John Hall's Birth Story

At 9:07am on February 5, 2016 John Hawley Slaton joined our family. On February 10, I said I'd write his birth story "soon." I suppose "soon" is relative. 

If you're not interested in birth stories or any sort of medical talk, skip this post. 

John Hall, much like Ibbie, was so, so comfortable inside. My due date, February 1, came and went. Knowing that it was effective with the girls, my OB stripped my membranes on February 2. I was crampy immediately after and the next day but it all settled down by the morning of February 4. Then the afternoon came. After running around with my mom and the girls all day, I started having irregular, strong contractions. When Peter got home from work, I told him, "We may or may not be having a baby tonight. I can't tell yet." So parked myself on the couch to watch some TV while he and my mom put the girls down.  By 11:00, we decided to head to the hospital.

Unlike the hospital where the girls were born, our hospital in Delaware required a visit Triage before heading on to Labor & Delivery.  In Triage, the nurse asked about my pain plan to which I replied, "Nothing. I mean, breathing. I have a doula." She laughed then checked my progress and monitored the baby.

So about the doula: I hired her on something of a whim. I loved my epidurals. Peter came home from work one day and I welcomed him with, "Hey, so I think I'm going to go natural with this baby. I hired a doula today." My thinking was that Cole and Ibbie both arrived quickly and if John Hall came any more quickly than a natural delivery may be my only option. Also, thinking back on Ibbie's birth, which required vacuum assistance and during which Dr. Miller told me, "I can give you five pushes to get this baby out and then we're going to Section. We're prepping an OR now." I remember feeling a bit helpless since I couldn't feel the pushing. So with those two thoughts in mind, I decided I'd plan on an unmedicated birth and hire a doula. My doula came to the house a couple of times to hear about our birth history and goals for this birth. Late in my pregnancy, we took a class at the Birth Center called "Childbirth Education for the Planned Hospital Birth" with a whole bunch of first time moms and some of our dearest friends were who were also pregnant with their third child. We stood out.

Back in Triage, we learned I was 5cm and that John Hall wasn't doing as well as the nurse would have liked. We were held in Triage for an hour so that John Hall could be monitored. When we were moved to Labor & Delivery around 12:30, we learned that because of John Hall's heart rate I was going to have to stay in the bed for a while so they could monitor him.  My doula arrived around 1:00 after a much needed power nap. After 40 minutes of monitoring, the nurse told me I could be unmonitored for 20 minutes. I walked around, used the bathroom, and chatted with Peter and my doula. The 40 monitored/20 unmonitored continued for a couple of hours before the staff felt comfortable to allow me 20 monitored/40 unmonitored.

My doula encouraged me to listen to music, use the bathroom, and take showers, she'd rub my back and help Peter help me. She also asked me if I wanted to lower the lights - about four times. I didn't. I suspect I was an atypical client. This became very evident when I'd carry on in-person and text conversations through contractions. She was  helpful in reminding me that each contraction was bringing us closer to our baby and that laboring in my face was useless so I should try to relax.

I progressed much more slowly with John Hall than with the girls. Thanks to shift changes, I was attended to by two doctors and four nurses.  At 7:00, my OB came by. He checked my progress and broke my water. I was 8cm at the time and John Hall was still high. After my water broke, John Hall's heart rate dropped and the doctor told me I was done getting up because the fetal heart rate monitor needed to stay on. Around 8:30, after I'd secured Cole's carpool to preschool, my doctor introduced me to an ER doctor training in L&D and told me it was time to push even though John Hall was still high. Eventually, of course, John Hall did drop. Since I was unmedicated, I was pushing with the rhythm of the contractions as they came. After being up all night, I was wiped from the exertion.  At one point I huffed, "I can't do this." I was immediately assured by Peter, my doula, my doctors and nurses that I could.

After 9 hours of quiet labor, it was time to get the baby out and turn up the volume. Two loud pushes later,  John Hall emerged making his own noise. He was immediately placed on my chest for an hour and a half of skin-to-skin, which is standard at the hospital.  The doctors debriefed while I was holding him and I heard the training doctor say, "I'm surprised that didn't end up a Cesarean." And my doctor replied, "I am too." which validated my efforts toward an unmedicated birth.

I should note, I still loved my epidurals. And I remembered them fondly as I felt every single one of the stitches. As is the standard at the hospital, I was given an IV bag with Pitocin after the delivery to encourage contractions and the delivery my placenta. Those contractions and the subsequent shoving on my deflated abdomen were something more than unpleasant.

