One month old today
Becca is one month old today! I can't believe it. It really does go by quickly. Currently she is celebrating her birthday by enjoying a good bottle of milk while resting in her daddy's arms. Life is good. :)
In other news, we have no internet until Tuesday, which explains my lack of posting and emailing.
Friday, June 24, 2005
Sunday, June 19, 2005
Moved in
My husband already mentioned how much help we had yesterday when we moved. It was quite amazing. Everyone was so willing and positive about helping too. It was an encouragement to us both. I too am grateful for our extra room. I was struck by how many clothes we each have. I know it's too easy for me to get bored with what I have to wear. After getting it all packed, I realize I have so much to wear and don't need more (although I'm still slightly limited right now because I still have pregnancy weight to lose).
On the frustrating side of things, I've been fighting with the realty company to get them to fix/replace all the necessary things. I had a list of almost 20 things for them to do. I am hoping they all get done this week, since they have known about most of them since we signed the lease over a month ago. It's just not good customer service to slack off on that sort of thing.
On a stupidity note, I dug a large piece of roast out of the garbage disposal in our new place today. THAT would be why the disposal wasn't working. I think the last people also poured quite a bit of grease down the drain. Ugh.
/rant
I really am thankful for our new place (notice that I feel like I have to convince you of it :) ). I'm also thankful that our new washer and dryer arrives on Tuesday evening. A Fisher-Paykel set. I'll let you know how they work.
My husband already mentioned how much help we had yesterday when we moved. It was quite amazing. Everyone was so willing and positive about helping too. It was an encouragement to us both. I too am grateful for our extra room. I was struck by how many clothes we each have. I know it's too easy for me to get bored with what I have to wear. After getting it all packed, I realize I have so much to wear and don't need more (although I'm still slightly limited right now because I still have pregnancy weight to lose).
On the frustrating side of things, I've been fighting with the realty company to get them to fix/replace all the necessary things. I had a list of almost 20 things for them to do. I am hoping they all get done this week, since they have known about most of them since we signed the lease over a month ago. It's just not good customer service to slack off on that sort of thing.
On a stupidity note, I dug a large piece of roast out of the garbage disposal in our new place today. THAT would be why the disposal wasn't working. I think the last people also poured quite a bit of grease down the drain. Ugh.
/rant
I really am thankful for our new place (notice that I feel like I have to convince you of it :) ). I'm also thankful that our new washer and dryer arrives on Tuesday evening. A Fisher-Paykel set. I'll let you know how they work.
Saturday, June 18, 2005
Just Having Some Fun
I don't know if I'll keep this ticker up here, but I thought it was cute.
Tomorrow we move. I have to admit that I'm a bit unsettled about it and I'm not sure the exact reason why. It may be because we are leaving our first home as a married couple and our daughter's first home (for three and a half weeks, plus nine months in the womb :) ). It may also be because we are moving out of a neighborhood area into a more commercial area, which makes it less homey feeling to me. Or it could be because we have had a difficult time getting the company that manages our condo to have everything fixed and cleaned before we move in. In any case, I need to be thankful for the place that God has provided for us and ask Him to make my heart content about this move.
I don't know if I'll keep this ticker up here, but I thought it was cute.
Tomorrow we move. I have to admit that I'm a bit unsettled about it and I'm not sure the exact reason why. It may be because we are leaving our first home as a married couple and our daughter's first home (for three and a half weeks, plus nine months in the womb :) ). It may also be because we are moving out of a neighborhood area into a more commercial area, which makes it less homey feeling to me. Or it could be because we have had a difficult time getting the company that manages our condo to have everything fixed and cleaned before we move in. In any case, I need to be thankful for the place that God has provided for us and ask Him to make my heart content about this move.
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
A quick moment to post
Becca is fell asleep on her tummy on the floor, so I have a moment to post. I know, we usually put her on her back to sleep, but I put her on a blanket for some tummy time after she ate and she fell asleep. She looks so precious there on the floor with her occassional sleepy smiles. This morning after eating she spent some time with me in my worship time. We sang hymns together--I actually sang them, of course, but she seemed to be watching.
Anyway, most of my reason to post is point you to my friend Kate's new blog. She has been sucked into the blog world, much to my delight.
Life with Becca has been going pretty well. Most nights she gives us a few good stretches of sleep. Overall, we think we have a content and peaceful baby. We'd love her even if she wasn't, but it's definitely nice to ease into parenthood with her good temperament.
