Miller's Birth Story

Monday Dec 12th I was having uncomfortable contractions all day, however that had been going on for weeks so I didn't think much of it. I spent the day trying to finish a few things on my "to-do" list, like buy a Christmas table cloth. Because I'm insane like that. Last year we had a different sized table, and the table cloth we used wouldn't fit on the table we have now and the lack of holiday cheer on the table had been driving me crazy. So, after a midwife appointment I braved the holiday crowds and found something that would work, stopping a few times to wait for an uncomfortable contraction to pass. That night, I decided to go to bed early "just in case" all the contractions I had been having were the real thing because I didn't want another labor and delivery on no sleep like I had with Marshall. I had a few contractions during the night that woke me up, but I was always able to go back to sleep.

Tuesday Dec 13th I woke up to a pretty uncomfortable contraction at 6am. I told Jerad that I thought he might be right and today might be the day. He had been saying for weeks that I was going to have the baby on Tuesday the 13th, and was so convincing that people he talked to assumed I was getting induced that day and/or having a scheduled c-section. We had a quick pow-wow and he asked me what was the most important thing to me, that he finish building our bedroom furniture so that the mattress could be moved up off of the floor, that we start baking a "birthday cake" like we had during Marshall's labor, or that he clean the house (because he knows I can't relax if things are out of place). I decided that if this really WAS labor, I wanted to spend the morning doing something special with just us and Marshall.

One last hurrah as a family of three.

So, we decided to take Marshall to a parent and me gymnastics class in Atascadero. The class started at 9:30 and by that time I was having uncomfortable (but manageable) contractions every 5-7 minutes. I basically sat on the side lines the whole class and watched Jerad and Marshall.

We left the class at about 10:30, and the contractions continued. I kept telling Jerad I wasn't sure if this was "it" and to not say anything to anyone yet because I'd be really embarrassed if it was a false alarm. With Marshall my water broke the night before he was born so I was sort of expecting the same thing to happen this time.

We got home around 11 and started to do a few things around the house. FYI, housework is a GREAT way to distract yourself from the pain and discomfort of contractions! At 11:30 my sister sent me a text message asking if we'd be meeting Miller today and I told her

"Maybe. I have to get our bedroom clean, fill the birth tub, and Jerad has to finish the furniture so its not looking too hopeful. Actually I've been having real contractions all day but I'm refusing to acknowledge."

I also told her that I did this for like 2 days with Marshall so I wasn't too hopeful yet.

Jerad had a small job that he thought would only take an hour to finish, so I told him he should go take care of it and bring back some Thai food for us to have for lunch. He left around 12:30. By this time contractions were happening consistently every 5 minutes, lasting 30 seconds, and were uncomfortable enough that I needed to concentrate through them. 

He got back about 1:45, just when I had started feeling a little panicky about being home all alone. I called our midwife to give her a heads up that "this might be the day." I told her my contractions were 5 minutes apart, but only lasting about 30 seconds and were uncomfortable but still manageable. She said things would probably pick up after it got dark and to let her know if there were any changes. We had a delicious, enormous, Thai lunch. I also sent a text message to Amy who was our doula with Marshall and was going to come take photos of the birth letting her know that "tonight might be the night."


Jerad's brother had gone with him on the job and stuck around afterwards and helped do things around the house and entertained Marshall. We had set up the birth pool already, but hadn't started to fill it. Our new house has weird faucets and we hadn't been able to find an adapter that would let us hook a hose up to our bathroom sink to fill the tub. Also at our last house we had a tankless water heater so we didn't have to worry about running out of hot water, and at the new house we have a standard water heater which would need to refill at least once. They ended up hooking the hose to the utility sink in the garage and running it through our upstairs bedroom window. While the water heater refilled Joey boiled pots of water on the stove downstairs and brought them upstairs to dump them in the tub.

Boiling water for a birth... cliche much?

Meanwhile I tended to the important things... like changing the sheets on the guest bed. When I write that now, all I can think is "wtf is wrong with me?!?" but at the time I thought "well, if this is a long labor maybe the midwife will want to take a nap" and I have this thing about guests always getting clean sheets. 

Jerad called his mom around 2:30 to ask her if she'd come by after work to play with Marshall and she asked if she should come right away or if 3:30 when she got off work would be fine. I told him to tell her 3:30 or 4 was fine and she didn't need to hurry.

