Super Post-Sarah's Birth Story

Sarah Nicole Waters
Arrived February 11, 2010 at 1:51 pm
8 lbs 12 oz
20 inches long

I finally have a few minutes to write down my birth story. Since this is somewhat of a journal for me and I want to remember all the details feel free to skip the long story and just look at the pictures of my cute baby Sarah.

OK. . . I was scheduled to be induced on Friday, February 12 but I was really worried about it. I had such a bad experience being induced when I was pregnant with Savannah and I really didn't want to do that again. But since my due date was February 15 and Will's birthday is February 16 I was very concerned that they would end up having the same birthday. And I was also very tired of being pregnant and the thought of having it planned so we could arrange for the other kids was very appealing.

So, early on Thursday morning (February 11) I was laying in bed trying to decide if I would cancel the induction or go ahead with it. I had pretty much made up my mind to cancel and wait until she was ready to come on her own when at about 6:15 my water broke. I was SO excited!! This is what I had been expecting for a couple weeks already. Now I would not have to be induced and I also would not have to wait anymore! I woke up Robby and told him and we got packed up and headed to the hospital after my mom came up to watch the kids.

We got to the hospital at about 8:30 and got settled in. The doctor came and checked me at about 9:00 and I was 3-4 cm dilated which was an improvement from my appointment on Monday when I was only 2 cm. My contractions were only every 10-15 minutes and were not very strong so the doctor said she would give me an hour and a half to start contracting on my own or else she would start me on Pitocin. We relaxed and walked and waited and when she came to check me again at about 12:30 I was 5-6 cm. My contractions were still not very strong or very regular, but since I was progressing she said it was fine to keep going on my own. She said as she left that she didn't think it would be very much longer. I was hopeful that she would be right, but I was only 5-6 cm. I kept listening to my relaxation CD's and tried to be as calm and relaxed as I could. This wasn't too difficult since my contractions weren't too strong or too frequent.

And then, within about 3 contractions, I went from totally fine and in control to curled up in the fetal position moaning through each one and they seemed like they were one right after another. I had planned to do a natural birth and I thought I could stay in control and breathe through it, but after about 15 minutes I was ready for the drugs. If I would have realized how close I was I may have tried to hold out, but I felt like I was going to die. I called the nurse and asked for the anesthesiologist and when he came I was about 8 cm and by the time he was done with the epidural I was 10 cm. Yeah, I got an epidural at 10 cm. Nice.

The doctor came in and they got me all ready to push. The anesthesiologist did such a good job. He gave me just enough of a dose to take the edge off so I didn't feel like I was going to die, but not so much that I couldn't feel my legs for hours afterwards like when I had Will. I could still feel enough to be able to push effectively. I only pushed for about 6-7 minutes and the doctor said her heart rate started to drop. The doctor said she had to get her out fast so she did an episiotomy and then her head came out, but her shoulders were as big as her head so I had to push those out too and then another final push and she was finally out. She was born at 1:51 pm and she was 8 lbs 12 oz. and 20 inches long. I was so happy to finally see her and hear her cry!


Here we both are right after she was born.





And here she is after her bath.


It was so weird to have a baby during the day. My other three were all in the middle of the night. It was nice to have several hours after the birth to let the adrenaline die down before trying to go to sleep and it was much more convenient for having visitors.


The kids were all so excited to come to the hospital to visit their new baby sister.

OK, I'm going to try not to sound too negative, but this hospital was so crappy! The nurses for the most part were great and the food was actually pretty good too, but the rooms, especially the recovery rooms, were not so great. There were leaky ceiling tiles, the bathroom was so tiny you could hardly turn around in there, there were bugs flying around and the worst part was my bed was about 4 inches too short for me. I realized that I am really tall, but come on. There are a lot of women who are taller than 5 foot 6 out there who wouldn't fit in this bed either. I have never been so glad to get home to my comfortable bed that is actually long enough to sleep in.

My feet sticking out past the end of the bed.


One big plus for this hospital was that they had free spa treatments in your room! I got to pick to have either a facial, a pedicure or a haircut and style. The students at the DATC beauty school come to the hospital and do these for free for the new moms. I was so excited to get a pedicure the day after I had the baby. It was so nice!

One of the fun things about my water breaking and not being induced on the 12th is that Sarah was born on Robby's mom's birthday!

The birthday girls-Robby's mom, Kim, and Sarah.


I felt really good pretty much from the moment I had her. I didn't even have to take any pain medication at all. We were ready to head for home the next day but unfortunately my blood pressure was high enough that they wanted to keep me there and watch it to make sure it didn't go too high. So we ended up staying until Saturday when we finally got the OK to be released.


Sarah wasn't too happy about getting dressed and ready to go home.




But she was much happier when she got settled into her car seat.

Robby's parents were nice enough to take the kids from Friday night until Monday afternoon so Robby and I and Sarah got to enjoy a couple of days at home together before we jumped into life as a family of . . . gulp . . . SIX.



