Tanner's Story

All through this pregnancy (well, more like since the day Clayton was born) I have been nervous about how quickly the birthing time would go.  Clayton's birth was so fast--one hour start to finish--with no warning beforehand.  In North Carolina we were 45 minutes from the birthing center and that kinda had me worried. Here in Washington we were just about 22 minutes from the birthing center, so that was a good thing.  The birthing center is actually closer than any hospital that delivers babies.  Still I was a little bit nervous, expecting things to go like they did with Clayton's birth.

At my weekly check-ups, I was progressing about the same as I had with Clayton, and was at a 4+ on Thursday at my 39 week visit.  I chickened out of having her strip my membranes, and scheduled a visit for the next Tuesday.  My visualization of him being born that Friday didn't happen.  On Saturday there was a multi-stake Relief Society conference with Sheri Dew as the speaker.  Mom and I went, but after and 1 1/2 hours, I was done sitting there...it still had 3 more hours to go. We went home and I took a nap.  That evening Jack and I went on a date to buy new jeans for him...very romantic, I know :)  We got ice cream too, so that made it more exciting.  While we were driving around we discussed name ideas. We had been making lists and throwing out name ideas for months, but really we had no idea.  I liked Tyler, but Jack didn't at all.  Jack liked Taylor, and while I think it is a cute name, Taylor Shirts just seemed a bit cruel.  We were tossing out different names, and then I thought to myself, "I kinda like Tanner Reed" and then a few seconds later Jack said to me, "What about Tanner Reed Shirts?"  I said, "Ok."  "Really?"  "Yep."  So that settled it.  With two new pairs of jeans and a name for our baby, we returned home.

Sunday, March 10, the day before baby arrives

 Sunday morning Jack went to meetings, came home, and then went to choir before our 1:00 church.  I was feeling kind of crampy all morning, but didn't think too much of it.  Mom was planning on staying home with the boys because they both had colds.  I joined Jack at church and sat there, realizing that these crampy feelings were coming kind of frequently and regularly.  I wrote a note to Jack telling him that I just realized that maybe things weren't going to go like they did for Clayton's birth and maybe we didn't have to wait around for my water to break.  After Sacrament Meeting, Jack told the missionaries that he wouldn't be staying to teach Gospel Essentials, I gave my friend Casey a heads up that I'd be calling her to come over later that day, and we headed home.

Things were starting for sure, but I didn't feel any sense of urgency.  We came home and Jack and I took a nap, anticipating a long night ahead of us.  I timed the contractions for a while using an app on Jack's phone.  We all ate dinner, and then around 6:00ish, Jack called the midwife to let them know we were going to be having a baby that night.  The answering service picked up and they had the midwife call us back.  The midwife who was on call that evening was the only one who I had not gotten a chance to meet yet.  I was a little bummed about that, but she sounded nice over the phone.  She said I could come on in whenever I wanted to, but I didn't want to go too soon.  We agreed on meeting there at 9:00, and then I changed it to 10:00 because I just didn't feel any urgency to get there too soon.  We packed up the last minute stuff, and I called Casey to have her come over at 9:30 so we could go.  We put the boys to bed and then Casey got here just as Jack and I were getting in the van to go.  Mom gave her some instructions for the boys and showed her around, and then she drove Jack's car and met us there.

I listened to the Birthing Day HypnoBabies track part of the way as we drove there, just trying to get into the whole HypnoBabies relaxation.  We pulled up to The Birthing Inn at exactly 10:00, and the midwife, Kim Horvath, was there waiting for us.  She was very warm and friendly, and I wasn't concerned about not having met her before that.  I did have to tell her about my other birthing experiences because for some reason that page was not in my file that she had and they were in the middle of remodeling the office upstairs so she couldn't look around for it.  I had talked to most of the other midwives about my past experiences (or at least about my concern about it being really fast) so they would have known already.  Oh well, not a huge deal.  Kim wanted to check me to see how dilated I was, so she did and I was just at a 5.  I was kind of surprised by that, only because I was at a 4 at my last appointment so I hadn't "progressed" very much. Kim asked what I wanted to do as I labored: get in the tub, walk around, etc.  I did want to try the tub but not yet, so I just kind of hung out.  I rested while leaning on the birthing ball, rocked on the ball, walked around, and just kind of hung out.

