The Birth Story

The last thing that I said before we had Anberlin was that we were scheduled to be induced, but we weren't telling when. We were actually scheduled to be induced on March 2nd, but on the night of March 1st, Bean had different plans....
Thursday we had our last OB appointment and we scheduled our induction date for the following date. When I got home, I felt as though I was getting contractions all day, but really thought nothing of it because I was convinced that I would not be going into labor on my own at this point. So, Brad gets home from work and we plan to have one last "date night" even though I was having "contractions". We get to one of our favorite Brew Houses, Dogfish Head Ale House, and the wait to be seated was about 30 minutes. We wait for our table and when we finally get seated, my water breaks. I mean literally, we get to the table, I sit down and I feel something isn't right. I immediately get up and rush to the bathroom as fast as I could. At this point, it only felt like I wet my pants a little bit but I was SO WORRIED that the "gush" would happen as I was walking between tables getting to the bathroom - it didn't. But at the entrance to the bathrooms I was stuck behind a guy who was letting another guy by who was on crutches, which I would have normally been fine with because I like seeing the good in people, but at this point I was freaking out and praying not to spill water everywhere. I finally get into the bathroom and my usual stall is taken, which causes me to freak out a little more, but the other stall was open, luckily. I check my situation and I was like 99% positive my water in fact broke. I text Brad "OMG" and he writes back "No way". I love that he figured it out so quickly. :) The one thing that the hospital and childbirthing classes beat into your head is how your water looks once it breaks. You normally want to see the water clear, that means that the baby didn't poop in womb, and if she did then they tell you to look for black stuff. Well, my water wasn't clear but there was no black either. It was green and mucus-y. Ew, right? In any case, I leave the bathroom and sit with Brad. We just stare at each other in awe of what was happening. We start debating on whether or not to leave and what we need to do. We decide to go and I think it really worried our waitress and I hope she didn't think it was because of her, I just didn't want to announce that my water broke to the whole restaurant. The only problem with leaving was that I was STARVING, so we stopped by Burger King on the way home. Haha. When we get home, we call the hospital to tell them that my water broke and they told me to come in around 10pm. That gave us about an hour and half, so we ate our dinner, I took a shower (and shaved my legs!), and finished packing the hospital bag.

It was a surreal drive to the hospital. We were pretty quiet the whole way there. I really couldn't believe it was happening. My contractions were still going and they were about 5 minutes apart but not too strong. We get to the hospital around 10:30pm and check in to Labor and Delivery.

They bring us into the triage room to check the baby's heart rate and check to see how far along I am. At first, the doctor said that he would probably send us home, which wasn't what I wanted to hear at all. He checks me and I am only at 2cm dilated, but the doctor was concerned about the mucus that was in water so they decided to keep me. They mentioned starting me on Pitocin, which I did not want at the time, and the doctor's argument was that I was going to be induced the following day anyways. I didn't care, I wasn't being induced tonight. So he said that he would give me two hours to progress on my own. {I win!} They move us into our delivery room and put me on a heart rate monitor and on fluids.

 For the next two hours, I continue getting contractions and they are getting stronger and closer together. We liked looking at the contraction monitors to see how hard they registered. At 12:30am the doctor comes to check me again and I was only at 3cm but my contractions were at about a pain level of 8 out of 10.

Even though I wasn't progressing quickly, they still let me wait on starting any Pitocin. For the next two hours, I just pushed through the contractions. I did my best to breathe and remind myself that it only hurts until the contraction stops. At 2:30am, I was at 4cm and my contractions were still at an 8, sometimes a 10. They sent in the anesthesiologist to talk about getting an epidural and the risks involved. I went into this labor not wanting an epidural and at that point I was still saying no to it. But by 5:30am, the pain was pretty brutal and I think the one thing that made me decide to get the epidural was that I hated having Brad see me in pain that he couldn't do anything about, especially if there was something that I could do about it. So I decided to go through with the epidural. While they were doing the epidural, I was told to be as still as possible, which was about the hardest thing ever because I counted 5 contractions while they were setting me up with the epidural. Somehow I survived and by 6am, I had my epidural in and my contractions were slowly going away. After being in labor for nearly 12 hours, it was a relief to have some "downtime" where I was actually able to sleep. Also, they gave me a button that I could push if the epidural ever stopped working and it would give me more juice. Best. Button. Ever. Haha.

