Remember Me?

Oh, I'm going private in August....Haha! I'm what FLYlady would called a sidetracked home executive. AND, I've decided not to go private. Not going to go into the private vs. not private debate right now, just don't have it in me. I'm making a goal to update this blog at least once a month. We have so much going on in our family that we want to share with you! I will post a few newborn pics of Owen even though he is now nearly 5 months old! Haylie Jo finished swim club in November and will be starting Jr. Piranhas swim team in January. Jozlyn is right now in the midst of The Nutcracker! Boy that girl can dance! Josh is working away. What am I doing? Well, I work to help everyone else! Who gets those girls to swim team and dance? Who cooks dinner and cleans the house? I do! Although I'm thinking about staging an intervention. This morning I found a pair of socks on the living room floor. I asked (the person here will remain nameless) if they were dirty. "Yes." Then they walked away...just like that....

Goin Private

Okay, this blog will being going private in 5 days. I have created another blog that will remain open and alert you to when I post something new on my private blog. The url is joshandkatieberryupdates.blogspot.com I'm really sad that I have to make this blog private as I want all my friends to have access to it. Unfortunately it has come to my attention that there are a few people I don't know that are repeatedly looking at this blog. As I like to put pictures and information about my family on here (hoping to make a blog book soon instead of scrapbooking), I feel I need to do more to protect my little family. On August 20th, 2011, this blog will be private.

Maternity Pics

These are my maternity pics taken by SC Photography. I was 35 weeks in these pictures and went into labor almost exactly 2 weeks after these pictures were taken. Having maternity pictures was something I have always wished I had done when pregnant with the girls. Unfortunately, I had Jozlyn super early and was on bed rest my whole third trimester with Haylie Jo so I never got the opportunity for pictures. I was super excited I made it far enough along without complications so I could get pictures done (oh, and that meant baby was healthy too). Anyway, here they are!

I just got Owen's newborn pictures back and can't wait to share them. Going to make my blog private before I do. Many of you already shared your email address with me. If you haven't yet and want to, you can leave a comment here or send it to me on facebook. I'm also stealing an idea from my friend Amberly and going to have an open blog that will alert you when I update my private blog. That way you know when to check in. Details later...

My Natural Birth of Owen Joshua - Part 2

As stated previously I felt ready for my natural birth. I had prepared myself for months and was content with nesting until birth day arrived. Last Friday morning I had a doctor's appointment. I asked the doctor to check to see if I was dilated as Josh was supposed to be going to scout camp the following Monday. He checked me and told me I was dilated to nearly 5 cm! He told me he would not be surprised if I went into labor that night. I was on my way back to work but was put on call as the census was low. Whew, thank goodness. I went home and laid down in bed for the early afternoon. I then started to do laundry like crazy just in case I did go into labor and the girls would need clothing while I was at the hospital. I was trying frantically to get my mom on the phone. She had left that exact morning to go camping for the weekend and our plan was for her to watch the girls if I went into labor. Josh's family was still in Oklahoma so I called my sister and prayed she would be in town for the weekend. Well, my stepdad stepped on something and needed stitches in town so my mom called to see how things were going. I told her I could go into labor any minute so she headed home. I felt guilty for spoiling her camping trip but I was so thankful she decided to come home.

Around 6:30 that evening, my contractions started to increase in frequency to every 10 minutes. Josh and I decided we would take the family to Olive Garden then come home and watch a movie until contractions were closer, then we would take the girls to my mom's house and head to the hospital. We arrived at Olive Garden at 7:00 and grabbed a buzzer to wait to be seated. At the exact moment I stepped foot in Olive Garden contractions were coming fast. Josh asked if we should leave but I simply said, "NO! If I'm going to the hospital to have this baby tonight I want food! They won't let me eat when I get there!" After 20 minutes that Josh had been timing contractions, he told me they were 4 minutes apart. I grudgingly told the hostess we had to leave and we went through the Jimmy John's drive through instead. We went home and packed the girl's bags, grabbed my hospital bags, and left for the hospital. I told my mom we would drop the girls off at her house but she insisted on meeting us at the hospital because my contractions were so close.

We got to the hospital around 8:30 and the nurse checked to see if I was dilated further. She told me I was dilated in between 6 and 7 cm. She called the doctor and he told her it sounded like there was a change since he had seen me that morning so to keep me and start the antibiotics (I was strep B positive). My mom took the girls to her house and I asked for the birthing ball. My contractions were still around 3 to 4 minutes apart and really didn't hurt hardly at all. About a 2 or 3 on the pain rating scale. I could feel tightening or cramping but nothing I would call painful. I was laughing and talking to the nurses as they came to check up on me. At 9:30, doctor checked me and I was dilated to 8 cm. He stated that I probably would not progress further until he broke my water. The nurse informed him that if I delivered after midnight then baby would be considered full term at 37 weeks. If I had baby before midnight, then baby would be born at 36 weeks and 6 days earning him a 12 hour supervision in the NICU straight after delivery. He said he would wait until 10:45 or 11:00 to break my water. At 10:30, the nurse came in and I asked if doctor would wait until closer to midnight as I felt delivery would be fast and I didn't want baby to have to be in NICU because he was born an hour before midnight. She said, "I'm having a hard time believing you are dilated to an 8. Do you hurt at all?" I just smiled and said I felt fine. She laughed and said they don't get many patients asking for labor to go on longer but would ask the doctor to wait. Doctor agreed as I needed another dose of antibiotics before baby was born and the earliest I could get more was midnight.