At no point during our stay in the hospital was John Hall away from us. We moved together to a Recovery Room where we stayed for another two nights thanks to his bilirubin scores.

Ibbie's Birth Story

If you're not interested in birth stories or any sort of medical talk, skip this post.

Seriously.

Unlike her sister, in the weeks prior to Ibbie's birth, there was little evidence that I was progressing toward labor. At 40 weeks and 2 days, my OB said I was still 2 centimeters, as I had been since 37 weeks, and I still wasn't having any contractions. After an ultrasound indicating everything was fine, my doctor gave me the option to wait it out another week or schedule an induction. I opted to schedule an induction since my mom was in town to help. My doctor left a message with the hospital scheduler and told me she'd call me later in the day with my induction date and time. Before I left the appointment, my doctor also offered to strip my membranes. I asked her to go ahead with it since it was effective with Cole.

I was a touch uncomfortable following my appointment but proceeded with everything as normal. Cole, my mom, Bigs and I ran errands, lunched on the bluff and even walked the bluff stairs—anything to get labor going! At 3 o'clock I got a call from my OB that my induction was scheduled for 5 o'clock the next morning. I was relieved. The waiting game was over!

As the afternoon turned to evening, I grew increasingly uncomfortable. I wasn't able to stomach dinner and I realized we wouldn't be making it to the scheduled induction so I asked my mom to spend the night at the house with Cole. Around 8 o'clock I decided it was time to start tracking my contractions. They were coming every 4:30-5:00 minutes and lasting for 60-90 seconds. After an hour, they were coming every 3:45-4:00 minutes and I told Peter it was time to go.

When we got to the hospital at 10 o'clock, the nurse told me Dr. Delaney, the same doctor who delivered Cole (and who I love!), was on call and that I was 5 centimeters. Then she asked if I wanted an epidural which I did.  Before she checked me, she asked if I'd had any bleeding. Prior to arriving at the hospital I hadn't but as I changed into the hospital gown I realized I was bleeding. She told me it was probably just bloody show which is normal. Once she got me hooked up to the fetal monitor she put me on oxygen because Ibbie was not reacting well to the contractions.

I got my epidural around 10:40. As I laid back on the bed, I felt an overwhelming amount of pressure. The anesthesiologist said, "Uh oh!" and the nurse said she needed to check me because it may be time to push. Fortunately I had only progressed to 8.5 centimeters so I wasn't going to have to push without the epidural. Still, 3.5 centimeters in forty minutes is pretty fast. The pressure I felt was from a "bulging bag" of waters. I remained on oxygen and the nurse had me lean on my left side because Ibbie was still not doing well with the contractions.

As Peter and I waited for progress, I thought my water broke. Twice. In both cases, it was just blood. We told the nurse, who was not concerned the first time but became quite concerned the second. Looking at the fetal monitor, she said, "I don't like this. Let me call Dr. Delaney again." Not long after that, around 1:15, Dr. Delaney was in the room.  She checked me and I was at 10 centimeters. My water still hadn't broken so she went ahead and broke it. After doing so, she looked at the nurse and said, "Call NICU." Of course, hearing that I knew something was off but set my mind to getting the baby out. I started pushing at 1:20. The pushing was going well but they needed to get the baby out which was obvious by the faces of the NICU nurses that had come into the room and were watching the fetal monitor. At 1:29 Dr. Delaney told me she was going to use a vacuum to help get Ibbie out. With the vacuum assistance, Ibbie was out in five pushes with an official birth time of 1:31.

The nurses cleaning Ibbie up called her "chunky," "bigger than mom," and pointed out her double chin. Our sweet girl arrived with a head of hair and a tad heavier than her big sister, at 8 pounds 3 ounces. As Ibbie was being checked on by the NICU nurses, Dr. Delaney explained that I had a partial placental abruption. She even went to far as to show me the placenta, with the caveat that she didn't want to "gross me out." She also explained how the position of the cord was part of the reason Ibbie wasn't doing well with labor. The cord was pinched during contractions; Ibbie was quick to turn her head away from the cord once she was out.

After everything was determined to be just fine with Ibbie and me, we got to meet! She latched right away, like Cole, and hasn't lost interest. After a bit of recovery time, Dr. Delaney came back to discuss how I was doing and answer any questions Peter or I had about the labor.  She told me we were fortunate pushing went well because had it gone on much longer she would have had to perform a Cesarean. It was a short labor but a long night.