By 9:30am, I was at 7cm (hello progress!) and my nurse said that hopefully I should  be able to get the show on the road in about 2 hours. Well, 2 hours came and they said that I needed some Pitocin to get the contractions to come harder. But since I already had the epidural I wouldn't feel a difference in the pain and we should see a change in about half an hour. By 12:15pm, I was at about 9.5cm and there was a LOT of pressure going on. It felt like I had to poop but couldn't. It was the most uncomfortable feeling in the world. All I had left was the lip of the cervix left for the head to clear before we could start pushing. During the next hour the pressure kept coming and I just wanted to start pushing. At around 1:30pm, I was finally giving the okay to start pushing. That was so hard, especially when you don't know what you are doing. Plus, I was a little freaked out that Brad was watching this happen. I really didn't want him to watch, but after the fact I am glad he did. :) After about an hour, I think I got the hang of when I needed to push in conjunction with my contractions. Then, one hour later, at 3:30pm on March 2nd, 2012, I gave one final push and we had our baby girl, Anberlin Amy! <3

 

{There are some details I am forgetting. Some time during the night I was given an oxygen mask for some reason and I also started getting a fever while I was pushing so they had to give me some antibiotics.}
So since there was mucus in my water and the fact that I spiked a fever during delivery, the immediately took Anberlin away from us, meaning Brad wasn't able to cut the cord. They wanted to make sure she was okay, which was fine with me. She didn't cry right away but after about a minute we heard that cry and it was the best sound in the world. I was laying on the bed watching Brad look at her as the doctors checked her and I was full of love. Love for my husband, love for our daughter, love for our beautiful family.
This was easily the second best day of my life, following very closely to the day I got married to the man who made this day possible. <3

Anberlin passed all her tests and was given to us to stare at. Because really at this point, you couldn't keep your eyes off of her. We were only suppose to stay in the hospital for two days following the birth, but we had to have an extended stay. The night of the 2nd was fine, Anberlin slept in the room with us and I tried nursing her and she got the hang of it a little bit but not really. Then all day on the 3rd, this baby screamed bloody murder. All. Day. And we knew that babies were prone to cry, but not like this. Something seemed wrong. She cried all night, I cried all night. The night shift nurse actually came in and took her for a few hours so we could sleep, but she still cried most of the time with her. The morning of the 4th, the pediatricians came in and made note of her crying and how she wasn't sleeping and was not easy to console, so they took her to the NICU for observation and testing. We were told that they would be doing a spinal tap, testing her urine, and her blood. Naturally, that makes me cry. At 10:30am, the doctors come back saying that they will have to do the spinal tap again because the first one was unsuccessful. They started her on three antibiotics and a urine test showed possible inability to process sugars. She was on IVs to give her nutrients while breastfeeding was on hold. They were going to be testing her urine again as the test can give false positives. We were also waiting for results from other tests being done to rule out any other problems. At 12:15pm, we went to the NICU to visit Anberlin and she was sleeping. It was the most peaceful we had seen her in days. She was beautiful.

We were told that the tests we were waiting on would be sent out Monday and the results should be here by Tuesday. They were also not going to discharge me until Anberlin was ready to go home since Labor and Delivery was not that busy right now. The doctors thought that she might be galactose intolerant, so they start her on a soy formula, but have me continue to pump just in case. We are able to visit Anberlin whenever we want and we were able to feed her and change her while she was in the NICU.

We spend Monday in and out of the NICU visiting her and avoiding any of the nursing staff because they all seemed to want me discharged ASAP. But I wasn't leaving without my baby. Monday evening the NICU decides that Anberlin can move back into my room as she wasn't needing the IV anymore, plus that kept them from discharging me! So we had our sweet baby back in our room with us! Tuesday came and we were waiting for results from the tests that were sent out on Monday. The doctors said that if the results here positive we would know that night but negative tests would be given on Wednesday. Since Anberlin was doing so well, the did decide to discharge us on Tuesday evening and they would call us once the results came back! So finally, on the evening of March 6th, we were able to all go home as a family. <3

 It was a hectic and worrisome 4 days in the hospital, but in the end the results came back negative. No more soy formula for Bean! Yay!

