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Little Man told me when I was pregnant before the stick turned pink, said the baby was a girl and picked Sunday for the birth of “his baby”. He was right on all three.
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8/14/2011
I woke up Sunday morning 39 weeks and 3 day pregnant, and OVER IT. The August heat was getting to me, I couldn’t sleep and just felt all around miserable. I knew the baby would come when the baby was ready, but I was ready. I dreaded going to church because I knew the “your STILL pregnant??” comments would start. I also knew if I skipped church, my phone would blow up with people thinking I was in labor, so off to church we went.
After church we came home and I managed to have a nap. I remember taking a nap the afternoon that Little Miracle was born, so I was still hopeful. I had a feeling about that night.
When Little Miracle got up from his nap we headed down to Atlanta to see my father in law. He had kidney surgery a few weeks ago and was not well. He has been slowly improving and Stephen wanted to see him again before he had to go to work on Monday.
I was having contractions all week the week before. When we were at the hospital they were gaining in intensity, but still random and not strong enough, so I ignored them. After Stephen visited his dad we headed back towards the house to run some errands.
When we got home the contractions had slowed down and spaced out. I still had a feeling about that night but I was becoming less hopeful. We took a short walk around the neighborhood then got the boys in the bath and Little Man off to bed. I thought maybe after we got the boys to bed that the contractions would pick up.
((Now, let me back track a little. The entire pregnancy I was praying for my body to give me a sign when it was time. I did not want another unassisted unplanned home birth. I wanted to make it to the hospital.))
Just before 9, Stephen was downstairs putting Little Miracle to sleep. I was upstairs and the contractions got stronger. I was still thinking “maybe?”. I was back and forth between the bathroom and my bed questioning myself wondering what to do. I went back to the bathroom and had a very loose stool and a bit of a bloody show. AH- HA! A SIGN. I immediately called my mom to come over to watch the boys and called my doula. I remember telling my doula that if nothing else, we can walk around the hospital. I guess I was still thinking I had a long labor ahead of me.
I walked halfway down the stairs to tell Stephen what was up and that everyone was on their way already. My mom was there within minutes. I met her outside because Stephen was putting Little Miracle to bed. I had two contractions while I was outside. Stephen got back downstairs and my mom and I came inside. I grabbed my last minute items and we were off. I called the midwife to let her know what was going on.
I put my iPod earphones into my ears so I could have music while I was contracting. I needed to focus on something. The contractions were not that bad and they seemed to be well spaced so I thought I was still in early labor. I was talking between the contractions and could have walked thru them if I wanted.
We got about half way to the hospital when I started thinking “I am not ready for a third child, what did we do? Cant I just go home and not have this baby”. I thought that way for a second and then realized that I was in transition because of the irrational thoughts. I did not tell Stephen this, but glanced over at how fast he was going. Ah, 90, that’s good. Contractions had picked up and I was doing all I could to stay calm thru them.
When we reach Atlanta there is traffic. A bridge over the freeway had fencing fall off of it, and they were fixing it, so they stopped traffic on the freeway. I told Stephen “just get off, it will reroute us” (meaning the GPS). As soon as we got off we realized the traffic was moving again, so we had to drive around the block to get back on the freeway. This entire time I am praying and saying loudly “please God, get us there”
Back on the freeway and then off at our exit. “Almost there” I told the baby.
The final turn before the hospital is a left with a light. It always backs up. Sunday night is no expectation. We were the third car back when the light turned red. I told Stephen to “get over and turn from the straight lane”. He did just that.
When we finally pulled up to the hospital I told him to drop me off at the ER and to bring my bags. I walked into the ER in full transition mode and really ready to just be up in labor and delivery and have my baby!
((Now the story gets fun. The hospital is doing construction, so things are not how they usually are, and the hospital is in a … um… not so safe area of town, so they lock things down at night. Just remember that.))
I walk into the ER and there is a security guy sitting behind a desk. I pointed to my belly and said all I could manage to say at that point… “labor”. He then told me to go back outside to the security desk and they would have a wheelchair to take me to labor and delivery. The woman in the transition part of labor yelled at this poor man “you have to be kidding me!” he said he was not so I walked back outside.
