Simon's birth story

SIMON AVERETT FACER

January 5, 2014, 8:27pm

7lbs 15oz, 21.5 inches

Simon was due December 29, 2013, but I was hoping he would come in January so that his birthday wasn’t right in the middle of all the holiday craziness! I started having contractions on sat, dec. 28th. But they were so mild and irregular that I wasn’t sure if they were actually considered contractions or just braxton hicks. Luke and I talked about inducing on Jan 2nd, and even had an appointment at the hospital for that evening, but when I went in for my regular doctor appointment that morning (thurs. jan 2nd), I had dilated from a 1.5cm to 3cm in just 3 days. The midwife seemed to think I was going to go into labor any day! so we cancelled our evening induction! I did have stronger more regular contractions that evening (the midwife had stripped my membrane), but they only laster about 3 hours and then went away.

The next few days were so hard! We were so anxious and just trying everything we could to induce labor naturally! I didn’t want to wait too long to have the baby because I had had low amniotic fluid a couple times, and I knew that my placenta had already started calcifying. Also, my mom was 2 weeks late with her first and had had mild contractions just like me, so I knew it was very possible that our baby could be that late as well (and we didn’t feel good about waiting that long for him to be born). We talked and prayed, and finally decided that we would induce on Sunday Jan 5th if he didn’t come on his own by than. That was such a hard decision for me to make! But we really did feel good about it once we decided on it.

Saturday night (Jan. 4th), still no baby. We were all prepared to go to the hospital the next morning, and I was actually able to sleep that night…which was awesome! Sunday morning, Jan. 5th arrived and everything was really mellow as we drove to the hospital , I just felt really nervous about everything! It was about a 45 minute drive, so Luke and I just talked about what was about to happen.

8:00am we checked into the hospital. I had to sign some papers and then they weighed me. I hadn’t eaten much (just some toast that morning) so I when I stepped on the scale I was at 148lbs, which means I gained 15/16 lbs during my pregnancy (but I am usually at 149-150lbs at my prenatal appointments). I went into my room and they had me change into the hospital gown and also take a urine sample.

8:27am My nurse, Gail, came in and hooked me up to the monitors, and began asking me all these questions. That took the longest! But our nurse was super sweet; we really liked her! The monitors were kind of uncomfortable. They have a little round tab that sticks out, and it left an indent in my stomach, and if the baby was pushing right on the monitor it would hurt. I really just didn’t have a lot of fat on my stomach and so there wasn’t much cushioning.

9:30am my IV was put in (This is something that I had been worried about because I heard that it hurt), not as bad as I had expected! The nurse put it into my right arm between my elbow and hand, I was totally expecting it to go into my hand. If I paid attention to it, it was a little uncomfortable, but most the time I would forget it was even there. It really wasn’t a big deal!

9:50am the pitocin was started. They started me out at 2mm/unit on the piton, nice and slow to get things going. I didn’t start feeling contractions for a while though. They brought me some breakfast, and I just mostly nibbled at the food. I wanted to have some food for energy, but not too much where I would throw up. It took a while for my contractions to even out, and they couldn’t give me more pitocin until that was happening.

10:05am my doctor came in to see me. I was dilated 3 cm and 80% effaced (no change since my last appointment on Thursday morning). The doctor broke my water. I was a little nervous about this, but it really didn’t hurt and I felt just a slight “pop” and then a little gush. not all of it came out at once. 

12:10am The nurse upped the pitocin to 5mm/unit. I still really wasn’t feeling the contractions very strongly at all at this point. I could feel my uterus tightening, but it wasn’t anything painful or anything that I had to breathe through. What I did feel was that when I had a contraction, I would often have another little gush of amniotic fluid come out. And that just meant that the baby was moving down lower; which was a great sign! So to kill time, Luke and I had brought our iPad and we were watching “Chuck” on Netflix. It was really mellow at the hospital for those first few hours!

12:54am pitocin up to 6mm/unit.

1:20am pitocin up to 7 mm/unit. About this time I was starting to feel the contractions stronger. Again, nothing I couldn’t handle, but I was glad to be a little uncomfortable at least because it felt like things had been moving so slow!