Those 4 days in the hospital showed us how hard parenting is going to be. You have this little life that you created and love so much that you don't want anything to ever be wrong with it. It's crazy how fast you can love someone you barely know.

And that... is our birth story. To the best of my recollection. Giving birth was an amazing experience. Pushing was pretty surreal to me and almost like an out of body experience. Not everything happened exactly as I wanted it to go, but I didn't have to have a C-Section and I have a healthy, gorgeous baby. I think I won in the end anyways. <3

Meet our little Bean! {One week!}

Introducing Anberlin Amy.

Born on March 2nd, 2012 at 1530.

9lbs 3oz, 21.5 inches long.

<3

I have had a lot of people ask me if we were still going to update the baby blog now that Bean is here. The answer is yes. It probably won't be every week, more like a monthly thing unless something significant happens. But since we have so much to catch up on from my water breaking to her arrival to her heading home with us, I will be posting twice this week, once I get the birth story typed up.

Today Anberlin is one week old. Yes time is flying. Make it stop. At this rate she is going to be walking and talking way too soon! ;)

She has only been home with us for 3 days and we are still working out the adjustment period for all three of us but everyday gets better and easier. And it is all worth it in the end, no matter how much sleep we don't get.

So, I will be posting her birth story in the next few days (when I have time between feedings and diaper changes, haha). 

<3 Brad, Jenna, & Anberlin

Over due! {41 weeks}

Well, here we are 9 days past our due date. And even for someone who doesn't mind being pregnant and who is never on time for anything in her life, even *I* am annoyed that Bean isn't here yet. It's like you wait and counting down for this magic date. You stress about everything being ready on time. Then this date gets here (and you still don't have everything done) and the date flies by (and you STILL don't have everything done) and you also still don't have a baby.

I think the hardest part for me is the waiting and the not knowing if/when anything is going to happen. You can only try everything under the sun to induce yourself naturally until you start to wonder if all these "tricks" that worked for so many women, were just coincidence. (They probably were.)

In any rate, we met with our Nurse today and she checked my cervix and GUESS WHAT!? For the first time in three weeks I was actually dilated! Only 1cm but that is progress! Unfortunately, we were kind of forced into picking an induction date because we are so close to 42 weeks. Soooo, we did. But to keep this interesting we aren't going to say what date we picked! Haha. See how fun that is?! So only we know when we will be going in for sure to get this ball rolling. However, ever since our appointment this morning I have felt more "contractions", if you will, so maybe she will just come out on her own sometime tonight! Who knows!? Haha.

That's really all we have to update with. There is always more we can do around the house to be better prepared, but I think that relaxing and napping trump most of those things and that we should just enjoy these last few quiet moments NOT doing anything, while we still have the chance.

I never thought I would have a "41 weeks" picture, haha.
From BabyCenter.com:
A bit over 20 inches long, your baby has continued to grow and may now weigh almost 8 pounds. As cozy as she is, your baby can't stay inside you forever. For your baby's safety, your practitioner will talk with you about inducing labor if your baby isn't born in the next week — earlier if there are any problems. Most practitioners won't let you wait more than two weeks past your due date to give birth because it puts you and your baby at increased risk for complications. About 5 to 6 percent of women have prolonged pregnancies that extend three or more weeks beyond their estimated due dates. Babies born at 42 weeks and beyond can have dry parchment-like skin and are often overweight. Waiting that long to deliver also increases your chance of developing an infection in your uterus that could be dangerous for your baby or of having a stillbirth. What's more, your labor is more likely to be prolonged or stalled, both you and your baby have an increased risk of injury during a vaginal delivery, and you double your chances of needing a c-section.

So, there you have it. Sometime this week we will finally meet our daughter and you will all finally know what her name REALLY is! ;)


The next time you see a post from us, there WILL be a baby here.
{OMG we are going to be parents!!!}

<3 Brad, Jenna, & Bean

#BeanWatch {40 weeks!}

By now, you would think that you would finally be meeting our little Bean. Well, welcome to the club. Haha. Now, I know that babies don't normally ever make their arrival on their due date, I have accepted that fact. But I would like to think that some progress would be made by now. Instead we are now on what we have coined as "Bean Watch"!

