Beautiful Birth

Our "new baby" has been here for over three months! He is so fun!! I have just been enjoying having a new little one. It's difficult to describe in an itty bitty blog post the thrill I feel at having this baby here and experiencing another beautiful birth. And most people don't care about the details like I do, but here's a smidgen of our latest fantastic birth experience.

Finding the ideal care provider was a challenge this pregnancy. I started out going to a great midwife group that I thought would be perfect--they attended births in a wonderful birth center with a reputation for really low intervention. Unfortunately, their office staff and OB partner were very dishonest and I couldn't continue going to them because it bothered me so much. I switched to the OB group at D's hospital (free prenatal/birth care for us) to see if I could make it work. They were very caring and kind, but they were also bound to their history. I talked to them about my birth preferences during every visit--I felt uncomfortable every time. They said things like, "Birth is a crisis waiting to happen. Yes, we'll insist that you have an IV. Yes, we're going to break your water. Yes, you have to have continuous fetal monitoring..." They were very honest with me and said, "I don't think we can provide the kind of birth you're looking for." So at 37 weeks I switched to another midwife group. I'm so grateful I made that decision!

CNM Lorie attended our birth 

The last few weeks of pregnancy I was trying to fit it all in, as always, hoping my baby wouldn't show up early. Since all of our kids have come late, I was expecting to have a late baby. So when labor started the day before Peep's due date, I was kind of in denial. I kept busy all day cleaning, doing laundry, running errands, and crossing things off my list. I told D not to come home from work. I really tried not to focus on labor--this was great because it kept my labor slow and allowed me to get some things done. I still had stuff to do in the evening hours--a visit to a friend, painting the kids' nails, the neighbors over for a visit... Our kids went to bed pretty late.

It was fun for me to spend all that time socializing--I always feel so energized when I'm around other people. I was very relaxed all day and didn't feel too anxious, but I didn't want to push it. Our friends recently welcomed their baby to the world in their car en route to the hospital, and I didn't want to join that club. I told D we should wrap things up and go to the hospital. Things got a little complicated when Squeak started complaining of belly pain around 11 p.m. and D suspected possible appendicitis. I thought, "Can I really stop my labor long enough to take her to the pediatric ER and get her checked out?" We agonized and prayed about what to do and ultimately decided to give her some tylenol and wait it out.

I packed up all my stuff for the hospital (I had just pulled things out of boxes since our move two years ago earlier that day!). D put together my labor and birth music. Our dear friend Liz came over to take care of the munchkins so we could head to the hospital (we told her to let us know immediately if Squeak woke up crying or throwing up, etc.). We rolled in around 1 a.m. and they checked me--I was only open 4 cm--so they told us to walk around for an hour. I was a little bit annoyed at first because my heart's desire was to get in the jetted tub so D could take me to the beach and really help me focus on labor (I'd been trying NOT to focus on labor to that point). Then we found the atrium inside the hospital. It was such a beautiful and peaceful place and completely deserted in the middle of the night, so I enjoyed an excursion to the beach while we were there.

We wandered around in the atrium enjoying the peace lilies and ficus trees. I stopped every few minutes during a surge. I reclined on the chairs for a bit and D took me to the beach. I was pleased to find my favorite flower in the collection of mosaics.

Then it was time to head back so my midwife could check me again (she'd said she wanted to make sure I was really progressing before admitting me--probably a good move considering my history of lengthy labors). I was at 5 cm so they admitted me at 2:30 and took us to room 9 (that's my lucky number!). First, though, CNM Lorie said they could monitor me on the EFM (that would be my best friend, the Electronic Fetal Monitor). "No thanks!" I said. "No problem! We'll just use the dopler," she said. Things were looking good! I mentioned my desire to not have a bunch of vag exams. "All right, then, we'll just forgo those," she said. Things were looking GREAT! "How about some aromatherapy--lemon or lavender?" Lorie asked me when we got to room 9, "And some candlelight? Oh, and here's the roomy jetted tub..." D filled the tub. I got in, turned on the jets, smelled the energizing lemon and gazed at my sweetie pie in the flickering light. Things were looking SPECTACULAR!! Lorie and Annie (the nurse) set things up, asked if we needed anything (we said no) and then left us alone to do our thing.

So Dave turned on my labor music and took me to the beach. The gorgeous sunshine, the warm sand, the gentle and salty breeze, the soothing waves, and the tiny lizards scurrying across the coconuts. I was really feeling in my groove. Calm. Confident. Energized. Just relaxing as I breathed and letting my body do the wondrous work of birth. I did think to ask Lorie to check the baby's position, to see if (s)he was sideways or posterior. Baby was sideways (just like Chiquitita). I got into a better position and visualized my baby turning. There was no pain. There was no fear. Just trust--trust in my body, trust in my husband, trust in my Heavenly Father, and trust in the birth process. I looked at the clock. 3:41. "Another few hours and I'll be holding this baby!" I thought. Then I heard myself breathing and thought, "Hmm, that sounds like the baby's moving down." (I breathe a certain way when the baby is moving down; in past labors, I made a conscious decision to switch to "birth breathing"--this time, my body made the decision for me.) D later told me he was also thinking, "Huh... Sounds like birth breathing."

