The Scarborough Family: July 2009

I can't believe how time flies! Here are some pictures of our last couple weeks. Sydnee's growing so fast and changing so much. At her 2 week check up (really almost 3 weeks old) she was 8 lbs 3 oz - gained all her birth weight back plus a pound! I weighed her at a mommy and me class last week Wednesday and she was 9lbs 8 oz with her diaper and clothes on... wonder how much they weigh??

Everyday is a new adventure over at the Scarborough house. Sydnee has a general pattern, but something throws a hitch in it. Last night was terrible- she napped thru 8pm fussy time and instead was up all night. We decided fussy time is necessary to our sleep a few hours later so we'll deal with the crying for a little while to get some extra ZZZ at night! The two nights before that she had a little bit of the fussies, took a nice calming bath and then slept 5 hours!!! We're going for that schedule again!!

Since Sidney went back to work, I've been 100% occupied with little Miss and catching up on naps. Sometimes I get to fit in a morning jog - essential to get back on the exercise wagon and prepare for that half marathon in October. The house looks like to tornado hit it, oh well. It's hard to ever get on the computer so this is a big deal that I get to post today! =) Big brother Jaelen is such a great brother - see his smiling picture below? I don't know how moms do a newborn plus one in diapers. With Jae I just tell him I'm taking a nap with the baby and he self-occupies with the TV, Wii or plays in his room. SOOO nice.

I love being a mommy!

On Saturday morning (June 27) I woke up around 4am with mild contractions. "No big deal," I thought. There had been several mornings recently where I would wake up and have mild contractions about 15 minutes apart for a couple hours and then they would just disappear after I ate or fell back asleep. False labor - always a disappointment.

This morning was different, though. I had a strange "this is it" feeling. There was no need to wake Sid so I just went downstairs and fixed myself a bowl of cereal and popped on the tube. (In case anyone wants to know what's on at 4 am on a Saturday morning, the answer is nothing - I watched Family Matters and Fresh Prince reruns.)

When the contractions were still coming every 15 minutes at 7 am, I thought I would go tell Sid, but he came downstairs looking concerned. He asked me, "What's going on." To which I replied, "How would you feel about having a baby today?"

If you live in Northern California area, then you will remember June 27 was a scorcher. It was a blessing and a curse to be laboring on the hottest day of the year so far - a blessing because we could guiltlessly stay inside with the air conditioning blasting all day, a curse because we couldn't go for a walk like we hoped to. We sure tried, but we cut it short when we broke into a vicious sweat at 10am after walking for only 10 minutes.

Labor lingered for hours and we passed the time watching TV, talking and playing cards. I baked the baby a birthday cake, too. Contractions were slow to gain speed. I think there were 10 minutes apart for the better part of the afternoon. Around 5 o'clock, they became more painful and closer together. I started having back labor because the baby was posterior (facing forward). We tried all the techniques from childbirth class to turn the baby - on all fours, climbing stairs, leaning over a chair - but no relief. At 6 pm, Sidney called the hospital because the contractions were 5 minutes apart for an hour and were becoming increasingly painful. We packed up and headed out the door.

One funny part of this story is that we decided I needed to eat some protein before we went to the hospital. We decided to hit the Jack in the Box drive thru so I could get a plain chicken sandwich. The drive thru lady asked us to pull around to the side because our food would be a "few more minutes." Mind you, I just finished having a contraction as we pulled up to the window. Sid told the lady: "This really isn't a good time for that," and I shouted "I'm in labor!!" The poor girl in the window looked a little surprised and there was a lot of commotion going on after the window closed back up.

By the time we reached the Kaiser Roseville Women's and Children's center the contractions had sped up to every 4 minutes. But, after all the admissions work and getting checked out, I was only dilated 2cm and 90% effaced. We were asked to come back in a couple hours, but warned labor could stop or that we might not be back until tomorrow. Apparently the average time is 1cm dilation per hour after things get going. We left a little disappointed and returned home around 9 o'clock. Sid drew me a warm bath at the midwife's advice to help with my back pain which had become pretty severe by this time (or at least I thought it was severe at the time). Contractions sped up quickly and by 10:30pm, Sid was calling Labor & Delivery again to report my contractions were now 3 minutes apart and much stronger. We packed up and headed back to the hospital again.

