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Grace Gabrielle Sex: girl Born: 26 August, 2007 Age: 4 years & 174 days Birthday in: 191 days Starsign: Virgo Development: See the 32 months page. Biggest achievement so far: Smiled- 5 weeks
Rolled over-2.5 months
First baby food-12/28/07
Giggled- 5 months
Crawled- 6 months
First tooth- 2/29/08
First words-`Hi` 3/31/08 `Kitty` 4/2/08
First Steps-4/7/08
Walking on her own-6/12/08
2 Top teeth-6/21/08
Peed on potty chair-5/11/09 |
Birth Story
Original due date: 8/23/2007
Type of delivery: Vaginal (without pain relief)
Duration of labor: 3.5 hours
Weight @ birth: 7 lbs 4 oz
Length @ birth: 20 inches
I
had a BAD cold since Thurs. the 23rd and it was NOT fun to be huge and
coughing, so I felt miserable. I was coughing pretty hard on Sat. nite,
and sometime during the nite I felt a few really sharp pains in my
stomach. Well around 9am Sun. I felt fluids leaking out of me every
time I coughed. Keep in mind that I was drinking TONS of water to help
with the coughing, plus I already had a lot of pressure on my bladder,
so I really thought I was peeing every time I coughed. My husband was
supposed to go to work an hour away, but I really thought it was pee so
I gave him the OK to go. Well about 15 min after he left it occurred to
me that maybe it was my water that broke, but I was so stuffed up and
couldn't smell anything so I couldn't tell. I called Justin and told
him he better come back because maybe my water broke. I wasn't having
any contractions or anything, but my doc said to go to the hospital and
have them check to see if it was my water. I took my time getting
there, I took a shower, packed my bag (which should have been packed a
few weeks ago), and waited for Justin to find someone to cover for him
at work. So we got to the hospital sometime after 11am. It was my
water, but I was only at 2 cm and wasn't in labor. They told me if it
was my 2nd or 3rd baby they would have me walk around for awhile to try
to get labor started, but since it was my first it could be hours and
they didn't want to wait because of infection risks. So they
recommended starting pitocin to induce labor. I didn't really want to
do that because I heard it makes your labor a lot worse and I didn't
want to get pain meds, but I also didn't want to be stuck waiting all
day and need it anyway and drag things on. So I agreed to it and they
started pitocin at 2pm. About 5-10 min later I started getting mild
contractions about every 2 min. They weren't terrible, so I used a TENS
unit during them and was doing fine. We walked around the halls til
about 3pm with the TENS and they kept getting stronger and stronger so
I had to stop and hold the wall during each one, but I was still doing
ok with breathing thru them and using the TENS. At 3 I was getting
really miserable so we went back to the room and I was still using the
TENS and I tried the birthing ball but I was having a really hard time
dealing with the pain. And this whole time they were still every 2 min
and I was hooked up to the IV, so I had to hurry up and pee in between
contractions, which was difficult because my stomach was so huge and I
didn't want to get the IV tubes in the toilet. I had to wait out a few
contractions on the toilet seat because I didn't finish in time. And
let me tell you it was miserable when I had coughing fits during
contractions!! At about 4 pm they checked me and I was about 4 cm, so I
was ok with the progress because they said typically 1st time moms
dilate about 1 cm per hour. So they told me to expect the baby around
9-10pm. I decided to get in the jacuzzi at 4 because I thought it would
help me feel better and more relaxed. I couldn't have been more wrong
because as soon as I had a contraction in the water I was in AGONY!! I
just started screaming bloody murder during each contraction and all I
did between contractions was talk about how this was definitely going
to be an only child (and I honestly believed I wouldn't change my
mind!) I begged for the epidural around 4:30 (even though I swore up
and down that I wouldn't get one) because I was thinking there was no
way I could make it another 5 hours with this pain! So they called the
anesthesiologist to get it ready. I got out of the tub at 4:48 and they
checked me and I was at 6 cm. At 5pm my doc came in just to let me know
she was on her way to deliver a baby at a different hospital, but she
should make it back in time to deliver mine (because they were thinking
9 or 10 pm). Well she checked me and felt a head, so they told me it
was too late for the epidural because it was time to push! We had
decided to wait to find out the gender, but my doc knew what I was
having. So as I was getting ready to push she says "this will be the
3rd girl I delivered today" then she remembered that we didn't know and
tried covering for herself by saying "or it could be the 1st boy today,
I just said girl because I have girls on my mind". It didn't register
with me when she gave it away, but it kind of ruined it for Justin (and
he was the one who wanted to wait to find out). Anyway, they had me
start pushing at about 5:10 and she was out by 5:18! She would have
been out a lot faster but it took me awhile to cooperate with the
pushing! And I screamed even worse than the contractions, I probably
made them all deaf lol! I only needed 2 stitches, and the doc said they
were only superficial tears but she was stitching them just to be on
the safe side. Anyway, I was so surprised when they told me she was a
girl (even after the doc blabbed) because I was POSITIVE she was a
boy!! They even showed me but it took me a second to believe it because
I was convinced the boy parts were still hidden by the cord! And it
shows how easily I forgot the pain because as soon as it registered
with me that she was a girl, I immediately started talking about how I
wanted a boy the next time :)
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Gavin Gage Sex: boy Born: 17 October, 2009 Age: 2 years & 121 days Birthday in: 244 days Starsign: Libra Development: See the 28 months page. Biggest achievement so far: - |
Birth details
Original due date: October 13, 2009
Type of delivery: Vaginal (without pain relief)
Duration of labor: 3 hrs, 5 mins
Weight @ birth: 7lbs 15oz
Length @ birth: 20 1/4 inches
Birth story
At my appointment on Thurs. Oct 15 my doctor said I was still only 1cm dilated and about 50% effaced, which I had been since about week 35. We scheduled an induction for Wed Oct 21. I was supposed to also come in on Mon the 19th for a non-stress test and fluid check, since I would be almost a week past my due date.
