Then Claire had another push and out popped Emily! No big push required, she had come out just like she was supposed to in a nicely tucked position so that she did not get hung up on her upper body! Emily was here at 10:54PM on 8/12/14 with a nice large cry! Both Claire and Emily were doing great!

A few minutes later the paramedics arrived; and then a few minutes after that the midwifes assistant arrived. The paramedics saw that everyone was doing ok, took a few vitals (yes everyone one doing great) had me fill out some forms and then left.

Well, it wasn’t that simple or fast, but it was all pretty much a blur at that point, checking out the placenta, trying to get the cord blood, Claire nursing Emily. It all went by so fast, but everyone is doing great, and we look forward to our lives with Emily being apart of it.

Emily Kathleen's birth story by Mom

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Emily was “due” August 30^th 2014. Her big brother had arrived at 41 weeks and her big sister at 38 weeks, so I really didn’t know when to expect her. I’d been having a lot of Braxton hicks contractions (uterine tightening) throughout the pregnancy, as early as 9 weeks however they had become more and more frequent as pregnancy progressed. I noticed in the last couple of months things like car rides made them more frequent so I decided after 34 weeks or so I wasn’t even going to go as far as Santa Fe or do anything else as I was a little worried about preterm labor both for Emily’s health and because it would mean I’d have to deliver in a hospital. By 36 weeks I had gathered up all my birth supplies and at 37 I did all the required laundry for the birth, I was feeling more relaxed and ready. I turned 37 weeks on a Saturday, I had an appointment with my midwife, Myriah, the day before where she did a blood test to check iron levels and took a culture to test for group B-strep. I asked her to show my baby’s position again as I felt like her head was really feeling big down by my pubic bone, she did and then found her heart beat nice and low and sounding perfect. We spent Saturday at the county fair and lab picnic then Sunday I decided I was up for a trip to Santa Fe so we headed down and stocked up on food and such. On the drive back I felt like I was getting even more Braxton hicks, so I timed them at 6-20min apart, but they were definitely not “real,” I figured I was just a bit dehydrated from the busy weekend.

I worked Monday and Tuesday as normal, though I continued to have increased Braxton hicks. At 3:30pm on Tuesday August 12th Myriah texted me to say my blood work was normal and my group B-strep was negative, which was a huge relief as it meant I wouldn’t have to decide if I wanted antibiotics in labor. Not too long after that I thought I started to feel a shift in my Braxton hicks, they hadn’t exactly become painful, but there was more to them. I decided to start timing them at 5pm, just like I had a couple days before, they were still pretty irregular between 5 and 12 min apart and lasting about a minute. It crossed my mind it might be nice to go home a little early, but then I remembered I had my doula/birth professional meeting that night at 6:30. I continued to time my contractions through the last bit of work and as I headed over there. At this point I was starting to wonder if this was something real, but figured I was just tired or something and made sure I was drinking extra water. At the meeting someone joked it would be funny if I went into labor at the meeting. We had a good social time and my contractions hadn’t really changed in timing, though the intensity was increasing a little bit. I headed to the bathroom a little before 8 and texted Robert that I was feeling crampy, he immediately suggested I come home so I texted Myriah and let her know I wasn’t sure if what I was feeling was “just Braxton hicks” anymore and told her I was heading home to lay down. I went back to the meeting and sat down and immediately felt a little pop and some liquid come out, so I ran back to the bathroom, but nothing continued to come out, so I didn’t know if that was my water breaking or what. I went back out, told the ladies I wasn’t sure, but maybe my water just broke, put my shoes on and left. I let my friend Kelly know what was going on since she had planned to come over and take care of the kids while I was in labor. I drove home and only had 2 contractions on the way, and another in the garage before coming in.

