Staff at the hospital

There were a few things I left out of Pyper's birth story, and that is the staff that took care of us while we were there.  

-Karen was the midwife that delivered Pyper, but the fun fact about that is that she also delivered Bo.  Just like when you have a doctor, you get who is ever on call for the night, and she just happened to be the midwife on call.  It was very comforting to have her there.  As Josh likes to say Karen is his midwife, while Michelle is mine.  He is so funny.

-Our Labor nurse Megan was so sweet and helpful.  I think she spent her whole shift with us.  She even came with us to our recovery room and stayed with us until she left in the morning.  She normally doesn't come to the recovery room with patients, so it was really nice that she came with us.

-Mary was our recovery nurse in the morning, and she was also pregnant with their first child (due in 3 weeks), she was a delight to have in the room and we had lots of conversations about whats to come for her.  

-Sandy was our afternoon recovery nurse and she was also our nurse when Bo was born.  She remembered us, and asked to see pictures of Bo, it was fun to share the pictures with her.  She also did a great job of reminding me of breast feeding techniques I had forgotten.  

-The midwife that checked me out was also the same one that checked me out when we had Bo.  She also wanted to see pictures of Bo, and I happily showed our beautiful first daughter off. 

All of the familiar faces made our stay so much more enjoyable.   The new facilities were amazing too, I felt like we were in a hotel and not a hospital room.

I would highly recommend this place to any mom.

Pyper Ciera's Birth Story

Warning: long detailed post

July 1st

We went for a walk and played on the playground.  I thought for sure we would not be seeing Pyper for another week after my midwife appointment this morning.

Swinging in the middle of our walk.

July 2nd
I woke up with mild contractions at 4:30am.  I started keeping track of them, and decided to take a bath.  That helped, but they were still coming every 10-15 min.  So I decided to call my mom and have her come down just in case. As the day progressed they started getting further and further apart.  I was glad I had my mom come down though.  There is nothing like having your mom there when you are getting ready to have a baby.  I loved having her there to talk me through contractions, rub my back, and help take care of Bo.
By the time Josh got home from work the contractions were starting to come back.  Josh went to get gas in the car, and I decided to walk to the library to bring back some videos and see if the contractions stopped by me walking.  On the way to the library I felt great, but as I started to walk back the contractions started coming again, so when I got back I decided that we should go in.   I really didn't feel like we were going to stay, but the contractions were constant.  I would rather be safe then having our baby in the car.  We got there and they checked me out contractions 5 minutes apart, but still no dilation, so home we went.

July 3rd:

July 3rd Morning

I woke up again with mild contractions 30 min. apart, so we got ready for the day and went to pick up Emma from soccer camp.  I felt fine, I was just uncomfortable to sit down, so I did a lot of standing.  We headed to the 5-8 Club and we each had a Juicy Lucy.  It was so good, but because of the cramping I got full really fast, and just wanted to go home an lay down.  I had Emma drive us back to my house, and we all went down for a nap.  Around 2:30 we all got up from our nap, and just hung out watching TV.  After Josh got home there still were not many contractions as much as annoying cramping.  I really didn't want to go in again and get sent home, so we decided to watch a movie on Netflix.  The contractions started to come back around 8:00pm, but I didn't think anything of them because they were still inconstant and not really that strong.  However, but 10:00pm they were starting to become more consistent and stronger.  Josh told me that he was going to head to bed, and I told him that I think he should pack the car instead, because I think that this is the real thing this time.  So we started to get ready to leave called my cousin Holly to start heading to the hospital, and we were out the door by 11:00pm. 
Once we got to the hospital (around 11:30pm) I just told Josh to drop me off at the door, and he should just go park the car and come in.  By the time I got to the check-in desk my contractions were 2 min apart and really strong.  They were all out of pre-delivery rooms, so they brought me straight to a delivery room.

Delivery room board

Shortly after I got into my room, Josh got there (around 11:45pm).  I was so glad to see him, because my contractions were one on top of the other.  They checked to see if I was dilated and I was a 4.5-5cm, so they told us we were staying.  Between contractions I was able to give them all of my information and talk to them about my plan to have a water birth.  They went to look for the paperwork that approved my water birth, but they couldn't find it, so they had to wait for the midwife on call to tell them what to do.  Because I wanted a water birth they couldn't give me anything to dull the contractions, and they couldn't start the tub until the midwife approved the tub birth.  Holly arrived just before midnight, I was a little worried she was going to miss the whole thing.

