Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Finn's Birth Story

Wow- Finn is 5 weeks already and I have not posted his birth story or a photo.
Blame it on chasing 3 kids.

Well, as we all know, my little man was a few days late making his grand entrance. My due date was 3/7/12 which was a Wednesday. I went to work after having some morning contractions and some cramping. When I got home around 3:30, I had some bloody show, which was exciting but I also knew it could mean a few days still. My appointment was the next day and I had a basic check up but my midwife said the show usually meant 3 days. She did say that could vary. So I waited and my body did nothing. All weekend long I just had a bit of show each day, but no more contractions.
Monday I texted my midwife and asked what I could do to get things moving. She of course said- walk, sex, walk, rest. Then she sent me to the herb bar for a labor tincture. We picked it up around 5:30 and I took a dose in the car. Then we went to the store and picked up some dinner stuff and chocolate milk for the girls. By the time we got home I noticed some cramping and lower heaviness. I made dinner and we watched Twilight and went walking around the block and I was noticing more cramping. We put the girls to bed and I took another dose of the tincture around 11pm and went to bed.

At 12:50am I woke up to Finn moving like crazy. And I was noticing contractions but I could not tell how strong they were or how long they were because he was moving too. I went to pee and told DH, who was in the shower, "don't waste all the hot water, we may need it". He laughed and said he was thinking that same thing. Somewhere in here, we both went to the kitchen and ate a bowl of cereal so I would have some energy. I was uncomfortable standing so. I laid down and waited an hour for Finn to quit moving so I could see how regular the contractions were. When DH came to bed around 1:30 I told him to go ahead and start timing them because I thought they were getting stronger. We timed them for about 30 minutes and they got stronger and were consistently 5 minutes apart and about 90 seconds long. DH decided to go ahead and call his mom and let her know so she could come get the girls. He got up and filled the pool up with water. My contractions kept coming and there was definite bloody show this time. 

The whole time I was comparing my labors to see how strong the contractions were. They were strong but not as strong as I remembered them before. But then I had two in a row that doubled or came back to back and I called my midwife because I knew I was in active labor then.

Around 2:15am I had forgotten that I needed to go do my Hibicleans since I was GBS positive. I went to the bathroom and had contractions and diarrhea. It was so weird because I had not experienced that with my girls. I was telling DH it was so strange and gross. As soon as I was done in the bathroom I went back to the bed an laid out again to try to relax. I heard my MIL get the girls and a bit later the midwife got there. She came to the bed and asked how I was doing. I told her that I did the hibicleans and basically emptied my bowels. Then I had another contraction and my water broke. Again- I did not experience that with my girls so I was shocked a bit and unsure what to do! My bed had been prepped for labor so I wasn't worried about it getting ruined because there were plastic sheets in layers under my sheets. I laughed and said "am I going to leak with every contraction?" Sure enough, with the next contraction, water came out- making me very uncomfortable. My MW checked me and I was at a 6-7cm, but he was still at -3 station, super high up! My MW wanted to see how far along I was because of the GBS and me opting not to have the antibiotics. By this time, DH was having to come rub my back for me as the contractions were strengthening. After 2-3 more contractions like this, I was almost confused as to whether I should stay there or get in the tub. I went ahead and got in the tub, which was wonderfully warm. And also, my MW said that the pool is another way to keep from GBS transmitting to the baby. 

"The solution to pollution is dilution" -Mary Barnett CNM

As I got into position leaning over the tub, the contractions really started working. They were never on top of each other, but each one was long and strong. DH was pressing on my sacrum for all he could and I kept telling him "harder". This time I could actually feel my body opening up and Finn moving down. I actually used the visualization to refocus with each contraction and think about him moving down and out because he was so high still. After what seemed like only 6 good contractions I really felt pressure and when the midwives started assembling their gear I knew that we did not have long to go. The intensity was much more than I recalled from my second labor and even DH said afterwards he knew I was working much harder this time because I was more vocal. (He said when I started saying "Oh God" he knew Finn was on his way LOL) At this time, I was praying in between contractions for him to move on fast and let's get this over with.

The entire time I was having contractions, I would get a tremor before hand which I recalled from my book as happening to moms in transition, so basically as soon as my water broke, my body was moving to transition. It was hard to relax when my body was shaking and my teeth were chattering, but we made light of it so I was thinking positive about it.