At 11:45, Doctor came in to break my water. Immediately contractions were right on top of each other and becoming more and more intense. I could feel them start and I would try my best to relax and breathe through them as this would allow process to go faster. After one or two contractions, I asked Josh if no one would talk to me during contractions as I needed to concentrate on getting through them. I wanted it to be absolutely quiet. I asked for the push bar and would grip if for dear life during a contraction. I started trying to use mental imagery and would think of my cervix as a cave and the contractions were waves washing in and out of the cave. I reminded myself that every contraction was taking me closer and closer to meeting my little boy and tried to take them one at a time. Doctor came in around 12:15, and checked me. I was still at 8 cm dilated. I heard him tell the nurse it would still be awhile. What? I couldn't handle much more. I tried to will my cervix open by relaxing my entire body and within a minute could feel myself needing to push. I told the nurse I felt like pushing and if I held back I could feel myself involuntarily spasm down there. Doctor checked me again and realized I was fully dilating during a contraction so he told me to push with next contraction. I started pushing at 12:20. I pushed a few times and it was harder than I thought it would be. I felt like I was going to push my whole insides out if I pushed any harder. I was told only to push during contractions so I would get to rest in between. I remember the doctor telling me to push and I said, "I can't." He said, "Yes, you can now come on and push." I never thought I would say I can't. I didn't know I was going to say it, it just popped out of my mouth. Well, I did push and heard them say, "I see the head!" Well, I though I had pushed the head out but then the doctor told me one more push to get baby to crown! In my mind I thought, "He's not crowning?! How am I supposed to push this baby out? I can't push any harder! This is why women used to die during childbirth." Unfortunately I had no choice other than to push harder than I thought possible. Well, with a push and a good scream, baby's head came out. I heard nurse say, "This is no 5 lb baby." And the doctor followed with, "This baby is bigger than the ones you had before." Well, one more push and a scream heard through the walls (as told by another nurse), and out came the rest of him. Doctor laid him on my belly and I looked down at him in shock. He was long, big, and had a ton of dark hair! That moment was transcendent as I realized that I had done it. I had done something I didn't think was possible and lived through it. I had brought my baby boy into the world just as I had planned it and the way women did it centuries before me.

Recovery was not too bad. I didn't tear, which was amazing! But I did have a few abrasions and I felt like I cracked my tailbone. Really, my behind hurt the most. The next day I broke down and accepted some motrin which nearly took away all my pain down there and eased the after pains when my uterus began to shrink. I actually had quite a bit of energy, probably due to the adrenaline from the birth process. I didn't sleep at all that night or the next day and only slept a few hours the following night.

Owen took to breastfeeding right away. I fed him for 40 minutes right on the delivery bed. He was sleepy on his birthday, but started to cluster feed that night. Now, he is content on eating whenever he wants which varies from every 2 to 4 hours. There are times when I think of him as Sharkie as he really goes at it! By 3 days old he had gained 2 ounces and the nurse asked if I was feeding him cream. By 5 days old he had gained another ounce. The doctor asked if I was nursing and when I said yes he replied, "That's impressive," (meaning the weight gain). Hence one of his other nicknames Chunky Monkey.

We videotaped the birth of Owen (from over my shoulder of course for modesty). I have watched it twice but can't watch it without crying. I'm just so proud of my decision to have Owen natural. I feel like I gave him the best start to life that I could offer. I've had quite a few people ask if I would give birth naturally again. When asked the day I had him, I told them to ask me later. Looking back, I really was only in pain for 45 minutes which includes the 10 minutes of pushing. You can do anything for 45 minutes. I remember thinking giving birth was like running a marathon. It starts out not too bad and by the time it is bad, you're already in it and have no choice but to finish. It hurts more and more but you get closer to the finish. When you are done, you are exhausted but immensely proud of what you have just done. I would not recommend going natural without doing some preparation. Practice different ways to deal with pain. The biggest thing to remember is to relax and let your body do what it was designed to do.

I hope my birth story will empower others and let them know their body can do amazing things. Right now I just survived the first week and trying to make my way through the next two. I've always felt it takes about three weeks to adjust to a new baby so I'm 1/3 of the way there. We had little Owen's pictures taken yesterday and I can't wait to get them back and show him off. There was a sneak peak on the photographer's website, steviecroftphotography.blogspot.com Well, I'm sure I left out details and I'm not the most entertaining writer but I felt I needed to share my experience. I hope you enjoyed!

