Elliot's Entrance

**This post was seven months in the making.  Sorry for the delay!!**

Throughout the third trimester, I was told quite frequently that I wouldn't be making it to my due date.  My due date was June 23rd.  I didn't.  But I did make it to my goal.  Possibly through sheer force of will.  Here's your recap.

About 6 weeks prior to my due date, I found out that my midwife would be on vacation.  It felt very much like the scene in the movie "Knocked Up" when Katherine Heigl realizes her practitioner who she interviewed about "being there for her" would not...be there.  Nonetheless, when receiving very personalized care, this is one of the drawbacks and one that I was prepared to deal with.  By holding my baby in until my due date.  My midwife would be on vacation from June 16th-23rd, so I'd just have my baby after her flight landed, of course.  It would be perfect, because that was when I was due.  

Many pregnant ladies I've encountered get to the end of pregnancy and they are DONE.  I get it, I totally do, but I just wasn't like that.  I had a very comfortable pregnancy and I like babies to cook just as long as they need.  With that said, Cece arrived a week ahead of schedule, so the fact that my midwife's vacation would be during my 39th week was a smidge stressful. 

While I wasn't considered to be a candidate who needed to go to the hospital as opposed to the birth center, (because I was NOT diagnosed with polyhydramnios - yay Natrum Muriaticum!) I still wanted to visit the hospital where I could end up...just in case.  With the possibility of going with a "backup" midwife a reality, there was a higher likelihood we would be in the hospital.  If any other patients from either of the two practices was in labor at the same time and needed to go to the hospital, I would need to go also to receive care from a midwife.  So, about 4 weeks before D day, we went to visit Einstein Montgomery Medical Center.  It is amazing!  It is a brand new facility that works with midwives in the area.  The only hospital to work with midwives in the area, so it had my support in that regard.  I had also been assured that so long as I was not a high risk case, I could be treated by a midwife in a room as if I was in a birth center.  It was comforting to visit, if even just to know what entrance to go to and where to go once inside.  As it turned out, time was of the essence and it was very good to have a clear head as far as directions were concerned.

The following week, we visited our "backup" midwife, Ronni Rothman of Woman Wise Midwifery.  Ronni is awesome.  We gave her the recap of our history as it pertained to my first labor and birth experience.  She was very laid back, direct, but also very warm and funny.  She was someone I knew I would be comfortable having by my side during birth.  She made a very positive impression on Jeff, so that he was hoping I went during week 39 so he could "hang out" with Ronni more.

So, we had all our ducks in a row.  My goal was to make it through the last day of school and that is what we did.  The last day of school was Monday, June 17th.  It was a half day with students though as an encore teacher, I would be covering one assembly and presenting at two assemblies.  Easy.  At midnight on Sunday, my water broke.  With my first pregnancy, my water did not break until we were in the hospital so this was a new experience.  I think it was important that my water broke first so that I could take any contractions seriously.  Up until then, I had pretty regular contractions but had dismissed them as Braxton hicks.  If my water hadn't broken, I very likely would have had a baby in the car by myself.  When my water broke, I called the midwife.  I was advised that if the fluid was clear, I was safe to labor at home and wait until labor progressed.  There was no nursing coverage at my birth center during the overnight hours that night so if I were going to get checked it would have been at Einstein Montgomery and though they are quite liberal, they are still a medical institution and like others, if I went in with my water broken I would be staying in.  I took all this to mean that there would be nursing coverage the following day (a mistake I probably should have clarified).  

So I came up with the following plan.  Jeff should sleep and get as much rest as possible.  I ate "breakfast" in case I was in more intense labor and less inclined to eat at a more traditional breakfast-ing time.  I decided that if labor pains weren't crippling that we should go to school.  Jeff would drive and stay with me.  Cece would stay home with my mom.  Since then people have shared with me that this was crazy. But if you know my daughter you might realize that laboring at home would have been far more stressful than laboring at school, in a lovely quiet library by myself. What would you choose?  

