Mabel's HomeBirth Story

Mabel's HomeBirth Story

I woke at 2:30am feeling like I might get menstrual cramps. I got up to go to the bathroom and then lied down again to try and sleep since nothing real was happening yet. I wasn't able to fall asleep even though I wasn't having contractions I was getting a radiating feeling down my thighs. So I concentrated on mentally preparing myself for the upcoming day. My first child took 54 hours so I wanted to get myself geared up for another marathon just in case.

At 4am my water broke. I felt a little pop and then my undies get wet. I asked my husband to get me a towel and I placed it between my legs and waited a little bit. We discussed if we should call the midwife right now or wait until contractions or what. I wanted to see if it was indeed my waters so I got up and went to the bathroom. My undies had white stuff and there was blood on the paper and I thought, "okay so now I know what that is like."

I got back in bed with the towel and my husband Jesse and I snuggled wondering what this time would be like. I decided to call my midwife since it was so early just to let her know. I was hungry so I had Jesse get me a bagel. After that I had a strong urge to empty my bowels.

After that I got back in bed and the surges started. I had downloaded an app for tracking and we got out the phone. This is a really nice feature cause now I can look back at it and see exactly what time this all got started. We started tracking at 4:17am. I immediately ramped up to 40 second and minute surges every minute or minute and a half so I called my Midwife back and let her now that I was having to think through them. She had had a dream that her place was right above mine and was amazed at how short her commute was.

I told her that I wasn't really ready to have everyone over but that I thought things were moving pretty fast.  We talked around a couple surges and I mentioned that I thought it was weird moaning to her over the phone. It made me smile. She said she would start moving along.
According to my phone this was at 4:50am. At this point I was still thinking, "pace yourself you've got a long way to go, don't get to excited now, calm, relax, breathe."
Jesse asked if I wanted to get up maybe get in the bath while he started setting up room and birth tub.

I got in the bath and the water was hot. I liked it. I laid down on my side and tried to release myself into the warmth and calm. Jesse was blowing up the tub with the electric air mattress hose and it was so loud. It really hurt my concentration then I was too hot, really hot. I asked Jesse to put a bunch of wet wash clothes in the freezer.
I hear my mom and son waking up and I look up from the tub and see my mom's face peeking out around the door frame of their room. She smiles this big smile and seeing that brings me back to my body and remembering that I have a great support team here to help.

I don't stay in the tub long, just long enough for Jesse to finish what he was doing, I knew I was going to need him from here on. I get back in bed and the surges are really coming, right after another. I had to tell myself to focus, remember the visualizations, remember to release and relax all muscles, breathe into the surge and exhale the energy over my body to help keep everything relaxed.

Before I went to bed Friday night I had re-read a bunch of passages in 'HypnoBirthing, The Mongan Method' which was well timed. I knew I needed to release all my fears and remind myself that my body knew what to do and as long as I did my best to keep it relaxed everything else would happen.
Maybe something clicked in my head but that is when I knew we were flying; I wasn't going to stand in the way of this process, my head was ready. Oh I knew it was still going to be a lot of hard work but lets do this!

I picked my head up long enough to tell Jesse that he had to call Audra back (which drew me out of my concentration). I hear him say, "I don't know but shes making the big whale noises, okay, bye." Jesse tells me that she is 15 minutes away.

I hear Audra arrive and her voice is all happy sunshine, but I wanted quiet. I reminded myself that she had to get set up. There is a lot of questions, where is this and that, and I try to answer. They can't find the trash bags. I remember that I moved them but I can't remember where and I feel so foolish. Really I had to hide them some place silly.
**Our house had a pipe leak that lead to the bathrooms on all three floors and the kitchen in our unit to be fully gutted and is now in the construction process. So we have been in a temporary apartment for a month and a half**

I was having Jesse talk to me. He was using the ocean rocking back and forth. It was nice and calming and I felt like I was rocking. The surges were taking more and more work so I needed a visualization that reflected that.
I use to hike so I used the visualization of hiking up a switch back. 'climb the mountain, take a rest, climb the mountain, take a rest.' Breath into the belly on the climb and breathe out on the rest.
I think this is when my other Midwife Tara and her student Jessica arrive. I whisper, Hi Tara.

I have to roll over. This puts Jesse outside the bed. I'm hot and need water and ask for those wash clothes in the freezer. I'm sweating buckets. I put a frozen cloth on my forehead and hold it there. My body starts pushing on its own during some of the surges. My belly rises up really high and then slams down pushing my whole front forward and down. I tell Audra that my body is pushing but I'm not. She says that is okay.

I have to move, I don't want to move, the bed isn't working, it is too soft.
"I'm moving"
where are you going?
"I don't know!"
Lets make a plan
"The floor!.... I think"

So we move the operation to the floor in front of the bed. There is a flurry of I need a towel or sheet down and where is Jesse. I'm on my hands and knees. My pelvis feels great and open. My hands and feet start to get uncomfortable. I need to be on my side again.
I need Jesse right here, take my leg, no not to high, water, wash cloth, breathe.
I settle in.