I got to the security desk and the guy looked at me like he had no idea what I needed. Isn’t it pretty obvious, woman with massive belly looking like she is in pain needs LABOR AND DELIVERY. I did not see the wheel chair that I was told would be there, so I just asked him which way I needed to go. I figured I would birth a baby on the sidewalk if I stood around and waited for a wheelchair, so I took off walking.
I went thru the first set of double doors, then went to the next set, and they would not open. I stood there for what feels like forever when a group of 3-4 men came up behind me and wanted to open the door too. I yelled at them to “go see why this door is not working!”. Then one of them pushed a button and it opened. Oh- I see. Rational brain does not work this late in labor I guess.
I walk past a set of stairs and decide stairs might not be the best option. (maybe rational brain DOES work) I make it to the elevators. 4 of them to be exact. 3 of them said they were on the ground floor. Awesome! I pushed the up button for both sides hoping one would open. Nothing. Minutes passed and I realize I am alone in a hall way about to give birth. I scream as loud as I can “why aren’t these (enter choice words that I am not gonna type) elevators working?” Just then the one that was originally on the 7th floor opens. Thank you God!
I get on and press 7 and the door close button at almost the same time. I am thanking God for finally getting the elevators to open. When it dings that I am on the 7th floor I am SO thankful to have FINALLY made it to labor and delivery where someone can help me get this baby out! The doors open and I realize it’s another long hallway to walk down.
Now, it was a full moon this night, so I expected the place to be packed. It was DEAD. Like, you could hear a pin drop on the floor dead quiet. And no one to be seen in any direction.
I start walking down the hallway and see a nurses station. YES!! Someone can help me. I get to the nurses station and a huge contraction hits. I lean over the desk and the lady tells me which direction I need to go. This contraction is taking forever and she says “as soon as it is over you need to go down the hall”. I don’t think she realized where I was in labor. I half squatted and half bent over. Before I did this I see a tall man walking towards me. He appears to be a doctor from his lab coat and scrubs. He yells from down the hall “are you ok?” and the nurse sarcastically says “she’s in labor”. Gee thanks Captain Obvious.
He walks over and holds me up. I was assuming he was an OBGYN since he was on the labor and delivery floor, but he seems to know nothing about a laboring woman. He asks me who my doctor is and I tell him. The nurses station finally realizes that I am NOT walking any farther and grabs a wheel chair. They wheel me to another station where they want me to fill out paper work. I get it in my hands and then say “I can’t” and throw it back at them. At this point they ask if I am Lisa Strickland and when I say yes, they said they knew I was coming and I was finally off to my room.
The nurse wheels me into my room all while asking questions.
“has your water broken” no
“are you feeling pressure” no
“do you need to use the restroom”- ah yes, I need to pee.
We get to my room and she wheels me straight to the bathroom. I get up and sit to pee. As soon as I pee I realize something else.
“I need to poop” I told her.
“honey, that’s not poop” she said. Ah yes, pressure! She asks me if I can make it to the bed. Not happening. I am NOT moving.
“no” I tell her. Then my water breaks. I announce this.
At this point several other nurses have joined in my party. One feels and says “oh honey, the baby’s head is right here, you need to get off the toilet”
I am still not moving and one of the nurses runs next door to get my midwife who was with another patient. They come running in and the next thing I remember is blue towels and such being thrown on the bathroom floor.
My midwife wants me off the toilet, and I know why. I lunge forward onto my hands and am half standing, half to my knees while pushing. The baby comes sliding out into my midwives hands. At this point I remember the ONE thing that I knew I could control in my labor and delivery was that I wanted to be the one to look and see the gender and announce it myself. So I start screaming “don’t tell me the gender, don’t tell me the gender!!”. Someone in the room said “we won’t honey”
My midwife tells me when ever I am ready to sit down and take my baby. I sit down and tear off my shirt and bra. She hands the baby over to me. The baby has its sack over its face still, born in the caul. My midwife pulls the sack off of the head and the baby starts to cry.
I peek between the legs. A GIRL. OMG. It’s a girl!! I cant believe I just had a baby girl on the bathroom floor. I ask my midwife if I saw that correctly and check again. Yup, it’s a girl.
