my growing belly

Noah's birth story

After looking into several different options for prenatal care, we knew we wanted to have Noah at home using a midwife.  
My first labor was LONG….like 37 hours long. There was NO way I could do that at home, so I was really praying for a short labor. 

During the last couple weeks of my pregnancy, I felt a decrease in Noah's movements and his heart rate was in the low 120s and we could not get it to increase.  My midwife was concerned enough that she thought it would be best for us to schedule an ultrasound.  So on January 18^th, 2010, 5 days before my due date, I had an ultrasound.

We went and were grateful that everything looked good. Noah was “sunny side up” and had not dropped. Our midwife suggested a few things for me to do to help him turn and told us not to expect him anytime soon. 

So of course I went home and got busy. She said to clean the floors on my hands and knees, so I scrubbed all afternoon. She also told me to lay on my left side to help Noah turn.  And so lay I did. I was one determined pregnant lady. 

Around 5:30pm that same day, I started feeling light contractions that were about 4 ½ min apart. They were not too painful but definitely enough to notice.  After about an hour they were coming every 3 minutes. I called my midwife and talked to her through several contractions. We decided it was probably just the baby turning since I could easily talk through the contractions. She suggested that I get in the tub to try and space them out. 

The water felt great! I soaked for over an hour and my contractions slowed significantly. Then I got out…and I felt like labor was coming full on. 

But I was used to a 37 hour birth.  I thought I had hours before the baby came. However, these were intense contractions. I knew there was no way I could endure them all night. I called my parents and told them to have their bags ready and we would call when it got closer to time. 

Thankfully I have an awesome friend and neighbor who also happens to be a labor and delivery nurse (she was there for Taylor’s labor and delivery). At 9:30pm when the pain was becoming extremely intense, I called her to come and check me. She came over and I was 6 cm and 80 percent effaced.  Whew…I was SO glad that all that pain was not for nothing!

We called the midwife. She lives 30 minutes away and somehow managed to get here in exactly 30 minutes from the time I called.  Speedy little midwife!

Mark also called my parents and told them to come on. They live about an hour and a half away so we wanted to give them plenty of time. 

When my midwife got here I was in transition and everything from there was a bit blurry.  Our midwife and her assistant were running around like crazy getting things ready for the birth, monitoring me and the baby, and gathering all our supplies. 

I have a friend who also got here around 10pm. She was WONDERFUL. During every contraction, she would pray for me and recite encouraging Bile versus. In the midst of the pain, it was exactly what I needed to hear.  

Around 10:30pm my water broke and I felt an immediate need to push. It was some of the most intense pain I have ever felt. But in 10 short minutes, at 10:42pm, or sweet baby boy was born. After he was born, it took him 10 LONG seconds to make a noise, but after being suctioned and rubbing his back, he gave us a nice loud cry!

Somehow, Taylor managed to sleep during the entire delivery…VERY thankful for that! My parents got here around 11pm, 20 minutes after Noah was born. Their first thought when they walked into our bedroom was “who’s child is Lindsey holding?” Just like us, they were expecting a little bit of a longer labor! I loved the shock on their faces when they realized it was Noah. 

A funny little side story…we rented a birthing pool to have at Noah’s birth. I did not know if I wanted a water birth, but I did want the option. Mark began blowing up the tub about 8:30pm. He worked on that thing right up until Noah was born. Apparently he was not doing it correctly, but it did give him something to do. And now we know to set that thing up EARLY for the next baby!

I have had a hospital birth with an epidural and I have had a home birth without any pain medicine. I had a good experience in the hospital, but I will say this; there is a certain sweetness that I just cannot explain about having a child without any pain medicine and in the comfort of your own home.  

Noah’s labor story was not super eventful, but I want to remember it. I write this 2 ½ years after he was born and I know so many of the little details lost. For the next baby, I won’t wait so long :)

Taylor's birth story

I want to remember the details from the days my children were born. The next two posts I write will be about those special days.

Taylor was four years old on May 7^th. Today is August 3^rd, over 4 years since I gave birth to her. I know the details of her birth story will be lacking, but better late than never, right?

My due date for Taylor was May 2^nd, 2008. That day came and passed with no baby. Now for a first time mama, that was a hard concept. I figured that if her due date was May 2^nd, then she would be here by May 2^nd. Hum, I was WRONG. Taylor was comfy in there and decided to stick around for a few extra days (much to her mama’s disliking).

On May 5^th, around 8pm, I started having contractions. They were anywhere from 8 to 10 minutes apart and were not painful. To say I was excited would be an understatement. In fact, I was so excited that instead of sleeping that night, I lay awake in bed. When we rolled out of bed the next morning around 8am, my contractions were about every 6 minutes apart. We decided to run some errands to pass the time. By noon my contractions were every 5 minutes and becoming slightly more painful. We decided to go back home, grab our hospital bag, and head to the hospital.

We got to the hospital around 3:30pm. We went up to labor and delivery and I was hooked up to some machine to monitor my contractions.  Once the nurse determined that I was in fact having contractions, they checked my cervix…only 3 cm dilated! WHAT?! I had been in labor for 18 plus hours and that was all I had to show for it?

Even though I was only at 3cm, I was still admitted into labor and delivery. I put on my awesome looking hospital gown and began pacing up and down the hallways with Mark by my side…up and down, up and down for what seemed like hours. 