Once home I headed straight for the bathroom where I had a pretty sizable gush of fluid and the intensity had definitely increased some. Robert had just finished reading to the kids, so I helped get them in bed and gave them each an extra big hug, I looked at Sarah a little sadly knowing she wasn’t going to be my littlest for much longer. I called Myriah at 8:59 to give her an update, but told her I didn’t need her yet (she lives about 45min away), she asked me to make sure that Emily was moving between contractions. At some point I mentioned to Robert I wasn’t sure why I had wanted to go through labor again. I texted Kelly at 9:43 to tell her contractions were 4 min apart but not too strong yet. I then called Myriah back at 9:45 to tell her Emily wasn’t moving much and would she mind coming up just to check on her, she said she would be happy to and that she could do just that and leave if I wanted her too, I told her I didn’t think she would need to leave. So during all this time I guess I was in denial about how quickly things were progressing. I had planned to birth outside and we had an old mattress we were going to put out there for this purpose. Robert tried asking me where I wanted it and I just couldn’t make a decision.

I ended up laboring holding onto Robert outside most of this time, it was mid 70s and clear, really a perfect night. At 10:06 I had texted Myriah that contractions were 2-2.5min apart (lasting about 1.5min), she called about 10min later and asked if it was ok to call her backup, Tanja, and have her head to our house too. I was still in denial that birth was close, but we told her that was perfectly fine. At 10:17 I finally told Kelly she could head over whenever and the plan was to wake David up right before the birth since he had been so excited about Emily’s arrival. We were still outside at this point but my legs were starting to get tired and I felt like the contractions were starting to run in to each other somewhat so I wanted to try something different. We went inside and I had Robert bring me the yoga ball, I got on my knees in bed and leaned over the ball. I asked Robert to take a pillow case off a pillow and give it to me since the ball was sticky, he did and handed me the pillow, I told him that no I wanted the pillowcase, so he grabbed another pillow and took off that case, I just internally laughed. I felt like this position was slightly more painful than standing leaning on Robert, but at least my legs were able to rest and I wasn’t feeling like I wanted to move again. I was still breathing through contractions and doing ok, though they were really intense at this point. I heard someone come in the house and asked Robert who it was, he told me Kelly, shortly after Myriah came in. I asked her to check on Emily right away as I was pretty worried about her, but her heartbeat was strong and I had nothing to worry about. 1.5 contractions after Myriah got there I started to feel the urge to push and told Robert who then translated for me. Myriah came back in and Robert ran to get David up, who came in and promptly decided to go back to bed, so Kelly grabbed the camera. I started gently pushing at 10:45, I looked at the clock but wasn’t really able to remember what it said. I feel like this stage of birth for me is still really intense, but the pain pretty much goes away. I threw the ball to the side, grabbed Robert’s hand and continued to push on all 4s. Soon Myriah told me she needed to talk to me for a minute, she told me that the baby was breech and she knew I would deliver without problems, that I was just going to have to push the hardest I’d ever pushed at the end. Her protocol said that she had to call the paramedics and she was going to have to talk to them in that room because she didn’t want to leave, I told her that was fine. I didn’t feel surprised or worried by this announcement, I just thought that it made sense, I’d been thinking her bottom up by my ribs was feeling really hard and round lately. I reached up and sure enough I was able to feel Emily’s butt coming first. Soon her butt and one leg was out followed another push later by her second leg. I felt like I took a short break here (apparently just a few breaths) and made one more long, though not particularly hard push and Emily’s torso, arms and head slipped right out at 10:54pm. Myriah passed her to me between my legs and I grabbed her and asked someone to help me get my shirt off so I could hold her close. I laid down on the bed and the paramedics and firefighters, all 5 of them, showed up not long after. They were really respectful and asked for some information and took my blood pressure and pulse ox, but otherwise left Emily and I alone. The second midwife soon arrived and initially didn’t know why there were flashing lights in our driveway, I’m sure she was a bit worried. My placenta delivered pretty quickly and it was nice to be able to cuddle and nurse Emily in bed right away.

My recovery has been great, and I’m so proud that I’m able to say I had a natural breech delivery at home!