A Birthday Weekend!

Before I get into the birthday celebration, I want to cry about the fact that it is dark and a bit chilly at the bus stop these days.  I hate to admit it but I think fall is coming, and after that...winter.  How did summer go so fast??  I only made it to the pool once.  We only BBQed once.  Sad how fast time goes.

And talking about time flying...how is my baby one year old already???  I cannot believe that an entire year has already gone by.  To relive the moment, I read through all my birth story posts (here, here, and here) and hubs and I walked through his birth day in memories.  It is still crazy to think it was a year ago that he was born.  It seems both a lifetime ago and yesterday that it happened.  I have to say, Evan came into this world and stole our hearts.  I love every minute I spend with him.  

We didn't have a huge birthday party for him.  It was hard to resist societal pressure to not go overboard and have a huge party with invitations, decorations, gift bags, games, etc.  There are so many cute ideas and themes and so many other people go all out for their kids' birthdays that a few times I felt a bit neglectful.  However, instead of a party I wanted to spend the money on family pictures.  I wanted to have a nice memory and I thought family photos would be a great idea.  I think it was.  The photographer was amazing and she did such a fantastic job getting Evan to smile and pay attention.  I can't wait to get the pics back (don't worry, I'll post a few here).

My parents did come down to celebrate Evan's first birthday, so that was super fun and the best present ever.  They came on Thursday night, so we pretty much spent the entire weekend at my sister's house.  I took Friday off so that I could spend some time with my birthday boy.  We headed over to my sister's and hung out there all day.  We made Evan's birthday cake and played around with the kids.

How do you like my rainbow cake!!!

He's eating so fast you can't see his hand...he loves cake, just like his momma!

My friend Andrea came over with her two kids in the afternoon for cake.  After Evan was born she came over ever week for my entire maternity leave.  Her visits were a life saver.  She really helped me out and answered so many of my questions and made me feel so relaxed.  So, I really wanted her to come celebrate Evan's first birthday.  We opened some presents and hung out and then headed to my brother's in law football game.

Evan loves his new truck!

On Saturday I had The First Tee in the morning (new fall season - lots of new girls) and then we hung out at my sister's again.  Yesterday morning my sister and I had a 5k race.  

Before the race - hanging out!

It was my first 5k in years...like over ten years!  We signed up and then I happily realized that my parents were in town and could easily watch the kiddos while my sister and I ran.  Perfect!  I had been hoping to PR in the race but never really got a chance to train much.  I had only been running once a week for a month and before that I had probably run 5 times in the previous three months.  Definitely nothing to brag about.  However, I think I did pretty well.  I ran it in under 25 minutes, which was exciting for me.  So maybe not a PR, but not a snail walk either.

That was pretty much the weekend.  Today's my husbands bday and I have nothing for him.  It's sad.  I have to run out today and see what I can find.  It's hard having two birthdays in one weekend - hard on me and hard on the bank!  Plus, Ivan usually has the car these days so it's extra hard for me to get somewhere to buy something.

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Are you ready for the fall?

What did you do this weekend?

Maple Baby's Birth Story: Part III

And on with the pushing part of labor!

It was amazing how the urge to push just hit me.  And I was surprised that my contractions seemed to almost go away.  I could still feel them, but they weren't really as painful as they had been.  It was like the urge to push took over for the contractions - this was quite nice because I was so over the contractions.

I went back to the bed and started to push for a while.  My first thought was, "I am way too tired to push."  I was exhausted from lack of sleep and lack of food.  It was ironic because at the birthing center you are allowed to eat the entire time - no food restrictions.  However, I had been throwing up all day from the contraction pains that the only thing I had been able to keep down was a mango popcicle.  So, I didn't really have much energy.  The entire time I was pushing I kept thinking that this was really the hardest part of labor.  And in that moment I totally understood why people had scheduled c-sections. 