Walking around to try to help things move along...This was a pause during a pressure wave when I was more in the "practice" HypnoBabies mode. It really wasn't intense at all at this point.

  I was definitely having pressure waves the whole time, but it kinda seemed like no big deal.  I did do the "finger drop" relaxation and turned off my light switch to do the self-hypnosis, but at that point (and for the majority of the whole birthing time) I really felt like it was just practice, not like I really even needed it to manage the wave.  We visited with Kim for a while, and then she went out to the little waiting area.  She'd check on me and was available to help with whatever I needed, but really I didn't need much.  She kept telling me how calm and easy I was, and how she'd never had anyone as calm and relaxed as me.  She said she had been carrying a gardening magazine around in her bag with her for months but had never even gotten a chance to open it.  Now she had finished the entire thing and was looking for something else to do.  It was kinda funny.

Midwife Kim (on couch) and the assistant just waiting around 

She checked me again around midnight and I was at a 7.  She asked if I wanted her to break my water, but I didn't at that point.  We decided we'd reassess that in a while if things weren't moving along.  I really felt kind of ridiculous.  At the hospital, there are tons of nurses, doctors/midwives, and other staff there but they are there for many different patients, and they'd be there no matter what.  Here at the birthing center, everyone was there for me.  Jack, Mom, the midwife, and later the assistant.  And Casey was at my house with Jackson and Clayton, waiting on Mom to get back so she could go home again.  And who knows if the boys are actually sleeping and doing ok there while we're all gone.

Hey, it's hard work walking around the halls in the middle of the night...give him a break....

I felt kind of guilty, like I was keeping everyone awake in the middle of the night when they should all be asleep.  I didn't want to do anything to speed things up.  I wanted it to all just go on it's own, but I kind of felt pressured to do something.  Kim didn't really say anything to pressure me or act overly impatient...I just felt bad.  Ridiculous, I know.  Hi, I'm having a baby.  And I'm paying you to be here.  Anyway, I walked the halls and walked up and down the 2 flights of stairs with Jack.  Nothing really huge was happening.  I got in the tub to relax for a while, but I really just felt bored.  Jack, Mom, and I played cards (Kings in the Corner) while I was in the tub.  The midwife got a kick out of that.  I think the assistant, Karin, arrived while we were playing cards and thought that was pretty funny too.  Hey, I was bored.

Concentrating hard on the card game.

Around 1:30 AM I got out of the pool and Kim checked me again and I was only at a 8.  I debated back and forth for a little bit, and then had her break my water to get things going.  I knew that when that happened, the pressure waves would get much more intense and that there was no turning back (not that there was any turning back anywhere in the whole process, but you know.)  But, I'm bored and tired and I feel awkward with everyone waiting on me.  So she did it, and sure enough, things picked up.  I put on some depends (lovely) and walked up and down the stairs with Jack again.  This time it really was doing something.  I would pause at every landing and sometimes in between and lean on Jack as I had a pressure wave.  Now it really was taking a little bit of concentration and I was actually having to use the HypnoBabies to relax through it.  After 1 or 2 trips up and down the two flights, I was done with the stairs.  We came back in and I got back in the tub.  It wasn't quite as relaxing as I would have hoped, but the warm water still felt nice.  I think the tub was too big for me so I kept slipping down.  I wish I could have reached across the tub with my feet better so I could relax without sliding down.

Actually having to focus to relax through the birthing waves now.

