Lena's Birth Story

We knew we were having a big baby. Because of that, we were trying to get labor started as soon as possible. We were up late May 29th and didn't crawl into bed until after midnight. I was having tiny little contractions; they didn't hurt one bit. In fact I slept though most of them. May 30th at 4:45am I woke up to several intense contractions, only about 10 seconds long each. Matthew called our midwife, Carey, to let her know that labor had started. Since it was so light, she told us to get some rest and call when things change. Then we called David and Janice so they could make their way over to take care of Eli. Labor was pretty mild for about the first hour. I had sent Matthew to the grocery store to get some drinking water so we would have plenty for everyone that was going to be there. By the time he came back the contractions were fairly hard and 4-5 minutes apart. We called Carey again and told her to come quickly. (She's about an hour away.) I labored nicely, walking around the house, only stopping when I needed to. Finally I laid down on our bed since I was getting tired. I felt the need to push before Carey got there. Laying on the bed I could feel the head move down with every contraction, even though I wasn't pushing. I got into our birthing tub hoping that it would make things easier. (I know now that I probably should have stayed out.) I think the head was about crowning at the time. It took a lot of effort to get the head out; I felt that I couldn't get into a good position in the water. Then the shoulders got stuck. I turned onto my hands and knees in the water, which didn't help. I moved around severl times trying to get a comfortable position, but I couldn't. I got out of the water and pushed on my hands and knees on the floor. I still struggled for a while, but then Matthew hooked his finger under an armpit and got the shoulders to come out. I still had to push some more to get the torso and bottom out. "It's a girl!" I could hardly believe it. I looked down and her, her face was blue and her body was white. The cord was not pulsating and I couldn't see her breathing. I held her on her tummy and rubbed her back and smacked her bottom. I didn't see any response. I tried and tried to get her to breath. I was terrified, and I cried so hard. I thought she was gone. Carey arrived about 2 minutes after Lena's birth and proceeded to suction her and "bag" her with oxygen. Lena was breathing when she was born, it was just very shallow. 911 was called and the paramedics came, stabilized her and took her to the Boone Community Hospital. Later she was transfered to Blank Children's Hospital NICU in Des Moines. Lena was diagnosed with persistant pulmonary hypertension and is being treated with oxygen and nitric oxide. She was also receiving dopamine to keep her blood pressure up and fentanyl to sedate her and keep her calm. (She is now getting methadone for sedation.) She may have some neurological damage, but we won't know if she does and to what extent until she is off the ventilator and gets an EEG and MRI. Most of the time we have been staying at the Almost Home Birth Center and they have been very generous to us. We want to stay close by in case anything happens. We haven't been able to hold her except for those first few moments. Since she has not been able to nurse yet I am pumping milk for them to give to her. I am doing well with it although it's not as enjoyable as nursing a beautiful baby. I know it will be really hard once they let me nurse her, but I am determined to give my baby girl the best. Lena is responding well to her treatments, even though it is taking longer than they originally thought. I'm hoping that she will be able to go home before the end of the month because we have a "babymoon" waiting-Lena and I will lay in bed skin to skin and do nothing but nurse, cuddle, and sleep.

Lena Rose Jeffords

Thanks Genevieve for posting things for me. I have access to internet, but I'm pretty preoccupied. Those of you that have not gotten Matthew's emails, please read the comments on the previous post.

Still Pregnant

We were so worried that I wouldn't make it to 37 weeks and now I'm almost to 39 weeks! (May 30) I really do hope that it's soon. I'm getting antsy about it. Besides, I really don't want the baby to get too big. Though I am confident that I can birth a big baby, I really want to avoid it if I can. So, my midwife gave me a list of things to bring on labor. I haven't tried using herbs or acupuncture yet- I will if I go past 40 weeks. I've tried using a breast pump for 2 hours, applying castor oil and a heating pad to my belly, eating foods with curry in it, walking for 2 hours, and having sex twice a day. (Honestly, that last one is the hardest to do. I have to get in the mood, I'm usually tired, and Eli has to be asleep.) The walking gives me some contractions but the others really haven't produced any. Carey has said that acupuncture is probably the best one to do, I just don't want to have to pay for it- even though I don't think it would be too much. I'm just so eager to see my baby. I want to know if it's a boy or girl (though I'm thinking it's a boy). I can hardly wait!

New Tickers!

When will it be?

My due date is June 6th and I'm already past the point of when Eli was born. Take a guess at when the big day will be and post it as a comment!