Anyway, I labored at school walking around, sometimes pausing to lean on the circulation desk.  Jeff reflected that students were coming in to check in items and I would assist them, breathing a little more carefully at times.  I presented at two assemblies.  During the first, I ended up being last in the order so for the second I asked my principal if I could go first for reasons that were obvious only to myself.  If I mentioned that I was in labor, moreover that my water had already broken, I would have earned myself a first class ambulance ride as far as my principal was concerned.  There was one and then two and three teachers who became aware.   One asked if I could cover the second assembly.  I explained that I wasn't comfortable doing so because I may need to leave with short notice.  This left her a bit frazzled and a teacher who encountered her down the hall put two and two together and kept checking on me periodically.  

In the meantime, I put Jeff to work doing some heavy lifting.  I needed some overhead projectors moved and would have done so myself, but since he was there.... He needed some "busy-work" as he was getting antsy.  My first labor experience was speedier in one sense so he wasn't used to all this waiting around nonsense.  He expressed that he could have gone out to Starbucks...he kept asking, "Anything!?!"  I kept replying, "Really...really?!?"  

Sometime around 10 AM, the midwife checked in and I explained that I was at work.  She chuckled.  I explained that it really made the most sense.  And it did because my workplace is ten minutes (if that) from the birth center.  Then she broke the news to me that unless I could hold out until 6PM, I wouldn't be having the baby at the birth center.  There was no nursing coverage there.  So we would be at Einstein Montgomery.  That's a little further away. I was comforted before at being close to the birth center.  Things started to pick up a bit but contractions still seemed somewhat erratic.  They didn't seem to be evenly spaced or always getting closer together.  There was also an end of year luncheon I was really hoping to make it to, but that would not be happening.  A mere 20 minutes before the luncheon, it was time to go.  To at least get closer to our final destination.  

I called the midwife to let her know my next plan.  I told her we were going to drive in that direction, pick up lunch, maybe go for a walk to get things moving along.  She laughed and asked if we were going to Plymouth Meeting Mall.  I told her I was thinking of the Farm Park, a large park with a walking trail that just so happens to be (literally) across the street from the hospital campus.  So we went.  And we picked up hoagies from Wawa.  At that point I was still hungry.  Evidently, two breakfasts were not enough.  We parked at the Farm Park and I got out of the car.  I started to walk to a lovely picnic table then remarked to Jeff that instead I would sit on this rock right here in the middle of the parking lot.  This behavior he was familiar with.  During my first labor on the way into the hospital, I sat on a speedbump.  He said something to the effect of, "This is more like it."  We eventually made it to the table but by that point I knew it was time to cross the street.  I encouraged him to eat his lunch as we didn't know how long the next portion of our journey would take.  Sadly, I looked at my sandwich and couldn't imagine eating it at that moment.  I called the midwife again and she surprised me that she "knew" and had left after our last conversation.  She had called ahead, the hospital had my room ready and she would be there in five minutes.  

After Jeff finished, we somehow got back to the car and across the street.  He dropped me off at the  outdoor eating area tables by the front door while he parked the car.  He got to me.  He then went back to the car to get the only thing we really needed inside: a cooler.  More on that in another post.  In the meantime, Ronni arrived asking if I was out for a refreshing afternoon and we all walked in together.  I felt so supported by both my husband and my midwife.  We joked in the elevator and as we walked back.  We went directly into our room and got down to business.  We arrived in the room at about 2:30.  

Unlike my first birth, I had complete freedom to move as I saw fit.  I still went very internal but tried things that were suggested and spoke up when I didn't like something.  Monitoring was still necessary as the baby's heart rate was hard to gauge.  But Ronni did the most amazing thing.  She literally followed me with the monitor.  I went to the bathroom, she followed and monitored.  I changed positions, she followed and monitored.  If monitoring has to happen, that's the way to do it.  Like with my first birth, I knew the best way to figure out what might be causing any issues with the baby's heart rate was to figure it out outside my body. Being free to get into a natural birthing position,  he was born quickly at 3:59 PM.  His cord was wrapped around his neck but Ronni deftly removed it and he revived right away.  She advocated for any measurements to be done quickly to get my baby back to me but she also was realistic about some repairs that needed to happen on my end too.  

