Video Memories

Adam's dad put this video together for us of Sara Beth's first few days. Hope you enjoy it!

Our Birth Experience

Wow! I can't even express how grateful we are for such a wonderful experience with the birth our first child. I really don't think it could have been any better.
Let me start at the beginning. . .
As you all know, I was quite a bit past my due date (10 days to be exact). My doctor let us wait as long as she could stand to, but finally scheduled an induction for Monday, May 3. She told us that she would break my water on Monday if the baby didn't come before that. So, we were more anxious than ever for our little one to make an entrance before that could happen. This entire pregnancy I had worked extremely hard to stay healthy- no medicine (not even Tylenol), no junk food (thanks to gestational diabetes), and lots of exercise. I really desired to cap it off with a natural birth. We had read a lot , gone to classes, and even practiced labor positions at home. We were so ready!
I had a doctor's appointment on Friday morning for a non-stress test. Everything still looked great with the baby. Dr. Shattuck did another sweep of my membranes in hopes that labor might start sooner rather than later. I went home with a terrible backache that didn't let up all day long. I had some sporadic contractions, but I didn't get my hopes up too much. I had experienced several nights of false labor before. We went out to dinner at Tokyo with our friends, Jeff and Nicole Spikes, but things really kicked up after we got home. None of this textbook labor for me. . . my contractions started out almost a minute long and 5 minutes apart.
We labored at home from about 8pm until midnight, only heading to the hospital once the contractions were rapid-firing. We probably should have stayed at home a little longer, but since I was already 4cm dilated and 80% effaced that morning, I didn't want to risk having the baby in the car or something like that.
The nurses at Christus Schumpert Highland were so amazing! We called them on our way to the hospital to let them know we were coming. When we arrived, my room was ready for me. I gave them copies of my birth plan, and they followed it, no questions asked. My family and friends were there to support us, even though it was in the middle of the night. They stayed in the room with us until my labor progressed to a point where I could concentrate on nothing else. As per my birth plan, I didn't have to be hooked up to the fetal monitor, an IV, or anything. I was free to move around the room and change positions as much as I wanted. The hospital staff stayed out of the room most of the time and let Adam do his job. He was the best labor coach I could have imagined!!!!!!!! There's no way on earth I could've done it without him. In the end, he was almost as tired as I was. Every other minute, he was pressing on my back with all of his might. It was the only thing that seemed to relieve the pain.
I labored for several hours, steadily progressing a couple centimeters every two hours or so. I kind of stalled at 8cm, so the nurse suggested I try out the tub for a while. By the time I got out, I was going through transition and feeling the urge to push. Dr. Shattuck arrived and broke my water because I was fully dialed and effaced, but the bag of water wouldn't let the baby come down. Soon after that, I started pushing. I pushed for a little over an hour. . . but I think it felt like more than that to my family and friends in the hall. At 7:01 am on Saturday, May 1st, little Sara Elizabeth Hart was born. She weighed 7 lbs. 12 ounces and was 19 inches long. She had a full head of dark brown hair and a dimple on the right side, just like her daddy. She is perfect in every way and we are already so in love with her!!!!! I am so thankful to everyone for your prayers. God is so good to us!

Here are a few pictures to tide you over until the next post.

Waiting

Today I am officially 41 weeks and 2 days (9 days past my due date of April 20). When people find out that I'm that much overdue, they always blame my doctor. "I can't believe she's letting you go this long without inducing!" But it's not my doctor's fault, it's mine. I really want to do this completely drug-free and naturally, including going into labor on my own. My OB is getting really antsy about the whole thing. She was ready to induce at my appointment yesterday. But, the ultrasound shows that SBJD is doing well and my fluid and placenta are still good too. So, I'm sticking to my guns for now.

Everthing involves risk, at some level. I feel like this decision about induction is a balancing act. . . which choice is the riskiest? If the baby stays in too long, it could get really big (making natural childbirth harder), it could have a bowel movement in-utero and have to be suctioned a lot at birth, or my fluid and placenta could stop working effectively. If I choose to get medication to be induced, there is a risk of my uterus rupturing, having to have a C-section (the chances go up to 50% with induction), and it drugs the baby too. I could let them break my water, but then, if you haven't had the baby in X number of hours, they do a C-section. There's also a chance that the umbilical cord could come out before the baby does. That means an automatic C-section too.

So, here I sit, 9 days overdue and praying that this baby comes soon. We've had several nights when we thought labor was beginning, including last night. But for some reason, it always stops too soon. I'm already dialated to 4 cm and 70% effaced. The baby has already dropped into my pelvis. My bags are packed and I'm ready! Just waiting on God to stay it's time to meet our little one and trying to hold off this induction as long as it's safe.

Please pray for us!

Natural Child Birth

Adam and I spent the weekend in Marshall, TX learning about natural child birth from a professional doula, Jen Courtney. If you are wondering, a doula is a professional birth coach that you can hire to be your emotional and physical support during childbirth. She can attend a homebirth, hospital birth, or birth center birth if you want her to. We're not hiring her (I have Adam as my support, of course), but she is really knowledgable and was able to give us lots of good, useful information about hospital births (what to expect and how to get out of a lot of it).

As much as I would like to have a homebirth, I chose to deliver at Christus Schumpert Highland as a compromise. First, an attended homebirth is illegal in LA and I'm not stupid enough to want to try this alone. Second, we've heard great things about Highland Hospital--- very few rooms, supportive nurses, a little more familiar with natural births, etc.

If all goes well this time around and we can get our insurance to cover a birth outside of the hospital, we'd like to try out Eden Way Birth Center in Marshall for our next baby. We enjoyed our time there this weekend and it's directly across the street from a hospital. So, if you needed it, there would be no problem getting you some medical attention.