Part Two

I started to push at 7am Wednesday Dec 13th. One week over due. I tried a variety of positions. I don’t think the epi was very strong because I could move relatively easily. I was squatting, kneeling backwards over the bed, on my left side, on my right side, on my back, etc, etc....and that boy would not budge! He was stuck. And I was tired. At 10am the midwife said it was time to think about the vacuum. Not really what I wanted but he really wasn’t moving. And I tried! I really tried. So I said “let’s do it!” They called the doctor in (along with 15 others, I swear!) and they pulled him out. Let’s just say that was the worse thing ever. But it got him out and I am happy about that. He was sideways and stuck under my bone. When they put him on my belly it was the best feeling ever. He came out crying. We waited to cut the cord and then they took him to evaluate his vitals. I think they were concerned because my water had been broke for so long. He did have a bit of a temp but because my temp was ok they didn’t do anything. I got him back with just a diaper and laid him on my chest with a warm blanket over. It was so nice. We cuddled for about an hour and then I had to get up and get cleaned up and changed to move to the recovery room. Once we made it to our new room and the nurses were done checking me out Adam got our parents who were (not so patiently!) waiting in the waiting room. It was great to see everyone and for everyone to meet little Jonah.

Overall his birth went a lot different then planned but I am happy with the results. I am glad I was able to labor for 24 hours naturally. And then I was really happy with the medical interventions when I needed them. At no point was I pressured to do something I didn’t want to do. And really, that was what I was most concerned about. I wanted to be able to labor and deliver as I saw fit. And well, I would have liked it to go differently, but understand that I did all I could and it is what it is.

And my little man was so worth it!

Jonah Everett Gross - Birth Story Part One

Tuesday Dec 13, 2011

I got up to go to the bathroom at about 12:40am. On my way back to bed I felt warm liquid fill my underwear and I thought “am I still peeing??” in my half asleep state. So I got back on the toilet till it stopped. At that point I figured it was my water had broken so I checked the color (it was light pink) and smell (none). I waddled (with every move more would leak out - fun) back to bed to wake Adam. I said “I think my water just broke. I don’t know what to do.” So he jumped up and thought we should call our doula. So he called Sara-Marie and she said it was up to us if we wanted to call the hospital. We decided not to because the color and smell were ok. I laid some towels in bed and crawled back in for a long night. My contractions started pretty much right away and I didn’t sleep. At first they were 10 minutes apart and then around 7am they were 7 minutes apart. I called my midwife’s office at 8am and told them. They thought I should head into the hospital soon. I wanted to wait a bit but thought by noon would be good. My contractions were getting stronger but still 6 minutes apart when we left. Adam rushed around and got all our things in the car. But we forgot something! About half a mile down the road Adam realized that he took the birth plan out of the suitcase but never put it in his backpack. So back to the house we go. Once on our way again Adam decided that he needed to stop and get some cash for the hospital (??) and got $60 out of the ATM. I didn’t want to argue but that seemed really random. Also on the way we called Sara-Marie to let her know we were on our way tot he hospital.

We got to the hospital around 12:30pm Tuesday. Once at the hospital we had to wait a bit to get taken back to triage. In triage they hooked me up to the monitors and checked my dilation. I was 1cm dilated and 90% effaced. Yikes! Not that much progress. But I was in active labor according to the contractions so they kept me.

We got to our room, it was like checking into a hotel with all our bags, and then proceeded to walk to halls for a while. When my contractions got to be too much and I was leaking too much fluid for the hall we went back to the room where I labored on the ball among other positions for most of the afternoon into the evening. I think something like 4-5 hours after getting admitted I was checked again for dilation and to see if they could break any more of my water bags. I was only 2cm! And then the doctor was reaching around up there looking for bags but couldn’t find more to break. Yikes! That was not fun!

So that was a little discouraging but I pulled it together and got into the zone. I labored for 4 more hours in the shower. (I can’t even imagine the hot water heaters that place had!) My contractions were getting really strong and close together. I was starting to doubt if I could do this so I was hoping I was going into transition. I got checked again for progress and was at 5cm 100% effaced. Yea progress! But not as much as I hoped. So I labored some more on the ball and then back in the shower for a bit. At about 12:45am I was really exhausted. I had been up for 24 hours at this point and was really hitting the end of my ability. I knew that if I wasn’t close to being done, there was no way I would have the strength or energy to push. Also my contractions had slowed down to 7+minutes apart and only every few were really painful. I was actually falling asleep between contractions. My nurse came back in and I asked about my options. Basically I could continue as is or get an epidural and rest. But I should be checked again before deciding. If I was 8+ then I would continue as is but if not I could decide then what I wanted to do. So the doctor came in and checked. I was 5cm maybe 6cm! What!!! Then I said “get me the epidural!!” In about 30 minutes I was feeling much better. The epidural was not painful at all. They hooked my up to the monitors and I fell asleep. So did Adam and Sara-Marie. We were all exhausted. Luckily neither Jonah or I had any problems with the epi. Every time a nurse or doctor came in to check the monitors they said what a perfect baby he was. Never went into the bad zones on the screen. And my blood pressure stayed even so I didn’t need anything extra. We slept. At about 4am my contractions were still 7 minutes apart and the nurse said that I needed to start pitocin. They started on the smallest amount. Not much change so they upped it to the next smallest dose. By 6:20am I could tell something was happening. My contractions were different and I felt pressure to push. I waited awhile to call the nurse. I wanted to make sure it was the real thing. She came in about 7am and checked. I was compete and he was at +3 station. Basically he was right there. I guess she could see his head. Yes! Finally! Well, it didn’t happen as fast as it seemed it would.