Suddenly I felt a little pop as the amniotic sac burst. I told D and he went to get Lorie. When he returned, the baby was crowning. "Do you want to move over to the bed?" D asked. The hospital has tubs for labor but moms aren't supposed to birth in them. "No way," I said, "Baby's coming," Seconds later when Lorie came in, the head was coming out.  She hopped up on the tub, straddling it--I love how midwives are so versatile! Lorie was right there to help if necessary, but D caught the baby. Lorie unwrapped the cord, and then the rest of our baby came out. It was 3:48. WOW, what a rush! I felt so much energy and thrill at the amazing miracle of natural birth. We had done it once again! I couldn't believe how fast it had happened. Then I looked down and noticed...we had a little boy! Pip's little brother!  I said I could walk over to the bed, so I did, cord still attached. I sat there enjoying my gooey baby. I love the primal part of birth! We took our time getting to know our "little" boy. We talked and laughed, did some skin to skin bonding and breastfeeding. I wasn't tired at all, even though I hadn't slept for 23 hours. I always feel extra energetic after giving birth. Eventually D cut the cord and our baby was weighed and measured. Nine pounds nine ounces! No wonder  I felt like he was my yoga baby--it was getting crowded in there!

I feel so grateful to have a husband who is the perfect teammate, who can and will work to give me the birth of my dreams. I'm also grateful for a healthy body and the circumstances that have enabled me to experience birth this way. What a blessing!

After several hours, the fatigue caught up to me and we all took a little nap. I was really looking forward to seeing my other babies when I woke up, so wonderful Liz brought them over. They didn't know the baby's gender yet, so they gathered round to watch as I opened the diaper. I loved watching Pip's face as he realized that he now has a baby brother! As I sat there surrounded by my favorite people, I truly felt like I was in heaven. I looked at each of my babies and recalled the details of each glorious birth. A feeling of complete peace filled my soul. Life doesn't get better than this!

My other babies arrived to meet my littlest baby

Here we are in front of the tub where Peep was born!

I love this! "We are a HypnoBirthing Family. Thank you for honoring our requests and being a part of our birthing." And I didn't even ask the staff to put that sign on our door.

It may take me three more months to post some updated photos!

"Lucky"

I had a baby! Is this old news yet? I have spent the last two months holding my new baby instead of posting. I started a post about the birth but haven't finished it. Maybe during this next month!

Peep joined our family, yippeee! Here are the stats:

Birth Day: May 30, 2012 (our first baby to arrive on time!)

Time: 3:48 a.m. (our fourth baby to arrive in the middle of the night--

they love for me to pull those all-nighters!)

Weight: 9 lb. 9 oz. (my lucky number 9!)

Length: 21 inches (our tallest)

Head circumference: 14 inches (D's genes, not mine)

Labor time: 23 hours (it seriously felt like a short labor)

Time it took to choose a name: 3 1/2 weeks (the longest so far)

Squeak, Pip, and Chiquitita came to meet the new baby, and when we opened up the diaper together, we discovered that Pip has a BABY BROTHER!! So exciting!

"The Baby"

"What are you going to call her when the new baby comes?" D asked me (referring to Chiquitita). "I don't know. Probably 'the baby,'" I replied. Yes, she's two-and-a-half and I still call her "the baby." She is such a fun baby--and I didn't want to post about the new baby until I did a little post about her. Ten fun facts about "the baby:"

She loves purses and bags
She is very sensitive and kind and gives great hugs
She loves water--swimming, bathing, splash pad, the sink, etc.
She loves softing my undies while sucking her thumb
She is so happy and loves other people
She loves to change her clothes--like ten times a day
She loves skirts and having her nails painted. Also loves playing with dirt and cars.
She sings all the time. Some favorites: Happy Birthday, Soy un Hijo de Dios, Twinkle Twinkle  Little Star, Praise to the Man, Jesus en Pesebre
She loves shoes--mine, D's, Squeak's, Pip's, her own
She loves a good snuggle, books, being outside, and wrestling

Yoga Baby

I've done more yoga during this pregnancy than I've done during any other. I've always wanted to do more yoga but haven't been able to shell out the bucks to go to a studio. And trying to do a little yoga in my house with my "helpers" climbing on me doesn't really work. Not that we are big spenders now, but we've happily discovered Groupon.

