Emily's Birth Story

It seems the only time I do a blog update is to share a Birth Story :-)  This is a great way for me to track it for printing for the baby book and to share the birth story with family and friends.

As most know I try for a birth with a midwife either at home or at a birthing center.  This was not different this pregnancy.  I found a birthing center that also offered home births here in Bonners Ferry called Womancare Midwives.  Barbara and Lori were wonderful and amazing.  The plan was to have a home-birth in my awesome jacuzzi tub here at our home.  As usual I was prepared had everything we needed at home and all of my prenatal appointments were going great.  My last 2 babies came late so I just expected Emily to come late as well.  The last 2 appointments I had with my midwives at 37 weeks and 38 weeks left some thought on whether little Miss Emily was in the right position or not.  At my 38 week appointment we decided that it would be best if I went in for an ultrasound to confirm her position since she wasn't in the pelvis and it appeared she could possibly not be fully head down (head off to the side below belly button).  I was able to get an ultrasound scheduled for Saturday Oct 28th, which happened to be 39 weeks 1 day.  We thought if she was in the wrong position we could work on getting her turned just right and hopefully we would still have time. 

On Saturday morning 10/28 around 3:30am I woke up restless and couldn't get back to sleep (guessing a little nervous about the ultrasound).  Around 4 am I start noticing the need for many bathroom trips.  I thought this might be my water leaking slowly.  I decided we still needed the ultrasound so we would still continue to CDA ( about 70 miles from home).  I usually have long labors and hadn't had any contractions yet.  I made sure to pack the birthing kit, blankets, baby car seat, baby bag, and one set of spare clothes for me just in case Chris had to deliver a baby in the back of the van.  I also figured worst case scenario we were going through Sandpoint and into CDA which is where the hospitals are.

As we were driving I started having contractions, but they were 16 minutes apart, so wasn't too worried.  We arrived to CDA early so we stopped in the gun/outdoor store to go check out a few things.  As I was walking to the entrance my water started to leak and a lot more, so I went into the bathroom and my amniotic fluid was not clear so I contacted Lori, my on call midwife, and sent her a picture.  We agreed it was meconium and that little Emily had most likely past her first bowel movement while in the womb.  Lori informed me she just would need to be monitored a bit more while in labor but to head to the ultrasound to verify position.

We got to the ultrasound facility and when I laid down I had which looked like a baseball above my belly button on my upper right.  We all knew then that was most likely her head and the ultrasound confirmed that.  She was in transverse lie position, leaning more toward breech.  I called Lori and she advised me not to go home and head to the hospital in Sandpoint to see if the doctors could turn her or not.  Barb worked on transferring my records to the hospital and began discussing all with Dr. Johnson who was on call.

I was devastated at this point.  I knew this meant I would most likely be having a c-section, one of my biggest fears.  That may sound crazy to some, but it was a huge fear for me.  I have small children at home, I work full time from home, and we don't live near family to have extra hands available to help.  I knew many who had told me the horror stories of their recovery and well to be honest c-section recovery sounded a lot worse then traditional birth recovery. 

I reached out to my amazing friend April to see if she would be able to meet us at the hospital to take the boys, so Chris could stay with me and we would know the boys were in good hands. 

When we arrived at the hospital I was greeted at the door by Dr Johnson and he was awesome.  He made sure I was comfortable and took me up for a check to confirm my water had broken and to check on baby position.  He confirmed yes my water had broke, there was meconium present, and she was in transverse lie position more toward breech.  He told us since there was little water left it was not safe to turn her.  There was too much risk for her and I if something went wrong and that is recommendation was go in for a c-section sooner rather than later since contractions were still 13 minutes apart and we didn't want her to go into any distress since c-section was really the only option available.  My heart sunk, I knew this was going to be rough, but we knew what we had to do.

The boys said goodbye to me and headed to meet April to head home with her.  Chris came back up and we were both prepped to proceed with the c-section.  Everyone introduced themselves as I was brought in, the staff was all pretty amazing.  By the time the c-section took place Emily was in full breech position.  She was out, crying, then handed over to Chris to hold next to me while they finished with me.  I did hear a comment the Dr made about velamentous cord, but didn't know what that meant.  Later Dr.Johnson told me that the cord was velamentous cord insertion and this meant the cord was attached differently (more like webbed to the placenta) which meant if the tried to turn her it would have had an increased chance of rupture and complications and he was very happy we didn't try.

