A Table for Five

So we are getting used to life as a family of five; it is doable but right now the adults outnumber the children by 1 so we'll see how things go once our wonderful in-law help has departed!

 After leaving the hospital on July 2nd we tried going to our house that was still without power and enduring day 3 of 100 degree temperatures. We quickly realized it wasn't good for baby E to be there without any temperature control.  It was really a blessing that my parents had already gotten a reservation at an extended stay hotel in town in anticipation of E's birth.  So after a brief homecoming and introduction to her home, Ed packed up our pack n play and he, Evelyn and I headed to the hotel to wait out the restoration of power by Appalachian Power(a very unimpressive display of service may I add).  At this point I was an emotional wreck and really didn't want my family to be separated at the time we were supposed to be celebrating, but so it goes sometimes.  Despite the tears, E and I  were able to rest and heal and Ed was able to continue working from the hotel.

B telling Abbie that he has a baby sister

July 4th is typically a big blowout holiday on our street so we came back over to our house to check on the status of the festivities to learn that everything had been cancelled due to the lack of power.  Our entire street was still out and most people had abandoned their homes for ones with power wherever that may be.  Just as I had settled into the rocker in E's nursery for the first time to feed her I heard a hum and the power had been restored!!!  We had been told that Roanoke wouldn't be completely restored until Saturday so I was thrilled we could move back home and start our lives together as a family of five!

Surviving the heat on July 4

Trying to stay cool with Great-Mamaw Counts

This isn't a headlock....its love!

So on July 4th we had our second homecoming; this time to a much cooler house and to C's disappointment watched fireworks on TV vs the on-street display.

All in all the experience is a good memory now and something we will never forget.  I am certain my parents will not; they were champs to suffer through 5 nights in a house without power babysitting a 4 yr old and 2 yr old while scavenging daily for ice and entertainment.

As you can see the kids are having a great time with the grandparents; here are a few shots of the fun and culinary delights we are enjoying!!

Fishing with my grand-dads....C chose school over fishing.  Not a shocker for those that know her!

Enjoying crab caught by Lolo!

Miss E is a good baby, she sleeps and eats well especially at night!  We have been fighting a low level of jaundice for the past 3 weeks which doesn't require photo therapy but we are alternating breast milk with formula to see if we can get her bilirubin level to drop, we pray this takes care of it and prevents our weekly Dr trip and blood test!

Out with the lights in with a life: Part II

Birth Story Part II

Disclaimer: Lack of pictures below to prevent my own embarrassment as well as yours :)

The drama of the prior nights storms was evident as we drove to triage on Saturday morning.  There were trees down(most had been cleared out of the roadways), mobile service was spotty, no stoplights were working....not even blinking yellow or red, and leaves and limbs were all over the 2 mile drive to the hospital.      I was elated to find that my preferred doc, Andrea Cobb, was on call and I think that gave me some sense that today would be the day.

Once admitted we were lead to our room which had an incredible view of the valley from the 13th(yes, you read that right) floor.  I settled onto a birthing ball and started texting friends in excitation but in relative comfort breathing through the contractions.  After about 2 hours Dr Cobb checked me again and despite things getting more intense I wasn't progressing very quickly only 1'' dilation in 2 hrs.  Knowing I shouldn't have any pitocin and wanting to get on with things we agreed she should break my water.  To quote my nurse(who actually is a trained midwife and was awesome!): "you aren't going to feel quite as comfortable now".  Boy was that an understatement!  As soon as I stood back up I had 3-4 contractions back to back that were in a different ballpark vs where I had been prior.  After about 15 minutes of that I had progressed to 7cm but couldn't use any breathing techniques to handle the pain; I called for the epidural.

Now I am not sure what side of the hospital the anithesiologist (for my Roanoke friends it wasn't one I knew) was on or if my internal clock was broken but it felt like it took him 30 mins to show up while I was writhing in pain. At the time I was disappointed with myself for not hanging in there naturally.  My midwife said it could be over in 15 mins or 4 hours so I assumed some relief was needed if it was the latter of those two options.  Honestly friends that was the best choice I made; I went into the final part of labor rested, calm, and able to enjoy birth.  Initially I was concerned about the epidural slowing down my labor and needing pitocin to get it going again which would have increased my risk for the uterine rupture...and thus a C-section.  In hindsight you have to make the right choice for you in the moment; being closed minded about how your body will react to birth is a setup for disappointment.

The epidural and IV narcotic allowed me to rest in relative comfort for about 2 hours while my body finished its job.  Dr Cobb and Tammy came in and declared me ready to have a baby at 4pm.  I was honestly shocked....really that quickly we were ready to have our little girl here??  Everyone suited up (Ed included), i pushed about 4 times and she was here.  Ed got to help Dr Cobb deliver her; he is hoping she is a Daddys girl due to his participation in her birth.

This was seconds after her birth laying on my belly; precious moments!

It really was a beautiful experience and I am so glad I was able to experience birth in this way.  It really wasn't that hard, but I can't imagine going any further than I did without the aid of drugs!  Kuddos go to Dr. Cobb and nurse Tammy.  At no point did they pressure me to do anything I did not want to do.  No one offered me drugs they only informed me of my choice while I was still sane enough to understand my choices, no one gave me a timeline for when I needed to have labor complete and they were as delighted as I was were were successful at the VBAC.