As the contractions changed to the pushing type, I let out a squealing scream because he moved down so fast that everything stretched all at once and there was lots and lots of pressure. He was out in 3 pushes, but I had to wait for each contraction because I could not push him out on my own (trust me, I tried pushing in between those contractions to get him to wiggle out and he just stayed there). I heard the Mary (my MW) tell me, "He is right here, I see his eyes, and his nose. Ok, his head is out- try to see if you can push the rest of him out." This was in between a contraction and I told them to stop moving him up because it hurt LOL but it was that his belly was bigger than his head and he was sitting there until the next contraction. I pushed with all I could to get his big ol' body out and had to rest and breathe a second before turning over so they could hand him to me. 

His cord was short so I could not get him all the way up to my chest like I wanted to so after they wrapped him up and he cried some we got out of the pool and went to the bed. I was still having the the tremors and shakes so I had DH hold my leg for me LOL. The cord took forever to quit pulsing and I could not nurse him yet because the cord was so short. After DH cut the cord, I pushed out the placenta and moved around in the bed to nurse him. He latched right on and ate for 2 hours! 
He was all checked out fine, AGPAR of 9. My MW checked me and I really did expect some tear, but she told the other midwife to come look because she said it did not even look like I had a baby at all. No tearing, no bruising, nothing. (3 days later, I did end up with the return of the hemorrhoid that I got with the girls too though)

Born at 4:43 am after less than 4 hours of labor, pushed for 9 minutes

My midwives were so in awe of Corey who is just the greatest dad and birthing coach ever. They said I made labor look easy, but I told DH- YOU make having babies easy and I could not have done this without him and his superman love!

He was 1 lb bigger than my girls and almost 2" longer 

We are so in love with him I just can't believe I was worried about loving 3 kids equally, but I already do. My girls are just smitten with him and I am excited to start raising my 3 kids and having more family outings and such. Pin It

Monday, April 16, 2012

Laraballs

100_5017 by rideswithchrist

So, I scoured the internet for more date recipes and came across quite a few Lara Bar hacks. I officially got better at making granola bars and originally was trying to incorporate the dates to a recipe, but decided to go this no-baking route instead.


I did NOT measure anything, just eyeballed it and tossed it around until it would hold, but this is basically what I did:


1cup almonds
10 whole dates
1/4 cup shredded coconut
1/4 bar of organic 70% chocolate, broken into small pieces


First, pulse the almonds until fine. I left chunks because it was just so darn loud and I have a sleeping baby that I was not about to wake up for some sweets. (I have to admit, when I use the processor or blender he seems to fall asleep though)
Remove almonds from the food processor and add the dates. *YOU MUST REMOVE THE PITS FIRST* Basically, peel the tiny pit out of the center, you will get sticky but don't worry- you will get stickier later.
Pulse as well as you can to dice. You will end up with a big date clump. It looks pretty cool going 'round and round!


I broke up the date clump and distributed it around the processor. Add almonds back and whirl until mixed up. Then add everything else and turn it on for a few minutes to really mix everything around. It will look crumbly, but as soon as you grab a spoonful and mash, it will stick together nicely, if not...um press harder- j/k, add more dates (chop them separately).


Mash into balls, give kids each one, then hide them and tell them they are all gone- or they will eat them all when you are cleaning everything up.
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Saturday, April 14, 2012

Banana Magic Muffins

This is my version of the Malt-o-Meal Magic Muffins. The originals are slightly dry and Corey does not like them much so I added my own stuff to it.

3/4 C dry Malt-o-Meal
3/4 C Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 C flour
1 banana (very ripe)
1/2 C agave or honey
3/4 C milk
1 egg
1/4 C oil (I used grapeseed)
1 TBS baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1tsb vanilla
1TBS vogurt
2 tsp chia seeds

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare cupcake or mini loaf pans.
Mix together the flours, salt, baking powder, malt-o-meal and chia seeds in a bowl. To your mixing bowl mash the banana well, add wet ingredients until well mixed. Add dry mix and stir until moistened.DO NOT OVERBEAT!
Fill pans 3/4 full and bake for 19 min or until browned and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. (in my oven, 15 minutes does it).

I serve mine with butter YUM!
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