Ashlee Stücki

lincoln and jade

Originally uploaded by Ashlee Stucki

babies love babies, especially when they’re cousins

Filed under: Uncategorized on February 26th, 2010 | No Comments »

Lincoln is two months old! At his well-baby visit yesterday he weighed in at 14lbs 1.5oz and 23 3/4in long. He’s already hit several milestones: smiling (1/29) , rolling from tummy to back (1/20), cooing( 2/13),  reaching for toys(2/10), and unfortunately his first cold.

Laylaisms: Big Sister Edition

While in labor during heartrate monitoring Lincoln was resting more than they wanted. So we told Layla she should come have a talk with him because sometimes that perks him up.

“Lincoln, come out of there and meet your silly mommy!”

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During our first weeks home I walked by Layla’s room and she was pulling her own hair.

What are you doing?

“I’m practicing. Babies pull hair a lot. It hardly even hurts now.”

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“Here are our house rules, Lincoln:

No running in the house.

No saying bad words like stupid.

Never ever touch my things unless I say you could, because you’ll get baby drool on them.

If you ever get stuck in something (like your doll’s crib) and need dad’s help to get out he’ll take it away for like a month.”

Filed under: Family Updates, Mommy Musings on February 17th, 2010 | 2 Comments »

I’d like to thank the following items for making my first month as a mom of two possible:

Straw Bottle- for allowing me to stave off dehydration without spilling all over myself or the baby. You were also a lifesaver during pregnancy and labor.

Baby Carrier - For allowing me to keep my newborn content and maintain use of my arms to play with his big sister and do a little housework, maybe even eat or sit here and type. You also saved me from swatting away stranger’s hands at the grocery store, though for some reason people kept asking me if the baby was real.

-For being far superior to any baby book I’ve ever read. You’re organized well, helpful and supportive. In the middle of the night when all my “been there done that” mommy friends are sleeping you answer my questions without sugar coating or dramatizing.

Peanut Butter Crackers - I’m not sure what it is about this combination, but you’ve gotten me through two pregnancies and are now my favorite nursing snack, too.

BabyLegs - A winter baby can’t just go around in a t-shirt and diaper like his big sister did.  This makes diaper changes simple and saves soft baby knees during tummy time since this little guy is already trying to figure out how to crawl. And we’ll just pretend they don’t inspire daddy to sing “He’s a Maniac” while puppeteering his son to do 80s dances.

Britax Regent- Ok so you haven’t arrived yet, but just knowing you’re headed this way eases my mind. Contorting my body to buckle a booster that constantly needs readjusting is not fun. This way big sister can buckle herself.  You win for having an 80lb weight and 53″ height limit and we’ll feel much safer having you around. If I can actually fit the two seats side by side I will forever be in your debt.

Nursing Tanks -  Side Sling to be specific,  for being easy to use, comfy and coming in lots of colors. You allow me to stay modest without hassle even during this stage of nursing 24/7.

Bouncy Seat - You keep the little guy content for 10 minutes so I can shower. I’m not human until I shower and now that my darling husband is back at work full-time he can’t always do the honors. I’m glad I didn’t put you in the garage sale.

Boppy - You save my back.

Honorable mention to DVR and a gazillion flannel receiving blankets.

Filed under: Mommy Musings on January 20th, 2010 | No Comments »

Sunday, December 13

I was 40 weeks 3 days pregnant and ready to have a baby. Since Layla was born a few days shy of 38 weeks it never crossed my mind I’d go past due. I had accomplished every preparation I could think of by 37 weeks. The phone calls, emails, etc were relentless and so frustrating at this point. Even though I  was no longer replying, getting those anxious messages made me a very short tempered woman those last few days. No body wanted to meet this little guy more than me!

