Caroline Joy's Birth Story

You may think me a complete slacker because it's been 7 weeks since Caroline has been born, and yet no birth story has been written. But I'll have you know that I wrote half of the story out one handed on my cell phone while holding Bonnie during a nap. However she awoke suddenly, crying and I closed the app thinking it would save the draft...nope. I lost all that hard work and if you have ever typed a long message on an iPhone or parented two children you'll understand why it's taken me so long to get back to this.

So without further ado, below are the details of Caroline's birth. Oh and it's LONG!

As with Bonnie we were being induced early for Caroline too. We were to report to the hospital at 7pm on Monday, May 6th with serious baby business happening on May 7th. I had a hair appointment earlier in the day that Monday to get my color done (cause who knew when I'd have a chance to get it done again (still haven't)) and my hair straightened. Curly hair isn't conducive to long unwashed periods, so straightening it is my best option to not having Fraggle Rock hair at the hospital. I also got a pedicure, because I was about to push a tiny human out of my body, I deserved it!

Around 5pm Johnathan and I said goodbye to Bonnie for a few days, and headed off to Boston Market for dinner. It's where we ate before Bonnie was born so I was trying to keep the tradition going. Like last time we finished eating way too early so we went to a drug store and wandered around. Johnathan got some snacks for himself, and I bought a nightlight for our room so that I could see what I was doing during the many night wakings ahead of us.

When we checked into the hospital we were assigned our overnight nurse and she was super nice, so much better then our first nurse with Bonnie. We did all the paper work and she had someone come in to start my IVs. One on each arm. Left arm dedicated to Pitocin (to start contractions) and fluids. Right arm dedicated to insulin. The left arm was easy, but they had two failed attempts on my right arm that hurt quite a bit. Finally an older lady came in and managed to get one in. Unfortunately, this time the doctor on call wanted me to get the insulin going over night so I was hooked up immediately to both IV stands and also had the monitors on my stomach for contractions and heartbeat. That made going to the bathroom very difficult. Johnathan had to unhook each IV stand and my monitors. I would loop the monitors over my neck and we'd all wheel the stands into the bathroom with me. Needless to say I had to go to the bathroom a lot. Oh and they had to check my blood sugar every hour, so I was woken up to get a finger prick. The doc recommended I take Ambien, but I'm pretty crazy in my sleep without meds, I was too nervous to take it in the hospital. So I pretty much got no sleep.

They upped the Pitocin in the morning to get the labor going, and  my water was broken...things progressed this time much quicker than last. It helped that I was already 3cm dilated when I arrived. Because of that they told me I could get the epidural whenever I felt I needed it. Around lunchtime I started feeling uncomfortable so I asked for the epi. He had a few emergencies to deal with first so I had to wait a little. I was glad I knew to ask at the first sign of discomfort so that it wouldn't get unbearable before I could get some help. The anesthesiologist finally arrived and had the biggest Eastern European accent. It was actually hard to understand him, which made me nervous considering he was sticking a needle in my spine and I didn't want to misunderstand him and move when I shouldn't. The insertion went without problems, but almost immediately I started throwing up. I thought that my nausea during Bonnie's birth was due to the drugs I was given before the epidural, but it turns out it was the epi too. If I moved around too much I would throw up. It also made me groggy, so I was able to snooze a bit up until delivery time. Ah, and I could still feel some pain in my left side, so I kept pushing the epi button to try and fix it. It didn't seem to help so the doc came back in and gave me more. It took away the pain in my left side, but made my right side completely numb, I couldn't move my own leg.

They checked my progress around 3:30 and realized I was fully ready even though I didn't feel any pressure. We had to wait for my doctor to get back from her office, so we ended up waiting about an hour before she arrived for me to push. With Bonnie, the epi wasn't so strong so I could feel when to push and felt pressure in my pushes. But I was so doped up this time, I couldn't feel a thing. I didn't push very long, and out came Caroline at 4:53. They were able to lay her on me immediately because there was no meconium or cord issues. They whisked her away and took care of her, but I had her long enough to realize she looked nothing like Bonnie. While Bonnie was blond and fair skinned, Caroline had dark hair and skin. Ironically Bonnie is named after my family and takes after us. Caroline is named after his family and takes after them.

After she was measured (8lbs 4oz. 21 inches long) and given her tests we did skin to skin and she fed. It took a while before they took us to our new room because my legs were still numb. I also had to get another catheter put in because I couldn't go to the bathroom by myself for some reason. Luckily I couldn't feel it.

