Dinah's Birth Story

Let's go back in time to March 2009...

Our story begins two weeks before Dinah's due date.  On Saturday I started having some mild to moderate contractions happening.  They continued on for a few hours so we started to time them.  They were coming at about a minute long and every 3-5 minutes.  After holding that pattern for almost an hour we decided that we should go into the hospital.  After all, that is when they tell you to head in.  So, we got there, checked into triage, was monitored for a couple hours and was told to go home because I was only 2 cm dilated and 70% effaced and the contractions weren't "strong enough." Humph.

Over the next couple weeks I was contracting all the time, but nothing was really moving along.  I constantly felt like "this is it!" only it never was.  Dinah was officially due on Monday, March 30.  The Thursday before her due date I had an appointment with our OB.  At that appointment I was 3 cm and 90%...so things were moving, just a snails pace.

That Saturday, March 28, I woke up feeling a bit crabby.  I started having some of those contractions I'd been feeling for a couple weeks, but I didn't think much of it since it never meant anything before.  In the early afternoon the contractions picked up some steam and changed into feeling a bit more crampy.  This was new, but they weren't very strong at all so I just ignored them and took a nap.  When I woke up a couple hours later the contractions were coming more regularly and were getting somewhat more intense.  I told Christian not to get too excited, but that this time things might be different.

We started timing and the contractions were all over the map.  They'd be 30 seconds long and 4 minutes apart or they would be like 2 minutes long and 30 seconds apart. Or even 30 seconds and 30 seconds apart.  There was no real rhythm to them except that they kept coming.  We took a walk over to Publix to see that helped regulate things, but it didn't.  So I decided to call the on call doc.  I didn't want to go all the way to the hospital again to just be told to go home.  The doc was funny and was like, "well, we like to you to come in if they are that close..."  So, we went home, grabbed our bag and we were off.

We arrived at the hospital around 7:00 pm and went to check into triage.  We didn't even get our bag out of the car because we were so sure that this was yet another false alarm.  If things did pick up then there would always be time for Christian to run get the bag.  (A lot we know!)  Anyways, they got me all hooked up in triage for monitoring and immediately the nurses were a little concerned about a couple things.  1) My blood pressure and 2) the baby wasn't responding to the contractions.  Her heart rate was fine, but it should have been fluctuating during each contraction and she was staying too steady.  They drew blood, watched the monitors and waited.  At some point they started making me lay on my left side and then I had to have an oxygen mask.  Along about now the contractions were really kicking in but because I had to lay in such an uncomfortable position with stupid oxygen in my face I didn't get to practice any of my special breathing or anything I learned.  I was miserable in that little room waiting for them to decide what to do with me.

After about two hours of increasing discomfort and pain the doc came in and said that they were going to go ahead and check me in and if my water didn't break in an hour they would do it for me.  Hopefully that would get things moving along.  I was just excited to get out of the triage cubicle and into the nice, fancy birthing room.

Around 9:30 pm we were getting settled in to the birthing room.  I put on a gown and got into the bed and immediately my water broke in a big gush.  I let Christian and the nurse know and she checked it out.  When she pulled back the blanket her face was like "uh oh."  Apparently the water was like pea soup from all the meconium that Dinah had already passed in utero (for those who don't know, this is bad).  She checked my cervix and I was 100% effaced, but still only 4 cm dilated.  The contractions started coming much more heavily almost immediately after my water broke.  At the time I thought I was just moving in to "active labor" but now I know I just jumped straight to "transition."  I still had to lay on my left side and breathe with the oxygen mask which was supremely uncomfortable given the present level of pain I was starting to feel.  Also, there was the worry.  After my water broke the room went from having one nurse puttering about to having several nurses and doc coming in and speaking to us very reassuringly...which only  had the effect of making us aware that something was very wrong.  Eventually (around 10:00 pm) the doc came in and said she didn't like my blood pressure, the way the baby wasn't responding to things and the meconium.  All that together made her decide we should just go ahead and get the baby out via C-section.  We agreed and Christian was whisked off to wash and get into surgical room gear and I was prepped for the surgery.

