July 21st 2011

On Tuesday July 19th my water broke, but I didn't have contractions that followed so I just stayed at home and waited/hoped they would start soon. The following morning I had an appointment with my doctor. They did a test to make sure it was my water that had broken and sure enough it was. Of course my doctor wanted me to go to the hospital asap and get started on Pitocin so that I'd start having contractions. This idea did not fit very well into my natural birth plan so I didn't go to the hospital exactly when he told me to. I tried to do some things at home to get contractions going naturally, but they didn't work. So at about 1:30 we finally decided to go to the hospital. (The only reason I even went in then is because I had tested positive for Group B Strep and had to have antibiotics before baby came. If  I hadn't of had that I would of given my body the whole 48 hours to start contractions. Instead I was only able to give it 24 hours.) Of course when we got to the hospital we had to sit around and wait forever. I wanted one of the rooms with a shower in it so we had to wait for them to clean it. Once I got checked into my room they started the antibiotics. I still hadn't started the Pitocin yet, because I really wanted to do this all natural. However, by the time 6 pm came around we decided to start the Pitocin. Shortly after that, contractions started. 

This is after labor start. Obviously this is not during hardcore active labor.

 

Labor with Pitocin was hard, but I was able to do it without any type of pain medication. So that is something I am very happy about. I definitely think that next time I have a baby it will be little bit easier, not much, but a little, because Pitocin contractions are much harder and more painful compared to natural ones.

Our Doula was a huge help during all of this. I am for sure going to have a Doula for all of my pregnancies and I highly recommend having one.

I also think that having just Devin and our Doula there for the birth was the best idea too. I'm most likely going to do all my births that way. 

Here is Teagan, fresh out of the womb. She was covered in tons of vernix still. 

After Teagan and I did some skin to skin bonding for about an hour daddy got his turn to hold her. 

 This is baby and I later in the day, after I'd recovered slightly from the excitement of the night and early morning.

Baby Teagan in the hospital. She weighed 6 lbs. 5 oz at birth and was about 18 in. long, born at 5:12 am.

I think she turned out pretty darn good. Of course I'm just a little biased, but look at that face. How can you say she isn't just the cutest thing ever. 

 Luckily after Teagan was born we only had to stay in the hospital for 24hrs. They said that sometimes they like to watch babies for 24 to 48hrs. when the mother tested positive for Group B Strep, but we lucked out. 

All in all I'm very happy with the way things went. They didn't go as planned, but I always knew that was a possibility. I definitely want to try to get a midwife for my next birth though, but we'll see how things go once we get to that point. 

This next part might be a little gross to some of you or just really weird. 

We decided to keep my placenta so that our Doula could encapsulate it and turn it into pills. These pills help with the baby blues, postpartum depression, PMS, and menopause. So of course I'm gonna do them.

We also did a print with the placenta. It's called the tree of life and it's made with the fetal side of the placenta. The fetal side is kinda purple and bluish and has tons of huge veins on it. It's really cool looking. 

Here is a pic. of our Doula making the print of the tree of life. 

Here is the finished product. It's pretty nifty. 

Here is a website about placenta encapsulation. 

 http://placentabenefits.info/

One more picture for good measure. 

I'm a lil different

I'm actually really excited to go through this

 whole labor and birth process.

 I'm excited to really see

 what it's like without

 any drugs or unnecessary

 medical intervention. 

A woman's body was made for this. 

How can you not be excited to 

experience it?

Also... I'm incredibly lucky to have
a husband who fully
supports me in all of the
decisions I've been making. 

1cm

That's how much I'm dialated, but that doesn't really mean that much. It could still be weeks before she comes or it could happen tonight. Who knows? It is kinda cool to know that my body really is preparing for the delivery though. This whole process is really quite amazing. It's so crazy to think/know that my body has made an entire little human who is healthy (as far as we know) and about ready to come out and meet the world. 

The more I learn about pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding the more I'm amazed at what our bodies are capable of.

 I'm also amazed at how little so many women know about childbirth and how often women trust a doctor instead of their own body. 

I'm incredibly excited to meet our baby girl and so is Devin plus tons of other people. 

We get to order her cloth diapers on the 16th or soon there after. I can't wait to try them out.

 She is going to have such a cute bum. 

We have also been so blessed with great friends and family who are willing to help us buy the things that we need for baby. A family that Devin became very close to while out on his mission helped us out by sending us money to buy the cloth diapers plus they bought a few other gifts for baby. That has helped us out a ton. My mom helped us out by buying the car seat and stroller, which are some very important things to have for a baby. Without this help I don't think we'd feel as ready as we do. So we are very grateful. We still don't have a diaper bag, but hopefully we'll have the money for that soon. Other than that we have everything that we absolutely need for baby. Big relief. 

Tonight we are going to have yummy pizza for dinner, cause the office did so well on their sales yesterday. 

Yay for not having to cook dinner!

4th of July

Yesterday was the 4th of July and we had a fantastic time. To start the day off we went out to breakfast at IHOP and it was delicious. I definitely didn't have the most nutritious of things to eat (a funnel cake with strawberries and whipped cream on top), but it sure was good. After breakfast Devin and I came home so I could shower and actually get ready for the day. Then we went and ran a few errands/"rented" a chair and pillow from Wal-Mart. (Gotta love a great return policy) We went down to the Columbia River around 6ish or 7ish, I don't remember the exact time. After we arrived we met up with one of the other couples to set up our stuff then we went exploring about the park, which is HUGE. It was not an easy walk for me and my pregnant body, but it was fun anyways.                                                                 

Some of the things we saw at the park were a Bearded Dragon, which was really cool. He was huge and had beautiful coloring. I still really want one.  We also saw an artifact from the World Trade Centers. It was pretty nifty. I'm still not sure what it was doing clear across the country, but it was still cool to see. Then we saw a little bit of a concert. I don't remember the band's name, but they sounded pretty good.


There were a ton of boats on the river the entire time we were there. Devin and I decided that we need to buy a boat and make WA our 4th of July get away spot every year. It'd be fun, but not likely to happen any time soon.                                            

The boat the on the right is the one they shot all the fireworks off of. 

There we are, just waitin for the fireworks to start. Notice Devin's green shirt? It's one of the ones he got for his birthday and I picked it out. :) I really like it and so does he. 

   

     

There's the fireworks. They were pretty sweet. I'm very glad we went. Definitely the best 4th of July I've had. It's also the last 4th of July we will every have with out baby. Kind of a strange though, not gonna lie. 

And here's the belly, with a coke (don't worry, I rarely drink caffeinated beverages) and a glow stick. Baby is just about done baking and ready to come. Excited much? Yes!

                                             

July

It's the 4th of July weekend. 

They do fireworks over the Columbia River. 

It's suppose to be awesome and we are going. 

I'M EXCITED!