Mo's version of the birth story (finally!)

We arrived home from the hospital today. On Friday, Sept 12, our due date, on the way out to a celebratory 'date nite' at Mandola's, my water broke, conveniently in the parking lot just as we were getting out of the car. We hopped back in, me sitting on a sheet normally reserved to keep our car clean of dog hair, missing our last meal as a couple, but looking forward (and quite giddy) to the adventure on its way. Phoned my folks, who had to cancel their flight they had made just a half hour ago to come out on Tuesday, to fly into Austin arriving at 2pm Saturday, with strict orders not to have their first grandbaby before then.

After some last minute packing at home (we were anticipating having early labor to do some of that!) and stuffing our face with leftover pizza (with jalapenos - not the best 'last meal'), we headed to NAMC, birthing ball in hand and no contractions in sight. We checked in, and were surprised to find a very not-busy L&D despite the low pressure (glad to hear we at least had company elsewhere!). We settled in, and started napping to await contractions. Around 2am they started, and I was able to work through them fairly well, though I have to say I went through several of those hospital 'barf bags' - it seems my stomach was refusing to keep anything down, even ice chips. On to an anti-nausea in an IV, which was quite welcome. Sometime that morning (I had by then lost track of time, but Kyle may be able to fill in specifics, perhaps 8 or 9am) I asked to have my progress checked, and was quite surprised to find out that we had made it all the way to 100%, 9.5cm, and +1 without any anesthesia. I felt completely empowered, like I could do anything. Kyle had been such a great guide offering up many different positions and pain coping techniques. My midwife had brought in her rice cooker with a heated sock, which came in quite handy, and I have to say lavender scented washcloths are pretty awesome.

My midwife gave me the go ahead then to push when I felt the urge, which I started to soon after. After three hours of pushing, with every position known to man tried out, and still no progress on the station, we had a conference with the midwife. Given that there had been no progress made, the midwife suggested going for an epidural, and a small dose of pitocin to perhaps encourage some stronger contractions to help in pushing this hold-out out. We agreed that it was time to try something else, and shortly thereafter (I have to say that while I now very much appreciate anesthesiologists, this one didn't necessarily have the best bed-side manner) we waited an hour for the pit to kick in, and pushed for another 1/2 hour or so. Everything remained unchanged, and I was slowly losing steam, as were my contractions, which were coming further and further apart. The midwife called in the OB on call. She was great, which I very much appreciated. Given all of the progress we had made beforehand, she had me push for another 1/2 hour or so, originally encouraged by the strength of the pushes still in me. However, our little one remained at +1, sunny-side up, with an identifiable cone head and one ear, though not much else able to be identified. We all decided a Cesarean delivery was best at this point, and proceeded along this course.

At this point I have to say that I am so thankful for our birthing classes. We felt we had gone through the labor so far that we had wanted, and were quite comfortable with the epidural and Cesarean at this point. We were able to accept this as our birth, and all of the L&D staff were so supportive of what we had already gone through.

After all of this work, it seems that our little one had had enough - while she did take her first breath on her own, she needed resuscitation and was well taken care of by the NICU team. She was originally to be kept in the NICU for a day, to receive IV fluids and be kept for observation, but after only an hour she was already screaming and rooting around (so I'm told) quite dramatically looking for the breast, so we were able to come together as a family shortly after the birth. After receiving the report from the OB, it turns out that the sunny-side up nature had created a retraction ring/Bandl ring in my uterus, which was preventing a vaginal birth.

It was a long stay in the hospital, and I have to say that Cesareans are interesting things to recover from (which is of course ongoing), but we are happy to now be home with our girl (and her conehead, which is finally dissipating ;). Thanks to everyone for their support - we'll definitely keep you updated!

Happy Birthday Zoe Frances Voosen

by Kyle Voosen, Guest blogger and new father

Mo and I are excited to welcome our little Zoe to the world!

The Vitals

Zoe was born at 4:10 PM on September 13, 2008.  She weighed 8 lb. 1.5 oz. and was 20.75 inches tall.  

The Story

Maureen will be able to provide a blow by blow synopsis a little later.  Here is my attempt at the Cliff's Notes version:

Zoe did not come into the world without a fight.  Maureen was making it look easy when she went from 3 cm to 9.5 cm in a matter of a few hours.  We hit a stumbling block when pushing Zoe out.  After Maureen pushed hard for 3 straight hours (with no anesthesia), our midwife decided that the baby was stuck and ordered a Caesarean birth.

