Recovery and 2 Week Update

To be completely honest, I was more worried about what recovery would be like than what labor would be like.  There are so many horror stories online about how long and how terrible people's recoveries were.  I should have considered that everyone would have their own story, but for some reason it was just in my mind that it would all be terrible.

The worst part of recovery BY FAR took place in the hospital when the nurses "massaged" my uterus after I gave birth.  They came every 30 minutes and squeezed the crap out of me and it felt almost worse than labor.  The first pee after giving birth was a little rough just because I couldn't remember how to use those muscles for something as simple as peeing.  I also had a nurse standing directly in front of me, so who knows, maybe I was just a little pee shy.  I was able to make it happen after about 5 minutes of focusing on it, haha.  I also took a container of prunes with me to the hospital which made all other situations a breeze.  Not a big deal at all.

I feel pretty lucky that my recovery has been so easy.  On the second day in the hospital, I was going crazy being in bed.  I was SO glad to get out of there and be home.  I'm pretty sure I took my first walk around the neighborhood when Allie was 3 or 4 days old.  My mom and I took her to the mall with us when she was 6 days old.  I felt back to my old self as soon as I was home.  I wanted to walk around, move about, and LEAVE THE HOUSE.

I was cut in 2 places.  I'm not sure how many stitches I had, but they were all dissolved after about a week and a half and I quit using the peri bottle a couple of days ago.  The only time that I really experienced discomfort with the stitches was while watching an episode of America's Funniest Home Videos.  Excessive laughing does get uncomfortable.  I also found that I couldn't blow my nose for a few days but no big deal.

I made those relief pads while I was still pregnant and I've been using them just because I don't want them to go to waste but honestly, I didn't need them.  And I ended up only using the Tucks Medicated Pads that the hospital gave me once or twice because I felt like they were getting stuck to my stitches and I didn't like fishing them out.  I didn't have any issues not using them.

I weighed myself on Monday and so far I've lost 20 pounds.  I can fit into some of my bigger pre-pregnancy jeans but still not into what I was wearing on a daily basis.  I do still have about 20 pounds left to lose.  It'll happen, I'm not worried about it.

Allie is 2 weeks old today.  She's already getting so much bigger and I already find myself getting a little sad that she's growing up so fast.  (Too soon?)  We attempted to weigh her today and we think she might weigh about 8.5 pounds now if our scale is anywhere close to accurate.  I found a lot more newborn clothes in her closet so I need to get those washed so she can actually wear them.  I feel like she'll be out of that size really soon.

We're kind of obsessed with our little baby.  She's been a master at holding her head up since day one almost.  She can scoot around on our chests and when she's really angry, she straightens her legs and it's almost like she's standing!  She's incredibly strong.  She sleeps GREAT during the day.  We say that she doesn't sleep that great at night but really, she sleeps sometimes for 4-5 hour stretches, which I'd say is pretty good.  We're lucky to have that.  We're still just getting adjusted to not sleeping for 7-8 hours straight.

We haven't quite gotten the hang of breastfeeding just yet.  We both end up messy, but she ends up full so that's all that matters.  We also attempted a public feeding yesterday.  Thankfully, I was prepared with a jacket.  You'd think a dark movie theater would be a decent place to do that discreetly, but she makes SO much noise while she eats.  While I'm on leave, I'm hoping to go to some meetings to maybe get more comfortable and better at it.  Sometimes it feels like we're fighting which I was NOT expecting from a newborn.

So far, she's been an incredibly easy baby.  She's starting to stay awake for longer periods of time, which is getting fun.  It's fun to watch her take in the things around her.  Sometimes it still blows my mind that we have a baby!

Baby Noble: A Support Story

On July 8, Chelsea and I stepped into what would become our final visit to the doctor.  We had been anticipating this day for the last week, eager to find out about any progress in the pregnancy.  After a brief check-up, Dr. Tsai (who could be described as cold) informed us that little progress had been made since last week’s check-up.  He performed a sweeping of the membrane which had a 50/50 chance of helping Chelsea into labor naturally in the next 2-3 days.  After this quick procedure an induction date was set for July 11. 

Having spent the last 40 weeks anticipating the arrival of our child, my mind was put at ease knowing that there was a definite end date set for our pregnancy.  Chelsea was decidedly more nervous.  She had spent hours reading and researching the possible downsides to an induced birth.  Two days came and passed without even a mild contraction, and I grew increasingly more excited as Chelsea became more nervous.  Who could blame her; I certainly wasn't the one having to pass a child through my body!

