Thursday, November 5, 2009
Halloween
Tom here. I just wanted to do a quick post about Arvilla's Halloween costume and the videos I took of it. Needless to say, this was the best $20 we ever spent. Her tail is my favorite part.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Clark's Arrival!
Sunday morning I woke up at 4:30 with contractions. Nothing new to me, I usually just wait them out then go back to sleep. These ones weren't going away though, and I could just tell there was something different with me. When Arvilla woke up we packed her up in the stroller and took a walk trying to move things along. I really didn't want to go in until I knew for sure I was in labor since I've been contracting like that for months.
Around 3 pm Tom and I decided to head in, that the contractions were coming regularly for long enough.
They checked me and I was dilated to a 6, so we were there to stay. My doctor was out of town and wouldn't be back until 9 or 10 that night, and he thought that I would surely have the baby before then (so did I) so I was bummed he couldn't be there. The contractions were painful, but I was able to handle them by using the "Hypnobirthing" techniques I had been practicing throughout my pregnancy.
Hours kept passing and I was still a 6. It was irritating. Around 9 I reluctantly agreed to a little pitocin to push things along. As painful as they were I was determined to not get the epidural.
An hour later they increased the amount of pitocin.
At about 11 my doctor showed up and broke my water. Things totally picked up and Tom was doing all he could to coach me through the contractions, and he was doing a great job, I know I wouldn't have lasted if it wasn't for him. I was just curled up on my left side breathing through them as Tom would read through visualizations for me to relax. They kept the lights low and everyone was very respectful and quiet.
The nurse was getting the stirrups ready and was about to take the bottom of the bed off when my doctor told her I was just going to give birth on the bed. I had previously talked to him about doing the "birth breathing" instead of the normal pushing where you have a nurse counting to ten telling you to "PUSH! PUSH! PUSH!" he was completely on board with it and has delivered plenty of "hypnobirthing" babies.
Once I was feeling the urge to push he just told me to let them know when I was ready and then to do my thing. I stayed on my left side and when I'd nod a nurse would grab a leg (too graphic? sorry) and I'd follow the urge to "breath" the baby down (you'd have to learn about hypnobirthing to get this I'm guessing).
Besides being in a lot of pain and telling everyone that I give up on my second to last "push" I think I did pretty good. The nurses told Tom that I should write books about natural birthing which I think is crazy because I was in no way a model natural birther.
So Clark came and I couldn't have been happier. In all honesty I regretted my decision to skip the epidural until later the next day when I was recovering a lot quicker than I did with Arvilla. Looking back now I really liked how everything went and it was worth the pain.
Clark's "Bili-Blanket" for his jaundice glowing through his onsie
he loves curling up on his side
Arvilla is doing so well. She loves her brother but doesn't mess with him too much (just a few kisses on the head). She doesn't even mind that I'm holding him so much.
Around 3 pm Tom and I decided to head in, that the contractions were coming regularly for long enough.
They checked me and I was dilated to a 6, so we were there to stay. My doctor was out of town and wouldn't be back until 9 or 10 that night, and he thought that I would surely have the baby before then (so did I) so I was bummed he couldn't be there. The contractions were painful, but I was able to handle them by using the "Hypnobirthing" techniques I had been practicing throughout my pregnancy.
Hours kept passing and I was still a 6. It was irritating. Around 9 I reluctantly agreed to a little pitocin to push things along. As painful as they were I was determined to not get the epidural.
An hour later they increased the amount of pitocin.
At about 11 my doctor showed up and broke my water. Things totally picked up and Tom was doing all he could to coach me through the contractions, and he was doing a great job, I know I wouldn't have lasted if it wasn't for him. I was just curled up on my left side breathing through them as Tom would read through visualizations for me to relax. They kept the lights low and everyone was very respectful and quiet.
The nurse was getting the stirrups ready and was about to take the bottom of the bed off when my doctor told her I was just going to give birth on the bed. I had previously talked to him about doing the "birth breathing" instead of the normal pushing where you have a nurse counting to ten telling you to "PUSH! PUSH! PUSH!" he was completely on board with it and has delivered plenty of "hypnobirthing" babies.
Once I was feeling the urge to push he just told me to let them know when I was ready and then to do my thing. I stayed on my left side and when I'd nod a nurse would grab a leg (too graphic? sorry) and I'd follow the urge to "breath" the baby down (you'd have to learn about hypnobirthing to get this I'm guessing).
Besides being in a lot of pain and telling everyone that I give up on my second to last "push" I think I did pretty good. The nurses told Tom that I should write books about natural birthing which I think is crazy because I was in no way a model natural birther.
So Clark came and I couldn't have been happier. In all honesty I regretted my decision to skip the epidural until later the next day when I was recovering a lot quicker than I did with Arvilla. Looking back now I really liked how everything went and it was worth the pain.
Clark's "Bili-Blanket" for his jaundice glowing through his onsiehe loves curling up on his side
Arvilla is doing so well. She loves her brother but doesn't mess with him too much (just a few kisses on the head). She doesn't even mind that I'm holding him so much.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
Unconditional Love
Yesterday my mom and I were planning to go to Walmart to buy treats for her Halloween Recital (and then eat most of them while we put the baggies together). Before we left she said this:
"Are you sure you want to go Juli? You're walking like you're in labor."
