Berkeley's Birth Story

Where oh where to begin! It's been such a fast few weeks! I hope this isn't too long, but I don't want to miss anything.

I'll start back at my 36 week OB appointment. Dr. Moore checked me and told me I was a loose 3 and that baby girl was super low. "Like so low, she's in your vagina." (I love Dr. Moore, she cracks me up.) To compare (and it's a good thing I've blogged all these years because I've been telling people the wrong info the last few weeks...sorry) With Brighton I wasn't dilated at all at 36 weeks, I was a 3 at 38, and closer to a 4 at 39. She wasn't super low until 39 weeks. (I had it in my head that I was dilated to a 3-4 and she was super low at 36 weeks...big difference. Oops!) With Boston, I was a 1 at 36 weeks, a 2-3 at 37 and she was kind of low. Boston was born at 37 weeks 4 days. Brighton was 4 days late.

Okay, so anyway, since I had it in my head that I was dilated so early with Brighton, and with her coming so fast, I was really nervous about having a freeway or home birth. I took it easy during that week so that I would at least make it full term. Once I was 37 weeks I resumed normal activity. I would die if I ever got put on bed rest. I had contractions on and off, but nothing that was painful enough to make me think it was labor time.

At my 37 week appointment, Dr. Moore checked me and said, "You're a good 4...more like a 5". But then proceeded to tell me that because I was still only 37 weeks and since I wasn't having contractions at the moment that I would just have to go home and wait. She told me if I had any contractions, painful or not to come right in. And that she expected I would deliver in the next 24-48 hours.

Well of course because she checked me, I immediately started contracting. I had 3 contractions on the way home. (About 2pm) I hung out on the couch and kept on having contractions. After another 4 or 5 in an hour, I decided to go lay down... I was so torn about what to do! I knew I was just contracting because she had checked me, and again, they weren't super painful. But I was terrified of having another Brighton experience. It just seemed like Heavenly Father was watching out for us. Braden was home from work, Linda was over to babysit the girls for my appointment, and I was contracting pretty regularly. So around 3:45 we decided to go back to the hospital. I went to the bathroom before we left and it looked like I was losing my mucus plug. So I was pretty sure we were making the right choice.

I didn't want to get sent home. I figured if we're going to do this, let's do this. So I decided to hike up the stairs to the top of the parking structure and then walk around the hospital before going and checking in.

I was settled in my room around 4:15 and feeling mild contractions about every 5 minutes. The biggest thing with this labor was the pressure. I had soooooo much pressure. The Nurse checked me around 4:45 and I was a 6. She called Dr. Moore to see if I should walk the halls since my contractions weren't really that strong. She said yes, and that she knew there was no way she would make it back to the hospital to deliver me. Dr. Bustillo (who delivered Brighton) was already there, so he stayed to deliver our sweet girl.

We talked about pain medication and since I was still feeling good I opted to wait. I felt that I rushed the epidural with Boston and I wanted to experience labor more with this one. So up I got to walk the halls.

I thought I should take one last belly shot. I took this at 6:04, right before Dr. Bustillo came in.

I walked for about 40 minutes I guess and then Dr. Bustillo came to check on me. I was definitely feeling contractions more, and having to slow my walking when they came, but still nothing crazy. Had I been at home, I would have just barely had the thought, "we should probably go in". Dr. B checked me and said, "you're a good 8!" Danielle, my awesome nurse, said, "see, she surprised you huh?" All the nurses the whole time just kept telling me that I needed to have a much more serious look on my face to be so far dilated.

At that point we revisited the pain medication. Braden supported me in saying no to an epidural, and then Dr. Bustillo broke my water. Instantly the pain got real. This is about 6:10. My contractions started coming quick, short and strong. I kept saying, "This is what I wanted, this is what I wanted, this is what I wanted..." 

(Just texting my sister in law at 6:22) 

Within minutes I was feeling extreme pain and pressure, and cursing my no medication choice. I got a hot flash and asked my nurse for some ice. Before she was back I was yelling, "The baby's coming out!" (It wouldn't be an exciting story unless I yelled something at someone, right?) She said I had a little cervix left, and after one more contraction I really wanted to push. I don't think they really understood how fast my babies come. All of a sudden it was a mad scramble to get the bed set up right, and whatever else they did. I was just trying really hard to take deep breaths and relax. For those that haven't experienced it, pushing a baby out is actually a relief to the pain of the contractions (for me anyway). So as soon as they said to push, I PUSHED. I kept up my 2 push tradition, and Berkeley was out screaming at 6:33 pm. I thank Dr. Bustillo for telling me to "look at your baby" during my second push so I could see her come into this world. She looked so much bigger than Boston did and I was sure she would be closer to 7 pounds. But nope, just 6 lbs, 4 ounces, 19 inches. (3 ounces bigger than Bos).