Emily Alice St.Peter was born on 10/28/17 and was 7lbs 12 oz and 19.25 long and was beautiful and perfect.  As for her name Emily is a name Chris and I picked that we both loved and her middle name Alice is after my Grandmother Alice who passed away in 2016.

I stayed in the hospital for 3 nights to recover, which was needed.  Chris and the boys stayed at home, but visited every day and I was fortunate to have my midwives stop in for a visit and my wonderful friend April.  Our amazing ward at our church also coordinated bringing dinner every night from Sunday-Saturday for us that week.  This helped me to know the kids and hubby were being fed in my absence and meals were taken care of when I got home for a little while.  Luckily Chris has a great job and was able to take the week off to help and coordinate picking my Mum up who was flying in Wednesday and she would be around to help for a week after Chris started work. 

I couldn't of managed without the help of meals, friends, the hubby, and my awesome Mum.  Frank is still young and likes to be held, picked up, and snuggled so having Chris and my Mum around to help with that was key. 

It seems I have had just about every type of birth now:
1st: Planned successful natural home birth with a midwife
2nd: Unsuccessful home birth that resulted in Hospital transfer medicated vaginal birth
3rd: Planned natural water birth at a birthing center with a midwife
4th: Hospital C-section birth.

A big thank you to my wonderful midwives who were smart enough to know when the birth was out of their hands and for giving me amazing prenatal support and postnatal support.  Thank you April for being there to help with the boys, to visit, and to give me advice since she has had her experience with c-sections.  To our incredible Ward for being there with meals to feed us and to share love and support.  Thank you to my wonderful Mum for getting out here and taking care of me, my kids, and husband during my recovery.  Of course thank you to my loving husband for being there to support and love me through this all.  I was also very impressed with the staff and doctors at Bonner General Health in Sandpoint; they really made this scary situation easier to handle and treated Emily and I like we were special. 

For the record, in my experience the pain and discomfort from the c-section surgery was much worse then the painful parts of natural childbirth.  Try natural childbirth...it doesn't hurt as much.

Thank you Heavenly Father for watching over us and protecting us on this journey.  Continue to give us strength and guide us through this life.  💙Amen💜

Meeting our precious girl

Emily

Daddy & Daughter

All of our kiddos

Grandma meeting Emily

6 days old getting some sun on the snow

Snow fun

6 Days Old

Grandma getting some more snuggles before she leaves

Boys with Grandma before we took her to hotel airport

Frank's Birth Story

I never seem to have time to do our blog anymore, but I always make it a point to share my birth stories.  I am a huge fan of natural birth and hope by sharing my birth stories it helps to give some insight and encouragement to others.  Here is the birth story of our third amazing baby boy.

Frank’s Birth Story

Baby #3.  When we found out I was pregnant the hunt began for us to find a midwife.  At the time in our area there were not any Midwives available for home birth or birth centers.  I knew I didn't want a hospital birth, which led us on the search in Twin Falls, Boise and Salt Lake City for a Birth Center.  After researching we made a trip out to Boise and visited the New Beginnings Birth Center in Meridian, ID.  We fell in love the facility and the midwives there and just knew it was the perfect fit for us.  

They were great at working with us on the distance and spacing out appointments.  It was a 5 hour drive each way, so every trip we planned some family fun and would overnight that direction.

This also meant we had to work on logistics for the birth.  Would the 5 hour drive be do able in labor, should the kids and I stay closer for the birth, who would help with the kids, etc.  After many discussions we decided that the kids and I would stay closer to the birth center and we would convince my Mum/Dad to come stay with us, so I would have someone there for the kids when I went into labor.  Chris would then try to drive out for the birth when labor started.  

I got lucky and found a beautiful RV Park about 70 miles for the Birth Center that had small cabins to rent.  This was perfect.  Hiking trails, mini golf, swimming pool, horseshoes and all in the mountains.  The price was also better then the extended stay hotel rates.  We would have a kitchen, bathroom, 1 bedroom and a living room with with a queen size futon.  Plenty of room for all of us and the kids could play outside and not have to worry about noise issues.  If you are ever staying near Boise, you must check out Fort Running Bear RV Park. Amazing facilities and wonderful people.

