Monkey's Birth Story!

Monkey's birth story really kind of started on July 20th, let me explain. On the night of the 20th I walked around the college campus which is about 4 miles. When I got home, to our apartment, around 8pm Jeff and GG were in a big mess of water. Our a/c had a leak and it was flooding our living room floor. I wouldn't of been a huge deal except for the fact that his parents and sister were coming to visit the next day. We (yes at 36 1/2 week pregnant I helped) pulled the carpet up off the ground and mopped the floor of excess water. Then we draped the carpet on the furniture and had tons of fan going to dry it out. At some point Jeff went to get a carpet cleaner. By the time we got to bed it was almost midnight. The next day July 21st we got up and went out for a huge brunch with his parents and then walked around the town. I remember them wanting to look at the Amish store for furniture. We then went to the video store and rented John Q. I noticed that I was having contractions about half way through the movie. I started to time them myself and they were 5 minutes apart for an hour. After the movie was over I pulled Jeff into the other room and told him the situation. We both thought prefect, his parents are here to watch GG. We called the OB and were told to go to the hospital. We were unable to get a hold of the midwife at this point. They checked me and then observed me for little over an hour, at which point they checked me again and told me nothing had changed so I could either stay or go home. We went home. I wasn't due until August 7th. We didn't want to keep his parents from driving the 4 hours home either. We got home and said goodbye to his family. Then I grabbed something to eat and we went to take the carpet cleaner back and to get somethings from Wal-mart. As we were ready to leave Wal-mart my contractions had gotten really strong and I had to stop walking during them but they weren't too bad. As soon as we got home we called the OB again and this time we got a hold of the midwife at 10:35pm. She told us to get to the hospital as quick as possible. We dropped GG at a friends house and Jeff quickly switched the car seat from our car to hers. I just sat there trying to deal with the very strong and very hard contractions I was having, it was 10:45pm once we got to the hospital. I remember trying to sign the sheets they kept shoving at me and my signature looking like chicken scratch. Once we got in the room there was a bit of debate of when my due date was, I guess my chart said August 14th. Just to be safe they quickly got my on antibiotics, they could of done whatever they wanted to me and I wouldn't have had a clue. I remember having them put an oxygen mask on my face to help his oxygen level. I remember hearing the midwife tell the nurse to make sure the OB didn't leave the hospital. I remember yelling at her to stop putting the internal monitor in and then yelling at her to get it out of me. About 5 minutes before I pushed she had me on all fours, I'm not really sure why but I think it was to help dilate a certain area. I know that I only pushed 3 times before he came out and that from start to finish of my labor was an hour and a half. He was born at 12:05am on July 22nd. After he was born I found out that his heart rate went from 140 to 40 with every contraction I had. He came out with the cord wrapped around his neck and arm. He was a whole pound smaller than his sister and wow did a pound make a difference. I knew the moment he came out I loved him so much. He was so beautiful.

This is me and my boy the day we left the hospital!

He was so tiny...

Monkey it has been so fun to watch you grow over these 6 years. You have learned so many things like reading, writing, tying your shoes, riding your bike and many, many more and you continue to learn everyday. Your sweet smile melts my heart everyday. You are such an easy going person and have a lot of your daddy's personality. You have blessed my life and you are such a wonderful part of our family. I thank God for giving you to us to care for and love. I look forward to watching you grow the next 6 years and beyond.

I also love your silly side too!

HAPPY 6th BIRTHDAY MY LITTLE MAN!

3 years ago...

