Emilee Maddison. Born August 29, 2014. Weight 7lb 4 oz. A whole pound bigger than Hailey. 21 Inches long. A whole inch larger than Hailey. Labor and delivery, half the time of Hailey. How'd it go... This is where the long story begins.
We all woke up early Friday morning to go to Ann Morrison to watch the hot air balloons take off. It was a lot of fun. Not a super hyped dramatic fun but just a small excitement that builds quietly and takes you back to the giddy child days. That was Joel's favorite part of the whole event, watching the little excited kid come out in me. Hailey had a good time as well but got bored quickly of the balloons and had much more fun crawling all over her stroller. She took a couple face plants into the ground and almost tipped it over backwards, but Mommy saved the day on that one with an awesome twitsted save before she hit the ground.
After that we went back tot he house and who knows what we do there sometimes to waste the time. Naps, read books. Joel went out on a joy ride up Bogus Basin on the motorcycle because it was really nice outside.
After all the midday adventures we started getting ready to go back to Ann Morrison for the Spirit of Boise Hot Air Ballon Nite Glow. They have 15-20 ballons lined up and once it gets dark, they all pull the torches and everything lights up. We stopped by relatives to pick up some lawn chairs and then we were going to meet Hyrum and Jessica and their family for the event. Well, spoiler, we never made it.
We had stayed too long for Joel's liking at Scott and Tess's and still needed to run and grab picnic food for the event. We tried Walmart but the fried chicken looked a little too fried. We were arguing off and on about how we can be better about this or that and I was frustrated. Joel was frustrated. The chicken was frustrating too! We decided to head Albertsons and see what their chicken looked like. It was on the way at least and we wouldn't be too much later than what Joel had wanted to be, only an hour... lol. Well, still frustrated we grabbed a hungry and tired Hailey out of the car and headed into Albertsons. The day before at my prenatal appointment Reineke had told me that Emilee's head was sitting on top of my pelvis instead of being nestled right in. She told me to do pelvic tilts and apply pressure to help move Emilee. Well, while waiting for Joel and Hailey, just inside the sliding doors of Albertsons, I decided to do my pelvic tilts. It helped release my back anyway. Well, tilt and pressure and pop... Joel came walking up and I said, "Uh... we aren't going to be getting chicken. My water just broke. Will you go let the customer service know that there's a wet spot on the ground and make sure no one slips in it?" Apparently the lady at the desks face was priceless. For some reason Labor freaks people out.
I waddled back to the car looking sopping wet. Joel started freaking out or going into take control mode. We only had the past experiences to pull from and Hailey's water broke 2 hours or less before she was born. Joel wanted to go to the hospital right away. I said, heck no. Take me home so I can shower off and change! Plus I'm not even having contractions right now, I'm just wet. We called the dr's office to find out when to come in, got everything packed, and then waited for a few people to come and drop things off or pick up Hailey. Lynn came and got Hailey. Scott and the girls dropped off a couple oils that Hailey has hidden around the house somewhere. Joel was cleaning. The dishes hadn't been done and Hailey was still hungry.
Well, as Joel is "taking control" by making tacos for dinner Hailey is pulling the condiments out of the fridge. She grabbed the jelly first and I would have taken that for a simple, "PBJ's will do just fine." I'm sure she enjoyed the tacos though. :) I showered off and got my clothes and bag ready for to leave. The contractions started coming not soon after we got home. Maybe around 730. After a priesthood blessing and everything else taken care of we headed off to the hospital. Joy oh joy.
I'm not a huge fan of hospitals. My contractions were coming mildly but at about 1-2 minutes apart. I had previously decided that with the way Hailey's L&D went I didn't want an IV. I didn't want to be hooked up to anything if I could avoid it. Once we got to the hospital, the contactions started to get more intense. They hospital staff needed to monitor the baby and my contractions for 20 minutes. In regular life, 20 minutes isn't very long. You want another five minutes after a 20 minute cat nap or massage or break from life... but you don't want an extra five minutes being attached to a monitor. I was itching to rip them off. They wanted to keep them on longer because Emilee's heart beat was stable but not jumping with the onset of contractions. Eventually the nurse left because I had said ok to Apple juice to try and get a heart beat rise. She pretty much didn't come back... Finally another one came in and I said, look I've been standing here waiting but I really need to go to the bathroom. They kept the stupid monitors attached but just unplugged them. At least I could go labor in the bathroom now and not have to worry about trying to hold it if I had to. I know, TMI. I just stayed in there. Eventually the contactions started to get pretty severe. I still wanted to rip the monitors off and eventually I did. I didn't want anything on me or touching me. I was having "twitches." It's like getting the shivers or body twitches, but that's one way my body reacts to pain. I was also starting to sweat and shake. Pain does awesome things to our bodies huh?! Oh did I mention, I wasn't hooked up to an IV and wasn't planning on getting an epidural?