1:47pm I decided to get into the bath tub. They had a jacuzzi tub, so luke and I both put on our swimsuits and got in. The jets were pretty weak, but I did like the water! My cordless monitors kept dying while I was in the tub and my nurse kept having to come in and recharge them. We were in the tub for probably about 45 minutes. My contractions were getting much stronger while I was in the tub and I started having to pause and breathe through each one. We were getting out of the tub when my doctor came in to check me.

2:40pm my doctor checked my cervix and I was 5cm dilated and 90%effaced. The doctor and nurse seemed to think that was great progress, so I was excited! But my contractions were quickly becoming more intense, so I decided it was time for the epidural.
When the anesthesiologist came in, I was a little disappointed/worried because it was the one I had heard bad things about. I started panicking as well because the contractions were now getting VERY strong and close together! My whole body started shaking uncontrollably. Possibly partly due to my nerves. The nurse said I could be going into transition, I guess some people shake during transition. I started thinking that if this epidural didn’t work that I might just die! I wasn’t really getting much of a break during the contractions and I wanted them to stop so badly! They were sooo painful! but they hadn’t been that bad up until this point in time! It was crazy to me how quickly they went from bearable to unbearable!

3:10pm Luke watched as the anesthesiologist administered the epidural. my nurse stood in front of me and helped steady me. I tried to be as still as possible, and just prayed that the epidural would work! the anesthesiologist first numbed my back with these little bee sting like shots, and then placed the needle. she ended up poking 2 holes. I couldn’t tell what she was doing really, but i tried to be patient!
Once she was done she said we would know in the next few minutes if it had worked. I felt a warmth on my back, and as my contractions came they slowly started getting shorter. I would brace myself when I felt it coming, and then realized it only last a few seconds! Soon they were gone all together!! I was sooooo incredibly relieved and thankful for modern medicine. It was soooo worth it! However my shaking didn’t stop. 

3:30pm my blood pressure was dropping. The doctor and anesthesiologist came in, the doctor checked me and I was at 6/7cm dilated and going into transition, which is part of the reason my blood pressure could have been dropping (I also have low blood pressure normally). But the anesthesiologist also gave be a little medicine in my IV, and that seemed to do the trick. I was glad because any complication was making me nervous at this point. But I was more concerned about the baby and his heart rate, hoping that he would react well to the epidural, but he seemed to be perfectly fine!
I also got a catheter, and they are so nice to have! no more having to get up and go to the bathroom with all my cords and IV on wheels! 
My blood pressure did drop once again, and I was again given some medicine in my IV, and then my epidural dosage was dropped.

5:41pm I was dilated to 8cm! And our friends Dave and Catherine had arrived to take some pictures for us. But I had also come down with a fever and was not feeling well. I was given some tylenol but it didn’t seem to help that much. And I was still shaking uncontrollably. 

6:23pm I was dilated to 9cm! I still wasn’t feeling well, and I was getting really tired as well. I just laid in bed with my eyes closed, trying to feel better and hoped that I would maybe fall asleep until it was time to push. I may have dosed off for a little while, but I was really not feeling well. I remember being worried I would throw up, and asked Luke to bring this pink bucket over just in case I needed it. Thankfully I never did!

7:59pm My doctor came in and checked me. I was dilated to 10cm and she told me I was ready to start pushing. I felt so calm, partly because I was tired, but I still wasn’t feeling well. I expected the nurses to put my legs in those pull out stirrups and then place a clothe over my bottom half, but instead my doctor sat on my bed and had me hold my legs to my chest and had me basically lying flat on my back. Pushing wasn’t as exhausting as I thought it would be! The doctor told me to push like I was pooping, and at first I felt so weird doing that because I thought I might actually poop (but I didn’t)! Because they had lowered my epidural dosage I could now feel when I was having a contraction; it wasn’t painful but I could just tell, so I was able to know when to push. I never did have that overwhelming desire to push, but I just felt like I knew when it was time.
I couldn’t believe that it was finally time to meet our baby! Luke was able to watch, and I remember when he said he could see the baby’s head! He seemed pretty excited and surprised! The doctor guided my hand so that I could feel him coming. His head felt so soft! When He was crowning I was able to look down and see the top of his head! I couldn’t believe it! At this point though I could also feel it! and it hurt!!! I was not expecting to feel pain during pushing, and I really didn’t…until he was coming out! Those last few pushes I was giving it everything I had! I wanted this baby out!