Our little guy ended up dropping pretty low about 7 weeks before my due date, so we all thought he would be coming early so we planned on arriving to the cabin around 38.5 weeks pregnant to be safe to begin our stay.  We got out there and started enjoying the fun on a Wednesday the 19th. The next weeks Friday (Aug 28) I started having contractions in the early morning and after 12 hours of contractions we sent for Chris to come out and to be ready.  Contractions were 8-11 minutes apart for 23 hours then the contractions stopped being continuous.  Chris spent the weekend with us then him and my Dad headed back to Elko.  Over the next few days contractions would last a couple hours here and there then they would stop.  The next Tuesday (just past due date) we made a trip to the midwives and we found out that our little guy had turned posterior (baby head down but facing forward towards my belly).  They recommended trying a chiropractor to see if they could adjust me so that we could get little guy in the right position.  I had never been to a Chiropractor, so was a little nervous but decided to give it a try.  Called them up and they squeezed me in.  Wow it was amazing. Left there and felt relief where there was discomfort.  

On Wed we decided to go swimming to see if would also help encourage labor.  On our way back from the pool we encountered a young Buck (Deer) and it stayed near our cabin the remainder of the evening and even the next morning.  We wondered if it was a sign that the baby was coming soon.  That afternoon after swimming around 4 pm contractions started and were 10 minutes apart all night.  They were intense contractions and lasted closer to the 1 minute mark.  I called the midwives in the morning and they said go to the chiropractor then come to them for an exam.  

Got to the Chiropractor, got an adjustment and left there around 12:45 pm.  Contractions were still 10 minutes apart and very intense.  Got to the Birth Center around 1 pm and they decided that I should stay close since contractions had started coming about 5-6 minutes apart.  The good news was he had turned out of posterior position.  They put a wrap on my belly to help lift the little guy a little to help encourage him to get in the perfect position.  They recommended getting food and a hotel nearby.  If contractions stayed at 5 minutes apart to come back after getting some food.  If they spread out then relax at the hotel and see if labor progressed.  

We decided to head to get some food to take to the hotel and eat since it would be easier with the boys.  Contractions spaced out to 8 minutes for 2 contractions.  On our way to get some food contractions intensified.  As sitting through drive thru they went back to 5 and were even more intense.  My poor mother was driving and got to hear some not so nice responses from me during contractions.  We got to the hotel at 2 pm and I stepped out of the car and instantly my water broke.  Picked up the phone called the Midwives and our Doula Shawnelle to tell them we were on our way to the birth center.  The 10 mile drive back to the birth center was awful!!  

As soon as my mum pulled in the parking lot I got out of the car and walked to the best of my ability straight into the birth center and the birthing room that Beth was preparing the birthing tub in.  I brace the wall through contractions that were already giving me the urge to push until our Midwife Beth got the water ready for me.  She helped me in and about that time the Birthing Assistant, Melissa and our Doula Shawnelle arrived.  The hot water in the tub felt amazing and help so much with the pain in my back from contractions.   

My body already was pushing and I was exhausted.  Not enough fuel in the system (food and water), but my Doula was putting a drink in front of me between contractions and helping in that department.  Next thing I knew he was crowning.  I heard we can see a head and an ear, tiny pushes but my body didn't have the urge to push nor did I have the strength to do it without the help of a contraction.   It was the calm before the finale.  In those moments I found myself praying for God to give me the strength to finish this.  The contractions finally came and he was out and in my arms.  He was perfect, amazing, everything I had prayed for.  Frank Angus St.Peter was born on 9/3/15 at 3:55 pm 21 inches long and 9 lbs 0 oz.

I asked if my Mum was still around and they went out and found her in the parking lot still with the boys in the car (one sleeping, one being entertained by a show).  My Doula stayed out there with the boys, so my Mum could come in and meet her new Grandson.

I stayed in the tub holding Frank for close 30 minutes while the amazing birth team filled me with liquid and patiently waited for me to pass the placenta  Then it was time to move to the comfy bed.

My midwife and assistant left me to relax in the room with the baby and Shawnelle while my Mum took the boys out shopping.

