Halloween Photo Shoot

We've been busier than ever with this little baby, but we finally had the chance to take some pictures of her on Halloween (before she got her costume on). Hope you like 'em!

Evelyn's Birth Story - Unabridged Version

Since I haven't had time to write an abridged version, I'll share with you the whole thing - with lots of details. I must say, this was my dream birth from start to finish, the only exception being the tearing that happened. But, I'd do it this way again in a heartbeat, you know, if we ever decide to do this again! Ha!

After going to bed on 7/31/2009, Evvie was VERY active in utero. She usually kicked some at bedtime, but tonight, she was kicking and moving way more than normal.

At 3:00 am on 8/1/2009, I woke up to go to the bathroom. Given that I was 38 weeks pregnant, a nightly bathroom trip wasn’t unheard of. Typically, though, I went around 2:00 or 5:00 am, so 3:00 was a little different. When I finished using the restroom, I felt a small surge of fluid and thought “hmm…that’s odd, I thought I was finished”. I thought *maybe* labor was starting but didn’t want to get too excited. I put on a panty liner and walked toward the bedroom, when another small gush of fluid came out and the panty liner was clearly not enough. I changed into another panty liner (which was all I had upstairs) and went to Evvie’s room and got a prefold cloth diaper and used that instead. I went back into the bedroom and told Scott “I think my water broke.” He said “Seriously?” and I had another surge of fluid. Yes, seriously. I tried to go to bed and sleep some more since it was so early in the morning, but contractions started coming at about 2 minutes apart lasting 40 seconds or so. They weren’t too strong yet, but because they were so close together, I couldn’t sleep. I felt pretty icky after my water broke, so I decided to take a shower. I washed my hair and shaved my legs and stood under the water for a long time. Then I got out, got another diaper (I had soaked the first one through already) and went to lay in bed. Scott coached me through the contractions using visualizations and techniques we had learned in our Bradley class. (Scott says: I had been worried I was not going to be able to keep talking long enough during the contractions and that I would run out of things to say. Or that I would keep using the same couple of visualizations over and over for such a long time that Jenni would gripe at me, “Say something ELSE!” In reality, Jenni was such a natural at finding her rhythm and relaxing through the pain, I didn’t have to do nearly as much coaching as I thought.) Scott timed the contractions using his iPod Touch and they were still about the same as they had been before. He got me some water and around 5:00 am he called our Doula, Kelly. She advised us to call our doctor, so he did that as well. Since my water had broken, the on call doctor didn’t want me to labor at home longer than 8 hours, so she advised us to come in at 11:00 am. Around this time, my contractions started to spread out some, so I was able to nap in between them. At some point (around 7:00 maybe?) I threw up and we called Kelly again. She asked to speak with me and listened to me have a short contraction (I was disappointed – this was the shortest, weakest one I’d had yet, and it was the one she listened to!) and advised me to use slow, deep breaths during the contractions. She listened to another one and said I was doing very well with the breathing. She asked what I thought of the contractions and my response was “These are serious.” She also advised that I try to eat small bites of food and drink water, so Scott made me some oatmeal, which I ate a few small bites of.

I brushed my teeth and got dressed in comfy pants and one of Scott’s XL college t-shirts and we went downstairs where Scott could make me some more food. This time he made toast with margarine. I sat on the exercise ball through several contractions and texted and called friends and family in between them. I still needed Scott to help me through the contractions either by massaging my back or by talking me through them. We timed them, but they were erratic – sometimes lasting 30 seconds, one lasting 2 minutes, and anywhere from 90 seconds to 3 minutes apart. (Scott says: Somewhere around now, Jenni moved to laying on the floor on her side. Intensity was certainly picking up, but we were still taking our time and not in a hurry.) We called Kelly hourly at this point, and at 10:30 am Scott called Jenn (our Bradley instructor, assistant doula, and photographer!) to come over while he packed up to go to the hospital. We planned to leave at 11:00 am, but we waited for me to go to the bathroom, then waited out a couple of contractions, so we wound up leaving around 11:20 am. In the car, I turned completely inward and began to manage the contractions on my own. Scott has since told me that he couldn’t tell when I was having a contraction and when I wasn’t, so he wasn’t able to help me, which was OK – I was handling them well. His job was to drive smoothly and safely. The remaining timeline was recorded by Jenn, otherwise I would have absolutely no idea when anything happened.