At this point things were getting a lot more intense, but I was still worried that maybe it was a false alarm and I was getting stressed out that more and more people were getting told I was "in labor." I was having the same irrational fears that I had last time. I worried that if this WASN'T active labor, I wouldn't be able to make it through the real thing. By this time I didn't want to see anyone so I basically shut myself in our room and tried to deal with the pain. Contractions were every 3-4 minutes apart, much more intense (I needed to whine/groan through them), but still only lasting 30-45 seconds.

Jerad was alternating between trying to be with me and be supportive, and trying to finish all the things I'd asked him to do around the house. At some point he called his mom and told her she should probably come now.

A little before 4 I told him to call our Midwife and ask her to come up as well. It had only been 2 hours and 15 minutes since I had told her that "today might be the day!" Luckily she took his word for it and didn't ask to talk to me because I didn't want to talk to anyone:) She also called her assistant Jackie who lives in Paso and asked her to come over. It was the same assistant that was there for Marshall's birth, and I had really been hoping she'd make it to Miller's too. She was technically on maternity leave but said that depending on when I went into labor, she'd try to make it. Yay for my evening labors!

I'm a little fuzzy on the time line at this point, but Jackie got to our house a little after 4. The contractions had changed to the intense 'feels like my body is tearing-itself-apart type,' and were coming every 2:45 minutes and lasting about 45 seconds. As soon as she got there it was like my brain switched out of labor mode, and into hostess mode. I hate that about myself, yet I can't not do it! I asked her how she was doing (she's due about a month after I was), and basically told her that the contractions hurt but were only 45 seconds. She asked me a bunch of questions like was I feeling any pressure (I wasn't) and I forget what else. After watching me for a few minutes, she said she was going to slip out and give the midwife a call to let her know that she didn't have to rush because it was probably going to be a little while.

Jerad asked me where Amy was and I realized besides telling her that I'd probably have the baby tonight, I'd never sent her any updates so he texted her and told her she could come over too.  She said she'd head over as soon as her husband got home to babysit, which would probably be about 30 minutes.

Nothing I did helped the pain, and no position was comfortable so I asked if I could get in the tub. Jackie asked me to wait and let the Midwife check me first since she was going to be there any minute. She got there (I think) around 4:40 and asked me to lay down on the bed so that she could check my cervix.

Holy hell, I don't know how some of you women labor on your backs in bed. Up until this point I had been alternating standing, leaning over the counter, and sitting. I don't know if it was how this baby was positioned, but the 10 seconds or so I had to lay there while getting checked were excruciating. We compromised and she let me lay on my side (still awful), and announced that she couldn't feel any cervix at all and (just like with Marshall) the baby was already descending into the birth canal.

I was so relieved, I guess it wasn't a false labor after all!

About 4:50, 10 minutes after the Midwife arrived, I got in the tub on my knees with my arms over the side and almost immediately started feeling the urge to push. When I say urge to push I mean that my body was starting to push with every contraction, and not in that serene 'gently breathe the baby out' way that some women talk about, but in more of a ripping itself apart while I gripped the tub for dear life and yelled. I kept asking the Midwife if the baby was moving down at all because it was so excruciating I was hoping that I was making progress. At no point did I ever want pain meds or to be at the hospital, I just kept thinking that if it went on like it was for another 8 hours (or heck, even 3 hours) there was no way I could handle it. She told me that I needed to change positions and lean back against Jerad otherwise the baby was going to be born 1/2 in and 1/2 out of the water. Once I laid back she told me that his hand was up by his face and I needed to go ahead and push without waiting for a contraction to get him out. He came out all at once with that last push.

He was born at 5:01pm, after about 10 minutes of pushing.

 

Immediately after he was born I said "that wasn't so bad!" Because honestly, even though it felt like my body was ripping itself apart... it was only 10 minutes. I can do anything for 10 minutes right? Jackie grabbed my camera and took a few pictures (he came so fast Amy still hadn't arrived).

We hung out in the tub for awhile waiting for his cord to stop pulsing so that Jerad could cut it.

We got out of the tub and laid on the bed so that the Midwife could check blood pressures and heart tones and whatnot. Miller was breathing fine but a a little grey so she had Jackie hold the oxygen mask up to his face for a bit. It wasn't scary at all because he was acting and breathing fine, it was just nice that he could get that extra little bit of help. Amy arrived a few minutes later and took pictures:

Miller Cash, moments after birth.

 


 

Then it was time for the newborn exam.

8 pounds

19.25 inches, 14 inch head.

Almost the exact same size as Marshall was!