8:27pm I watched as the doctor pulled the rest of his body out, and placed him directly onto my chest; blood, goop and everything! We just laid there, skin to skin! there was instant relief from the pain, and just a rush of a whole bunch of emotions! He was bluish and purplish but healthy! His cries were so funny, even if he wasn’t much of a crier. The nurse was wiping him down while he was on me. The doctor said, “that’s a big baby for you!” Everyone had expected me to have a small baby, but he was 7 lbs 15 oz!

Neither Luke or I cried like we thought we might, but it was definitely a very emotional moment! We cried later when we were alone. We were just glad to have our baby! Luke took some pictures to send to our families who were eagerly waiting to hear! and for a while I just got to hold our little baby boy. Luke and I looked at each other and decided he was a Simon. Seeing Luke hold baby Simon was what made me cry later. I just felt so much love and gratitude to have the two of them in my life!

The doctor stitched me up down below where I had torn; I felt a few of the stitches. I tried breast feeding during that first hour, but he wasn’t getting it right away. I was also so exhausted! After a couple hours the nurses came back in to give Simon a bath and to take his measurements. He was 7 lbs 15 oz, and 21.5 inches long!

They had taken out my catheter before I had started pushing, so I was now ready to use the restroom! They asked me if I also wanted to jump in the shower to rinse off, or if I would rather have them just wipe me down. I felt like I would be able to shower so I decided to do that. So the nurses helped me walk to the bathroom, and basically did everything for me. I was totally naked, which is so odd! But at that point everyone has already seen everything. But I still felt a little weird being completely nude, so I asked if Luke could help me shower instead.

Seeing my body after birth was a little bit of a shocker for me. my stomach had gone done quite a bit! But it was the part down under that was shocking to me…I was so swollen down there and just felt so exhausted and weak that I just started crying in the shower. I started feeling super light headed, and got out of the shower. I started seeing black spots and knew what was coming… 
“Luke, I am going to pass out,” and I immediately put my arms around his neck and held onto him. The next thing I remembered was Luke saying “Kari fainted!” and I responded “No i didn’t!” He then says, “Kari, you are completely limp in my arms.” I realized he was right, I was completely limp. I guess I had passed out for a few seconds and luke had been calling the nurses. The nurses came into the bathroom and had me smell this super strong thing! It burned my nose! and then they helped me over to the bed.
The next few hours were miserable. They got me going on the IV again, put on an oxygen mask, gave me juice (I hadn’t eaten pretty much all day) and put warm blankets over me because I was shaking uncontrollably again. I tried to eat a cracker, but could barely lift it to my lips. I had no energy. I have never felt so incredibly exhausted in my life! I also still felt feverish. So even though I hadn’t been feeling the contractions, my body had still felt them!
Luckily the next day I was doing much better! I still had to have the nurses help me to the bathroom, and I still felt really weak, but they had me on medicine, so that was good!

Having Simon that first day at the hospital was so fun! We just kept holding him and looking at him and couldn’t believe how cute he was! We couldn’t believe he was ours! We face timed family a lot that day so that they could get a little piece of our joy! I love our little family!

maternity photos

i have been waiting to take my official maternity photos because i wanted to be pretty far along. also, i wanted luke to take them so that i could have more of a say in how they turned out. luke was a good sport even if it wasn't his favorite thing! these were taken christmas day... 39 1/2 weeks pregnant. the only bummer is that luke isn't in any of them (but he doesn't mind at all).

39-40 weeks

40 weeks

 39 weeks

well, we made it! here i am, week 40 and no baby. yet. this last week i had 2 appointments, one on monday and one on thursday...

