Genevieve: A Birth Story

Genevieve's birth story isn't terribly exciting, but I wanted it written down.

Wednesday, January 7th:
My due date came and went with no contractions or signs of labor what so ever...

{Due date selfie}

Thursday, January 8th, mid morning:
I had a 40 weeks 1 day check up.  My doctor did his usual check up routine: everything looked great, baby was head down, however there were still no signs of labor and I was dilated to 1.5 cm (same as a week previous).  I scheduled a non-stress test for the next morning and an induction for the following Wednesday morning.

Friday, January 9th, mid morning:
I had to drive to a different office to have my non stress test done.  They wanted to make sure everything looked good and it was safe for me to continue with my pregnancy.  Everything looked great except the ultrasound showed that baby had (in the last 24 hours) flipped over and was now breech!  The nurse tried to contact my Dr, and I was sent home with the instructions: Try not to go into labor, but if my contractions became "consistent and painful" to go to the labor and delivery, and I was to follow up with my Dr. at my appointment on Monday.  I was pretty convinced that I wouldn't go into labor on my own anyways, so I didn't feel too stressed.

Saturday, January 10th, DAY:
Brandon had an all day seminar.  The boys and I went to the park, Target, and had dinner with friends.  Signs of labor: NONE.

Saturday, January 10th, NIGHT:

8 pm:  I started having semi-regular contractions, but they were very much not painful.  I assumed they were just semi-regular braxton hicks.  I started timing them anyways, because I was bored.

9 pm: Had root beer floats with Brandon and continued binge watching FRIENDS on Nexflix.

10:30 pm:  At this point my contractions were a little bit painful, but still all over the place; from 5 to 18 minutes apart.  I was sure that they were just going to go away at any point.  So I thought maybe if I took a shower and went to bed they would go away.  I texted Julie, who was going to come over and watch our kids if we had to go to the hospital something like, "Keep your phone on, but it's probably nothing."

I took a shower, got on my PJs, and got into bed.  The contractions, still 8-12 minutes apart, were pretty painful at this point and for some reason I still thought they were going to go away.

Sunday, January 11th:

Midnight: I lay in bed and for 3 contractions in a row (which I had stopped timing because they were going to go away) I said after another contraction I would go to the hospital.  After the third one while trying to sleep, I told Brandon we better go.  I was convinced that I wasn't in labor that we didn't even bring all of our stuff.  Camera, nope, diaper bag, nope, car seat base in the car, nope.  Julie came to sleep on our couch.

12:30: They checked me into the hospital hooked me up to all the monitors and did an ultrasound to confirm that baby was still head up.  After monitoring me for sometime, they did a cervix check... 4.5 centimeters and "bulging sack of water."  A nurse said, "They can't turn the baby when you're already in labor," and that was the point I realized, I was in labor!

Then we sat and waited... I continued to have contractions, they prepped me for c-section, called my doctor and I could tell he was sleepy because the nurse had to repeat everything loudly.  "Yes, Barnette.  No, the baby is breech.  4.5 centimeters.  No, breech."  My water broke during a contraction.  My doctor showed up with bed head and it was time to go to the O.R.

It was 2 something when we tried to call my parents.  We tried each line, but didn't want to keep calling.

The OR was cold and I was terrified.  Honestly, the worst part of the c-section was how scared I was.  It wasn't scary or painful, but I had a lot of anxiety about being cut open while awake.  Everyone was great, except there was a nurse that I couldn't see that seemed to bother the other nurses and doctors.  I was happy to have the spinal as my contractions were close together and pretty painful at this point.  They also gave me some, "make you calm down drugs."  Something they gave me made me want to puke, and they gave me something for the nausea.  They strapped my arms down and put up a big blue sheet in front of my face,

2:54 am:  Genevieve was born.  I just laid there, shaking, waiting to hear her cry.  Those first cries were overwhelming emotionally.  It was like the emotions of 2 years of waiting, 3 lost babies, and 9 months of worrying all boiled over and I couldn't stop crying.  They held her little, red face up over the curtain for just a second and then she was gone again.  They wrapped her up and Brandon held her close to my face for a bit.  Then a NICU doctor came really close to my face and explained that they had to take her to the NICU for a while to monitor her breathing.  It's common for breech babies to have a little bit of fluid in their lungs.  She said, "She's fine we just want to watch her.  She's fine, if she wasn't fine she would be gone already."

