Labor and Delivery Pt. 3

yes, this should be the last Part, I just felt the need to make these post's as long as my labor felt ( hehe ) I will now try to wrap up the rest of our story quickly without leaving out the details.

After I was checked and told that I was at 7 cent my mind began to get overwhelmed and I told myself the pain was getting worse, that my body wasnt going to hang on much longer, it had already been so many hours, I was just sure I couldn't take much more of this. I turned my head to my husband as he wiped the hair from my face and I told him, Nick I am really thinking about a Banana.... now this needs some explaining ( banana was my code word for medication AKA Epidural or some sort of relief) nick and I wanted to have a code word that way no one from teh medical team would know what we were talking about and nick knew how much I truly wanted a natural delivery so we thought a code word would be good that way nick could talk me out of it with out the medical team ever knowing that I was thinking about it, because we were aware of the fact that If I had said the word epidural that the staff would then say ok lets go with it, instead of truly going by what I wanted from the start. The funny part is, when I said I am really thinking about a banana my Doula so sweetly said, " I have an organic banana in my bag, here let me get you one." HAHha Nick then explained to her that no she really doesn't need a banana she is just tired, and that I really didn't mean that I wanted an actual banana.

So Nick did a great job, he looked me in my eyes and told me Chels, no you don't need a banana you are doing great and will continue to do great, this is what we wanted, and we are getting so much closer through each contraction, now I had done a little more complaining and then told him that I just wish he could be in my situation and I could be standing on the side of the bed trying to talk him through this, this made us both smile and the next thing I knew I was back rolling with the contractions...

not ever needing A banana.

we tried other positions and the clock kept moving forward, it was now time to be checked again and I was a good 8.5 centimeters nearing 9 and my midwife was phoned. My midwife told my nurse that she was on her way and that she wanted to break my water when she got there, and not to have anyone else do that.

It felt like I waited for the midwife to get there for literally 2 hours because knowing I was so close now I was so ready for the next step and to get back into the tub, finally Kristin ( midwife) walks in all perky with a bright smile, and she says she was going to check me, during her examining me she said wow yep I can feel the bulging bag of water, and your a good 9.5 to 10 centimeters. she then moved her finger and POP I felt a very very warm stream of water come a flowing. YAaYAY that was it, my water had broken and she didn't have to use that long plastic pokey thing to break it because it was so low and bulging! and boy was she right, she told me at one of my previous appointments that I was going to have a lot of water come out when it broke and did I ever. Once this was over, the water was drawn up in the tub and when I was told it was ready, I kid you not I flew off that bed and ran to the tub... I can remember everyone in the room laughing saying look at her, she is so ready, just a few hours ago she couldn't even walk the halls.

Once in the tub I knew it was time, this was my final destination and I would be there until I was holding my little girl in my arms.

the contractions were about 4 and 1/3 minutes apart and the first few I didnt feel the urge to push, and then "THE" contraction came and I went ahah ohh wooeww eee and boy did I feel the need to push, and that first push let me tell you I had NO FLIPPING IDEA WHAT I WAS DOING, I then panicked a little and said wait, I never really learned how to push or how to breath and I need to know, my team could tell I was getting a little nervous there and my doula just told me to brethe and bring my chin in pull my legs back and roll with it, she was going to be there to help me.

now that each contraction I was having I was having the urge to push, the position I was in was on my back in the tub, head leaning back where my husband was ( on the outside of the tub) and under my legs was a sheet that my husband was holding behind me that way when I had a contraction he would pull the sheet tight and I would put my arms under my knees and pull my knees up to my chest and bear down. OMG did the pushing hurt, to me this was the hardest part, and I had to mentally keep telling myself I had to do this, this was the part that I had to do, I had to get her out, there was no turning back.


I pushed and pushed and pushed, my chart says that I only pushed for 45 minutes however, I am told that that time doesn't start until they start to see the head... I believe I was in the tub for around 2 hours pushing, just not successfully.


I remember when I could finally start to feel so much pressure and I just knew that was her head, it was the craziest but most miraculous feeling in the world, to know that my child was getting to enter the world and that no matter how bad it hurt or how hard it was my body was actually doing it, a couple more pushes and I heard them say your doing it chels don't stop pushing we see her head, and then I heard OH my goodness she has a full head of hair, what??!? that is what did it for me I was determined to see my little girl, she had hair? I was expecting a bald baby, bc I was until the age of two and I never had heart burn during the pregnancy.


I pushed and pushed and pushed and then all of a sudden I pushed harder and bared down and then I felt her come out so fast, I couldn't believe my eyes, there she was, she was out oh my goodness there was our daughter. and before I knew it she was placed on my chest and I was in awe, I kept repeating oh my goodness oh my goodness oh my goodness, and I was stroking her head, she was beautiful, her eyes were WIDE open, and she was so clean ( thanks to the water birth) she was perfect with her little cone head and all... she took our breath away, daddy and I kept staring at her in awe that this is our gift from God and she is our daughter, as we studied her features. She looked just like her daddy, Nick felt as though he was looking back at his baby pictures as he was looking at her, talk about a proud daddy. he was so in love.

the water was then drained from the tub and there was a warm blanket placed over Jada as she lay on my chest and then Krisitn told me that I needed to push one last time to get my placenta out.... so daddy got to hold jada, he ripped his shirt off because skin to skin contact was so important to us and he headed into the other part of the room and just held her.


