Our Birth Story

On Friday evening, 11/16/07, I began having mild cramps. These continued on and off through Sunday afternoon sometimes increasing in intensity. But it was not until Sunday evening that they became irregular contractions which continued all day Monday. At my 38 weeks OB/GYN appt Monday morning, my dr. said I was 50% effaced and 3cm dialated. She offered to try to move my labor along then and there, send me to the hospital for induction, or let me go home and see what happens. Wanting a natural birth, I chose to go home.
Irregular contractions continued throughout the day. Sometimes I'd only have 3 within an hour. I even took an hour and a half nap in the afternoon. It was not until after 5pm when they began to get longer and closer together - generally lasting 30-40 seconds long, with an occassional minute one, and generally 5-10 minutes apart. It was not until 6pm that they began coming ever 3 minutes or so, but again were lasting 25- 40 seconds. Then, at 6:30, suddenly my water broke. Happily I made it off the sofa in time. :) I called my OB/GYN office and spoke with Dr. Bruchalski, who was on call that day. I could hear him cooking in the background and he said it was up to me whether I wanted to head to the hospital and risk induction if my labor didn't progress fast enough or stay home and wait it out and, depending on how long I waited it out, have increased risk of infection. He said I probably was not near to delivery as I was chatty on the phone and very lucid and my contractions did not meet the standard length and stability to indicate nearing delivery. Unable to decide, he said he would call me back.
I had become quite emotional even crying over the situation, including concern over the fact I was apparently in labor while James was ill, Cecilia kept crying at me unable to understand why I couldn't hold her and I was unsure of how to get the birth I wanted or if I could even do it. So, when he called back, I said I would go to the hospital and, if I got there and was only 3 or 4 cm, I would resign my original desire for a natural birth and get an epidural. We decided to try to get Cecilia her bath and into bed before we considered leaving for the hospital.
Shortly into her bath, around 7:35pm, I began to feel an inclination to either go to the bathroom or push. Not sure which it was as I was numb from the waist down last time, I told James we needed to leave immediately. The whole way to the hospital I had consistent contractions every 3 minutes but again never lasting a minute or more. Several during that ride made me want to push down, which I resisted not sure what would happen if I did. We arrived at the hospital at 8:15, were checked in and by 8:30 the nurse was checking me in labor and delivery.
I was 9 cm. The staff could not have been more stunned than I was. Immediately the nurse paged my dr. who, sure I wasn't near labor, was still 5-10 minutes away. During those 10 minutes about 6 nurses rushed around me getting a blood draw, putting in the IV, asking dozens of questions and preparing for delivery. They commented on how calm I was. Truth is I was only striving to apply the bradley Method relaxation on my bottom half....I was too tense and tired to even worry about the top half. Dr. Bruchalski arrived cool as a cucumber, which in retrospect was really good - it kept me from panicking when it seemed so much was happening very suddenly and all at once and unexpected. At 8:45 I began pushing. I wish I had been a bit more patient during the pushing but considering I had been wanting, on and off, to push for over an hour, even I can understand my anxious desire to push like crazy.
At 9:04, Felicity Catherine was born, healthy, calm, quiet and alert.
Looking back I think when I broke down crying was the emotional signal the Bradley Method talks about that signals the transition phase of labor. I thought I was losing it. Really I was nearing the end.
Dr. Bruchalski was great and even joked that the credit of the delivery went to me. He reiterated repeatedly how proud and impressed he was with me. He said I was made of "another fiber altogether." I was simply stunned at the time. I couldn't believe delivery had snuck up on me like that, although I couldn't complain.

So far Cecilia has shown cautious curiousity about Felicity, watching her sometimes but not venturing so far as to try to touch her yet. Felicity and I are home now and hopefully will get more sleep than we did in the hospital. I've about about 2 and 3 hours of sleep the last two nights, only part of that being due to Felicity waking. She is doing well and we will keep you posted about her progress.