I pushed for nearly two hours.  I pushed mainly on my back but did try pushing on the birthing stool.  Unfortunately, I couldn't feel the urge to push when I was on the stool so it didn't work.  I probably could have gotten the baby out a lot earlier but no one told me that I was suppose to push on EVERY contraction.  Whoops!  Since my contractions weren't being monitored, the midwives had no idea when I was having a contraction.  I was worried about burning out too soon (must be the endurance runner in me), so I felt like it was more important to conserve my energy.  So, I'd have a contraction and push and then rest through the next one or two contractions.  I think maybe you are not suppose to do that.  Unbeknowst to me at the moment, the midwives were confused as to why my contractions were slowing down (in reality they were not, I was just not pushing on every one) so they kept giving me homeopathic medicine to speed up my contractions.  Well, it was working but I was still resting.  It wasn't until they had me try birthing on the stool that I realized they thought I wasn't having as many contractions as before.  So, when I got back on the bed I decided I would push for every contraction.  It was hard work.  I was low on oxygen so I had to be hooked up to the oxygen machine and lay on my left side in between contractions - so when a contraction hit I had to take the oxygen mask off and roll back onto my back.  This doesn't sound so difficult but believe me - it felt like climbing a mountain at that time.

Every time I pushed everyone in the room (one midwife, two birth companions, nurse, and husband) all cheered and said how close I was.  At one time I did reach down and touch Maple Baby's head.  I really thought this meant I was almost done.  It did not!  I must have pushed for an entire hour after this.  I kept thinking I only had a few more pushes left before he slid out - but no, it went on forever.  It was the strangest sensation because I could feel him coming out but the process was so slow.  I guess it's supposed to be slow so it gives your body ample time to stretch, etc.  However, in the whole scheme of pushing, I was hoping it would go faster!

Finally, I gave one final push and he slipped on out.  At 10:15pm!  It was the best feeling in the world!  I was so relieved.  He was also face-down, which was good.  For a while they though he was sunny-side up and made me do all these lunges to get him to turn around.  Since I didn't have a sonogram or anything, no one was certain if he ever was sunny-side up, but I was happy he was face-down when born.

They immediately put him on my chest and let me hold him while his umbilical pulsed.  It was pulsing strong for a long time - so we just hung out together.  When the cord stopped pulsing, hubs got to cut it and then they clamped it. 

Then it was time to get sown up.  Although I was really hoping to avoid a tear, I ended up with a second degree tear and needed 6 stitches.  It actually wasn't so bad.  I never felt the tearing when it occurred - I actually found the pushing to be pretty painless.  It didn't hurt at all and I never even felt the "ring of fire" that people talk about.  So, the midwife stitched me up, and minus a few sticks for anesthesia, that was pretty painless too.  I wasn't thrilled about tearing, but it could have been way worse so I'll take the second degree and not complain too much!  Hubs got to hold the baby while I was sown up - he was super nervous.  Little babies scare him - and Maple Baby was pretty little.

 After I was put back together, they put Maple Baby back on my chest and we stayed like that until the next morning.  During the night the birth companions and nurse helped me breast feed him and my sister cooked me some food so I had something to eat.  Other than that, Maple Baby and I just stared at each other.  Hubs was exhausted so he put a blanket on the bathroom floor and fell asleep.  There was room in the bed with me (it was a queen size bed) but he was afraid he'd roll over and hurt the baby - so he chose the bathroom floor.

The next morning the nurse came in and encouraged me to use the bathroom  and take a shower.  I did both but got a bit dizzy in the shower so I rested for another hour before they let me go home.  That morning they also weighed Maple Baby (7 pounds, 11 ounces) and measured him (20 inches) and then gave him his Vitamin K shot (he didn't even cry) and his eye drops.

At 10am we finally got the clear to go home. 

 I was definitely ready!  We hopped in the car and headed home.  It was so strange to have come to the birthing center with only a bag and to be leaving with a real, live baby.  Pretty surreal. 

All in all, the  birthing center was a great experience.  I would recommend it to anyone who wants a medication-free birth.  The atmosphere was so relaxed and welcoming.  It felt so much better than the births I have been to in the hospital.  Sure, there were definitely moments when I wanted an epidural and when I felt like the pain was too much, but I'm glad I stuck it out and stayed there. 

And compared to taking care of Maple Baby, out of the womb, giving birth was the easy part!

And if you're wondering what we named him....

we went with a name we had picked out months ago:

Evan