Monday, October 31, 2011
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Belated Birth Story - Kira Rose
Dear Kira,
I have been meaning to write down your birth story ever since you were born. During my maternity leave, I was unfortunately too busy watching Gossip Girl and cuddling with you to do much at all. Now that you and Lia are peacefully sleeping and I am not also asleep (this is a rare event) I will see how accurate my memory is.
First your due date. According my calculations, your due date was April 23rd (at the earliest.) The doctor measure you for April 20th - 3 days early. As the 20th came and went it caused a bit of anxiety on my part. I did not want you to come on your sister's birthday (the 23rd). After that, we were ready for you, but you needed a bit more time. I told the doctor's that I did not want to be induced, only to learn that instead of a 10 day late before induction policy, it was now a 7 day late before induction policy.
On the morning of the 27th I went into a check up and there was evidence of some activity. The doctor wanted to increase the chance of you come, so removed the mucous plug (I know, gross) and stripped the membranes. Had I been asked if I was ok with this, I would have said no, but they really wanted you to come out, and did not ask my opinion (so not ok).
Over the course of the day I had worse and worse stomach cramps. You daddy really wanted to check out the new pool (Westbad) and I figured it would not hurt anything, so we went. There the cramping got even worse. Then we went home, and Aunt Jane made delicious pasta. (Her secret ingredient - add cream to the tomato sauce.) We went to bed, but I had a feeling something would happen.
And sure enough, the cramps woke me up around 2 and they were INTENSE. I sat around and tried to document the frequency on the Internet. But they rapidly became to painful for even that to work. I moaned to Aunt Jane for a while and then woke up your dad. At that point it was hard to even get dressed. The contractions were coming intensely and quickly. We called the taxi, which came quickly, and I sat on a towel.
When we got to the hospital, we were pretty quickly given a room - a big nice one with that elusive birthing pool.
I lay down, and said Ahhhh every time a contraction came. The only problem was that at that point they were fast with out any significant break in between (at the longest 20 seconds.) They checked and would not tell me how much I was dilated. (I guess it wasn't much.) Then they asked if I wanted anything for the pain. I said no. When they came back 5 minutes later and I was basically delirious with pain and having no pause at all between contractions, I said ok. So they drugged me (an opiate that they said would not affect the baby at all - which I don't really believe) and I became high and . I remember pretending I was floating down a river and tried visualizing the contractions bring you to me. Then it wasn't so bad but the contractions certainly did not slow down. After a little longer, they insisted on giving me something to slow down the contractions - which did not seem to have any effect. BECAUSE after 1.5 hours in the hospital, I was completely dialated. Apparently the amniotic sack was bulging and they popped it. (Also without asking.) Then they told me maybe I should stop moaning and focus the energy into pushing. So I did! And you came out. It was incredibly fast.
You were very sweet. You cried a bit and snuggled a lot and were absolutely perfect. I was amazed that you were so skinny with no fat on your legs and bottom. I think you could have used another few days inside of me, but you were completely healthy and perfect.
I fell deeply in love with you the second I saw you and have been enjoying you ever since.
Love,
Mommy
I have been meaning to write down your birth story ever since you were born. During my maternity leave, I was unfortunately too busy watching Gossip Girl and cuddling with you to do much at all. Now that you and Lia are peacefully sleeping and I am not also asleep (this is a rare event) I will see how accurate my memory is.
First your due date. According my calculations, your due date was April 23rd (at the earliest.) The doctor measure you for April 20th - 3 days early. As the 20th came and went it caused a bit of anxiety on my part. I did not want you to come on your sister's birthday (the 23rd). After that, we were ready for you, but you needed a bit more time. I told the doctor's that I did not want to be induced, only to learn that instead of a 10 day late before induction policy, it was now a 7 day late before induction policy.
On the morning of the 27th I went into a check up and there was evidence of some activity. The doctor wanted to increase the chance of you come, so removed the mucous plug (I know, gross) and stripped the membranes. Had I been asked if I was ok with this, I would have said no, but they really wanted you to come out, and did not ask my opinion (so not ok).
Over the course of the day I had worse and worse stomach cramps. You daddy really wanted to check out the new pool (Westbad) and I figured it would not hurt anything, so we went. There the cramping got even worse. Then we went home, and Aunt Jane made delicious pasta. (Her secret ingredient - add cream to the tomato sauce.) We went to bed, but I had a feeling something would happen.
And sure enough, the cramps woke me up around 2 and they were INTENSE. I sat around and tried to document the frequency on the Internet. But they rapidly became to painful for even that to work. I moaned to Aunt Jane for a while and then woke up your dad. At that point it was hard to even get dressed. The contractions were coming intensely and quickly. We called the taxi, which came quickly, and I sat on a towel.
When we got to the hospital, we were pretty quickly given a room - a big nice one with that elusive birthing pool.
I lay down, and said Ahhhh every time a contraction came. The only problem was that at that point they were fast with out any significant break in between (at the longest 20 seconds.) They checked and would not tell me how much I was dilated. (I guess it wasn't much.) Then they asked if I wanted anything for the pain. I said no. When they came back 5 minutes later and I was basically delirious with pain and having no pause at all between contractions, I said ok. So they drugged me (an opiate that they said would not affect the baby at all - which I don't really believe) and I became high and . I remember pretending I was floating down a river and tried visualizing the contractions bring you to me. Then it wasn't so bad but the contractions certainly did not slow down. After a little longer, they insisted on giving me something to slow down the contractions - which did not seem to have any effect. BECAUSE after 1.5 hours in the hospital, I was completely dialated. Apparently the amniotic sack was bulging and they popped it. (Also without asking.) Then they told me maybe I should stop moaning and focus the energy into pushing. So I did! And you came out. It was incredibly fast.
You were very sweet. You cried a bit and snuggled a lot and were absolutely perfect. I was amazed that you were so skinny with no fat on your legs and bottom. I think you could have used another few days inside of me, but you were completely healthy and perfect.
I fell deeply in love with you the second I saw you and have been enjoying you ever since.
Love,
Mommy
Back Again
Recently I have been reflecting a lot on my up coming 30th birthday, which seems quite significant. I want to put my thoughts to paper and document the transition. Maybe even include a bit of video and some pictures. In general I am not a fan of birthdays (at least my birthday) and I like to mark the day with not much fuss and a bit of self indulgence. But blogging as a way to more actively and thoughtfully reflect sounds good. Let's see if I can do it (two small children do not leave me with much time or energy for much)!
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