Tuesday night was relatively uneventful, dinner at a so-so hamburger joint and a couple hours reading at the local Barnes & Noble. We made it home later than usual and headed to sleep for the night.  I was out for only 15 minutes when Chelsea shook me awake, “I think it’s happening.”  Everything was cloudy. I was incredibly groggy and probably groaned a few unintelligible words as I came to.  I looked up to see her tearing up as she looked intently at the timer on her phone.  As I came out of the haze she told me the contractions were regular and had been happening for 15 min off and on.  Reality set in.  We’re going to have a baby. Tonight! 

I jumped into the shower to wake up.  We took turns timing the contractions for the next two hours.  I grabbed pillows, clothes, the pregnancy exercise ball, a car seat, snacks, towels, cameras, phone chargers… anything and everything my mind could think of.  After 2 hours of regular contractions I tossed it all into the car and we headed to the ER at the hospital.  Driving in the car gave me the first chance to really reflect on what the heck was happening.  I grabbed Chelsea’s hand, smiled and said “We’re going to have a baby.” I spent much of the ride trying to remember everything that we covered in our birthing class.  I wish I had paid a little more attention to the odd instructor of our class who enthusiastically taught us how to properly groan, moan, and massage.  I tried hard to hide my panic and be strong for Chelsea.

via

We arrived at the hospital ER around 2 in the morning and were rushed to the triage room in the Birthing Center.  Chelsea was wheeled in while I carried ALL of our stuff.  I looked like a pack mule and was laughed at by the staff and the folks in the waiting room who all correctly guessed that we were about to have our first child.   After an uncomfortable hour of contractions (and a few painful exams) in the triage room, the nurses were sufficiently assured that Chelsea was indeed in labor.  We were moved to the birthing room 1007 where we would later have our beautiful baby girl.  The room was perfect, except for one detail, there were no chairs for me to sit at Chelsea’s bedside.  I spent the remainder of the night sitting on the exercise ball meant for my wife, helping her work through the contractions. 

I immediately began to transform the bright sterile room 1007 into a relaxing place for my wife.  We turned off the lights, opened up some aromatherapy lotion, cued up some Enya music and worked on our relaxing moaning.  The nurses must have thought we were some crazy new age hippy couple.  While all this might sound silly, as a man it is hard to watch your wife suffer through wave after wave of contractions.  Out of love you try to do anything and everything you possibly can to help her through each of the increasingly painful waves.   By my estimate Chelsea went through about 135 contractions ((60/4)*9hr), labor is by all means a marathon… not a sprint.

                

At 6:30AM our doctor broke Chelsea’s water, rapidly accelerating her labor.  The final hours of contractions were a blur, and it wasn't long until she began feeling the urge to push. The nurse paged the doctor who rushed into the room and prepped himself to deliver our baby girl.  I stood by Chelsea’s side, unable to do anything but hold her hand and whisper some words of encouragement.  It was amazing to watch her in delivery; everything was coming so naturally to her.  I’ll spare the gory details.  I watched on as she gave her final push, looking over at my wife, “you did it baby, she’s beautiful!”  A few tears rolled down her face as she saw our child.  I smiled ear to ear as I turned my focus to cutting the cord. The emotions of such a moment are immensely difficult to put into text.  As a father and a husband I was proud, shocked, relieved, excited, exhausted, and unbelievably in love with both of the wonderful ladies that will forever be a part of my life.             

Baby Noble: A Birth Story

Disclaimer:  This story is incredibly long and has honest details about giving birth.  

My last scheduled doctor's appointment was Monday, the 8th.  My doctor stripped my membranes as part of the exam, which I was not expecting but it was the next step since I was officially over my due date.  It was uncomfortable and made me feel incredibly crampy.  He said we had a 50/50 chance of it working but if we hadn't felt anything by Wednesday morning that it wasn't going to work and the next step was induction.  I hadn't progressed any further than I was the week before and we decided to schedule an induction date for Thursday, the 11th.  I was so disappointed.  I had such strong feelings against being induced and I so badly wanted to feel how labor was meant to feel naturally.  I wanted to feel contractions and labor at home for as long as I could. Induction seemed so forced and unnatural.

