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)
.psd.jpg)