Ibbie revealed a hint of her personality when she opted to arrive after her due date but ahead of the scheduled induction. And exactly 19 months after her sister. We're looking forward to seeing more of this little lady's personality in the upcoming days, weeks, and months.

Here's a short slide show I put together with some pictures we took during our time in the hospital: 

Hello, World!

"Ibbie"
Elizabeth Kathleen Slaton

Born 1:31 am, September 18, 2013

8 pounds, 3 ounces

20 inches

On The Agenda

Our house is a bit disheveled at the moment.

We're converting the guestroom/playroom into a big girl room for Cole. Converting the room is turning out to be a bit more involved than it initially seemed and somehow the project is taking over our entire house. Here's the working list of tasks to be accomplished:

• empty the closet in the playroom
• relocated the items in the closet to other closets throughout the house and the attic
• repair a bracket on the attic stairs so they are functional
• relocate the items from the shelf in the playroom to the living room
• move the shelf in the playroom to our room
• consolidate the clothes in my dresser to fit in Peter's dresser
• paint the big girl room
• move my dresser into the big girl room
• get the twin beds out of the attic and assemble 
• outfit the big girl room with new window treatments 
• find headboards, footboards, and accessories for the big girl room
• childproof the big girl room

The plan is not to force Cole to move into her new room before baby sister arrives. Of course, if she shows interest we'll encourage the move. As it is, we have a bassinet and pack n' play that little sister can sleep in for months so Cole won't be asked to give up her crib prematurely. Stay tuned for more updates on the room.

Cole's Baptism

After rescheduling Cole's baptism a few times for various reasons, we finally settled on March 3. (Good thing too, because her gown was size 12 months.) Our church schedules baptisms for the first Sunday of every month. I actually scheduled her birthday party around the baptism. We knew some of our family would come into town for her birthday party and we thought it would save them an extra trip by coordinating the two events. 

Cole loved being in her gown and bonnet!
We snapped a few pictures before the service which I'm calling our family pictures for the month.
In case you are wondering about the scenery, our church meets in a school. 

As much as Cole loved dressing up, she did not love being handed to our pastor for the baptism.
In fact, she cried the whole way through.
This wasn't our pastors first rodeo so he didn't miss a beat.
He drew a parallel between Cole's crying out and our ability to cry out to our Heavenly Father who promises to be the God of our children.

Originally I planned on hosting a luncheon at our home after the service.  As it worked out, much of Peter's family had to hit the road immediately after church so I nixed the idea of a luncheon and instead we took our little crew to Sweet Grass for brunch. It was delicious, surprisingly child friendly and super easy.

For Monday

PopPop's Trip and My Birthday

Last week my dad came to visit Wednesday and Thursday.  Cole was in school when his flight got in, so we got some Christmas shopping done.  Wednesday night we went out to celebrate my birthday. Dad and I went to Alchemy for tapas while Peter was in class then we all went to Hog and Hominy. Mostly the trip was just about Cole visiting with her PopPop.

Friday Peter and I celebrated with dinner at Osaka, a new Japanese restaurant. It was decent and the menu was enormous. We'd go back. The crowd at the restaurant was a bit younger than us. And it was noticeable. And kind of weird. There was a bit of a wait before hand so we popped into Old Navy where we found a darling sweater for Cole. I saw it and nearly died. Too cute.

Goldilocks

Get That Baby A Leaf!

Cole loves details.
Screws, hinges, string, anything like that.
When we go outside she likes grass and leaves. She'll scan the nearby area then grab a bit of nature to examine.

Last week we went to watch the sunset over the Mississippi River.
Since it sets a bit before 5 o'clock these days, it's a great activity for the end of the day.
I'm always a fan of exploring, so we went to  a couple of parks along the River Walk: Martyr's Park and Greenbelt Park.

Marytr's Park was a surprirse!
It has one of the the best views of the bridges in the city and the park is hidden away so it's not crowded.
There was only one other person there while we watched the sun fade and he just sat in his car.
(And I watched him like a hawk in case he was a creeper. Which I don't think he was.)

You'd think I'd have a picture of the sunset, since thats what we were watching. I don't.
I kept a close eye on Cole (and the potential creeper) and forgot to snap a picture of the sun fading over the Mississippi.
Maybe next time.

