Thoughts on birthing....

Marli's birth story wasn't what I would call my ideal plan. I wanted to have a completely natural birth with no epidural and no Pitocin. My water broke two weeks before my duedate, I went to the hospital about an hour and a half later without feeling ANY contractions. Zip. Zero. Zilch. So, they began to give me Pitocin 2.5 hours after my water broke. Ick. Not really what I wanted to have to do to speed things up, but when your water breaks, times a tickin'. My first contraction (of course it was induced so it was worse than a natural one) hit me and it was painful. I stuck it out naturally for 11 hours and then decided at 2am (after finding out I was only at 3cm) that I wanted an epidural. So, I got one and promptly fell asleep. Since many women actually have shorter labors than 11 hours, I felt I did a good job at sticking it out for at least that long!

In the morning, I continued to labor and they kept checking me and my progress was just not coming along. Marli was just too comfy in there. By 2pm the following afternoon, I was FINALLY dilated to 10cm...sort of. There was a bit of an issue with my cervical opening and the nurse had to hold it open slightly while I pushed...interesting. I pushed for 2 hours with absolutely no progress. I was pushing for all I was worth, too! Since it had been 27 hours since my water broke and there was some concern that the baby would have a dry birth (definitely not good!) I was taken in for a c-section. :(

The last thing I wanted to hear was that the baby wasn't going to come out the natural way. I cried and Ibis just held my hand and said that I was doing a good job and it doesn't matter how the baby gets here, just that she gets here healthy. So, off to the operating room I went with Ibis in his oh-so-sexy blue scrubs. At 4:36pm November 6th, Marli Jayne was born at 8lbs 1oz. Completely healthy and with a very cone-shaped head. I was told that she was face up and the cord was wrapped around her neck. So THAT'S why she was being stubborn and not coming out. It made me feel a bit better. Also, because of my condition with Gestational Diabetes, the fact that the doctor let me go so long with the labor (since she could have been a lot bigger) was good, though futile in the end.

Moving on to Penelope. My goal is to try it again. I may seem silly, but I don't like failure. Not that Marli's birth was necessarily a failure. I just want to have that opportunity to put my baby up to my chest and hold her immediately after the birth instead of waiting 3 hours!!! Ridiculous. I had to wait in recovery, then they didn't bring me Marli until 7:30pm. My plan for Pepper is to have another trial of labor and NOT have to have Pitocin and an epidural and a c-section. Why do I want to inflict this kind of torture on my body? Because I'm a woman and that's what my body is meant to do. It will know what to do when the time comes. I also feel a bit more prepared as far as my expectations and how it feels. I'm just praying that I can deliver the way I would like and hoping for the best.

Getting Closer

I am now almost 34 weeks pregnant with baby #2. This child has nonstop hiccups! So annoying, really, but totally normal evidently. Marli never had them in the womb. Coco tells me that Annya had them every single day when she was in the womb. Ah, well.

I am carrying this baby a bit differently from before. Marli was very much all around and my tummy was round and wide. This baby is sitting right in front and I kinda look like I swallowed a basketball. Every pregnancy is different!

I have been diagnosed once again with Gestational Diabetes. Boo! But, like before, I seem to be losing weight in this last trimester as opposed to gaining it. The baby is gaining, but I'm losing weight all over my body. Sounds good to me! This is because of the strict diet I'm forced to be on. Very little carbs and absolutely NO sweets. :( If you know me, you know that's tricky for me to do. Because I have to hold myself accountable by pricking my finger after every meal and testing my blood sugar, I make sure I'm eating the right things. Also, if you know me, you know I don't like to fail, so I've been pretty good about my diet!

My sweet friend, Jessica, has offered to throw me a baby shower even though this is my second girl. I truly don't need anything other than diapers and wipes and some new bottles, but she insisted, so what can I do? So sweet of her.

Ibis has been working hard as a foreman for the company he's been with for the past couple years. A lot of overtime lately to get this particular jobsite done.

I've been teaching dance, cake decorating and still working my MK biz when I can. Things are good and we're just waiting rather impatiently for Penelope to make her appearance. I'm thinking that she'll be coming out right around Halloween. Spooky!