And then there were five...

(I'm wayyyyyy behind on blogging, so I'll blog about October, November and December later, but I wanted to post this first before I forget all the details.)

Introducing the newest member of our family: Bennett Alan Easton!

My labor with Bennett was very different from the other two, but still pretty short like the others. With Dallin's birth, I was induced and had no regular contractions beforehand. With Connor, I was already 5 cm before contractions really started, so I went to the hospital quickly after only a few contractions.

The morning of Monday November 24th, I felt like it would be a good day to have a baby. A two day hospital stay would put me getting home on Wednesday, just in time for Thanksgiving. My parents would be flying in that night (for a Thanksgiving/baby visit). Plus, I had an appointment scheduled with my midwife that afternoon, and I was hoping that after she checked my progress she would send me over to the hospital. I was already at 4cm for my 38 week appointment, so I figured once contractions really started, things would go quickly like Connor's birth.

That morning around 7am, I started right out with several regular contractions for an hour, then a break for an hour. This kept up all day: a solid hour or so of contractions every 6-7 minutes, then a long break. Mckay stayed home from work because I felt like things would pick up. We went to Home Depot so that I could walk around and keep the contractions going strong and so Mckay could get some supplies for his latest project. That really seemed to help and contractions kept coming longer and stronger throughout the day. We grabbed our hospital bags, dropped Connor off at the home of our neighbors/friends (who would also get Dallin off the bus for us), and went to my appointment with Sharon, my midwife at 3pm. With contractions coming every 4-5 minutes, she checked me and I was about 5-6 cm. We went straight from the appointment to the hospital. Sharon was not on call at the hospital that day, so I got one of the other midwives. I'd met this midwife before and liked her, but I was hoping for Sharon since she had attended Connor's birth. 

My last belly picture at 39 weeks.

Since I tested positive for Group B Strep with this pregnancy, I wanted to get to the hospital as quickly as possible so that I could hopefully get the antibiotics in a full 4 hours before birth. (Given my previous two birth, it was unlikely for labor to last longer than 4 hours total.) We got up to the delivery room around 4 pm. The midwife told me that antibiotics had been ordered and would be there soon. I got changed, filled out paperwork, had a saline lock placed, had 20 minutes of fetal monitoring, and still the antibiotics had not shown up. We keep asking about the status of the antibiotic and was told it should be there soon. Finally at 5pm, the antibiotic was brought in and hooked up to my IV. I see no reason why it took so long to get. This antibiotic is routinely used to treat GBS. I was in a hospital on a labor and delivery floor! Why don't they just keep some stored nearby?! Right next to the saline and pitocin? Ok, I'm moving on...

After the full dose of antibiotics was in, I got into the birthing tub, planning to have another water birth. The contractions weren't very painful yet (intense, but not quite painful), but I was getting bored and wanted to do something different. We watched some TV, talked, ate some snacks, monitored the baby's heart rate occasionally and waited. My body seemed to be in no hurry. Contracts slowed a little. My midwife was hoping I could wait the 4 hours until a second dose of antibiotics at 9 pm before she would brake my water to speed things along. At 9pm, I got the second dose while I sat in the tub. Once that was finished around 9:30, she broke my water. I normally wouldn't have been so quick for her to step in and break my water, but I was getting tired and hungry and just wanted to be done. Up until this point contractions were very manageable. About 10 minutes after my water was broken, the contractions quickly become more intense, more painful and much closer together. Thoughts of "Why did I want to do this again?!" crossed through my mind. A little after 10pm, I felt pressure to push. More thoughts of "I'm crazy but it's too late now!" At 10:15pm, Bennett was out of the water and in my arms.  

He screamed and screamed and had great coloring. 

We got all cleaned up. Bennett ate. He weighed in at 7lbs, 4oz and was 20 1/4 inches long. Since the hospital cafeteria was closed by this point, Mckay went out to grab some dinner for us. He brought me back a special treat.