So at Layla’s naptime I roasted a big pan of root veggies and sprinkled them with basil and oregano since that’s what the magic ingredients are in Eggplant Parmesan that people swear by to start labor. I started looking up what people were doing when they went into labor and 90% were sleeping. I wasn’t sleepy, but I decided to go take a bath and listen to my “First Stages of Labor” hypnobabies track. I filled the tub and sort of laid on my stomach as best I could, putting any weight on my knees and forearms and focusing on relaxing my belly into a hammock. I had this feeling Lincoln was going to turn posterior on me for the past couple of weeks and had really focused on staying in good positions to prevent that. About 40 minutes in I felt him move and my back popped so he’d done something. And once he did I got really deep into my thoughts and ‘woke up’ as the track ended 20 minutes later. I stood up to wash my hair and had some obvious new pressure. Then I got Layla bathed, put in a load of her school clothes, and we made a batch of cookies. I was having a few contractions, but mostly just pressure. I sat down on my ball with a bowl of roasted veggies and watched a little tv with Layla. About 30 minutes into the show I felt some wetness and I waddled to the bathroom. I did a happy dance when I realized I was losing my plug. Yes! Progress! I called my doula to let her know the good news and that hopefully we were looking at the next day or 2.

My contractions continued through the night gradually growing closer and stronger. I was able to rest decently, but I never reached a very deep sleep before I needed another potty break. Each bathroom trip triggered a string of waves that would eventually subside just long enough to doze before the cycle started again. At some point I realized I was feeling this all in my back, but I thought I could still clearly feel his bottom on my right side.

Monday, December 14

I gave up sleeping around my usual wake up time and tried to go about my normal day making breakfast, getting Layla ready for Montessori and doing a little housework. Around noon when Ben went to pick Layla up contractions were obviously getting more regular and requiring more focus to get through. I’m not sure Ben thought it was really happening yet and I told him this was definitely it and I needed him to just come be around me. He was quick to comply.When Layla went down for nap we decided he could run a few errands while I took another bath to hopefully ease the back pain and help me relax. My lack of sleep was catching up with me a bit and I nodded off in the tub. When I woke up and got dressed I was hit with some violent shivering and panicked when I realized Ben wasn’t home yet. Luckily shortly after the shivering stopped he arrived home. At 3pm we decided to start timing contractions and did so until around 4pm. They were a minute long and 3-4 minutes apart.  Typically you’re encouraged to go to Labor and Delivery when contractions are 5 minutes apart for an hour, but I wanted to stay home as long as possible without giving birth in the car. I called my doula and she encouraged me to stay home until they were 2-3 minutes apart unless my intuition really told me to go NOW. I was still managing well so we decided to stick it out. Around 5pm the contractions felt on top of each other and I could not find a position that worked so we decided it was time to call the doula in for help, but told her not to rush. At 6:30 I started shivering again, was vocalizing through contractions and told Ben it was time to go NOW.  Ben called the doula and midwife to let them know and we piled into the car to meet them at the hospital.

Luckily the car ride was actually quite helpful. The seat seemed to apply pressure in just the right spots on my back and the vibration of the car was soothing.  I was able to remain calm even though I was definitely experiencing intense pressure in my back. Layla was handing it all so well. I asked her if I sounded like a cow moaning through contractions and she said, “No, you sound like you see something very interesting. OoooAhhhOoo…”

When we got to Labor and Delivery we were given our room quickly and the midwife on call came to check my progress. I was completely deflated to find out I was just 70% effaced and dilated to a 2.5.  Granted that’s further than I ever got in labor with Layla, but I was shocked I wasn’t further along. This back pain was deceiving. The midwife sent me home with an order to get some rest and an Ambien in case I couldn’t. Ambien wasn’t something I wanted to do so I willed myself to sleep and got another night of broken sleep much like the night before. By morning contractions had spaced out to about 5 minutes apart and I’d found a couple of positions that worked to help with the back pain.