 

I think it was at this point that I told Jerad "hey, you should let our families/friends know we just had a baby!" Everything had happened so fast that besides Jerad's mom and brother who were down stairs with Marshall, we hadn't even told anyone I was in labor! I thought we'd have plenty of time... whoops. One of my sisters thought it was a joke, and my mom was out to dinner with friends and also was pretty surprised. My other sister and brother in law stopped at Trader Joe's on the way and brought us a bunch of premade lunches and dinners which was AWESOME over the next few days, and once again my friend Beth was able to stop by and meet the baby right after he was born.

Thanks to the fast and furious delivery, and Miller's hand being up against his face, I had a third degree tear that needed stitches. Awesome.

After that, Jerad got him dressed and brought him downstairs to meet the people that were gathering to see him.

 

Marshall meeting Miller for the first time

And once again, we were all able to shower and go to sleep in our own bed at a normal hour. 

 

So there you have it, The Birth Story:)

Comparing my two labors I don't know what was better. Marshall's (read it here) was more drawn out and I pushed for 45 minutes which seemed like a while at the time, but in retrospect wasn't bad. I remember wanting the pushing contractions to come faster so that I could just get him out already, but it was nice that he came out slowly and gently. Miller's labor was much more intense, definitely more painful, BUT it was over fast and I only pushed for 10 minutes. I also skipped all the normal Transition stuff this time like shaking and throwing up and feeling panicky. If I could choose, I probably would have liked a little longer, and a less intense labor but like I said, I can do anything for 10 minutes so in the grand scheme of things it wasn't bad.

Welcome Home baby Miller, we love you already!

Well...

... I've been putting off blogging until I wrote the birth story. I have so many cute pictures to share, and things to update. I really should get on that! I can't believe Miller has been here for almost 3 weeks now. In some ways it seems like he was just born yesterday, and in others like he has always been here.

This weekend my goals are 1) post the birth story, 2) catch up on blogging and 3) put away the ridiculous amount of clean laundry that I've been hiding on our closet floor.

I birthed the same child twice

When Miller was born Jerad and I agreed he looked nothing like Marshall. Apparently we just had amnesia.

Marshall at birth. 8lbs, 3 ounces. 19.5 inches, 14.5 inch head.

Miller at birth. 8lbs even. 19.25 inches, 14 inch head.

Marshall at 1 week

Miller at 1 week

Pretty similar right? Its crazy that they were both almost exactly the same size! I know every parent says this, but I'm convinced we make the cutest kids in the world... or at least they'd both make it to the top ten list:)

He's Here!

Miller Cash Hutchinson
Born at Home
5:01pm, 12/13/11
8lbs, 19.25 inches.

All the pics are from the morning after he was born. We think he's pretty cute:)

Things Marshall has been up to lately

Apparently my body didn't get the memo that I'm now on Maternity Leave and don't have to get up at 5:30 am.... SO here is a list of things Marshall has been doing the past month or so that I keep forgetting to jot down:

- Blowing bubbles in the bath. He is obsessed with putting his mouth in the bath water and blowing bubbles. He knows not to breathe in the water and never chokes.

- Laying on his stomach and "swimming" in the bath. He thinks this is pretty hilarious. He'll lay on his stomach, hold himself up with his hands, and pull himself all around the tub.

- Putting his face under the water in the bath. This one is a little nerve wracking for me, but he loves holding his breath and submerging his face for a few seconds at a time. I'll bet he's swimming this next summer!

- Counting to three un-prompted. He's been counting to two for awhile, and finally added a "tree." Usually counting precedes jumping off of furniture.

- Jumping off of furniture. He is quite the little spider monkey. He love love loves to jump and climb and has really good balance. He likes to climb up on the couches, stand up on the arms or the couches, count to three, then jump onto the couch.

- Making towers. He can stack blocks, or anything stack-able really high before it falls over. If it does fall over he'll quickly knock down anything remaining and yell "oh-oh."

- Throwing things in the trash if we ask him to (also throws non trash items in the trash without being asked).

- Taking off most pants, socks, shoes, and some jackets.

- Calling our pets by their names instead of just "kitty" or "doggie."

- Putting together puzzles and shape sorters. He's finally interested in putting the puzzle pieces in the right places instead of just scattering them around:)

- Making lots of 2 and 3 word sentences.

- Currently obsessed with fans or anything that spins. To the point that its getting annoying:) He would happily be held up to the ceiling fan for hours at a time spinning the blades with his hands or turning it on and off. He starts talking about the fans as soon as he wakes up... and doesn't really stop all day. He loves spinning anything on the ground or table too.