Sarah after her first bath at home.



Isaac is loving taking care of his baby sister. He loves to hold her and help me get a diaper or whatever she needs. He is so excited to be the big brother.




All four kids together.

We are so glad that Sarah is finally here and part of our family!

Sarah Nicole Waters....'til we think of a better one

Well...here's what you've all been waiting for. Being a man of few words, I'll let Michelle give all the details in one of her "super posts" when we get home....hopefully today. Just waiting for the doctor to come give us the ok.

Today's the day!!!

One-on-One time with Isaac

In an effort to distract me from being depressed about not going into labor yet my wonderful sister, Heather, offered to take Isaac and me to the zoo yesterday. She has a zoo pass and could get all of us in for free and we thought that all that walking around might get some contractions started. (No such luck, unfortunately)

It was so weird (and nice) to be there with only one kid to keep track of. Also, since it is February, we pretty much had the place to ourselves. It is such a great experience to be at the zoo and not deal with crowds. It was a little bit on the cold side and I wish I would have brought some gloves, but other than that it was great.

It was really good to be able to spend time doing something fun just with Isaac too. He rarely gets to go anywhere with me alone, except for running errands and grocery shopping. Not exactly his idea of a good time. He had so much fun playing with his cousins and seeing all the animals and it was really good for me to get out and chat with my sister.

Isaac chillin on the big metal elephant

We got to see the baby elephant who was born in August. It was so cute!

We also got to see the baby giraffe.

Isaac with his cousins Tyler and Jake

We spent a few minutes at the playground but I was pretty cold by then and ready to go home.

Being a turtle

Showing off his big teeth

Hiding in an egg

It was such a fun day. Thanks Heather!

Will Lost his First Tooth!

Will came home from school yesterday proudly announcing that his tooth had gotten much looser and he thought it would probably come out soon. He was very excited about it. He made it through dinner and then in the middle of family prayers he jumped up and announced that it had come out! He could hardly wait to see what the tooth fairy would bring. Savannah was nice enough to lend him her cute little box to put it in so the tooth fairy would have an easier time finding it. The tooth fairy came and this morning Will was very excited to show us the four quarters that she had brought for him.

39 Weeks Update

Sorry, no picture this week. I look about the same as last week anyway.
I was sure I was going to have a baby last night. I was having contractions from about 4:30 yesterday afternoon off and on until I went to bed and then I still had some that woke me up in the night. I got my bag all packed and I expected the contractions to get more regular and stronger, but they didn't. This morning when I got up they were pretty much gone. Very disappointing.
So, I went to my doctor's appointment this morning and expected to be told that all those contractions had at least done something, but no, I'm still at 2 cm like last week and she's still really high. How depressing is that?
I really don't want to be induced, but the doctor is getting concerned that she is getting too big so she suggested that we schedule an induction for Friday but hope that she will come sooner on her own. Sigh.
So, I guess we wait some more.
The good news is that she is doing fine and she is going to come out sometime relatively soon. Oh, and also I finally lost a pound at my appointment this morning. That is always good to hear.

Sledding

On Saturday we took the kids sledding at Mueller Park Jr. High in Bountiful. (Don't worry, I didn't do anything but watch and take lots of pictures.) The kids had so much fun! We had planned on using our big tube that we bought last year and have only used once. Robby got it all pumped up and ready to go, but unfortunately it popped. (And scared us just about to death! It was so LOUD!!) Luckily my aunt Gayle let us borrow her sleds and we were still able to go. Thanks so much Gayle!

All ready to slide down that hill.

Savannah was really good to help Isaac both going down the hill . . .

and climbing back up.

Will was in Heaven. He loved every minute!

Robby taking Isaac down the big hill.

And helping him back up.

My dad taking Savannah down the hill with him. We were so glad he decided to come with us, even though we accidentally left without him from my parents' house.

Robby taking a turn with Will.

Papa going down the hill with Isaac.

Isaac was lucky that he didn't have to climb up the hill very much.

Will loved riding on dad's back.

And if you don't have a sled you can just slide down without one.

Papa decided to give that a try too.

I know, millions of pictures. I didn't have anything to do but watch and take pictures. Here are a couple of short videos for you too.

Robby did get to go by himself a few times.

Isaac was so brave! He even wanted to go by himself. He is getting so big . . . sigh.

Savannah and Will racing down the big hill.

38 Weeks Update

Yay! It's February! Now this little one can come and be part of our family.
I made it to 38 weeks. I just got back from the doctor and I am 2 cm dilated and the doctor said I was about 50% effaced. She told me last week I was 70% so I'm not sure if she was overly optimistic last week or if I am going backwards but I guess it doesn't really matter anyway.
I found out last week that my Group B strep test was positive so that means I'll have to get two doses of anitbiotics during labor like I did last time around. Fun stuff.
Anyway, here is my 38 week picture. This shirt is sort of tent-like so it's kind of hard to see the belly, but it is getting huge.