I guess I wasn't too much of an embarrassment because she let me go with her regardless of how funny I walked. Mom's are good at that unconditional love stuff.
"Are you sure you want to go Juli? You're walking like you're in labor."
I guess I wasn't too much of an embarrassment because she let me go with her regardless of how funny I walked. Mom's are good at that unconditional love stuff.
Monday, October 19, 2009
I've been craving...
Malt-O Meal- and you'd be happy to know that it has 100% of your daily folic acid needs based on a 2000 calorie diet. My doctor will be glad to know that I've been getting extra folic acid since the prenatal vitamins have been history for quite some time now (I think the last time I took them I was 8 weeks). I have been topping it with Arvilla's whole milk (instead of my 1% or Tom's Silk) and more sugar than I dare specify on here... but at least I'm getting my folic acid intake.
and... Puffed Wheat- boy howdy I'm going to make myself a bowl right now for dinner. Although I'm good with the 1% milk on this one, I still need the sugar.
Next I'm going to try to make Malt-o Meal "Magic" muffins to see if I can get Arvilla to eat any of it. The only thing I can get that darn child to eat for breakfast is a banana...every day. I've been trying to add some breakfast variety to her diet, but she's pretty stubborn.
Only a few more weeks of this crazy pregnancy cravings stuff, and then I can enjoy foods of all kinds again instead of waiting for one specific thing to sound good.
and... Puffed Wheat- boy howdy I'm going to make myself a bowl right now for dinner. Although I'm good with the 1% milk on this one, I still need the sugar. 
Next I'm going to try to make Malt-o Meal "Magic" muffins to see if I can get Arvilla to eat any of it. The only thing I can get that darn child to eat for breakfast is a banana...every day. I've been trying to add some breakfast variety to her diet, but she's pretty stubborn.Only a few more weeks of this crazy pregnancy cravings stuff, and then I can enjoy foods of all kinds again instead of waiting for one specific thing to sound good.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
A Word
Dear Public Library,
If you would like people to pay their fines from over-due books, you might want to look into accepting credit/debit cards. If this is something you aren't willing to do then may I suggest asking your librarians to let up on their daggers of shame when I tell them I don't have the cash to pay my $1.08 fine?
Thanks,
Irritated Library Card Holder
(and tax payer)
Totally unrelated, but cute nonetheless
If you would like people to pay their fines from over-due books, you might want to look into accepting credit/debit cards. If this is something you aren't willing to do then may I suggest asking your librarians to let up on their daggers of shame when I tell them I don't have the cash to pay my $1.08 fine?
Thanks,
Irritated Library Card Holder
(and tax payer)
Totally unrelated, but cute nonetheless Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Confused
I'm a little confused on what to want lately concerning the baby. I mean ideally I'd like him to wait until at least 37 weeks to be sure he'll be fully developed and healthy, but at the same time I'm contracting all the time that I'm just ready for him to come. It usually hits at night that I start getting some contractions that are a bit more painful than the ones I've experienced earlier on in the day. They keep coming and increase in intensity. The other night they were about 3-5 minutes apart and lasted for about 3 or so hours, getting more and more painful. I'm pretty stubborn about going to the hospital because I don't really want to go to be man-handled by some nurses who are just going to tell me to go home, so I keep saying "30 more minutes and then we'll go in". Eventually the counteractions slow down and mellow out, and I'm a little bummed because I know we'll just repeat the same thing the next day. (But happy I didn't give in and go to the Hospital).
How am I supposed to know that I'm in labor...real labor? That's the million dollar question. Even my doctor isn't sure and just told me to go in anytime I thought I might be since (in his words not mine) I don't really have a big window to wait if I am in labor because this baby will come quick. He did let me know that I can go in the office to be monitored if they are open so I don't have to deal with the hospital.
If this was a normal pregnancy I could picture myself being much more patient, but it's kind of hard when the contractions are sucking the life out of you. I just hope 37 weeks comes quick so I won't feel so guilty about wanting this baby to get here.
Arvilla is all over the place now, which in a way is nice because she entertains herself by walking around the house holding a blanket. She really enjoyed conference, she loved watching the MoTab sing and would stop everything she was doing and just stare at the tv while they were on.
Watching MoTab
She has also decided that she is too good to cuddle with her parents, although after bath time she'll let us cuddle with her while she's all wrapped up in a towel, so we live it up the best we can.
Cuddling with dad after bath time when he was sick and definitely needed the cuddles
How am I supposed to know that I'm in labor...real labor? That's the million dollar question. Even my doctor isn't sure and just told me to go in anytime I thought I might be since (in his words not mine) I don't really have a big window to wait if I am in labor because this baby will come quick. He did let me know that I can go in the office to be monitored if they are open so I don't have to deal with the hospital.
If this was a normal pregnancy I could picture myself being much more patient, but it's kind of hard when the contractions are sucking the life out of you. I just hope 37 weeks comes quick so I won't feel so guilty about wanting this baby to get here.
Arvilla is all over the place now, which in a way is nice because she entertains herself by walking around the house holding a blanket. She really enjoyed conference, she loved watching the MoTab sing and would stop everything she was doing and just stare at the tv while they were on.
Watching MoTabShe has also decided that she is too good to cuddle with her parents, although after bath time she'll let us cuddle with her while she's all wrapped up in a towel, so we live it up the best we can.
Cuddling with dad after bath time when he was sick and definitely needed the cuddles
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