Happy Halloween

Here's Mason in his Superman Halloween pajamas. We had borrowed an adorable dragon costume for him to wear, but he wouldn't have anything to do with it. Pajamas were the closest thing to a costume I could get him to wear. It did come with a nifty cape though.

Dave took him out for his first trick-or-treating experience in the neighborhood while I stayed to give out candy. After one house, he was ready to come home. He liked playing with all the give-away candy in the bowl though. He also enjoyed his first Kit-Kat bar and first M&Ms (too much I'm afraid).

And not to be left out, here's Lauren in her duck costume. Just ignore that it's actually a bathrobe. Since she wasn't going trick-or-treating, I picked this out of her closet just for the picture.

Two Week Update

We've made it two weeks! Lauren already looks to me like she's gotten bigger, and her belly button stump finally fell off today. She's not really improving on night time sleep yet, and I'm not sure how much longer I can last on 3-4 hours a night. I was hoping to get a nap in today while the kids were asleep, but of course, Mason refused to nap.

For the grandparents, some pictures from the last few days...

Day Two

Today is Day Two as a mommy of two handling everything on my own. I was a little stressed out yesterday despite everything going fine. I got Mason to school on time and picked him up on time. We all ate lunch and had naps. I even did two loads of laundry and made a couple side dishes to go with chicken Dave brought home for dinner. Today is going pretty well so far too. As I write, both kids are in their rooms fast asleep, and I've actually got a few minutes to myself. (I should be napping too, but I expect Lauren to be up any minute.)

What I'm most impressed with is how well Mason is going to sleep. He's been pretty good at bedtime for awhile, but I was really worried about naptime. I usually have to lie down in bed with him until he falls asleep. The whole process could take up to 45 minutes which is pretty much impossible now with a nursing baby. But he's been letting me go without a fuss after I lie down for just a couple minutes. I just have to say something about putting Lauren down to sleep and he pushes me out of bed and says, "Bye, mommy". I think it really helped that my mom put him down for naptime for a few days while she was here instead of me.

In fact, Mason is doing really well with Lauren in the picture. He wants to kiss her all the time and cover her up so she won't be cold. He laughs at all her little noises and always wants to watch when I change her diaper. I haven't seen much jealousy yet. He's a little too rough sometimes, but I think that's just due to being a 2 1/2 year old boy. He hasn't even been phased when I nurse her. I was expecting him to want to nurse too since we nursed for two years and only stopped about 6 months ago, but he's never asked. My plan was to make everything as normal as possible for him, and I guess so far we're doing pretty well.

One Week Old

Baby Lauren is one week old today! We've had a pretty good first week despite the lack of sleep. Lauren is nursing very well, especially since my milk came in last Wednesday. In fact, at her newborn weight check at the doctor's office Friday she was back up to 7lb, 8oz after being down to 7lb, 2oz when we left the hospital. (She was 7lbs, 10oz at birth.) We don't have to go back until her one month check-up.

Dave went back to work Thursday, my parents went back home yesterday, and today I'm left to be a mommy to two on my own for the first time. It was a big accomplishment to get two kids fed and out the door by 8:20 this morning so we could take Mason to school. Of course I didn't get to eat or brush my hair or teeth, but we made it on time. All that on only about 3 hours of interrupted sleep.

Here are a few pictures from the past week...

Lauren's Birthday

Lauren's birthday was quite a memorable day. It was a wonderful experience, and I feel so blessed that we all made it though with no problems. I found that with Mason's birth, I quickly forgot many details, so in effort to hang on to the memories, I jotted down notes from our day.

Monday, October 13 (Columbus Day)
2:15am - Was woken up with pretty hard contractions. Started timing them. After having contractions of varying strength and frequency for a solid two weeks, I wasn't quite sure this was the real thing.
2:45am - Contractions around 6-8 minutes apart. Still had them after drinking a glass of water and moving around. Upset stomach.
3:00am - Contractions too painful too talk through them. Woke up Dave.
3:30am - Finished packing my bag for the hospital
4:00am - Called the midwife's office and started getting ready to head to the hospital. Woke up my parents to tell them we were leaving.
4:22am - Headed to the hospital. Contractions about 5 minutes apart.
4:45am - Admitted to triage room at hospital with head nurse. Was put on monitor for five minutes for initial assessment. Dilated 6cm. Contractions getting a little more painful.
5:15am - Moved to room 11, changed into gown, and settled in.
6:00am - Nurses tried to get IV antibiotics started (for Group Beta Strep). Three different nurses (including the head nurse) tried 4 different times in different places on both arms to find a vein, but it kept getting "blown".
7:00am - Midwife Sage arrives along with my labor and delivery nurse, Angie.
7:05am - Sage checks progress. 7-8cm dilated, 90% effaced
7:10am - Decision made to forgo antibiotics since vein could not be found for IV. Sage says there probably won't be enough time to get at least two rounds in anyway (which would be necessary to not have to test the baby after delivery)
7:30am - Began walking in maternity center halls. Passed by nursery. Never seen so many babies at one time. (Perhaps due to the full moon?)
7:50am - I have some graham crackers and water for breakfast
8:30am - Contractions about 3 minutes apart. During each one, I hold Dave's hand and bury my head in his shoulder. I move between sitting up in bed (with foot of bed lowered), sitting on a birth ball, and walking. Nurse Angie occasionally checks baby's heartbeat during a contraction, but I'm never hooked up to the monitor.
9:00am - Back begins to hurt. Try getting on hands and knees in bed with Dave applying pressure to my lower back
9:04am - Sage checks progress. 9cm dilated
9:10am - I begin light pushing. Sage helps baby's head move past pelvis
9:15am - Start of two contractions which I consider the "transition" phase. (They were pretty painful).
9:25am - After a fairly long resting phase with no contractions, I begin really pushing while sitting up in bed. Nurse Angie and Dave helped hold my legs.
9:51am - Water broke as baby's head was crowning. Stinging and burning sensation very intense now. Dave said I was making loud, guttural groans. I couldn't bear to stop pushing.
10:01am - Lauren Reese is born! As she came out, I reached down and pulled her up to my chest.
10:02am - The baby nurse helped clean her off as she assessed her condition. First APGAR score 9. Lauren poops on my belly.
10:07am - Second APGAR score 9.
10:11am - Sage lets Dave cut the cord after it finally stops pulsing.
10:12am - Begin trying to nurse.
10:19am - Lauren weighed and measured: 7lbs, 10oz. 19in. Placenta delivered.
10:20am - Sage begins stitching up small tear.
10:32am - Lauren nurses like a champ. Nurses for about 50 minutes. She's very alert.
11:30am - My parents and Mason arrive at hospital to meet Lauren
11:40am - Dave changes first poopy diaper
12:52pm - Nurse Angie gives first bath