Tuesday, December 15

I tried to stay focused on my midwife appointment that afternoon at 3pm. I’d get checked then and hopefully have made some great progress. The contractions remained at least a minute long and varied between 5 and 10 minutes apart depending on my position and activity level. We got to the office for my scheduled appointment and I was hooked up for my non stress test which is standard at all appointments after 40 weeks.  Lincoln’s heart rate was a bit too steady for their liking. They were looking for a spike here or there, but he remained in his predictable 140 range the whole time.  They asked if I’d eaten much and I admitted labor had sort of ruined my appetite, but I’d managed oatmeal, a clementine, some trail mix, tons of water and some apple juice thanks to my husband putting it in front of me all day. They decided to send me to Labor and Delivery for a biophysical profile just to be safe.

So we drove over to the hospital and in the elevator on the way up to Labor and Delivery I felt a distinct trickle down my legs. I was pretty sure my water had broken. We received a room quickly again and they found Lincoln to be quite mellow as well. They ran a quick test and my water had indeed broken, but apparently high up because I had a bulging bag of water. I was still only a 3, but considering my steady contractions, length of labor thus far and being a VBAC the decision was made it was time to admit me. My goal the next few hours was to make these contractions more effective. The midwife let me know she would like to start a very low dose of pitocin at 4am to augment labor if I hadn’t progressed by then. I wanted to avoid that so we tried walking, nipple stimulation, and finally bouncing on the birth ball seemed to help. By 11 I was yawning and they thought I should try to rest a bit. So here was night three of very broken sleep between contractions. At 1am the contractions had regulated to 5 minutes apart and did seem stronger to me. We called my doula and Layla’s to head our way. Upon checking I had not progressed and pitocin was started a little before 4am.

 Wednesday, December 16

I labored several hours, through a midwife shift change, and at 9am remained a tight 4, and baby was still at -1 station. The next step was to break my water the rest of the way. Baby’s head was being cushioned by it and the hope was getting more pressure to my cervix would allow for more effective contractions.

Layla spent most of the day in the waiting room with her doula. They watched Christmas movies and played with the activities we’d packed for her.  Our room was just around the corner so she was able to migrate back and forth as she pleased.

About an hour after my water was broken I hit a wall. The back pain was relentless, I was beyond exhausted and I needed relief. I started mentioning I was discouraged and Ben and my doula tried to encourage me with the progress I had made so far. Applying counter pressure suddenly made it feel much worse instead of better. I lost focus and started losing control not only during waves, but between them. I cried from exhaustion for a few minutes which helped me calm down a bit actually, but I told the midwife I was ready for something for the pain. I needed rest. She agreed she thought rest would be best, but that I needed to reconsider the epidural because simply taking the edge off would not allow me that at this point.

I had said somewhat jokingly during my doula interviews  that I’d only get an epidural if I hadn’t slept in 3 days and there was an understanding we could turn it back once I got rest. That’s the exact situation I found myself in and after a few moments I agreed. I had such a bad epidural experience with Layla that I had made it clear no students were to be administering mine this time. This time it could not have gone smoother. I quickly fell asleep.  I woke up an hour later feeling like a new woman. We were so happy to find I still had complete control of my legs and could feel pressure, but no pain. And when I was checked again I had progressed to 7 and 100%.

Over the next several hours I labored quite comfortably, trying positions to help move baby down since he was still so high. At some point I consented to having an internal monitor put in to monitor Lincoln better. His position hindered getting a good read on him externally and they’d had to constantly come in to adjust which was distracting. Nurses rushed in twice to monitor Lincoln more carefully b/c the monitors showed his heart rate lowering further than they’d like for several minutes. It self-corrected, but the pitocin stayed off after that. At 3pm the midwife let me know she was concerned about him. I was doing wonderful, but my water had been broken 24 hours now, my contractions were doing what they could but quite frankly I had a large, posterior baby who was still a minus 1 after all of this. We could try to manually turn him if he got down more, but it was all a delicate balancing game now and she didn’t want this to turn into a dramatic situation without me being fully aware of what her 28yrs of experience were telling her. I asked for a few more hours, without Pitocin, and tried a pretzel position for about an hour to help move him down. Ben monitored his heartrate like a hawk reassuring me baby was tolerating everything. My doula helped me focus on moving baby down and with each contraction that’s exactly what I told him, “down, out, down, out.” The pressure got intense even with the epidural, but I didn’t want to increase the dose. The midwife came in and noticed I was really uncomfortable and pushed the button for me though! I was quite shocked and so was my doula, but we were quickly distracted b/c she was checking my progress and I was a 9! A short time later I was a 10!  A 10 and fully effaced! My body could do this birthing thing! I wasn’t broken! It was an amazing feeling just hearing those words.