The nurses kept asking if she wanted pitocin.  I was so confused.  First, the baby was already here, why on earth would I need/want pitocin now?  I have since learned that research has shown pitocin post-birth helps to significantly reduce the chance of uterine rupture and has become a standard of care.  There is a high likelihood that I received pitocin after my first birth and was never even told - add that to my list of grievances.  Generally speaking, pitocin is a synthetic form of oxytocin which is produced naturally when a baby breastfeeds so if immediate skin to skin and breastfeeding are encouraged, oxytocin will follow which will also reduce the chance of uterine rupture.  Off soapbox.

When Elliot returned to my arms, he latched right away and ate like a champ.  I was filled with bliss.  He was and is perfect.  

Elliot Orion Zschunke

6-17-13

8lb 2oz

While we did not experience a birth center birth (technically) we truly had a positive and liberating experience to birth in a natural way within our four walls that just happened to be within a hospital.  I am so happy that institutions exist that still trust women's ability to bring babies into this world without unnecessary interventions and that support midwives to do the work they do best.

Family Selfie

Skin to Skin with Daddy

Our amazing midwife, Ronni Rothman

Heading Home!

The Belly 2012-2013

Since I did not post "belly" pictures on a weekly basis here faithfully as I did during my first pregnancy, I created a video compilation instead.  Enjoy!  Look for ultrasound photos, weekly pictures of Elliot and a birth story coming soon!

Guess What...I Had a Baby!

Seriously though, I did.  And I'll tell you about it as well as what his big sister, Cece's been up to lately...working on it :) 

My good friend, Braxton

During my pregnancy with Cece, I experienced Braxton Hicks contractions once.  One afternoon, while still at school, I experienced contractions that I thought could be the beginning of the real deal.  I drove home (at the end of the school day), and continued to time them.  They petered out to nothing.  I chalked it up to Braxton Hicks contractions.

During this pregnancy, for weeks already, I've been experiencing contractions.  Not at all regular, just definite "toning" contractions, getting my body ready.  And they feel just like contractions (well, how early contractions feel to me).  Not painful, necessarily, but an involuntary tightening of the muscles.  Like two hands wrapping around the top of my uterus for the sides and giving a nice squeeze.  My stomach will feel hard to the touch and then relax, and then the baby will kick and squirm and move.

My midwife indicated that these contractions are probably what helped to get his head down.  Oh!  I forgot to mention that piece of good news.  He is head down!  And has been that way for a while now. One thing about the possible polyhydramnios is that he has a veritable Olympic size swimming pool in there and could just as easily turn again, but I'm just going to be happy that he's in position for now and go with that.

Anyway, back to contractions.  So, for people who know how quick my last labor was, this can be a bit unnerving.  My sister asked, "How do you know they're not real contractions."  I know.  Well...I guess I don't, but I'm pretty sure.  I will know when I can't stand through them that THEN they are real.  So, that will help.  So, if you see me clutch at my stomach, don't be alarmed.  If you see me curled up in a ball on the floor, that might mean...something.

Also, the name Braxton is starting to grow on me.

Group B Strep - Prevention is the best Medicine

The next adventure will be the Group B Strep culture.  36 week appointment will be a big day!  I tested negative for Group B Strep during my first pregnancy, but a friend who tested positive during her second pregnancy raised my awareness of what a positive reading would mean.  Four hours of antibiotics prior to delivery of a baby.  And, if labor is longer, antibiotics every four hours.  So, this hadn't occurred to me before, but I try to avoid antibiotics if I can find a natural way to remedy an issue.  And (knock on wood), we haven't had an infection with Cece that required antibiotics yet.  And I like it that way.  Antibiotics are a modern medical miracle, but so are probiotics and having a healthy overall system.  Overuse can throw things off.  And use before baby is even born can really throw things off, before they even get a chance.  That said, Group B Strep is serious business.  If passed to a newborn, there can be complications.  I don't make less of that.  But, after some research, it seems there are measures I can take to prevent a positive reading and that I can continue to administer to prevent a positive environment during labor and delivery.  And I plan to.  For anyone looking, here's the code words you need to know:

• Garlic
• Hydrogen Peroxide
• Tea Tree Oil (diluted)
• Yogurt
• Probiotics

Have fun!!