The car ride wasn’t nearly as bad as I had anticipated, and since it was a Saturday, it only took us 20 minutes to get there. Once we got there, Jenn suggested we walk around some before checking in, just in case things slowed down, then we could leave and go to a hotel nearby instead of checking in just as labor slowed down. I didn’t really want to walk, but thought the advice was good, so we started walking outside. It was too hot and I needed to go to the bathroom, so we went inside. I went to the bathroom as quickly as possible so I could stand up during contractions – those that I had on the toilet were the hardest, and I didn’t like them one bit. Scott and I walked around the lobby area for a short time, and I started to feel queasy, so I sat down and pointed to our makeshift puke bucket. Scott didn’t know what I was pointing at, so I pointed more fervently. He quickly understood when I started coughing. He got it to me in time, when I vomited bile. At this point, I just wanted to lay down, so I laid on the floor of the lobby. Jenn (I think?) gave me a pillow and at that point Kelly showed up. She joked about this being the place we were going to give birth and encouraged me to go upstairs and check in. I was so thankful. Labor was not slowing down; it was progressing at a good pace.

We walked to the elevators and I had a contraction or two on the way. When I would have a contraction, I would lean my head against my forearm on the wall, and Scott would rub my back. Slowly we made it to the elevator and up to the 3^rd floor, where we had to check in - after a few more contractions, one in the elevator, several in the hallway on the way to L&D. (Scott says: It was a good thing we had so many people with us, because we brought so much stuff to the hospital! Yoga ball, pillows, soft-sided cooler with juice and ice cubes of Gatorade and chicken broth, an iPod docking station, another bag of dry foods, a duffle bag with clothes and other odds and ends.) I had to fill out some paperwork and was barely “with it” enough to do that, but we made it through. At this point, it was around 12:45 pm. There were no rooms available but one was being cleaned, so they sent us to a “waiting room” which was actually a hallway with chairs in it and a family or two hanging out. Kelly asked if I wanted to sit on my yoga ball, and I definitely did, so I sat with my back to the families and went back into my own world. Kelly suggested I go to the bathroom and I told her I didn’t like to labor on the toilet. She said that that meant it was the best place for me to be because it was getting the baby into a good position. So, I went to the toilet, and Scott joined me in the room. He kept telling me I was doing a good job and would occasionally remind me to relax my shoulders or my face or wherever he noticed I was tense. This was very helpful and I was able to do as he said.

At 1:25, we were finally in a room. I changed into a robe I had brought from home instead of the hospital gown. Dr. Carrie Lawson – the on call doc for Dr. Tchabo – came in and checked me (this was my first internal check through my entire pregnancy) and I was at 5 cm and 100% effaced. I was so relieved because I was worried she’d tell me I was only at 2 cm or something and after all that work I would have been seriously disappointed. As it was, 5 cm sounded great to me! My contractions were about 3-4 minutes apart and 1 minute long and steady. The doctor looked over my birth plan and said everything was fine and that I would need a Heplock. The nurse (Sarah) came in and introduced herself. She was really nice and totally amenable to the birth plan too. I started to relax a little about having a hospital birth. She tried to put the Heplock in my right arm (the side where all the other wires, etc, would be for the monitors), but failed the first time. I really don’t like needles, and they were even harder to deal with while managing contractions. I needed Scott to help me through it, so I stared into his eyes and I think held his hand while she tried the other arm. I had to ask her to wait through the contraction I was having before sticking me, and she complied, but I remember thinking that she wasn’t very observant. The doctor agreed to intermittent monitoring, and so the nurse also strapped those on to me (also not paying attention to my contractions).