So I realized that this little warrior inside me is loving the yoga. Instead of curling into a comfortable little ball and just kicking me in the ribs or head-butting my bladder, Peep is constantly stretching. Sometimes I'm physically unable to sit down because the stretching is so intense! I can lie down or stand up, but no sitting. I can just see little Peep in there, doing the warrior sequence over and over. Looking forward to a little yoga buddy down the road. :)

My latest craze is... SIMPLIFYING AND ORGANIZING. Two necessary components of having a new baby in the fam (either by choice or by force). Unfortunately, I'm not good at either. Working on getting the kids' stuff under control, and my stuff, and family stuff. We live in an awesome house, but it is tiny. I'm trying to get away from the idea that we have to hang on to every little thing (it is hard to let go of that when we had no income for so long). And organizing takes time, which is in short supply. Any tips?

Forty-four!?! What can I do??

Just got a letter from Squeak's school. She's been tardy FORTY-FOUR times this year, "which is an excessive amount" (says the letter). I love that girl to pieces, but her spectacular ability to dilly-dally drives me up the wall! We all know that punctuality is not my forte, and Squeak is her mother's child, of course, but her ability to dawdle far exceeds my past or present ability. I spent over an hour venting about this to D the other night. I am definitely out of ideas. I've tried:

--rewarding punctuality with treats
--profuse praise for punctuality
--waking her up earlier
--setting a timer
--having her talk to the principal when she's late
--having her pay me for tardiness with both money and jobs
--keeping her home from school when she's late
--taking away things/privileges for tardiness
--letting her miss breakfast when she's late
--letting her go to school in her pajamas
--letting her go to school with messy hair/ugly clothes
--putting her in the car whether or not she's ready
--and of course the usual scolding and lectures, which don't work for anyone

What's next? Nothing works, and the only way I've ever gotten her to be on time is by hounding her from the moment she wakes up until we walk out the door. AND I DO NOT ENJOY MICRO-MANAGING!!! That's my hang-up. Those forty-four tardies only make me look bad, but I can only take credit for two or three of them (and that's because I have to get me, Pip, and Chiquitita ready and loaded in the car)--the rest of the credit goes to our fun girl.

Squeak's ability to dilly-dally is so much a part of her being, I don't know if it can ever be suppressed. I mean, people, she came this way! I was in labor with her for triple or quadruple the "typical" labor for first-time moms. She just likes to go at her own pace. Not that she can't do things quickly--she definitely has the ability if she's motivated. I'm just out of ideas to help her be on time for school, because she really doesn't care.

Any ideas, my peeps?

And since I'm soliciting advice, I might as well confess that we're in the market for a minivan (ugh!). It is, sadly, the only thing that will really work with all our kids in car seats and a brand new baby. I just can't see myself hopping up on the runner board of the Suburban two days postpartum with an infant car seat, or climbing over the second row to buckle kids into the back seat. I love having a Suburban and think it's a delightful family vehicle for families with older kids (i.e. at least two or three aren't in car seats anymore).

So we are looking to buy a minivan that is 10-12 years old with 100K miles or less. If you have experience with this age/mileage of vehicle, what would you recommend or not recommend?

Low Volume

I've lost my voice. This is the second or third time it has happened since I've had kids, and it is really inconvenient! We rely so heavily on verbal communication around here, and our base volume level is usually so high (they didn't call me "Volume" for nothin', folks!) that nobody can even hear me. After I repeat myself for the fifth time, I'll "yell" and the only thing that comes out is a wimpy croak. Hoping to get my voice back soon!! How do those quiet moms do it?

In other news, I'm planning to potty train Chiquitita next week (BTW, I finally took the plunge and potty trained Pip in December--it was SO EASY and done in a few hours, I wondered why I'd waited so long). She wants to do it, and I'd like a few diaper-free months before the next one comes. She even peed in the toilet the other night, and I couldn't adequately show my excitement because I didn't have a voice. Clapping and jumping up and down just isn't the same as whooping with delight in our house.

This was last winter--we never had a big snowfall this year. Squeak asked me to make a Dada and a pregnant Mama snowmen.

This winter has been so good to me. Delightfully mild, and now we're having spring weather! Oh, Detroit, you've surprised us again!

This was one of the less-mild winter days and we went to play at the mall playground. Hard to get them to hold still on the slide!

What to do with an extra day?

I was thinking what a wonderful thing it is to have this extra bonus day. Maybe it's time to catch up on my blog briefly in three ways:

Someone I admire:

Baba Dona (our kids do not use the word "grandma" or "abuela"--they've always said "Baba")--she is a saint and she's my mother-in-law. She came and took care of our munchkins for a week AND EVERYONE HAD FUN!!! We love her!

Something I've wanted to do for a LONG TIME:

After planning and talking about it for six years, D and I took a trip to my beloved Dominican Republic. It was CHEVERE! And I left the kids for a week and we all survived. Miracles really do happen (see above)!








An announcement:

Yes, I'm putting on weight. I have a parasite! We have a Squeak, a Pip, a Squirt, and now what? A Peep? We will all meet officially around the beginning of June, but in the meantime, I'd love any in-utero nickname ideas that go with our previous fetuses' names.