Tuesday night, we went to Barnes & Noble and read for a few hours.  I mentioned on our way home that my stomach was kind of hurting but I didn't think anything of it since I had been dealing with so many cramps over the past 2 days.  At about 11:45, I felt a very strong cramp that felt totally different than what I had been feeling.  I tried closing my eyes and falling asleep but in a few minutes, I felt another strong cramp.  I downloaded a contraction tracker app on my phone and waited for 2 more to pass before I woke Carson up.  I started crying because they hurt pretty bad (and I remember thinking "geeeez this just the beginning and they hurt like this!?") and because I was so happy that she got to come on her own.

We hopped out of bed and both took showers.  As we got our things ready for the hospital, whoever was closest to the phone would start timing when my contractions started.  From the get go, they were about a minute long every 5 minutes.  We knew we needed to have 2 hours of contractions 5 minutes apart before we could head to the hospital and that time FLEW by.  I tried sitting on the exercise ball like our birthing instructor recommended but I felt each contraction so much in my butt that it was pretty uncomfortable for me to sit.  Standing and moving around were the most comfortable ways for me to handle the waves of contractions.

We got to the hospital right at 2:00 am and they took us up to the birthing center immediately.  I was 4-5 cm dilated in my initial exam so they went ahead and admitted me.  We settled into our room and dimmed the lights, started playing relaxing music, and Carson began massaging my back.  I had initially requested to not be hooked up to an IV, but when I came in they said I was a little dehydrated, so I had to receive some fluids.  

When they took me off the IV, I was able to walk around for about 30 minutes.  I tried to use the exercise ball again, but every time I moved, the heart rate monitor would slip around and an angry nurse would come in and tell me if they continued to lose the heart rate, I would have to stay in bed. I lost the heart rate enough times that I eventually gave up and just got back in bed.  As soon as I laid back down, I got incredibly nauseous and threw up, which resulted in being hooked back up to the IV.  I was stuck in bed from that point on.  My labor seemed to be progressing pretty quickly though.  Carson continued to massage my back and every hour or so I would rub some lotion on my hands and I would hold them near my face when I had a contraction so I could inhale the smell.  Believe it or not, it was a huge help.

My doctor came in to check on me around 6:30 am.  I was around 7 or 8 cm dilated and he wanted to go ahead and break my water to progress things along further.  It felt like gallons of water left my body.  They were anticipating that I would give birth by noon.  I was also informed that if I wanted any pain meds that this would be my last chance.  I didn't even give it a second thought. I had made it this far drug-free and I wanted to keep it that way.

I entered into the transition phase of labor and someone must have told me that it should last an hour because I watched the clock faithfully for that hour just waiting for it to end.  I didn't even make it an hour before I started feeling the urge to push, which is one of the craziest feelings that I've ever felt.  It was like something else took over my body.  There was absolutely no relaxing during that phase.  My nurse checked me again and said I was 9.5 cm dilated and that I could start to push when I felt the urge.  I rolled over at one point and the baby's heart rate shot down to 80-90 bpm which was a major cause for concern.  They put an oxygen mask on me to help her heart rate stabilize.  

Soon after that they called my doctor in and they turned me flat on my back and prepped me for delivery.  It felt like my contractions almost came to a standstill.  I would push for a little bit at the beginning and then the contraction would go away.  I think being on my back completely stifled them.  Each time I pushed, the doctor and nurses kept telling me to push more and more but it felt so wrong because there was no feeling to push.  In between contractions, my doctor continued to stretch me, which felt completely miserable.  After a few contractions, I finally had her head out.  I remember thinking, "I thought it was supposed to get easy after her head came out..."  Her body certainly felt worse to me, but that might have been because I forced it, pushing it out without a contraction.

Allison Faye was born at 8:49 am.  She was 7 pounds, 10 ounces, 20 inches long, and had a true tight knot in her umbilical cord--something only one in 2,000 babies has.  We are incredibly blessed that we never experienced any complications from her knot.  It’s kind of impossible for me to put into words what it felt like when I saw my daughter for the first time.  She’s just the most perfect thing I’ve ever seen. 

Carson was such an incredible coach.  I would not have been able to do it without him.  During our birthing classes, we practiced relaxing and attempted to practice on our own but it never seemed to really do much.  Whatever he was able to do for me during labor was just something that I don't think we could have practiced.  It just kind of happened.  It seems cheesy to practice encouragement, I think.  But boy, does it make a huge different to hear someone you love so much tell you how great you're doing at something that is so incredibly hard and painful.  The best thing he said to me was "your body was made for this".  I truly believe that I wouldn’t have been able to go through the whole process without any drugs if he hadn’t been with me.  