July 4th:
When the midwife finally got there (around 12:10am) and rechecked my dilation and I was a 7.5.  They were really surprised how quickly I was dilating.  At this point I was starting to fall asleep between contractions and decided that there was no way I was going to be able to have a water birth with the amount of time it would take to get the tub ready and I was just way to tired.  They called for an epidermal and it was there within 15 min, but it seemed like forever.  They put in the epidermal around 1:00am by 1:20am it was starting to kick in and I had a little bit of energy back. They rechecked my dilation (1:25am), and I was fully dilated, and they told me I could start pushing when ever I thought I was ready.

Getting ready for second push

I had to pushed about 3 times and she started to crown, and they made me stop pushing.  Let's just say I really don't think the epidermal was really working during that time, but cause wow that sucked.  I was so excited when they told me I could push again, but I so did not have any energy to do it.  However, with that one last push our beautiful baby girl entered our world. 

Pyper Ciera Born at 1:41am July 4th 2013

Proud Papa moment

Checking our baby

6lbs 14oz or 3,175grams

Daddy checking out his baby girl

Getting my baby back

showing us her tongue

Godmother Holly holding Pyper for the first time.

Midwife appointment Week 38-39

Today was our 38 week appointment (tomorrow I will 39 weeks) I had her check to make sure I wasn't leaking, so a lab tech had to come up and get the test.  We had to wait to do the exams until they got there.  After that test we checked the regular stuff, and talked about being ready for her to come.  She is still having a hard time reaching my cervix, so we really don't know if I'm dilated or effaced.  She guesses 1cm, but said that with the second pregnancy the cervix is thicker because it is making up for lack of elasticity after pushing out the first baby.  That is most likely why my cervix is so far back too. 

 

 It's crazy how different each pregnancy can be.  You would think that being the same parents you would carry and have the same things happen with each baby. 

 

 Either way I'm ready for her to be here.  I just want to hold her in my arms, and Bo can't stop talking about Pyper she is so excited to be a big sister.
 

Now for housekeeping: 
Week 38/39
Blood Pressure: 104/68 
Baby's heart beat: 146
Fundal Height: 35 cm 
Weight gain: 33 lbs.
Effaced: ?
Dilated: ? 
I was a little nervous about my blood pressure since I have been very bloated and gained 5lbs (which I am certain is all water weight) this week.  However it is still fairly low, so hopefully it will stay that way.

Results from Bo 

Week 39

Blood Pressure: 116/76

 Baby's heart beat: 140

Fundal Height: 36cm

 Total Weight gain: 50lbs.

Effaced: 50%

Dilated: 0cm

Baby Bump #2 Week 38 & Hospital Tour

Week 38

Baby Size

19.75 in

leek

Baby Weight

6.8 lb

Baby

Although your baby is full term with fully functioning organs, his brain and nervous system will continue to develop well into childhood and his teen years.

You may be wondering what your baby will look like. Many parents are often surprised by the hair or eye color of their baby at birth, but note these characteristics may change as they grow older.

Body

Before your pregnancy your uterus weighed only two ounces. By now, it has stretched large enough to hold your baby and weighs around two and a half pounds. Your baby is now considered full-term but he or she will still continue to grow until you deliver.

Your breasts will also reach their full size and your overall weight gain will slow, stop or even drop a little. At this point, waiting for your baby is a challenge. Many practitioners recommend taking this time to relax and move towards planning and preparing for your time with your newborn.

Me:

This week has been really great, right until Friday.  I think my body just knew I was done with work.  Therefore, it has started to get just a little closer to bringing Pyper into our world.  There have been moments in the last couple of days were I think she could come out any minute, then other moments were I think she won't come out anytime soon.  I have been having constant Braxton Hicks, but they have not been painful, just annoying.  I have to pee every thirty minutes, and feel like I have gone poop 10 times in the last two days.   They say that maybe my body starting the cleansing process, but that can start up to two weeks before labor. 

 My water also never broke with Bo, so I have no idea what that feels like.  Last night I woke up in the middle of the night, and I felt kinda wet, so I started looking things up.  I could have either just sneezed in the middle night or I have a slow leak.  So I just changed and went back to bed, and I felt fine for the rest of the night.  I'm glad I have an appointment tomorrow morning, so I can make sure that I don't have a slow leak.  

