the mitchells: May 2012

Our sweet girl was one month last weekend. Seriously, that had to have been the fastest month of my life! The days are flying by and it was a little upsetting (ok, a lot) to realize that one third of my leave is already over. :( Sigh... I just love hanging out with her so much.

So at one month, here are some things I want to remember about you, little Audri:

- Your body temperature is still cool. They say to dress your baby one layer more than what you are wearing. Well, you need two. You love being all cuddled up with a blanket even when it's 90 degrees outside.
- I think we are going to be shopping in the tall section together (don't worry, I have it all scoped out). You have a very long torso to go with some equally long legs. At your two week appointment, you had already grown an inch and I'm pretty sure you have grown another inch in the last two weeks.
- You blew threw your newborn clothes and are now in three months. And actually, your three month PJ's are barely long enough due to the reason I just stated above.
- I've put you on your tummy for some tummy time and twice you've rolled yourself over. I'm pretty sure you are not supposed to be that strong yet.
- So far, you've blessed me by being a great sleeper. The last week or so, you've been on an only wake up once a night schedule. Thank you... mommy really appreciates it.
- You like to play on your play mat and look at yourself in the mirror (see picture below). And you've found your voice so occasionally you'll squeal at yourself.
- Your big brother loves you so much and you definitely know his voice. As I was putting him to bed tonight, he ran back out to where you were and said "I love you baby sis." Nothing makes my heart happier.

Audri Jayne... it's going to be hard to put down in words how amazing your birth was and how blessed we feel to have you in our lives. It was completely different than I ever imagined and yet I wouldn't change a thing. I hope my words can do it justice. Here goes... this is the story of your birth day:

Disclaimer: this post talks about bodily fluids, etc so read at your own risk. :)

We went to bed Wednesday night, April 11th and I remember telling your Dad that I didn't feel that great but what was new. Being pregnant, you just kind of have to roll with things. Not getting very much sleep, not feeling like yourself, etc. So on that Wednesday night, I remember hoping it meant something (I was more than ready to have you) but I figured it was just another night of feeling funny. I slept well but woke up suddenly not knowing what time it was. I was facing away from the clock so I rolled over to see what time it was... 4:45am. As I rolled over, it felt like a small amount of pee came out and I thought wow, I must really need to go pee. I laid there for another minute not wanting to get up as I was nice and warm. I finally talked myself into getting up and the minute I stood up, I knew the fluid I had leaked was not pee. I immediately started to run to the bathroom as there was now fluid running down my leg and I had no control over it. I made it to the rug that is in front of the toilet and as I was trying to pull my underwear down to sit on the toilet this huge rush of fluid came out and went all over the rug. My heart immediately started to race... could my water really just have broken? This was not in my plan that I had laid out in my head (ha, ha!) and I had a moment of panic because I felt like labor was going to be extremely different than what I had experienced with your brother. Could I really do it drug free like I had planned? Having a broken bag of waters meant more pain (eek) and I had a moment where I questioned myself and felt a bit of panic.

I cleaned up and woke up your Dad to let him know what had happened. He immediately thought that meant labor was going to be in full gear soon and that we should get ready to go to the hospital. I told him I was going to go call Stacy, my midwife, to see what she recommended. I went downstairs, grabbed a bowl of cereal and paged Stacy. She called me back and let me know it was ok to hang out until contractions started and were close together (I hadn't had any yet). We went upon our morning like normal. Took showers, Jackson woke up, we watched cartoons and we got him dressed for Deanne's. Once 7:30am hit, we dropped Jackson off at Deanne's house and headed to Stacy's office to listen to your heartbeat. She had texted earlier asking to meet up to get checked out.

This is the only picture I took that morning before we left home.

By 8:30am, we were at Stacy's office. I was hooked up to the monitoring machine and your heart rate sounded perfect. She sent us on our way to go walk to try to start contractions.

We headed home and started walking around our neighborhood. Contractions started and would happen consistently while walking. However, they would stop the minute we would stop walking. It was frustrating and hard for me to keep a good attitude. After all, my water broke at 4:45am. I thought I'd have you by noon! Well noon rolled around and your Dad and I decided we should go grab some lunch. We headed down to Arby's and ordered some food. I only ordered a small roast beef sandwich because I remember thinking I don't want to eat fries because I don't want to throw them up later. :) As we ate, I started having contractions... finally! They still weren't consistent but some were pretty close together. As with Jackson, I felt fine just waiting things out however your Dad is more of the panic type and decided we needed to go to the hospital. I was able to talk to Stacy so she talked us into coming back to her office to get checked out.

We got to her office just after 12:30pm. She checked my dilation and I was only at 3.5cm which bummed me out a little (I was 3cm at my last appointment). She also felt some membranes (bag of waters) still left between my cervix and your head. We decided that I would go check into the hospital and she would be up after some of her appointments to finish breaking my bag of waters (I honestly don't know how there was any left after all the fluid I had lost).

We arrived at the hospital around 1pm and finally made it up to my room around 1:30pm. I texted Mary (birth photographer) our room number (#2115) so she could meet up with us. Mary got there just before 2pm and we headed out to walk around as Stacy was going to be up there until 3:30ish.

Stacy made it to the hospital around 4ish, she fully broke my bag of waters and I was just dilated to 4cm. At that point, my contractions were going strong but were manageable. We walked some more and I sat on a birthing ball to pass the time. Emotionally, I was a little spent as all I could think of is that your Dad would not be able to make it home to put your brother to bed. I was worried about him and the impact this day would have on him. As I sat on the birthing ball, I remember being in tears and your Dad telling me everything was going to be alright. I just felt like things were going so slowly, it was hard to keep a positive attitude. All I wanted to do was cry at this point. The day was just not going like I thought it would.