meanwhile, I gave my one last push to birth the placenta, at this point I was overwhelmed with emotion, I was not a mommy and my little girl was in the other room on her daddies chest. there wasn't a worry in the world. I was then given two hands to help pull me out of the tub and as soon as I stood up I lost blood, and a lot of blood, they quickly placed a big blanket on the side of the tub and told me to sit down, they then twisted my body carefully lifting my legs out of the tub so they were touching on the ground my midwife told me she needed me to stand and walk into the other room to the bed so she could stitch me back up. when I stood again another large amt of blood loss. I could tell that my staff team was looking a bit nervous, I just remember feeling shaky and cold, but that I wasn't worried, My little girl was here and all else was in Gods hands and I was going to be ok. I made it back to the bed and had to receive a shot of pitocin in my right hip to help stop the bleeding and then two numbing shots in my birthing area to numb the feeling of the stitches.


During the last part of my delivery Jada came so fast and her shoulders were larger than her head therefore my midwife had to corkscrew her out, which that mixed in with how fast she came during the push I suffered a second degree tear but was told that it was a straight one, and received a good amt of stitches. as for the blood loss, I lost an additions 600 ML, after doing my research since I have been home I believe this was due to the cytotec that was inserted the monday before I delivered ( one of the side effects was heavy bleeding after birth) therefore, in the future I will decline the use of this medicine.


so there you have it my birth story. Natural birth was all that I could have ever hoped and dreamed of, although it was a long labor the end result of holding your precious little baby girl in your arms is unlike anything else in the whole entire world. The natural high you feel after giving birth is incredible, its as if you are off in a place and its just you and your baby in pure happiness, nothing else is going on around you, its surreal, life changing, and breathtaking. I would do it all over again just to be where we are today.

FOOD - think about it

thats right, I am taking a quick break from talking about the new love of my life my little baby girl, and I am going to talk about FOOD. For those of you who know me know that I have been the girl who loves her grocery stores,which by the way, the greater south bend/granger/Mishawaka area GET WITH IT, we need to bring in a whole foods or trader joes, even a fresh market... I know there are not many people who literally enjoy going to the grocery store but ever since my sophomore year in college when I started to take my health serious and began working our and became a vegetarian ,thinking about what goes into my body has been a passion of mine, and when Nick and I were living in Carmel we had the most wonderful grocery stores right at the end of our drive way almost and it was incredible, to shop in stores where you know that everything is safe and is actually FOOD is an incredible feeling.

So I am talking about this because yesterday Oprah's show was about food and begging people to think more consciously about what they put in their bodies. She had one of my favorite food authors Michael Poland on her show and he talked about the benefits of eating Organically, He has written many great books such as the omnivores dilemma which I read in college along with in defense of food. His new book out is titled food rules and can be purchased on Amazon for as little as $5 bucks, thats a steal so if you are at all interested I urge you to grab a copy. Now many of you know that I am a info/ book junkie I just love to research things that I am passionate about and a couple years ago on the Oprah show she had jessica sinefield on her show talking about how to puree veggies and sneak them into kids recipes or the regular meals you make for your whole family to enjoy and I was so excited I hopped right over to Barns and noble after the show and picked up my copy of the book. now even though my hubby and I are both vegetarians and we get plenty of veggies I loved the recipes in here, one of my favorites was to puree butternut squash and then just used egg whites and add the squash to your eggs ( it makes them have the yellow color to trick the kiddies) but it taste O So Delish. and I knew that we would have kids one day and I would want to make their baby food and wanted to know about all the different veggies that you could puree.

ok back to the show

so yesterdays outside of having Michael Poland there she also had alicia silverstone on who was advertising her new book called the Kind diet, this book seems very similar to Skinny b*tch which I also read and loved but it just has much kinder language. these books advocate for a vegan diet which I have done from time to time and will give it a go again sometime but I have found each time that my love for cheese truly never goes away. however I purchased this book today because I always love to read about new ideas and who couldn't use more yummy recipes laying around the house and when I read something it motivates me more.

So I wanted to write this post to get some of my thoughts out there and maybe it will interest someone else to look into their kitchen and see what it is they are eating and make a healthier decisions for them and their families. everyone is entitled to their own opinions, I just think it is important that we understand that the food that is out there today although it is called the same think as it was 5o years ago things are now genetically engineered to be different. the cow that used to take years to be slaughtered now takes months to gain the same amt of weight, why? because they are injected with growth hormones, that you then ingest. there are so many other options, I am not saying everyone become a vegetarian or vegan, because there are grass fed animals who are well taken care of who aren't fed these antibodies or injected with hormones. its all about making a healthier decisions.


if you are interested in finding out information for yourself there are great web sites out there, Oprah plugged the film FOOD INC yesterday which you can find On Demand or order off Amazon, but there are other videos out there like Meet you Meat. Fast food nation, and Earthlings that are also loaded with good information, or just google search Michael Poland and you will get some great web sites with information of eating organically.


I just think its all about balance, so many of us work out in the gym to feel better and look better for out outward appearances but eating is such a big part of it, the foods we put into our bodies also contribute to our outward appearance and play a part in the way you feel. its a package deal, so just think about it, form your own opinions and feel good about what you are eating!

