One year later and the birth of our second baby!

I knew I would be bad at this. It's been over a year since I posted! I wanted to share my birth story somewhere, so I remembered (because I forgot) that I have this blog!

Here is the link to Evelyn's birth story as posted to my midwife's blog:

http://www.pacificnaturalbirth.com/489/the-birth-of-evelyn-amelia/

Here is the story in full:

The Birth of Evelyn Amelia Pitroff

On June 29^th my husband Jonathan and I found out I was pregnant with our second child. We knew Mel and Jenn had just started their new practice, and thought we should email right away and get in under their care. They had been there for the labor/birth of our first son Elias (born at home) just 19 months earlier. They were an awesome team and we knew we wanted to have them for this pregnancy, and wanted to have another home birth, and this time try for a water birth!

Because of the circumstances of Elias' birth I had to be on my back to push, and that was something knew I wanted to avoid this time around. I really wanted to be squatting or kneeling, and in the water if possible. I also wanted to do what I could to avoid tearing (I had a 2^nd degree tear with Elias).

I was 6 days past my due date and was eager to meet our new little one! I had been 10 days late with our first, so this didn't surprise me. I was still decently comfortable, but we were ready! We decided not to find out the sex of either of our children, so this was another reason we were excited to do this!

The fun all began Wednesday, March 6^th, around 8am as I was nursing my son. I started having very mild contractions but didn't really consider it anything because with my first, I had obvious contractions that were 5 minutes apart right from the start. Jonathan's mom and I had already planned to take a walk that morning but now especially to help move things along. We went for a walk around 10am. My contractions hadn't changed-they were still inconsistent and mild.

Around noon I had taken Elias to a friend's house because I had an appointment at 1pm with Jenn for my 41 week non stress test. The test was inconclusive, so we decided to make another appointment for the next day (Thursday) for another test. During my time there, my contractions, which had been somewhere around 20 minutes apart, had gotten a little closer together, but still no problem to deal with. Jenn had even said “If you haven't had the baby by Monday...” so I figured I would probably have days of this.

I had another appointment at 3:45pm with a naturopathic doctor for an iron injection since my iron levels were low and hadn't come up with diet and supplements. By this time the contractions were between 9 and 13 minutes apart. When I got home, we were eating dinner and I decided to call my chiropractor to see if I could get in for a quick appointment, hoping it would encourage the labor and set things up just right for delivering. I was able to get in at 6pm.

We decided to go as a family, and we had a little wait as there was a backup of clients due to traffic in town. This is the email I sent to Jenn just before we went in:

Hey! I was just wondering at what point I call the labor tubs? I'm forgetting now! Looks like my contractions are progressing a little! Averaging 7-9 minutes and 30-45 seconds long. A little tougher to deal, but doing well! Getting an adjustment from the Chiro in a few minutes! :)

Jenn emailed back telling me to page the labor tubs when contractions were 7-9 minutes apart, which was now!

I got adjusted, and everything was looking good. My chiropractor later told me that one of her patients before me was going to have her look at her shoes or something, but told the doctor that she had a patient in the waiting area who was in labor, and that she could wait until next time! Haha! I never thought I'd be that person!

After we finished at the chiropractor (around 6:45pm), we decided to pop by our church and pick up some music equipment of Jonathan's which would only take a second. While I was there I had to go to the bathroom. After that I told Jonathan that I was ready to get home. Pooping is so much better in the comfort of your own home! HA!

We paged the labor tubs on our way home, and they got to our house just after we did, around 8:15pm. They started setting up the tub in our bedroom upstairs and began filling it with hot water. It takes about three hot water tanks to fill the tub. The contractions were definitely more uncomfortable by now but still manageable on my own, so Jonathan was busy getting things ready for Elias to be picked up.

We called Jonathan's mom to come pick Elias up and take him to Jonathan's sister's house. I wanted to get some last 'only child' cuddles and kisses in before we had to divide our attention! However, Elias was super revved up, being up so late, and wouldn't do it. I have never been so offended and hurt by a toddler! I didn't expect to be so emotional about it.

After they left, I decided to change into some sweats and a sweatshirt and get comfortable. I didn't remember feeling particularly cold or hot when I was in labor with Elias, but this time, I was so cold that I was shivering!

After the ladies from the labor tubs had gone, we wanted to get everything prepped. Since I was working through my contractions, Jonathan got to do all the busy work!

We had plans for a crock pot meal for the birth team. We needed to get some washcloths in a crock pot so I could have some extra support during the pushing phase. I thought it would be nice to have candles lit (since I never got around to it with Elias) but we never got around to it-again! We did get some music playing though, which we also didn't get around to last time!

