Before getting too far ahead, I wanted to write a bit about the birth of Annabel Luci (for those who want to know. I'll post pics of our time in Thailand - which was WONDERFUL for the record - in another post.
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| My mom got to see Annabel within her first hour after birth. She was a real trooper as she arrived in Thailand to find out we were at the hospital and immediately jumped on Grandma duty. No opportunity to be jet-lagged for her! |
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| Jenny and I were across the hall from each other. This is the day after Annabel was born, two days after Tanner was born. |
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| Looks so much like Emmett did as |
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| They continue to be enthralled with their baby sister. |
Annabel was due June 3rd and I was expecting her sometime around June 8th-10th (since Hannah & Emmett were both 5 & 6 days "late"). Well, the 10th came and went and so did our dear friends the Sawchenkos (I had hoped Jen would be there for the birth - she's a precious, peaceful friend and former midwife) and no baby. The morning of June 12th, Jenny went into labor and had Tanner Josiah (8lb 4oz - sooo handsome!). I was so proud of her - a quick natural birth. She had been nervous for the no epidural thing and she rocked it (epidurals aren't available for labor pain management in Chiang Mai - only for C-sections). We had to go to the hospital for a non-stress test that day and I'd held it together pretty well for a long time (9 days overdue at that point) but when I heard our little baby's heart beat I just started to cry. It reaffirmed to me that there was really a little person in there who seemed to be doing great but who was just not entering the outside world for some reason. Seeing little Tanner had made me really want to be holding my own baby and I just wasn't even having increasing contractions or anything. Seemed like this little one would be in me forever and that we'd never meet him/her (we didn't know if it was a boy or girl). My doctor stripped my membranes and encouraged me that she thought my baby was waiting for grandma to come (my mom would be arriving on June 13th). She'd said that all along.
During the night I noticed that I was starting to have "real" contractions every 15 minutes - nothing very impressive but at least something to make me hopeful that the baby may actually come out. By 5am I decided I'd walk around outside and try to get my body to get into gear and get the contractions coming closer together. I was feeling like I just wanted to get to 4cm dilated and go to the hospital - that maybe once I was there, away from the kids and the hustle and bustle of where we were staying, maybe I could concentrate on getting labor going (and avoid driving there and taking the busy elevator to the labor floor while in intense pain). In the U.S. I would have avoided going to the hospital early - I would have waited til the contractions were intense and 2-3 min apart so that no one would be trying to rush my labor along but in Chiang Mai, they just get you settled in a really big, nice labor room, check baby and mom every 1-2 hours and pretty much say, "call when you are ready to push" and otherwise leave you alone. We went to the hospital around 6:30 or 7 and I was 4cm dilated and still not having impressive contractions though they were every 5-7 minutes. I walked and walked and walked and they would just space out more. At a couple points, the contractions stopped all together and I took a few naps. By about 2pm, I was getting discouraged that they weren't becoming significantly stronger and closer together. Our friend, Brooke, who was also very pregnant and due 11 days later, came to see us and asked what we needed. I told her to just pray that my body would take over and this labor thing would swing into gear. That was about 4pm. Well, within minutes my contractions got stronger and became every 2-3 minutes apart. What was crazy was how present-minded I stayed this time around. Usually I've turned into crazy laboring mom and yell and say that I quit (and really mean it and think that that's a legitimate option) and all that stuff but this time I was moaning and groaning and such but not yelling and able to talk to Rees b/w contractions like a rational person. It was only Rees and I in that room and he was soooo supportive and helpful the whole time. I decided to get in the shower on the exercise ball and after a little while found that I was cold and shaking and thought to myself, "this it like transition, but it can't be - I'm too sane and it doesn't hurt enough yet to be transition." A nurse came in and asked if she could check me (they hadn't checked my dilation since I got there that morning) and I consented. I was 9cm and boy was I happily surprised! She asked me if I needed to push and I said "no." At that point, a friend who is a midwife-in-training came in (with a high school student who wants to be a midwife who I had told could come) and I was still talking w/ them between contractions like a "normal" person. My contractions spaced out again and I was saying, "I wish my water would break - maybe then I'd actually feel like pushing." The doctor came in to check on me and I told her that I didn't feel like pushing yet and she told me to just let her know when I did feel like it and left. One or two contractions later my water finally broke and I felt like it was getting time to push. I got on my knees on the bed (holding the exercise ball) and I could feel that the baby was really low. At that point, the doctor and nurses came into the room and it seemed like everyone was talking. I finally felt like pushing and started doing so quietly. I heard people talking to me, telling me to breathe and all that and I could tell that the baby was about to crown and I didn't feel like wasting my breath on talking to everyone. I figured, "well, my bottom is here in plain sight and I'm sure they'll figure out soon enough that this baby is coming out." I heard Rees say, "the head is coming out, honey!" and I thought, "duh, I know that." She was out and crying at 6pm. I immediately tried to get a look at her (since she was behind me) to see if she was a he or she. I couldn't see and I asked Rees, "is it a girl or a boy?" It took a long time for him to answer which I thought was odd (since it's a pretty simple thing to determine) and then I heard, "girl!" Turned out her cord was between her legs and once it was moved, Rees thought her swollen labia were little testicles and was quite worried when he didn't see a penis too :)
Hopefully that's not TMI (well, it is but you could have chosen to stop reading).
She was a tiny peanut - our littlest one. They helped me get comfy and handed her to me and she had so much hair (like Emmett). After a while they measured her - 3.14kg (about 6lb 15oz) and 50cm long (19inches). It ended up being such a peaceful birth and we fell in love with her immediately. Having had three "low intervention" births (ie: no drugs, episiotomy, forceps, etc) I can honestly say that I totally understand why people go for the drugs :) I certainly have no judgements for how people have their babies. It's hard work and it's painful no matter how you do it. If you don't have pain during labor and birth, you still have it afterward. I just prefer to have the pain during labor and birth and be able to get up and move around and pee and all that right afterward - so that's why "natural" is my personal preference and I'm thankful that it's worked out for each baby. There are so many times that things don't go the way we hoped or planned and I feel insanely, tremendously, abundantly blessed that we've ended up w/ three beautiful births and three healthy, beautiful children.
Hannah & Emmett are crazy about Annabel. They kiss her and talk to her all the time. Emmett just told her, "Annabel - you're a rockstar baby!" as I'm writing this. She has reflux pretty bad so we are giving her medicine and doing a lot of pacing and bouncing with her but I think she's got a pretty peaceful temperament and we're all enjoying her a lot.
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