Little Miss

Fresh from heaven – 6 days old 

We really love her!

Clara’s First Day

While we were still at the hospital, Matt brought Lily and Emma to officially meet their sister. Clara was so nice to have gifts ready for them.

They both loved their Ponies and fruit snacks.

I sure love these people. Like a whole lot.

All the girls

My sweet Clara

Her “going home” outfit

Settling in at home with Daddy

Clara’s Birth Story–The LONG Version

This picture was taken the night before Clara was born, at about 10:30 pm.

On Tuesday (8.26.14) contractions started coming pretty regularly around 10pm about 12-15min apart. I tried to go to bed around 11 but the contractions were strong and painful in my tailbone. After a few contractions, I got up and finished packing the hospital bags. The contractions continued to come every 8-12min apart till around 2. The only position that felt good was standing or kneeling, bracing the bed or the bathroom counter while swaying from side to side. I tried getting on all-fours but I kept getting queasy and sent me to the bathroom where I sat on a stepstool by the toilet. I only threw up once and dry heaved two other times.

I decided to get in the shower to help with the tailbone contractions. While in the shower, I continued to track the contractions at 3-5 min apart for about 25min. The dr said not to come into the hospital until contractions had been 3-5min apart for an hour. I got out of the shower and woke up Matt around 3am to let him know it could be getting close. At that point the contractions slowed down to every 6-8 min again with a few that would be 3-6 min apart. Every once in awhile I would have a 10-12 min gap between contractions.

This continued for the next few hours. I was really worried that my labor was going to stall out or that I’d get to the hospital too early and give in to an epidural and then have it stall out and then be on a slippery slope to getting a repeat C-section. The contractions continued to be irregular but around 8am we sent text messages to our support team. Kirsta Jacobs offered to be my labor support and Randy and Melinda Schamel were called to watch Lily and Emma while we were at the hospital.

I was having a hard time controlling my temperature. During a contraction I was super hot and then, as soon as the contraction ended, I was cold and getting the chills.

(picture taken at about 8:15am, between contracitons. SO tired after being up all night)

Kirsta came over around 8:45am and helped me with one contraction by rubbing my lower back, which was heavenly. I had been having the feeling that I needed to go to the bathroom and had been a few times already with no success but went in again. I sat down and pushed a bit and that’s when my water broke and a gush went into the toilet. I immediately felt a very strong need to push. The feeling was uncontrollable! I felt “down there” and noticed a round bulge.

At that point I knew I didn’t need to go to the bathroom and that things were not what I thought. I called Kirsta in and said, “I think I’m having this baby!” She calmly said, “No, no, you’re probably just going into transition,” as she rubbed my back. She helped me get my skirt and underwear off. She looked “down there” and said, “oh, yep, you are having this baby!” She helped me get off the toilet and onto the floor while Matt ran to get towels and some pillows to put behind me, and a children’s book she had packed as a “fan.”

Matt called the Schamels, who said they would be over after they showered. When Matt told them the situation, they said they’d come right then. Kirsta fanned me off so I could calm down a bit before the next contraction came. I later learned that I had gone quite pale and wasn’t breathing really well. Her fanning me off was wonderful. She tried to stretch my perineum a bit. With the next contraction, I pushed twice and Clara was born. Kirsta caught her and quickly wrapped her in a towel and put her on my chest. She had a good strong cry. We spent time just being together, bonding for the first time. I talked to Clara and calmed her down.

I was amazed at how things had changed from thinking that I had lots of labor still, since my contractions were so inconsistent, to having a baby in the bathroom! Matt called the paramedics and they came about 5 min later to assess Clara and I. They clamped and cut the cord and wrapped her in new towels.  Her apgar score was 8 when they arrived and 10 when they tested again. They handed her off to Matt who immediately beamed and started showing her off to everyone.

While the paramedics were helping me, Matt introduced Clara to her older sisters and Melinda.

Lily and Emma had been downstairs watching cartoons throughout the whole ordeal and didn’t understand what was happening when the paramedics came rushing in. The paramedics took my vitals and, since I hadn’t delivered the placenta yet, decided to carry me in a large tarp-like hammock with handles. That was a weird experience being carried down the stairs and out to the front of the house to a stretcher waiting on the driveway. Lily was pretty upset seeing me being carried and started to cry.  I gave her and Emma hugs and told them that I was fine and that everything was ok. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They strapped me in and put Clara on my chest. We both got our first ride in an ambulance to the hospital. About a minute away from the hospital I delivered the placenta and the paramedic put it into a bowl. There was quite the gathering when we went through the doors. All the nurses and other hospital personnel were excited to see us and wish me congratulations. I was so grateful that it was a happy occasion and that I wasn’t coming through the doors with complications. There were many things that could have gone wrong with this being a VBAC and also being a homebirth without the assistance of a midwife. I’m so grateful that I had Kirsta there to help out. She has been to 4 births on top of her own 4 births so she kind of knows some things about the process. I know that Matt would have been fine but just having another woman in the room, who was extremely calm, helped to make the process much more bearable.