At this point I look around. Where is my husband? Oh yeah, he was parking the car. I ask for my phone to see where he is. I call him and he is on the 7th floor looking for me. He could hear the baby cry from the phone. I knew he was close so I didn’t tell him what we had just yet.
He came walking into our room and to the bathroom.
(Me, my midwife and Little Miss. I had Stephen take this pic after he found us.)
He just smiles at me and the baby. I ask him if he wants to know what the baby is, and he says yes. I told him “you have a daughter”. His smile widens.
I did manage to make it to the bed to deliver the placenta. My doula walked in a few minutes after the baby was born. She told me she was walking in when she heard “happy birthday” playing (they play it after every birth) for my baby. She almost made it.
Another super fast labor. If you count from the time I was wondering if the contractions were real it was 4.5 hours. If you count from the first real “this is labor” contraction, it was less than an hour. I think, IF there is another baby, it will be a planned home birth!
Little Miss was born on 8/14/2011 at 9:34 pm
She was 8.3 lbs and 20 inches long
Her birth story is coming soon. It is similar to Little Miracles in that it was super fast!
I thought I started nesting a few weeks ago when we decided to redecorate the boys bathroom.
It started with a trip to Home Depot to get a $2 piece to fix their toilet.
It ended with almost $100 worth of paint and decorations, a two day project of painting the room, making wall hangings for them and finally putting it all together.
Before: (this is how it was when we moved in)
After:
It seems that I like to paint when I am at the end of pregnancy. I painted wall hangings for the nursery when I was pregnant with Little Man. I painted a wall art for Little Mans room when I was pregnant with Little Miracle, and now I painted their bathroom wall hangings and the bathroom when I am pregnant.
I thought nesting was still going when I decided I needed to cook enough food for a month and put it in our new chest freezer.
I was wrong.
While I am glad all this is now done, I hit nesting in FULL form on Saturday.
It started while I was laying on the floor playing with the boys. I looked at my tv cabinet and saw how dusty it was. Yuck. After I dusted that, I dusted the rest of the house. Then decided to scrub toilets. Then the kitchen floor needed to be cleaned, then the carpets needed to be steam cleaned, then the rest of the house needed to be decluttered. 6 hours later, my house looks brand new! You think I would stop there? Nope.
The baby seat had to be installed. Which meant the car needed to be cleaned out. Then I had to move the boys seats.
I have a little over 3 weeks until my due date, but I keep thinking this baby is coming earlier, and that would be a welcome relief from the August heat that is coming.
Here are my 36 week belly shots from all 3 pregnancies.
ACK!! Almost 30 weeks!
When did that happen?
I always get nervous around this stage in pregnancy because I was a preemie born at 29.6 weeks. I try not to dwell on the fact, and instead think that in 8-12 weeks, we will be adding another child to our mix!
So far, all is going well. Had my gestational diabetes test a few weeks ago, and since I have not heard anything yet, I am assuming I passed. I declined drinking the nasty sugar drink and opted instead to eat a certain meal for the test. It was much easier to eat breakfast then to fast and drink that nasty syrup.
We started our birth classes last weekend. I am so excited to be gearing up for another natural water birth! I am trying to tell my body daily to take it slow. I do not want to have another unassisted home birth! I want a longer labor with this one. I know, that sounds really odd to most women, but if you had the experience I had last time, you would probably be saying the same thing.
We still do not know what we are having. We have names picked out for each gender, and a coming home outfit for each also. I am beginning to think we will be having Little Miss just by the way I am carrying and how different my cravings are this time around.
With Little Man, I wanted puffy Cheetos, watermelon and Skittles. Little Miracle had me craving hot dogs. This one has me craving crunchy foods (apples, carrots, cucumbers). Really different!
Tell me what you think? Is this my Little Miss or my Little Mister?
I know I said 6 months ago I was going to write this post, and here it is. A little late, but life is super busy over here!
I always LOVED nap time. When I only had one child, it was MY time. I could nap, clean, read a book, do whatever I wanted to do! Then we added Little Miracle to our house, and both he and Little Man eventually napped at the same time. Mama still had "me" time.
I had both boys napping at the same time for a few months. I always dreaded the day that Little Man would give up his nap time.