We had an OB appointment on Wednesday with one of the doctors that we really like. I had my cervix checked again this week and I am still not dilated but she said that I was 50% effaced and the baby was at -2 station in my pelvis. (And now that I think about it, maybe the lady said that last week as well but I might have misheard her... Who knows.) In any case, the doctor said that in first pregnancies it is normal to efface before dilating. I am not sure if she was just trying to make me feel better or not, but I'll take it. Also, the nurse who checked us in said that what I have been experiencing could very well be mild contractions and not just braxton hicks, so that's good. I guess I have been expecting pain more so than just tightness and pressure, but maybe that means this won't be as painful as I am imagining. Haha! One other thing is that the doctor did not force me to pick an induction date this week. She was on board with me wanting to wait it out and she seemed excited that I was hoping for a natural birth, so that was really reassuring.

This week has been really on edge for us. With her due date coming and going, we are seriously trying to relax and spend time together and get last minute things done... but all that is on our mind is when is this little girl going to make her appearance into the world!? The 18th was Brad's dad's birthday and he really wanted a granddaughter for his birthday but she had other plans. (Haha, sorry Dad!) And my birthday is this Sunday, so maybe she is aiming to steal my birthday from me! Only time will tell. I have been walking every day and that seems to make my belly get really tight (and it's also making my legs really sore, ugh). After I post this, I am going to pump up my exercise ball and get to bouncing on that because a few people told me that worked for them. Spicy food doesn't do anything for me because I've been eating spicy food for the past 9 months, haha. So, I have tried all the natural ways to jump start this thing, but I must make a really comfy living quarters. And as long as she is happy and healthy, I am okay with her staying in there. We are just getting really anxious to finally meet her! <3

Not much room left in there, maybe you should come out. ;)

From BabyCenter.com:
It's hard to say for sure how big your baby will be, but the average newborn weighs about 7 1/2 pounds and is about 20 inches long. Her skull bones are not yet fused, which allows them to overlap a bit if it's a snug fit through the birth canal during labor. This so-called "molding" is the reason your baby's noggin may look a little conehead-ish after birth. Rest assured — it's normal and temporary.

So like I said, not much left to do but wait... And finish packing the hospital bag. And finish the thank you cards. And finish the mobile I'm making. And maybe clean the house. Haha.

Crossing our fingers that next week's blog will be featuring our new addition.

<3 Brad, Jenna, & Bean

Probably not this week... {39 weeks!}

With our due date only 6 days away, you would think I would be feeling something... ANYTHING... right about now. But no. I am as snug as a bug in a rug. Well, actually, that's Bean. She is far too comfortable where she is, which is fine by me, but apparently frowned upon to the professionals. Our last two appointments they doctors have brought up setting a date for induction. Finally today I told them that I don't want to be induced and boy was she shocked. I mean, sure at this point I am sure most normal women are ready for their pregnancy to be over, but I love being pregnant and it's not bothering me to keep her in there until she is ready. So I am hoping that she will come when she is ready but before the doctors force me into induction. Come on Bean, you have 2 more weeks until they evict you, pick your day wisely. ;)

So on top of the fact that we are 6 days away from our due date and I am not feeling any onset of labor, neither are the doctors. This morning I was told that I was negative 2 dilated. I don't even know what that means. Haha. I didn't think you could be negative amounts dilated. But I am. Awesome. Everything else looks good though. No high blood pressure. Bean is still in the correct position. We are really just waiting on her. So she will either be on time, which does not run in this family at all, or late... just like we normally are. Haha. The hardest part of all of this is that we have NO IDEA when it is going to happen and that makes me a little nervous. Sometimes I am afraid to leave the house in fear that my water will break in the most inopportune place. Oh! That reminds me of a funny story actually. Last week, I was walking into my office at work and I noticed that water was leaking from me. I kind of freaked out a little bit trying to figure out if it was from me or not... But after a second I realized that one of my water bottles had opened and was leaking from my bag. HUGE sigh of relief followed by a lot of laughter on my part. Not the way I wanted to start my Friday. Hahaha. In any case, I am now working from home so I can get some rest and finish up things around the house. It is nice to not have to worry about getting up early and sitting at work being constantly asked if I had the baby yet. Really, people? Does it look like I had the baby yet?... I have been taking advantage of this time to get in as many naps as I can before sleep becomes a thing of the past to me.