 

So had I waited at home until I thought things were painful enough, I would have been dilated to an 8 and it would have been rush hour. Without my water being broken, maybe I would have labored for a few more hours, but I highly doubt it. I'm never really sure when to say my labor started... If you count it from the first contractions, it was 4 and 1/2 hours. If you count from when I would have gone to the hospital? It was roughly 30 minutes. 8 months of nausea, stabbing vagina pain, back aches and heartburn and 23 minutes of gnarly contractions and pushing. All so worth it.

I have seriously been blessed with an awesome uterus. And am so grateful to have another healthy baby girl in our lives!

She is my blondest baby by far! No red in sight.

 

35 weeks: a little update

I'm getting excited for this baby! I am more than ready to not be pregnant... Not so sure about my readiness of having 3 kids. The girls are excited. Brighton keeps saying, "I can't wait for baby sister to come out!" although they're pretty set on naming her Bentley like Stacy's new baby. I think the name might be the hardest thing for them to comprehend.

At my appointment last week Dr. Moore said she thinks I'll come early again. No real reason for her assessment... She'll see if I'm dilated at my next appointment on the 17th. But if this little girl comes around the same time Boston did, that's the only 2 weeks away!

So... I finally got my butt in gear and cleaned and installed the carseat, got most of the boxes out of her room and set up the bassinet/pack play. Oh and I bought some diapers. Go me.

And when I'm not typing on my phone I'll blog more about my labor plans and maybe add a picture or two. :-)

20 Weeks: Take 3

I feel like I've been pregnant forever. But at the same time I can't believe I'm 20 weeks. Weird how that works.

She held this pose for several seconds right after I told the tech we weren't able to get a profile shot of her at the last few ultrasounds.

My mom was getting after me for not taking more pictures of my belly. Well...I'm not so excited about the progression of my belly this time seeing how I started out so chunky. With Boston I was 7 months and people still didn't know I was pregnant for sure. This time people feel more than comfortable asking me if I'm expecting. Oooooh weeeeell. I'm on the same weight gain track as Boston's pregnancy which is spectacular. I'm up a whopping 3 pounds so far. (I gained 23 total with Bos). Fingers crossed I can do that again... or less.

 

Brighton, Boston and #3 comparison

Let's talk about the elephant in the room (pun intended) . We are going to have THREE girls! I am terrified. Mostly of ages like 9, 11 and 13. I think that will be a couple of tough emotional years. Braden says 12, 14, 16 will be the roughest. We're taking bets.

Hand on the left, foot on the right. Ten fingers and ten toes.

But really I am SO excited. I love my girlies so much, and the thought of having another adorable daughter is just plain awesome. It will be so fun to see what hair color she has. I'm kind of hoping for another ginger just so her and Bos will have something to bond them. I think 3 is a hard number. Someone is bound to feel left out, and I've already shed tears over this thought.

Speaking of tears, yes I did tear up during the ultrasound confirming her gender. Mostly because I wanted Braden to have a son. I just had a moment of feeling bad for how out numbered he's going to be. But obviously Heavenly Father knows how awesome of a dad he is to our little drama queens and knows we can handle another one, right?

Symptoms and Whining:
I only feel a little nauseous every few days. The last time I threw up was during my 19th week. But what is worse is around 17 weeks my pelvic pain started really bad. I had it with Boston, not as early, and after doing a lot of googling and research I am certain I have Symphisis Pubis Dysfunction. It is horrible. Crippling. Some of the worst constant pain I've ever been in. Standing hurts, sitting hurts, laying hurts, walking hurts, stairs are excruciating at times. I seriously feel like my pelvic bone is being stabbed with a knife or being ripped apart. My pelvis is not aligned correctly, causing some awesome lower back pain. So I waddle almost always, have to swing both legs out of the car before standing up like a old lady, and climb my stairs at the slowest rate known to man. I don't even want to talk about rolling over in bed. I'm wondering how I will even move when I am full term carrying a 7 pound baby.

 Here she is looking at us, with her arms bent up by her head.

Profile shot. 

But I do have more energy than a few weeks ago, and am getting excited to have a tiny baby to snuggle with in February! Happy 1/2 way mark to me!

It's a...

...... nother GIRL!!!

First Trimester

I'm finally done with my first trimester. Hallelujah. I barely survived. Only joking. kind of. Weeks 7 - 10 I have never  been so sick in my entire life. Well actually, it tied with the horrible stomach flu I got twice while pregnant with Boston, but it lasted much longer, so I guess it still wins. During those horrible weeks I took the girls to Cedar for a family reunion. While it was fun to see everyone I was such a bum and felt so horrible the whole time. I have the best family and they literally just took care of my girls the whole time. I would just call from the couch, "Can someone check on my girls?" So thank you, thank you, thank you to my whole family for all of your help and patience!