We spent one more day in the hospital and then got to escape on Thursday, May 9th. We don't like spending more time in the hospital then necessary, because they are always knocking and bothering and poking and prodding. They tell you to get sleep but it's near impossible in that environment. As we left I asked the pianist in the lobby to play Clair de Lune while I waited for Johnathan to pull the car around. As with Bonnie I sat there listening to it while Caroline held my finger.

If I didn't have diabetes I could see labor and delivery being fairly easy. But because I have all of the extra procedures to follow it's so annoying. It's the stuff before the pushing out the baby part that makes me not want to do it again.

Since we've been home with Caroline, things have gone better than I expected. It's a Godsend to have Johnathan home with me or else I'd have gone mad. The hospital said I couldn't pick Bonnie up for a month, so he did everything in regards to her. Because of that, they are super close now. She calls for him all the time now, and I love how much she loves him. I was left to take care of Caroline and she's been such a joy. Either she's an easier baby than Bonnie was, or I'm just better at this Mommy thing. The first week or so she slept A LOT, like more than the doctors say babies should, but the pediatrician didn't seem concerned. At first I thought I was going to have to sleep with her on me like Bonnie, but I quickly devised something. We have a travel crib in our bedroom, so I put the changing pad that Bonnie slept on into the crib to give her some elevation and it's worked.

Bonnie goes to bed at 7 and we keep Caroline out in the living room with us until our bedtime, where she usually sleeps in her swing or car seat. We go to bed around 11 and we change Caroline and feed her. Once she's laid down she sleeps 3 or 4 hours. Gets another change/feed and sleeps another 3 or 4 hours. So we're only getting up once around 3 and again around 6 or 7. When Bonnie wakes up, Johnathan gets her up and takes care of her until I get up with Caroline. Carol still takes Bonnie during the week, so Johnathan and I are able to get some things done.

Now that we're almost 2 months in. Caroline is such a sweet mellow child. She still likes to sleep a lot, and when she's awake she's not too fussy unless she's really sleepy and can't seem to fall asleep. She's started to smile and coo a lot, and that's always fun to see. She lights up when she sees me, and I gotta say that feels good. She had jaundice that we just couldn't seem to kick so the doc told us to feed her formula for 36 hours. It wasn't easy, because unlike Bonnie she hasn't taken to bottles well. But we made it through it, and I gotta say I was super glad to be breastfeeding her again (it's so much easier to soothe her that way). She likes the swing much better then Bonnie did, and we've been successful with using a paci more than we were with Bonnie.

Speaking of Bonnie, she's so sweet with Caroline. We have her give the baby kisses before bedtime and she loves to do that before any of us get kisses. She always tries to give Caroline blankets and paci's even if she doesn't need them. Like any 1.5 year old she doesn't know her own strength so she'll sometimes pat her too hard or try to touch her eye to say "eye" but she does love her. She says "baby" a lot, and if you say Caroline she'll point to her. Yesterday Caroline was in the bouncy seat and Bonnie was dancing around in front of her. Caroline was smiling and cooing at her sister and it was the cutest thing!

I suppose that's it for now. We're doing well, and hope that things keep going as smoothly as they have been.

Birth Story- Bonnie's Big Day

I am pleased to announce the birth of Bonnie Lawrence! Born on Wednesday, January 25th at 9:33pm. She weighed 7lbs 3ounces and was 20.5 inches long. Sorry it's taken so long to update anything on here, but when you have a baby attached to you 24/7 it makes it difficult to type :).

The few days before we were scheduled to go in for the induction Johnathan and I were listless. We made it a point to go out to eat a few times, but otherwise we just didn't know what to do with ourselves. It's like waiting for the biggest moment you can think of, and feeling antsy and nervous for it all at the same time. On Monday we got Jericho groomed so that when we brought Bonnie home he wouldn't stink up the place.

Tuesday was the big day, so my goals that day were getting my hair done, getting us packed, and eating a good meal before the hospital.  It may seem silly and frivolous for me to get my hair done, but it was necessary. I got it colored (which was overdue) and had it blown out nice and straight. I'd put some thought into how I would look being at the hospital for several days. I decided that I didn't want to have my hair in a pony tail the whole time, because Johnathan prefers my hair down. Curly wasn't really an option because the minute I sleep on it, it becomes a rats nest. My best choice was straight hair because that looks better for a  longer period with little maintenance. We women know that the hair stylist always does a better job then we can do ourselves and I wanted it to LAST! I don't regret it at all! I didn't look like a ragamuffin the whole time in the hospital AND I gave myself a relaxing treat on a day when I knew pain was right around the corner.

After the hair appointment I came back home and we finished packing up our two bags: one for delivery and one for recovery per the hospitals request. We ended up having both bags in the delivery room though, because you just can't plan what you'll need, and of course as people had warned me we didn't need most of it. But I digress...