Lincoln was still high, but the midwife had me do a few trial pushes. I had that rush of a second wind women mention when they start pushing. I felt awesome! Soon I heard they could see the top of his head and  soon I was switching positions as my body told me to. Though Ben said he wasn’t the kind who wanted to look he did, because it was just so exciting! And though Layla said she didn’t want to be in the room while I pushed soon after she heard I was she came in for a few minutes. I was so happy I wasn’t screaming in pain and it didn’t seem at all frightening to her.

The pushing started taking more and more effort. They checked his progress and though part of his head was a +3 it was not yet the widest part so technically we hadn’t reached crowning and his head was starting to swell. After some time this overwhelming sense of peace washed over me. I was ready to meet this baby. My second wind had left me. I told the midwife I was ready and she was quick to agree it was time. I asked Ben what he thought and he said Lincoln seemed to be tolerating everything fine, but he was supportive of the decision, too. I looked at my doula and assured her I felt good about this. I laughed and said something to the effect of, “Wow I’m such a pansy! What did I push for 30 minutes?”  And then she told me I’d been actively pushing for almost 2 hours. I guess that explains losing my second wind.It was a little after 6pm and anesthesia was called in to adjust my epidural for the cesarean. The anesthesia they gave me during my first c-section made me so cold and I remember shivering all through the surgery. This time was no different. I shivered so much they had to bound my arms to the bed before surgery started and they were bringing me warming blankets the whole time. Ben was scrubbed in while they wheeled me back to prepare. I tried to catch a little nap and focus on calming my shivers so I could soak up the moments of our little guy’s arrival.

Ben joined us in the OR and I could hear the midwife and nurses talk him through what was happening. The nurses were taking bets on his size just as they did when Layla was born. A little pushing and prodding later I heard the first gravely cries of our baby boy. I could hear nurses commenting on how big he was, how molded his head was and what a good pusher I must have been. They bundled him up and brought him over for kisses then handed him to Ben. He was so alert considering everything we’d been through! His forehead had a little bruise where he’d obviously been wedged for quite some time. I got a few more kisses before Ben went with him to the nursery. I found out later they stopped to let Layla hold him before taking him to the nursery. I love that she still got those moments with him despite the change of plans.

Through the excitement and shivering I could hear the surgeons talking about bleeding and them mention I was tachy. Actually I wasn’t quite sure if they were talking about me or an earlier surgery, because it was past tense. It seemed to take forever for them to close me up, but soon enough they wheeled me back to my delivery room for recovery. Layla was there with the doulas. We called the nursery to let them know we were ready to have the baby. Maybe 10 minutes later he arrived in the room. He took to nursing like a pro! My doula is also a lactation consultant, but there was no consulting needed!

By 9pm I was being wheeled down the hall, holding my nursing baby, to our postpartum room. Visiting hours ended at 9 so we called the grandparents and siblings to let them know Lincoln had arrived and they could all come meet him in the morning. The nurses wheeled in a cot and Layla was able to spend the night in the room with us. It was so nice to have those first 12 hours to ourselves. Our little family of four spent a contented night mesmerized with our newest addition.

Filed under: Mommy Musings on December 27th, 2009 | No Comments »

Welcome to the world, little guy.

December 16, 2009
7:16 pm
9lbs 15oz         22 in

Filed under: Family Updates on December 27th, 2009 | 1 Comment »