Zoe had been wedged in Mo's pelvis for 12 hours, and the stress took its toll upon delivery. It took a few terrifying minutes to resuscitate her, but soon enough Zoe was screaming her head off as we all breathed a collective sigh of relief.  Here is a picture of her right after the birth in the NICU.

Zoe...screaming

Zoe quickly turned on the charm and is now a perfectly healthy and happy newborn.  On top of that I've done some research, and I can now objectively say that Zoe is the most beautiful baby ever born.

cute

The Supporting Cast

By the time Zoe was born, both sets of new grandparents were ready and waiting to welcome her into the world.  We are totally grateful they were able to be here to share in the experience (and diaper change duty).

More new to come.  For now, I'd better get back to the hospital.

Here comes....

Water broke in the parking lot of Mandola's! We're headed to the hospital, and will keep people posted as we can.  

p.s. Afterwards, if you want to visit, please call the hospital ahead of time - we don't know if we'll be up for visitors or not!  Thanks for everything guys - we're looking forward to this new adventure!

Week 39!!!

So, week 39 or day 273 or T - 7 days until the due date!  Though, it could be another 2 weeks after that, but I'm trying not to think about that one.  Here are some nice clean photos of Sputnik's room, all prepared and ready to go.

 We've got the bassinet in our room, and the car seat and stroller are ready to go into the car.  Lola and Sophie can't figure out what is going on for the life of them.  It's started to cool down a bit, so I'm thinking some nice long walks in the morning are sounding pretty good right about now.  There was some small progress at our last visit on Tuesday, and we'll certainly keep everyone posted if there is anymore.  The next appointment is the 9th!

Slings

So, this past week I went with Jill to local awesome craft shop Craftorama for an evening of sling making.  She was making one as a gift for another pregnant friend, and I was making one for us and Sputnik.  If I wear it just right now, it almost looks like there's already a kid in it!

I've been pregnant for 262 days in a row!

Man, am I tired.  It's amazing.  I'm moving slower, definitely waddling, and can't sleep.  Let me address that last one in particular - I think it's some kind of cruel joke.  I understand once the kiddo comes I won't be getting any sleep, but now it's just cruel & unusual punishment.  No way to get comfortable, no matter how many pillows I have around me.  And poor Kyle has been suffering through some nasty snoring of mine.   And then there's the whole needing to go to the bathroom every other hour thing.  Wow.  Otherwise, though, I think I'm doing pretty well.  The swelling thing is annoying, but I'm assuming (hopefully not foolishly) that it will go away a couple of weeks post-birthday.  It's spread a bit to my hands, making gripping things hard, but ah well.  Such is life. 

Meanwhile, folks continue to be quite thoughtful as Sputnik's birthday approaches.  We had a shower this past weekend with Kyle's work crowd (hosted by the Buchanans - thank you!), and had a great time.  More like a big dinner party instead of a shower with 'guess the baby food/poop' games ;)  I think all the guys in attendance certainly appreciated the change from the norm.  And, gifts keep on magically appearing on our door step!  Speaking of ... has anyone sent a car seat base recently?  The box arrived, but there's no indication on it who sent it.  We are (believe it or not) gradually getting around to thank you notes, and we'd love to send one to you, whoever you are!  Please let us know!

Here's the updated photo:

My appointments have begun their weekly rounds, and Kyle's now met all of the midwives in the office.  The hospital started allowing them to deliver the first week of August (yeah!  they had previously all been practicing outside of Austin), so the whole office is quite excited.  And, this has allowed the laboring women much more attention at the hospital by a midwife or doctor, which is nice.  

That's it for now - Happy Monday everyone!

Ankle-ometer update

This is after a day of working (and I didn't even go out to the site - when that happens they're really disgusting).


Not looking so pretty. I think they vary between looking like elephant hooves and hobbit feet (minus the hair, thank heavens).
I'm definitely looking forward to getting my feet back.

Old Wives Tales weigh in

OK, we're definitely in the home stretch now. So, to help you along (ha!) with your guess of girl or boy, I've sampled a few old wives tales from various internet sites:

Carrying high or low
Supposedly, low is boy and high is girl.
You decide with these most recent photos.



Heartbeats
If you're having a girl, then the fetal heart rate will be above 140. A boy will have a heart rate below 140. However, that pesky science has reared its little head again to say that this is complete fiction. A baby's heart rate is not affected by its sex until it is born, when a girl's heart rate will increase considerably compared with boys during labor.
At our update appointments the heart rate has ranged from high 140s to 160.