2 week check up

thats right, our little baby girl is now past two weeks old, I just cant believe how fast the time has flown by. Last tuesday at her one week appointment she weighed in at 8.9 lbs and was still 21 inches long, the Dr had me schedule a two week appointment because she wanted to see her back up to her birth weight which was 8.15, well ladies and gentlemen at this appointment which was now only Eight days from the last she weighed in at a healthy 9.7 lbs! can you believe that that is almost one whole pound in eight days! she was also measuring at 21 1/4 inches so she grew 1/4 of an inch! we are so proud of our little girl! because I am solely breast-feeding and have yet to start pumping I have been unsure how much milk she is getting so it feels great to know that she is thriving and doing so well. The Pediatrician also is very impressed with her skin color, she says she can tell she is very hydrated. Which let me tell you, judging by the child's diapers and how well she feeds I would sure have hoped she would be well hydrated!

her next appointment isn't until March where she will be two months, well thats all I have time for now miss Jada is calling my name :)

Sweet Sounds

Here is our sweet baby girl during our morning time on the sofa.

Labor and Delivery part 2

Once in the room, I met our labor and delivery nurse whose name was Paula, she was such a sweet lady, couldn't have asked for a better nurse, she mentioned to me that I could slip into the hospital gown if I had wanted to now, ( I was in my own PJ gown up to this point)but i assured her I was not wanting to be clothed at this point I just wanted the Tub again. My doula and Paula drew up the warm water and I undressed. At this point I had my mother, Nick, the doula and Paula. They were all such a great team , couldn't have asked for anyone better. Once the water was ready I slipped into the tub and was there for a good three hours, words can not explain what the water did for me ladies, I swear by it, I was wrapped up in the towels that came out of the steamer for the upper part of my body and the lower part was submerged under water, I remember having me head tilted back on the blankets and my mom rubbing a cold cloth on my forehead and sipping ice cold water from the cup next to me. I got a lot of good rest in-between my contraction while in the tub, I believe they has slowed to about 4 and 1/2 minuted apart and were lasting about 60 seconds. I just remember feeling the best while in the tub, but then came the point of where we needed some more movement, Paula told me for every one position I was in on my back she wanted me in another position on the front or side, so it was time to get out of the water.

with help, I made it back to the bed where I sat backwards on my knees with my arms hanging over the back of the bed and I moved my hips in a circular motion. This position hurt, but I felt progression, and with the encouragement from my husband and the rest of the team I was able to stay in that position for a little while, just resting my head of the back of the bed, I can remember at times thinking is this really real? am I really feeling this? and then I would feel the cold drool coming out of my mouth onto the side of my face and I realized that yes it was real and I was coming in and out of this.

I believe it was at this time when I became very impressed with the memorial staff, I hadn't been offered a single drub, nor an IV, did they really read my birth plan, this was amazing. I was very grateful. it was so nice to be free from machines, cords, wires or be looped up on any medicine.


so like I mentioned before my whole time frame is off, I never once read the clock but I do remember asking what time it was throughout this process because the farther the hours stretched I knew my body had to be progressing. I ate some jello, graham crackers and drank lots of water and cranberry juice during my labor, nothing has ever tasted so good, I remember mom putting the graham cracker in my mouth and I would just close it and let it melt, any extra motion at times seemed so draining.

we did a few other positions, sat on the ball, laid on my side, got back in the tub, tried to walk out of the room ( nick wanted me to see the kitchen?!?!?! ) not sure why the kitchen but you gotta love him, I believe he just wanted me to have a specific goal of reaching but this was not possible, I got to the door, out into the hallway ( oh by the way I was back in my night gown at this point, not walking halls naked )We quickly turned back around and my doula suggested I get in bed and take a nap. My mom got a nice cot bet and fell asleep, nick lay next to me in a reclining chair and went to sleep and I was in the hospital bed wrapped in warm blankets on my side, the doula had gone down for some coffee and something to eat. I remember laying on my side and catching a glimpse of my sleeping husband and he looked so peaceful, I remember thinking he is going to be a wonderful father, and began to wonder what he was experiencing during all of this, he looked so tired, like he was getting good sleep. my contractions would kick in again and I would breath through them one at a time, and then drift off to sleep again. It felt like my doula was gone for a while because when she came back I said I really want to get into the water again, nick was still sleeping and so was mom, Paula was not in to room but I am not sure where she was.

Doula ran the water and I got in, i remember it was very warm but it felt so good to me, a few moments later Paula returned, and saw I was in the tub and checked the temp and said wow this water it way to warm, we need to check babies heart beat, so I was quickly checked, and told that I needed to get out of the water ASAP. I got out and made my way back to the bed, I am not sure what the temp of the water was or what babies heart beat was at this moment but I know that it made paula very nervous, and after I had been laying on the bed for a while and we still had no change, she brought it two large ice packs and placed them around my belly. I began to worry a little, what had I done, Paula listened to the heart beat again and then told me to pay back as she put the breathing mask on my face, at this moment I was so scared, to have an oxygen max on my face and I knew that it had now been a good 30 minuted I had been out of the tub and still no change. I began praying and shortly I was able to have the oxygen mask off and we worked through some more contractions out of the water.


during this time we had learned that the reason the water got so hot was there was some sort of water bust, and the pipes all got messed up through out the whole hospital, they ran some water again to check it and it looked rusted... OH NO I thought, was I not going to be able to have the water birth I had wanted to badly?!!?that was the one place I felt the most comfortable, was I going to be able to do this drug free now? all of this was running though my head while my body took each contraction one at a time.


I was checked shortly after and was now at 7 cent.