Nursing is going well also. I still have the occassional soreness or blister even though I'm almost positive that she is latching on correctly. I check almost every time. Becca feeds anywhere from every 2 1/2 to 5 hours with a couple 7 hour stretches in there. I know that seems like a long time for a newborn, but she is gaining weight, having a good number of wet diapers, and our pediatrician and midwives aren't concerned, so we aren't either.
We are moving into our new apartment this Saturday. It will be so nice to have more space, especially when my parents come to stay in a couple of weeks.
We are starting to figure out the dates for our trip up North in September. Or as Nate calls it "Baby Froyd's Tour Dates". We will be driving. We will be visiting Nate's grandma, friends in Indy (and friends who are willing to travel to Indy), and family and friends in Michigan. We hope it will be a good trip for all of us.
Becca is fell asleep on her tummy on the floor, so I have a moment to post. I know, we usually put her on her back to sleep, but I put her on a blanket for some tummy time after she ate and she fell asleep. She looks so precious there on the floor with her occassional sleepy smiles. This morning after eating she spent some time with me in my worship time. We sang hymns together--I actually sang them, of course, but she seemed to be watching.
Anyway, most of my reason to post is point you to my friend Kate's new blog. She has been sucked into the blog world, much to my delight.
Life with Becca has been going pretty well. Most nights she gives us a few good stretches of sleep. Overall, we think we have a content and peaceful baby. We'd love her even if she wasn't, but it's definitely nice to ease into parenthood with her good temperament.
Nursing is going well also. I still have the occassional soreness or blister even though I'm almost positive that she is latching on correctly. I check almost every time. Becca feeds anywhere from every 2 1/2 to 5 hours with a couple 7 hour stretches in there. I know that seems like a long time for a newborn, but she is gaining weight, having a good number of wet diapers, and our pediatrician and midwives aren't concerned, so we aren't either.
We are moving into our new apartment this Saturday. It will be so nice to have more space, especially when my parents come to stay in a couple of weeks.
We are starting to figure out the dates for our trip up North in September. Or as Nate calls it "Baby Froyd's Tour Dates". We will be driving. We will be visiting Nate's grandma, friends in Indy (and friends who are willing to travel to Indy), and family and friends in Michigan. We hope it will be a good trip for all of us.
Saturday, June 04, 2005
Becca's Birth
I don't know how clear this will sound, but I wanted to share it with y'all and have it written down. I'm hoping Nate can help me remember the fuzzy parts. :)
Monday, May 23, I woke up at around 5:30am feeling kind of achy in my back. Everyone was hoping that the baby would come soon, and I was feeling like this was going to be it. I tried to go back to sleep for a little while. Soon I got up to take a shower--the hot water helped with some of the soreness.
Nate woke up soon after that and I told him I thought I was having contractions. They were quite irregular and far apart, but they were definitely the real thing. We took a walk sometime around mid-morning to help it along. Nate tried to time the duration and intervals of the contractions. They were still way more than 10 minutes apart and lasting anywhere from 30 seconds to over a minute.
I tried to eat pretty normally to keep myself going and Nate made sure I had plenty of water. Around noon Nate and I prayed that the contractions would become more regular and closer together. God answered our prayer quickly. To keep my mind off things we watched The Fellowship of the Ring and I tried to knit until the pain in my back started getting worse. Nate brought me a sock filled with some sort of grain that he had heated up. This helped a bit. I was confused about the back pain since the baby had always been anterior (back facing my front). I was not expecting so much pain in my back. I don't even remember feeling any pain in my lower abdomen.
In the late afternoon I tried to take a nap. Some of my contractions lasted almost 2 minutes, which was almost more than I could handle. We called Melanie (our midwife) again to ask her if this was normal. She said that it happens sometimes.
I tried to concentrate on relaxing more. During the contractions, Nate would apply counter pressure to my back and I would try to recite Psalm 23 or sing Jesus Love Me through the contraction. It was definitely getting harder. At 7:30pm we called Melanie to tell her that they were about 4 minutes apart. She told us she would meet us at the birth center at 9pm.
We packed up everything and Nate loaded the car. I sat in the front seat with my water and pillows. As we got on the highway we called both of our parents to let them know we were heading out. Over the next 45 minutes my contractions became increasingly more intense in my back. I had thought that I would be able to be quiet during them, but I found that making some sort of noise helped.
