Alabama Tracks

If you’re ever had children you know very well that it can rapidly turn this

into this

in the space of, oh, 6 hours. In short, things go crazy quick, except that in birthing, you’ve already planned carefully for all this. Or so you think.
If you remember, things were especially chaotic surrounding Ruthie. Erin’s water broke abruptly and Ruthie was born 24 hours later. Our plans went out the window quickly. Our birth plan? Left somewhere at the house and pretty much ignored except for a few points. Our help? Had to rush down here some 6 hours away on a moment’s notice.

This time we were ready. I pulled out the big white catch-any-barf bowl VERY early. We had our birth plan refined and we were ready to fight for it. No more uphill purple pushing for us! Car seats loaded, bags packed.  I had signed up for iTunes and downloaded a few songs and Erin created a calming playlist so we could just turn the laptop on and let it repeat music over and over instead of changing CDs all the time. We were READY.

I’ve often heard that everything you learn with child #1 is typically not applicable to child #2 for the most part. So far, it’s proven true. Where Ruthie was quick, Samuel was slow. We went to the doctor two weeks ago and he said Erin was at 3cm. So we figured it was about time. We called Tia and told her to come NOW, anticipating a Ruthie-like quickening any moment. So we got her entire immediate family and mine here. We live in ~1500 sq ft and we had 12 people, including myself, here.

Carefully planned craziness.

The hallmark of this birth will probably not be the birth itself but the two weeks prior, where we had Erin’s parents come from Florida twice. Don’t get me wrong, they were good times.

But 10 people in a house still can get crowded. And with Samuel teasing at labor it drags on and on. Many tears were shed. But Ken did fix the eaves of our house in the meantime (thanks Ken!) and we did have family time on Erin’s side, something that hasn’t happened on this scale since November. Sadly, Ken and Chris had to return home and they were unable to be here for the birth. We did have Chris on speakerphone at the end, though.

God has a funny way of reminding you about His timing and I suppose this was our reminder. We were going to wait until Samuel and God decided it was time but yesterday the doctor had concerns in the weekly visit. We knew Samuel was larger than Ruthie but the sonogram was putting him well north of 9 pounds, a point where diabetes can be a concern. So with Tia and the doctor in agreement, we decided to go ahead and have her water ruptured. At around 1pm her OB did the deed and the water (I’d estimate at least a pint and a half, maybe more) came rushing out.

Labor onset pretty quickly. Unlike last time, we had Erin’s friend Meg in the room to take pics which freed Tia and I up to focus more on Erin. We kept her breathing structured. We knew about the odd 0.5 cm “flap” that made her cervix seem less dilated. We moved her to a chair for part of the birth. Best of all, the hospital staff were VERY accommodating.  We didn’t have to fight over anything and they assisted us in our natural childbirth. Every nurse (and there were at least 4 there at the end) commented on how strong Erin was to keep herself that focused towards the end. No screaming, no regrets at the lack of an epidural, just natural bodywork, a sight to behold. Words cannot express how strong my wife is and I would do her injustice to try.

With Tia and I coaching, and Tia massaging, Erin let her contractions do the work. Ruthie had to be shoved down the canal. Samuel, on the other hand, was crowning without Erin having done any focused pushing. The doctors and nurses raced in to get set up so that when Erin did push, they could do their part. The pushing lasted all of 5 minutes. There was a major pause for me at the end when his head popped out and the cord was around his neck. The doctor immediately clamped the cord and cut it so we could get him out. One more major push and the rest of him came. He was blue for a good 3 minutes until he was rubbed down and started nursing. Yet another difference from Ruthie because she had trouble nursing at first.

We’ve picked 1 Samuel 1:20 as the verse for him because it fits so well

So in the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying “Because I asked the Lord for him.”

“In the course of time”… how little we knew that would apply here. The Lord knew the day of his conception and the day of his birth. He has richly blessed us indeed.

It is something that I’m not seeing much lately. I got more last night (5 1/2 hours) than I had the previous two nights (both 4 hours each) but even during the day I’ve not been able to get it, for one reason or another. I’m hoping a nap will be in my afternoon plans should things progress according to plan. We’ll see.

It’s cold here today. 42 degrees according to the thermometer. It’s a little overcast though the sun has peaked through a few times. We had pest control come today for our quarterly spraying so I had to open a few windows to help get the odor to dissipate. It wasn’t necessarily the best thing to have done now but we were due and I couldn’t have Joel come home for spraying when I’m home all day. Ruthie and I stayed at one end of the house while they sprayed and the area that we were in, they sprayed really lightly. It’s been an hour now and the odor has gone so the windows are closed and my baby is snug in her cradle with a belated morning nap.

I’m trying very hard to delight in these first days and nights when it is just she and I. I’m managing the days pretty well - better than I thought I would seeing that I’ve never just stayed home with little external contact before. The nights are another story. They get very lonely and can be very frustrating. I’ve determined that I’m hyper-lactating; which means my milk is letting down too fast for her mouth to handle. Basically, I’m flooding her out thus when she gurgles it down, she intakes air producing gas. I’m trying new nursing positions, pumping some off before I nurse, burping more often,and putting her at a 90 degree angle. Some of it helps, some doesn’t. Last night I started nursing and burping at 9:00 and at 11:30, I was finished and was able to put her to bed. Each night we have a long spell, we listen to music, rock, burn the carpet up, and lay on the couch together. One night this week, I slept with her on the couch until our next feeding session because I was so exhausted and couldn’t guarantee I’d stay awake in a rocking chair with her. Needless to say, each day and night is coming with it’s own challenges and blessings. I love the fact that she stops fussing in her cradle (if nothing more than for a brief moment) when I pick her up and tell her that “Mommy’s right here.” I try to sing to her but my emotions are such that I can’t finish a song without crying so most nights I let the cd do the work with me piping in here and there.

Here is a picture I took of her the Monday night while she was propped up on my knees. I was hoping to capture 2 of her expressions that are just adorable. The first one here, is nothing more than a grin while sleeping. I’ve yet to capture a smile that she “meant” to do. Hopefully, I’ll see it any day now.

This expression, I call “Popeye.” Her auntie labeled it as such when she first did it.

Well. I’ve gotta get something for lunch before she wakes up again. So I’m off….

Last night after talking with Tia, I decided we would try to attempt to give Ruthie a bottle. She will have to start taking them when I go back to work and Joel will be able to help me a little this way. I never in a million years thought it would be difficult. After all, most babies these days are bottle fed. I’ve never seen a breast fed baby transition to a bottle though and that is where my disillusionment started.

Our schedule was a bit off last night and I don’t quite understand why. I noticed that it was getting close to nursing time so I had Joel pull out a bottle, wash it, and start thawing the “oldest” milk. Ruthie was hungry and was ready to eat. Joel couldn’t make the milk thaw any quicker and I started to get antsy, which I’m sure didn’t help matters with Ruthie. He finally sat down to give her the bottle.

She didn’t like it, would be putting it mildly. I sat by and watched and my husband tried to get her take it, teasing every part of her little mouth and then trying to get her to calm down. I called Tia to get a bit of advice. Try again later, was music to my ears and yet frustrating at the same time. I was somewhat glad that my baby didn’t want a substitute and yet frustrated because I know that ultimately she will need to take a bottle and I wanted Joel to be able bond with her during feeding time as well. We decided to stop and try another time. I calmed her down and nursed her to sleep.

Last night was a great night in the sleep department. I managed to get about 7 1/2 hours from 11 PM - 8:30AM. We got up only twice and the crying fits before bedtime didn’t happen. Today she stayed up from 8:30 until 12 noon so I’m hoping that tonight will be another good night. Trying to keep her awake wasn’t an issue today. Trying to get her to take a nap so I could get a bite to eat was.

These were taken this morning during said wake time. I love the faces she makes.

Well. I’ve got a few other things to get done before she wakes up again. More pics will hopefully be up soon.

Today was my actual due date. It’s weird for me to think that I could have been pregnant these past 13 days and not have Ruthie yet. Though it didn’t go according to my plan, I relinquished that as soon as my water broke and Joel and I prayed. Not much has gone according to how I thought it would since we’ve been home but I can tell you this much, we’ve had some really sweet moments that I wouldn’t trade for the world.

We’ve finally gotten on some sort of schedule. We nurse about every 2 1/2 hours to 3 and she sleeps in the cradle wonderfully. I’m trying to break us both of an afternoon nap where she sleeps on my chest but I think we’ll manage to do that this week.

Nursing started out to be really difficult but it is getting easier. My engorgement has passed and she is learning to latch on rather well. She still has a side preference but doesn’t ignore the other like she did. Joel is eager for me to start bottle feeding her so he can participate. I initially said that I would wait a full 2 weeks but seeing that she is just getting the hang of it, I think I may wait until 3 have passed. I would love the help and I know that he would benefit from the bonding time with her but I don’t want to risk any potential nipple confusion.

We’ve had wonderful friends bring meals by this week and Sunday School will continue it through the next two weeks. Meals have been a god send as trying to cook in between naps and my own weariness was interesting for a few days after family left and before a routine was established.

Each day I make the bed, get dressed in the only thing that fits right now, pull my hair back, and get a full face of make up on my face. This way my day is started on the right foot and I’m not ashamed of my house or myself should anyone stop by. I learned during my accident recovery that making yourself look nice each day really helps mentally. So thus, it is time well spent for me. I managed to wipe down the bathrooms today and I’ll most likely let Joel vacuum when he gets home.

Saturday, Joel’s mom stopped by and babysat so we could go out for lunch and run some errands. Getting outside the house felt really good though leaving my baby behind was difficult and we both found it weird. I knew she was in very capable hands, but she wasn’t in mine or within my reach for the first time in her life. No tears were shed but Joel and I both found it awkward and by the end of a few errands, I was antsy to return home. Next Saturday, Sunday School has a social planned at the bowling alley that we might go to if Joel’s mom can come back up again. We’ll see how it goes.

Her nursery is near completion now. We hung the curtains last night and the Monet that Auntie painted has been hung. Things that were sitting on the floor have found a home, if nothing more than temporary until we get the next piece of furniture. The tie back hook to the curtain still needs to be hung but other than that, it is complete. Ruthie and I rock at night in there and we try to do diaper duty and nursing as to not bother daddy too much. I’m very pleased with how the room has turned out. When it is all complete, I’ll try to get a picture posted.

Well, I know this has been all over the map. My mind doesn’t stay in one place for long these days. I think sleep deprivation does that to you. I’ll try to write more as things solidify a little more.