Labor and Delivery Part 1

As you may recall my post on January 11th when I went to the Dr to get my non stress test and ultra sound done to make sure baby girl was doing well, and at that appointment we learned that baby was in deed doing very well, and well my cervix was not favorable meaning I was not dilated yet, at that appointment we agreed to insert cytotec, this was to ripen my cervix and make it more favorable, one of the side effect can be to over stimulate the uterus AKA: make you have some pretty heave contractions. after the pill was inserted I lay there for a while, then get strapped up to the contraction monitor thing for a few minutes and we could see that I was having contractions just an hour after the pill was inserted. Nick and I left the appointment and headed home...I was having some pretty nice contractions, and nick and I just looked at each-other smiling thinking that this was really going somewhere, we were going to have a baby. I dropped nick off at work and drove home, he picked up some yummy jersey mikes veggie subs and headed home behind me. by the time I got home the contractions were a little stronger, and since the Dr had scheduled for me to go into be induced the following night at 8 PM, I decided to call my grandpa to come pick up Sparty ( our dog) because they were going to be keeping him for a few days for us when it was time for baby to come into the world.. so by the time I arrived home and the contractions were stronger I just figured it would be smart for sparty to leave that evening just in case anything happened.


now that Sparty was gone, nick and I sat and enjoyed our yummy meal together, got in our Pj's and watched the Bachelor together... yep thats right my hubby likes the show too... during the show I was surprised that the contractions seemed closer together and figured now would be a good time to start timing, and before I knew it they were 5 minutes apart. WOW, we are getting somewhere, nick was excited, as was I because I was not in any pain, just a few moments of uncomfortableness...

the bachelor ended and we get into bed, I lay there and I believe I fell asleep for a little while, but then awakened to stronger contractions, I decided to get out of bed and walk around the house, this is when I noticed that walking was not fun... I went to the bathroom as I felt a weird urge to go to the bathroom, I sat down and noticed my legs were shaking a bit and I was having a bloody show... I got out my phone to time the contractions and they were now 2 and 1/2 minutes apart... WOW I thought, so I called my husband to come to me, and told him what was going on, nick called the doula to inform her and she said that it sounded like I should head to the hospital, as I was unable to talk during some of these contractions and I was leaning over on some of our furniture..


we pack up and head to the hospital, during this ride I was on my knees in the back seat bent over at the waist leaning on a pillow taking each contraction for what it was worth, just listing to my husband telling me it was all going to be ok, and he was so proud of me, and that we were going to have a BABY!! the ride on the toll road didn't seem to bad, before I knew it we were at the hospital. Nick and I walked in and were greeted by our doula, we checked in and walked back to the triage room... I had to stop during each contraction to get to the room, for some reason walking was just not working for me.

I get to the room, undress into the gown and prepare for my check, they strap up all the monitors to check babies heart beat and my contractions, they were impressed by the intensity of the contractions the monitor showed I was having and for how I was handling them, once we saw baby was doing great, they checked my cervix, and I was told well.... your at 1 cm.... and 50% effaced... UMM EXCUSE ME?!?!?!

how is this possible?!?!? I have to get to 10 and I have been having 2 and 1.2 minute contractions and this much uncomfortableness and I am only at a 1?!??! this is when they phone kristin my midwife to see what they want me to do, kristin suggested that I take an ambian and go home and sleep through, as she figured I was just experiencing the side effect of the over active uterus.

I was very displeased, ahh did I really have to pack back up and go ride in the car again, knowing that the contractions weren't going to slow down, this was so hard and disappointing... but I got through it, we headed to the car, and agreed that the doula should go home so she gets rest as I would need her 100% because if I was going to be going through this through the night I would not be getting any sleep.

nick and I arrive home and I take the pill, hoping to sleep and that did NOTHING, I lay in bed and I felt groggy but these contractions were going strong... I called my mother and asked her to come over, I told her we have the guest bedroom downstairs and she could sleep there, but i needed someone, I wanted to have nick sleep so he was rested but I needed someone with me, mom arrived at around 1:30 am and we walked around downstairs together and she massaged my back, I was having very bad back labor at this point , it brought tears to my eyes and had my mind spinning, it was hard to concentrate, we kept all the lights off and my eyes closed to help me go into " a different place" somewhere where I would be able to escape..


an hour had past when I told my mom I needed to get into the tub, we came upstars and my mom started the warm bath water.... I remember hearing the water running and feeling my mind at ease, knowing that I wanted to be in there so bad, telling myself the water was going to relax me, and the warmth would offer me time to close my eyes. I got into the tub and water had never felt so great. I lay there with by head resting on the side of the tub and my mom was drizzling water over my belly as the water in teh tub was not high enough to cover my HUGE body at this point..

I remember slipping in and out, my eyes opening and closing, getting rest and then waking up, I had some more bloody show in the water and my mom figured we should call the doula again. The doula arrived at our house around 6:30 I think, honestly I am not to sure with the time frame at this point, but I do know I continued in the tub for a bit after she was here, and then she wanted to get me out into some awkward positions because of my bad back labor, she wanted to try to flip baby.

