Birth Story Part 1

So much has happened since my last post but most importantly we have a healthy baby, are home and doing great!

My last post was a week and a half before my due date and I had just found out that my little girl had flipped to breech. I was so disappointed because this late in my pregnancy could mean a c-section if I couldn't get her to flip back. That afternoon I did handstands and used doterra oils to encourage her to flip back. The next day I showed up at the hospital for my version appointment and told the nurses the things I had done the night before. Before they hooked me up to the monitors they did an ultrasound and by the grace of God she was back head down in perfect position! I was so happy I nearly cried. I asked my doctor if I should refrain from working out until she was born as I feared her flipping back again. My doctor assured me that I would be much happier to keep exercising as I had been and my regular workout routine in no way had "made" her flip breech.

For the next week I continued to workout but was cautious of a lot of up and down movement like burpees on the low box. At my 39 1/2 week appointment she was still in good position which made me a lot more confident she would stay there. That appointment was on Wednesday. I was only 1.5 cm dilated and my doc asked me what I would like to do as far as an induction goes. I told her as over being pregnant as I was, I wanted to wait until my baby was ready and go as long as possible without an induction. I mentally prepared for at least another week of pregnancy.

That afternoon benchmark workout "Nancy" was programmed at our gym. For some reason I always had it in my mind that I would go into labor the day of doing overhead squats. I didn't necessarily think that day was today but I was hopeful. Nancy is 5 rounds of a 400 meter run and 15 overhead squats with 65 lbs. You can hardly call what I was doing those days running....I called it a woggle (mixture of a jog and waddle). It wasn't very hot for August so I decided to give it a go as prescribed and finished in 17:50. I started to feel more contractions during the workout but I had them off and on for the past week so didn't think much of it.

That evening the contractions were getting stronger and at about 8 p.m. I told Jarod maybe he should start timing them because they seem to be coming frequently and more close together. After about an hour they were regularly coming about 2-4 minutes apart and lasting 45 seconds to a little over a minute. We decided to make a trip into the hospital since it is a half hour drive for us. When I got there I had dilated to a 3 and they said because I had that much change just from my doctor appointment earlier that day to now I was there to stay. I walked the halls for about 4 hours and did air squats to try to encourage my body to progress further into labor. After 4 hours they said I was not progressing quick enough and they wanted to give me petocin. I really was dreading this because I wanted a natural birth with no epidural. With my first I was given large doses of petocin because my water broke at home and I had no dilation when I got to the hospital. Petocin contractions are much more difficult to manage pain wise than our body's natural contractions. I told them I would like as small of a dose as possible so I could try to manage my way through them so they agreed. After another couple of hours my progress was still slow and they wanted to increase the petocin. Once that happened it was all over for me! The contractions were so strong and close together yet I wasn't dilating any more. Now I had a decision to make. Try to fight my way through them, which I am ok with doing when I know I am getting closer to giving birth, but that was proving to be a dead end because for some reason when my body tenses up, I just don't progress. I was worried if I continued to do this a c-section could be in my future so I decided I would get an epidural. It ended up being a good idea because after that I was fully dilated in about an hour. I only had to push 3 times through one contraction and our little girl was here!

I am still a believer in birthing as natural as possible and feel some disappointment for giving in and getting an epidural, however I also do believe in the situation it was the best decision for me. I can tell you after feeling the pain of those contractions and being told they were not helping me progress through labor is like doing Fran and being told every time you finish the round of 15 that you have to repeat that round again. Ha, well not sure if that is a good analogy but the best one I can think of right now.

More details will come in my next post as well as updates on my postpartum recovery and getting back in shape!


Our little girl was born at 7:30 a.m. She weighted 7 lbs 4 oz and was 21.75 inches long.

