Miriam's Birth

Our little Miriam was born on January 31st at 12:14 am. She weighed 7 lbs 1 oz. and although the hospital workers were generous to say she was 22 inches long, the pediatrician confirmed that she's not the tall little girl we thought and is measuring an average 19 inches long. I thought I'd record Miriam's birth story here for any who are interested or for my own record keeping. 

Like all of my kid's births - we arrived at the hospital early Monday morning for our scheduled induction. I worked all weekend to have the house as clean and "in order" as possible. I think my OCD helps settle my anxiety and keeps me busy. I felt a little silly when I first checked in when this older gentleman volunteering at the hospital kept insisting I sit in a wheelchair.  I don't think he heard me when I told him I was not in active labor. I was perfectly capable of walking to Labor and Delivery on my own and the nurses at L&D probably thought it was a little overkill too, knowing I was there for a scheduled induction. 

    The plan was to "prepare" my body for labor by giving me an oral medicine that starts with an M, and is a little milder than pitocin. I took the medicine at 9:30 am and was told to lay down for 2 hours, then walk for an hour and then we'd monitor how I was doing. Although I was having some mild contractions, nothing was getting stronger or staying all that consistent. After 4 hours, I was given a second dose and the cycle continued - lay down, walk the halls of the BirthPlace, and rest again. I kept watching other women walking the halls in their hospitals gowns, some stopping and holding onto the wall as a contraction would come on and envying their pain. My contractions were hardly slowing me down and the nurses kept saying their were hoping I'd slow down with each lap.  Throughout the day I walked over 2 hours and clocked 25 laps around the BirthPlace. By 5:00 in the afternoon, with no food all day, I was exhausted, had a really bad backache, but was still only barely dilated to a 4. I was growing frustrated by the slow progress and wishing they would just give me pitocin. A new doctor came on at 5:00 and agreed it was time to start pitocin. By 7:00 I was finally started on it, but still blissfully watched Downton Abbey episodes with Andy on the laptop with only mild discomfort. I couldnt' tell if my body was just being more resistant this time or the doctors were being too cautious in their induction method. By 10:30 at night I was hungry, tired, and growing impatient. I don't think I've ever really wished myself to be in pain before. I was still only dilated to 5 cm but the doctor told me she could break my water at that point to speed things up. She asked if I wanted the epidural before she broke my water, but in my haste to get labor moving, I said no, I'll wait to get the epidural after. Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it. I instantly started to feel much stronger contractions. I could still stand it, but thought I have nothing to prove here - just get the epidural now. Well it was a good thing I asked for it when I did. Little did I know the nurse still had to administer a whole bag of fluids in my IV drip before she could call the anesthesiologist. The contractions were coming on very strong and close together at this point. I remember thinking - so this is what women mean when they say labor is the worst pain they've ever felt in their life. Also thinking - there's no way that hypno birthing video I'd watched the night before was going to take away this pain. I told Andy the second the IV bag was empty he better buzz the nurse for my epidural. Unfortunately the anesthesiologist was with an emergency C-section and I had to wait longer still. By the time the doctor actually made it into the room and started administering the epidural I really thought I might pass out if I had to endure one more contraction. I knew it was time to push too and could have decided to have the baby right then without the epidural, but at that point could only focus on getting rid of the pain. I think the epidural finally took full effect for the last few pushes. Luckily I only had to push less than 5 minutes and she was out! I suppose the epidural made the hours after labor more comfortable for me too, since it took awhile to wear off. We realized that although I was impatient to have her be born, being born right after midnight meant I got an extra day to re-cooperate at the hospital too. 

   Everything really went very smoothly after she was born. She's been the perfect little baby. Nursing has been fine, I've recovered really quickly and hardly had to take any pain medication in the days after she was born. I went home Thursday morning and have to say it was an adjustment coming home to the loud chaotic house with the boys after being in the quiet, peaceful hospital room for 2 days. I kind of enjoyed my R&R at the hospital. 

    I feel really lucky that thus far, Miriam has been a really good baby. She rarely cries even when she's hungry. She'll aggressively try to eat her hands for a long time before she escalates into a cry. She's doing better at night and sleeps a lot during the day. I feel like Heavenly Father knew I really needed a mellow baby this time. However, I'm enjoying the blessing while it lasts because with the unpredictability of babies - it could change any day now.

The boys have been really good so far too. Bryce is very independent and will play for hours by himself in the play room. Sometimes I feel guilty and wish I could spend more time with him, but he doesn't really seem to mind being by himself. Tyler has been really sweet about helping me and the baby. He loves to hold her and will bring stuffed animals to put in her crib for her to look at. 

  Andy has also been a big support, spending more time with the boys so I can rest and be with Miriam. Business is picking up too which is good, but made it hard for him to feel like he can be with us when his brain is always thinking of the business. Its a stressful time but also feels good to be moving toward our goals. 

Our proud big brother

 Bryce doesn't ask to hold Miriam as much as Tyler. Bryce also isn't as physically affectionate as Tyler is but when he does want to be close, he wants to be REALLY close, like have our faces touching when I put to bed at night. I thought it was interesting that when he asked to hold Miriam that he really wanted to put his face right up to hers, like he does to me at night. I think its his way of showing love.

 This is how Miriam looks most of the time now - serious, asleep and slightly scowling from all the noise in the background.