The paramedics wheeled me directly to the labor and delivery ward where the hospital staff there took over. Before taking me to a room, the nursery nurse took Clara to assess her. While I was getting settled in with a pitocin drip to help my uterus contract quicker, the nurse from the nursery told me that Clara’s blood sugar was really low and her body temperature was low. They needed to give her a bottle of formula and put her under the heaters to help her warm up.

Matt came a little later and said he had a hard time finding out where I was and was told to go back and forth from the front desk to the ER before they finally figured out that I was taken directly to labor and delivery. The OB on-call, Dr. Castelli, came in and found that I had torn three times, one was a 2nd degree tear and the other two were a one, and stitched me up. He told us that in his 15 yrs of practice this, an unexpected home birth, had only happened to him once before.

After about an hour, the nurses were able to bring Clara into the room where she stayed with me pretty much the rest of the time.
Her birth stats – 6lbs8oz, 20 in, born at 9:00am(ish)

Pregnancy #3

Since I haven’t been good about documenting this pregnancy, I thought this questionnaire I found online would be good.

Finding out: Late period right after Christmas but waited to take a pregnancy test until
    we were home from vacationing with family in Utah. Found out Jan 1st, 2014.
    Told all the family in the middle of February 2014 when I was about 13 weeks.
    Told Burk family on Google+ with picture of the girls with the ultrasound pictures.
    Told Chapman family at Disneyland with homemade shirts for the girls - Lily's said
    Big Sis 2 (to the second power) and Emma's said Big Sis.
How far along now:  38 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: 38 pounds, hopefully that will be all. haven't gained more weight in
    last 2 weeks
Favorite Maternity clothes: love my maxi skirts and dresses, belly-fitting shirts, no tents here!
Stretch marks? too many to count. not sure if there are new ones or not. guess that's bound
    to happen with #3
Sleep: Sleep has been great up until about a week ago. Now I wake up at least once to pee
    or need to turn over. Belly is getting heavy. A pillow between my legs has been a
    must since about 30 weeks
Best moments:     - finding out that we'll have another little princess in our home
        - seeing Lily and Emma's reactions to the gender. Lily jumped up and down
        saying, "I knew it would be a sister!" And Emma was happy, but probably only
        because she saw how happy Lily was.
        - only 4 bad leg cramps so far (fingers crossed). With Lily, I remember having
        one almost every night.
        - very little heartburn, she may be bald as a cue ball but I'll take it!
        - watching Lily and Emma interact with my belly and start to understand that
        there is a little person in there. Lots of hugs and snuggles.
        -Lily often says "Hi baby!" and rubs my belly
        -Lily calls her their "belly sister"
Movement: Lots! This girl is active, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Felt first flutters
    at 16 weeks. Felt movements from outside around 22 weeks.
Food cravings: mostly fruits and anything sweet. Grapes are constantly stocked in the fridge.
Anything making you queasy or sick: nope. Very lucky to not get sick
Labor Signs: starting to have more noticeable contractions with some cramping,
    but nothing regular yet
Belly Button in or out? out since 18 weeks :( Now it's mostly flat
Swelling? Wedding rings on or off? off since about 20 weeks, definitely have more swelling this pregnancy.
    I have more swelling in my left leg, where I also have large vericose veins and some spider veins.
    More swelling in my face earlier on than in my other pregnancies
Happy or Moody most of the time: moodiness comes and goes, but mostly happy
Milestones:  At 31 weeks she was breech so I worried a lot that she wouldn't move head down and be breech
    like Emma was. Did LOTS of reading about flipping breech babies and tried to figure out each
    night what position she was in. Did exercises to try to get her to flip. Probably drive Matt crazy
    with all my obsessing. At 36.5 weeks ultrasound confirmed that she was head down and fluid
    levels were good (about 13.5 cm of fluid).
Birth Plan: Hoping to have a successful VBAC (Vaginal Birth after Cesarean), been reading up on Hypnobirthing
    and hoping to have a natural delivery with no epidural.
Who will be at the birth: Matt and a good friend (Kirsta Jacobs) who has had 3 VBACs and has assisted at 4 other births. She offered to be a labor and birth coach and advocate for me . If she comes late, Mom will be here
Names: maybe Clara, Eliza, or Hannah with middle name: maybe Jane or Marie

My growing belly…