They wheeled me down the hall to the operation room and lifted me onto the tiny little operation table.  The nurses were just about to turn me to my side so the anesthesiologist could place the spinal for the surgery when I suddenly felt the urge to push.  I let them all know that and the whole room just stopped and stared at me.  Finally the anesthesiologist asked me "honey, did your mom go fast?"  Yes! I replied.  One of the nurses quickly checked my cervix and I was now 9 cm dilated.  (yes, that is 5 cm in 30 minutes)  I had one more contraction while we waited for the doc to come running in and I tried not to push yet.  She checked and I was now fully effaced and fully dilated.  She checked the baby monitor and said that the baby was liking this better so we were going to push! On the operating table!

They had to hunt down Christian, but they got him in there.  So with a couple nurses and Christian on each side holding my legs I pushed.  Apparently we do things quickly in our family and Dinah entered the world 20 minutes later at 10:40 pm.  She was a little Elphaba of a baby but they cleaned her up quickly and we got to meet our new little daughter.

Auntie Amber was the first visitor Dinah had in the hospital.  She and her boyfriend (future husband) Chris had been at a concert out of town when we called them.  They finished up there and Amber came on to the hospital. (Chris was leading worship at church the next morning and had to go to bed.)  It was the middle of the night and there was a terrible thunderstorm going on, but we had a cozy time hanging out and taking pictures of our little miracle.

Dusting off the old blog

Hello everyone...it has been almost a year since we posted on the blog.  I blame the ease of Facebook.  I am much better at coming up with one or two sentences to say instead of whole paragraphs!

Although now that we are expecting our second baby we want to dust this guy off and get it going again.  The whole blog will probably get a redesign soon, but don't count on it being too soon.  The main reason I don't blog is because of chasing the one year old around.  She doesn't approve of mommy being on the computer, so unless she is napping or something I can't really use it.

Anywho...this was just to say "we're back!"  I'm going to try to post a few Dinah related things here in the next few weeks.  I never did get around to typing out her birth story and I would like to do that.  Also I'll put up some posts about her first birthday, etc.  Then we'll move on to baby #2.  That little one is not doing much besides growing right now, but when we have some more details like gender, name, etc. we'll let everyone know.

Still Preggers...

So, Dinah has still not made her appearance...although I think she might be coming soon. At least I hope so!

Christian and I have been pretty busy trying to finish up her room and make sure everything is ready to welcome her home. I keep thinking of things that have yet to be done, so that is nice way to help pass the time while I am waiting around. I have pretty much finished training the person who will be the interim Baughman Center manager while I am gone, so I am superfluous at work now. Again a good thing...it is hard to concentrate on anything that doesn't have to do with baby or baby stuff!

On Sunday Christian and I were wandering around the mall and decide to 'build' Dinah's first bear. Here is a picture of it in her crib. We haven't named him or anything...we wanted her to be able to name him herself when she is older.

Dinah's room is almost complete. We just have a shelf to put up, but Christian is still finishing it (needs a couple more coats of poly). Also, Christian's good friend, Keith (and my best friend Jennifer's husband), is building a changing table/dresser for us. We are excited about having a piece of furniture built just for us and by someone we are so close to.

I've put in here some pictures of the completed parts of the room. We love it and it is hard to not just sit in there doing nothing. It makes me feel like Dinah is closer to actually being here.

These are the Dinah letters that a lady Christian works with painted for us. Such a thoughtful gift!

Dinah's crib

Canvases that I painted with the help of my friend Lindy and Dinah's Aunt Amber.

This is where the new changing table will go...this shelf will stack up on another one we have in the room and holds clothes and her stuffed animals.

Shelf with toys, books and other fun stuff. If you look closely you can see the pictures of Alice and Dinah my friend Jen Johnson drew for us.

Well, stay posted to here or facebook if you've got it. We'll be making announcements as soon as something starts happening!

okay okay okay

So, I've been really bad about posting...I know. Every time I think about doing it my brain starts to hurt and I can't really think of anything of interest to say. So this is likely to random and not very exciting...sorry.