I did not like this, I remember them helping me walk back into my bedroom and our doula telling nick to gather a bunch of towels, funny I don't remember if i even had a towel around me as I walked back into my bedroom, I remember siting up and then being told to lay flat on my back, only as I extended back I felt a rolled up towel right above my hips... OWW OWWW ouch!!! I say, this was no fun, I was then told I needed to stay in that position through a few contractions because this was going to flip baby Jada and get her in the correct position for delivery... after about 5 minutes I hear my doula say, ok we have to get her up, we need to get to the hospital..

we all gather things up, nick and I head to our car, my mom to hers and the doula to hers. We pull out of the drive way and I went back into the position I was in during the fist car ride, I remember praying lord let this be it, I cant go back to the hospital and then be told to head back home, please let this be it.

we arrive to the hospital and it was now 10:30 AM we walk to triage again and I was checked, I was 4.5 cm and 80% effaced.. GOLDEN TICKET TIME!!!! yes what relief I was so thankful, they phoned my midwife and they came back into my room to tell me that the hospital was willing to admit me, but that kristin wanted to give em the option to go back home because she believed it would still be another 12 to 15 hours before I would be delivering.. WHAT I thought?!?!? are you CRAZY lady?!?!?! I am going no where but the labor and delivery room thank you very much and good bye!


we packed up the stuff, handed my birth plan to the labor and delivery nurse and walked to the room.....

Oh so much

There is Oh so much to Blog about, there have been so many times I have wanted to run to the computer and write out what has gone on within the day with all the new experiences of being a new mom but I just cant find the time to break away from baby, but now I have a little bit of time so here goes....

for starters, I can not believe that I have been a momma to a beautiful baby girl for 10 days now!, Wow the time flies it defiantly didn't go this fast during the end of my pregnancy :) I have enjoyed the many moments nick and I have shared with our beautiful heathy baby girl, we truly have been blessed with a wonderful baby. becoming a mother is unlike anything else I have ever experienced, in the beginning I will admit, the first days at home my mother instincts had not yet kicked in and I found myself thinking come on chelssie you read ALL the books, you should know you should know, but now that I have relaxed more, we are taking it day by day and continuing to learn each-other. one of my first mistakes that I laugh at is mistaking Jada's cries, you should have seen it, fist day home the first slightest mouth movement and a little bit of cries out popped the boob, my feeding chart was quickly filled... but thankfully we are now following a schedule, one that her body has actually designed and I was able to pick up on, she seems to get hungry every 2 to 3 hours and will eat very well, we then change diaper and try to have some open eyed time but during the burps she tends to fall fast asleep again.

Last night was her fist bath because her umbilical cord feel out on tuesday night during one of her diaper changes, I thought it takes a couple weeks to fall out but hers just came out exactly a week of being born. she seemed to love the water and had her bright blue eyes opened the whole time. I bet we have a water baby on our hands, she was hanging around for so long because she liked the environment then when I delivered her I had her in the tub, so I think its safe to say the chick will love the water. Daddy video taped while I did the washing, he has been fixated on taking pictures of his little girl, I swear we have our nikon camera, his iphone, and our flip HD cam corder out at all times and as soon as he comes home from work bamm hes got them all turned on. He's a great daddy, I have loved watching him hold her, and take care of her.


We had Jada's fist Dr's appointment this past tuesday, for her week old birthday and she weighed 8.9 which was the 75% and length was still 21 inches which was the 90th%. Dr said she is very healthy and checked out great, she wants to see us back in a week to make sure that she is back up to her birth weight of 8.15. She eats so well but also has been very good of dirtying diapers so we are sure she will be back up there in no time.

in other news lets talk about sleeping.... Jada is a wonderful baby, but the hours of 10PM and 2AM just dont agree with her, it's as if we are holding someone elses baby during those hours, nick is so shocked each night hes like OMG its like clockwork... and really it is... during the day she if really pretty easy, sleeping, eating, diaper changes, play time... but night time between those hours is rough. I asked her pediatrician and she told me that normally its the hours of 6 and midnight that are rough and that its normal, that her system just cant figure out if shes tired or hungry, and she gets flustered... so daddy and I have been doing very well with not being overwhelmed with this its just hard to hear and see out baby girl so stressed :*(

She hasn't quite got the passy thing down yet either, before she was born I bought a few of the MAM brand because my girlfriends recommended them, and I know the hospitals use those, but I wasnt sure if I ever wanted to use them, and then the hours of 10 and 2 came around and wowzers I figure the girl needs something to help sooth her becuase I know shes not hungry that whole time! so we try to give it to her but she cant seem to keep it in her mouth, so she flails her hands around in her face trying to suck on them and continues to get frustrated... poor little girl, all I can do is squeese her and and tell her everything is ok and I even sing to her... matter of fact daddy sang to her the other night, I came out to get some water and he was trying to sooth her and I walk back into the room and hear him humming to her and Im all " awww how cute, he's singing to her" and then Im all... wait what is that I know that tune..... and it was totally some American song HAHA like not a lullaby like " I am proud to be an american, where at least I know I am free song.... we both laughed about it in the morning, but that moment it was soothing her so we didn't discuss it at that time.


well this is a jumbled together post but I wanted to get something out, baby girl is waking up now so I gotta go... hope to be back soon!

