One Year Old!

Little Miss Priss One Year Old
Mischievo One Year Old

I can't believe a whole year has gone by since I first held my little girl in my arms. I was so happy and excited! I couldn't believe I actually had my little girl. I was pretty sure I would be having a girl. We only had a girl's name picked out and we never had an ultrasound, so we didn't know what we were having. With Mischievo we were pretty sure we were having a boy and only had a boy's name picked out.
After 6 hours of labor I had this beautiful little girl.
Little Miss Priss a few hours old

I was 8 days overdue and so ready to have my baby. I had already felt overdue on my due date because Mischievo was two days early and I thought for sure I would have this one at least a week early. I felt so huge and tired of lugging around this big belly and having to bend over and pick up Mischievo's toys. That was so hard! I wasn't ready to be in labor, though, I was just ready to have it all behind me. I was kind of terrified because I had such a hard time with Mischievo, it was 30 hours of pain and all day and night. Also, my midwife was on a camping trip so she wouldn't be able to deliver my baby, I would have to have a midwife come from Tri-Cities, which is an hour away. Finally, Friday night (the night before I had Little Miss Priss), I told my husband that I was so ready to have this baby that I didn't care who delivered it!

So, Saturday morning, August 12, 2006, I woke up feeling like I was going to have a baby. My mom had been there since Monday and we thought we would go to Macy's since they were having a sale and I had a gift card from my friend Shelah that she gave me for my birthday. Anyway, while we were there I started having some contractions and all of a sudden I didn't feel like shopping anymore. My mom went ahead and got the things she wanted and when we got to the car I told her I thought she should drive. I was having some pretty good contractions so I didn't think I should drive.

When we got home I told my husband that I thought I was in labor. He asked if I wanted to call the midwife, Ginger in Tri-Cities or the assistant, Kathy, that my midwife had said I could call if I went into labor and needed someone to come and check me. I said I didn't want to bother anyone yet and I would take a bath and see if the contractions kept up. So, I took my bath and my contractions didn't let up. I decided I should just get out and call Kathy.

So, we called her and she said she would come over. In the meantime, my hip was really acting up. With both of my pregnancies I had a lot of trouble with my right hip, it would start hurting as soon as I was pregnant and nothing really ever seemed to relieve it, even though I went to the chiropractor a lot. My chiropractor actually lives right next door. Since it was Saturday he was home and my husband told him I was in labor and that my hip was really bothering me. He said I could come over and he would adjust me. So, I went over there and he adjusted me in between contractions. It was kind of weird to be getting adjusted while I was in labor. He said that was the first time he had adjusted anyone in labor. It gave me a little bit of relief but didn't help me much later.

We went back to our house and then Kathy came and checked me. I think it was about 1:00 p.m. She said I was at 3 cm. That was kind of discouraging to me. I was hoping I was farther along. I was imagining a long drawn out labor like I had with Mischievo. She also thought I was leaking amniotic fluid, so I must have had a very slow leak. Kathy was such a big help, besides being an assistant she is also a doula and a lactation consultant. She was going to school to be a midwife, so she knew a lot about labor and delivery. She had so many good suggestions to help me through each contraction and also to help speed things up.

I think I tried to eat a little bit of soup that my chiropractor's wife sent over, but it didn't taste very good to me. I was just wanting to get on with having this baby. I wish I had written things down so I would remember exactly what time everything happened at. Things get so blurry when you're in labor. Time just fades into the background. You're so busy concentrating on getting through each contraction that you don't even notice the time. At some point my husband got the pool all set up that I was going to have the baby in and started filling it up with warm water. My midwife provides a pool that you can have a waterbirth in. It looks pretty much like a kids pool, but deeper and it has a soft bottom. We also had called the midwife and told her that she had better come. So, she was on her way.

At about 4:00 I had the worst contraction yet and I was starting to panic think I had a long way to go still. Kathy checked me and I was dilated to 8 cm, so she said I could get in the pool. So, I did and right away I felt like pushing, but Kathy didn't want me to, since the midwife wasn't there yet. With Mischievo I never felt like pushing, it took all my strength and will power to get him out, so this was new to me, to feel like pushing. My husband was talking to the midwife on her cell phone because she had gotten lost and need directions. So, she was still over a half an hour away and I felt like pushing!!! Kathy didn't feel like she was ready to deliver a baby by herself so she told me not to push. That was awful! It was so painful, with each contraction my body was wanting me to push but I wasn't supposed to. That was definitely the hardest part of my labor. Finally, at about 5:00 p.m., the midwife got there and as soon as she was in the door she told me I could push. I was so relieved. Finally, I could push!!! It felt so good, to push, much better than holding it back. At, 5:20 p.m., Little Miss Priss was born. She came out quietly and nursed right away. Much different then Mischievo! As soon as he was out he started screaming and when I held him he threw his head back and kept on screaming. Plus, I was so exhausted I felt like I was going to drop him so I didn't even try to nurse him. So, except for that terrible hour where I had to hold back from pushing, Little Miss Priss's labor was very easy. It was definitely a piece of cake compared to Mishievo. That was such a happy moment when I held Little Miss Priss in my arms. My own little girl!

I was so glad my mom was able to be there. She pretty much helped me through most of my contractions. My husband was getting sick and he was also trying to talk to the midwife on the phone a lot, so he didn't help me as much as he did with Mischievo. Also, Mischievo was taking a nap through the worst of my labor and when he woke up my mom just took him over to my neighbor, the chiropractor and they were so happy to watch him. Little Miss Priss was probably born about 45 minutes after he woke up from his nap. When he came back and got to see her he was so excited! Here was the baby that we were always talking about in mommy's tummy! He loved her so much. He was always kissing her and wanting to hold her.

It felt so good to crawl in to bed with my little girl next to me. I was looking forward to be able to lie on my back. For some reason while I was pregnant I wanted to lay on my back so bad! But, you're not supposed to because it puts too much weight on your organs. She was so good that night, too. She slept for 5 hours and then she nursed and went right back to sleep. I felt so good the next day, I couldn't believe it. I didn't even feel like I had just had a baby. With Mischievo I was just so exhausted and sore, plus I had stitches with him. I didn't tear at all with Little Miss Priss and her head was bigger! 14 1/4 inches.

Well, I hope I didn't bore everybody with my birth story. I love hearing other people's birth story's, so I thought someone would want to hear mine.

Little Miss Priss got to have her birthday party at my parents house down in Hemet. She really liked her cake.



I had a lot of fun making her cake, too. I used fondant which I've never done before. It was pretty easy to do. Here she is enjoying her cake.



Here she is opening her presents with a little bit of help.

I have some cute video clips of her birthday, too, but I think I'll have to save those for another post. This post is getting way too long! I have so much to write about right now. We actually surprised my parents by going down there, so I will have to do another post about that.