37 Weeks

Well, I'm almost to my 37 weeks point (tomorrow). If I don't have this baby tonight, then tomorrow morning will be the most pregnant I've ever been. (Eli was born at 8:22am at 37 weeks.) I'm definitely ready to have this baby. Not so much ready to have a second child, just ready to not be pregnant anymore. It's kind of like looking forward to a party at your own house. You put all this hard work and preparation into it, and you can hardly wait to have it over with, but you know it will be just great! And then afterwards it’s all over. That’s the part that I don’t like. It’s the “Baby Blues” thing that everyone talks about. The birth will be this big wonderful event, then comes the baptism and all the family and friends that will visit. After about a week or two it’s all over. My hubby will go back to work and I’ll have to take care of two young’ns. I guess that I’m pretty lucky that Matthew doesn’t work a whole lot away from home. If he ever is gone, it’s just over to the church or visiting shut-ins. Plus, I have so many people here in the congregation that are really excited about helping me out with anything I need. It’s really nice to know that they are all so eager. Say a little prayer for us, please as the birth may be near. (It could actually be closer to three weeks from now!)

The time is drawing nigh!

Well, I am a very bad blogger. I just never seem to find the time to be online long enough to write anything. I am 35 weeks pregnant now. Gee, looking back it's gone by really fast. Actually it feels like I've been pregnant forever. I think it's because Eli's birth was still so fresh in my mind when this baby was conceived.

Last month Matthew was left at home while Eli and I visited my sister hoping to be there for the birth of her 4th baby. However, Trace was born the day before we got there. It was nice to be there for 2 weeks with a beautiful new baby boy. I had a really great time, but I think that Eli's cousins were ready to get rid of us after about a week. They loved us being there at first, but decided that having a toddler around wasn't always fun. They just aren't used to having to keep their little toys up and out of his reach. But everything worked out and I think that they will recover eventually. Maybe it was good practice for when Trace starts moving about.

I just had my home visit from our midwife, Carey. It was great! I love having people over and I love to show off a clean house. Everything seems to be in order. The birth kit is together, I have a bag packed for "just in case" hospital transport, and we were able to borrow a Softub pool for the birth. I'm not quite sure how to do the water chemicals. I read the directions, and we have some of the chemicals, but we need to purchase a few of them. I have the website to get the ones that are specially made for this brand of spa, but they're kind of expensive. Carey said that pool chemicals from Wal-mart would be the same thing and a lot cheaper. She is going to send me an easy to follow sheet that lists what we need to get and just what to do. So, after we get all that taken care of, all we have is the waiting. We are officially able to have a homebirth at 36 weeks. Eli was born at 37, but all babies are different. I may even go late, although Matthew doesn't think so. He's actually been worried that I won't make it to 36.

My biggest concern at this point (Carey's too) is that they baby will get "too" big. Obviously, I love food. Especially if it's loaded with sugar! Problem is, all that sugar will go straight to baby. I know that I am capable of giving birth to a 10 lb. baby, but why would I want to since it can be prevented? So, I've been cutting sugar out of my diet. No sweets, 1 fruit per day, no white starches, no dairy (although I really don't stick with that one). It's really hard to do. I haven't been great at it, but I'm managing. I just crave all the bad things! Also, I need to be eating more vegetables. I don't get nearly enough, maybe 1 or 2 a day when I really should have 6. I'm just not a big fan of cooked veggies. (Yes, they are supposed to be cooked, just not to death.) I do count raw ones because at least they are still vegetables. It's better than eating a doughnut!

I've been seeing a chiropractor for the past several weeks because my left hip has hurt so badly. He has does great! He specializes in applied kinesiology. (Visit this site for more info. http://www.icak.com/ It seemed to be pretty reliable.) I first had 4 visits really close together so he could evaluate everything and now I go once a week. I will be re-evaluated at my 12th appointment. That will be sometime later this month. I first met Dr. Moss at a Natural Living Expo in Des Moines. (It was such a neat event!) Matthew and I love the idea of natural foods and medicine, but sometime it's just so expensive. We're halfway there-natural birth, cloth diapers, breastfeeding, we're getting into natural medicines and alternative forms of treatment. It really is the food part that's more expensive.

So, for all of you that have read this entire thing...CONGRATULATIONS! Now, leave me a note by posting a comment. Maybe I'll even write back! Keep us in your prayers as the birth draws near.

Growing

I feel so fat and pregnant now. I'm about 5 1/2 months along and am already feeling the strain of having extra body mass. I haven't gained any weight since the begining, in fact up until my last appointment I had lost 6lbs. I guess that would be bad for some, but for me it's fine. Besides, I gained it all back in 3 weeks! My goal was to gain no more than 15 pounds and since I'm over halfway, I think that I'm doing alright. (Side note: I don't like it when doctors or midwives tell a woman that she can only gain so much during her pregnancy. The reason that I have a set goal is because I know that I have a tendancy to overeat -and eat bad things- especially when I have an excuse. I also believe, for myself, that if I gain a whole lot of weight it will make labor harder for me. I'm out of shape as it is, and I don't need more fat to make it worse.)