As for being prepared... I guess we are as ready as we can be. We have the essentials that we need to get by and I think it would be better to wait until she gets here to stock up on things like diapers. We have enough for now, I hope. We have a car seat to get her home in, some clothes for her to wear, a crib for her to sleep in, and a monitor to watch her sleep. Ha. I don't have the hospital bag packed yet, but it's on my to do list. I am not too concerned about that. I don't plan on rushing straight to the hospital upon the onset of labor. I want to spend as much of my early labor as possible at home, so I should have time between contractions to throw things in a bag. ;)

Brad has been the biggest support to me. He isn't expecting a lot out of me nowadays and is really appreciative when I do get something done no matter how small the task. I am lucky to have him as my husband and soon to be father of our child. <3

He even painted my toenails for me this week:

I picked up some Red Raspberry Leaf tea this week, which is suppose to help promote strong uterine muscles and make labor easier. I think I also read that it helps bring labor into motion. We have planned long walks over the weekend and I have got some advice to bounce on an exercise ball, do squats, and have sex to help move labor along. It can't hurt, right? Just giving Bean a little encouragement. ;)

As for the belly... I thought it was dropping but maybe it isn't? 

I can't tell anymore. Haha.

Info from BabyCenter.com:

Your baby's waiting to greet the world! She continues to build a layer of fat to help control her body temperature after birth, but it's likely she already measures about 20 inches and weighs a bit over 7 pounds, a mini watermelon. (Boys tend to be slightly heavier than girls.) The outer layers of her skin are sloughing off as new skin forms underneath.

That's really all that we have going on right now. We have two more date nights planned, one tonight and one on Friday night. We are trying to spend as much time as we can as just the two of us before we move on to the next adventure of our life. :)

Hopefully next week's blog post will have a picture of Bean out of my belly. ;)

<3 Brad, Jenna, & Bean

R E L A X . . . {38 weeks!}

We are down to the 2 week mark. Actually less than that. 13 days. THIRTEEN. DAYS. Meaning that it can happen really any time now. But it won't. {Stay in there little bean!}

Last Friday and Saturday we had two different classes to go to. On Friday, we had a 2 hour Infant Care class. Basically it covered what your baby will look like when she is born and what are normal things to see. We learned about changing diapers and swaddling and feedings... It was a quick class but I am glad we went. Then Saturday we had a "Prepared Childbirth" class which was about 6 hours long. That class was more in-depth about what happens during labor and what our options are during labor. The main thing the Nurse continually reminded us was that we have to relax. R E L A X. And breathe. She gave us some exercises to do at home to help us train our body to breathe and relax. I normally do them in the shower if I remember. I know our options and what our hospital is capable of and can do and based on that I have been working on my birth plan. I am currently reading a book called "Natural Hospital Birth" to get myself prepared also. As of right now, I am planning on going as natural as possible with the labor. I am also going to remain flexible based on how well I am handling the pain, though. My main goal is to avoid having a C-Section.
The last few hours of the class was about breastfeeding. Besides the fact that it is FREE, it really is better for the baby and for me, which is why I am choosing to breastfeed. I know it will be harder and I am ready for that challenge.

My belly has been dropping slowly. I like to say that Bean is on her final descent down to her destination and she needs to put her tray table up and get her seat in the upright position. ;) I am feeling more pressure in my pelvis, but I am still having trouble breathing because she is dropping sloooowly.

We had an OB appointment this morning. We got to see one of our favorite doctors today and that made me happy. We heard Bean's heartbeat and then we had a really quick ultrasound to verify that she is in fact head down and facing the right direction. That was a huge relief for me. Brad tried to get a video of the ultrasound but the screen was really dark and it didn't come out that well. I didn't really get to see anything either but just hearing that everything is right made me feel way better.
One thing they didn't check was if I was dilated. I know a few girls who are a week behind me has been checked and are dilated. I wish I had some progress to report there. Oh well...

I finally got one of my coworkers to take a picture of me in uniform, which I like to call "The Tent". I think it makes me look a lot bigger than I really am. Haha.

The Tent

And here is my weekly belly picture.