Week 39
monday appointment:  i went in and had the stress test as usual. baby was moving, his heart rate was great. no signs of problems. all was well. then the doctor came in to do the ultrasound and check my amniotic fluid. (side note: this was the one doctor i hadn't seen for an appointment, only met her once). my fluid measured low this time..7cm or so, even though it had been good the last couple weeks. so the doctor says, "well, if you don't go into labor in the next couple of days we'll set up an induction for thursday."
WHAT? she said it just like that and it totally caught me off guard. so i responded, "an induction? before my due date?"
"yup" she responded.
that seemed a little hasty to me, and i didn't want to just jump on board so quickly without a reason for doing so, so i then said... "well as far as we know the baby isn't under any kind of stress and seems to be doing just fine, right?"
then she says, "yes, the baby seems to be doing fine, it's just that when your fluid levels are this low it usually means that your placenta isn't working as well. But if you would rather come in here on thursday for a normal check up you can do that instead."
"ya, i would rather do that" i responded. obviously i wanted to do what was best for the baby, and jumping into an induction without there being a real need for it didn't feel right, but i figured we would know on thursday if things hadn't changed and then discuss our options than.

she then proceeded to check my cervix to see if i was dilated. i had this done just the week before, i had only been dilated about a finger tip... the process was a little uncomfortable but it didn't hurt at all. well, this doctor had a very different method and i soon found myself gripping the table, holding back tears and trying not to kick this doctor in the face! she was so incredibly forceful!!! i was not prepared for that! she then hands me a pad and tells me i am bleeding from the exam. WHAT! that was a not anything like the week before! she then leaves the room and i just immediately started balling from the pain. i was at 2cm and 50% effaced. (i come to find out that all the patients complain that she is too forceful when checking the cervix....awesome). that was an interesting appointment and i was pretty upset afterwards.

thursday appointment: this appointment went much better. stress test went well, baby seems to be doing fine. and my amniotic fluid was back up to 8.5cm. the midwife said that it is possible that my body is just really sensitive to how much water i am drinking. also, she said the baby's position can sometimes affect the fluid level...i guess if he is sitting in a certain place it's harder for my body to produce the fluid.
...also my belly measured 38 cm, and i have gained about 16-17 lbs this pregnancy.

Week 40
i have a doctor's appointment tomorrow (monday), so we will see how baby is doing. i have been having contractions for a couple days now, but they are very mild and random. sometimes it's hard for me to tell if i am having one or not, i usually have to feel my stomach and see if it is hard or not. but there hasn't been any kind of pattern to them. maybe they are just braxton hicks and not contractions? i don't really know.

i still feel good, i haven't been that uncomfortable. the baby does like to push his head into my cervix fairly often which makes a little sharp pain. i feel like he wants out but that my body isn't quite done with him yet. also, there is a nerve in my right leg that i often feel when baby moves...it sends a zing down my leg. other than that i am feeling pretty good! everyone says by the end you are so ready to just get the baby out, but i haven't felt that way. that's about it for now though!

38 weeks

38 weeks

so something kinda scary happened about a week ago, everything is good! But the doctor had us a little worried about the baby. 

so...the place where i go to have my pre-natal appointments consists of 3 doctors and a midwife. the person i see for my appointment is determined by what day i go (which also means that any of these 4 ladies will be delivering the baby depending when i go into labor). i usually have my appointments on thursdays, so i mainly see the same doctor every time. 

35 week appointment: i went in on a monday, so i met with the midwife for the first time. she told me that i was measuring small (34cm) and that if i continued to measure small they would have to just double check my amniotic fluid levels. (amniotic fluid is what the baby lives in, it allows the baby to move and provides cushion and protection along with other things). i wasn't too worried because i had been measuring small my whole pregnancy, and this was the first time she had seen me, so of course she would notice that.

36 week appointment: I went in on a thursday, meaning i saw the doctor that i usually see. she saw that the midwife had wanted to check my fluid levels so we did an ultrasound this day. she seemed super relaxed, like "you've been measuring small the whole time, i'm sure everything is fine" attitude. my belly measured 33 cm this week (1cm less than the weeks before) but i wasn't too worried because they told me that it is normal to get smaller at the end as the baby moves down. anyway....we did the ultrasound, she kept saying, "there's a pocket of fluid here, and another one here...looks good." she then took some measurements, it seemed like she wasn't measuring all of them and didn't seem concerned at all.