My record for throwing up in a 12 hour period is 8 times this pregnancy. But I've thrown up significantly less all around. Which again, has been worse. I never believed non thrower uppers that they were really that sick. Sorry. :( My sincerest apologies.

These last couple of weeks I have felt a million times better. Still not 100% (don't do that math), but I can function reasonably well and I don't want to die. August 20th I'll be 15 weeks and that is usually when I start feeling better. Less than a month, wahoo!

Typing this is making my hand ache and burn, but the blogging must go on.

If you missed the FB and Insta pics, I stabbed a paring knife in my hand, damaging the nerve on the inside of my pinkie. It is super sore right now, but I think once the pain subsides I'll get use to the numbness and it won't be a big deal. I'm 99% sure I can move everything normally, so hopefully my piano teaching/playing won't be affected.

If I wasn't pregnant the doctor would consider surgery to repair the nerve. But since they would want to do the repair within a few weeks of injury, I'm out of luck. But really I don't think it'll be a big deal. And maybe one day the feeling will return.  Did you know nerves are the slowest growing/healing thing in your body? They grow something like a centimeter a year.

Anyway, back to the baby...

Went in for my monthly check up right at 11 weeks. Baby is good. Dr. Moore did another ultrasound and I got to see the cute profile of our little peanut. I lost 2 pounds. I was really hoping for more, but all I want to eat are carbs so...

Dr. Moore said she'd do another ultrasound next month and check the sex if I wanted....since I expressed my deep desire for a boy. I'm going to need as much time as I can get to prepare for another girl. The drama obviously runs thick in my blood, so there is no way I can imagine I would get a mellow girl. And don't even think about commenting that boys are harder. Maybe I'll eat my words one day, but I highly doubt it. For me anyway...

Oh and since I have ocd, I can't do a belly picture until 15 weeks so that it is the same as the other two. I missed 10 weeks and am pretty heart broken.


And that is about it for now! I will hopefully be back to blogging regularly and will catch up on the past month. (Seriously the thought of blogging actually made me sick...I'm weird).


So check back. 

Seriously: Big News!

No joke. Baby #3 is on it's way. Everyone better bet on a boy. Seriously. I am 7 weeks and just had my first doctor appointment.

The little sprinkle had a good heartbeat and was measuring right on.

I am in a constant hangover/flu state. Minus all of the barfing. Very different from my first two. I have only thrown up once, but feel like I'm on the verge 24/7. Almost nothing gives me relief. Therefore I would say overall I feel worse. At least with the other two when I barfed 5 times a day, I had 5 different times that I felt better for a few minutes.  I am also super tired. Which I didn't experience with the other two either. My body just feels like it has the flu. So weak. Walking around picking up toys for just a couple of minutes makes me feel light headed and wanting to barf. Yuck. I am taking unisom, which may be the reason I'm not barfing, and it's obviously helping me sleep like a dream. Which is a good thing, because these pregnancy dreams are already out of control.

Cafe Rio sounds like the grosses thing ever. I craved and ate Chipotle yesterday. Seriously, what is happening?

I am due February 11th.

I started this pregnancy the heaviest out of all 3. I'm hoping to lose some pounds while I'm sick, and gain around 20 lbs total like I did with Boston. At least that would put me weighing less delivering this one than I was with Brighton.

This is the worst picture ever...

I'm excited to be at the end of my pregnancy in the winter this time. Although this heat sure doesn't help with nausea.

I'm still seeing Dr. Moore, and still love her. She assured me that I'm still her favorite/easiest patient.

I am strongly considering delivering this baby without an epidural again. I feel like the epidural affected me mentally postpartum...but that's another day, another blog post. (Or feel free to ask me if you're curious what I mean).

Side note: I didn't put this in Boston's birth story, but a couple of the nurses said that they were in helping with another delivery. Dr. Moore came in and said, "Hey, come help me next door, it'll only take like 20 minutes". Because she knew I would deliver faster than the labor they were already assisting on.  And then the nurse said, "And boy was she right!"

I'm really praying I have another successful, fast, no tearing, delivery. How crazy would it be if I ended up having to have a c-section or something? I would be totally bummed knowing how less traumatic my recovery is with a vag birth.

So there it is. I cannot beleive I will have 3 kids. Seriously, what is happening?

Brighton's Birth: The Extended Version

I've been wanting to do this for awhile. Add in more details to Brighton's birth story. I wrote it up the same day she was born, and I was still so hopped up on natural drugs I left out a lot of the crazy that happened. I didn't want to redo the original because you (or at least I) can tell how happy I was. So I'm just doing another, extended version.  With 20 seconds of never before seen footage! Just kidding.