Our little Jada Grace

Here is our beautiful little girl. Jada Grace was born Tuesday night January 12th at 10:48 Pm, I will post labor and delivery story sometime in the near future along with other fun pictures of our little beauty but for now I just wanted to give you a glimpse of the little girl who has stolen her mommy and daddies heart.

things are a Rollin

Today at the Dr's appointment we checked in and first had our non stress test taken, this is where I sat in a reclined chair with a monitor strapped to my belly, we got to hear the heartbeat and then see the contractions on the monitor and as Jada moved I was to press this button, that way they could track to see if she was stressed out in there, this lasted about 20 minutes, I just lay there closing my eyes listening to my little girls heart beat flutter.

my midwife came in after the 20 minutes and said baby looked Perfect, not a sign of stress at all, she then went over what was to happen next, she said that I would go in to get my ultra sound done to check to make sure miss Jada had enough fluid around her still, and that after that I would get my cervical exam done, If my cervix was found to be in the favorable stage then they would wait to have me check into the hospital till Wednesday morning at 8Am to start the induction process, but if my cervix was not favorable then I would check into the hospital tomorrow night at 8PM for them to start the low dose of Pitocin and keep track of my progression through the night, and if nothing progresses over night, they would up the does in the am around 7 or 8 wednesday morning and move the process along from there...


So we got the ultra sound done and she had plenty of fluid, they told us we have one happy camper in there. so momma and baby scored a 10 out of 10 on the test. next up cervical exam... and I was found to be not favorable, meaning my cervix had not been in the place we would like it to be at this point, although I had made a little progress from the last appointment it was just a little bit, so she sort of forced more than her fingertip into my cervix... but still considered me to be a finger tip dilated. which now meant that we would be checking into the hospital Tuesday Night at 8 pm to start the low dose pitocin drip.

It was then offered that my midwife could insert a small pill called cytotec which is used as a cervix softener in hopes that this could possibly be enough to soften my up and contractions come on their own in hopes that we could go on our own and avoid having to be induced. we asked to be alone for a minute and discuss with eachother how we felt about it and also phoned our doula... after finding out that is would be a small dose of 25 micrograms we felt that this would be a good idea, rather than risking my cervix staying the same as it was currently and checking into hospital and having the low dose of pitcin not work and have to have them up it, so we opted to go ahead and do the cytotec.


my midwife came back, inserted small pill, it was now 3:45 and I lay there for 20 minutes on my side. next I had to get on the monitor again for a short 20 minutes to make sure Jada wasn't stressing out with all that had taken place and she was still perfect. this time on the machine I noticed my contractions were stronger, they peaked at the number 30 where as before the cytotec and exam they only peaked at a 13 or 14, so we are hoping we are moving in the right direction!!


we finally were out of our appointment at around 4:30 and I headed to bank to deposit some money into our act, and then headed home, my contractions at this point are staying consistent but totally tolerable, so we decided that it would be a good idea for Sparty ( our dog) to be picked up tonight instead of us dropping him off tomorrow just in case we go to hospital tonight or early morning. So I came home and packed up our little boy and sent him off with his great grandpa. Nick brought home some super delish Jersey mikes Veggie sub and I was in heaven...

so now that I have a full belly, my plan is to make sure everything is organized and ready and relax with a nice warm shower and enjoy the Bachelor. so crazy knowing that the process has begun, and it will be only a matter of time before we are holding, and gazing upon our little girl. I will try to keep you all posted with as many updates on here as possible, but after we check into the hospital I will be limited to just my Blackberry and will update via facebook. but no worries once we are back home and I am rested I will post our labor and delivery story...

so keep those prayers coming, they have been greatly appreciated by my husband and I. so stay tuned, but were getting closer :)

bullet points

Today is now January 10th, I realized I haven't posted anything since the 7th so I wanted to write something but I am not sure where this will be going, as I am currently writing this with out a title, so maybe this will just be a bullet post.

* since my last post I must admit that my spirits have been lifted, I am sure this is due to all of the prayers that have been put out there for us and all the wonderful txt messages, or e mails, even phone calls I have received, so thanks so much for that.

* This weekend Nick and I acknowledged that this will be the last weekend just the two of us no matter what, so we have called this the "date weekend." we laughed a little because mostly what we enjoy doing together is just being with each-other, were not big into going out to eat, sitting at the movies, but when we do get out we like to do the more adventurous things, which well I cant do right now at 41 weeks pregnant. so we have enjoyed out time together just the two of us so far, friday night I made a yummy dinner for us and we then went to the grocery store. saturday we woke up and had breakfast together and sat around in our pj's for a while, and then cleaned the house as a "team", after the cleaning was finished we got cleaned up ourselves and went out and did a little shopping and then off to my grandmas for her saturday night dinner with family and then the two of us went to enjoy the dollar theater movie Couples Retreat, Great movie!I ate a whole box of sour patch kids by myself... well ok I gave nick a few orange ones.

* there have been a couple times that I looked down at my belly and just repeat the date, ex: last night I was sitting on the sofa with nick and my grandmas just watching Jada roll around in my tummy and I watch in amazement and then say... its January 9th! ( like omg what the heck haha... she should totally be here already) but this has been a much more positive way of looking at it for me, b.c boy being down in the dumps is nooo fun, not a mood I like at all, so thanks to everyone and the hubby who helped bring me back up in spirits in just a few days.

* last night we watched a family video while at my grandmas of when I was just a baby girl playing drums on my dads lap, it seemed ad though I was just more interested in eating the end of the stick but hey, whatever works, as I sat there watching the tape though I couldn't help but notice my lack of hair growth and yes I was like one in the video and I had nothing but fuzz... this must be why my mom tells me she glued hair bows on me till I was two. we also watched another film of my brother and I in the bathtub, yeah I know, no parents could ever get away with a video like this now a days, but it was hilarious, however I owe my brother an apology, I was a little stinker....but boy he was the cutes little baby when he got mad :) watching these videos I mean my grandmother has a million VHS films of us growing up made me very thankful nick and I have purchased a video camera that way we can capture every important and silly moment in our little girls life.

