I am obviously not as good about blogging about our lives in the most recent months. Probably because I am not as good about sitting down and probably because I was pregnant. Now I need to make sure that I don't get too behind. Honestly this is my only journaling outlet right now and I don't want to forget some of the most important things like my babies births. So here we go, I am going to talk a little bit about Rose's birth. She has the right to know when she is old enough to read.
As we all probably remember we did not know the gender of Rose until she was born, so I am going to revert to her in-utero name of Coopster for a while -- at least until she is born!
Saturday the 27th of February was my due, but as I had expected Coopster did not make an arrival that day. I tried really hard not to get all anxious about it, because heavens know due dates are guesses and realistically I did not think I was going early. So that day came and went I wasn't too upset about it. On Sunday we had Church along with a linger longer and then we headed up to the Coops for a family dinner. We talked about babies and ate some yummy food and had a good time. We hadn't seen Nathan and Heather's family for some time.
By the end of the night I noticed some signs of potential labor (some contractions and the like) and thought maybe we were on the way to birthing day. But we didn't think it was terribly likely for that evening so we went home letting the grandparents know that we might be needing their services soon!
I slept okay that evening, but woke up several times to some weak contractions. The next day Jimmy decided to take the day off and the kids went up to their grandparents. It was a delightfully relaxing day, but nothing happened really. Jimmy and I went on walks, we rested, and we even went out to dinner (as a last minute date night!). We went to bed and hoped that maybe the baby would be a leap day baby. The night went the same, a few mild contractions, but nothing really serious. So Jimmy went to work and I headed up to the Coops. I was bored at home and if I needed to go the hospital it was better I was with people who could take me.
And that is where we stayed until Wednesday evening. Jimmy took the commuter rail to his parents and I read The Martian and hung around hoping for some really exciting contractions.
Wednesday afternoon Grandma Nancy took me to my 1 week past due appointment and everything seemed normal. Coming out of that appointment I was at 3 cm, which I knew didn't mean anything really, but it was a little exciting since that is where I started labor with both Lucy and Sam.
On Wednesday evening I started to notice a change. Actually I became super emotional first and then I started having more frequent contractions. This all happened after dinner, which was great because I was never really hungry during labor.
I talked to my sister Gretchen on the phone and had a few contractions during that conversation. Then Jimmy and I timed the contractions through a few shows, and then I realized it might be time to call the midwife and see what she thought. Our phone call ended up deciding that it was probably a little too early to come in, but in the end things seemed to moving in the right direction. I told the midwife that we would wait another 30 minutes and see if things picked up. We ended up waiting another 60 minutes during which I got a blessing that put my mind at ease. We headed to the hospital around 11 pm.
When we got the hospital the parking was a little bit frustrating, mostly because it wasn't were we had parked before. Jimmy and I are really sensitive to parking situations. But we got all settled and then a nurse brought us to labor and delivery where they started to monitor the baby. I met the midwife and she checked me again. I was now at 5 cm. Let me tell you, that what just about the most exciting thing I had every heard! I had progressed 2 cm in an afternoon.
They then moved me into my room and started me on monitors again. I am not going to lie, it made me a little nervous, since I am not a fan of being monitored the whole time. It is nerve-wracking and kind of a pain. But Coopster's heart beat kept jumping right as they were about to take it off, so it ended up being there most of the time. They did get me a monitor that moved, which made labor a bit easier. I was also hooked up to antibiotics because I was GBS positive, but that didn't last forever either!
And thus began the labor of Coopster. Since we waited long enough for actual contractions there really was no down time. The next 5 hours consisted of contractions (breathing deeply, Jimmy and midwife putting counter-pressure on my back) and resting from contractions. As with my other labors there was a significant amount of back labor, which is not cool, but that is how I knew they were real contractions and not Braxton hicks. I tried out the bath, which was nice, I sat on the birthing ball, I rocked back and forth while walking, I sat up on the bed. I tried quite a bit of positions. My favorite was sitting up on the corner of the bed with my feet slightly elevated -- according to my other birth stories this was my favorite position for those labors as well.
I ate popsicles and a few crackers and drank water after every contraction. It was manageable until about 1.5 hours before birth. Then I became nauseous and shaky and the contractions were incredibly long. The nurse said I had a few that were 4 minutes long. And then there was not too much time in between. I found I would doze for a few seconds between contractions and then go right back into a hard one. I knew things were getting close so I asked to be checked and I was now at 9 cm. Yippy!
I hadn't quite felt the urge to push, but we were so close I was pretty excited. My breathing became more vocal at this point and I could tell we were closing in on the birth of this baby. At this point my water had not broken, which was different, but I didn't really think about it until I started having the urge to push. The midwife was great and told me to do what my body said it should do. Not hold back, but give into the pushing. It relieved a lot of the tension. Then I was checked again and I wasn't quite fully dilated. I had some more contractions and then all of a sudden what can only be described as an explosion, my water broke. It was awkward and startling and not what I had experienced before. Jimmy joked later that he was glad he was not in front of my when it happened.
That happened at 4:29 am. The midwife gave me the go-ahead on real forceful pushing with some directed advice on how to breath during through these pushes. The first time didn't seem fruitful, but by the second push Coopster was born and laying on my chest.
Now you may think that in that moment I was desperate to know if it was a girl or a boy. Actually I was totally focused on the fact that I had yet again birthed a baby that the gender did not even come to mind. In fact the midwife said to us "don't you want to know what you had?!" as she opened Coopster's legs and showed us that we did in fact have a girl. It was exciting, it was a relief and we were so happy to have another little baby in our family!
The midwife waited for the cord to stop pulsing and then Jimmy cut the cord. Then I nursed her for what seemed like an hour or two before they brought us into the postpartum room. It was a very calm transition without too much interruption. Though I must say our first postpartum nurse was very chatty!
As for the name, we went back and forth on two names that we liked, but settled on the name Rose Marie. Rose was a name we had liked for a while and Marie was a family name from both sides of the family.
Rose Marie weighed in at 7 lbs 11 oz and was measured to be 20.5 inches long. She was pink and loud and happy to eat! We stayed in the hospital for one night and left the following afternoon. And now we are home living the 3 kid dream! And that is how our sweet Rose was born.
I always like to end these posts giving props to all the people who helped, most importantly my husband who now shares a birthday with his newest daughter (March 3rd!). Every time I go through labor I am amazed at how patient and calm he is. I know that watching me struggle is not his favorite thing, but he does a wonderful job at supporting me through the process of natural child birth. I am also very grateful for my parents, parents-in-law and friends. They've helped with the kids and the transition into our larger family.
It has been almost two weeks and we are surviving. The first few days are a bit blurry because Rose thought night was more like day time, but we have since come to know some more extended sleeping in the evening hours. Sam and Lucy are transitioning fairly well, though I am sure there is still a lot of transitions to come. We are grateful to have Rose here and we are grateful for a healthy and happy family!