We arrived at the birth center at a little before 9pm. At this point I stopped looking at the clock. I thought for sure that I was in transition (dilating between 8-10 cm--the worst part), but was horribly disappointed to find that I was only 5 cm. Soon after I got into the tub. The jets helped to distract me from the pain a little bit. Nate put cold washcloths on my forehead and tried to help me relax.
We decided that I should switch positions, so they helped me to the bed. I started to get really cold, so they put towels on me to warm me up. Oh, I forgot to mention that Sally, the birth assistant arrived sometime before this. She was a fabulous support to Nate and me. Anyway, Melanie suggested that we break my bag of waters. She thought it might speed up my dilation. I had not been all for this before, but I wanted it to go a little faster, so we agreed. I'm sure it did speed up the labor a little bit, but it also made it more intense. I've never felt such pain in my life as I was feeling in this labor. I think we might have tried a few more positions to see if they would help with the pain in my back, but they didn't. I ended up continuing to lay down on the bed on my side.
So, here I am, feeling like a vice grips is being tightened on my spine with every contraction with poor Nate trying his hardest to support me and help me relax. He laid on the bed right up behind me, which was helpful because it gave me a strong support behind me. I was done with trying to relax through the contractions. With each one I would grip the pillow and almost scream. A few times I wondered what Joy and Jeff (Nate's parents) were thinking as they waited out in the birth center living room, but then I would be caught back up in the contraction. I was hoping it would just make them pray for us, which we desperately needed. :) During each contraction, Sally would rub her hand down my leg and talk me through it. At the peak she would say it was halfway over and that I was just about to get a break. Nate and Sally both would help me to remember to breathe deeply so I wouldn't hyperventilate.
At one point while laying on the bed during a contraction my body started feeling like I needed to push. I didn't actually try to push, but my body just started pushing a little bit. Melanie checked me again and found that the baby was at stage +2. Sally said that if I wanted to birth the baby in the tub, then we had better get over there soon. We slowly moved over to the tub and I got in.
Oh, one thing to mention. The midwives don't do internal or continuous monitoring. They check the baby's heart rate both during contractions and during rest times using a doppler device (?). The baby was doing quite well each time she checked.
Once I was in the tub my urge to push subsided for a few contractions. I continued my loud moaning (I really don't know what to call it) and almost crying because it hurt so badly. I thought it was never going to end and at that moment I would have accepted any drug you could have given me even though we didn't want to do it that way. I even questioned out loud if there were any drugs there even though I knew there weren't. Nate was by my side the whole time telling me how well I was doing and keeping me cool and hydrated.
After a few contractions I started feeling like pushing. Melanie suggested rounding my back to help get the baby past a certain part of my back or pelvis--I can't remember. I was leaning back in the tub at a forty-five degree angle or so and tried to pull my legs up to push. Melanie and Nate helped. After the contraction subsided, I found it felt better to keep my legs up in the air. I remember learning at our Bradley class that you take three deep breaths, and with the third you put your chin down and push and hold your breath as long as you can. Then you will have time for one or two more breath-pushes after that before the contraction was over. I found I was having time for four or five pushes total with each contraction. I don't know if the contractions were long or my pushes were short!
Now for the amazing part. Even with the pain, this part was quite an awesome experience. As I pushed I just kept thinking that the baby would never come out, but all of the sudden they said they saw hair. They put the mirror up so we could see it. I was somewhat discouraged because it was only a small part of her head, but I wasn't about to stop because pushing felt better than sitting there through the contraction. With each contraction I pushed and they all encouraged me telling me how wonderful I was doing. Melanie checked the baby's heart rate, which continued to be good. All of the sudden my body started really taking over the pushing. I started pushing harder than I knew I alone could will myself to push. Those were the pushes that really got the baby out.
The burning was starting to be overwhelming as the baby's head came through, but then, amazingly, it was through. Melanie told Nate and I to reach down and feel the baby's face. I felt the baby's hair and then reached around to feel the nose and mouth. Wow! Melanie asked Nate if he wanted to help catch the baby. She told him to wait a second while the baby turned. Then I gave one last push while she and Nate helped catch her. Melanie told him to keep her underwater for just a few seconds. Next thing I knew they were telling me to reach out and take her. I forgot she was still attached to me via the umbilical cord and almost pulled too hard. I laid our daughter (as we soon found out) on my chest. She cried briefly and then laid there. Nate and I looked at each other incredulously. It was over and here was our daughter. Praise the Lord!