* well I think this is all the things that have been going on since my last post, I will be back tomorrow with information from our doctors appointment, the appointment is set for 2:30 and she told me it would be longer than normal due to the non stress test and ultra sound, then we will still have my regular appointment and then the discussion of what the plan will be. so stay tuned

What happened to out with the Old in with the New?

its a new year right, I am ready for new beginnings, and have been mentally preparing for quite a large new beginning for the last 9 months, and I find myself still waiting. here is the skinny.

I went to the Dr's office today because yesterday I had a little leakage and more mucus plug and just wanted to see where I was at, I had been having contractions but honestly at this point I am starting to doubt to even call them that, just because there is not the progress like I have wanted. we got there today and lay on the table waiting, not having felt any contractions since last night, and feeling a bit bummed about that, my midwife walks in. I lay back and she uses a speculum to swab to see if I had in deed ruptured my water, but before she even swabbed she said, nope, your still in tack, she did also use the tissue paper trick thing as well where the paper is to turn blue if it was leaking your amniotic fluid, and well mine stayed the same color. She then checked my cervix and left me with the same information as monday, still only a fingertip Dilated. but she assured me again that my cervix is in a great position.

I asked her what is going to happen come monday, she said monday if we check you out and everything looks good with baby on ultra sound we will suggest taking cervidil that day and Tuesday if nothing happens monday evening. this will be used to soften my cervix making it more responsive to contractions. this would be the fist step in the induction process, but when I leave monday there will be a date set for the induction to take place in the hospital, which would be before Friday of next week because that would be my 14th day past the estimated due date.

this by far has been the toughest part for me through out this whole pregnancy. I have been fortunate enough to have a non complicated pregnancy, no morning sickness... no bad pains, I can even still cross my legs.... I have very much enjoyed this pregnancy and feel as though I have made a connection with my baby very early on, I knew when we got pregnant that I wanted a natural birth, and have been extremely pleased with how healthy the pregnancy has been, it never made me doubt that there would be another way. now being 41 weeks pregnant tomorrow, I have realized that I am unsettled with the idea that I may need some help to get my body started in the birth process.

I know to some, they cant understand this, but to each their own. this is what I have wanted, and planned for. and now knowing that plans may be changed is just making it hard. yes the ultimate goal is to hold my little baby girl in my arms and I just want to get her here the safest way possible, In my heart for the past 9 months that way has been non medicated, but now approaching a deadline, and my body showing such slight progress, I am trying to prepare and ready myself for the other options.

for those who know me know this is hard, and I just ask that you please send prayers our way for a healthy delivery of our little girl, because that is what is most important.

Nick and I are both so ready, the finish line of the old is staring us in the face and we are so ready to start with the new.

the anticipation builds

so today I had a little more fluid leakage and more lower abdominal pressure, all good signs. I decided that I wanted to get out of the house today and drove myself up to babies R us to look around and walk the local shops there like Target and marshals, not really on the hunt for anything other than a baby swing, I was more or less just getting out of the house and walking. while walking the abdominal pressure persisted and got lower into my groin area, I am no Doc but I think this is her head getting pretty low, hopefully when its actually go time she wont have too far to travel down.

when I got home I was still staying active doing some bounces on my birthing ball and walking up and down the stares, I even thought about putting together the Brentwood swing I got for our little girl today while I was out running around, but instead I just decided to vacuum the living room and then open up the box and lay out the pieces nice and neat so when daddy gets home he can put it together :)


I think after dinner we will be going over to my dads house and I will walk a little on the treadmill and see if anything progresses from there, but if not, I do have an appointment tomorrow morning at 8:30 with my midwife to be checked and see what the fluid i am leaking is... not quite sure how they will determine but we will find out. I still have my appointment set for monday for the non stress test and ultra sound but I am hoping that we wont have to make it that far. so the anticipation is still building and I will try to keep by blog updated with the most recent info as the time passes...

but for now, its time to go encourage the Hubby to put together the swing :)

sleeping like a baby

after yesterdays excitement of progress I slept like a little baby, not exactly what we had wished for but I believe I am just resting up for the big event that we know is nearing. it was hard for Nick to get up again and go to work today, he is so sweet and so anxious, he just wants to hold his baby girl and he knows I am ready to kiss her little cheeks. He gets nervous leaving in the morning knowing that I am home alone just fearing that labor will kick in so intense and so fast, I have assured him that I will be ok and I know as soon as I call him he will be on his way. so I will be home yet again today in hopes for more progress while he is at work hoping for a phone call.

"Show"

its 7:35, I am getting ready to have some good girlfriends over to watch the Bachelor and drink some sparkling grape juice, but just wanted to update on more progress, I had a passing of what i consider a blood clot, and then a couple hours later I had a long jelly like string of "show" ?!?! I don't know what to call it other than that, so Lots of prayers, and fingers crossed, hopefully time with the girls we will get some good laughs and i will continue in the right direction, but for now I am so excited, still no pain, but I have had cramps and lots of belly tightening since my appointment... stay tuned :)

Call to the Midwife

so after blogging, my midwife has returned my call and I informed her of the CHANGE since I had left her office, and what she informed me of I wanted to post here. so she says that this could all be from her checking me, if there was any left over jell it could liquify and also the bloody little bit and brownish that I saw, could have been from the check... but she's hopeful, she said to keep an eye on it, if it was my water then it should continue to leak throughout the evening and because I was negative for strep b I have the 24 hrs, so to keep eye on it and if its still leaking by morning call and they will get me in to check me out.

but she said hopefully labor will begin for you, she knows nick and I are so ready!