God is perfect in his timing; he knew the right moment for Evelyn to enter the world and he made sure the right staff was there to support me in a beautiful way.  I couldn't be happier friends.

On with the rest of life.....we are being discharged in minutes and I don't think we have power still.  Luckily my parents already had a extended stay hotel reserved so if things seem to rough at home with and infant and no power we have an out!  I really want my family to be all together at this exciting time but we'll roll with the punches on this one....I'll take the beautiful birth above instead :)

Out with the lights and in with a life: Part I

Wow, what a post this is.  Honestly it is a novel but I am not a writer so I will spare you!  But I will try and share the craziness that has occured in our lives in the past 2 weeks.  I'll break it into 2 else I may never get it completed.

Let me start with the vital and most imporant piece.   On Saturday June 30th we welcomed into our family Evelyn Pearl Gloria at 4:30 pm.  She weighed 7 lbs 7 oz and is 20 in long.  Praise God, she and mom are both healthy and E is beautiful(go ahead accuse me of bias!!).  She looks very similar to her sister C when she was born. The pictures don't all show the hearty amount of black hair Miss E is sporting but it's there!

Some significant aspects of her arrival: 

1) June 30 is a shared birthday in the Gloria clan: Ed's brother Alex's birthday, Ed's paternal grandfather's birthday and a paternal Aunt's birthday; 4 generations of Gloria's sharing 1 birthday.  It is also my Aunt Ruth's birthday.  Pretty cool eh? 
2) Evelyn's middle name is shared with her Great Nanny, Nancy Pearl Moore pictured below. 

Evelyn Pearl(in utero) with Nancy Pearl in June '12

Our first family photo we are 5 now!!

C has been so excited to have a baby sister.  Every night she has been kissing and hugging her baby sister goodnight in my belly.  She and B I am told sang Evelyn happy birthday at top volume yesterday upon hearing the news. 

This is all joy, we didn't have to tell her to smile!



 As for big brother we have all been skeptical as to his reaction.  Thus far he likes the baby and likes to describe what the baby is doing: crying, sleeping, eating etc.....  All in all I think he will intend to be gentle with his sister but there is no properly harnessing the energy of a 2 1/2 yr old boy sometimes!! 

 The Birth Story Part I

My delivery history involved 2 cesearians for breech babies but with both of these events (seperate dramatic stories unto themselves) my body did go into labor making me a good(not excellent due to 2 C-sections vs only 1) candidate for VBAC(Vaginal Birth After Ceasearian).  I really did not want to deal with the healing time, risk of major abdominal surgery, and lack of mobility post birth that a C-section results in.  I also just wanted to experience birth....the typical way.  I was honestly a little scared of this just because it was the unknown....

Due to my history I was not able to have any interventions(aka pitocin) to speed up labor, make it consistent, etc.  I also had to report to the hospital to be put on monitors once labor had begun(vs labor as long as possible at home) to ensure my utereus was holding together.  All in all I thought I was in labor 3 times; luckily we only went to the hospital for 2 of those three incidents. I got very familiar with how to check in through the ER; even the transport guy recognized me this past time :)

So this past Friday 6/29 I had been experiencing contractions, intense yet irregular overall, for almost 24 hours and we had almost gone to the hospital the prior night yet the progress had slowed so I "slept on it".  After consulting the nurse Friday morning we reported to Triage to ensure baby was fine and to see if I was in labor.  After 4 hours of monitoring, 1 hr of hall walking and only 1 cm progression from Dr's visit the day prior we were released from Triage.  The waiting game continued.  The hardest part was not knowing if I would be having a baby in days or in hours....it is really difficult to plan life around such an unknown. 

Sooo Friday night my parents took the kids to the Salem Red Sox game and Ed and I stayed home and rented a movie.   Our lights started flickering around 10pm,  we thought we were pulling too much power because Friday had been a 100degree day so we started going around turning off AC units, fans, and computers when we noticed the wind whipping outside like never before.  Ed pulled up the radar right when the power went out but we saw enough to know it was time to head to the basement(we actually have a seperate canning cellar in our basement we can use as a storm shelter). My 83 year old paternal grandmother has been staying with us along with my parents since the false labor the prior week and she had already gone to bed upstairs for the night.   As Ed found the flashlights I went upstairs to get "mammaw" and with the aid of her cane, my 9 mo pregnant body and Ed lighting the way we found our way to the basement cellar to wait out the storm sitting on buckets and coolers.  Meanwhile my parents at the baseball game had been evacuated to the underground tunnel at Lewis-Gale Field to wait out the storm with 2 very frightened kiddos.

The storm passed very quickly but it was super intense; it is reported this storm packed record winds in excess of any hurricanes reported in VA. Needless to say we didn't get power back and almost 50% of the state is still without power 3 nights later including most of Roanoke and surrounding areas. We were all re-united safely but lacking AC or fans making for a hot difficult to sleep night especially for this pregnant mama.

I slept on the couch downstairs just becasue it was cooler than our 2nd floor bedroom; but I think the uncomfortable situation made my contractions regulate and strengthen.  Saturday morning after breakfast around 9:30 we headed back to the hospital and were admitted meaning we weren't leaving without a baby!