Stayed tuned for part two!

Photos of the trip

Here's the photos:

Yosemite Falls


Half-Dome


Drive out of Yosemite to Nevada
Adam driving of the salt flats in Utah
Temple Square


Long, straight road with windmills

That's it. I stopped taking pictures in Wyoming. It wasn't as interesting anymore.

We Made it!

Adam and I drove cross country last weekend. And we made it! We even made it earlier than I ever thought would happen.

We packed up the car Thursday night after our final walk through at the rental. It was packed to the brim! I was able to get my meyer lemon tree in but my Christmas cactus didn't make it

:(

We headed out Friday morning.

Our first stop was Yosemite National Forest. Neither of us had been there and we (mostly me) thought we needed to see this before we left California. It did increase the length of our trip but we both agreed that it was worth it. We were able to hike a bit and see the falls and half-dome. It was beautiful! I really liked the drive out and into Nevada through the mountains as well. That night we pushed though till Winnemucca, Nevada. Nevada was really flat and boring during this part of the drive. And very desolate. Not a lot of food or gas stations or anything else for that matter.

Saturday we got up bright and early and headed out. Around lunch time we stopped in Salt Lake City to see the Temple Square. Very interesting and we wished we had more time to learn more about the Mormons. Neither of us really know what the book of Mormon teaches and how it all came to be. Are they Christians? How do they believe you get into heaven? What about when the Bible warns of false prophets? Anyway... We had a great lunch in the square and checked out a visitor center before taking off. That night we made it to Laramie, Wyoming.

Sunday was a day of straight driving. The country side was beautiful. Rolling, green farmland all through Nebraska and into Iowa. We stopped in Iowa City for the night.

Monday was another day of driving but our end was in sight! We got an ok start. Adam had to do some banking at one of the last Wells Fargos we would see and then we took off. We made it to Ann Arbor for a celebratory diner at Palios at about 7:30. It was great! We sat outside. We even saw a Michigan football player eating outside at a different place (which Adam almost got teary eyed over - so happy to be back for the season! ).

Overall it was a great trip. Now we are just hanging out at Adam's brother Dave's house waiting till we get the keys to our new place. That happens Friday at 10am. Can't wait!

It feels great to be back in Michigan. We definitely noticed the humidity! Wow, it's going to take some getting used to. And there was a big thunder storm Sunday night while we were in Iowa. We are back to weather! And to bugs. My car is covered in bugs! Gross...

Christmas time

I'm on a roll....might as well continue....

Here we are at VMware's Christmas Party. It was fun. Not that crowed. Lots of food. The theme was Winter Wonderland with fake snow machines and snow globes around. They even had ice skating with fake ice! I don't really know how that worked. We didn't try it.

I rearranged the living room a bit and put up our tree. I can never get a good picture but I really like the way it looks now. It will make me sad to take the tree down after Christmas. The room always feels empty after.

Crafts/ Presents

I've been busy knitting and crocheting this year again for Christmas gifts. I am thinking that the people these are for don't check my blog so it's no big deal that I am posting this before I give them out. I figure I never post and so I should when the mood strikes.

I made two scarf and headband ensembles with flowers to give away. I hope the recipients like them! I got the idea for the headband from Anthropolgie but I can't find it online anymore. They must have been popular! The basic pattern for the headband was in the Nov issue of Martha Stewart Mag. The scarfs are simply knit every row and then attached at the ends so they are continuous.
The two button necklaces are mine, not gifts. I made them with my mom over Christmas last year. We followed Martha's directions and used glue but some of the buttons fell off. Martha! So I did a little maintenance on them and here they are afresh. Can't wait to wear them!

Projects

I made two pillow cases for the couch. Our couch has seen better days but we can't really complain since we only paid $100 for it. The back pillows are all smashed and it is broken on the one side where Adam "falls" into it everyday. We contemplated getting a new one but we cannot decided and therefore decided not to get one. I might eliminate the white back pillow all together and make more of the square ones but I will have to be really motivated.

In other news, I have been painting! It started with a project at a girls night a couple months ago. It was a good start but I really got the "bug" when we went back to Michigan. My mom has been painting a lot and I was inspired. While there I made this hydrangea.

This was the one I did at the girls night. It looked a lot different that night. After coming back from Michigan I doctored it up quite a bit. I think I am happy with it now.

I'm not quite sure about the arraignment or about the "23." But the beauty of paint is that I can just paint over it!