Then it happened.
Little Man started fighting his nap for 2 hours, then finally sleep, then he would fight bedtime for 2 hours. It was just not worth it anymore to force a nap on him when he clearly did not need one. So I started to just skip his nap.
And I was TERRIFIED.
Then I realized all the possibilities this opened up. We could stay out later if we were out in the morning because Little Miracle would nap anywhere at that age. It gave Little Man and I "our" time back. When you add a second child into your family, you no longer get the one on one time that you get all day with only one child. Little Man and I could do things that we wouldn't do when his brother was awake. We could bake, paint, build with blocks and have them stay up. All the things that Little Miracle would make difficult at his age.
Now most days Little Miracle's nap time is Little Man's quiet time. He needs time to wind down and relax after our busy mornings. It’s our time to watch movies on the couch. We snuggle up and watch a movie or his favorite shows. Quiet time usually lasts about an hour, and then we get to play, just him and I. We have started working on writing letters and hearing the sound letters make in this time too.
I guess the moral of my story is this: don’t dread the day your child gives up their nap. It will open up a world of possibilities for you!
When my Little Man gave up his nap, it made a happy mama!
Today is Earth Day. The day where people try to bring awareness to the things we are doing that harm the Earth and bring awareness to things we can do to lessen our impact on the Earth.
I consider our family pretty Earth friendly. We try hard to keep our impact on the Earth small.
What do we do? Here are just a few that I can think of off the top of my head.
We use cloth diapers so no waste going into the landfills. We have used the same diapers for both of our children and will use the same ones for the third and any more children we are blessed with.
I breastfeed my children, so no formula cans or bottle liners going into the trash and no extra water used on washing bottles. Plus, its free!
We don't use paper napkins or paper towels, we use washcloths and rags instead since these are reusable.
We turn off lights when we are not in a room or when we are not at home. Gotta save energy too.
I shop with cloth bags most of the time, so less plastic ones that never go away.
We try to get most of our food from local sources. Eggs and meat come from a farmer that is about an hour and a half away. Fruit and veggies are bought from the farmers markets (looking into the cost share from our farmer this spring/summer). Buying food local saves fuel and you get fresher food!
These are just a few things you can do too. What does your family do to lessen your impact on the Earth? Any ideas for us to add this year?
I hit 20 weeks last Thursday. Half way there.
It is going by so fast, partially because I am so so busy with the two toddlers.
Yes, toddlers.
Little Miracle decided to take off walking a few weeks ago. He is now almost running! Mamas life just got more fun!
Back to Little Bean.
We had our 20 week ultrasound last week. All looks great! Baby is measuring right on track (20 weeks, 1 day at 20 weeks). They estimated the baby weighed 11 ounces. It was great to see the little one that I am growing.
We stood firm and did not find out the gender! I can not WAIT to see who I am carrying. Stephen is so strongly convinced it's a girl (he swears that he saw the gender, even though I was watching too, and the ultrasound tech did not even go near the goods) that he has agreed to the boy name he hated before.
Here I am at almost 20 weeks.
sorry for the crappy cell phone pic, again....
Little Mans new favorite game is hide and seek. It consists of him hiding, then telling you when he is ready. When we go to look for him, he starts telling you where he is. The latest one sounded like this:
Daddy: Ready or not here I come
Little Man: I'm in here Daddy
Daddy: Hum, I can't find him
Little Man: I'm making noise (bang, bang, sing, bang)
Daddy: Is he in the bathroom?
Little Man: I'm in the game closet
He is also under the impression that if you can’t see his head, you can't see him. Point in case. His other favorite hiding place? His head under his slide, with his butt sticking way up into the air.
Life is great with toddlers!
I am now 16 weeks pregnant. We are staying strong on not officially finding out with ultrasound the gender of this baby, but that does not mean we can not play, right?
I did the draino test again. If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know we did this with Little Miracle too.
I got the same results. Dark color. Boy.
Also took the IntelliGender test. Same results as Little Miracle. Boy.
I have been feeling boy for a few months now. I just know. But then again, with Little Miracle I felt girl, but with Little Man, I knew he was a boy, KNEW. So who knows.
We will see in 24 weeks!
