Birth Adventures of Analise

 I had quite a wild, adventurous pregnancy that ended with the birth of my second beautiful daughter, Analise Lillian, on Friday September 7th.  As my close friends and family know, it was a challenging pregnancy.


 
A huge 14cm cyst was found when I had my ultrasound at 21 weeks and required major surgery and 1 month off work.  Later I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes which required me to give up my drug of choice and finally I had high blood pressure and had to go on work leave a couple weeks early.  Analise gave me a run for my money and I worked very hard on practicing mindfulness and radical acceptance.





After having been through so much already, I was so very grateful for an easier labor!  On Tuesday, Sept 4th, I lost my mucus plug but did not have any other pre labor signs for a couple of days.  I started having mild contractions the evening of September 6th and called my Douala and mom to alert them.  My mom decided to come to Beaverton to spend the night.  She lives about an hour a way and does not drive at night, so we wanted to be sure she was available to support my four year old Amy who we had hoped to have at the birth.






I was watching the Seattle Storm play a great game of basketball.  We had just put Amy to bed and my mom arrived.  10 minutes later, my water broke all over our living room floor.  I did not know I had so much fluid in me as it just kept coming and I was dripping all the way to Sunnyside hospital.  Once at the hospital I was not having contractions.  My Doula asked the midwife how long they might wait to intervene with my water broken and she said 5 days but most people don't want to wait around that long!  A nurse tried to convince me to get an IV but I really dislike them because they can never find the vein so I told them I would think about it but I did not want it right away.




I set up my music, affirmation cards, and pictures at the hospital.  The contractions started coming strong about an hour after I arrived.  I agreed to the IV but two different nurses tried it and were unable to find a vein, so they gave up.  I used breathing and mindfulness, working through each contraction as it came.  I tried different positions and liked the birth ball.  I was leaning into Gil and breathing through each contraction.  My mantra was "like a tree I am grounded.  Like a river I am free".


About 3 hours later I felt like it was time to push.  The midwife had left me alone to labor and came in to coach.  I had a lot of fear of pushing because with Amy I did not have the urge and was not able to push effectively and needed an epidural so I had a lot of fear about this part of labor.  I worked hard and stayed focused and 45 min later I had a baby girl on me!  Gil cut the cord.  The specialist was able to get the IV in easily as I was bleeding quite a bit and they needed to inject pitosin.  After Analise was born I also requested some pain meds because the nurse and midwife massaging my uterus was quite painful.



The next day, my mom, our friend Bethany, and Amy came to visit us.  Amy seemed a little scared of Analise but we were all glad to see each other.  Gil and I were eager to get baby Analise home and left the hospital Sat afternoon.



We had about a week together as a family and then my mom started coming for half the week to support us while Gil was working.  Amy started swimming lessons and we were out at Tryon Creek State Park together about a week after the birth.  We are excited for the start of a new adventure as a family with Analise.  I am proud of my body, so grateful to Gil, my Doula, my mom, and our community, and adjusting to life with two girls one day at a time.  I am trying to learn from their sense of wonder and new eyes.