I labored on my right side in bed for a while, and Scott went to the cafeteria to get lunch. I asked for the monitors to be removed, and they were. At around 3:10 pm, Kelly convinced me to labor on the toilet, which brought on very intense and powerful contractions. I had a lot of bloody show and Kelly estimated I was probably around 7 cm at this point. I started feeling a fullness in my bottom and I pushed, completely involuntarily, once or twice on the toilet. Once I knew what pushing felt like, I was more capable of breathing through that type of contraction to wait until I was fully dilated so that I could push. Not pushing was certainly difficult, though! Scott came back from lunch around this time, and I was put back on the monitor in bed. I was very very warm, so Kelly and Scott applied cool washcloths to my face and neck, and I kept eating ice chips. I also became very verbal around this point – saying “ooh, ooh” or “ow ow ow ow” during contractions. Kelly advised me to use this type of vowel sound that kept my throat open rather than closing it off because if you keep your throat open, your cervix will be freer to open. At 3:45 I really started having the urge to push, but I had not been checked again, so I had to blow through the contractions. They were really intense and painful and I couldn’t resist pushing entirely. The nurse and doctor were called to let them know I was pushing, and at 3:55 Dr. Lawson checked me again. I was at 9 cm and, according to Jenn’s notes, I was having lots of double peak contractions, even one or two triple peaks. I had no idea at the time – I just knew they were strong. Kelly and Scott alternated putting pressure on my left hip/back area – the same place that had been hurting me during pregnancy and that had lead me to the chiropractor. The pressure helped, but it did not eliminate that back pain. I can’t imagine what it would have been like had I not been receiving therapy for it for months! I think it was around this time that I had the one fleeting thought of “an epidural might be nice” but then another contraction came and I had to focus, and I never thought about artificial pain relief again.

At 4:23, Dr. Lawson came back and declared that I was ready to push (I had declared this a while ago, and was practically begging them to let me push!). For the first push, Dr. Lawson held up my cervix to see if the baby’s head would drop, and at 4:25 I officially pushed for the first time. The doctor seemed surprised to say that I was a good pusher. I wasn’t so confident. Pushing was new territory – I had learned to cope with the contractions and could handle them. Pushing was a totally new experience.

At 4:25 the doctor left and Kelly and nurse Sarah attempted to put up the squatting labor bar. And then they thought they had it wrong, so they turned it around. And then they fidgeted with it some more and turned it back around. (Scott says: And then they thought they had it wrong, so they turned it around. And then they fidgeted with it some more and turned it back around. Finally, we all decided this must be right, because the other way looked even more wrong than this looked.) This was all very distracting to me. Finally, the labor bar was in place and the bed was positioned properly. Despite the labor bar being advertised on the hospital tour, our nurse said she had only put it up one other time in her 10 years at the hospital. Kelly sat at the foot of the bed and held a hand mirror so she could see how I was progressing. I had had a few more pushes and Kelly kept telling me what a good job I was doing.

I was pretty uncomfortable in the position I was in – I was sitting on the bed and would stand up on the drop-foot part of the bed and push against the labor bar during contractions. I wanted something to lean on in between pushes and Kelly suggested Scott sit behind me, so he did and I sat between his legs and was able to lean back on his chest when I wasn’t pushing. This made it more comfortable for me, but as I said earlier, pushing was a whole new ball game, and I didn’t like it one bit. I finally told Kelly “I’m so scared!” and saying it made it easier for me to focus on the job at hand. Scared didn’t begin to describe it – I was absolutely terrified. Scott has since asked what I was scared of, and I can’t put my finger on it. For one thing, I was worried, despite being told what a good pusher I was, that I was doing it wrong because I felt like I was only going to the bathroom – not pushing out baby. But, I don’t think that was all of it – I think I felt a little alone and without direction. The books all talk about labor pain management, they don’t spend a lot of time on the pushing part. I think Kelly told me it was OK to be scared and that I was doing a great job. During the next few pushes, I started making very guttural, animalistic noises – very loudly. After a few of these, Kelly suggested that my throat would be sore if I kept up this way, and so I tried to push without the noises. I would push for what I’m sure was a few seconds (that seemed like minutes…or days) and at the end would let out a roar. These pushes became much more effective, and Kelly told me I could touch my baby if I wanted. I tentatively placed a finger inside and sure enough, I could feel a bit of her head! I asked Kelly “How much longer?” and she, frustratingly ;), said “I don’t know.” Kelly recommended I pull against the bar instead of pushing against it, and again, this helped my pushes be more effective. All during this time, I was very hot and Scott and Jenn kept applying cold wash cloths to my face and neck between contractions and feeding me ice chips (I think).

Somewhere between 5:10 and 5:15 pm, I let out a mega-roar of a noise and pushed with all of my might. I began to understand the idea of “ring of fire” – an apt description of crowning, for sure! At 5:15, Dr. Lawson came back in and asked if this was the position I intended to give birth in. I was confused – was I not in the process of giving birth? So I said “yes” and the doctor took over Kelly’s position at the end of the bed. She asked if I wanted a perineal massage and I think I said yes. She then proceeded to run her finger around Evvie’s head as I pushed. This was SO PAINFUL. I think I said “ow ow ow” during those pushes. Sometime around this time, Kelly thought to ask for a mirror so Scott and I could watch as she emerged. They got it up just in the nick of time – I gave another push and her head was out – and it seems to me that her body just came out with it, but I may have had to push for that too. In any event, her body emerging was the most wonderful feeling! And at 5:22 pm, Evelyn Lily Thompson arrived. I barely saw it on the mirror – I was too relieved to not have to push anymore!