We then dropped Jericho off at the in-laws and drove into the city. Traffic was bad but we changed routes a few times and made our way to Boston Market. It ended up being a good choice for a meal. It was inexpensive, quick, and the food is always good. We finished with plenty of time to spare, getting to the hospital a good 15 minutes earlier than we needed to be.

They took us to our room and told me to change into the robe. I asked if I could wear the one I'd brought and the lady said I'd have to ask my nurse. I sat around waiting for the nurse for a while, but Johnathan thought I should at least put on their gown and then ask. So I did:

But the nurse finally came in and said mine was ok, so I was happy. Even though you could still see my butt in mine, it was still a million times better. They warned me it would get ruined but I said I didn't care. And happy surprise, it didn't.

We weren't too keen on this nurse, she wasn't very pleasant. And isn't that just the luck, to get a cranky nurse! She started with putting the monitors on me, very much like the NST with a heart monitor and a contraction monitor. I apparently had to keep those on the entire time unless I was going to the bathroom. To put the monitors on she threw the blankets back revealing my lady parts to the whole room (granted that was just her and Johnathan but still), I kept covering up and she kept revealing. I know at some point you have to have no shame in these situations, but I hadn't reached that point yet. Then she started an IV in my left arm. If I had thought about it I would have had her do the right side because I ended up having to sign some papers and couldn't grip the pen very well. The IV sucked! It made it very difficult for me to bend my wrist or push up with that hand, and as you can see the aftermath wasn't pretty.

This IV provided me with fluids and the Pitocin that would start my productive contractions. They started that at a low dose that night, and planned to jack it up in the morning to get the real work started. The nurse explained to me that they would have to put another IV in my right arm to provide me with an insulin drip to control my blood sugars. Knowing how the first IV felt, I was LESS than thrilled about this development.

The good news was that night they decided I could take my insulin like normal and wouldn't have to be connected to the second IV just yet. But that opened up a whole new can of worms when the pharmacy told the nurse that there was no way I would be taking 82 units of the insulin I said I needed. They said I asked for fast acting insulin and that would be very dangerous in that dose. Of course, I didn't actually bring that med with me so I pulled up my pharmacy records on my phone and showed her, but it didn't say dosage so it didn't help her. Then we called Johnathan's mom and asked her to go and look at my bedside to verify, and she did but again the dosage wasn't on the bottle. FINALLY the pharmacy was like, oh is it Novalin N? And I said, yes. So unbeknownst to me, there's more than one type of Novalin. I just thought there was Novalog which is fast acting and Novalin which is slow acting. Dr. S always called my bedtime insulin N but I didn't think to mention it to them. Once we got that resolved (frustrating!), they gave me a snack, an Ambian and it was off to sleepy land. Well, as much as possible with two IV sites (yes they went ahead and put the IV leads in my right hand that night) and baby monitors stuck on me. Every time I had to go to the bathroom, we had to unhook the monitors and roll the IV cart into the bathroom with me.

Wednesday morning dawned, and a new nurse brightened our room. Her name was June and she was like the Mary Poppins of nurses. Night and day (pun intended) from the previous nurse. We started upping my Pitocin and she hooked up the insulin drip, which meant my blood sugar had to be tested every hour. That was a whole other bummer because their tester required a lot more blood then mine and took longer to read. I wish they would have let me test myself, and next time I may insist on it. I like to test in my thumbs because it hurts less, but I can say they looked like mincemeat when all was said and done. Plus you should have seen the ballet we had to perform for me to go to the bathroom with two separate IV carts, it took all three of us.

As the day progressed I kept having more and more contractions but they weren't painful which meant they weren't progressing my cervix. The doctor (not Dr. N she wasn't on call) was thinking that because I wasn't making progress that they'd probably give me until 4 and if I still hadn't dilated they'd dial  back the Pitocin, feed me and try again the next day. That wasn't appealing to me. I'd gotten used to the idea of her birthday being 1/25 and I didn't want to have to go through another night of this.

Who knows if it was mind over matter, or simply them increasing the Pitocin past the max but around 3 the contractions started becoming painful. I asked for the epidural, but when they checked I was still only 1cm dilated so I couldn't get it. They decided to give me another pain med in my IV instead. I can't for the life of me remember what it was called but it certainly did a number on me. Made me very sleepy, but it did take off the edge of the contractions. By this time Johnathan was sitting directly by me and whenever I had a contraction he'd let me squeeze his hand hard and he'd fan me with my little woven fan (that thing has been with me during some important times, on my wedding day and my baby's delivery). That connection through his hand was honestly what helped me through the pain, with a little help from the drugs.