After they took Genevieve away things got really fuzzy.  I was TIRED.  I kept almost falling asleep while my doctor stitched me up.  The anesthesiologist reassured me that I could fall asleep, but I was convinced that if I fell asleep I would die.  Drugs, sleep deprivation?  I don't know, I was delusional, but I stayed awake, kinda.  Brandon tells me it took at least an hour to stitch me up.  They moved me back to a recovery room, Genevieve got a bath, I guess I fed her??  It had to be at least 5:30 am when everyone was gone and we all fell asleep.

{Can you see the tired in our eyes?}

We made phone calls that morning at a more reasonable time, which I kind of remember.  Mike (remember Julie had been with our boys) some how braved church with our boys and their two kids.  Mom drove out.  We had a slew of visitors.  And some how the last three weeks passed.

Stats:

8 lbs 2 oz

20"

Sunday, January 11, 2015, 2:54 am

2014 in Retrospect

Yesterday we took down Christmas, swept the floors,  cleaned the counters, and it felt wonderful.  Then the sun went down and I felt a little sad to not have the warm glow of the Christmas tree in the corner.  Every year I'm a little sad that the previous year is over.  The problem is I'm not quite over 2013 being over when 2014 ends, or 2012 for that matter.. so really I'm still mourning the loss of 2010.  But this year, 2014, went especially quick.  I'm afraid each year just moves more quickly than the last, and I'll never get over 2010 being over.

2014 was my least blogged year ever.  Bummer.

I suppose I spent most of January was spent trying to get over 2013 being over.  We also spent the first quarter of the year obsessed with trying to get pregnant.  I was consumed with acupuncture, supplements, ovulation test, pregnancy test and, my family's favorite, waving a hot burning stick over my uterus every day.

We also visited the snow, the farm, and Chandler mastered reading in first grade.

In April Brandon turned 32.  We partied hard over spring break (once and twice!) and family visited us here in Las Vegas for conference weekend.  Sometime during that insane month of April, we conceived, and my pregnancy after miscarriage began.

In early May, the house we were renting went on the market.  It was hot, I was struck with morning sickness, and I tried my very best to keep a clean house for the almost constant visit of "potential buyers."

Apparently, Chandler also played baseball.  I don't remember the months of May and June.  Chandler turned 7.

July was BUSY.  We celebrated the fourth, and took a long drive to Colorado.  We also had a FABULOUS birthday pool party for the boys.

In August we went to Brandon's family's cabin in the Sierra Nevadas, and my family came for an annual boating trip at Lake Mead.  All of which I have no pictures/blogs of.  Sterling turned 4, and both Chandler and Sterling started school.

Early September we received word that our house might sell.  We spent the month, getting more pregnant, and waiting for word on if we would have to move or not.  We settled into school routines, and just after I finally broke down and put up our fall decorations, we were told the house sold and we would need to move by the end of October.

We spent the first weekend in October, ignoring the stress of moving, and partying with our family in Park City.

So October............  we packed, and partied.  I was insistent that we wouldn't miss out on any Halloween activities.  We attended several Halloween parties after LONG days of packing.  I was exhausted and over worked the whole month, but we did it all.  However, picture taking was not on my to do list, but really the boys got it all.  Also, I turned 28 and my besties through me a beautiful baby shower.   And we moved.  

November and December flew past in a blink.  Just like I thought they would.  We spent Thanksgiving in California.  We ate Christmas treats, hung decorations, and over booked our schedules.  Nightly parties and meetings consumed us until we left for California for a flu Christmas.

Suddenly, we are home, and recovering; it is 2015 and we're left cleaned up and ready for a baby who is just hanging out in utero.  It's impossible for me to imagine what the end of 2015 is going to look like, but we're excited and ready.  But still a little sad, because 2010 was a good year.  :)