Capturing the Ride: February 2010

Yesterday morning, the sun was shining gloriously through our windows. I did some laundry, cleaned the bathroom, did a little post-preggo Cindy Crawford workout, and then asked Sawyer if he'd like to go for a walk. The answer was "YES!!!" The truth is, when my Mom was here (and Aspen was 5 days old) we took them on a walk to the park. I had her all bundled up snug to my warm body in the Moby Wrap, and Grammie pushed Sawyer in the stroller. BUT. Yesterday was the first time I hauled out our huge double stroller and took both of the kids on a walk in the neighborhood. We listened to the birds chirping, looked for squirrels, enjoyed the sunshine and some smiles and conversation as we met people along our way.

Since Sawyer has been so sick (not to mention me recovering from having a baby and Aspen being so tiny and new) we have been pretty much house-bound for the past two weeks. Sawyer is just about done with his antibiotics and the past couple of days he seems to be just about back to his regular self (thank goodness!) I decided a walk was a perfect way we could all get some vitamin D and some fresh air. It was SO REFRESHING! Aspen, of course, pretty much slept the whole time. But I think she liked it, too.

When I brought out the camera to document the first trip in the double stroller, Sawyer looked at me like "what are you doing? let's just go on our walk, already!" I know, I'm a bit too camera happy sometimes...

We ended up walking around the neighborhood and then over to the park to watch the ducks at the lake. Sawyer enjoyed pushing the stroller part of the way. He was so worn out by the time we got home, he ate all of his lunch and took a 3 hour nap. Fresh air is an awesome drug!

Thanks once again goes to my parents, who gave us the double stroller as a gift. They usually give a nice crib to us when we have our first baby, but since we received a super nice crib via hand-me-down when we had our first, we made a request for a double jogging stroller instead. We don't have a lot of storage space and knew we'd have two kids soon...so it has worked out well. Give me a few more weeks and you might even see me jogging around Greenlake with my precious cargo! Company is welcome!

Here's the story you've all been waiting for...
*warning* it's a long way of telling a short story!

First, I must say, I had been a tiny bit nervous about a second labor and delivery because my first went quick and smooth. Could I really top that? I was also a little nervous because of the whole GBS+ thing. And nervous about things going faster the second time around...

Well, I am happy to say there was no need to worry about any of it! My "precipitous" labor and delivery went ultra smooth and quick -- just perfectly. If I can top this one, that will be a wonder!

I woke up on Saturday - 12 days before my due date - to a sharp pain in my lower abdomen. I was a little surprised. It was a little after 6am. I laid there for an hour or so, and occasionally it happened again. All of a sudden, I had a little flash back to labor with Sawyer, and I realized I was having contractions, or surges as I refer to them. Jacob and Sawyer woke up about 7:45 and I told Jacob I had a few surges. He suggested timing them and moving around to see if they stopped. So, I laid there and we timed them. Sawyer laid there with me for a while and brought in some legos to play with while sitting beside me. My boys went downstairs around 8:30 to make some waffles. I didn't join them for breakfast. I just didn't feel like eating (which should have been a clue that I was in the early stages of labor!). I took a shower and laid back down. The surges were now coming at about 15 minute intervals. Jacob brought me some water and I just laid there listening to my hypnobirthing CDs and relaxing and breathing through each contraction as it came...in wonder and super excited that likely this was going to be it!

Around 9 o'clock I told Jacob we should probably call our friends to see if we could drop Sawyer off sometime in the next hour or so. I still felt like it wasn't time to go to the hospital, but I also wanted to get there in plenty of time to get the antibiotics...so we loaded up the car and headed over to drop Sawyer off. Can I take a moment to say how grateful I am to my friend, Allegra, and her husband, Dan, for taking Sawyer for us? Thanks, you two. I knew he was in the best hands and not far from us, as we headed to the birth center. I also knew he would be having such a fun time playing with his friend, Max, that he wouldn't care much about our absence. It was such a good feeling to leave Sawyer in such good care and company - that had been one of my biggest worries, but as I waved out the window to my friend as we drove off, I knew all would be well for our little son.

We got to the hospital's birth center a little bit after 10am. The surges were probably about 7 minutes apart by that time, but the same intensity. I was thinking they might not even admit us, but why not see. I LOVE the hospital where we delivered (Northwest Hospital). They showed us to our room (we lucked out and got the huge luxury suite) and when we met our nurse, we had our birth plan ready to hand to her. She smiled and said "we've already read it over twice...let's see..." and she had read it and was already fulfilling our wishes of a nurse who was supportive of and particular to natural birth. I also love that this hospital is a smaller, private hospital, and that the rooms are LDRPs (labor/delivery/recovery/postpartum), which means, you go to your room and that's where you stay the entire time. No checking in at triage, no moving after delivery - it's just super cozy and comfy to be all in one place. The nurse said they'd monitor me for about 20 minutes and then we could start the antibiotics for 20 and then they'd remove the IV (I had a heparin lock) so I could move around as much as I wanted. As she monitored me, she discovered the contractions were now 5 minutes apart (although intensity was still the same as earlier), I was dilated to 4cm, and 100% effaced. The baby was at a -2 station. She said we should stay :) We put on the hypnobirthing CDs to relax to (soft music in the background) and I laid there relaxing and breathing and thinking this was not quite what I had pictured. I thought things would be getting much more intense by now...but besides the surges being a little closer together, it was easy to handle. The worst part of it all, though, came when 2 different nurses had to try to give me an IV for the antibiotics. I was a bit dehydrated and they had to "dig around" in 5 different places before they got me all hooked up. Luckily, my relaxing hypnobirthing music and keeping my eyes closed and focused on breathing helped me ignore whatever they had to do. I kept reminding myself, I was doing the whole IV thing for the benefit of the baby. So...20 minutes passed quickly since I had the surges to distract myself from the IV in my hand. They took it out and asked what I wanted to do. I had requested minimal check ups, but was curious if I was progressing much. The doc just happened to come in to see how I was doing and she checked me, per my request. I was then 6cm and baby was still at -2 station. She said, as she checked me "I am going to guess 6lbs 12oz". (My guess was 6 and a half). It was probably around noon by this time. She was going on a lunch break - she casually told us another wonderful Doc would be covering her while she was off at lunch (with a side of Salsa lessons ;) We had been there for less than two hours, but I still felt like everything was easy to handle. I was glad we came in early, because if I would've waited until I felt like I should have come - it might have been much too late. Especially if I wanted any chance at the antibiotics to protect me and my sweet baby. I asked the nurse to fill the Jacuzzi tub. I'm not really into walking around while in labor. I prefer to lay back and relax and let my body just get to work. So, I got in the tub minutes later...ahh...heaven. I suppose I was in there maybe 20 to 30 minutes, with the surges still pretty much the same intensity, and 3-5 minutes apart, when all of a sudden I started feeling pressure. The nurse said if I started to feel like pushing to let her know. I told her I was feeling a lot of pressure, and I decided to get out of the tub. She asked if I wanted to get the birthing ball out. I said no. In fact, I went to the side of the bed, did a yoga pose, and told her I didn't think I'd be needing the birthing ball. (She had gone to get it at this point...) As she returned, she looked at me, and then realized things were moving really fast.