Tomorrow marks 37 weeks, so that means that baby Dinah will be considered "full-term" and really she could come any day now. I am definitely ready to meet my baby and I am more than ready to be done being pregnant! I have sausage feet, trouble sleeping and now to top it all off it is allergy season and the pollen is affecting me much more than normal.

Christian and I are feeling more and more ready to welcome Dinah when she comes. Her room is looking good, we've picked a pediatrician, almost all of our "big" items have been bought or received, and some last minute items are slowly coming in (we have our two work showers this week). We go to pick up her diapers next week so we can get them "prepped" for her.

Tonight we go to learn how to care for newborns at our hospital. I feel less freaked out by actual labor and delivery after our birth class, so maybe I will feel a little less freaked out about being completely in charge of a little person after this class. Although I hear that you never stop being freaked out about being a parent!

Christian says that he has another post all planned out, but he was waiting for me to post again before he would do it. His stuff is always better than mine...so I am sure it will be more interesting.

We'll be sure to keep everyone updated if (and when) we go into labor and Dinah is threatening her appearance.

Oh, and I'll have Christian take another couple pictures of me and my belly. I am looking pretty huge these days!

She likes to move it, move it!

So for the past few weeks I have been feeling little baby Dinah move around in there. Lately she has been quite hyper and if I am sitting still she is moving about. (Including sometimes tap dancing on my bladder!) I can definitely feel (and sometime see) her moving through my clothes. That is fun, because then Christian can feel the baby too. We really are at the fun stage right now...feeling the baby and having that daily assurance that she is healthy and growing strong and I am just at the stage of "cute pregnant" before I get enormous and uncomfortable.

We are getting ready for a really busy weekend leading into a really busy next few weeks. Aunt Amber is graduating on Saturday as is Grandma Frederique. And Uncle Jeremiah will be on this side of the country for a couple days. We are really excited about hosting Christmas this year. I have my tree up and I am enjoying the season (if only it would get a bit colder here). We are also excited when we think about the next Christmas season when baby Dinah will be here with us AND old enough to enjoy the fun!

Looking Pregnant

So, I am finally starting to look like I am having a baby and not like I am just chubby. It is fun to pull out the maternity clothes I have so far and wear them. Honestly, all the stretchy waist pants are so comfy, I'm not sure I will go back to regular pants again! No wonder "mom" pants all have elastic waists...they know a secret the rest of us haven't figured out yet!

Here is a picture of me taken this week. I was 19 weeks and 2 days in this photo.

Strolling

So, Christian is super sweet and is definitely the "emotional" one between us two. So, while he contemplates the beauty of life, I will tell you all about the beauty of our stroller. :)

Choosing a stroller is really like choosing a lifestyle. Did we want to have one of those infant car seats that we can carry the baby around in and that snaps into a bigger stroller or stroller base? Did we want to get a sling or Baby Bjorn and carry the baby that way? Did we want to shell out a bunch of money for a car seat the baby would grow out of within a year, just to spend alot of money on another seat? We were crazy for about week trying to decide what we wanted to do.

Finally, we decided that carrying around a 20 pound car seat with a baby in it was not our (my) cup of tea. We've both always liked the idea of strapping our baby to ourselves and only using the stroller for walks and longer trips. So, then what stroller did we want...we looked at a couple different things online and decided we really liked the look and features of the UppaBaby Vista.

Of course, this stroller is made by a smaller company and only one store in Florida actually had one in stock. So, one Saturday morning we drove down to Safety Harbor, FL (near Tampa) to look at one of these strollers in person. Long story short, we totally fell in love with it. It is super easy to fold and to steer. It comes with a toddler seat and a bassinet, both of which can be turned to either face the "driver" or face the world. It is really light for a "full-sized" stroller and very strudy. It also comes with both a bug screen and a weather sheild. We totally love it and it is truly awesome. We also got an amazing deal on it because we got the floor model and is the red one. :)

See some pictures here...