The baby is moving so much now. Every evening at about 8:00 he/she starts to kick and wiggle. Matthew has gotten to feel it once. The only reason he hasn't felt it more is just becuase he's gone or busy at the time. I'm sure he'll get to feel it more and more as time goes on.

Eli calls! I must go.

Squirmy Baby

Oh it's been a long time! I've been very busy lately-in fact I'm busy now so this will be a short note. I'm doing well and Eli is growing like a weed. I'm roughly halfway through the pregnancy now and the baby is moving a lot. (That's the really exciting part.) More later.

Countdown to Baby!

The Last Day of the Church Year

Brought on by reading a wonderful sermon by Pastor Petersen
http://www.redeemer-fortwayne.org/displaySermon.php?sermon=403

Oh how I take my children for granted! Every morning Eli wakes up bright and cheerful and I always try to make him go back to sleep because I’m still tired. Why is it so hard to get up even when I see his smiling face? He’s so adorable in the morning. He likes to play with Matthew and I while we are trying to sleep in. He crawls all over and makes cute faces as he slobbers everywhere. I really should savor it while he’s still cute. He’s already starting to turn into a whining toddler. But I guess that the more whiney he gets, the cuter he gets.

October

I'm feeling better lately. Just the past few days I haven't felt so sick. It was really never that bad, but it sure didn't feel good. Some days are better than others. I especially feel good when I go for a walk. Just moving about in the cool air is so refreshing. Plus, Eli loves to be outside, he's always so good.

So, I'm 9 weeks pregnant now, and I'm really excited about having another baby. It never ceases to shock me when I see pictures of a baby at this stage and read about how much they have already grown! Although, I do feel like I've been pregnant forever. Those of you that have children know that this is very very bad. I'm not suppose to feel like this at only 9 weeks! Maybe my body is making up for last time. With Eli things just seemed to go so fast, but perhaps that's all in retrospect.

Matthew and I met with a midwife in Des Moines last Wednesday. We really like her a lot and will be scheduling a first appointment soon. However, I'm so sad that we can't have the midwife we had with Eli (she's in IN). We were planning to, but we were also planning to wait until we were back in Indiana to get pregnant. God really likes to throw our useless plans out the window, doesn't he?

Eli was a bat for his first Halloween. We only went to a few people's houses. Just people from the church. Since our house isn't on the street we didn't get many trick or treaters, only some kids from church. It was kind of a bummer, but now we have lots and lots of chocolate!

We had two good friends visit us last month. Jenny came to visit for a whole long weekend. It was so good to have her here. We hadn't seen each other since February, and I'm terrible at keeping in contact with people, even my closest friends. Last weekend Dustin visited. Just for Friday night to have drinks with Matthew. (I ate ice cream since I can't have alcohol.) I miss all my friends a lot. Those in Indiana and those from college. Everyone is so scattered around the country now. I guess there are still a lot in the midwest, but still, it's not like we're free to travel much. Plus, traveling isn't free!

I love my beautiful children!

Monday and Tuesday we went to the New Worker Conference for Iowa District West. We had a really good time. We even got to see some of our friends from seminary that are serving as new vicars and pastors. The different lectures they had were pretty boring with the exception of a few. Eli saved me from having to sit through them- he was "noisy" and has to be taken outside. So he and I played on the swings and sat down by the lake. (The conference was at Camp Okoboji.)

On our way home Tuesday, we stopped by my Grandma's house to tell her our good news. She wasn't too excited about it. For the first few hours we were there she went on and on about how perfect Eli is and what a blessing children are and then when we told her about our "surprise" she felt the need to tell us how hard it's going to be with two children and they're so close together...blah blah. Matthew's mom kind of had the same reaction, only she said that I should have been taking birth control pills if I didn't want to get pregnant. Yeah, sure, because I want to screw up my hormones, gain more weight, and keep any fertilized egg from implanting in the uterine wall! I just don't get why they said those things. Did they just want me to feel quilty? I mean, there's nothing I can do about it. I can't go back in time and be more careful and there's no way I would have an abortion.

However, I am so blessed that I do have people that are very supportive and excited for us. My parents and Matthew's dad for starters, all of our friends, I even have a friend that is jealous of me! Children are a blessing no matter how or when they are conceived. Even if the timing does not feel right for the parents or conception took place in a bad situation, that child is created by God.