After a while in the tub, I needed to use the bathroom so I got out.  The midwife told me I didn't have to get out, that they had a little net...umm, no thanks.  So I went in the bathroom and had Jack come with me.  I was having intense pressure waves close together, and was hanging on him as I sat on the toilet hanging onto him. (Now that's love.  Thanks, Jackie.)  All of a sudden I felt a baby coming and told that to Jack.  He hollered out the door to the midwife, who rushed in to the bathroom.  I had mentioned that I might want to use the birthing stool, so she brought that in and set it in front of me, but I couldn't make myself move the two steps to get to it.  (...this seems weird to share with the world, but I want to record it, so here it goes...) The toilet was kind of high, like a handicap one, not a regular low one, and the midwife needed to be able to catch the baby instead of baby falling into the toilet, so I was really standing a lot more than squatting.  That made it a lot harder to push baby out because my pelvis was not nearly as open as it would be in a squatting position.  I don't know how long I pushed...I'm sure it wasn't more than 5 minutes, but it really took some effort and my legs were so tired.  3:18 AM, I pushed baby out and Kim handed him to me.  I sat back down and held him for a few minutes, but I was really shakey and weak feeling so I handed him back for then.

 Kim asked if I wanted to move to the bed to deliver the placenta and I was going to, but as soon as I got up to move it started coming out, so I delivered the placenta on the toilet too.  I should have gotten a discount for the easy clean-up job that they had!  Also, Kim said in her 20 years of midwifery, this was the first baby she had delivered without gloves on.  It was just sort of all of a sudden and there wasn't time for her to get them on.  We all survived.  Anyway, after the placenta was delivered, I did move back to the bed and they gave me my baby back and I enjoyed snuggling that new little person and smelling his sweet newbornness.

 It was really nice that I just got to keep him and hold him as long as I wanted, and there wasn't anyone trying to take him to weight & measure, or bathe, or check him or anything.   They did weigh and measure him when I was ready for them to.... 8 lbs, 8 oz!  No wonder he was harder to push out than 7 lb Jackson or 6 lb 13 oz Clayton!  Tanner was 21 inches long.




  I held him and nursed while Kim stitched me up.  We got settled in, and then we slept for a few hours.  In the morning, we dressed this new little boy and headed home around 10:15.      
It was very different to be going home so soon after his birth: about 6 or 7 hours later, rather than the 48 hours that was standard in the hospital in Utah for both Jackson and Clayton.  Beforehand,  I was a little nervous about that part, mostly because I knew I'd be going home to two other little boys who probably wouldn't want to let me rest too much.  But when it came down to it, I was ready to get home anyway.  I felt bored being there and I really didn't need to be there anymore.  And there were two cute big brothers and home who were really excited to meet their new little brother!  It was a lot of fun to introduce them to their new brother.  We told them his name, and then Jackson kept forgetting it for the first day or two and would ask, "What is the baby's name again?"  They were both kind of sick so we tried to have them keep their distance most of the time, but it didn't really work.  They were excited to love this baby, and so was I :)

(*It has only taken me 2 years to finally get this all the way written...I'm glad I did get most of the details down long ago, because I certainly wouldn't remember it all now.)

I'm awesome.

I would just like to throw it out there that I am a super awesome blogger.  Because it has been over two years since my last blog post.  Actually I had several in composition, but not finished.  So here I go, to finish a blog post about the birth of Baby Boy Shirts #3, before the birth of #4.  Maybe I'll change the date on it so it looks like I published it soon after his birth, not 2 years later :)

Tanner, 4 months

Tanner's 4 month stats, July 22:
weight:  14 lbs 8 oz, 33rd percentile
lenght:  26.3 inches, 84th percentile
head:   42 cm, 36th percentile

Rolled over for the first time July 5

Tanner's 2 month stats

Tanner's two month stats:
length: 24 inches (84th %ile)
weight: 12 lbs 12 oz (74th %ile)
head: 39.6 cm

T minus ???

Feb 19, 2013
This pregnancy has flown by.  Yes, the second one went by faster than the first, and this one has just gone by in a flash.  Life kinda seems to speed up as I get older (because I'm sooo old).  But really, this has gone by so fast.  I've been a little busy and preoccupied, I suppose.  A 4 year old and a 2 year old, plus the minor thing of moving across the country.  All of a sudden, we're just a few weeks away!  Mom comes in 13 days. My due date is in 23 days.  I'm full term in 2 days!  It really just hit me the past few days that I really need to get a move on and start getting things ready! I bought a pack of newborn diapers and some soothers for this baby, my only baby purchases so far.  I'm planning on getting a going home outfit for him on my next trip to Target.