Anyone know of any other fun tests? I just heard something about a baking soda one, I will research it and see how to do it in the next few days. What else can I do to play?
• I am now almost 10 weeks pregnant and feeling ok. I always get a stomach bug in pregnancy. With Little Man, I got it right after I found out I was expecting, so I was 4-5 weeks. With Little Miracle, I was 12 weeks and with Little Bean, I was 9 weeks. I got it twice in 4 days this time. NO fun!
• I have a Doppler at home to listen to the baby’s heartbeat. I found it at 8 weeks, 6 days. I don’t listen to it that often, but it is nice to have. I am also feeling the baby move every now and then. About every 2-3 days I get a little flutter.
• We were snowed in all of last week. Atlanta got hit with a huge snowstorm. For some reason, or DOT was not prepared, so they did not start to clear the roads until Tuesday. The snow came on Sunday night. The weather man said all week it was coming, but the DOT did not listen. It was below freezing all week, so it did not start to clear until Friday.
• Little Miracle is still not walking. It is bugging Stephen, but I know he will walk on his time. Little Man walked at almost 14 months, and Little Miracle is there now. He will walk holding onto your hands. I know he will take off soon!
• Little Miracle is starting to talk. Its all sorts of fun. He also points to what he wants now, and shakes his head no if you pick the wrong thing. This has made him a much easier baby. He never caught onto the sign language like his brother did, but then again, I did not try that hard.
• We decided to not find out the sex of this baby before birth. It is my dreams to push the baby out and have no one announce the sex. I want to look for myself, and then get to announce it myself.
• I am already tired of the “do you hope it’s a girl?” comments. Seriously guys. I love my boys and would be THRILLED if it’s a boy. Yes, I would be equally thrilled if it is a girl too, but I do not hope for one sex over the other. So stop the comments!
• I “interviewed” Little Man today. Mainly about the baby in my belly. Here are his answers:
How did the baby get in my tummy? I don’t know
How is the baby going to get out of my tummy? Your pee-pee
Is the baby a boy or a girl? A baby.
But a boy or a girl? Boy
Are you going to have a brother or a sister? A sister
What are you going to name the baby? Ella (a name we are considering for a girl. I think he heard Stephen call the baby this)
What is your favorite toy? Um, this car (handing me the one he was playing with)
What is your favorite show on tv? Dinosaur Train
How old are you? 3
How old is Mommy? 3 like me
How old is Daddy? 3 like me
How old is Little Miracle? 3 like me
So everyone is 3 like you? Yeah
Introducing....
My Little Bean. (And it's yolk sac)
I had an ultrasound today (7 weeks 5 days) to rule out another molar pregnancy. We saw a healthy baby with a strong heartbeat of 144 beats per minute! Little Bean measured right on for my 31 day cycle!
So excited!!
I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!
We had an awesome one here! Atlanta got a white Christmas!! The first measurable one since 1882, when we got 0.3 of an inch. Today we have over an inch and it is still coming down. Little Man is SO excited to be able to build a BIG snowman tomorrow!!
I have not heard anything back from my midwife on my blood work yet. So far, she thinks everything is OK. She measured my uterus and said it felt right on for 6 weeks. We will see what my blood work says! I also asked about getting an ultrasound and have not heard back. I am sure I will hear something on Monday, after the holiday is over.
I will post pictures from Christmas tomorrow, or Monday. Tomorrow we will be out playing in the snow all day!!!
I'm trying really hard not to stress and worry about this pregnancy.
But its almost impossible.
Once you have had one loss, you lose the innocence of pregnancy. Your brain can not "not worry" about every little thing.
I am going in to see my midwife tomorrow for blood work. I have had low progesterone in every pregnancy so far, so I do not think this one will be any different. I need to get started on progesterone quickly so my levels stay high enough to support the pregnancy.
I am also going to see if they will do an early ultrasound. I know some of you do not believe in early ultrasounds, but I am considered high risk. Since I have had a molar pregnancy, my chances of having it reoccur are 1 in 100. I need the ultrasound to make sure it is not a molar pregnancy again and to make sure everything is growing like it should. Once molar is ruled out, I will only have the 20 week ultrasound unless something comes up.