2 is company

I really wanted to be working on losing weight this year, but I guess that God had a different plan for me. I know that I don't have to give up exercise or a good diet. Actually, I need to keep those up. I am following the book "Body for Life" by Bill Phillips, but I don't think that I've been as faithful as I should be. I think that I have lost some fat, and it's been replaced with muscle and that's why it isn't really showing on the scale. My pants are getting loose, and I had to punch another hole in my belt. Well, my pants probably won't be getting any bigger on me. In a few more months I'll have to dig out the box that has only been put away for about 10 months. This was totally unplanned. I was really down about it yesterday, but I'm much more excited about it today. It is a good thing and a real blessing. I just wasn't prepared for it, yet. (We were going to wait until next summer.) It's really our own fault. We weren't as careful as we should have been. (I was just beginning to chart my cycles again.) Eli will be about 18 months old when this one comes along. I guess that's a good age difference. Plus, my sister is due April 6. It will be fun to have this to share with each other.

If you didn't already guess, I'm pregnant- due end of May-early June. (June 4)

Lentils, Cops, TP, and Birthdays

I did something really stupid Thursday. I was going to make lentils for dinner, but I needed to get a few things from the grocery store. So, since lentils take awhile to cook I thought, "I'll put them on the stove now and run to the store." Yeah, that was a big mistake. I'm lucky that there wasn't a fire. Have you ever seen burnt lentils? They look like Barbie charcoal, but they smell really bad. Our house still smells like smoke, especially when the AC runs. I feel like I spray the air freshener every 10 minutes.

On the cooler side of things, I witnessed a criminal on the run. Someone had gotten in a wreck up at the gas station and ran down the street and hit by the church. When Matthew and I were cleaning up the TP from the church steps I saw him run out and down the sidewalk. Then a cop drove by and asked me if I saw a man in a ball cap and white T-shirt run by, and I told the cop where he had run to. There were cops and fire trucks all over circling the block. I don't know if they caught the guy.

Now, about the toilet paper on the church steps. Stupid, stupid, stupid kids! TP-ing happens a lot around homecoming weekend. Why would someone want to TP the church? Makes no sense to me.

Well, we have to be off to a birthday party. It'll be the first one Eli gets to go to with people his age there. The next one will probably be his own!

Open House

We're having an open house this Saturday for all the people at the church. I've been trying to make up a list of appetizers I'd like to serve-I can't think of anything very inventive, just the usual little smokies and vegetable tray type stuff. Any suggestions? I also need to clean the house. That's the hard part. Eli does take up a lot of my time and he's deathly afraid of the vacuum.

Handbell practice was tonight. We are doing some pretty nice hymns but also some really silly songs like "Shine Jesus Shine". Oh well, I need to have some music to participate in, and I'm not going to be in the "Praise Him" chorus. I'd rather play aweful songs without the words rather than with the words.

P.S. I have an ear infection and it really hurts.

Weight-no loss or gain

I have writer's block for the moment. I wanted to write something about my weight loss, but I really haven't lost anything. I do notice a slight difference in the way that I look, but, unless the scale is wrong, I haven't lost a single pound. I've been working out and following a good eating plan for a month! I guess that I'll just have to work harder. I really need this to happen. I'm tired of being the fat one in the family. Plus, now I have a son that I need to keep up with. I don't want to be a fat mommy either. Praise be to God that I have an incredibly loving husband that doesn't care what I look like, but I know that he wants me to be healthy and happy. So, please say a little prayer for me tonight. I really need God's help right now.

Blogging

Blogging is a funny sort of thing. Typing your thoughts out and then sending them off into space for anyone to read-Not that anyone reads mine. But hopefully that will change soon. I just now put the address on my email signature and it might be posted on the Lutheran Blog Dirctory. I'm not sure why anyone would be reading my rambling. I've never been much of a writer or intelectual, but maybe I'll learn a thing or two doing this.

I have have done quite a bit of reading blogs today. Most were from a list on Redeemer-Fort Wayne's website and others were links from those blogs. I knew only a handfull of the people, some people I had only heard of in this small Lutheran world, but most of them I didn't know at all. However, I didn't find some very interesting things to read. Almost all the blogs were of the theological nature, but my favorites were just a hodgepodge of thoughts and ideas, some theological, some poetic, and others just plain silly.

OK, I can no longer type in coherent sentences since it is so late for me. Matthew is donating (selling) plasma tomorrow so we can buy gasoline. Sad isn't it?

Beautiful Boy!

Ah, Motherhood.

I’ve been really irritated today. I think that it’s just motherhood catching up with me. I love Eli so much, but it is so hard to be patient with him. He doesn’t understand what “no” means, and the only time I get things done is when he’s sleeping. Ok, so maybe I’m exaggerating, but it sure feels like that sometimes. There are times when I’ll set him down so I can do something, and he screams like he’s in pain. That scream of his just makes the hair on my neck stand up.