On Thurs night and all day Fri I was having period-like cramps pretty much constantly, but they weren't too bad-just annoying. I could sleep through them just fine. Then at about 4am Sat (Oct 17) I woke up because the cramps were stronger and more painful than they had been. I could still doze off between them, and I was getting them every 10-20 mins. At about 5:30am I got up and started timing them and they were about every 7-9 mins. My husband got up for work at about 6am, and I told him that this might be it, and to wait a little while before he went to work. I left a message for the doctor's answering service at about 6:15am. The doctor on call finally called me back at about 7:10, and said she would probably see me at the hospital later in the day, but right now the contractions were still considered irregular, and they weren't causing me pain, so it was too early to go to the hospital now. I sent my husband to work afterall. He only works 5 mins away, so I would call him if anything changed. I stopped timing the contractions and laid on the couch watching TV with my daughter for the next couple hours. Then at about 9am, the doctor called me and said that if I want, I could go to the hospital now and she would break my water, and see if that would speed up my contractions. I decided to go for it! I called my husband at work and told him to come home!
Then I took my time taking a shower, packing hospital bags for us (once again, I procrastinated), and packing some things for my daughter to take to her grandparents. We didn't leave the house til almost 11, and then dropped our daughter off and stopped at McDonalds. I was so starving, and I knew that I wouldn't be allowed to eat once I was admitted, so I got a chicken sandwich and hoped I wouldn't regret it later! We finally got to the hospital just before noon, and they were all giving me a hard time for taking so long getting there! (jokingly)
After I was settled in my room, the doctor checked me and I was already at 4cm! All that just from a few hours of irregular, minor contractions! So the doc said it was good I came in, and broke my water at exactly noon. The contractions got very strong and painful shortly after that. I don't think they ever did get regular either! And the last 45 mins or so was pretty much a continuous contraction. I was pretty loud during many of them, but nowhere near the screaming I did with my daughter! I didn't have to have pitocin this time, and I think that made it not as bad. Plus I knew how rewarding the end was, so that helped me thru it. I never even thought of asking for pain meds, because I remembered how I felt at the same point with my daughter, so I could tell that I was almost done! For the first hour, I was walking around my room and leaning against the bed during contractions, and was able to breathe thru them. The second hour and a half I sat on the birthing ball and moaned loudly during contractions. The last half hour I moved to the bed and yelled pretty loudly thru the contractions. They only checked me twice during labor, at around 1:00 I was at 6cm, and around 2:30 I was between 7-8. Then all of a sudden just after 3pm I could feel the baby's head drop and my body started pushing on its own! I yelled that I needed to push! It was only the nurse in the room, so she was telling me not to push b/c she needed the doctor to come in. I said I couldn't help it, my body was pushing on its own. Then like 8 people all came rushing in and setting up the bed for delivery. The doctor came rushing in, and I started pushing as hard as I could! I could actually feel the baby's head pop out too. I got this baby out much faster than my daughter. I was afraid to push at first with her, but this time I knew to push with everything I had and get it over with! So he was born at 3:05 pm, just a little over 3hrs after true labor started. We hadn't found out the gender, so it was exciting when they held him up and I could see that he was a boy! He wasnt crying right away though, so I only got to hold him for a second, and they took him and gave him a little air, and then weighed him, etc. I never really did find out what was all going on with him at first, but it doesn't really matter because he was fine right after!