I got up on the bed. In between breaths, I said "I think she's coming!!!" The nurse was going to take a look, but when she glanced over she said "oh my, there's a head!" She hit the emergency button and the doc and a few others came running in. Just as they got in the room, my water broke. I swear that if I didn't push, she would've come out anyway with all that water! The doc said "go ahead!" and 6 minutes after my water broke, Aspen came "flying" out into the world, with her little hand by her head - just like her brother - at 12:46pm. I tore, again - those little hands! She was immediately handed to me. I looked at Jacob and he looked at me, and emotions were high. "Oh, Aspen, we have been waiting so long to meet you!" I kissed her wet little face. She looked at me with bright, alert eyes. I'm telling you, there is just nothing like the thrill and adrenaline rush of a natural birth! I feel like I was especially blessed with such a quick and easy birth because my pregnancy had been such a difficult one.

I felt SO good. I told the doc I felt like jumping off the bed. She smiled (and then said, maybe I should wait a little bit before jumping off anything ;) The staff respected our request of holding off on any eye ointment, etc. and we just got to cuddle with our darling baby for an hour before anyone else touched her. Later, as the nurse weighed her and bathed her, we found that the doc was right on in her weight prediction: 6lbs 12oz and 19inches long. Aspen was a full pound heavier and one inch longer than her brother.

We had been at the hospital about 2 and a half hours. They want to have the antibiotics in your system 4 hours for it to do much. Well, the antibiotics were in my system just over an hour...so I guess they didn't do much after all. The blessing was that my water broke immediately before the birth, so the risk of exposure was super limited. Also, she came so fast, that lessened the risk as well. She actually came SO fast that her head was perfectly round. She spent mere moments in the birth canal (no cone head for my girl!) I've had a few people ask me if I had a c-section since her head is so perfect.

After she was bathed and we spent a little more time with her before she fell fast asleep, I hopped up and took a shower and got dressed in my own clothes (so much more comfy!) We called family and sent out a text message with a picture to family. Jacob called our friends to tell them that he'd pick Sawyer up after his nap. They were like "already!?! Wow!" So, Jacob left me and our babe to rest and he picked Sawyer up around 4pm. They went home and made cupcakes and then came back around 6pm for our Celebration Dinner and Aspen's Birthday Party.

The hospital requests that every mother who delivers have a Celebration Dinner with her guests before checking out. The menu lets you choose filet mignon, and salmon, among others things, and comes with a bottle of "champagne" (martinelli's sparkling cider) and goblets for cheers. Our huge room had a family-sized table, so we ordered our little feast and sat around the table eating together and rejoicing. We clanked our glasses, the three of us - with Aspen in Daddy's arms - and celebrated being a family of four. After dinner, we sang "Happy Birthday" to Aspen and ate cupcakes (much to Sawyer's delight!) Later, I sat on the hard wood floor with Aspen in my arms, as she and Sawyer exchanged birthday presents. The celebration made the event that much more memorable and special for all of us, and helped Sawyer understand, at least a little. It was hard to have my boys go home without us - but Aspen and I stayed the night and then they came to bring us home the next morning. At Aspen's 3-day check up at the pediatrician's, they said she is doing perfect (no signs of GBS infection) and she had dropped to 6lbs 2oz. My babies tend to be blessed with the natural ability to nurse right away...so nursing is going well and as of day 3 the milk is a-flowing. Sawyer loves his sister, but I think it will take a little time to get fully adjusted to adding a new person to the family. He has noticed he doesn't have as much of my attention as usual...but he doesn't seem to associate it with his sister. He actually goes up to her and says "play, play" because he really wants her to play with him. He is as sweet as ever, and my heart just overflows as I watch my two babies interact (even though Aspen is so little, she focuses right in on her brother and watches him intently). My heart feels so tender as I behold the love it can hold for this little family Jacob and I have created together. I just love them all to pieces! I feel so very blessed and humbled as I have watched my biggest dream continue to unfold before me: being a wife and mother - my biggest wishes and the greatest gift I have ever been given.

Aspen Jane Carter
01.30.2010
6lbs. 12oz. ~ 19 inches