Friday, August 30, 2013

Potty Learning

I know, 3 posts in one night, not common.  lol

Well, big girl Maggie last Saturday decided after James left that its time to seriously potty learn.  She hasn't been consistently using her potty since we started packing to move into our new house.  So cool.  I think she is ready for underwear too, at least at home for now.  She has been wanting to pull up her pants after going and then not wanting a diaper and when I do put a diaper on she tells me when she is going, so we could be pretty good at catching pees and maybe soon poops in her potty.  She has one now set up in each bathroom.

So exciting!!  Maybe we will be just using diapers for one little one soon.  So cool.

I did send Dave and Maggie out and during their errands picked up some Dora underwear at Kohl's.  Yay!!

A New Chapter Starts For the Holt Family

I'm so excited!!  No more pregnancies or labors for this mama.  I'm so happy to finally say we are going to watch our kids grow and change and then start homeschooling.  James will be doing home study while he is here for a few months during the winter months and hopefully can join the homeschooling group to get him involved with some of their activities.  Maggie will be starting tumbling this winter at the Y and maybe we can find a winter activity for James at the Y as well.  Maybe swim lessons since they have an inside pool to get ready for next summer so if he decides to go to Granny's for camp he can possibly be ready to have full use of the lake at Camp Weaver.  I'm excited for the future of 4-H meetings and maybe girl scouts.  I had a bad experience in girl scouts, but maybe they will have a nice group here.  We'll see. 

I'm sure next growing season we will have lots of pictures of the girls and James in the garden with mama. 
We will be ordering chicks to arrive in February so they will start laying during the warm season.  Maybe some ducks and we'll save the turkeys for the following year.

Here we come New Chapter!!!!

 Mama with her two babies.  We cannot fit in this chair all together nursing anymore.  Baby has grown 3 pounds since she was born and Big girl Maggie also has grown and chunked out a little. I think she is making up for lost time, not getting much milk during my pregnancy.
 Daddy and his girls.
 I think I have a pose like this from James when he was this little, well, he was never this little.  lol
 Eyes open.  You can see she had a little blood vessel pop in her eye from the birth. 
 Maggie saying "hi."
 Granny and the kids.  And a photo bomb by the dog, yes, he is licking himself.  Sigh...
 Granny, Sarah and James.
 Maggie and her pa.  When we ask her about him she can only say the "pa" part.  : )
 Cutie.
 My little angels sleeping.
 Sleepy one.

 James wanted me to take a picture of his tooth. Here is James before the "tooth fairy" took it.
 Heh.
 Another sleepy girl shot.
I just thought it was funny how Marshall was sleeping.  He loves his crate.  He eats things and screens if we leave him out when we leave the house, but he loves sleeping in his crate even when its open.  Dave accidently left them in the house by themselves when we he went downstairs and I was outside.  The ground beef I had in a bowl on the counter had a bite in it when I came back in.  lol  I took the part where the bite mark was and gave it to Shelby in front of him.  Hah!  Then we cooked the rest for dinner.  Hey, we don't waste anything here. lol

Sarah Elizabeth Holt's Birth Story

I've been working on this for a few days.  I think I got most of the details in. Enjoy!

Sorry for my announcement post being so negative.  I hate hospitals for many reasons and I think in my hormonal swing, that is the place I was in when I wrote that post.  It was  awful, the food, no compassion when it was obvious they needed to leave us alone and let us sleep and do their exams, hearing tests, etc, in the am when it wasn't 1am in the morning.  I hadn't slept for 36 hours and they kept bringing me things with gluten in them when it says on my info, No gluten.  It would have been that much worse if I had to deal with a reaction to gluten on top of it all.  Anyway, here is my birth story, most of it is much more positive.

So it seemed I was going to be pregnant longer than any of my previous pregnancies.  I went to my last OB appointment the day before and we scheduled an induction for the next week.  I did NOT want to be pregnant up to that appointment.  The next day was the county fair, August 2nd.  I was so excited that I actually might be able to go this year.  I had reservations about taking a newborn to the fair, but how could I miss it?  Though our fair isn't very exciting and there really aren't many animals.  I need to find out where people take pigs and goats and stuff to fairs around here.  Anyway, when I woke up still pregnant and not having real contractions we meandered (yes, that is what women do when they are 40 weeks pregnant, meander, at least this one does) around the county fair for 2 hours trying to put me into labor.  We got to see the 4-Her's with their chickens and ponies, oh and bunnies, lots of cute little bunnies, mostly super soft mini-rex's.  We didn't get to see the dogs do the agility course, but we did get to see the talented 4-Her's with their amazing horsemanship skills.  So cool to see.  We ate some crappy food, we tried to find the least offending food and then had them top it with cheese, well I thought it was going to be real cheese, no, it was the liquid kind, ew.  My stomach wasn't so happy after that, so I had Dave take me to Golden Harvest where we do our shopping and detox from fair food.  I ate 2 larabars, had a kombucha and I think I had a container of tuna salad and some gluten free crackers.  Yum.  I took a nap with Maggie after that, lol.