Here I am blogging it the first time. Oh how awesome I look. With my bangs.

Okay, here we go...

I woke up with a pain in my stomach at about 5:50 that morning. Totally thought I had some major gas going on. I went to the bathroom and then laid back down. A few minutes later the pain was back, so I headed back to the bathroom. Then, again, back to lay down. The third time the "gas" pain came, I thought, "hmmm, maybe these are contractions." It was definitely painful, but for some reason I didn't just "know" like everyone said I would. I got my laptop out and started charting the pains. Here is my contraction list.  The first number is the time they started, and the second is how many seconds they lasted.

1. 606 – 60
2. 614 – 60
3. 619 – 60
4. 623 – 75
5. I had one in between here while I was on the phone with my mom.
6. 630 – 60
7. 633 – 30
8. 636 – 30

They weren't long, but they went from 7 minutes down to 3 in 30 minutes. Um, hello? Not sure how I didn't realize things were moving fast!

I called my Mom (@ 6:26am to be exact) to confirm I was really having contractions (again, um, hello?), and she told me that she could hear in my voice that I was more than likely in labor. I was struggling to talk normal, and definitely couldn't stand straight. I woke up Braden and told him I thought I was in labor. I told him I was going to shower and then we would go from there. While I was in the shower, I was doubled over in pain. I honestly can't remember what I even did in there. I just remember frantically hurry to get out. From the shower on, everything is a bit fuzzy. After I was out I, for some reason, told Braden he could shower if he hurried. I got dressed, and am pretty sure I yelled at Braden to hurry even faster. By this time, I couldn't walk during contractions, and wasn't even trying to time them. I just knew we needed to get to the hospital and get there now!  We walked down to the car shortly after 7am. My car was parked too close to the carport wall for me to get in, and I hysterically told Braden to hurry and back the car out so I could sit down.

During the car ride, I was gripping the arm rests, Braden's arm, anything I could get my hands on to bare the excruciating pain. About 1/2 way to the hospital, I was screaming at Braden  to call 911, because I was sure I wasn't going to make it. He called around to friends and family, and got the Labor and Delivery number (So mad I wasn't prepared with that!). He told them we were coming, and told them contractions had started around 6am. Being that it was like 7:15, and I was a first time mom, they told him we had plenty of time, and not to worry.

Not sure if my water broke before or after the call, but it broke in the car. My contractions were back to back and fluid just kept gushing (or so it felt) out. Our hospital is right off of the freeway, but there is a left hand turn light to get into it. Wouldn't you know, the car in front of us didn't turn quick enough and we missed the light, having to wait through a whole cycle! I seriously contemplated getting out and walking. Once in the hospital parking, I strictly instructed Braden he had better go slow over the speed bumps.

The labor and delivery building has a loading circle, so we parked there and went waddling in at about 7:25am. I held my soaking wet skirt in between my legs and walked as quickly as I could. Now the pain was just constant, and I had some crazy adrenal going on. I was on a mission.

I walked straight passed the check-in nurse towards the L&D nurses station.  I remember her looking at me and saying, "Oh uh, we'll take care of paperwork later."

We passed anther nurses station and a nurse said, "Do you want a wheel chair!?" I said, "No! I don't know? Whatever!" For a half second I thought I might get in trouble if I didn't follow their protocol or something. We rounded the corner to the L&D nurses. Again I walked passed them on my way to the delivery rooms, snapped my fingers like a military Sargent, and said, "It's go time!" (A nurse reminded me of this after Brighton was born, and I busted up laughing).

They told me all of their rooms were full at the moment, but that they had a few extra beds in a spare room they were using for storage. They said they would just have me change in there and check me and then they would move me when it was time to deliver. When I was in labor with Boston I went and took a picture of it.... I remember it having a few more boxes, but you get the idea. 

My nurse (who I think was pretty new) told me I needed to change into a gown. Before she was finished with her sentence, I was tearing off my clothes. Door open and all. I'm sure she thought I was crazy. Everyone was just talking to me so calmly and seemed to be moving entirely too slow. I'm sure they were all thinking all sorts of, "Oh my gosh, is this girl serious?" thoughts at this point.

I got on the bed, and she began to strap a heart rate monitor on me. She asked, "Do you want an epidural?" and I said, "YES PLEASE!" She couldn't find the heartbeat for a minute, and while she was fiddling with the monitor I said, "I need to push, is that bad?" She quickly "checked" me (and by quick, I mean she barely touched me) and said, "Oh! the babies heads right there! No time for an epidural, and try not to push!" FINALLY, the nurses started moving!  I was a 10 and the baby was coming NOW! Of course I started freaking out, hyperventilating even, and saying, "oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!" Luckily, a veteran nurse quickly told me, "Don't worry sweetie, you'll probably push twice and be done".