I'm usually pretty tough and strong but things were starting to build and I wasn't doing as well as breathing through the pain as I had hoped/planned. Did I mention Emilee was still sitting on my pelvis instead of in it? We figure she was probably on top of a couple nerves as well because we would get a contraction but the pain would never release. There was no bell curve. There was very little extra time to recoup and catch my breath. I remember getting up to try a different position and just leaning into Joel and crying, "Why won't it release." "She's stuck and not moving."
Last L&D Joel just sat there stunned and in shock and with no idea how to help, plus I wouldn't listen to him anyway. Now I leaned on him for support. Literally and figuratively. I know that if I had nails he probably would have had nail marks left from me hanging on to him. I know he said I bit him a few times but no permanent bite marks.
When things weren't releasing, I starting to break mentally. I couldn't handle the pressure and the pain that never stopped. They did a check and said I was only at a 6.5 cm dilation. I asked how long it takes to get to 10. She said, About a cm per hour. WAIT, that's a possibility of 3.5 more hours. I broke down and asked about the epidural. Gasp, shock, I know. The all natural girl asking for something she wasn't a fan of. We got the details. IV would have to be placed. a liter of fluids would have to be given first- 20-30 minutes. Then the Epi part would take another 20-30 minutes to be set and 15-45 for the meds to kick in. In the back of my mind I knew, right like it's going to all happen before I have this baby. But the pain part spoke up instead. Ok, Ok ok... Yes. They proceeded to try and put the IV in but since I've been so swollen this pregnancy she had a hard time. Three different pokes/places but no success. At some point I'm pretty sure they abandoned the idea but just didn't tell me. I was feeling pushing pressure and then Emilee's heart rate was slowly starting to drop. Baby needed to come out.
The midwife on call for the night switched me into a few different positions. I kept saying, she's stuck, she's stuck, so the midwife decided ok, lets move to get her unstuck. Hands and knees hadn't worked. Upright in a sitting position hadn't worked. They tried a lateral or side lying position that was half on my back. Again another thing I wasn't a fan of... being on my back because it can make delivery harder because of the pelvic position, but I would try. It didn't cause back labor like last time. But it did put things in a better position to drop. It was still super intense and rushed because Emilee's heart beat was dropping still. After about 20-30 minutes of pushing Emilee was born.
So where was Joel in all of this. Since I wasn't hanging on him or shunning him. Yep right in the middle of it. Had to be my side support for one of my legs. Last time he stayed up at my head to avoid seeing or being in any of it. Poor guy, yeah you weren't so lucky this time. But I was very grateful that he was there literally by my side.
He almost passed out he said after the fact. Not from x,y,z, but because when Emilee came out the cord was wrapped around her neck twice and her arm was up and through it. But the midwife did great and acted quickly and just unwrapped everything like nothing was wrong. They rubbed and rubbed and got some blood bumping and Emilee started to cry.
Totally different experience than with Hailey. Nothing from pregnancy to L&D was the same.
So how are we all doing? Joel is exhausted--again. He was buzzed until he came over and laid down next to me and I started playing with his hair. His response, "I should be comforting you and playing with your hair instead." I just said, I'm physically exhausted and sleep will come easier because of that. You, you are hyped up and need help relaxing. He didn't object. It didn't take him long to deepen his breathing and start to twitch and grumble... his sleep signs. :)
I was and still am super sore. I knew that my body hadn't recovered from having Hailey. I had hip and back problems all throughout the pregnancy. Being in shape makes a huge difference! I had done my best, but my body still took another hit. Last time I was up and walking the same day. This time... my butt is going numb from sitting on the bed so much!! I feel like a lump of warm clay that can't support it's self from the back or from the front. No abs and no back muscles. It's awesome. Other than than, and the already lack of sleep from having a baby at 1130 at night vs 430 in the afternoon, I'm just peachy.
Sad day... Joel and I were tentatively going to go to the Caldwell orchard and pick peaches and pears to can. Maybe he can still do that on Monday with my family. We'll see. If not oh well.
Hailey is with my Aunt Lynn and doing well. Reading books and playing with Ginger-the dog.
Emilee? Emilee is doing well. She's healthy, pink, and plump. She likes to be swaddled and tuck her nose into her blanket. She likes to be gently shaken/bounced. She latched on great and is feeding well. Her eating/sleeping schedule is something to get used to. She eats on one side for 30 minutes and then takes a 30-60 minute break, then eats on the other side for 30 minutes then calms down and sleeps for anywhere from 2-4/5 hours. That was a surprise. I was expecting her to wake up at 630 hungry this morning but she slept till 9 and probably would have gone longer. Gotta love a sleeping baby. She's a cute little chubby thing. Joel actually took pictures of her "thunder thighs." :)
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