Babylove

My sweet boy is one week old and we couldn't be happier in love with him!

Whoops!

Uriah actually weighed 9 lb 8 oz at birth. The midwife wasn't used to the scale they had at the birth center and told us the wrong weight. We are certain that 9 lb 8 oz is correct, though, because today he weighed in at 9 lb 9 oz. My milk is in, but he certainly hasn't gained that much by 5 days old!

The birth of Uriah Gregory

Wednesday I had a midwife appointment and was so tired of all the prodromal labor. We realized at the appointment why my body was having such a hard time starting labor. His hands were up by his head, making it near impossible to descend much farther down in my pelvis. My midwife was able to kind of push him up, move his hands out of the way one by one, and get him back down there. She stripped my membranes (I was 5 cm when I left) and gave me instructions to go walk around before getting in the car and driving off, while keeping my hands down by where his head was to keep his little hands from going back down so he could settle in head-down. I was supposed to use wide strides. It was very awkward to walk around in public like this.

Apparently, what we did that night did the trick. Around 12:15, I felt my first real contraction. You know, the kind that make your toes curl. Not just crampy or tightness, which all my previous contractions had been. After 15 minutes, I had had three of them and Dave told me that I needed to page the midwife. I did, and told her these ones were different, and she said that we needed to go up to the birth center. I called my sister Leslie, who came over to stay the night with my kids. Since I was laughing and joking between contractions, she was not convinced I was actually in labor. To be honest, I wasn't completely convinced I was in labor, either.

We left and told the midwife we'd meet her up at the birth center. On the way up, the contractions continued to intensify and started getting closer together. We got to the birth center almost exactly at the same time as our midwife, around 2 am. She unlocked the door and let us choose a room, and started filling the tub for us. I got into "birth mode" and changed out of my clothes into my swimming suit. I was in there maybe 10 minutes when the contractions went from me being able to talk between them, joking and laughing, to having to recover from each contraction with another contraction beginning again almost immediately. The pressure was getting intense. Then my water broke in the birth tub. Dave went out to tell the midwife my water broke (she was getting set up with her assistant out of the room- and her assistant had just gotten there maybe about 10 minutes prior to my water breaking) and then I had even more pressure on my perineum!

It only took about 5-10 more minutes before I started feeling "pushy." And, oh my goodness, I have never experienced such an urge to push as I did with this baby. I literally couldn't stop pushing. I was on hands and knees in the birth tub, and his head came out. The midwife ordered me out of the tub because his cord was wrapped around his neck three times and they had to get it untangled. I leaned up against the bed, standing, with both midwives and DH behind me, working on the cord. I said, "He's coming! I can't stop it!" and baby boy shot out into Dave's hand! His other hand was holding cord! He was born at 2:52 am.

The midwife told me this was the longest cord she had ever seen. It was about four feet long. Though Dave would describe it as even longer, and he's probably a better judge of that considering I had just given birth when I saw it. Not only was it wrapped around his neck three times, it was also under BOTH arms, criss-crossing in the back.

After a few seconds, he let out a nice little cry to let us know he was okay. We weighed him a bit later, and he weighed in at 9 lb 1/2 oz, and is 22 inches long. I escaped without needing any perennial repair! I'm pretty happy about that considering how fast he came out!

This whole pregnancy, I've had a strong feeling this labor was going to go by quickly. I still can't believe how fast it all happened! Just over 2 1/2 hours from first real contraction until he was born. WOW! I can hardly believe it. My family does have a history of very fast 3rd labors... my mother, a 3rd child, was born in the hallway of the hospital during the era of twilight sleep- no medications for my grandma because it happened so quickly! I am also a 3rd child, and was born in the labor room after my dad ran frantically down the halls trying to find a doctor to deliver me.

In labor, still filling the tub.

20 minutes later, a baby!

A few hours later, right before heading home. I was a wee bit tired! Sweet little Riah always has his hands up by his face, just like when he was in the womb. Little stinker!

He's here!

Uriah Gregory

I went into labor around 12:15 this morning and after a very intense labor he was born at 2:52 am. Less than 3 hours from the very first contraction to his birth! 9 lb 0.5 oz 22 in long, 7 min pushing and only a tiny tear that doesn't require repair. Was going to be a waterbirth but the cord was wrapped tightly around his neck 3x and under each arm so I had to get out of the tub.

More details to come!

My Little Superman

No wonder I haven't made any progress! Baby boy's hands were BOTH up by his head. The midwife moved those today at my appointment. Then she sent me out walking to engage his head in my pelvis with his hands out of the way. We're really hoping he comes tonight. It's entirely possible because I have an extremely favorable cervix, and with his hands gone from his head, it shouldn't be too long before he's fully engaged and labor begins!