Breech

Today was a very difficult day for me (and baby). I went in for my 38 week check up (I am 38 weeks and 3 days so 11 days until my due date).  I went through all of the normal checks and everything was looking great. My blood pressure is good and low, my weight has remained pretty stable around the 155 lb mark, and the baby's heart rate was a healthy 125 bpm. Then my doctor went to do the weekly check to see if I was getting any more dilation, which I wasn't.  Along with that check came the bad news, she couldn't feel her head. She reassured me that she is probably head down but wanted to take a look on the ultrasound to be sure. After all at my 32 or 33 week ultrasound she was head down and every check in the last 3 weeks she has been head down. Surely she wouldn't flip this late in the game? As she put the ultrasound wand (not sure the real term for it) low I could tell by her face that it wasn't good. She then checked up and there she is, head under my left rib and feet down toward my right hip. I know I need to stay positive but this late it can be very difficult to flip a breech baby. The good thing is we know she flipped sometime in the last week so I have to keep hope that she can do it again. The bad news is, the percentage of versions that are successful are only 10-30%.

I decided to go to the gym today and do handstands to try to encourage her to flip back. It may be an old wives tale but I am willing to try anything. I did handstands off and on for an hour until my shoulders felt fried and she still is in the same position. Since then I went home and have used peppermint oil massaging in a rainbow shape on my upper belly to try to encourage her to move down. That has definitely go her moving but I am not sure if she is quite there yet.

Tomorrow I may be faced with some decisions that I'm not sure how we will handle. On the one hand if the version is successful I may have the option to be induced so that the baby doesn't flip breech again. I would consider doing this because the alternative of a c-section is less favorable than induction, however I really want to wait until she is ready to come out. On the other hand if the version is not successful, my chances of having a c-section will dramatically increase because the larger the baby gets the more difficult to flip her. I feel so helpless because to this point I feel like I have had such a complication free pregnancy and been so healthy that I just never imagined being faced with the possibility of a c-section. I will first and foremost pray to God that the baby and I come out in good health, but will also pray that he will guide me to make the best decision for her. I feel very emotional about this, but I know I need to stay positive because she is coming soon! To be continued....

I wasn't going to show anyone these but since this is the place I have been really open about my pregnancy, I figured it was the right place to post a belly shot.

New Perspective

I am finally in the home stretch...my due date is less than 3 weeks away. After my meltdown last Tuesday (which was the subject of my previous post) things have been really great. I am so excited to meet our little girl. Up to this point, I really was just excited not to be pregnant anymore, but now that she is almost here I really can't wait to meet her! (although I am still excited to not be pregnant too, ha!)

I decided to go back to doing our normal daily Crossfit classes instead of the extra competitive lifting. It really has given me what I need. I feel good, I am not discouraged by the things that are limiting me and I am still getting an awesome workout every day. I am proud to say this week I even completed a workout doing pull ups still so I think I may just reach my goal of being able to do them through my entire pregnancy. Yesterday we had a workout that including power snatches (which I do from the hang position) and running. I was looking forward to getting some running in since I haven't done a whole lot lately. That is until I got about 100 meters into my first 400 meter run. I felt good in terms of breathing (I was jogging pretty slow so I wasn't breathing really hard) and I wasn't feeling too hot, but I felt like I was going to have a baby while I was running. The pressure was so great in my pelvis that I had to bike in place of running the last 2 rounds. This actually came as a surprise because the day before I completed an entire workout that had double unders in it and did not feel this at all.

I continue to be able to overhead squat fairly heavy. It takes me a little more time to get my balance and my squats are slower to keep my balance but I still managed 7 x 2 at 125 lbs. I have heard from a couple of pregnant cross fitters that they went into labor soon after overhead squatting so maybe it will help her come sooner rather than later?

At my doctor visit this week I actually lost 4 pounds from last week, which I thought was a little strange but my doctor didn't say anything about it. This pregnancy has been really different in terms of my weight fluctuation. I gained a lot more in the beginning, then went for a long stretch of not gaining or losing a little, and then started gaining again. As of yesterday I was up exactly 25 pounds, which is where I was when I delivered my first. I am only dilated to a one so the chances of her coming this week aren't too good, but that's alright, I would rather wait until my mom is here to help out with my daughter.

I love this video just posted on the Crossfit hq Facebook site about pregnant women crossfitting. It really shows the positive influence Crossfit can have on women and their babies through pregnancy. I love seeing stuff like this because it is really what inspired me to write about my experience and hopefully motivate others to continue their own journey of healthy living through pregnancy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxehb6hQjmI#t=12


I finally decided to do some maternity photos. We are a little late being 37 weeks in these but better late than never!