Baby Noble: An Introduction

Our beautiful daughter was born on Wednesday, July 10 at 8:49 am.  We're so in love and blessed to have her as a part of our lives.

I can't wait to share how everything happened...I just have to piece it together in my head first before I can write it down.  

Baby Noble: 38 Weeks!

How far along? 38 weeks and it's safe to say that I'm O-V-E-R I-T.  I think I would feel so much differently if I didn't hear every other week from my doctor that it won't be long now.  3 weeks ago when I went, he was totally shocked how low the baby was and estimated that I wouldn't make it past last week.  Then, at my next appointment, he gave me a completely different report.  I was still only 1cm dilated and he thought I would make it to my due date or longer.  Then, last week we had an ultrasound and she was so low and I was between 2-3 cm dilated so they were all "it won't be much longer!"  Then, this Monday when I went I hadn't dilated anymore than the week before and we started talking about induction.  It's so frustrating and I so badly do not want to be induced.  I really want her to come on her own when she's ready.
Baby Size: She was estimated to weigh about 6 pounds 8 ounces last week at the ultrasound.
Total weight gain/loss: I had lost 4 pounds at my appointment this week so who knows what's accurate anymore...
Maternity clothes? Literally nothing fits anymore.  I wear Carson's t-shirts on my morning walks because nothing covers my belly.  Everything's too tight and uncomfortable.  I'll probably be wearing the dress in the picture any time we need to go anywhere in public.   
Stretch marks? Bahhh I'm so disappointed.  They cropped up last week and definitely are getting worse and will continue to do so until I give birth.  I never imagined I would get them where they are.  I was focusing on my sides, thighs and boobs. I was still putting lotion everywhere, but I guess I wasn't putting enough where I needed it.  Oh, and I'm sure gaining 35-40 pounds doesn't help.
Sleep: Now that I'm on maternity leave, I'm totally taking advantage of morning naps.  I wake up every morning with Carson, take a 30-45 minute walk and come back and crash for a good 2-3 hours.  I've been sleeping great at night but I do wake Carson up every time I have to get out of bed to pee, which he's not all to thrilled about.
Best moment this week: We had our ultrasound at our last appointment and it was exciting to see her....parts of her, haha.  At one point we were just looking at her femur and then we were able to see her lips but nothing else of her face.  
Miss Anything? Work?  Is that totally lame?!  I'm on day 4 of maternity leave and I'm already a little sick of it.  It's been 105 degrees or hotter every day this week so doing anything outside after 8 am is totally out of the question.  There's only so much TV I can stand to watch each day. The house is relatively clean...I'm sure I could do more but then I just get hot.  I'm ready for my baby to get here so I have something to focus on, haha.
Movement: Every now and then she goes to town bouncing up and down on my bladder and she does crazy things with my colon.  I can literally feel all of my organs moving around to accommodate her.

Cravings: Fresh fruit.  

Labor Signs: Would it be totally awkward if I said I feel like I feel my cervix dilating?  I sometimes feel a lot of pressure in the exact same spot that the doctor checks.  I don't know if the baby is just bouncing up and down and I feel that but it's such a weird feeling.  And then I get zings that go down my legs.  
Belly Button in or out? Out.
Wedding rings on or off? They're all off now...my fingers are swelling too much and Carson totally freaked me out when he said they might have to cut it off if I swell too much during labor.
Happy or Moody most of the time: Sometimes I get a little snappy but I'm able to recognize it and reformat my question/statement/complaint to be a little more pleasant.

Looking forward to: My mom will be here next week!!  I'm so excited.  Hopefully I'll have a baby to show her soon!

I'm so sad to report that we've reached the end of our peach harvesting for this year.  The bugs and birds (lots of hummingbirds) have nearly finished off what few peaches we had left.  We estimate that we probably picked about 250 peaches from our 6 trees in the past month.  We were able to share with our friends, neighbors and coworkers.  We've each eaten at least one peach a day for the past couple of weeks and it's been so fantastic.  We've made a peach cobbler, peach pies, peach milkshakes, peach smoothies, peaches w/ ice cream, and fruit salads with our own peaches.  I think it's safe to say that Carson has absolutely loved tending the trees.  It grew on me...and I can't wait until next year.  I wish they would have stuck around until our family came to visit but we do have some frozen so we can still enjoy those over the next couple of months!