In a daze

By around 4:30 June decided to check me again and I'd dilated to 2.5 or 3 which was enough for the epidural (yay!). Maybe I was just in a daze, but the doctor seemed to come in quickly and I was very thankful to have the epidural.

They broke my water soon after that, and noticed there was some meconium in it. That means the baby had a bowel movement in the womb and would need to be checked out immediately upon delivery to make sure she didn't inhale any of it. I'd often childishly said that I didn't want my babies placed directly on my chest when I deliver because they're icky, but since being pregnant I had changed my mind about that. I guess nature had the last laugh and my childishness had it's way.

The next few hours was a lot of me dozing in and out from a combo of exhaustion, drugs, and epidural. June left us at 7 and we got our second angel nurse Michelle. She was the opposite of June in that she was young and perky but I think that's what we needed. Around 8 or so she checked my dilation and surprise, I was fully dilated! She had someone else come in to double check because they were surprised at how quickly I had progressed. Confirmed! It was time to start pushing. Remember I mentioned my messed up pedicure and how I planned to wear cute knee socks!? Yeah, those lasted about 10 minutes into pushing. Every time I put my feet down they'd start slipping on the bed, no traction. So I took them off and just stared at my busted toenails instead...however the socks did leave heart impressions in my legs for a while :).

Michelle warned me that pushing might take a couple of hours, but again I wasn't having that. The pushing was my least favorite part. I knew it was the only thing that was going to bring my baby into this world, but man it made me feel really light headed. If you know me, you know I'm stubborn so I made sure my pushing was productive and I got Bonnie ready to go in about 45 minutes. Johnathan was of course being a huge help the whole time. Holding one of my legs during pushes, encouraging me, and putting a cold cloth on my forehead and fanning me in between. Granted I had to ask for the cloth and the fan each time because he kept getting distracted, but that's understandable. Side note: when they ask you to breath through the contractions and not push so the doctor can come...that sucks worse than pushing!

As Bonnie was coming out Michelle said, "Oh wow! Look at that blonde hair!" She looked at us a little shocked, because Johnathan and I are obviously brunettes, but we explained that we suspected that. We were both blondes until we were about 6 years old. Also, my dad is a blonde and the women on Johnathan's fathers side are blondes.

The doctor came in and got suited up for the final push. I'm pretty sure it was just one push and Bonnie was on her way out, but they had me stop pushing midway because, surprise her cord was around her neck. Her heart rate never went down to indicate that, so the doctor was really surprised. Johnathan says he swears he saw the cord before the doctor did. She apologized that he couldn't cut the cord and she took care of it quickly, so I didn't have time to be scared. Out she came, and they took her over to the warming area to check her out. Everything checked out fine with her and her lungs. We waited patiently for my placenta, it took its sweet time and then I got sewed up. Apparently only 2nd degree tearing, which to me sounds great because I was really nervous it would be worse. The nurses all exclaimed at Bonnie's brown eyes and I assured them that was not possible considering I had blue and Johnathan had green. Turns out her eyes are a dark gray blue. But seriously, NOT something you want to hear haha.

After everything was said and done, Bonnie and I had some skin to skin time until about 10:30 because we had to wait an hour to feed her. They needed to test her blood sugar to make sure it was ok and it was 95 which was great! Bonnie has continued to perform perfectly throughout the entire pregnancy, delivery, and afterwards. Passing all of her tests with flying colors. I worked very hard to make sure that she had every opportunity to be healthy, and I can honestly say I'm so proud of myself.



The first time, ever I saw her face

Skin to Skin

We were finally transferred to our after labor room, where there was a proper sleep area for Johnathan (not much better than what he had before though) and I was able to get some food in me. Johnathan went to the cafeteria and got me hot dogs, yum! The next few days were a blur of nurses, aids, food people, visitors, etc. The first night nurse was again not very likable but the rest of the time we had fantastic nurses, thanks Kimiko and Jenny! Of course the diabetes was an issue and they kept on my case about my meds and my blood sugars and what I ate (so annoying). We were allowed to leave around 3 on Friday, they were waiting for Bonnie to have just one more bowel movement, but they weren't overly concerned so they let us go. And boy were we ready to get outta there. Of course, not fully realizing that the real work was yet to come.

Oh, these fingers are familiar!

Bright eyed but no bushy tail

Johnathan was pulling the car around, so I had some time sitting in the first floor entrance. That day there was a lady playing the grand piano so I asked if she could play Claire de Lune, one of my favorites that was played at our wedding and is on Bonnie's CD. As she played, Bonnie reached out and wrapped her hand around my finger for the first time. It took everything in me not to start crying right then and there. It was a beautiful moment that I'll never forget.

That's not to say I didn't start sobbing in the car on the way home, but that's a story for another day.