Craving Something…Sweet?
If you can't get enough chocolate, you could be having a girl. Salty cravings are a result of the little boy.
Ummm, I always crave chocolate...I think I've had it in one form or another every day.

Pendant
Hold a pendant over your hand. If the necklace swings back and forth, you're having a boy. If it is more of a circular motion, then it's a girl.
When Kyle did it, over my left palm, it couldn't make up it's mind. Over my right palm it swung back and forth.

Chinese Birth Chart
Found here, it said we're having a boy.

Random Wives Tale Quiz
Found here, it says we're having a girl.

Lactation Nation

Great article courtesy of Texas Monthly

no more circles

Seriously, I think we ended up painting about 100 little orange circles, and 3 or 4 coats on each, so really over 300 of them. That's not happening again! But, the whole thing is pretty cool - we're happy with the result. And now we finally have access to the drawers to put stuff away.

1 - Before, with everything pushed to the center;

2 - painting sky and ground planes;

3 - painting the 'cells'
4 - finally some tree stumps ('stem' cells)






5 - fruit!
After all of that, we were able to put together the crib tonite after one of our birthing classes. Thanks to Preston, Robin, and Emma for letting us borrow it ;) And no, the sheets aren't washed yet, but I had to put them on for the photo. Now this just gives me a great excuse for getting new coordinating sheets for the bed!

In the home stretch now...

So, officially in my third trimester sometime last week. I've started visiting the Dr's office every 2 weeks now, and all seems to be going well except for the usual swelling complaint. My feet used to fit in size 7.5/8 shoes, and now it's 8.5/9, and wide, and oh are they ugly. Ah well. I took the 1 hr glucose test last week, and should find out this week if I 'passed.' Hopefully so, cause I love my carbs. Nowadays people definitely don't think I've just gained a bit of a beer gut, and make comments. And when I visit our stuff under construction, I certainly have a few extra eyes making sure I don't trip over anything (no need to worry - I'm super cautious, and it's not that tough of a job site). There's this weird similarity between my hard hat and my belly, especially when I'm wearing a white shirt. We'll see if I can get a photo sometime. Meanwhile, here are some updated post-Yoga photos. Looking back at the last one, it's surprising how big everyone's gotten!

(yes, I can still see my feet!)

edit - One of my friends put a poll on her blog to guess the sex of the baby (what a great idea!), and I've followed suit!

3 weeks!

So, I received an email from some college friends today, that they had their little one just this last Wednesday - 3 weeks early! Yipes! It definitely shocked me. Sputnik is due in the middle of September, and since the whole due date thing is really not an exact science (plus or minus 2 weeks either side) I've pretty much been assuming and saying that the baby is due in just generic ol' 'September.' But the thought of August sort of freaked me out today - that's seems so much sooner! A couple of weekends ago I wrote out all of the stuff to try to do before the kiddo comes, and it's a lot. Ah well. My friends said the infant car seat had just arrived that morning, so really, all was well. It was a pretty short labor for a 1st child (only 7 hours) and the mother was able to have the natural birth she wanted. So, congrats to them and the now 3-person large family!

week 23/24-ish update

So, just an update for those of you who can't see me up close and personal. I've tried to capture my feet in the photo, but its really not the same as in real life. I took this when for some reason my left foot de-swelled (notice the veins and ankle!) while my right remained swollen. It's more dramatic in person when you can atually press a thumb into the flesh and the imprint just sort of stays there for a while. Most of the women in my prenatal yoga classes have started having swollen extremity issues, as Austin's already had 3 or 4 100-degree or plus days - looks like I'm in for a hot summer. I now wear flip-flops, or recently purchased shoes that are a 1/2 size larger than normal. All of my other shoes I've put away with most of my non-pregnancy clothes. Meanwhile, here's a shot of the growing orb that is the kiddo (note that it was taken after a yoga class, so I'm not looking all that great. We went to a wedding this past Saturday, and I really should have taken a photo then, all dolled up. Would've been so much better....). We're sort of referring to the bump as 'Sputnik.' We found out that it means traveller within a traveller, and thought that seemed rather appropriate. The kid kicks non-stop, which is reassuring. And this past weekend we actually saw it moving from the outside - my skin visibly bumped from a kick or a punch.

the ankle-ometer

Time to start keeping track - this is what my ankles looked like 5 weeks ago:



Now we have to see how they hold up over the next 20 or so weeks...
!!!!