I have already decided to opt out of most of the screening tests. The ones that made me stress out with Little Miracle. If they will not give me a definite answer, I do not want them.
We are also considering planning a home birth this time around. I am still not sure if that is what I want but since Little Miracle came so fast, it may be the best option for us.
I am trying to think of a nickname for this baby for the blog, but so far I am hitting a wall. I have nicknames for either sex, but not one that will work not knowing the sex yet. I will try to think of something soon for you guys!
I hate people that talk about you behind your back. I hate it even more when what they are saying is untrue.
I found out recently that someone who I once considered a friend has been spreading nasty lies about me. Someone who I have gone out of my way to help and befriend. Someone who I went over and above to help them when they needed it most.
I know the things they say are untrue, but it hurts to know that someone has been saying nasty things about me. Someone I once considered a good friend. And apparently this person has been saying things to my other mommy friends. Guess that explains why I get the cold shoulder from my mommy friends now.
If you are naive enough to believe everything you hear about me, then go be it. I wish you would be adult enough to come to me and see if these things are true.
If you are going to talk about me behind my back, grow up and say it to my face.
I try very hard to not talk about people behind their back, guess I need to choose my friends more wisely from now on.
Stephen left the house at 4:30 this morning. It is now well past 7 pm and he is not home. We had two strange men in the house all day working on the heat and AC unit. Little Miracle only got one nap, and Little Man does not take naps anymore (yes, there is a blog post coming on THAT one)
It’s been one of those days where I would love to fill the bath tub with water as hot as my skin can stand it, crawl in and soak for hours. With a glass or three of wine.
But… Oh, I can’t! Did I mention I am pregnant? Again. Yes. Baby number three is on the way.
We are thrilled, overjoyed and excited… but scared at the same time. Little Miracle is still so fussy and does not sleep at night very well. He has 8 months to learn how to sleep thru the night, or longer than 4 hours at a time.
Welcome back to this journey. I forgot how exhausting it is!
To my Little Miracle,
I spent my entire pregnancy worried. Worried at first that you were the molar pregnancy re-growing. Worried later that you had Down Syndrome. Worried about your health. In the middle of a move and trying to buy a house. It was a very stressful time.
Your birth was just as crazy. You came in almost 50 minutes from the first contraction to being birthed. You were birthed in my bathtub with just your father there. I was in shock then, but looking back I wouldn’t change much from your birth.
You nursed great from the beginning. I was so thankful. You were the best baby in the hospital. We were there for 2 nights, and you slept so well. I was so thankful.
Then we brought you home.
You screamed for the first 6 weeks of your life, non stop. Mommy and Daddy did everything they could think of to comfort you. You slowly started to calm down and become more manageable.
You slept with us from the day you were born, even in the hospital. You started going to your crib for a few hours at 6 months old, but you still ended up in our bed every night and you still do.
You nursed like a champ and still do. You love nursing. I think you would nurse all day if I would let you.
I swore up and down you would walk before 12 months. You proved me wrong.
You have a strong will. You don’t like me to feed you anything that you can do yourself. When we try to make you stand to walk, you fall to the floor and crawl. You have Mamas temper and that is not a good thing.
The first year of your life was the most trying year of my life but it has only made me stronger.
I love you with every ounce of my being. I love the way you and your brother play together. You adore your brother. You are a mama’s boy thru and thru.
Happy first birthday my Little Miracle. I am looking forward to seeing the fun you have in store for us this next year!
Love,
Mama
It got down right cold around here the past few days. Little Man has been asking when we can play in the snow.
I don't have the heart to tell him I don't think he will get to this winter.
On the way to church on Sunday, it was snowing. Tiny, tiny random flakes, but still snow! We got to church and the entire inside of the building was set up for winter. It was magical. His room had snow flakes hanging from the ceiling and cotton balls on the wall for snow.
He LOVED it.
I loved seeing the look on his face staring at the ceiling looking at the snow.
When we got home, I decided we would make it snow at our house!
Today we cut out snow flakes from paper we have here and then we painted them.
After they dried, we hung them in the living room.
I think we will make a few hundred over the next few weeks and hang them all downstairs. Why not?
(Me, my midwife and Little Miss. I had Stephen take this pic after he found us.)