Until that point, I still thought I was going to be pushing and laboring for hours. So seriously thank goodness for that nurse or I'm sure I would have had a heart attack.

My doctor was still in route, and I over heard the nurses talking saying, "Dr. Moore is still 15 minutes away, what about Dr. Bustillo? Maybe we should get a ER doctor..." Something along those lines. While we were waiting, and I was trying not to push or die, a receptionist person came in with paperwork for me to sign. I just started scribbling my signature wherever I saw a line. A nurse saw me frantically writing, and told me I could just do those later. I said, "Thank goodness!" and literally chucked the clipboard like a frisbee. I can vaguely remember seeing stunned looks on peoples faces.

Sometime during all of the craziness, Braden went and moved the car. I remember freaking out that he was going to leave, and a nice nurse held my hand the whole time. Notice I just refer to them all as "nurse". I want to say there were 4 or 5 of them, but like I said, things are a bit blurry.  A few minutes later, Dr. Bustillo came in to deliver Brighton. I'll never forget. He said, "Uh, I've never delivered in here before!"

I had to switch beds, and again started freaking out because I was sure if I moved I would die. But as a contraction let up, my adrenaline moved my huge pregnant self over to another bed. They got me into position; with Braden on my right side, and told me to push when I felt a contraction.  They never had time to get anything on me besides the heart rate monitor. No IV, no contraction monitor, no monitor on the babies head. So I gripped Braden's hand as hard as I could (sideways so I was crushing his fingers, because that is the only way it seemed to help) and gave my all.  I screamed as Dr. Bustillo instructed me to, "ease up a little... okay push...ease up... okay push" while he helped so I wouldn't tear. I wanted to yell at him to stop doing what he was doing because it flippin' hurt! But with one push her head was out. He then told me to channel my screaming into stronger pushing and with another, quieter push she was out. It was exhilarating. After so much pain, she was here and the pain was finally gone! Talk about an adrenalin rush. Brighton was born at 7:52am.  About 27 minutes after walking into the hospital.  Dr. Moore arrived within minutes of her delivery and was so sad she missed it. 

Looking back I realize I was most likely having back labor the night before. But nothing woke me up throughout the night...not until 5:50am anyway. I went into labor with Boston with the same back pain. So at 6:36am I was timing my contractions, and holding my baby at 7:52am. They brought us breakfast in that same room, and I tried to nurse Brighton while we waited to be moved to our recovery room. When they came to move us, they asked if I wanted a wheel chair and I said, "What for? I think I can just walk". And I did. My body was so shaky, but I seriously felt amazing. Especially for just having a baby!   So crazy, but it makes for a great story!

I'm one of the lucky few that doesn't tear, and because of all of the adrenaline, I never even took an advil. I was sore for a few days, but because it was so quick, it wasn't too bad.

Brighton still making my life crazy. Her personality matches the way she came into the world. I think it's funny how labors mirror personalities a lot of the time. But even with all of the drama she brings, I sure love her and wouldn't trade her for anything!

Boston's Story

Where to begin!

With this pregnancy there was just a lot more pain on a daily basis. Back pain, stomach pain, hip pain, heart burn... needless to say I didn't enjoy this pregnancy as much.

So Thursday started out like a normal achy day. Brighton and I headed over to the Long Beach Town Center so she could run around, with me moving as minimal as possible. After walking around Carters, and playing on the playground for about an hour, we decided to go order some Super Mex and head home to Daddy for some lunch. On our way out we saw Amy and Audrey and stopped to chat for a bit and let our girls eat since they were starving. While we were chatting, I started getting a stomach ache... just kind of like my whole stomach just hurt. Which, like I said, really wasn't anything new. It was pretty hot out, and between the heat and being hungry I decided to say goodbye to the Thompsons and head to the car to get the A/C going.

We ate the rest of our lunch at home with Braden around noon, and then I went upstairs to put Brighton down for her nap. My stomach still really hurt, and it hadn't gone away... and eating 3 tacos, beans and rice sure didn't help anything. After Brighton was in her crib, I went and laid down for a few minutes before I had to leave to teach piano hoping it would subside.

The pain was constant, and just a little worse than other days but nothing too crazy. Braden left for work about 1:15, and my mother-in-law came over to babysit so I could go teach. I had been thinking for the last hour, "I don't know if I can teach through this pain!" but it was my last day of lessons before my "maternity leave" so I kept going back and forth in my mind whether or not I thought I could handle it. I told my mother-in-law that I was considering canceling piano and going to the hospital instead just to be safe. She said, "Every labor is different!" That got me a little nervous so I decided to go to the hospital.