- Using my iPhone. He can unlock it, scroll through the screens to find the apps he likes (one where you draw with your finger, Peekaboo barn, Angry Birds, Piano) open the app, and play it. He knows how to close the app and find another one. He knows how to fling the birds on Angry Birds... just doesn't understand how to aim them yet:) He also LOVES opening the camera app and scrolling through the pictures and videos (which are mostly of him) and talking about what is going on in the picture.

- Saying goodbye to everything. Whenever anyone leaves as soon as they walk out the door he'll say "bye-bye daddy," or "bye-bye" whatever their name is if its one he knows. When we get out of the bath its "bye-bye water." When we're done reading its "bye-bye book." When we (I) get sick of playing with the fan "bye bye fan." Sometimes if he's doing something that he's really into and I have to move him for whatever reason (time to go, bedtime, etc) he'll say it in a SUPER sad voice and like he is holding back tears which is both adorable and kind of heartbreaking. 

I'm sure there's a bunch more... but I think my body is more awake than my brain so that's all I have for now.

38 weeks

Well, we've made it to 38 weeks! As of Wednesday night Jerad is now back in town and shouldn't have an out of town job until after the new year (knock on wood). Yesterday (Thursday) was my last day at work and I am now officially on maternity leave! We picked up the birth tub at my midwife appointment yesterday, and we have the birth kit and supplies all together. Our freezer is stocked full with food and all the newborn clothes and diapers are washed and waiting.

I was actually pretty sure I was going into labor last night. I started losing my mucus plug in the evening, and Jerad and I got into bed around 10pm and were watching a movie when I started feeling super nauseated, kept having to go to the bathroom, was super emotional, and started having contractions that were much more crampy and painful than the braxton hicks I've been having for the last few months.  I threw a little pity party, cried, and said there was NO WAY I was having the baby right then. I want just a little time to relax, enjoy being a mom of 1 and a family of three... or at the very least I wanted ONE full night of sleep where I didn't have to wake up early for work and for us to not have to be running around in the middle of the night trying to set up and fill the birth tub and clean the house.

I had a glass of wine, took a warm bath, and listened to one of my Hypnobabies tracks (Fear Release) hoping to slow things down. Obviously I haven't had a baby yet so everything worked out!

With Marshall I started having contractions Sunday morning during brunch, labored all day, my water broke that night, I never went to sleep, labored all night and the next day, and had him at 8:30ish Monday night. I can't do that again starting off exhausted... with him I survived cause I'd been on maternity leave for 2.5 weeks sleeping and resting as needed. I definitely don't want to wait weeks and weeks... but just a few days would be nice:) I did get a good night's rest last night, the laundry and house caught up today, and we'll set up the birth tub tonight.

I feel like I'm in a good place mentally now, but one or two more days would be amazing so we have time to do a few fun Christmas things with Marshall (Winter Wonderland and Vine Street), decorate the 9 foot tree we picked up yesterday, and build the bed frame for the new King Size mattress that was just delivered.

All that said, Miller will probably end up hanging in there for a few weeks.

Baby Shower

A few weeks ago Jerad's family threw me an amazing baby shower.It was a blue and yellow and bird theme... just like Miller's room!

Some of the food and decorations:

 

 

 

 Included in the (ADORABLE) invitations were paper babies that the guests were asked to decorate and bring with them for a game. Here's how they came out:

People were so creative! I had to choose a favorite. No surprise, I chose this little cutie:

A few of the presents: 

 

Our families and friends are so generous, Miller is going to be one loved little boy! All the presents have been unpacked, clothes washed and put away, toiletries in the bathroom... now all he has to do is get here already!

36 and 37 weeks

36 weeks

36 weeks

37 weeks

Whelp, I'm full term now and officially cleared for another home birth! Not that I think I'll be birthing any time soon. However, I do think the baby dropped a little because I have more room in my rib cage now and have had a lot bigger of an appetite like there is actually room for my stomach to expand. However I now have a LOT more pressure in my already broken feeling pelvis so I don't know if I should be happy or not:)

I'm still dragging my hugely-preggo self to yoga once a week. Its from 6-7:30pm and I never want to go and almost skip it every week BUT, after I'm finished I do feel better and I always sleep better. My 2 sisters and brother in law have been taking turns babysitting if Jerad is out of town so that I can go. I'm also at the point where I have weekly midwife and chiropractor appointments so between all those things the weeks are just FLYING by.