Smart man. 

I hope ice cream becomes a new tradition for after having a baby.

We got settled into the recovery room and got a little sleep here and there. It's amazing how quickly my body has gotten used to waking every few hours again. 

Bennett got his first bath in the morning.

Just in time to meet his brothers and grandparents.

Meeting Bennett for the first time:

Both boys were excited, but Connor was instantly smitten.

When they went home at the end of the day, Dallin kept asking if Bennett and I could come home with them. He was really sad that we had to stay at the hospital.

The "normal" postpartum hospital stay is 48 hours after birth. With both previous births, I stayed the full 48 hours, but with Bennett's birth I was feeling great and ready to get home to my family early Wednesday, especially with it being the day before Thanksgiving. I knew that with me having GBS, they would want Bennett to stay the full 48 hours, but with how great he was doing, I hoped they could be lenient. And I really didn't want to be getting out of the hospital at 10:15pm. I wanted to get home and see my children before they went to bed.

My midwife said I looked great and was cleared to go Wednesday morning. Bennett was eating well, gaining weight, no jaundice, great temperature, no signs of infection. Several of my nurses said that we might be able to leave before the normally required 48 hours because he looked so good. The on-call pediatrician (who had never met me or Bennett before) came in Wednesday morning to look him over. She came in and said, "So you want to leave early today?" I responded yes and was very hopeful things would work out. The doctor started reading over Bennett's chart: "Weight is good, that looks good, mmmhmm, good good.... Oh wait, you had GBS. (closes chart) I can't let you leave early." I was floored. I said, "Really? You were just saying how great he's doing. Can't we leave just a little early?" She responded that hospital policy is a full 48 hours to ensure no signs of infection for the safety of the baby and there was nothing she could do. 

Enter Mckay.

I'm a person that does not like confrontation, so even though I was upset and frustrated by the doctor's response, I wasn't going to rock the boat. But Mckay is good at rocking boats. He stands firm by what he thinks and is willing to work to get what he thinks is right. Mckay was not there when the pediatrician came, so he asked the nurses if he could speak with the doctor about her decision. An hour later, the nurse came back and said the pediatrician wouldn't be back at the hospital at all that day, and that the pediatrician rechecked her guidelines which said to observe baby for at least 48 hours.

Mckay spent all day researching and found the CDC's recommendations. The CDC's own algorithm stated that while a 48 hour stay for newborns is recommended, "observation may occur at home after 24 hours if other discharge criteria have been met, access to medical care is readily available, and a person who is able to comply fully with instructions for home observation will be present." Mckay told the nurse what the CDC allows and asked to get the doctor on the phone. I think the doctor was getting sick of us. She probably wanted to just enjoy her holiday at home with her family. (Oddly enough, we were trying to do the same thing....) Around 7pm, the nurse came back in and said that the doctor would allow us to leave early, but only if we brought Bennett back on Friday to complete the newborn screening test and if we took him to see his pediatrician on Friday (sooner than the Monday appointment we originally had). I think the nurses thought we wouldn't want to go through all the hassle just to leave a few hours sooner. We were packed and ready to go in 20 minutes. At that point it wasn't so much about getting home early, it was about setting a precedent that hopefully will affect future families. 

 I don't like that the doctors and hospital would have such a strict policy that didn't allow for individual cases. (This is where I get on my soapbox, so you can skip this if you feel so inclined.) Everything about my labor and Bennett's health made him a great candidate for leaving early. And it really bothered me that they tried to scare me into staying, saying that my baby would not be safe otherwise. The last time that any nurse checked on Bennett's vitals or looked at him before we left the hospital was 11am on Wednesday. Had we waited until 10:15pm to leave for Bennett's "safety," it would have been a full 11 hours since his last vitals check. No one was going to be checking on him the last part of the day. If he were to show any signs of infection or complication, it would have been up to me to notice and inform hospital staff. That's something I could do just as easily from home. If you're going to require me to stay at the hospital for the safety of my baby, you better be in my room checking on him right until the end. Ok, stepping down...