Feb 28, 2013
Apparently I didn't finish this post last week.  I did have a little panic a few days ago, realizing how close we're getting so I've made a lot of progress in getting ready.  I got the car seat ready, washed all the newborn clothes (they're tiny!), and have mostly packed my bags besides the things on the "last minute" list.  I feel a lot better about things now that I'm a little more prepared.
At my appointment last week (37 weeks) the midwife checked me because we weren't sure that baby was head down.  She said baby was definitely head down, I was 2 cm, 60% effaced, and -2 station.  At my appointment today (38 weeks) I was 3 cm, 80% effaced, and -1 station.  We're making progress here!  It'll be interesting to see how everything compares to the last go-round.  We have been doing the Hypnobabies thing again and I'm looking forward to using that.
My biggest concern at this point is this two year old boy who has recently decided not to sleep.  He did great with the initial move to Washington.  Jackson and Clayton shared a room for the first time when we were in the temporary apartment for 3.5 weeks and they did great. Naps for Clayton were no problem. They were a little more wild getting ready for bed, but after snuggling, he'd lay right down and go to sleep.  Ok, I take that back.  There were a few nights where he cried for a few minutes before quieting down and falling asleep, but it didn't last long.  Moving into the new house, we had initially planned to put the boys in the same room even though we could have them in different rooms.  We put the crib in baby boy's room, and then two twins in Jackson & Clayton's room.  The first two nights went well.  Clayton stayed in his bed and went right to sleep.  Then he realized he could get out of bed.  After a few nights of trying to wrestle him into staying in bed, I gave up and put him in the crib in baby's room.  He did just fine in there and went right to sleep and took good naps in there.  That lasted for about a week.  I have no idea what happened or why, but he suddenly decided that he doesn't need to nap any more and that he doesn't want to sleep at night either.  The first few no-nap days were spent talking and playing in his crib, then he moved on to screaming and crying in there.  And bed time turned into me having to rock him until he was deeply asleep and then

(...ok, never finished this post, but I'll post it anyway...)

Hello, baby!

I had an ultrasound today to check my fluid levels and baby's growth...at my last midwife appointment at 33.5 weeks, I was measuring a fundal height of 29.5 weeks, so 4 weeks behind.  I wasn't really concerned because I measured behind towards the end with Clayton too.  I did have borderline low fluid levels with him, so they really wanted to make sure everything was ok.  Everything indeed was fine and dandy.  Fluid levels fine, and baby boy is growing.  A lot.  According to the ultrasound measurements, baby is over 7 lbs now, and could gain 2 more pounds before he's born.  I don't really trust the measurements though. ...there is also a 1.4 lb margin of error so we could be a lot less than that.  And I'm planning on it.
The regular ultrasound pictures that the tech lady put on the disk for us are kind of hard to make out.  They're all profile shots...

In this one you can kind of make it out a little better... the top of the head is on the right.  The bumps are the furled eye brow, the nose, and pouty lips.  

  

I had no idea they were going to do 3-D stuff.  I've always thought it's kind of cheating to see the baby so clearly before, but it really was cool to see.  So here he is!  His face & head were smooshed up against the placenta so most of them are just partial views of the face.

 When I showed these pictures to the boy, Clayton said matter-of-factly, "It's my friend."  Jackson asked, "What's your friend?"  Clayton said, "My baby brother is my friend."

We're excited to meet you in person in a few weeks, little boy!

...and remind me...what was your name again?

Washington bound!

I'm sitting here feeling kind of awkward as the movers are packing up my house...shouldn't I be doing something?  Actually, I have been until now.  Clayton is now napping, Jackson is playing outside with the neighbor, and all my pre-packing packing is done (whether I was done or not, it's kinda too late now).  I can't start cleaning yet because there is still stuff everywhere.  Tomorrow they load the truck, tomorrow evening and Friday morning we clean, and then we'll drive to GA to spend Christmas with my family.  We'll fly to Utah on the 26th to see the Shirts crew, then to Washington on the 1st to (almost) begin our new life there!

