Saturday, December 27, 2008

Ollie's Birth Story

If you haven't heard by now, Ollie Max was born on Wednesday morning, Dec. 24 at 1:20 a.m. He was 9 lb. 7 oz. and 20.5" long.
I had an appointment at the clinic in Duluth on Tuesday at 3:15 p.m., and I had a feeling the doctor might want to send me to the birthing center, so I brought our hospital bags and Barry with me. My mom was with the kids (thanks mom, and Abby, for all your help!).
While I was in the exam room waiting for Dr. Stank, I heard a pager go off and someone ask, "What should we do with your patients Melissa (or Dr. Stank)?" Apparently she had been called to the OR for a c-section. When she saw my chart and that I was overdue, she quick stopped in to check me and found I was 3-4 cm dilated. She said if I was okay with it, she'd send me upstairs to break my water and get things going.
We checked into the birthing center around 4:30 p.m. and at about 5:30 she came in and broke my water. Since I was admitted I was only allowed clear fluids, so Barry got to eat my hospital tray of food while I ate Jello and drank apple juice. At this point, I was having some contractions, but nothing too strong or close together. I was still talking with Barry, and slowly dilating to 5. Then they decided to start me on a low dose of pitocin.
Around 10 p.m. the nurse started the IV, and shortly after the contractions were very strong and 2-3 minutes apart. Finally after 3 hours of this (around 1 a.m.) I was ready to push. Ollie Max was born after 20 minutes of pushing. Another drug-free VBAC! It was a little longer and harder than I was expecting, especially after Remy's birth was so easy, but it still went well.
Barry went home to sleep, and after the nurse brought me some peanut butter toast and cranberry juice at 3 a.m. (I hadn't eaten since lunch) I rested while Ollie was in the nursery.
Since it was Christmas Eve day, I wanted to go home so I would be home for Christmas, and the doctors agreed to let me go. We got home around 6:30 p.m. and had frozen pizza for supper.
Barry's parents came over around noon on Christmas Day and brought ham and chips for lunch. Not exactly your traditional big Christmas meal, but good enough for me!
Ollie has some nice dark hair--more than any of the other kids had--and chubby cheeks. He's starting to get the hang of nursing, and sleeps a lot. We're very blessed to have him!

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Busy Day

We had a busy day away from home today, starting with a doctor's appointment at 9:30 a.m. in Duluth. Everything's looking right on track with the baby; it's about 7 pounds and is head down. I'm even 2-3 cm. dilated, so things are moving in the right direction! While I was at the clinic, Barry took Remy and Raina to a McDonald's play area and the Marine Museum in Canal Park.
When I was done at the clinic, we took a tour of the birthing center. Now we know where to go and what to expect when the time comes.
For lunch we went to Little Angie's Cantina in Canal Park for Mexican food. I'd been hungry for decent Mexican for awhile, and I got to have enchiladas, rice and black beans--very good!
Then Barry had to go to Menards (fun, fun!).
Finally, we made it up to "the hill" where I went to KMart with Remy and Barry went to Best Buy with Raina. We went to Target together, then Barry stopped at Office Max for a couple of things. On the way out of town, we replenished ourselves with McDonalds shakes and french fries.
It's a challenge shopping with kids because 1) it's nearly impossible to keep presents a secret, 2) Remy continually kept taking his shoes and socks off, and he likes to throw things out of the cart, 3) Raina likes to dawdle and look at everything she walks past. We got a good start on our Christmas shopping, but I think the rest will be done online. Target has free shipping until December 6!
So, a busy but productive day.