All in all, it was a wonderful day. Lauren was healthy despite my being GBS positive and not getting any antibiotics. I had the natural birth I was hoping for (no pain medication, no IV, no monitors, no medical intervention, no artificial rupture of membranes). The pain was manageable, and I felt in control the whole time. (It wasn't as bad as with Mason's birth when I was induced with pitocin and my water was broken manually.) And we have a beautiful baby girl to complete our family. We've truly been blessed.

Lauren Reese Roszak

Lauren has arrived! Our precious little girl was born Monday, October 13 at 10:01am. She weighed 7lbs, 10oz and was 19in. I couldn't have asked for a better birth, and I will post an update about our big day later. For now, here are a couple of pictures.

Where Is This Baby?

Another weekly appointment with the midwife today. I'm up to 5 cm now, and good grief, I'm still not officially in labor! The good thing about this is I'm well dilated and active labor should be short (which is just what I need being that I'm doing this without drugs) but the bad thing is that once I finally do go into active labor, I might be too late to get enough antibiotics to protect the baby from infection since I'm GBS+ (see earlier post). My midwife, Tina, said that she'd be shocked if I last more than a few more days. In fact she asked if I'd be interested in just heading over to the hospital now. But rather than risk being induced once I'm there, I opted to go home and wait it out a bit longer after promising I'd head to the hospital as soon as I have any sort of irregular contractions (which is kind of hard to judge since I've been having pretty good contractions for two weeks now.) Tina is going to call the on-call midwife at the hospital to alert them I'd probably be coming in today or tomorrow. I'm hoping she's right!

No Drugs, Are You Crazy?!

That's something I often hear when I mention to someone that I had a pain medication-free birth with Mason, and I'm planning on a natural birth with this baby. (I don't quite consider Mason's birth completely "natural" because I was induced with Pitocin through an IV. To me, a natural birth is one without any medical intervention.)

There are a few reasons I feel strongly about having a natural birth, and none of them are because I want to feel some sense of accomplishment or because I'm a glutton for punishment. It mostly all comes back to wanting the healthiest baby possible.

• Reason 1: I know that all drugs given to the mother are passed to the baby through the placenta. I don't like the idea of my baby getting any sort of drugs in her system, even if it's "safe".
• Reason 2: Epidurals often make newborns groggy and sleepy, and I don't want her to be too sleepy to nurse right away. Statistically, babies who nurse within 30 minutes after birth are calmer, healthier, and take to it better than those that don't. Nursing is very important to me, and I want to do everything I can to make it easier. I was able to do that with Mason, and he was a champion nurser for two years.
• Reason 3: Epidurals often slow down labor and lead to further interventions such as having to use forcepts. Since the mother is basically stuck in bed with no feeling from the waist down, this makes sense to me. I'd rather be able to move around and let gravity help with the process. Plus a shorter labor sound better than a longer labor.
• Reason 4: More mothers on epidurals end up with c-sections that mothers that aren't. I want to avoid a C-section if at all possible. I don't want to have major surgery, with all the risks involved, just before having to take care a newborn. It would also mean a longer recovery, not being able to nurse right away, and that someone else would be the first to hold my baby after she's born.
• Reason 5: Women have been giving birth without drugs for centuries. It's a completely natural process, and if millions of women have been able to do it, then I should be able to too.

I'm by no means knocking any mother's decision to have pain medication during childbirth. Believe me, I've been there, and I specifically remember saying "Now I know why women get the drugs" after about 2.5 hours of the most intense pain of my life during labor with Mason. I fully realize that there are women who just can't do it and know themselves enough to know it's not worth it to even try. Plus, anxiety about the pain alone would be enough to make labor too tough for a lot of people.

So as with Mason, I'm going into this birth with knowledge about natural pain relief options, a supportive husband, a midwife who will help manage pain and labor, a birth plan for the nurses and any backup doctor so that they can help me get through it, and basically with the idea that I'm just not going to give myself a choice about whether drugs are an option. I think all of these things are essential for anyone who wants to have a natural childbirth.

Four Centimeters Down, Six to Go!

I've been having some stronger contractions this week, so at my weekly prenatal appointment today, I decided to have my midwife check to see if I've made any progress. She said I was at a good 4 centimeters and looked like I should be ready to go at any time! That was great to hear. A couple nights ago, my contractions were getting stronger and more regular which made me consider heading to the hospital. However, they stopped after about 3 hours, and I was really disappointed. Today I'm having contractions about every 15 minutes or so, but nothing too strong yet. I'm definitely ready, so I'm hoping things start speeding up soon.