I was so sure I wasn't in labor, but I really hadn't felt the baby move since the stomach ache started, so I thought, "better be safe than sorry".

I called Braden to tell him I was going in to get checked out, but assured him I wasn't in labor and that I'd call him later.

I got to the hospital about 2:20. I told them about my pains, and that Dr. Moore said to come in if I had anything significant going on. I guess Dr. Moore saw me walk in or something, because she called right then and asked the nurse, "Did my patient Jodee Christensen just come in? Check her really fast, because if she's in labor I don't want to go home and I'm just on my way out."

They settled me into Labor Room 5, got me wrapped up with the heart rate and contraction monitors and then checked me for dilation. I was a 3.

Dr. Moore then called my room and said she would like to keep me just to monitor things, maybe have me walk the halls a bit... She wanted to make sure I wasn't really in labor before sending me home and having a repeat of Brighton.

The nurse brought me 2 pitchers of water to drink to try and settle the baby down and make sure I was well hydrated. I had several contractions on the monitor and started feeling the pain coming and going more. After about 45 minutes of monitoring and 15 minutes of contractions 3 minutes apart, my nurse, Chi, checked me (which was seriously painful), and I was almost a 4. Chi told me she was sure I would have my baby that day because my contractions were regular and I had progressed almost a centimeter in an hour. Then she had me walk the halls. I had so much pain in my back I was shivering as I walked. I was talking to my mom as I walked and my voice was so shaky, but I couldn't help it! All I wanted to do was to lay down. I called Braden at 4:15 and told him we were going to have our baby and that he should leave work asap just in case my labor picked up. At 5pm, Dr. Moore called and told them to have me stop walking immediately because she wanted to make it back to the hospital to deliver me. I got back in bed and they started my IV. Chi checked me again, and I was a 5.

Chi asked if I wanted an epidural, to which I replied "yes please." I considered going natural again, but after being assured that it would not effect my chances of tearing and seeing that this labor was going to be a lot longer I opted for medication. She paged the anesthesiologist Dr. Tong a.k.a Drug Dealer, and then we waited.

Braden arrived at about 5:20. I had about 10 - 15 minutes of contractions 2 minutes apart that were really intense right before Dr. Tong came and I was really glad that he did! It was pretty weird to feel him stick the needle in my back, and I jerked just a little, but it really wasn't too bad. He was a super funny guy and did a great job. I was completely numb within 15 minutes.

Stacy came by to chat for a bit, and we just relaxed and watched the Laker game (not my idea... but I didn't really mind with the drugs :) Dr. Moore came a little before 8pm and broke my water. I was still a 5 so she ordered a "little shot of pitocin" to get things rolling. She said, "If history repeats itself, we'll have this baby out in 30 minutes".

They started the pitocin at about 8:50. I was waiting to start feeling pressure and the urge to push, but not much was happening. I could feel some pressure pretty high up, but nothing even close to wanting to push. About 15 minutes with the pitocin, I noticed the babies heart rate start to drop pretty regularly on the monitor. Dr. Moore and a few nurses came in to check on me, and said that either I was dehydrated, or the baby was ready to come out. Dr. Moore checked me and I was a 10 and the baby was +1. As the nurses were getting things ready I said, "Oh ya, I think I can feel that something wants to come out"... Dr. Moore told me to start pushing, so I closed my eyes and gave it all I had. One nurse said, "Wow! You're a great pusher!" I was really nervous I wouldn't push well not feeling anything, so I was happy to hear that. One more big push, and Dr. Moore put our sweet girl on my stomach at 9:19pm. (Almost 30 minutes exactly from the start of the pitocin)

All I could say was, "That's it! We're done?", "She's so TINY!" and "She sounds like a cat."

Braden cut the umbilical cord and they got precious Boston all cleaned up. She looked just like Brighton with her huge mouth wide open screaming. We are so in love with her!

It is crazy to me that I actually got exactly what I wanted with this labor. Since Brighton's labor, I've always said that I think a 4-6 hour labor with an epidural would be the way to go. But I'll take the 7 hours... or really I would have gone all day with that epidural and calm surrounding compared to Brighton's birth. It was such a different experience, and really a great one. (Not the most exciting story though ;). So for those who are wondering... Boston's labor was WAY "easier", if having a baby is really easy, compared to Brighton's.

We spent both nights in the hospital, and Boston was an angel. She's much more sleepy than her sister was, but I'm guessing that is contributed to the fact that she was early. Recovery has still been great since I am sans stitches, but my body and internal functions are much more sore. It's amazing how much work your body goes through to sustain a life and push it out. But really I can't complain.

I'm so happy she is here and healthy and we can start adjusting to life as a family of 4.