today, Red broke my water. It was a little tear that leaked very slowly, I got up and went to work with both the kids, it was a Monday morning. I worked at the kid's school in the preschool department. I remember half way through the four hours of work thinking, "I feel like I'm peeing my pants." But I still had 5 weeks until his due date and my last day of work was Friday. So I called the midwife and she said I needed to come in as soon as possible to make sure it was pee and not my fluid that was leaking out of me. Well I went in after lunch and we determined it was amniotic fluid and I should go home get things ready and go to the hospital. The midwife told me the more activity I did the better, we were trying to get the bag to break completely instead of just leaking. Because I wasn't in labor I was able to make phone calls, pack my bag, and do a load of laundry before we went there at 3:30pm on the 16th. We brought GG and Monkey to the hospital with us and they sat and watched a movie for the first 2 hours and then ate dinner grandma brought them. My mil came to be there for his birth. So she was able to help entertain the kids until my dad and step mom got there to take them home around 7:30pm. I was hoping I would have had him by then but things were moving very slowly, as I was scared to have him so early. I was really worried that he wasn't ready to come out and my body wasn't cooperating. I had asked if they would break my water completely but they said it was too risky since I wasn't showing signs of labor and they wanted to avoid an emergency c-section. If I had the midwife I had with my first two she would of done it because she knew what my body and previous labors were like but she lives 4 hours away :) So the midwife put me on pitocin right after the kids left and about 2 hours of that I was rethinking my whole no epidural approach. I hadn't progressed at that point (3 centimeters was all and that is what I was when I came in) and the pain was getting terrible. I got the epidural at around 10:45pm and it kicked in about 11:15pm then they broke my water completely. About 10 minutes after they broke my water my contractions really kicked in, so I was told, I couldn't feel anything! I went from 3 to 10 in less than an hours time. I'm glad I couldn't feel it because I have been told that is very painful to dilate that fast. As much as I wanted her to break my water before the pitocin without the epidural I am thankful the way it happened, fast and pain free. It was about 11:55pm when they checked me because I was feeling pressure and I was complete and ready to push. They started quickly getting everything ready at this point because the midwife thought it would take a few hours to get me to complete even though I told her several times I have fast labors, she was shocked that I was right! They had to get the NICU nurses and doc in the room, and the bed ready for delivery. I pushed a total of 3 times and he was out! He was born on May 17th at 12:23am.

When I got pregnant with Peanut this midwife kept a close eye on me because of my fast and early labors! I hope you got through all of that ;) I wanted to put a picture of Red as an infant and then a now picture but apparently when our hard drive crashed it ate/destroyed all pictures before 2006. I am so sad.

My little PRINCESS is 3 today, Happy Birthday sweet big girl. I decided that I want to share GG's birth story. I will up date later with what we did today for GG's birthday.

GG’s Birth Story!!!
On January 16th 2001, J and I went into to see my midwife Sharie for our weekly check-up. She checked me and I was 4 to 5 centimeters dilated, 80% effaced, and the baby’s head was at a +2 station. I was ready to have the baby…the only problem was that I didn’t have steady contractions. So we made arrangements with Sharie to meet at the hospital the next morning, this way my mom could be in the room with me! The next morning, Wednesday, January 17th we got to the hospital 8:15ish and they hooked me up to the monitor to check the baby and my contractions. While I was hooked up we did all of the paperwork needed for me to be admitted. I had two contractions in an hour, but when Sharie checked me I had progressed I was now 5 to 6 centimeters dilated and was 100% effaced. She said I was already half over with the labor! I didn’t even hurt. At this point I thought, “I can do this”. Then at 9:35am Sharie broke my water. Since the baby’s head was so low in the birth canal I was allowed to walk around. After they broke my water I had to wear this diaper like thing as I walked to catch the fluid coming out of me. Every time I laughed the fluid gusted out of me…that was the weirdest feeling in the world. It felt like I was peeing my pants. I walked for fifteen minutes and then had to go back to the room so that the nurses could check the baby’s vitals and mine. Then I went walking again, for fifteen minutes, then back to the room for another check of vitals. During the second walk I started to have contractions, which I noticed, they didn’t stop me from walking but I just noticed them. I think they were about 5 minutes apart; I also had stopped leaking amniotic fluid when the contractions started. Then I went back to get checked again, as I was getting ready to go walk again the contractions got a lot stronger, it was about 10:15am. I was only able to walk for 5 minutes this time and had to go back to the room to try something else. I sat in the rocking chair and rocked for about a half an hour or so. Then I decided that I needed to try something else…I opted for the shower. Before I got in the shower they checked to see how I was progressing, I was at 7 centimeters, so I was progressing!!! That is always good news when you are in labor. I sat in the shower with J for about an hour and a half…it felt so good. While I was in the shower J and I talked about what we thought the sex of the baby was going to be. We both thought we were having a girl! Also I did have some medication through my labor; about 20 minutes after I got in the shower I got the shot in the butt. It was a muscle relaxant to help take the edge off of the contractions and it sure did help. They checked me while I was in the shower and I was 9.9 centimeters dilated. Sharie wanted me to get out of the shower so I could lie on my left side during contractions to help it dilate. It took my mom and J to help me get to the bed. I felt so helpless; I couldn’t even dry myself off. It only took about 20 minutes lying on my left side to be completely dilated! Now I could start pushing. I looked at the clock and it was 1:15pm. I couldn’t believe it was already afternoon. I started pushing and decided that this was my favorite part of labor. I was somewhat in control of the pain now. I pushed for a little over an hour. At 2:24pm my precious little girl was born. She was 7 lbs 8 oz and 20 inches long.