Dr. Lawson placed Evvie on my belly and they began to rub her. She was a little gray (Scott says: she was extremely gray for the first 10 seconds or so) and wasn’t yet crying. I didn’t really worry too much – just a fleeting thought of, “shouldn’t she be crying?!” before she did. I was able to hold her and kept saying, “Oh my God! Oh my God!” It was all I could think. Dr. Lawson, as per our birth plan, let her cord finish pulsing before it was time to cut the cord. I asked Scott, “Do you want to do it?” and he replied, “I guess so”. And he did. (Scott says: It was thick and tough and took a few snips to cut all the way through. I was also worried I might somehow slip and cut her, so I was probably being extra-cautious.)

Soon after the birth, someone asked me about our next child and I replied "I think we'll adopt the next one". At that moment, no one, including me, was sure whether I was joking. A few hours later, though, I knew that I was and that I'd gladly carry and deliver another child, when the time comes.

She's Here and She's Hungry!

Just 2 weeks ago, I figured it'd be a good idea to let my bosses and coworkers know that I was planning to take 2 weeks off when Evvie gets here. We still had 3 weeks to go before her due date (Aug 16). So I sent them an email:

Time is getting short for the arrival of the first contribution to over-population to the planet from my wife and I. This email is to let you all know that I am planning to take two weeks of leave when she gets here. The date the doctors made up for that arrival is August 16, and since Jenni is diabetic, we know it will happen no later than that day. I am sure that two weeks later I will return to the office fully rested and with my full mental capacity restored from a great two weeks of playing with the new baby.

Scott

Our office manager replied, "You're typing this sober, right?"

That was all the way back in July. Early that Saturday morning, August had barely gotten here, and Jenni woke me up at 3:11 am and said, "I think my water just broke." "Seriously?" I asked, groggily. Then I encouraged her to come back to bed. We knew not to get excited, because adrenaline can cause labor to slow down, and we wanted things to progress at a nice even pace. That's as far as I'll go into the birth story. That story is Jenni's to tell. She earned it. I will say I'm incredibly proud of what she did and how she did it, and that the end result is that she and I have our first baby here in the world.

Our first week was full of newness and excitement and fear and joy. One of the things I've learned about parenting so far is that it is full of swift plot twists and mood swings; one second you're full of happiness and pride, the next, abject fear that you're one of only two people on the planet responsible for keeping this kid alive. Often, it still doesn't seem real that she's here. I'm reminded of the feeling I had when we were first married, and couldn't believe that we actually were. That feeling subsided, although it still comes every once in a while. I'm sure we'll get used to her being here. Jenni has already said she can't remember being pregnant.

So today is the first day of my 2nd week off from work. That first week just flew by in a blur of diapers and midnight feedings and moments that would make the burliest lumber jack melt inside. Of those moments, a few occurred when she got her first bath at home, so I will leave you with a couple of pictures of that occasion.

Thanks, Mom!

My mom is SO talented! She sewed many of my baby clothes when I was a little one, and my prom dress. She's created BEAUTIFUL quilts - several of which are in my house now, one of them is on Evvie's wall. When I told her I was planning to use cloth diapers, and showed her how cute they are now, she said "I think I can do that!". So I bought her a couple of patterns, and boy did she go to town! I have something like 15 diapers that she made for Evvie - and they're all adorable! Today in the mail, I received a package from my mom. In it, I found:

A blue tiered dress with coordinating fleece hoodie

A diaper to match:
And socks and a hair bow, also to match:

Also in the package were a diaper cover and bows that can be interchanged on the headband/bow that is shown above! Genius! And, she says there are matching pants to come. Evvie is so lucky to have a grammy who loves her so much already, and who knows how to sew to boot! I'm very proud of the creations she's made and look forward to future goodies!! Thanks again, mom! I love you!

Progress?

Thanks to all who were concerned after that last post. To give you some closure, here's how it ended: Scott and I walked up and down the stairs at 1 am and did yoga at 2 am and those two things (probably combined with the gallon of insulin I took) brought my blood sugar crashing down nicely to a 40-something in the middle of the night. At least I wasn't high any more.