C*H*A*N*G*E*

Today I had my apt with my midwife, I am now 4 days past due date, nick came home to pick me up and take me bc of bad road conditions, we arrive not knowing what we were in for, would this be a reg apt, would we have an ultra sound, will i have a vaginal exam? so we went with high hopes that we would be told hey, your ready to have a baby!!

midwife came in and I was checked, as you remember my sad post from last monday of being told by a male ob that well your cervix is completely closed and here is a pamphlet that will tell you when you are in labor.... so today the repost is that my midwife says my cervix feels very nice ( thank you very much) and that she can get just the tip of her fingertip into the cervix so although I am still not dilated she can feel that I am thinning out, but cant tell me how much because she would need to be inside my cervix and well she cant be with just a fingertip...


So we were not disappointed because why? well thats improvement... she also told me that her head is very low which is good, she thinks is just Jadas positioning that is holing up labor because my body aka cervix, feels ready other than the dilation part, which she assured me can happen in 0 to 60 seconds anyhow... she once had someone be completely closed and 4 hours later call back and say she wasn't feeling that great and she came back in and was 8 cent!!! crazy, so anyhow we left by scheduling the ultra sound and non stress test for monday the 11th of January at 2:30... but my midwife didn't seem to think i would be making that apt, actually when she left the room she said... maybe I will see you later :)

now I was sure she just wanted to make me happy :) but I was, on the car ride home nick and I were talking about random things, then he dropped me off and I asked him to go to the gas station to get gas in my car and washer fluid... I came in the house and hung up my jacket.....


and
I
felt
a
Little
wet


hmm I thought, now hey this is totally TMI maybe, but its my blog so if you don't like, check your self out now...

so I went to the bathroom and noticed a "fluid" spot.... was this my water, was this the start of my water?!?!? I don't know, it could be... hmmm, I wiped, and yes it looks to be water, then i wiped again, this time a little bloody show.... like pink water....


I call nick, hey honey..
maybe my water is breaking?!?!

what?1
maybe?
what do you mean?
should i come home now and not get gas?!?

noo nonon no get the gas, i am feeling totally fine, normal actually, just wanted to tell you maybe this is what is going on...

b.c who knows right, i mean i was just checked at the dr 40 mins prior, maybe this was just from that....


changed the underwear and the next thing was to eat

I ate a bowl of cottage cheese and 3 clementines... mmmm delish!

all while doing the booty shaking I was told to do by my midwife to help better position her....


called my doula to let her know, and she asked if i was still "leaking"

did a quick check

and there was a new spot in the fresh undies...

GOOD SIGN!!

then later there was more brownish pink show, that has a different consistency other than water, so was this my mucus plug? part of it? or my water? who knows... but all I know is right now I am still feeling good and wanted to get as many thoughts out on the blog as I could...


so it could be 24 hrs, 48 hrs... I don't know maybe 5 days.... maybe tonight, who knows but all I know is this is CHANGE and I / WE are excited!!!!!

40.3 weeks time to get Serious

Today we is January 3rd, due date was January 1st, so I woke up today with a mission,I took care of my nesting duties... washed bed linens, cleaned carpets, yes i actually cleaned them with the steamer thing, then vacuumed. Then I was going to do all things I could to stimulate baby... so far I got a wonderful pedicure... i say wonderful because well i received 2 of them not just one.. thats right... my first lady did a horrible job, were talking i was so disappointed I had tears in my eyes and my momma noticed, so she said asked what was wrong and I vented... the lady didn't even rub my feet, she didn't even scrape my heal junk... and look at the paint job, seriously I could do better even with this huge belly.... ( yes i made a big deal, but helloooo I am 40.3 weeks pregnant and emotions are running high. so with all that being said my mom said something to the woman who was now working on my moms manicure and she Gladly RE DID the whole thing, were talking feet dipped in the hot water, cleaned, lotion, rubbed,hot towels on the calfs.. the whole 9.... it was wonderful, she even did a new paint job. LOVED HER, So thankful....

my doula then came over for some nice reflexology AKA an awesome foot rub, enjoyed 2 cups of red raspberry leaf tea, had some hubby one on one time... and now we are headed out for a little bit of shopping which will involve walking... when we come back home my doula left some clary sage essential oil that i plan to put in the new humidifier the hubby got me and breath that in while enjoying a nice hot bath.... because that is also said to help induce labor... so wish us luck, maybe we will even stop somewhere for dinner while we are out and I can eat a whole plate of spiciness!!



so come on Jada Bug .. this time it's not just mommy who's super anxious... Daddy has told me it would be really nice not to have to go into work tomorrow :)

ZerO days to Go

If you have ever paid any attention to my little baby ticker over in the right hand corner that has been counting down the days till our little Jada Bug is due to enter the world, you will notice that as of today it says we have ZERO days let to go, thats right Zero, however I am not finding that to be true... looks like we are going to have some days to go seeing as though I am still Preggers... so what to do, do I take the ticker off so its not a constant reminder that says hey look over here look at me, yep thats right, you should have had your baby by now... hmmm decisions decisions...