Early the next morning Granny and James were due to leave to go to the airport headed for Camp Granny at 4am.  I got James and Maggie to bed that night and at about 10:48 (I only know this because I had sent my last message to Dave at that time on facebook) I  told him I was going to bed and he said he was coming up to go to bed as well.  We went to bed and I think Dave slept for 30 minutes and I hadn't fallen asleep yet, but exactly an hour after I sent that message to him I heard and felt a distinct pop in my cervix and I had what I thought was a more painful contraction.  I waited to see when and how the next one felt, painful again.  I got up to see if changing position would change that, nope.  I woke Dave up and had him time them and the length to see if we could go back to sleep.  Now they were 5-8 minutes apart lasting for 20 seconds.  Hmmm....  Dave went ahead and made some coffee since it would stay warm for 2 hours after he made it, just in case.  I called my doula, no answer and had to leave a message.  I found out later that her daughter Tess fell asleep on the phone with her boyfriend so I was getting their voicemail and her cell phone was on a lower ring that didn't wake her or her husband up.  lol  Still more painful contractions, now 25 - 40 seconds in length and its only 12:30 am, Granny came in and watched for a little while and later helped us load up the car.  We tried the doula again and I think she picked up this time.  She talked to Dave and said to call when we were getting ready to leave for the hospital.  I told Dave to go ahead and pack the car so we could leave when I was ready and he started making my raspberry leaf tea with 1 ounce of tea in a quart jar that I would drink on the way to the hospital (it really made a difference in how my contractions felt, at least for a little while, still painful though.  This labor was like the beginning of James' labor, painful.  I made a smoothie so that I had something in my stomach and only drank a couple sips and sat at the dining table, we had a clock with a second hand on the table and we timed a contraction that lasted a full minute.  Time to go.  I talked to my doula one last time and told her we were leaving.  It takes 15 minutes to get to the hospital from our house and I had exactly 3 contractions during that ride.  It really isn't fun to ride in a car and have contractions.  It was funny, Maggie said bump, bump when we went over the railroad tracks.  I was so glad we didn't have to drive an hour to Wausau to have the baby.  We got to the ER and got checked in, I think it was after 2am by this time.  I realized that everyone was leaving the bars at this time.  That was kind of weird.

We arrived at the hospital and checked in at the ER since that is the only part of the hospital that was open.  Luckily this is a small town and no one was sitting and waiting and sickly in the ER.  I sat in a wheelchair and waited for someone upstairs to come get me and Maggie. Dave drove around to the second floor to unload our bags.  We arrived at L & D and got settled in our suite.  They probably didn't check me until a half hour later and I was already 5cm.  I had them try to call my OB since he said he would be home that weekend and would come in if I went into labor.  They tried and he didn't answer. : (  Bummer.  So we had the on-call OB whom I hadn't met.  I still hoped that he would come in.  Then I was thinking with every contraction that Lora, my doula, would be there soon, something to make me feel better.  The contractions were getting more and more intense.  (I talked to my chiropractor after and he said that most of the pregnant ladies that he adjusted and short intense labors.  He thinks it because your all lined up correctly and ready to go.  I had been seeing him just about every week with this pregnancy, more often if I needed it).  Finally Lora showed up and I had her help me get a bath going, I just needed something to relieve the pressure somewhat, it wasn't letting up at all.  I got in the bath and it got a little better for a little while.  Then Maggie comes in from watching her movie and starts freaking out about me in the bath tub.  We try to soothe her and decide to try the whirlpool bubbles.  Not so much, it even scared me when it turned on, let alone Maggie.  Sheesh!  By that time the contractions got more intense again and I felt like I needed to go to the bathroom.  So, I got out, thought about sitting on the toilet, but then decided against it after I had tried to sit on the toilet when I got there and that felt awful.  I think at this point I had been there for a couple hours.  I got on the bed and probably right after that went into transition.  This is where my body and mind say stop I don't want to do anymore.  Can the baby just slip out now, thanks.  I don't know why, but I baulk every time at this point.  Even with my first, it was the same thing.  This is when the on-call doctor came in.  She was the total opposite of MY ob.  Very hands on and freaking out about my first birth with my son where he had major shoulder dystocia.  So, she proceeds to drill me between every contraction.  Lady, its all on my chart, please leave me alone.  Nope, no rest for the laboring woman about to have a freaking baby, let's ask this woman in transition a million questions, read my birth plan, you don't need to go over it with me, thanks!  Dude, have a homebirth people, don't get diabetes and have to be in the hospital like me, go have a nice normal homebirth where you hug your midwife every visit and she loves you, truly loves and takes care of you and she loves her job and she loves being there for you.  Please!!  Hospitals suck and make me cringe and its not like a birthing center, which would be nice too, you get a big bed and lay with your family and leave when you want, they don't keep you captive and threaten to not be able to bill your insurance if you don't stay for 24 hours.  Yeah, you have 1% chance of having something happen at home.  1%!!!  Oh, and at this time I was nursing Maggie to sleep during transition.  I did my best to be quiet and not writh around and she fell asleep and we passed her on to Dave's excellent co-worker who did an awesome job bringing books and princess dolls for her.  You rock!! She did not want to leave with daddy to meet her sister, heh. 