My Natural Birth of Owen Joshua - Part 1

I've fallen in love all over again. I gave birth to my handsome prince, Owen Joshua, on Saturday, July 23rd, 2011 at 12:30 a.m. He weighed 8 lbs 3 oz. and was 21 inches long. He was born with a head full of medium brown hair and the cutest chubby cheeks ever seen. I had him completely natural and it was, without a doubt, the hardest thing I've ever done in my entire life. I've had a few people ask about why natural and how things went so I decided to explain in detail my natural birth of Owen Joshua.

When I gave birth to Jozlyn and Haylie Jo, I did the very minimum of preparing for labor. I focused more on what would happen after I had them, the feeding, diaper changing and such. I thought I couldn't handle a natural birth and decided an epidural was right for me. Everyone I knew had epidurals and seemed to have wonderful labor experiences. So, I had epidurals. I laid in bed the entire time, numb from the mid-back down and needed a catheter and internal monitor for the baby's heartbeat. My labor slowed so they gave me pitocin to speed things up, which made contractions more painful which made me need more epidural. Baby's heart rate would drop with every contraction so I was put on oxygen. With both of them I could talk and laugh my way through labor not feeling a thing. They were both born with complications and have turned out to be happy and healthy girls.

With preparation for little Owen, I was the complete opposite of when I was pregnant with the girls. I spent hours looking at pregnancy information and signed up for an application on my iPod called Babybump. In that app, there are forums where you can post questions or discuss pregnancy information. I went into the natural birth forum and found so many women preparing themselves for labor. Someone suggested watching 2 documentaries, The Business of Being Born and Pregnant in America. Pregnant in America was pretty biased but I loved The Business of Being Born. It was explained how one medical intervention lead to a cascade of medical interventions that all increased the likelihood of needing a cesarean section. I went to the public library and checked out a book by Ina May Gaskin, who is a certified nurse midwife interviewed in the documentary. It was called Ina May's Guide to Childbirth. The first half of the book was birth stories of women who went to Ina May, the second half was information about natural labor. She explained things like proper breathing, different laboring positions, and how to let gravity do most of the work. She also explained the benefits for the baby during natural birth. I won't go into too much detail here but babies born naturally have better heart rates during labor are born more alert and take to breastfeeding usually right away. I would suggest looking at both documentaries and the book for more information.

I decided that giving birth naturally would benefit baby and me. I would bond with him during labor and be able to fully bond with him right after he was born. The pain and hardship I would feel would be symbolic of the way I would mother him; sacrificing all that I had for his health and happiness. I started to gear up for natural labor. I made a relaxation playlist on my ipod, I practiced breathing techniques (having so much false labor gave me good practice here), and I made a list of aides I could ask for at the hospital. I chose to deliver at EIRMC and toured their new Women's Center. If going natural, you are able to move around as you please. You can walk halls, take a shower, use a birthing ball (which is basically an exercise ball), and ask for a push bar (I'm not sure if that is what they are actually called but they know what you mean when you ask for it). FYI, a push bar is a bar that goes over the bed that you can hang on, push or pull against, and any other acrobatic things that might help you. They will monitor baby's heart rate for 5 minutes every half hour or so. I felt as ready as I could ever be for the birth of my little boy.

Just for Fun

I'm now 36 weeks and 5 days. Going to Doctor tomorrow. Was dilated to 3 cm last week so I'm anxious to see if there has been any changes. Crib is now up, all clothing and blankets washed, preregistered at hospital, and hospital bags are packed. Going to get car seat base in care tomorrow then it's just maintaining the usual chores. Baby Boy Berry will be here soon! I did have a scare a little over a week ago. I had contractions for 12 hours! I'm glad he stayed in, he needs to cook just a little longer.

Here's some funny things my family has said/done lately.

Haylie Jo was laying her head on my belly and her baby brother kicked her right in the head. She sat up startled and looked down at my belly with a confused look on her face. I told her he was saying hi to her. She smiled and said, "Oh, Hi!" while waving at my belly.

About two weeks ago, Josh crawls in bed and puts his arms around my belly. As he starts to rub my belly he simply says, "I'm getting baby hungry." I just laughed and said, "Good thing because he's coming whether you're ready or not!"

34 Weeks

No new pictures yet. I know I'm super behind. I've given up on trying to update this blog with all the stuff going on in my family, I've been just plain too busy. Well, I'm now almost 34 weeks and have been able to avoid bedrest, wahoo! For those of you who don't know my pregnancy history, I've never made it past 30 weeks without going on bedrest. Due to my history, I've been taking weekly injections of progesterone (17P) that appear to be helping. The shots are supposed to thicken my cervix so that I don't thin and dilate if I do happen to have contractions. My doctor told me he would not stop labor if I went into labor after 35 weeks which means I could have this baby boy anytime between next week and August 14th! I'm getting maternity pictures next week just in case I don't make it any farther. For those of you who don't see me regularly...you are in for a big surprise...I'm huge!