Now, onto this week. I'm 37 weeks pregnant! Yay! That means I've passed the first alarming milestone for Diabetics Who Don't Want to be Induced Way Too Early - I got past 36 weeks! Wahoo! I'm having weekly non-stress tests, all of which have gone swimmingly so far. The nurses keep telling me how good of a girl Evvie is because she passes them with flying colors each week. But, I already knew that.

I also have a weekly "AFI" which uses ultrasound to see how much fluid is around the little one. So far, so good here too.

The most exciting news (for me) is that I've been having a few contractions! Like 1-2 per day! And I'm not just talking about the Braxton Hicks ones that I've been having for months - these are honest to goodness pre-labor, practice contractions! w00t! This is good news. Hopefully, HOPEFULLY!!!, it means that this little girl will decide to come sometime BEFORE the dreaded induction - likely to be set between August 14 and 17 (I'm pushing for the 17th. Or 18th. Or maybe 20th, but it's more likely closer to the 14th - boo.). We might actually get to experience labor as it was meant to be experienced - without drugs to make it harder (i.e. induction) or "easier" (i.e. epidural)! We might get to follow our plan of laboring at home (using the Bradley Method for those who are interested) for as long as possible and only going to the hospital for the actual pushing part! We might get to feel almost normal and not like a "special case" with lots of caveats on what is and isn't allowed due to diabetes.

To encourage this dreamy possibility, we've been walking a lot this week. And drinking Red Raspberry Leaf tea. And doing yoga. And walking some more. Because that's what the books say will help encourage and support a good labor. So, while we're not ready for her JUST yet (unless she really wants to come now - then that'd be OK), we're doing a lot to try to encourage her to start making her way into the world.

And, by the way, I'm hoping she'll come on August 7. Her great great grandmother for whom she was (will be?) named was born on August 7 and I think it would be a super cool coincidence. Plus 7 is a prime number, and I like that.

Sometimes, things just get wonky.

Tonight, my good friend and college roommate (for 4 years!), FAC, had a Harry Potter Party celebrating the release of the new movie. She had "Golden Snitches" (mini corndogs), "magical pizza" (because she thought the snitches didn't turn out well...but they did), "Cheesy Grubs" (cheese curls), and my favorite - Cornelius Fudge (It's a little nutty) (she thought of that, not me). Scott and I went to the pre-movie party and enjoyed ourselves, spending time with some good friends. I ate freely - enjoying a couple of slices of pizza, a snitch or two, a piece of fudge, and a cupcake (supplied by Liz who dressed as a Golden Snitch!). All was delicious.

On the way to the party, I remembered I only had a little bit of insulin left in my pump, so I pulled out my stash of insulin and reservoir set from my purse, refilled, and as I was putting the pieces together heard a weird "pop!" sound. I didn't notice anything wrong, so didn't think anything more of it.

Then, we got home from the party and I tested my blood sugar. 378 mg/dl. Crap. So, I bolused something ridiculous like 16 units (thanks, pregnancy, for making me more resistant to insulin!) and waited. And an hour later, I was 386 mg/dl. Dammit. I'm sorry, baby Evelyn. At this point, I changed the tubing of my pump, thinking that was where the problem lay. I was wrong. 45 minutes later, and I'm in the 350 mg/dl range. So, I changed my entire pump set - reservoir, tubing, and infusion set, and give myself another huge slug of insulin, hoping that it will get my blood sugar back in range. By the way, at this point, it's around midnight, and I was ready for bed at 9:45 when we got home from the party! At 12:20 I test again, and it's down to 318 mg/dl. Going in the right direction, right? One would think. Now, it's 1:15 am. I'm totally exhausted, and my stinking blood sugar is still 332 mg/dl. That's 3 hours of being HIGH - way higher than I should be, especially while pregnant. I'm feeling guilty, nauseous, tired, and defeated. I just want the insulin to work. I just want to go to bed. Most of all, I just want my baby to be healthy.

Hopefully my blood sugar will come down soon, and then I can go to bed. Hopefully I haven't caused too much damage either to myself or to my unborn daughter.

She's growing!

16 weeks:

22 weeks:

34 weeks (this past Sunday):

5 weeks until our due date! Let's hope she hangs out for at least 3 or 4 more weeks, and that the doctors let her hang out that long! :)