Week 38 (Wed)

Week 38 (Fri)

Week 38 (Sat)

 It may be hard to tell in these pictures but she is really starting to drop

I feel like we are ready for her after this weekend, shopping is done, hospital tour is done, baby items are out of storage, laundry is done, prescriptions refilled, crib is back together, bags are packed and phone trees have been revisited. Now just need to wash the baby bottles, and wait for Pyper to want to make her appearance.

Since we had Bo, our hospital has created a while new building for expecting mothers.  It's called The Mother and Baby Center. (I don't want to put a link because I don't want people  looking for it to come to my blog, however you should look it up because the website has a lot of cool info on it.)
 I am so excited to give birth there.  When we went on the tour I got a little teary eyed while we were touring, because it really hit me she could be here any day now. 

Here are some pics of the new birthing center

One of the birthing rooms

One of the recovery room with memory foam beds (when I was there with Bo, the beds were so uncomfortable, so I am so EXCITED about the new beds)  They also have full sized couches for beds for Josh instead of the uncomfortable fold out chair)

Check out the bathrooms in our room

Each room is also equipped with 32" TV's with DVD players, as well as an I-pod doc.  The I-pod doc is really cool because we can listen to music while I labor.  The rooms are also a lot bigger, so when people come to visit they won't feel like they are sitting on top of each other. 

Any day now.

Getting ready for baby Pyper

So as my due date approaches I started to look online at the weeks leading up to labor, because honestly I don't remember any of them from Bo.  After much surfing, I found this article about signs and planning for the hospital.  It was a great reminder of the things to be paying attention to as well as remembering what I brought to the hospital for Bo that I needed and what I brought that I don't plan to bring again.  It also got me thinking about the things I did not have when I came home from the hospital.  Now that my summer job is over I realized all of the little things I better get done before she arrives. I better make a checklist  of things they don't mention. 

o   Put crib back together

o   Pack our hospital bag

o   Clothes for me

o   Clothes for Pyper

o   Mybreast friend

o   Nursing cover

o   Cameras

o   Note pad/Pen

o   Phone /phone charger

o   Snacks for Josh

o   Clothes for Josh

o   My pillow

o   Double check our plans with the people watching Bo, and our pets

o   Revisit our calling tree

o   Get new born/ post birth supplies

o   Clean breast pump

o   Wash bottles

o   Get new baby items out of storage that we have not yet

o   Buy newborn diapers

o   Get heavy maxi pads

o   Refill all meds and vitamin’s, so I don’t have to when I get home

o   Fill our fridge with food so we don't have to go shopping after she gets her

o   Get Bo a big sister gift, and a gift for her to bring to her baby sister at the hospital

Next Appointment Monday July 1st, hopefully she can give me an estimation of how much longer she thinks it will be until we meet our new baby girl.

Signs of Labor - Pregnancy Planner

Different women feel oncoming labor differently. Some feel no symptoms until they are right in the beginning of labor. Others have many symptoms such as cramping for weeks before labor actually begins. During labor four major changes occur:

• Ripening- the softening of the cervix
• Effacement- the thinning out of the cervix
• Dilatation-the opening of the cervix
• Station- the movement of the baby’s head onto the ischial spines

Labor Facts -

• Only five percent of women actually deliver on their due dates. The typical range for delivery is two weeks before to two weeks after the actual due date.
• The average length of a first labor is 14 to 17 hours. Subsequent labors generally last 6 to 8 hours.
• The position of the baby can effect the length of labor.

Prelude to Labor
Before labor actually begins, many women experience some of the following:

• Braxton Hicks contractions - These “practice” contractions (sometimes felt throughout the second half of pregnancy) tend to be irregular and are focused in the abdomen, as opposed to beginning in the back. They generally cause no changes in the cervix. Many women find that walking may give some relief.
• Lightening - Lightening, or “dropping,” occurs when the presenting part of the baby moves down into the pelvis. This often relieves shortness of breath, but can increase pelvic pressure and frequency of urination. In first time pregnancies, lightening may occur several weeks of just a few hours before the onset of labor. In subsequent pregnancies, lightening does not generally occur until just before labor begins.
• Weight loss - After all of those weeks and months of gaining weight, many women lose two or three pounds before labor even begins.
• Bursts of energy - Many women experience a burst of energy before the onset of labor. Often referred to as “nesting,” many women find themselves cleaning and preparing their homes for the arrival of the new baby.
• Activity of baby - The baby may become slightly less active as labor approaches. You should still feel the baby move several times an hour - if you don’t, call your health care provider immediately.
• Changes in the cervix - Particularly for women who have already had a baby, the cervix may begin to change weeks before labor begins.
• Increased vaginal discharge - Discharge may become thicker and may even be blood tinged.