Shawnelle stayed and visited with me and helped make sure I got food and liquid in me to bring my energy levels back up.  Then it was time for her to leave and me to try to rest a little.  After a little rest I was up and getting showered, so we could head out.  I was looked over again, given my watch list for me and Frank and then we were able to head out.  The boys came in and met their baby brother then we all headed out to the cabin for the night. We stayed at the Birth Center for about 3-4 hours after Frank was born.  Our Midwife Beth even prepared me some amazing food to eat (Eggs, Kale, Bacon and some more amazing goodness).  I was pampered by these ladies.

The next morning we went back for a check-up and both of us were good to go.  We decided instead of staying in a hotel we would drive home.  It was time to see my Hubby and the boys to see their Daddy.

Of course there is discomfort and healing to still be done, but feeling so fortunate and joyful for what I have.

A huge Thank you to my Mum and Dad who came in town and helped with everything including watching to very wild young boys.  There support at all my births has been very appreciated and couldn't of been done without them.

All the Midwives and Birth Assistants at New Beginnings Birth Center.  Kelly, Emmy, Sarah, Melissa and Beth.  You made this pregnancy and birth perfect and amazing.  Beth I am so happy you joined us in the last few weeks and you got to be the Midwife at my birth.  You are great addition to the Birth Center!!  You and Melissa were so helpful, respectful and caring during the entire birth process.

BoDo Chiro...Dr Jen and Dr Kyle. I am a huge fan and will be back.  I am positive your adjustments got our little guy in the right position to get the labor really going.  Thank you so much!!

Shawnelle I am so happy we hired you as our Doula.  We knew Chris would most likely not make the birth and that I would need someone to help me through the process.  Your knowledge and insight throughout our meetings, the labor and the birth were very much appreciated.  You knew what I needed and were there to help me through the tough process.

When we returned home our amazing neighbor even came over with food for the family.  Thank you Knudsen Family this it fed us for days :-).  They were also kind enough to let me bring the boys by for some afternoon playtime so Mommy and Frank can get some relaxation and quality time in over this first week.

Thank you to the Relief Society at our church for arranging food to be brought to us that first week.  You ladies are amazing!!

This birth will never be forgotten.  I appreciate everything that everyone has done to help and assist before and after this birth.  We can’t thank you enough.

Our little family has grown so more and we are so fortunate.  Feeling like the luckiest lady to have my three boys and my wonderful husband

For any Mommies to be out there exploring natural birth, I highly recommend it.  It is very satisfying and rewarding.  This was my first water birth and I would also recommend that.  I have had one natural birth in my bed, one hospital birth with drugs and one natural water birth.  The tub helps with contraction pain as well as the crowning process pain.  Explore your birth options and make the decision right for you and your baby.  Just remember natural birth is an option and it can be amazing. 

Thank you God for all the blessings you have given our family.  Thank you for the strength and comfort you have given me during this pregnancy and labor.  You are my rock and savior God.  All this is possible because of you.  Please continue to watch over and guide us on this journey. In Jesus name I pray Amen.

Lamoille Canyon Trip

Its been a while!!  Quick recap update:
-We sold the farm.
-We moved to Northern Neveda (Elko/Spring Creek) area.
-The boys are growing fast and are very happy.

Today we went up to the Lamoille Canyon; it is about 15 minutes away from our rental in Spring Creek.  It is so beautiful there.

Here is a slideshow:

A Few Collages

Picture Update

 Henry loves to hold Oliver.  Oliver doesn't always like it :-)

I have been trying for 2 weeks to get a picture of Oliver smiling.   Got some finally.

7 weeks old weighing in at 10 lbs 14 oz

Henry decided last night it was time to start potty training.  Last night he went pee in the toilet and this morning he went poop in the toilet.  So proud of my little man.

One Big Update

Trying to teach Henry his baby brother's name Oliver:

Oliver at 4 Weeks:

Weight: 9lbs 15oz

Gramdma Tarri's Visit (Dec 31-Jan 4)

 Grandma Pam and Grandpa Bruce's Visit:

Christmas 2012

Henry's 2nd Birthday!!  December 20th

Big thanks to my Mum for making the cakes and the egg rolls.  Also to her and my Dad for being in town for Henry's Birthday.  Thank you to the Brandner family for coming out to the house to celebrate with us.