As far as the rest of my appointment goes, I have lost 3 pounds since my last appointment, and everything else is right on track. Hopefully my next post will be about my new little addition! I'll keep you posted!

Waiting Game (aka ramblings from a very impatient pregnant woman)

It's now a waiting game for us. Lacy was born at 39 weeks and 2 days, and Rose was born at exactly 40 weeks, so I'm anticipating baby in the next couple of days or so, since I'm in the middle of week 39 now. Friday night I really felt like that was the night. I was contracting every 3 minutes or so for 6 hours. The girls were overnight with Dave's brother's family, so it was a perfect night to have a baby. But alas, when we went to see the midwife at 11, there was very little change since my appointment earlier in the week.

So we went home, went to sleep, and slept in until 11! It was great! Then, Brenda (Dave's dad's wife) and her son Kyle brought the girls back to us and we had a super fun day with them- we walked around the docks around the Puget Sound, ate a spicy Mexican dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant, visited the cloth diaper store and the library, and came home to two very exhausted children who fell asleep like angels!

But of course, I had virtually zero contractions last night, despite the spicy food and all the walking. Today was Stake Conference, so I opted to stay home with the kids while Dave attended. I really hate attending SC with the kids because it is so hard to get anything out of it with trying to keep two kids occupied for two hours. Dave was able to enjoy it, though. We went to a baptism tonight which was really nice (at least I got some spiritual enrichment today!) but before we left for the baptism, I was starting to feel really icky and crampy. I'm still feeling icky and crampy and am having more regular contractions, but they're still to the point where I can eat during them, walk and talk through them, and basically function through them. Occasionally I'll get that one contraction that stops me in my tracks, but that is pretty rare. We're not calling for babysitting backup or paging the midwife unless I am fairly certain that it's the real deal, though. My body likes to tease me. But I have known with certainty when I was in labor both times, so I'm confident I'll know this time as well. But the anticipation! It's making me crazy!

So I've decided I'm going to get in my jammies, put on a DVD, and relax for the rest of the night and not worry about the contractions until they are strong enough for me to feel urgently that I need to leave my home and go to the birth center.

I have to admit that I'm really hoping for a birth tomorrow the 25th- it will continue our tradition of having our children born on the day after a blood relative (Lacy and Rose are also born on the same date as relatives-by-marriage) since today is Dave's grandpa's birthday. Also, Lacy's birth day is the 23rd and Rose's is the 24th, so it would be fun to have Riah born on the 25th!

Dirndls & Football

Of course I have to post adorable pictures of my children, since I'm on a posting frenzy right now (I think this is part of my nesting process since it won't be long now!).

The girls looked so darned cute for church on Sunday that I had to take their pictures.


Also, Lacy decided she wanted to be a football star, and was being hilarious, so we took more pictures. Her team colors are pink and purple, but the players on her team are less than enthusiastic about the sport (FYI, she said she's the coach).

She has her football poses down pat, though.

Midwives in Training

First, the details of today's appointment: I am 38w and 5 d currently. I gained 2 pounds since my last appointment, which puts me right where I should be since I lost a pound at the last appointment. Blood pressure was high (for me) at 108/60something, but I did have kids climbing on me at the time. Belly is measuring at 39cm and baby's heart rate was at 130. Since I've been having so many contractions lately and wanted to have an idea of when I may be needing some babysitters, I got an internal check today. Baby's head is much lower than it was last week, and I'm 3 cm dilated! I'm very thick though, so I could have several more days (or not very long at all). I'm thinking it's going to be within the next week, but honestly, who knows at this point! I just really hope I won't continue having these contractions into February!

The girls always love to help the midwife with checking me each time I go. They help with measuring my belly:

And listening to the heartbeat with the fetoscope

In full bloom

I tried posting this a few days ago, but I got a new memory disk for my camera which wasn't compatible with my disk drive. I have it all figured out now, so now you get to see pictures again!

Here I am, a couple days past 38 weeks. Usually I don't post the bare belly pictures, but the girls were being so cute that I'm going to do it this time.

The Hair

...and because my hair looked so beautiful in those belly pictures, I decided I would do something about it. I got it chopped off. The idea of having really long hair for labor wasn't that pleasant to me. I'm going to donate my ponytail as soon as I decide which charity should get it! I got about 10-12" chopped off.

Waiting for the cut with my snuggley cuties


Full length


During...
The finished new hairstyle: