Millie's Birth Story

For someone that doesn't have paid maternity leave, the date of delivery may be important.  

For me, it was important.  I was only taking off 6 weeks from the school year and wanted to have more time off from my summer. I tried everything possible, other than an IV of Pitocin, to go into labor starting at 37 weeks.  I was scheduled to be induced on July 29th, but I wanted to go into labor myself to try and avoid Pitocin.  On July 24th, my mom and dad went to northern Louisiana and when I knew they would definitely make it back in time, I downed some castor oil with some orange juice  It was my last ditch effort.   I was 38 weeks pregnant and enjoying my pregnancy, but I wanted Millie to be at least 8 weeks upon entering the daycare.  This was my last shot.  

It worked!  I chugged it at 10pm and arrived at the hospital at 4:30am with contractions 4-5 minutes apart.  I wanted to labor more at home, but Eric was a little unnecessarily nervous about that.  He sure didn't want to deliver a baby.  We headed to the hospital.  I was still the same as my doctor's appt, 2cm when we arrived.  

I had to stay in the observation room alone for 2 hours.  This was the time I was grateful for a phone to entertain me.  Because we had all our children with us, Eric had to stay with them in the waiting room.   We decided to keep my labor a secret only because I didn't want people to start heading our way and then get sent home.  

At my 6:30 check, I was 4 cm.  Woohoo!  We headed upstairs.  I had chosen Brittany and my mom to be present for the delivery, so I called them first.  Brittany actually got news before anyone else.  I had texted her just to see what she was doing.  She was about to go get her oil changed.  Eric and I decided we better go ahead and tell her so she wasn't stuck without a car if things progressed quickly.  I then waited for the nurse to say, "You're going upstairs," before calling my mom.  Someone wasn't too happy that we didn't call at 4:30am.

We then had a good ole time in the labor room for many hours.

Oh, I forgot to mention I didn't tell anyone that I was planning on having a natural birth.  Surprise!  

I have trouble getting my bladder to wake up after anesthesia.  I had to go home with a catheter after my last surgery.  I thought giving birth without anesthesia would better may chances of having a wide-eyed and bushy tailed bladder.  

How did I prepare for this first time, no epidural birth?

I read birth stories.  I thought about watching a two hour Bradley Method video.  I texted a friend that was a doula.  She didn't reply.  I listened to Bill Cosby's breathing technique for his wife's birth.  I messaged with a cousin that had done it.

That is it.  My dad was a little concerned that I wasn't as prepared as he expected.  

I did have a husband that told me I couldn't do it.

  I think that was preparation/motivation enough to convince me I could.  

Here we are enjoying labor.

You may not notice, but I'm bouncing on a ball. I also did squats.  After doing some squats through a contraction, Eric said, "Are you even having contractions."  I promise if he would have been closer to me, they would have had to call the doctor for him. 

Walking was helpful for me.  I also thought biting Eric on the arm was a good way to get through a contraction.  I was right.  My OB offered to get me a leather belt or bullet.

Getting into the tub was helpful as well. At 8 centimeters I jokingly said, "I bet its too late for the epidural."  No one thought I was joking considering I wasn't in a joking mood, so the nurse told Eric she had to let me know an epidural was possible because I asked. No worries.  I declined because I knew I just had to be close. I totally didn't believe the nurse when she told me I was getting close.  While pushing I didn't believe them when she said she was almost out.  I looked at Brittany and said, "Is she really almost out?" 

I'm not going to say that it was easy.  Even looking back on it,
 I still remember the pain.  I do smile thinking about the fact that I did it.  It is a great accomplishment to me.  It surely helps to push the baby out faster because you want it OUT.
As for my bladder, I did have to be cathed once, but that was it.

The doctor said, "It's a girl!"
We all cheered.  She was perfect.
Millie weighed 7lbs and 0 ounces.  That was exactly what I gained.  The doctor fussed at me for that.  He didn't say a word about it while I was pregnant.  I guess since I was so healthy and having a great pregnancy, he never thought to check my starting weight.
We called in her sisters first.  They were all happy.  Lydda did announce that she wanted a boy and could not remember her name all day, but she was still happy.

The girls announced our news to the rest of the family upon entering the room.
It was such a wonderful day.  

They were enamored and in love.

We went home on day three.

We had to return the next day for jaundice.  That was a three day stay.  

Hear no evil, See no evil. Speak no evil.

It took her a long time to get over the jaundice.

She still struggled the next two weeks.

Now we know it was because she wasn't eating enough from me to poop it out. 

Millie has a tied tongue and lip.  We are in speech therapy right not to help her suck better.

She has a laser procedure scheduled in two weeks to fix her ties.  

I am pumping like crazy.  All I want for Christmas is a successfully nursing Millie.

At three and a half months, Millie has finally hit ten pounds.
Here are some sweet pictures of our newest joy.

Evergreen

Emogene comes home from school and comes to me very concerned, "Mommy, some of the kids are calling me Evergreen.  High school boys are now doing it.  I don't know what it means, but I think it is bad."

I was a bit concerned as well.  My girls tend to not go with the flow like other students.  As Christians we are to stand apart from others and visibly be different, but it saddens me when the girls are teased for being different.  I continue to encourage them and tell them to be different.

Well, I wanted to get to the bottom of "Evergreen's" problem.  I went to the trusty Urban dictionary.  Although it did actually have a few meaning for it, none of them seemed to fit Emogene.  She wasn't carrying around lots of money or walking around with the munchies and bloodshot eyes (I checked). 

It was puzzling Eric and I, and I was getting worried that kids had an inside joke about her.

I went to another teacher at school that has a high school aged child on Emogene's volleyball team. When I asked, she started to giggle.  Uh oh!  Well, I was giggling after she explained.  

Apparently one of the high school boys that frequents the volleyball games thought we were cheering for "Evergreen."  He thought that was her name.  His friends asked him why he was calling Emogene by that name and he said, "Isn't that her name?"  They all got a giggle out of it and they are teasing him any time they call Emogene "Evergreen."  You better bet Eric and I call her that from time to time too.