Fluid Levels

So, I posted a little about the possibility of polyhydramnios this time around in my Natrum Muriaticum post.  That was before my ultrasound and after using natrum muriaticum.  At the time, my fundal height was measuring 2 weeks ahead.  I did some personal research and looked back at my notes from my first pregnancy.  Fortunately, my neurotic self who had lots of time on her hands during her first pregnancy kept meticulous notes.  So, I went into the ultrasound armed with a pre-conceived notion of how many units of fluid would qualify me as having high fluid.  Granted, my midwife caught onto this nonsense a bit earlier in this pregnancy than my OB did in my last pregnancy.  My notes indicate that I was measured at 34 weeks and 36 weeks during my last pregnancy and my ultrasound this time around fell during my 32nd week.  So, the percentiles are evidently different depending on how far along the pregnancy is, etc.  Last time around my fluid measurements were 29.4 and 30, respectively.  This time around it was 21~22 and it was declared "upper limit to normal".  I heard normal...did you hear normal?  When I went to the midwife an hour later, she indicated that that was all well and good, but 12-15 is more like "normal."  And, the Fetal Diagnostic Center had already scheduled a follow up ultrasound for 36 weeks, so I upped the ante on the Natrum Muriaticum and I'm hoping for the best.

Again, since these posts have been sporadic at best, I might as well combine the latest and greatest information.  In the meantime, my super positive and supportive husband decided and convinced me that the Natrum Muriaticum MUST be working because I was shrinking before his very eyes.  Definitely more compact.  Definitely...

I had another appointment with my midwife two weeks later.  Instead of measuring 2 weeks ahead, I measured 3-4 weeks ahead.  So, at 34 weeks, my fundal height measured 37-38 cm.

Jeff just couldn't believe it.  We looked at pictures from my pregnancy.  We have one for each week.  He said...see, here...it's really big, but then it gets smaller.  As we clicked through and my belly kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger, and he says, "See here, it's really big, but then..." and then we got to the last and most recent picture.  It didn't look like I'd wasted away to nothing.  To be kind.

Here's the play by play from Week 30-34

Do you see the shrinking?

 

Tight Pants

So, this is now a few weeks ago as I intended to post in a much more expeditious manner to update you all about my ultrasound, fluid levels, etc.  But, first things first.  On a very "Monday" Monday, I found myself sitting at a desk for an inordinate amount of time.  And when I stood up and went to walk, I found myself in an excruciating pain.  So, I sat down again.  And googled.  It felt like what I imagined round ligament pain would feel like.  And I'd been anticipating experiencing round ligament pain because this was my second pregnancy and that's what I've been told to expect.  So, I did.  So, I googled round ligament pain.  And it indicated it would be a sharp pain.  Yes.  That would last a few moments and pass.  Um, no.  And then I panicked.  This was what everyone talked about.  The utter pain of being pregnant.  Thus far, I had been so lucky, so fortunate, to feel comfortable during pregnancy.  But now, all that was over.  I'd be in pain for the remainder.  Alas, it had come time to walk students back to class.  And so, I did.  Or, well, I hobbled.  And I talked to a teacher that I had borrowed a pregnancy support belt from before and tried to figure out if I had it somewhere or had returned it.  And then I went to the bathroom.  And when the waist band of my pants was no longer cutting off the circulation just below what used to be my waist, the pain went away.  Completely.  I had reached the point in pregnancy when all pants needed to have a very stretchy, very large panel.  Or else I couldn't walk.  NBD.  So I called Jeff and my amazing, stupendous, wonderful man of a husband drove a new pair of pants to my place of work so that I could get changed.  It was that or mumus from here on out.

In COMPLETELY different news, one of my amazing cousins created a video "redux" of Tight Pants Body Rolls.  A song I'd never heard of before she did so.  And since you may not have either, I will post the original video as well because the resemblance is uncanny.  Enjoy as you laugh at my tight pants and hers.