The most comfortable thing for me during contractions was sitting on a birth ball next to the bed, holding a corner of my pillow in each hand, leaning forward. At this point, I was needing Jonathan to give a bit of pressure on my sacrum and hips during each contraction. I had a little bit of a leak of fluids so at 9:52pm, we decided to page Jenn. The fluids were clear mixed with bloody show. Yay! When my water broke with Elias, there was meconium in the amniotic fluid, so this was really exciting for me! My contractions were 3 minutes apart lasting about 45 seconds. Jonathan and I were both pretty nonchalant about everything, and Jenn advised us to wait another 20 or 30 minutes and page her if the contractions stayed the same or got closer.

At 10:34pm we paged Jenn again. The contractions were closer, 2.5 minutes apart lasting 1-1.5 minutes. Elias took 24 sweet long hours to come into this world, so we were assuming we still had many hours left until this baby made his or her appearance. We were a little surprised at the urgency in Jenn's voice. She and Alyssa were on their way! We also decided to have our doula, Sarah, start heading over (we had given her a heads up earlier in the day).

We were really bummed to not have Mel by our side this time, but we really enjoyed working with their student midwife Alyssa! We were even afraid she wouldn't be able to be there since she was in school, and couldn't attend births during the weeks she was in class. But we were so glad she made it!

Jenn and Alyssa got to our house at 11:05pm and started setting up their gear, taking my vitals and checking Baby's heart rate.

Sarah arrived shortly after the midwives and was very reassuring. She was able to help with pressure on my back when Jonathan was busy with other tasks. She also helped me to relax during contractions by reminding me of my breathing and giving encouraging words.

At 11:39pm, I had to go pee, so I stood up from the birth ball to head to the toilet and felt the gush of fluids just as I stood! I was glad that I decided to put a mondo pad on after the little leak of fluids earlier! No mess! Yay! When I sat on the toilet, I was peeing and gushing fluids, and almost immediately felt the urge to push! Sarah even asked if I was just peeing because there was so much!

I was actually feeling really hesitant to push. In natural birthing books and stories, I've always read to go with what your body is telling you. However when I was in labor with Elias, I had the urge to push for MANY hours, yet I wasn't dilated all the way, so it would have caused damage. So I had to go against what my body was telling me to do-which is awful and exhausting.

Alyssa asked if I wanted her to check my cervix to find out how dilated I was, that way I would know whether or not I could or should start pushing. I didn't really want to be checked, but I did want the reassurance (either way). So we decided to head to the bed to have them check me out (11:50pm). When I got onto the bed, it was very clear that it was time to be pushing! I was feeling Baby move down! By this time, the tub had its second tank full of hot water, and Jonathan had already started filling it with the last tank. During a pushing contraction, the midwives were able to see Baby's head! I was bummed to be on the bed, but the tub wasn’t quite ready.

I had a few contractions on the bed, and then Jenn asked “Sara, do you want to get in the tub and have your baby?” To which I responded, “YES!” The tub was full! So between contractions, they helped me get off the bed and into the tub. I think I had a contraction with one leg in and one leg out even! Then I remember someone told me I needed to get my bottom in the water before Baby's head comes out!

I knelt on the bottom of the tub, and leaned over the edge holding onto Jonathan’s arms. Alyssa asked me if I wanted to reach down and touch my baby's head, something I wanted to do with Elias but forgot! So I reached down, and felt the baby's head! It was one of the oddest things! The skin was wrinkled and felt very slippery. But it was so neat and very encouraging to feel!

Another thing that I really wanted for this birth was to really be aware during the pushing stages-feeling the baby move down, having control while pushing and allowing my body to do the pushing for me. I wanted my tissue to be able to stretch as it needed to instead of forcing the pushes and tearing.

I really felt like I did this well. I was able to push at the beginning of a contraction and then breath through the rest of it as my body and the contraction did the rest. I felt like it made the pushes so much more comfortable and manageable! It was also really amazing to feel the difference compared to pushing with Elias. With him, I was so tired by this time that I wasn't aware of what I was feeling. This was so different!

She didn't like breathing air!

A few contractions later, Baby's head was born! Alyssa checked for the cord and it was wrapped loosely around Baby's neck. After one more, the body came sliding right out. Alyssa reached from behind me to unwrap the cord. Then she told me I could reach down and grab my baby! I immediately put my hands between the legs to see what the goods were-IT WAS A GIRL!! I was shocked! We were so convinced that it was another boy. I felt like the entire pregnancy was exactly the same! And surprise-we didn't have a name picked out for her!