Jack and I took at trip out to Washington last week to find a place to live.  When we went, I wasn't quite sure if we were going to be buying a house or finding a place to rent (like we've done for the past 5.5 years).  We had a realtor assigned to us and he sent us a link with about 200 houses on it.  We went through that and narrowed it down to around 20 favorites.  We spent the morning of the first day there driving around, looking at the neighborhoods and outsides of the houses and then narrowed it down to about 10 that we then walked through with the agent guy.  Of those, we had 5 possibilities, all with their own good and bad things about them.  All but one was a little bit older and needed some work done or some serious updating.  We finally made a decision and we're buying a house!

We went with the one that doesn't need any fixing up or updating (because let's face it: we have great intentions.  And then they never happen.  It's kind of a running theme in our life). It is also the one that is closest to Jack's work...just a 20 minute commute, vs 30-50 for some of the other houses.  The plant where he'll be working is in a tiny little town with a population of 3,000 people.  We decided not to make it 3,004.5 and to live elsewhere.  The "big city" (there is a Target. No Walmart though) is about 35-40 minutes away from the workplace.  We ended up right about in the middle of them.  20 minutes to work in one direction, and 15 minutes to Target the other way.  The house is in a normal looking neighborhood, something that we found quite rare out there for some reason.  You just have to go through some farmland and interesting areas to get there.  The church is about 2 minutes away from our house.  From what we hear the ward is small in that area, even though there are tons of other large wards nearby.

I've been accused of showing a lack of enthusiasm regarding the house purchase...and about everything else in life.  Let it hereby be known, I AM EXCITED TO BUY A HOUSE!  *cartwheels* *squeals of glee*  *fist-pumps*  *more cartwheels*  There? Did that prove it?

Because they have been requested by a few people (and because I AM SO EXCITED AND ENTHUSIASTIC! *WWHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeee***  here are some pictures:

Living room to the left as you walk in the front door.

Dining room off of the living room...kitchen is to the right.

Kitchen

And the kitchen again, from the family room.  And a bald guy.

Family room from the kitchen...or pool table room, if you're into that sort of thing. That's the laundry room door on the far wall.

Deck off the family room/kitchen

Storage in the family room under the stairs.  You can see the front door and the bathroom door to the right.

Laundry room off of the family room

Other half of the laundry room goes out to the garage.  Not the most idea set-up, but maybe I'll not "forget" about the laundry piling up this way?

Jackson's room.  When I was showing him the pictures I told him this was his room and he said, "I like it...but...it's kinda missing the floor and carpet."

Family room, breakfast area, and kitchen

Stairs going up.  They go down too, as Jackson pointed out.

Technically I think this is the bonus room.  It'll be Grandma's room and storage probably. Sorry Grandma.

The movie room.  I didn't get a picture of the guitar room.  Did I mention the guy living here was single and had quite a nice bachelor pad set-up?  This will be a little boy's room.

Master bedroom.

We really are excited!  If all goes according to plan, we'll close on Jan 25th and then move in as soon as we can after that.  All our stuff is going to be in a warehouse storage place and then will be delivered on the 28th probably.  I was just sitting here wondering to myself why we are moving so soon if we're just going to be in temporary housing for 4 weeks before our house is ready.  Why didn't we just wait to do all this craziness of moving until after Christmas and New Year's, and just have them come in the middle of January and then we'd go out when the house was ready.  Then I realized the little detail of Jack working there, and how that might play a part in all of this.  Oh yeah.  He'll start on the 8th, so we really could have waited until after Christmas at least, but we didn't know what our housing situation would be when we started all this.

We're really going to miss North Carolina and all the friends we've made here!  Everyone who hears we're going to Washington says how beautiful it is and how much we'll love it, so I'm counting on them to be right.

 Gig Harbor, here we come!