37 week appointment: i went in on a monday again....so this is the second time seeing the midwife. she told us that last week the doctor had only measured 7 cm of fluid, and that that was borderline low! she said you should have at least 8cm of fluid and no less that 6cm, so that i was at a kind of dangerous level. she also measured my belly at 32 cm....i had gone down another cm! she then did an ultrasound and found 7.5 cm of amniotic fluid...but she said that there was a pocket she couldn't measure because the umbilical cord was going through it. so luke and i are a little surprised, because the week before the doctor hadn't seemed worried at all!! but this  midwife was really concerned. i was told to take it easy and to make sure to drink lots of water. i was also scheduled for 2 additional testing later that week. a strew test and another ultrasound at a different facility to get a better reading of the fluid level.

....so luke and i were really concerned. she had explained to us that i may need to be induced early if there wasn't enough fluid. because it would mean that my placenta wasn't working properly (the placenta is what provides nutrients and oxygen to the baby). it also meant that the baby wasn't very well protected.

....after that appointment i had luke give me a blessing, and then i made sure to drink lots of water and rest! but at the same time i felt weird, like everything was fine, that maybe this was a little of an overreaction. but i was totally fine doing the extra testing to make sure everything was fine.

....so i went in for stress testing first (just a few days later). they just monitor the baby's heart rate for a while to make sure he isn't under any stress and that he is getting enough oxygen. during this appointment the midwife came in and explained that i needed to be on moderate bed rest. meaning i needed to spend most of my day lying down with my feet up. but she said everything looked great on the stress test, and that the baby wasn't under any stress!

....then i went to the hospital where i would have the more in depth ultrasound (same day as the stress test). the ultrasound technician measure 12.5cm of amniotic fluid! (much more than 7.5cm earlier that week) and then she also measured the baby to make sure he was still growing...and i measured 1 day behind my due date which is awesome! so that made us feel A LOT better, and we no longer felt worried! it was really nice to have the confirmation of those tests.

my first thought was that the midwife had just measured wrong...and that everything had been fine the whole time. but after my 38 week appointment i felt differently....

38 week appointment: monday, we did another stress test, everything looked great! and then the midwife came in and went over my ultrasound with me. she was super happy how everything turned out. said i was no longer on moderate bed rest or at a dangerous level. she measured my belly at 36cm (much better than the 32cm from just one week before). i asked how there could be such a big difference in so short a time. she then explained that the amniotic fluid is constantly being replaced and can change in just 24 hours. it was possible that i had just been dehydrated! 

looking back, i am almost positive i had been dehydrated. i had been waking up really thirsty during the nights, and had even felt a little dizzy walking up the stairs one day. i hadn't been counting how many ounces of water i drank, just drinking when i was thirsty. so, even though it was a little scary...and everything is totally fine now(had another ultrasound and stress test since and things look great:)but i am just really grateful that i was made aware of the situation!

long story! but just want to remember this pregnancy and what went on! also, i did kick counts for like 5 hours one day...just to see how often this baby moves, he never went 30 minutes without moving....and does probably an average of 8-10 movements every 30 minutes (or did that day) and they say he should be moving at least 10 times every 2-3 hours.

neighbors

i just wanted to put up a some pictures of our friends! danny and emily live next door to us, and emily is just 3.5 weeks ahead of me with her pregnancy. well, they had their baby last sunday (dec. 1st) and i got to go and take pictures of their birth experience! emily has a different doctor than me, but i will be delivering in the same hospital! it was seriously such a sweet experience to be able to witness, and has actually left me feeling more excited than scared for our own baby's arrival. 

so...i will be posting more on my photo blog eventually, but i couldn't wait to share just a few! our editing system disappeared from our computer (we know why) so while i am waiting to get that back here are some of the unedited ones. emily did have a c-section so i wasn't allowed in the operating room...but i got to capture some of the other moments!

danny getting ready to go in the operating room

 luke got to hold baby rowen!

i also took some video with my camera, and danny and emily took some with theirs as well. emily went ahead and put a movie together showing the birth story! it's super cute! here is the link if you want to watch!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odmivWYZo9g&feature=youtu.be