Becca continued to lay on my chest as we all basked in the moments after birth. The cord remained attached to her for a good 20-30 minutes as it fed all that good blood into her. Finally, it stopped pulsing, Melanie clamped it, and Nate cut it. He finally got to hold his new daughter.
Now let me just sum up the rest. Becca was born at 1:58 am, weighed 7 pounds 5 ounces, and was 20 3/4 inches. I did have a small tear (second degree), but Melanie expertly stitched me up. I didn't even notice it when I tore. Melanie's guess for my horrible back pain was that possibly Becca's elbow was in my back because when she came out, Becca had her hand up by her face (something she continues to do as I attempt to nurse her :) ). In the four hours that we remained at the birth center, Becca nursed for the first time, met her grandparents who live nearby, was extremely alert and content as she was passed around, and had her first bath--an herbal bath. Nate and I had IHOP to replenish all the energy we spent. We left the birth center at 6am and were home by 7am.
I am so thankful for the birth center, midwives, Sally, and Nate. Had we been in a place where drugs were available, I might have given in. I am glad we were able to give birth the way we wanted to.
All right, that's all for now. I'll post more later.
I don't know how clear this will sound, but I wanted to share it with y'all and have it written down. I'm hoping Nate can help me remember the fuzzy parts. :)
Monday, May 23, I woke up at around 5:30am feeling kind of achy in my back. Everyone was hoping that the baby would come soon, and I was feeling like this was going to be it. I tried to go back to sleep for a little while. Soon I got up to take a shower--the hot water helped with some of the soreness.
Nate woke up soon after that and I told him I thought I was having contractions. They were quite irregular and far apart, but they were definitely the real thing. We took a walk sometime around mid-morning to help it along. Nate tried to time the duration and intervals of the contractions. They were still way more than 10 minutes apart and lasting anywhere from 30 seconds to over a minute.
I tried to eat pretty normally to keep myself going and Nate made sure I had plenty of water. Around noon Nate and I prayed that the contractions would become more regular and closer together. God answered our prayer quickly. To keep my mind off things we watched The Fellowship of the Ring and I tried to knit until the pain in my back started getting worse. Nate brought me a sock filled with some sort of grain that he had heated up. This helped a bit. I was confused about the back pain since the baby had always been anterior (back facing my front). I was not expecting so much pain in my back. I don't even remember feeling any pain in my lower abdomen.
In the late afternoon I tried to take a nap. Some of my contractions lasted almost 2 minutes, which was almost more than I could handle. We called Melanie (our midwife) again to ask her if this was normal. She said that it happens sometimes.
I tried to concentrate on relaxing more. During the contractions, Nate would apply counter pressure to my back and I would try to recite Psalm 23 or sing Jesus Love Me through the contraction. It was definitely getting harder. At 7:30pm we called Melanie to tell her that they were about 4 minutes apart. She told us she would meet us at the birth center at 9pm.
We packed up everything and Nate loaded the car. I sat in the front seat with my water and pillows. As we got on the highway we called both of our parents to let them know we were heading out. Over the next 45 minutes my contractions became increasingly more intense in my back. I had thought that I would be able to be quiet during them, but I found that making some sort of noise helped.
We arrived at the birth center at a little before 9pm. At this point I stopped looking at the clock. I thought for sure that I was in transition (dilating between 8-10 cm--the worst part), but was horribly disappointed to find that I was only 5 cm. Soon after I got into the tub. The jets helped to distract me from the pain a little bit. Nate put cold washcloths on my forehead and tried to help me relax.
We decided that I should switch positions, so they helped me to the bed. I started to get really cold, so they put towels on me to warm me up. Oh, I forgot to mention that Sally, the birth assistant arrived sometime before this. She was a fabulous support to Nate and me. Anyway, Melanie suggested that we break my bag of waters. She thought it might speed up my dilation. I had not been all for this before, but I wanted it to go a little faster, so we agreed. I'm sure it did speed up the labor a little bit, but it also made it more intense. I've never felt such pain in my life as I was feeling in this labor. I think we might have tried a few more positions to see if they would help with the pain in my back, but they didn't. I ended up continuing to lay down on the bed on my side.