Ok, anyway, moving on.  The on-call doc leaves me alone finally and says to tell the nurse when I feel pushy.  I think that was 15 minutes later.  She then comes back in and tells me that she would like to break my water.  No thanks.  She then proceeds to be a fear monger.  If we break your water and there is meconium in it then we can have a pediatrician standing by to check the baby, if not we cannot have her here in time for the baby's birth.  That was part of the deal I wanted my water to break naturally.  Thanks for putting more fear into this labor, that helped a bunch.  Finally, the baby moved down far enough and my water did break on its own and oh look normal fluid.  Huh, (whispering) again its that 1%.  Totally unexpected (snort!).  I told Dave and Lora excitedly that I did it.  My water broke naturally this time.  Yay!!  My first time.  Both other kids they broke it for me.  Then back to business.  My body was definitely wanting to push and this is the time I wanted a break, I probably used the "F" word about 30 times, bit down on Dave's fingers every contraction, told the room I don't like you and then said I don't like any of you and got my wish for about 12 minutes trying to avoid the inevitable, pushing out a baby, and was able to take a break.  I totally delved inside myself like I always do at this time.  Totally in a trance state, felt my body pushing at the end of my break, looked at Dave, said "F" it, grabbed my legs, grunt screamed and pushed once and her head started crowning, pushed a second time, I definitely had to push her shoulders out (minor shoulder dystocia compared to James) and Miss Sarah Elizabeth was welcomed into the world.  (Dave noted that that was totally metal to push out the baby like that, lol, the f word and then just grabbing my legs and grunt-screaming her out, heh, glad to amuse him).  I remember vocalizing for quite awhile after she had come out, never had done that before.  It was the like the winding down from my scream- grunt.  She totally had this muscle man chub going on when she came out, she lost all of that while she was drinking colostrum.  She screamed for a little while and then just relaxed and started nursing for 2.5 hours straight.  I should note that they did take my blood sugar throughout my labor and it just kept going higher and higher and they did give me IV insulin to get it down a little before her birth, that's why I think she nursed so long, colostrum is full of glucose and she probably needed it.  When they did finally take her blood glucose it was in the normal range for a newborn baby.  Yes!! 

Sarah Elizabeth Holt was born on August 3rd at 5:47am.  I love having a newborn again and I think I'm enjoying it more than ever this time since we are living in our "own" house this time and just settling in quite nicely, except for some minor two year old tantrums.  If I could do it again I would definitely wait until Maggie was 2 before getting pregnant.  Nap and bedtime coordination is definitely challenging.  We love having two girls though and big brother will have two little sisters looking up to him.  He will I'm sure be the protective big brother.  : )


Monday, August 12, 2013

Sarah Elizabeth Holt

Fresh new baby is OUT!!  lol  It was a short, intense labor.  I was so happy she was out and now am done officially being pregnant and never ever want to be in labor again.  I'm a redhead and can feel pain more intensely than all you normal people.  That was the worst of the 3 on a pain scale.  I was so not ready to go into labor.   Sarah was born at 5:47am weighing 9lbs 3.8oz. and 20 inches long.  I guess walking around the fair for two hours did it.  : )
We are having the this is not going to happen again talk.  Snip snip.
Big sister meeting new baby.  She was very tired, but she did very well with our friend Nate in the waiting room during transition and pushing stage.  That man needs an award.  Bringing books and princess dolls.  Ingenious.  He has two daughters so he knew what to do and Maggie didn't want to leave him.  lol  That's a first.

Such a good picture.  Now the 24 hour poking and prodding begins from the hospital staff and bad hospital food.  Fun times.  Couldn't they just let us sleep.  Can you tell I don't like hospitals?

Friday, August 2, 2013

40 Weeks

 I've never made it to 40 weeks.  This baby is a mover and shaker between 10 and 11 pm. 
Still a smaller belly than either of my kids.  Exciting!!

August 2013

 James found a cool catepillar.