They Have Secrets

Everybody Wins Photography: Baby! Baby! Baby!

Baby Will arrived with ten little fingers, ten little toes, his mommy's hair, and his daddy's height. Basically he's already a dreamboat! Photographing newborns is a skill that requires patience, heat, and practice.  And it's not everyday someone will let you use their baby as a model. The Swens graciously allowed me take Will's picture in exchange for a disc of images. I got to practice and play with the precious snuggle-bug and they got pictures. Everybody wins!

Flying Baby

Cole is kind of an adrenalin junkie.
She likes to swing and spin.
She's cracks up when we pretend to drop her.
But more than anything else, she loves when her daddy tosses her into the air.

Baby Will's Mustache Bash Shower

Baby Will is going to be here in no time! Saturday, together with two girlfriends, I threw a baby shower for Matt & Erin, Will's parents-to-be. While not typical, we opted to have a co-ed baby shower and invite everyone's kids. 

Initially I thought the theme would be something around tailgating but then our yard was destroyed and we had to reevaluate.  We settled on the idea of a Mustache Bash for the little man. I made a bunch of banners for the party. Not surprising, I know. The other hostesses took care of the additional mustache decor, a diaper cake for mom and a Dr. Pepper cake for dad.

We played a "Guess the Age" game I stole from Ali's shower. I asked the grandmamas-to-be to send me pictures of Matt and Erin as kids. Then everyone took their best guess as to how old they were in each picture. Looking at the wee picture of Matt and Erin I can't wait to see who Baby Will looks like!  The game was super hard! First place was a tie between two guys who each got just three answers correct.

While the happy parents-to-be were showered with gifts, the rest of us played gift bingo.  I know shower games aren't always popular, but I feel like the right ones can be fun. Especially if you only play one or two. And if you offer scratch-off tickets for prizes.

We got three dozen balloons to help jazz up the house for the party. They were a big hit with the kiddos!

Speaking of kiddos, after the gifts were opened and games played, two of the little ladies had a blast gabbing away. Cole's buddy Miss P is just a few hours older than her. It's weird and coincidental but quite fun. 

The guys spent a good portion of the shower in the front yard playing Cornhole. We borrowed the set from a friend knowing it would be a hit. Correction: we thought be borrowed it from a friend.  Turns out, we unknowingly borrowed our friend's neighbor's set. Whoops. Cole was pretty in to it. 

Cole :: 7 Months

I'm always surprised by the 18th of the month. It seems to me they sneak up and slap me with the reality that our baby girl is growing up.

In the last month, she's really taken to her baby food- eating nearly two jars at every meal. With all of this eating, she's revealing more and more food preferences. Girlfriend still loves pears and has warmed up to a blend of banana, blueberry, and beet. Unfortunately, we learned that she's sensitive to peaches so our little miss won't get to be dining on that favorite sweet treat anytime soon.

Cole is working on filling her mouth with teeth. At last count, she has five! Today she's been chewing like crazy on some of her toys and showing other signs of teething. I imagine she'll be sprouting more teeth in the upcoming motnh.

Cole is loving her doorway jumper and swings.  We've been calling her our "little engineer" because she is pretty analytical. Even her teachers have noticed. Cole likes to look at all sides of her toys and examine the wheels and hinges on everything. She's also getting pretty quick dragging herself around the house on her belly- which works out well because it's delaying crawling a bit.

Cole :: 6 months

Happy belated half-birthday baby girl!

Holy cow. Here we are in the middle August with a pre-crawling, peach-craving, non-napping, bottle-hating, accessory-wearing sixth month old. And we are so in love. Sweet Cole is revealing her personality more each day. She still loves her people and is delighted to see them. She's growing more tolerant of strangers and will even flirt with them a bit if Peter or I am around. She's got a number of different smiles from the sneaky grin she gives me while nursing to the Joey-Potter-half-smile. Not that she'll ever know who Joey Potter is.

This month, we've had what seems like a constant stream of visitors. We housed a rescue dog for a couple of nights. We joined the Botanic Garden. And we went to Baltimore, again. Cole has now traveled on 8 planes!

She's dragging herself all over the place and on the verge of crawling. She pulled herself up one day in the bath and gave her Daddy a real fright. And she's become quite the chatterbox. It's hard to believe how much she's changed in the last six months. But it sure keeps things exciting!

"Catch"

This is what catch looks like when you're five months old: 

Smiles for PopPop

Cole :: 5 months

Baby girl is five months old today.