She was born at 12:06am and her Apgar scores were 7 at one minute and 9 at five minutes. I delivered the placenta 35 minutes later and Jonathan cut the cord 10 minutes after that. We wanted to wait until the cord stopped pulsing before cutting it. I had a first degree tear which needed 3 stitches.

It was time to find out how big she was! Jonathan helped Alyssa weigh her and they both were shocked and had to look again at the scale! During the exam, Jenn was out of the room, and when she returned we asked her to guess how much Baby weighed. She guessed spot on! She was a whopping 9 pounds 2 ounces!

9lbs 2oz! Big girl!

Around 2am I was able to take a shower, get cleaned up, dressed and fed. I was nursing Baby while everyone helped to clean up. Then we got cozied up in bed with our sweet new un-named babe and everyone was gone by 3am!

Evelyn Amelia Pitroff born March 7, 2013 at 12:06am, 9 pounds 2 ounces, 21 inches long.

It went so much quicker than I expected and was almost painless (really!) I was able to to accomplish the four things I really wanted-birth in the water while squatting or kneeling, awareness during pushing and minimal tearing! I couldn't have done it without such an awesome team! Thank you Jenn, Alyssa, Sarah, the assisting midwife Tracy, and of course the man who got us in this situation in the first place-Jonathan!

This was the first time Elias saw Evelyn

Happy Family

The truth comes out

Rattlesnake Ledge

This weekend we did a family hike to Rattlesnake Ledge! It was such a great day to get out, especially in nature! It was our first real hike of the season-and first one with the babe! We went on a little warm up hike a few weeks ago to Meadowdale Beach Park, just to try out our backpack! Here are a few photos from this weekend!

This was before the hike-I look pretty ridiculous :)

He loves hiking!

This was the view from the top-beautiful!

I love nursing in nature!

:)

He conked out on the way down and it was so bumpy!

That rock is where we hiked to!

The next hike we go on, we want to start earlier, so we can have a little more solitude-this was a busy trail! There were probably 25 people at the top, and we started at 9:30am (later than we anticipated)! But all in all, a great hike and we'd do it again!

Garden II

The previous post's pictures were taken in mid March, so now to update you on what has changed!

I've planted almost everything now, only a couple of things left. In the 5'x3' planter, I planted two squares with 8 pole beans, two squares with 8 snap peas, one square of cucumber (I am going to plant another square today), two squares with 4 garlic plants, 3 squares with 9 onion plants, and 4 squares with 4 strawberry plants each. 

In the 4'x4' planter, I planted two squares with one broccoli plant each, two squares with one cauliflower plant each, two squares of 16 carrots each, one square with 16 radishes. I have 4 squares for spinach which I am planting every two weeks so I don't have a boatload of spinach all at once, I also have 4 squares of lettuce which I am doing the same thing. Here are two really cool paint pictures I made up to show you what is planted where, and also some real photos :)

5'x3'- all have been planted except the middle cucumber (to be planted today)

So far I've planted two squares of spinach and lettuce each.
I'm not sure what I want to put in the bottom 'basil' square. Any ideas? 

5'x3' planter pictures. Today I put up a few tomato cages for the beans, peas and cucumbers. You will see them in a future post.

These are the garlic plants

Onions!

Here are the strawberry plants in the front, with the onions behind them.

These are the snap peas coming up! (no beans coming up yet)

And now for the 4'x4' planter box.

This is the first square of spinach! The lettuce is barely showing, so will update later on that!

Here is one square of broccoli. The cauliflower looks the same so far.

Here is my square of radishes (I don't even like them!!)

I also have two brussel sprout plants that my mother-in-law gave me.

I have planted 2 pots with German butterball potatoes, and two with Red Pontiac potatoes, but there isn't anything to show yet.

Here are the blueberry plants.

Happy little lovers :)

Also, my basil and cilantro plants are looking great!

That's all I have for now! I WILL post again in a week or two about the garden, with photos of the growth! YAY! I love gardening and can't wait to teach E where his food comes from!

Gardening!

So I knew I would be an awesome blogger....NOT. It has been almost 2 months since my last post-out of what, five total? Ahh well. That's what's so wonderful-it's my blog and I can blog when I want to!

So this post is about my new garden! I've been working on it for a month or so now, and it's looking good! I have lots of pictures to share! I decided this year that I really wanted to do a good garden, and since we have a little backyard and a bit of space in the front, I did it! I am doing the square foot gardening method, it is so easy and very low maintenance!

I built two planter boxes, one 5'x3', and one 4'x4'. I was intending to put the 5'x3' box in the front of our place to get lots of sun, but quickly got reprimanded by the condo association. So we moved them to the back-much less sun, but we'll see what happens!