At some point I'm asked if I want them to fill up the birth tub or do I want to move again, maybe lean against the bed? Nope. I'm staying right here. Well, no I need to roll over.
I roll over we settle in.
I need Jesse to tell me that I can do this, to help me relax, to remember to relax between surges if there is a between. I kept waiting for the relax period. You know transition, rest period, labor down, then birthing or pushing stage. But the rest period never showed. I wasn't going to worry about it maybe it'll come later.

Everyone tells me that I'm doing great, that my body is doing exactly what it needs to. Just keep listening to my body. Tell me what to do I say. Your doing it they tell me.
I'm pushing or helping my body since it was already pushing anyway every surge. I think about the J breathe. This is a great tool. It really helps me direct my focus into helping my body do what it wants to do. This is intense. I am breathing loudly so I remember to keep focused, Jesse makes a joke or talks-something- I tell him SHHHH.

I can feel the head stretching me. What a crazy feeling when the head comes up to the opening and then slides back in when the surge is done. I tell them I'm 'gophering' it. Which makes me laugh because I think of that indy film where the little girl tells her father that she needs to go to the bathroom and he tells her to hold it and she says that she can't shes already prairie dogging it.

When the slide back gets too big for me to handle I hold the head in place between surges.
I hold back on pushing out and just do down, I don't want to push with all my might I know I will hurt myself, my opening needs more time to stretch. Around this part of the birth I have a couple small orgasms just clitoral pulses.

Audra has warm wash clothes down there. Ohh that feels good.
I wonder when the right time will be to push out the head. I can feel a lot of stretching on the top of my vagina and I wonder about tearing the top. I wait a couple more surges and then just decide that it is time for my baby to come out. I tell them shes coming out I'm going to push out the head. It burns, I have to decide that I don't care because I am ready to be done. Ready to meet my baby.

I push out the head and look down to see. I see that the baby is really purple. I know not to panic, they'll tell me if something needs to happen.
I spent almost all of my labor with my eyes closed listening to my body so I closed my eyes to concentrate on the next surge cause I knew they would want to get the body soon.  They tell me just that and I let them know one is coming. We get my leg up so the body and shoulders can turn and on the next 1 and half surges she slides out. I had read that feeling your baby come out is one of the most incredible feelings. It is. My baby. I did it. I could feel her slide down and even when her little feet fell out.

They put her right up on me and I helped hold her while we waited for her to pink up. Her whole body was purple and they gave her some oxygen breathes to help. We watched her pink and she was breathing and we just stared at her. My 2 year old son Asa came in and sat down next to me and Jesse and met his sister.

Mabel Adelaide Washburn
Born July 12th, 2014
8:06 am
7lbs 3 oz, 19 inches long
4 hour labor, posterior presentation
 

My Mom Ronie.

Jesse, Asa, Mabel, and Me (Diadem)

Audra weighting the baby.

She peed in the sling!

Oh No!

Asa hasn't stopped giving her kisses.

Asa wanted to stare at Mabel just like we did.

Graham our loving Maine Coon needed to check her out also

Offical Pregnancy photos (for anouncment purposes)

These photos are what I used to let the internet masses know that we are 'in the family way' again.  These photos were taken just after the 20 week mark.

Absent But Busy

Last Year I made (with a little help) a beautiful baby boy named Asa.  I finished him in May.

Now he is almost 8 months.

Our family has had a busy time since.  Asa came to us May 20th and then May 30th we closed on a home.  That next weekend we moved- with A LOT of help from friends. Then three weeks later we drove to MN for my brothers wedding.  Our home is a 3 family so we came home from that trip and worked on getting 2 units cleaned, fixed, and rented.  Our unit is the worst but I (we) have managed to get painted: Living room, Dinning room, Kitchen, Bathroom, and Baby Boy room. 
The fixes to the house is never ending.  Support beam, H2O heater, tenants heat and oil tanks...  However it is all worth it to have a home for our little one.  A place where we can paint, hang pictures, and make memories.
I often find myself wanting to do this though:

Now on to the crafty side of my life.

 Front and back of twin size quilt.

All pinned.

Mom, these pins are shiny and I must have them.  Also I'm helping, I swear it.

This quilt is for my cousin.  She is a freshman in college and I believe that one must have a quilt that is destined for getting muddy on the quad, studying with, crying on, and drooling on when one finds that they have fallen asleep sitting up yet again.  This will be my first "real" machine quilting.  I am going to do a big zigzag lengthwise and then echo that left and right.  We'll see how it turns out.