Dallin and Connor were overjoyed to have Bennett home. Their very own baby in their own house! We spent Thanksgiving and the weekend loving on our new baby. We admired his hairy back:

and marveled at his blonde hair.

He's been a great baby and we're enjoying getting to know his personality.

Baby #3

Way back in July, we had an ultrasound for baby #3 at 20 weeks. It was during the same time as my parents' visit to Indiana, so my mom got to come with us to the ultrasound. We brought Dallin and Connor along as well. They have been really excited and asking lots of questions about the new baby, so I thought it would be really fun for them to "see" the baby. Plus, with Dallin routinely getting 4+ ultrasounds a year, I thought he might like to see someone else getting one for a change. The boys both did really well sitting quietly, putting stickers on everything they could reach to keep occupied.

The baby was all bunched up and hiding. The technician never got the "classic" ultrasound shot of a face in profile, so this was the best face shot.

But you could see the baby sucking a thumb and opening and closing the mouth. Very cute!

Here's a good foot shot.

It took a while for the technician to get a good view to reveal the baby's gender. Finally, she got a shot and said with a disappointed, almost apologetic voice. "Oh, there it is. It's a boy."  We had said nothing to her about hoping for a specific gender, one way or the other. I'm sure she just assumed, seeing that we already had two boys, that we wanted a girl. Then she said, "Well, I hope you at least have a girl dog at home." I had to assure her that we were happy and thrilled to be having another boy.

Here's a belly picture at 26 weeks.

Connor wanted to get in a picture too.  

He's trying to jump up and kiss my belly. Connor loves to see other people's babies and he's been very excited to have a baby in our own house. He asks lots of questions about the baby ("Is the baby drinking milk inside your belly?") and likes to imagine what the baby is doing. When we see a picture of a newborn baby posted on Facebook, he'll ask, "Is that our baby?" Connor is ready to be a big brother. 

Everything is going well with the pregnancy so far. Baby boy is growing well, I'm feeling all the baby movements, aches, and braxton-hicks contractions sooner than with the last two pregnancies. Dallin and Connor have come with me to several of my appointments and the midwives have been really great, letting Dallin hold the doppler wand on my belly to hear the heartbeat or letting Connor help with the measuring tape when they measure fundal height. We're starting to get really excited for baby boy to come, but we still have 11 weeks and lots to do to prepare for his arrival.

Why I haven't blogged

I haven't blogged as much this month as I normally do. The main reason is because I organized a Walk for Williams Syndrome here in Indiana this month and it took A LOT of time and energy to put it all together. I'll post more about it later when I get pictures from the photographer. Words will not do it enough justice. I'll just say it was an awesome day.

The other reason is that I've been growing things:

Baby Easton #3 will be joining our family December 2014!

(We really will also be growing beans and peas, in case anyone really cared...)

We felt like corn seeds were appropriate for the picture above, seeing as this is an Indiana grown baby. Corn is a big deal here. And growing a baby is pretty much like gardening. You have to make sure the baby gets the right amount of sun (none) and nutrients and lots of water. The difference is that harvesting food from a garden (even in the Indiana heat) is much more enjoyable than harvesting a baby.

Dallin and Connor don't really understand that we're having a baby yet. My belly doesn't look very different yet, and I don't know if they can quite wrap their heads around there being a baby inside of me. We'll probably talk more about it with them as we get closer to the ultrasound date at 20 weeks. They both love seeing babies though and they are always looking for babies to hug and kiss and speak in high voices to. They'll be good little helpers.

So, between feeling extra tired, extra naeseous, extra hungry, and planning an event for 100+ people, I've felt pretty exhausted. Now that the walk is over and the first trimester is almost over, I'm getting some energy back. Blogging should return to normal, especially with all the fun summer adventures coming up.