In the last month, Cole has cut two new teeth and become a rolling maniac. She's now very intentional and thoughtful about her rolling. While in previous months her rolling seemed almost accidental, not anymore! Cole spent last week concentrating while rolling onto her belly and now she's a master. She's rolling over in her crib which is interrupting her sleep ever so slightly.

Cole's previous nighttime sleep problems have been replaced with some very early mornings. Typically Cole goes to bed around seven then wakes up for the day eleven or twelve hours later. Toward the end of the last month, however, Cole started to play in her crib around 3:30 am ready for the day. She'll babble to herself and chat with her mobile for about twenty minutes before deciding that she'd like some company. Or at least a snack. 

As for solids, Cole has been eating sweet potato, avocado, and banana. Girlfriend is loving her new foods! She likes to help her daddy by assisting with the spoon and lunging toward each bite. I'm still nursing her though we introduced formula this month in an attempt to help her sleep longer. Despite initial success, it didn't really work.

Cole's becoming more and more fascinated with the dogs. She's taken to reaching for and talking with them. They show their over-the-top affection to Cole with excessive licking that I'm hoping is boosting her immune system. Frankly,  I think her interest in the dogs stems from a larger interest in different textures. She's been squealing with joy as she discovers different textures around the house, from coarse fur to smooth board books to soft knit blankets.

Cole displays a predisposition toward introversion. Being that I'm an extreme extrovert, I've had to be diligent about giving Cole her own time when she needs it. After playing with me or a friend for a bit, she'll fuss until I put her in her jumper or activity chair to play solo. She's perfectly content to interact with her toys by herself.  She's started to enjoy more of her toys which is fun for her and very helpful. Her tendency toward introversion has also manifested in her preference to be around people she knows well rather than new people.  I was initially surprised when a friend told me you can usually tell if a child is introverted or extroverted by the time they are six months old but now I absolutely believe it. Seeing Cole's personality take shape is so amazing. She can be a real chatterbox once she's comfortable around a person but she's stone cold until then. Reminds me quite a bit of her daddy.

And she's starting to look a whole lot like him too.

Favorite Baby Item: Teethers

After weeks of excessive drooling and other indicators of teething, Cole cut her first tooth on Tuesday! And then her second tooth yesterday! They are the top and bottom left central incisors, for any of you taking notes. She's done well handling the pain without medication by using her teethers and chewing her hands. I registered for and received two Life Factory teethers with the hope that they would be as perfect as many reviewers described. They are! Being made of silicone means there is no risk of anything leaking. Cole loves it when I stick them in the freezer to chill a bit. They are dishwasher safe, which is absolutely necessary in this house. Prior to teething, Cole used her Life Factory teethers as a pacifier of sorts. While she rejected all pacifiers- despite diligent efforts to make her a believer- shes been holding and gumming her teether since she was 8 weeks old.

The other teether Cole's been using is her Tommee Tippee Chewther. While wandering through The Red Circle Boutique I spotted the Chewther. We're already a Tippee family after discovering that Cole would actually take their bottles. Out of utter frustration that Cole wouldn't take a pacifier, I decided to give the Chewther a try. I figured I could pop it into her mouth like a pacifier but it would be good to chew like her favorite teether. She likes it. Not as much as her Life Factory ring but enough that I'll call it a favorite. While it's a bit silly looking and quite reminiscent of the mouth guards I used in my lacrosse playing days, it does the job. And, I think it's more sanitary than my finger.

Favorite Baby Item: Pajamas

Our little darling slept swaddled for a whopping two weeks.  She simply prefers to live and sleep without restraint. So while we'll occasionally put her in a sleep sac, most often we put her down in some sort of footed pajamas.  In the last four months we've tried a number different brands. Between receiving sleep suits as gifts and making our own purchases, Cole has worn a number of well known brands at many different price points. Last weekend, when we realized she'd out grown all of her current pajamas, I knew we had to go to Walmart. You see after four months of research, I found my favorite baby pajamas to be the Faded Glory Sleep and Play suits.

The brightly colored, printed Sleep and Plays are perfect baby pajamas. The zipper makes for easy changes in the dark. And the soft cotton is weighted enough to be worn alone. Also, at just $5.50 each, I don't kick myself every time Cole grows out of one. The Sleep and Plays have held up well in the wash and haven't faded at all. In fact, these pajamas have become my standard happy for new moms.