The Birth of Felicity Catherine

Last night, November 19, 2007 at 9:04 PM, Katherine gave birth to a small but very beautiful daughter named Felicity Catherine. She weighed in at 6 lbs and was 18 3/4 inches long. The delivery went well and quickly once at the hospital.

When I left both of them late last night, both were doing well and relaxing. To give you the events leading up to the birth, Katherine started having contractions on Sunday night and when we went to a scheduled OB/GYN appointment yesterday morning, the doctor told Katherine that she was 3 cm dilated and it was up to Katherine of what to do next. Katherine decided to wait more at home before going to the hospital and it turned out to be the best thing. By the time we got to the hospital around 8:15 PM, Katherine had been having consistent contractions as well as the urge to push. When checked by the Labor and Delivery nurse, Katherine was already 9 cm dilated. Katherine would have given birth earlier if the delivering doctor was already there. No doubt Katherine will share her experiences on our babies website as well as hers.

Feel free to visit our photo gallery at http://gallery.mac.com/amagicdeeper and see some pictures of Felicity Catherine. If everything goes well at the hospital, we should expect mommy and baby home by Wednesday afternoon. Keep us in your prayers as we make the start of having two wonderful daughters in our lives.

Such an Angel

In the last week we have changed Cecilia's bedtime routine, beginning last Wednesday. After her bath we had been getting her pjs on and then reading her two books in her bed and then laying down with her in her bed until she fell asleep. Now, after her bath, we get her pjs on, read her two books in our bed, and then take her to her bed, say goodnight, and leave the room. The first night we tried this, she cried for 13 minutes while knocking on her bedroom door before climbing into her bed and falling asleep. By last night, after her stories, she grabbed her stuffed lamb, ran to her bedroom, climbed into her bed, pointed at her lamp for me to turn it off and waved goodnight to me. Such a difference. She learned so quickly and has been so good. It was simply heart-wrenching that first night listening to her cry and bang on her door like a helpless child trapped. And then last night to have her get into bed by herself and wave goodnight to me was simply adorable.

The first 3 nights, she slept all the way through the night as well - all 11-12 hours! The last two night have not been so blissful. We are still trying to discern what the difficulty is but we are betting the fact her nose has been running a marathon has something to do with it - whether it is a cold or teething or both. Here's hoping we only improve though.

We certainly think it would have been preferable to start this process with her before now, esp. with a new baby coming, but between illnesses, changing beds, and moving, I'm not sure how feasible it would have been to consider it within the last 3 months anyway.

New Photo Gallery

Lately both Katherine and I been pretty frustrated with Flickr. So I have been experimenting with a new photo gallery at .Mac. You can find the gallery by going to .Mac Web Gallery. The site has photos from the last two months or so. So feel free to check it out.

Update

Well, Cecilia had a good but difficult past month. The week prior to and half-week following the move she was ill with some sort of stomach virus. It was a very wierd virus in my book. She began getting diarhea one Sunday and that lasted non-stop for 2 weeks and she was vomiting on three different occassions but the occassions were not seperated by hours but days - 2 days and then 4 days. Fortunately the miserable virus left and she was her usual happy self again although her recovery became a bit complicated: in order to catch up on her fluids, she began drinking 8 8oz cups of water/apple juice per day until she was going through 10 diapers a day and I could not keep up. We cut the juice out of her beverages and she cut back pretty quickly. Three days after cutting back how much she was drinking, a most unpleasant cold hit and her nose has been running since, though it is improving. Needless to say, Cecilia has had better months.

However, we could not have wished for a better transition for her to the new place. She isn't afraid of anything and enjoys exploring every corner (we have had to put a lock on the lazy susan to be able to use it). Unfortunately for us she has figured out how to open all those child restraint devices on cabinets, but fortunately she leaves them alone most of the time.

Baby "Bean" in the mean time continues to kick up a storm. She has been kicking Cecilia and Cecilia has tried to draw with a marker on my belly. They are already playmates! We have purchased a small baby doll we are going to give Cecilia around the time the baby comes. She might not care for it. But it might give her her own baby when mommy has one in her arms as well.