The ride to the hospital was simply awful to say the least. My contractions sped up again to 2 minutes apart and I think sitting might be the worst possible position for back labor. I have to admit when I was wheeled back into the triage area for observation, I was a wreck and was not coping well. Sidney was an amazing coach in the car, but we were separated while he parked and I was put in a room for observation. I was instructed to sit (which I disobeyed and layed the bed down so I could lay on my side) and it seemed like an eternity before anyone came to see me. I had probably 5-10 contractions all alone. I lost it and started sobbing uncontrollably. (This is making me cry thinking about it now!) I cried out for Sidney, but nobody came. It was like all my strength left when he was away. The most horrible nurse came in to finally hook me onto a monitor and I asked for my husband and was told no. I tried to explain that I had already been here and asked all the confidential domestic violence questions (the reason they separate the laboring woman for a short time), but she was so mean to me and told me I'll just have to wait. I yelled at her for being rude and she stormed out of the room without hooking me up to anything. Sidney rushed in and I felt so much better. This experience is exactly what I feared about birthing in the hospital.

Our midwife, Lynette, and another nurse, David, came in to check on me and get me roomed. We were so excited to hear that I had dilated to 6 cm in the 3 hours since our last exam. David was an amazing nurse. Apparently he has 11 kids that were all born naturally without the use of medications, so he knew his stuff. I had to sit on the monitors for a little while, but then David suggested a shower or a walk to get things moving along. He showed Sidney exactly where to push on my back to ease the pains of the back labor.

Laboring was more difficult than I imagined. Back labor was incredibly painful and took so much energy from me. I couldn't bend over on all fours because my hips were hurting so badly. When I tried to stand, the contractions became more severe and my knees buckled. Sidney had to hold me up. All I wanted to do was lay down on my side (which doesn't really help turn the baby), but it helped me to rest. Mom and Sid took turns giving counterpressure on my back as the contractions progressed along. I remember telling Sid I couldn't do it and he told me I was, but I could see pain in his eyes, too. It was a very difficult moment for both of us I think.

I have no idea what time it was, but I remember someone saying I was 8 cm. I felt better knowing we were almost done and I got a second wind and decided to sit up to finish laboring. I think at that point I had given up on turning the baby, I just wanted it all to be over. David helped Sid and Mom get me into a good wide-legged sitting position to help the baby descend. Not after too long, my water broke... then it broke again and I felt like pushing. (Apparently I had something called a forebag and I actually felt 3 gushes of fluid.) When that last gush of amniotic fluid came out, I felt so much better - a lot of bad pressure was released and good pressure started.

One of the wonderful things about having an unmedicated birth is that you can choose many positions to push in. Because I was still having back pain, we started off raising the bed up and I hung over the top kneeling on the bed, my big butt was in the air for God and everybody to see. I actually hadn't been given the green light to push yet, but this position helped a little with the back labor. The midwife said I was only at 9 cm, but I was able to give a couple grunty pushes and she pushed my cervix over the baby's head so I could start working.

Pushing felt good, but it was stressful. I could hear the monitors going off and I was given an oxygen mask. I knew this meant the baby's heartrate was dropping too much. Sidney kept reminding me to breathe deeply for our baby and not hold my breath or pant, but it was so hard. I heard David calmly tell Lynette the baby's heartrate decellerated to 80 bpm but it recovered completely. Lynette said in a very serious voice, "Stacey, I need you to push this baby out right now." I don't think I was scared, I think I just knew that I needed to act fast for everyone's sake. I pushed so stinking hard - even when I wasn't having a contraction - to get our baby out.

After 24 hours of labor and less than 30 minutes of pushing, I looked down and saw a beautiful face emerging. I pushed our baby out unmedicated and posterior, and she was facing me, "sunnyside up," as if to say, "Hi Momma." One more good contraction and push and someone shouted, "It's a girl." I don't think I have ever seen Sidney so excited or happy. He was high-fiving people and even told me, "Thank You" as if I had something to do with choosing her gender.

If you don't believe in love at first sight, push out a baby. It was painful and difficult, but I would endure it a million times for God's gift to Sidney and me. She is just beautiful.