Brighton's first time seeing Boston
"Baby!"

Going home

First Bath

First Dr. Appt. She only lost 1 ounce! Still 6 pounds :)

Brighton sure loves to hold her baby sister and snuggle with her.

Precious Baby Boston

I Love My OB

I had my bi-weekly appointment today. Only 2 more weeks before I start going every week! I really look forward to my appointments, because I seriously love my OB. She is just so chill, but also very concerned if anything is out of the ordinary, and I really feel like she listens to me.

A couple of appointments ago, I was measuring small so she sent me in for an ultrasound. Everything looked fine, but my amniotic fluid was a little low. She told me to be religious with my kick counts and to go to L&D if the baby slowed down at all. She also said she would check my fluid level at each appointment just to make sure it didn't get any lower.

A few days after that appointment, baby #2 just wasn't moving as much... I got paranoid... and thinking, "I better be safe than sorry" I called my OB. She had me go in to get monitored, etc. Of course she started moving like c-r-a-z-y once those belts were around me, and everything was just fine.

So today, she had me scheduled to check the fluid around the baby again, and for some reason the nurse had me "undress from the waist down". I've never had to do that for an ultrasound before, but whatever... My OB checked the fluid levels, measured my stomach (which I'm now measuring ahead a week), and then asked, "Am I checking you?" I was like, "I don't know the nurse just told me to undress". Then I proceeded to ask her if it was normal with each pregnancy to feel more pain with braxton hicks contractions. With Brighton my stomach would get tight, but I didn't really feel anything. The last 3 weeks or so with this pregnancy, they make it so I can't breath and sometimes I have to stop talking and just breath. Since I was already undressed (still don't know why she had me do that), she said she'd check me, "with my history, we'd better be safe" she said. Low and behold... I'm already at a 1 and about 60% effaced.

Long story, sorry... But with that news, I have decided to be induced. She scheduled me for June 7th, but told me she doesn't think I'll last that long, and will more than likely be moving that date up. I was instructed to "take it easy" in the mean time. I'm just slightly giddy over the news and the fact that I've finally made a decision.

At the end of the appointment she was complimenting me on how easy of a patient I am (who knew), and told me, "I think I should be Mormon. I live right by the temple (Newport), I love big families, I love babies obviously... and all of my Mormon patients are so easy!" Maybe I'll take her a Book of Mormon next appointment :)

Prego Besties
(yes that is Edward behind us...
just a sneak peak of a super fun shower that was thrown for us)

Total weight gain 23 pounds. I am so so so so excited I've done better this time.

Baby #2 Update & B's Latest Stats

I've been waiting on doing this post until I got the ultrasound pictures scanned... BUT... I still haven't done it so...

Since Brighton had soft markers for down syndrome, I opted to do the First Screen testing with this pregnancy. I barely made the deadline for the ultrasound and got an appointment on the last day, 13 weeks and 6 days. Since I've felt like this baby is a boy, I asked the tech to look for gender. She said, "It's really too early to give you a definite answer, but if I had to put money on it, I would say boy for sure". From what I saw, it definitely looked like a boy, so I'm going with that!

It's a BOY!

I'll go in for the real anatomy ultrasound towards the end of January. There were no markers for downs, and my blood work all came back normal. Yaaay!

I made blue french toast for Braden in honor of the news :)

I also went in for my routine monthly check up, everything looks great, and I only gained 1 pound (the pound I lost the month before :)

Brighton also had her 15 month check up. Her stats:

• 22 pounds 8 ounces - 40th percentile
  
• 32 inches - 80th percentile
• Head, 18 1/2 centimeters - 75th percentile

Towards the end of her visit, Dr. Vergara says "She's an active, dramatic one, isn't she?" How could you tell?

PS. Any boy name ideas? We're going to need help.

Whiny Update

I am just such a whiner lately, so I apologize. However, I'm still going to whine.

I am just getting over the most horrible flu ever, that according to my OB was most likely the lovely H1N1 variety. On top of being super nauseous and even my fingertips being achy I got this weird cough that makes me gag which makes me barf. Just tonight I coughed, gagged, barfed up my snack, and peed my pants all in 60 seconds. Then my poor baby got a horrible fever (which is gone now) but she still just whines whines whines. I think we'll go to the Doctor tomorrow. Poor me, poor B, and poor Braden for having to live with us! I did get some Zofran from the doc, so things may be looking up.

On a happier note, Brighton and I took a little trip up to Cedar to see my family. My friend Brittany had her twins a few weeks ago (which are super cute), and I didn't have regular piano lessons last week so we headed up for a few days.