I built these myself, and put a plywood base on the bottom to keep the weeds out. With the help of the hubs, we put some ceder legs on the fronts to make them level! I used some nylon string to show each square foot. My uncle, who is a great gardener and sells plants and flowers at his local farmers market, sold me some dirt and chicken poop. He also gave me 16 strawberry plants, two blueberry bushes, three lavender plants and some garlic and onion sets! Thanks Uncle!

This is the 4'x4' box filled with dirt.

Here is the 5'x3' box with dirt.

Here they are together, however we just moved them yesterday,
so they are closer together and directly behind our unit.

In the front area I have the two blueberry plants, three green planters that I just planted zucchini, yellow summer squash, and grey squash, a ceder planter with three lavender plants, my dying rhubarb (oops), and some thyme. I also have a sage plant, which is perennial, but it doesn't look like it will come back! Maybe it will... 

Strawberry plants

Lavender

Here's the rhubarb looking pretty good..

Blueberry plants (two so they cross pollinate!)

In the house I planted two canning jars of cilantro, and two canning jars of basil.

I did all of this a month ago. I will do a second post to update you on how things are doing and where we're at now :)

First Foods!

Oh, how could I forget? On Saturday we started giving Elias food!! Of course, only what I'm able to eat. We decided to go with 'Baby Led Weaning' as our method of feeding. Here is their website if you want to check it out! A few of the reasons we chose to do it this way is because we want to be able to eat with him, instead of feeding him and then feeding ourselves. It also makes things quite a bit easier! I won't have to puree a bunch of extra stuff! I've also been reading the book, and a lot of the pros make SO much sense. So far it has been a blast! He is really enjoying feeding himself!

Here are a few photos!

The avocados were a little slippery!

Nom nom nom...

Here he is eating a spear of zucchini!  

Sweet potatoes were a definite hit!

So far he's eaten avocado, sweet potato, zucchini, yellow squash, and pears! Oh, and he ate almost all of each thing I gave him today! I didn't expect him to eat so much so quickly! I guess that's why he's a healthy 18 pounds!

Update!

It's been a few days since I last posted. Nothing was happening-I was eating the same things over and over, and Elias was still puking a bunch, so there wasn't anything to report! But that's started to change! Elias is not puking as much! HOORAY! He still does for sure, but definitely not as much!

I also introduced some rice milk and rice cereal (it does have molasses and sugar...). I really needed something for breakfast, so this was the answer for me! I wonder if I am being too strict on the diet, because in the information that I read, they said, "Rice products, such as rice beverage, rice-based frozen dessert, rice pasta, rice flour, and millet are available in nutrition stores" , Since rice desserts would have other ingredients in them, I'm just not sure! I should have looked it up in the actual book! But then I thought about how they said you can only have potatoes seasoned with salt and pepper, so I thought it made sense that it was that strict...hmmm. I guess I'll never know!

Here is my loot from a shopping trip...The chips are just potatoes, salt and olive oil! YUM!

Oh, and I mentioned that I was going to make potato chips! 

I also tried making zucchini chips...those didn't turn out at all (burnt to a crisp)!

This was all I was able to recover, but they were mighty tasty! (that's a little kids bowl)

Here are a few cute photos of my boy :] I put him in overalls for the first time, he's so darn cute!

Day 3 of the Elimination Diet

Here's a little update on how I'm doing! 

The first day, I caved and ate the rest of the banana bread I made on Sunday...and a small bag of BBQ chips. I was SOO hungry. But since then, I haven't cheated, except to add peaches and quinoa to my diet. Both are low on the allergen list, so I did it. It helps a lot! Quinoa is so tasty, even with just a little salt on it!

This is what I had for lunch on Monday, and now I've added quinoa.
Oh, and this is what I have each day for lunch.

This is what I had for dinner last night, and lunch today!
I finally found some yellow squash!

For breakfast, I couldn't finish it today. It was so UN-appetizing. I only ate the pears, with just a little bit of millet. I felt like I was feeding a child, trying to trick them into eating the good stuff. It was silly!

I bought two different types of pears to eat, but they both were terrible. It's definitely not a good season for them now! So, I buy the canned pears, they are so tasty! I make sure to get the ones with no added sugar or syrups or anything. I'm also considering adding brown sugar to my diet, that way breakfast can be a little better...

I am going to try making baked potato chips later today! We'll see how that goes! 

On to other news: Elias!

He's recently started getting really sad when other kids make grunty/growling noises...this is what that looks like:

So sad, but so silly :]

Here's a couple more, just for fun!

He was looking out at our Christmas tree and bikes. Yes, we still have the tree...