I am linking to http://www.crazymomquilts.blogspot.com

Augustsnow

Baby/ Recieving Blankets

     I made up two quick receiving blankets last Saturday.  It took me longer to cut out the pieces then it did to sew.  The first one (Birds) has a top piece of 30" and a bottom piece of 40" like the instructions from the video on youtube from Missouri Star Quilting Company.  The second blanket (Owl) I wanted a larger one and didn't feel the need for a huge binding/boarder so I cut the top fabric 38" and the bottom was its full width at about 42". 
     On the Birds I learned that you can't just iron the edges and it will all lay flat.  I got some puckering and the top piece was not fully stretched out before I did my top stitching around the border.  So on the Owl blanket I smoothed it out with my hands on the floor and pinned around the border for the top stitching.  But I then also learned to make sure that the border/binding is even on all sides.  I have one side that is a little thicker then the others.  Oh well.  Still a good quick project that definitely encourages some fun fabric. 
     I have left overs of all four of these prints so I'm going to try to do up 2 more of these but they will become scrappy fun.
I know I need to post pictures, I promise tonight.

SunnySide 0-3 months

Just the sleeves left to do.

Front side.  Still needs buttons.  Cables turn toward the front.

Cables turn toward center back.

 I found this pattern on Ravelry.  Sunnyside by Tanis Lavallé.

This pattern is good and I will share what I figured out as best as I can. I am thankful for free patterns. I also love this design.
I wish this pattern did the math for you. Instead of saying “increase 6 sts evenly” since the writer had to figure out where evenly was they could have written it into the pattern. Also increase how? Does it want a yo, m1r, m1l, co1; There are lots of options.
Here is my re-write or at least helpful to those who are not advanced knitters.
I made the smallest size so all instructions are for that.

Cast on 52
Rows 1,3,5, 7,9: Knit
Row 2: k6, m1r, k8, m1r, k8, m1r, k8, m1l, k8, m1l, k8, m1l, k6
Row 4: k6, m1r, k9, m1r, k9, m1r, k9, m1l, k9, m1l, k9, m1l, k7
Row 6: k7, m1r, k10, m1r, k10, m1r, k10, m1l, k10, m1l, k10, m1l, k7
Row 8: k7, m1r, k11, m1r, k11, m1r, k11, m1l, k11, m1l, k11, m1l, k8
Row 10: k8, m1r, k12, m1r, k12, m1r, k12, m1l, k12, m1l, k12, m1l, k8 82 stitches
Work a Buttonhole row by doing k2, yo, k2tog, k1, on the 5th row and then every following 20th row (every 10th garter ridge).
30 stitches increase, 82 sts total.
Next row (rs): place markers for pattern portion and raglan sleeves as follows (this is row 1 of charts):
Size 3-6 mo:
Row 1: insert from original pattern
Row 2: k5, knit the k’s and purl the p’s as they appear until 5 sts remain, k5 (row 2 of chart)
Row 3: increase row: (row 3 of chart)
k5, slip marker, work chart over next 8 sts, slip marker, knit to 1 st before next marker, m1r, k1, slip marker, work chart over next 8 sts, slip marker, k1, m1l, repeat from 3 more times. Knit to next marker, slip marker, work chart over next 8 sts, slip marker, k5. (8 stitches increased.) 98 sts total.
Repeat rows 2 and 3 for 14 times working appropriate chart row between markers and remembering to work a buttonhole as indicated until there are 210 sts.

Key:
BH = buttonhole row
^ = Increase row (row 3)
& = regular row, k the k’s & p the p’s (row 2)
cable = C6F for the first 3 cables and C6B for last 3 cables. I like to have my cables face each other instead of all going the same direction. F= front, B= back.
4:&
5:^ cable
6:&
7:^
8:&
1:^
2:&
3:^
4:&
5:^ cable
6:&
7:^ BH
8:&
1:^
2:&
3:^
4:&
5:^ cable
6:&
7:^
8:&
1:^
2:&
3:^
4:&
5:^ cable
6:&
7:^ = 210 sts total
8:& separate for sleeves.
When the sleeves are separated from the body it splits the cables in half which is great b/c if you wanted to you could continue a cable down the side of the sweater underneath the armpit.
All rows now are knit the knits and purl the purls unless it is a BH row or a cable row. So I’m going to mark the rows as whether they are mostly knit rows (right side) or mostly purl rows (wrong side)
This is the exact number of rows I did to get my 5 inches plus a couple extra to fit in my last BH row.
1:k
2:p
3:k BH
4:p
5:k cable
6:p
7:k
8:p
1:k
2:p
3:k
4:p
5:k cable
6:p
7:k
8:p
1:k
2:p
3:k
4:p
5:k cable
6:p
7:k BH
8:p
1:k
2:p
3:k
4:p
5:k cable
6:p
7:k
8:p
1:k
2:p
3:k
4:p
5:k cable
6:p
7:k
8:p
1:k
2:p
3:k BH
Work desired hem.

Sleeves:
I found these directions to be straight forward. One tip would be to count how many rows makes that first inch so you do it the same on the other sleeve.

Happy Knitting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7 Months Pregnant

I am almost 7 months pregnant.
I thought I would warn you.
There might be posts about baby stuff.  Later there will be pictures of the darned thing. 
For now here is a picture of me:

I know, I know because I'm not turned sideways you can't see how big my belly really is.  However, no one really looks good in a side pose anyway.