From BabyCenter.com:

Your baby has really plumped up. She weighs about 6.8 pounds and she's over 19 1/2 inches long. She has a firm grasp, which you'll soon be able to test when you hold her hand for the first time! Her organs have matured and are ready for life outside the womb.
Wondering what color your baby's eyes will be? You may not be able to tell right away. If she's born with brown eyes, they'll likely stay brown. If she's born with steel gray or dark blue eyes, they may stay gray or blue or turn green, hazel, or brown by the time she's 9 months old. That's because a child's irises (the colored part of the eye) may gain more pigment in the months after she's born, but they usually won't get "lighter" or more blue. (Green, hazel, and brown eyes have more pigment than gray or blue eyes.)

I do wonder what she will look like, so much. I am so anxious to meet her. Brad's mom asked us this weekend if we think she will have curly hair or straight hair. I think it will be straight because my hair is stick straight and so is *almost* everyone else on my side. It's that Navajo Indian blood we have. Haha. And I am kind of hoping for her to have brown hair like me. I just don't want a blonde haired, blue eyed little girl running around breaking hearts when she is older. Haha. And I would love to eventually have a little boy who looks just like Brad. <3

As far as I go, I am feeling good. I am moving slower and waddling more. I have been REALLY tired lately and trying to get in as many naps as I can now. Haha. I know that sleep is going to become a foreign thing to me soon, so I am trying to get as much as I can before Bean gets here. I have been getting Braxton Hicks contractions but those are pretty normal for me. Other than that, no signs of labor are happening. Naturally, we discuss places that we don't want my water to break, which is really anywhere except at home. Haha. Luckily next week I will be working from home because I really don't want my water breaking there! ;)

Our next appointment is in a week. And then a week after that is our due date! :)

Until next week...

<3 Brad, Jenna, and Bean

Full. Term. Wow. {37 weeks!}

We have had a very busy week since our last blog post. If you missed our last post it was the nursery reveal {finally}! I feel like I need to mention that no, her name is not Audrey and honestly I didn't even THINK about the correlation between the "A" on the wall and the Audrey Hepburn picture. Haha. I just really love Audrey Hepburn and thought it was a good place to hang her.

On Friday, our friend Anna came to visit us for the weekend. It was really nice to see her and spend time with her. The best part was that she was here in time for a baby shower that our friends Scott and Helene threw for us on Saturday! We have been really blessed this month and Bean has been given so much love, it's incredible. I can't even explain. {Thank you so much for such a wonderful baby shower Scott, Helene, Alyson, Bill, Kim, Larry, and Anna!}

Thank you for visiting us Anna! <3

On Tuesday, we went on a tour through the maternity ward. If it didn't feel real before, it sure does now. Haha. We got to see where we check in and what the delivery rooms look like and the postpartum rooms look like. It was really nice actually. The rooms were a nice size and they have a pull out couch for Brad to sleep on. Tomorrow we have an Infant Care class and Saturday we have an all day Childbirth class. Fun stuff! :)

This week I hit 37 weeks, which is technically "full term". Anything before 37 weeks is "pre-term". Between 37-40 weeks is "full term". And 40-42 weeks is "post-term". Basically I think it means that she can make her arrival any day now. But she can't because we had a pep-talk and I told her she has to stay in there until February 19th, at least. ;)

From weeks 37-40 the baby is the size of a watermelon! As you can tell in my belly picture. Haha.
From BabyCenter.com:
Your baby is now considered "full term," even though your due date is three weeks away. If you go into labor now, her lungs will likely be mature enough to fully adjust to life outside the womb.
Your baby weighs 6 1/3 pounds and measures a bit over 19 inches, head to heel. Many babies have a full head of hair at birth, with locks from 1/2 inch to 1 1/2 inches long. But don't be surprised if your baby's hair isn't the same color as yours. Dark-haired couples are sometimes thrown for a loop when their children come out as blonds or redheads, and fair-haired couples have been surprised by Elvis look-alikes. And then, of course, some babies sport only peach fuzz.

We got back our maternity photos that our friend Ali did for us two weeks ago. I am totally enamored with them. She did such an amazing job and I am so glad that we have these special pictures taken by one of our friends to remember this amazing moment in our life. <3

Here are some of my favorites. :)

Next week we will be reporting on our classes we are taking this weekend and our OB appointment that we have next week.
Until then...

<3 Brad, Jenna, and Bean

{19 days until D-Day!}