At my last midwife appointment (Thursday) she wrote me a work release note to only work 30 hours next week and then go on leave. I feel a little guilty leaving early but I'm also excited to not have to deal with dropping off Marshall at 6:30am and being at work at 7. I love being home with Marshall, but its also a lot of work. Luckily he's freakin adorable so its worth it.

When I was pregnant with Marshall I had a huge list of things I wanted done before he was born and made sure we had enough supplies and groceries that we wouldnt have to go to the store for awhile after he was born. Bwahahahaha. After like 4 days we were sick of being at home 24/7 and were excited if we had to do something like run to the store. So this time besides stocking the freezer, unpacking the newborn diapers, and washing the baby clothes, we haven't done much. Like... the nursery is still missing a door knob and we haven't gotten the birth kit out of the attic.

Jerad is STILL in Georgia but hopefully coming back tomorrow and at the least we'll get all the birth stuff together so that we aren't trying to do that at the last minute.

Oh Hi!

I've been pretty busy lately and blogging has definitely taken a back seat. We had a great Thanksgiving with Jerad's family. I of course didn't take a single picture. For the second year in a row. Basically there is no proof that we ever celebrate it.

Friday after Jerad worked for a few hours we went "black friday shopping" at about 6 different places and bought... a new garden hose (to fill the birth tub), and some kettle corn. Neither of which were on sale. Because we're wildly exciting like that. I did however order a new KING sized mattress which I am wildly excited about. Plus between a sale Sears was having, a coupon I had, and selling our sleeper sofa we got over $1200 dollars off and free delivery. Not too shabby! It's being delivered next Friday so we have a little over a week to build a bed frame so we're not sleeping with it on the floor a la college student style.

This is the bed frame that I want, but am too cheap to buy:

Just a simple farmhouse bed. But I'd like it in distressed white, with a little more detail. So Jerad is going to build it and some matching nightstands. Because he's handy and amazing like that.

Right before Marshall was born we bought a new, really nice, organic queen mattress. We wanted a king but it wouldn't fit in our bedroom at the time. Since our spare room in the new house just has an air mattress in it (we got rid of our spare room furniture when we turned the guest room into an office at the last house), we're going to put the queen in there and finally have a big bed! Which is good... its amazing how much room an 8 lb. infant can somehow take up. Plus we'll have a respectable guest room again.

Jerad left at 3am Saturday morning to finish up the project in Georgia. He is supposed to be getting back tomorrow, which is perfect timing because I'll be full term then! He has pretty much been paranoid that I'm going to go into labor while he's gone and keeps telling me to rest and not do anything. It's like he's never met me:) I have tried to take it easier... but lets be honest, with a toddler, 3 dogs, 3 cats, and a huge house to take care of its not like I can just lay around. Also I think if I just let all the housework slide I'll be more stressed out and likely to go into labor than if I make the effort to keep things tidy and clean.

While he's gone we have been playing with lots of trucks and tractors:

And I finished washing and sorting all of Miller's clothes and diapers. Marshall is still obsessed with the crib and all Miller's toys. Its pretty cute:)

 

 

Its also pretty convenient because he'll happily play in there for an hour while I work on the nursery. He still calls the crib a "night night box." Little weirdo.

I finally ordered the rest of the birth supplies, some post partum stuff, then some fun stuff like a few more things from our baby registry. Everything should be arriving today and tomorrow (gotta love Amazon's free 2 day shipping!). I also just about finished our Christmas shopping, so there's nothing really left to do before the baby comes. 

 

Hint hint, come soon Miller.

We had dinner one night at my mom's house and she gave Marshall his Christmas present early:

 

Yeah, he's in little boy heaven. I'm worried we're going to have to buy one too or he will want to go move in with my parents. 

Well, its time to wake up the toddler and head to SLO for my 37 week midwife apt and perhaps a little shopping. If Jerad does make it back tomorrow we are going to have an amazing weekend filled with Holiday Cheer. There's our 4th annual Gingerbread House Making Extravaganza, a cookie exchange party, the Morro Bay lighted Boat Parade, and we're planning on picking out a Christmas Tree and getting our decorations up. Plus painting the guest room (hopefully), and building the new bedroom furniture. I'm also hoping to squeeze at least one nap in there cause after being a single mom all week I'm sort of running on empty. I either need a nap, of an actual caffeine IV which I'm thinking Miller might not appreciate.  If he doesn't make it back in time... I'll probably just call him and fake labor just so that he does come back. 

 

Kidding.

Maybe.