So, here I am, feeling like a vice grips is being tightened on my spine with every contraction with poor Nate trying his hardest to support me and help me relax. He laid on the bed right up behind me, which was helpful because it gave me a strong support behind me. I was done with trying to relax through the contractions. With each one I would grip the pillow and almost scream. A few times I wondered what Joy and Jeff (Nate's parents) were thinking as they waited out in the birth center living room, but then I would be caught back up in the contraction. I was hoping it would just make them pray for us, which we desperately needed. :) During each contraction, Sally would rub her hand down my leg and talk me through it. At the peak she would say it was halfway over and that I was just about to get a break. Nate and Sally both would help me to remember to breathe deeply so I wouldn't hyperventilate.
At one point while laying on the bed during a contraction my body started feeling like I needed to push. I didn't actually try to push, but my body just started pushing a little bit. Melanie checked me again and found that the baby was at stage +2. Sally said that if I wanted to birth the baby in the tub, then we had better get over there soon. We slowly moved over to the tub and I got in.
Oh, one thing to mention. The midwives don't do internal or continuous monitoring. They check the baby's heart rate both during contractions and during rest times using a doppler device (?). The baby was doing quite well each time she checked.
Once I was in the tub my urge to push subsided for a few contractions. I continued my loud moaning (I really don't know what to call it) and almost crying because it hurt so badly. I thought it was never going to end and at that moment I would have accepted any drug you could have given me even though we didn't want to do it that way. I even questioned out loud if there were any drugs there even though I knew there weren't. Nate was by my side the whole time telling me how well I was doing and keeping me cool and hydrated.
After a few contractions I started feeling like pushing. Melanie suggested rounding my back to help get the baby past a certain part of my back or pelvis--I can't remember. I was leaning back in the tub at a forty-five degree angle or so and tried to pull my legs up to push. Melanie and Nate helped. After the contraction subsided, I found it felt better to keep my legs up in the air. I remember learning at our Bradley class that you take three deep breaths, and with the third you put your chin down and push and hold your breath as long as you can. Then you will have time for one or two more breath-pushes after that before the contraction was over. I found I was having time for four or five pushes total with each contraction. I don't know if the contractions were long or my pushes were short!
Now for the amazing part. Even with the pain, this part was quite an awesome experience. As I pushed I just kept thinking that the baby would never come out, but all of the sudden they said they saw hair. They put the mirror up so we could see it. I was somewhat discouraged because it was only a small part of her head, but I wasn't about to stop because pushing felt better than sitting there through the contraction. With each contraction I pushed and they all encouraged me telling me how wonderful I was doing. Melanie checked the baby's heart rate, which continued to be good. All of the sudden my body started really taking over the pushing. I started pushing harder than I knew I alone could will myself to push. Those were the pushes that really got the baby out.
The burning was starting to be overwhelming as the baby's head came through, but then, amazingly, it was through. Melanie told Nate and I to reach down and feel the baby's face. I felt the baby's hair and then reached around to feel the nose and mouth. Wow! Melanie asked Nate if he wanted to help catch the baby. She told him to wait a second while the baby turned. Then I gave one last push while she and Nate helped catch her. Melanie told him to keep her underwater for just a few seconds. Next thing I knew they were telling me to reach out and take her. I forgot she was still attached to me via the umbilical cord and almost pulled too hard. I laid our daughter (as we soon found out) on my chest. She cried briefly and then laid there. Nate and I looked at each other incredulously. It was over and here was our daughter. Praise the Lord!
Becca continued to lay on my chest as we all basked in the moments after birth. The cord remained attached to her for a good 20-30 minutes as it fed all that good blood into her. Finally, it stopped pulsing, Melanie clamped it, and Nate cut it. He finally got to hold his new daughter.
Now let me just sum up the rest. Becca was born at 1:58 am, weighed 7 pounds 5 ounces, and was 20 3/4 inches. I did have a small tear (second degree), but Melanie expertly stitched me up. I didn't even notice it when I tore. Melanie's guess for my horrible back pain was that possibly Becca's elbow was in my back because when she came out, Becca had her hand up by her face (something she continues to do as I attempt to nurse her :) ). In the four hours that we remained at the birth center, Becca nursed for the first time, met her grandparents who live nearby, was extremely alert and content as she was passed around, and had her first bath--an herbal bath. Nate and I had IHOP to replenish all the energy we spent. We left the birth center at 6am and were home by 7am.
I am so thankful for the birth center, midwives, Sally, and Nate. Had we been in a place where drugs were available, I might have given in. I am glad we were able to give birth the way we wanted to.
All right, that's all for now. I'll post more later.
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