Things continued to progress slowly and finally at 6:15pm, your Dad and I took another walk per Stacy's recommendation.

We found Grandma Pat and Aunt Stacey to make sure we had everything worked out for them to take care of Jackson at bedtime. He had been with Aunt Angel up until then and they were going to meet up with her to take him. We walked the halls and at this point, we had to stop when my contractions would come as they were getting stronger. Around 6:30pm, we made it back to my room and I asked Stacy to check me. I was now dilated to 8cm and this in when labor really started to kick into gear.

As soon as Stacy knew I was dilated to an 8, she had me labor in a position I never would have thought of... kneeling facing the head of the bed. Honestly at this point, I would have probably just curled up in the fetal position due to the pain I was enduring. :) But, I listened to Stacy and turned around to kneel all while griping the top of the bed as I anticipated each contraction. They started to get really intense. So intense that I would just wait and brace myself for the next one. Stacy knew some pressure points and compression that definitely helped get me through each contraction. In fact, at one point she was trying to set up her tray of tools and prep for when I had to push and I remember yelling for her as I felt the next contraction coming. All I wanted was for her to put pressure on my hips and talk me through each contraction (do you know how hard it is to relax your hips when you're in an extreme amount of pain). Her help through this part of labor was invaluable.

I won't lie, there were a couple moments during this 40 minute span that I questioned what the hell I was thinking when I decided I wanted to labor naturally. In fact, in the last ten minutes before I started pushing, I remember thinking of how great an epidural sounded. But, they were quick thoughts and were pointless as there was no turning back at that point. The support I had from not only Stacy but your Dad and my labor nurse made me feel like I could do this and they remained so calm when I felt like everything was spinning out of control.

I got to the point where I felt like there was this extreme amount of pressure and I finally told Stacy, "I really just want to push her out." She checked me and the words "she's a 10 and +2" were such a relief. I was surprised I was at that point as the rest of the day everything seemed to go so slowly. Stacy asked me what position I wanted to push in and I told her I wanted to lay on my back. I just couldn't imagine pushing you out on my knees. :) So I flipped over and began pushing. Well, being the stubborn little thing you are, your head moved back up and was no longer in a good position. So it was back to my knees for a couple more contractions and some pushing in that position. I pushed twice and then was able to flip back over. The pushing phase of natural labor brought the most intense amount of pressure and pain. I was lucky (and thankful) that my contractions were still spaced far enough apart that I had a break in between pushes to regroup. I had told myself that I wasn't going to be "loud" however when Stacy and my labor nurse recommended groaning when pushing, I gave in to it because it seriously helped (gave in so much so that my voice was hoarse until the next morning).

After pushing for just over 20 minutes, Stacy told us you had dark hair. I will never forget hearing those words. In my mind, you were going to be bald like your brother. I looked up at your Dad and smiled. Our baby girl has dark hair - that is all I could think as my motivation to push as hard as possible was renewed. And the fact that Stacy also told us only a couple more pushes and you'd be out... I couldn't believe it. After pushing for 3+ hours with your brother, could we really already be this close to meeting you?

I beared down for the last final pushes. In fact, I'm pretty sure the last final pushes were consecutive because after you crowned, I couldn't handle having you there any longer. I remember not being able to catch my breath because of the pain and everyone having to tell me to relax. I pushed with everything I had.

Watching you being born was breathtaking. It took a few seconds for you to scream and I was concerned until I heard you clear your lungs. They cleaned you up a bit and placed you on my tummy. I whimpered because I think I was too overwhelmed to cry. I was overcome with so many emotions and also elation for what I had just done. We finally had the final piece to our family... something we weren't sure we would ever have. The feelings I felt at that moment will not ever be replicated. You are truly a miracle.

Soon after you were born, we found out that your placenta (just like your brother's) was not normal. Again, we were told it was a velamentous cord insertion, something that is supposed to be completely random (and I just Googled and found that only 1.1% of pregnancies have this condition). At that moment, your Dad and I decided we were done having kids. We were lucky enough to have two healthy children with no complications during pregnancy and birth even with an abnormal cord insertion into the placenta. I'm pretty convinced there is something genetically that causes us to have this issue so I'm not buying the "random" theory.

That night immediate family came in to see you although no one could hold you because you needed to stay on the warming table. Your body temperature was a little low and hard for you to maintain on your own. When they moved me to a postpartum room, you were doing better so you were able to room in with me. You were a bit of a night owl that night (and the next) but thankfully it didn't take long for you to work that out.

The next morning around 8am we had a bit of a scare as you spit up green fluid. And it happened again at 10am. We knew it wasn't normal or good but the frustrating part was you had not been seen by a pediatrician. It took the pediatrician until 1pm to do his rounds where we were told you needed to do a swallow test to find out if everything was working correctly in your little system. That consisted of you drinking 3oz (yes, 3oz for your little belly) of barium so they could watch it flow through your system. I about died when I heard you drank 3oz. I thought for sure you wouldn't want to nurse for three days. Luckily, that was not the case and even more so, we felt extremely blessed to hear the news that your little system was working properly. So we still don't know exactly why you spit up green fluid... it's a mystery.

We were finally able to go home the next morning after waiting for you to do your first poop and pee (you were a little delayed on this front). I had never wanted to be home so bad. Your Dad came to pick me up and we were on our way... ready to start our journey as a family of four.

Welcome to our family sweet girl. We have been long awaiting your arrival.

For anyone that did not see my link on Facebook for Audri's birth slideshow, you can view it here. Mary from MKC Photography did an amazing job.

http://mkcphoto.myshowit.com/audri/

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Mother's Day 2012

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

One Month

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

A Birth Story

Apple Blossom Parade

A Couple of Firsts

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

First Bath

Two Week Appt