Once per hour I was hooked up to a machine to monitor the baby’s heart rate. At 9 pm I was only 5 cm. I was tired and feeling defeated. I REALLY wanted to have a natural birth, but it was not looking good. We decided I would go one more hour and then we would have the nurse check me again. My contractions were coming every 2 to 3 minutes. 10pm came around and I was at 5.5cm which was not very encouraging. However, we said let’s try for one more hour. At 11 pm I was falling asleep in between contractions and was only at 6 cm. At that point, I said give me the epidural. 

Within 30 minutes, I had the needle in my back and I no longer felt contractions. So I slept, well sort of. Apparently, the epidural caused my contractions to stop which meant I needed Pitocin. The Pitocin caused Taylor’s heart rate to drop, so I was taken off of it. But then my contraction stopped again.  Back on Pitocin I went and Tay’s heart rate once again dropped. At that point I was given oxygen. 

At 6am my doctor came in and broke my water. He also told me that Taylor had possibly swallowed meconium. If this turned out to be true, she would have to go straight to the NICU without me getting the chance to hold her. I was devastated.  I had been waiting over 9 months to meet this little girl and now there was a chance I would have to wait even longer. 

At 7am I was only at 8cm. We had to start talking about a c-section. This was NOT my plan. None of this was my plan. But it was becoming a reality. We did not have to make the decision immediately, but it was looming over us if I did not progress. 

My nurse came in at 8: 30am to check me one last time. I was a 10!!! I had to hold off pushing until my doctor came (go figure).  By 9:15 he arrived and I was ready to push. Taylor Paige was born at 9:33am. After 37 hours in labor, my baby girl had finally come!
And thankfully she had not swallowed meconium so she got to come straight to me!

Side note….my labor and delivery nurse is also a good friend and neighbor of mine. I was beyond thankful to have her there. She stayed way past her shift and slept overnight at the hospital just to be there for me. She was also the one who made me some sort of heavenly drink right after Taylor was born (after 18 hours of only ice chips)! Love her. 

Taylor’s birth went far from the way I planned. But she got here and she was perfectly healthy.  My nurses were awesome and I have had no complaints about the care we received.  I was just happy that our first born was here. 

Oh the joys of pregnancy

I am not going to lie, this pregnancy has not been a fun one. “They” say it just gets harder with age, and I have to agree with “them”. 

I also don’t want to complain. I know what it is like to lose a baby and all of these little pregnancy signs give me hope that this baby is growing and thriving. I try to be thankful in those moments when I feel awful. 

Here’s my list of pregnancy related funness:

• Two words: MORNING all day SICKNESS…make that 3. I did not know what I was missing with Tay and Noah. I had a couple of days of feeling sick and then it was smooth sailing. This kid on the other hand is really giving me a run for my money.

• Tay and Noah are happy campers though. They get to watch movies WAY more than normal. Some days it is all I can do to put a movie in the VCR (yes, I said VCR) and lay on the couch with them

• Mark and I just celebrated an anniversary and I had to get up 4 times to go pee! Seriously, how does that even happen? The hostess who saw me pass by every time must have thought something was wrong with me. 

• Speaking of having to pee, uninterrupted sleep never happens. I am up ALOT. 

• Nap time is no longer just for the children in the house. They go down, I go down. Every day. No questions.

• You thought your grandma went to bed early? If I am up past 9:30, it is a big deal! I mean HUGE!

 Oh the joys of pregnancy :) But these little ones are so worth it!

Hold up. I’m what?

To start this post I need to take you back about 2 ½ months. Our adoption agency called about a new country program in Africa. We would be good candidates for the program because of our family size and years of marriage. Our agency told us a little about the country, that there where children available, and that there were not any children on the horizon in Uganda.

Mark and I briefly discussed and prayed about the call, but decided that we wanted to stay in Uganda. We were OK with waiting. 

Fast forward about 2 weeks. We received an email from our agency that left us feeling defeated. For reasons (which we completely agree with) our agency needed to be more selective in the children who they were willing to accept into their Ugandan program. This decision would cause the number of children available for adoption to drastically decrease. AND in addition to this (here is the big one), they were uncertain about the stability of the program.

We had a hard time with this. We already switched countries from Ethiopia to Uganda. We did not want to switch again. But we also did not want to stay in a program that we felt would ultimately be a dead end.

For weeks, we prayed about a decision. We spoke numerous times with our adoption agency about the specifics of the new program and what it would mean for our adoption. 

I am not one to “hear” God, but I really wanted a clear answer on this one. I needed to know that whatever decision we made was completely His. 

Over these weeks, I began to lean towards switching programs. I could not shake the idea that Uganda was going to be a long road with no end in sight. I was beginning to feel a strong desire for our third child. So, I made my decision, I wanted to switch. 

BUT Mark was not ready yet. He felt that we would ultimately switch, but was sort of dragging his feet. So, I waited (and waited, and waited) on him to make a final decision. 

The time finally came where Mark had made his choice. The night before he was going to tell me he was ready to switch countries, we found out I was pregnant. Wait, stop the bus. What? Yep, I am pregnant!

I know, we were shocked too (and super excited!). I chart my cycle and (this may be TMI) I can feel when I ovulate. I have NO idea how I am pregnant. Well, that’s a lie; I do understand how it happens. But based on when I ovulated and when we, well you know, it just seems impossible.  

God gave me my answer. It was not what I thought it would be, but it is an answer. He wants us to wait. 

What does this mean for our adoption? We are going to stay in the Uganda program and reevaluate what it looks like in about 6 months. Only God knows what this program holds and for now, we are going to wait (some more). 

Baby Elliott is due on January 11^th, 2013, which puts me at about 10 weeks pregnant! Praising the Lord for this precious child!