Here's the Scoop....

Our sweet baby, Charlotte Michel, arrived on Saturday, May 5, 2012 – five days past her due date.  She was 8 lb 13 oz, and 20 inches long. We are so happy to finally have her here with us!

This is her birth story:

Saturday morning from 4am-7am I had a hard time sleeping because my lower back and hips were aching. This is usually how labor starts for me, so I was pretty sure I was going to be going into labor that day, but I thought I could probably hold off until the evening, when Jed would be home from his shift in the ER. I wasn’t in a lot of pain, so I continued with my plans for the day. My friend, Nancy, (a lady from my ward) came over at 7:45am to babysit Ben, Eliza and Sam, so that I could go to a Mom2Mom sale that morning. I went to the sale and walked around there for a couple hours. I had a dull ache in my lower back, but I just ignored it. I stopped by Michaels and Walmart on my way home and got back at about 11:15am, by which time my back was aching to the point that I sat on the couch and told my friend I wasn’t sure that I would be moving anytime soon. :) We chatted until about noon, and after she left I made myself get up to get the kids lunch. I was feeling quite uncomfortable, but children still needed to be fed!  While I was doing the lunch routine, I started to have contractions that hurt. I gritted my teeth and walked around, getting sandwiches made, milk poured, and fruit cut up. I got myself something to eat, but could hardly eat it because my contractions were hurting. I couldn’t stop to rest until I finished the task at hand, so I got everyone fed and down from the table, put away the food, cleared the dishes, and wiped the counters. I wanted to load the dishwasher, but I forced myself to leave the rinsed dishes stacked in the sink. All I could think of was to get Sam down for a nap, the older kids watching a movie, and then I could stop and rest. I changed Sam’s dirty diaper and picked up his blanky and lured him up the stairs for his nap. I told Ben and Eliza that if they cleaned up all the toys downstairs I would turn a movie on for them. Then I laid on the bed and for the first time assessed my pain and my contractions. I timed one contraction. It lasted 60 seconds, and it hurt. By then it was 1pm. I called Jed on his cell three times until he picked up (he gets poor reception in the ER). I said, “I’m in labor and you need to come get me.”  He said he would leave right away. I knew with a sinking feeling that I had probably waited too long, and I would be too far progressed to get an epidural by the time I arrived at the hospital. I just hoped that I wouldn’t progress too much while I waited for Jed to drive 25 minutes home and then pick me up and go 25 minutes back to the hospital. While I waited for him, I knew I needed to make arrangements for the kids.  I called Linda, a lady friend of mine in the ward who had been planning on helping me with the kids when I went into labor. She couldn’t come right away, but we arranged that she would come at 7pm and put the kids to bed, sleep here, and then take them to church in the morning. When I got off the phone with her I forced myself to go downstairs to put the movie on for the kids, who had tidied up all their toys and were asking for help with their movie. When I got to the bottom of the stairs, I started a contraction and had to reroute to the couch. I tried to get up after but it hurt too much, so I had to tell the kids to wait for a few minutes during which time I tried calling my other friend, Melody Aanderud, to ask her to come get the kids, but she wasn’t answering her cell. Jed called me at that point and said he would try calling her husband, Paul. Jed called me back soon after and said that Paul had been on his way home from work, but he had rerouted to our house instead, which was very kind! I made myself stand up and help the kids turn their movie on. Then I walked back upstairs and went into their rooms to lay out Sunday clothes for them, so that my friend could have an easier time in the morning. At that point, Jed arrived home which gave me a boost of energy. I gathered a few more things for my hospital bag while he changed out of his scrubs, and I had Jed take a side picture of me (it’s tradition!), and then Paul arrived and Jed and I took off.