Signs of Labor

• Contractions - In true labor, contractions will become very regular and will often start in the back and work their way toward the front. They will become progressively stronger and closer together. While walking often stops Braxton Hicks contractions, it will often make real contractions stronger. Time your contractions from the beginning of one to the beginning of the next.
• Rupture of membranes - Also known as “water breaking,” this may be experienced as either a gush of fluid or a slow trickle. Call your health care provider immediately, and be prepared to tell him/her the color of the fluid, the time of rupture, and the movement of the baby.
• Bloody show - As the cervix readies itself for labor, the mucous in the cervix will often emerge from the vagina.
• Effacement and Dilation - The cervix must thin out (effacement) and dilate (enlarge) in order to deliver the baby. The cervic must be 10 centimeters dilated in order for the woman to push.

Braxton Hicks Contractions
Before you go into true labor, you may experience what is known as Braxton Hicks contractions, or false labor. These are labor-like contractions, often felt for many weeks, that help to prepare your cervix for true labor by thinning, softening, and sometimes even opening your cervix slightly. The contractions often occur more frequently as you get closer to your due date and in the afternoon, evening, after you have exercised, or at other times when you are tired. These contractions can range from mild, when you can’t even feel them, to severe, where they can be quite painful.
Some ways to tell if you are feeling Braxton Hicks contractions are to:

• Time your contractions- False labor contractions are often irregular and don’t get close together as time goes on. True labor contractions come at regular intervals and get closer together. They last from 30 to 60 seconds.
• Try to move around. False labor contractions often stop when you walk, rest, or change position. Real labor contractions do not stop as you move around.
• Notice the strength of the contractions- False labor contractions do not increase in intensity. True labor contractions steadily get stronger.
• Note the place of the pain- Pain from false labor contractions are usually only felt in the front while true labor contractions often start in the back and move to the front.

If you begin to feel contractions, time them for one full hour and write down how they feel. Don’t hesitate to go to the hospital if you really can’t tell if you are in labor. It is better to be safe than sorry.
If you have any of these symptoms, call your doctor’s office or the hospital:

• You have symptoms of labor before you are 37 weeks
• You feel your water break even though you have no contractions
• You have vaginal bleeding
• You have constant severe pain
• You have a fever or chills
• You feel your baby moving less

What Should I Bring to the Hospital??
Some time around 33 to 36 weeks might be a good time to pack that overnight bag and leave it near the door, as you really could deliver at any time over the next month. Many women like to have some “comfort” items in the labor room, including:

• watch or clock with second hand for timing contractions
• radio or CD/cassette player and your favorite tapes, if music soothes and relaxes you
• camera and/or video equipment if you want to capture the moment. Women & Infants does not allow the use of video and audio equipment while the birth or a medical procedure is in progress.However, this equipment is permitted during labor and after the birth of the baby or the completion of medical procedures. Still photography is permitted during the birth experience or at any time during your hospital stay. For the privacy of other patients, families are asked to refrain from filming other babies in the nursery.
• lotions or oils you might like for massage
• tennis ball or plastic rolling pin for firm counter-massage if you are experiencing lower back pain

At Women & Infants, the clothing that you wear on arrival is usually sent home and we will provide you with a “johnnie” (hospital gown) to wear during your stay. Following are some additional items that you may want to bring:

• toothbrush and toothpaste
• deodorant
• shampoo and soap
• nightgowns and robe (if you plan to breastfeed, be sure that your nightgown has the appropriate openings)
• shower shoes
• breastpads
• comfortable undergarments (bras and underpants)
• additional toiletry items

Clothing will be provided for your newborn infant as long as he or she stays in the nursery. It is recommended that you have clothing for yourself and your baby brought to the hospital the day before you are scheduled to return home.