The weather was great... not too cold, and we had a great time hanging out with the fam. My brother John was sweet enough to come down from SLC for a quick visit too. The drive with Brighton was a little tricky by myself, but we managed, and overall she did really well. We stayed at Sundee's in Vegas on the way up (and of course hit up the Paris Breakfast Buffet the next morning), but braved the entire trip in one day on the way back.

She loved my brothers and sat on their laps for the longest time, but wanted nothing to do with my SIL Charla. It was pretty funny to watch.

B also enjoyed some dance partying, getting her hair done by grandma, and playing outside with Grandpa.


PS. One of the best things about the visit, was that Cedar finally has a Cafe Rio, and it has a drive thru! a-w-e-s-o-m-e. Right off of exit 57 if you're curious.

So to close, we're back in town, trying to get back into good health, and will hopefully be back in some sort of normal routine soon.

PPS. I think my hand smells like vomit.

Dating Ultrasound & Nausea

I went in for a dating ultrasound on Monday. I was absoultely amazed at the new technology this place had! My first ultrasound with Brighton at 7 weeks was a blob with a heart beat. This ultrasound, you could see everything! Not even an inch long yet, and you can see the arm buds, legs, cord, etc. This wee one is measuring right on schedule; 8 Weeks 2 Days for a due date of June 12th (My Dad's birthday!). Only 200+ days to go!




As far as I go... The nausea is rough. It's much more unpredictable this pregnancy. With Brighton the same foods always sounded good, and as long as I stayed away from certain foods, and didn't wait too long between meals I didn't barf. With this pregnancy, nothing sounds good... ever, and even if it sounds and tastes good while I'm eating it, it still will come back up! Frustrating is what that is! I was sick until about 18 weeks with Brighton, so I'm just hoping for a shorter term this go 'round. I'm taking Unisom, but it's not working the same magic it did last time. I think the real cure with my first pregnancy, was that I could sleep in as long as I wanted. When I don't get enough sleep (and I'm talking like 10 hours), I'm MUCH more sick. But, Braden has been wonderful, and I think Brighton even knows something is up, and will come give me hugs and kisses. I'm just going to continue plugging along and hope I can start getting out more :)

Now back to my onion rings and ranch.

Nerves are Calmed

Many of you know I was nervous about how I would go about delivering my next baby about a week after Brighton was born. For some reason it has been at the back of my mind all year long, like it's some pressing decision I needed to make. If you don't know, my labor with Brighton went from, "Is this a contraction or gas pain?", to "holy hell I think I'm going to have my baby on the freeway, call 911!", to having her screaming and flopped onto my belly in just under 2 hours. My doctor didn't make it in time to deliver her, but the first words out of her mouth were, "oh, we'll have to induce you next time". So that is were the nerves come from. I've heard really bad labor stories resulting from inductions, but I also know statistically your labor possibly gets shorter with each birth, and I really don't want to have this next baby in the car.

I had the best recovery anyone could hope for, and I give a lot of the credit to the lack of pain medication/epidural. I was really able to control (and feel) my pushing (yes, all two of them). Dr. Bustillo who delivered Brighton had me controlling my pushing like a gas pedal, and while it was crazy painful, I really think that is why I didn't tear.

I had my first doctor appointment, and told Dr. Moore of my concerns, and to my surprise, she didn't think I was crazy for not wanting to be induced! I thought for sure she would think it was a bad idea and try to tell me it was really necessary. (Side note: If you don't know, being induced using petocin, results in much harder, more painful, longer contractions, so you are really crazy to go the no epidural route from what I've read/heard). She also told me since it's my 2nd baby, that my chances of an induction ending in a c-section are super slim, and my chances are great to have a reasonable delivery time. Both of these things made my day!

So my two options are: no induction, but possibly crazy fast labor again. OR being induced with possible tearing, possible longer labor but with an epidural. Either way, I think I'm happy knowing I'm not a complete nut if I don't get induced, and knowing I'll more than likely have a great labor anyway even if I am.

This has been on my mind for so long, and I know I've had discussions with a lot of you about this, so I thought I would share and get it off my chest :) Either way I go, I think I'll take some birth classes so I'm a little more prepared.

Never early enough to decide these things right?

The Cycle

Mothers have the joy of going through the 'cycle'. The cycle of a growing belly, (and other parts too), and then the struggle of shrinking all those parts back down only to have them balloon again with the next 'up' cycle.

My last up cycle:

Resulting in this cute girl of course:

My down cycle:

And after peeing on a few of these:

It looks like we're on the up again!

Just 5 weeks.... Baby Christensen 2 Due June 12(ish).

What makes the up cycle more fun though is that this favorite girl of mine is just about 4 weeks ahead of me!!! I'm so happy to be pregnant with a friend again! We're going to have a blast (once the nausea is gone of course).

Yes I'm still running... see post below for info.