The drive to the hospital wasn’t too bad, but I was sure that when we arrived I would be nearly completely dilated like I had been for both Eliza and Sam. On the way we called my OB’s after-hours phone number and told the receptionist that we were headed to the hospital and I was going to be delivering fast! When we arrived it was about 2pm, and when they checked me I was surprised that I was only dilated to a 6/7. That meant I could still possibly get an epidural, but we would have to wait for my bloodwork to come back and enough fluids to go into my IV. I worked through the contractions for the next 45-60 minutes, at which time it was 3pm. I tried to relax my whole body and ‘ride’ the contraction while I breathed calmly and closed my eyes. I didn’t feel like I was in excruciating pain; the contractions were manageable, and they weren’t right on top of each other, so I had some time to rest between them. At 3pm they said everything was in order to receive an epidural, so they would check me and see how far I had progressed and then call in the anesthesiologist. My doctor checked me and to my complete surprise, I was fully dilated!  I had not felt like I had gone through transition in the past hour; like I said, the contractions had been manageable.  This was bittersweet news: exciting that I had skipped to a 10 without too much pain, but disappointing that I was NOT going to get an epidural!  My doctor broke my water and it was immediately apparent that Charlotte had passed meconium because of the brown amniotic fluid. When the doctor said that, it broke my calm and I cried a little out of concern for her. But the nurse assured me that she would be okay, and I tried to get back into my relaxed state. At 3:06 I started the much dreaded pushing stage.  I remember the time because I told Jed that we would set 3:30pm as our goal. I wanted the pushing to be over as soon as possible! I hate pushing. I can work through a painful contraction with relaxation and calmness, but forcibly flexing all my muscles in an agony, fighting the pain instead of allowing it to pass, is absolutely awful. I hate it. At first I couldn’t give it 100% - I held back in the pushing because it hurt so much. Giving it my all just was too painful. But the more I pushed the more capable I became, and the more effective I was able to push. After a while I realized what the nurse really meant when she said, “curl around your body” and “push up toward the lights”. I needed to stop contracting my lower back against the pain, and let it round out. When I did that, then I felt like I was able to put a lot more power behind my pushes, and they felt like 100% pushes. And that is also when the doctor and nurses started to say things like, “That was a great push! That made a lot of progress!” After one hour of pushing, baby Charlotte was born. She had shoulder dystocia and her shoulders were stuck after her head came out, so the doctor was cranking on her neck trying to get her shoulder out. Jed said that he was nervous at the force the doctor had to use on her head/neck to get her shoulders unstuck. But luckily everything turned out okay!  When I felt her come out, I felt so much RELIEF. I cannot even describe the ultimate RELIEF I felt to have her born and the laboring finished. Everyone exclaimed, “there she is!” and they bustled her to the side room so they could get all the meconium-amniotic fluid out of her tummy.

With every breath I took, I kept repeating, “It’s over. I’m done. It’s over. It’s over. I’m so glad.” I was SO RELIEVED to have labor over with. I was so incredibly relieved to not have to push again. I told my doctor that I wanted to curl up in a fetal position, but she said she had to check to see if I had torn or not. I heard someone say, “She is 8 lbs 13 oz!” So big!  I could hear her crying. My doctor announced that I had not torn at all. Wonderful news!  As soon as she was done examining, I curled onto my side and just buried my face in the bed while I dealt with the aftermath pain. They gave me 25 cc of some sort of pain medication in my IV and after about 20 minutes, I felt much better and could turn back onto my back and ask for my baby. After a few minutes, which felt like eternity, they finally handed Charlotte to me and I got to cuddle her and see her for the first time. She was beautiful. She was tiny. She was so perfect in every feature. I couldn’t believe that moments ago she had been inside of me, perfectly formed. She was absolutely darling, and I felt so thankful!   

She looked just like our other babies; in fact, she looked like the spitting image of Eliza as a baby, except she had a small roll in between her eyes, from extra fat padding and swelling I’m sure. After a few minutes, I was able to nurse her and she latched on like a champ. I felt so thankful that the delivery was behind us and now we could truly enjoy her!  And oh, she was perfect!

Jed and I held her and enjoyed her while I was in the hospital for the next two days. Jed went home on Saturday night to sleep with the kids and take them to church the next morning. On Sunday morning, Jed brought the kids to the hospital before church to see Charlotte.  She was not even 24 hours old. Sam loved ‘baby’ and wanted to sit right next to her on my bed. He touched her head and smiled while saying, “baby!” Ben and Eliza both took turns holding Charlotte on the chair.  And of course, my lunch tray and packages of graham crackers were also of particular interest. :)

 

On Monday morning we took her home.  It was a little rainy and cool, so I was glad that I had packed a warm-weather outfit and a cool-weather outfit for her. :)  The kids, with help from my sweet friend Melody, had made a little banner, “Welcome Home Mom and Charlotte!” that was on the garage. 

We came inside and I sat on the ground and took her out of her carseat.  Ben, Eliza and Sam all clammered to see her- particularly Sammy who muscled his way practically onto my lap to get to see her.

(Sammy is giving her a kiss. He loves Charlotte. It is really cute.)

Having her home with us is absolutely heavenly. She is so tiny and new, and absolutely adorable. I can’t take my eyes off her sometimes; I just love to hold her and stroke her soft cheek while she sleeps so peacefully in my arms. She is truly a little angel from heaven. I am so thankful to have her in our little family. She has added a whole measure of joy to our home. We love her!

 (five days old)