Lola's Birth Story

Obviously, I had an entire pregnancy fly by without blogging it this time. I guess that's the reality of being the 3rd baby. However, we absolutely cherish our precious 3rd babe just as much as the other 2! 

I jotted down notes about my pregnancy with Lola and also wrote up the story of her arrival. Here they are:




Notes about pregnancy (lots about the sickness/nausea that I captured on behalf of Laura Agaba, a fellow pregnant friend)...

We found out I was pregnant on March 28th. We went out on a date night to serafina that night.Like the other two, I didn't start to get sick until about week 8. This time I did alkali all natural remedies (versus zofran with the others). Nothing really fixed it though. Some things took the edge off a little. I only puked less than a dozen times though, which is much better than how I was with Avery before taking zofran. Here's what I tried:·      Seabands-wore those for a few months pretty much nonstop. They seemed to help a decent bit. One morning I was feeling ok so I bravely took them off...and puked a few minutes later.·      TB of apple cider vinegar with TB of honey in a cup of water first thing in the morning-helped a little, I'd have Jacob bring it to me before I got up or just have it premixed on my nightstand the night before.·      Digestzen oil from doterra-one drop in a couple ounces of water. Really helped take the edge off as nausea lingered mid morning.·      Acupuncture-helped the first couple times in first trimester for a few days. No luck in second trimester.·      Earth mama angel baby morning wellness tea-didn't do a thing for strong nausea, but helped for lighter nausea. I still take it almost daily in the morning with a half of lemon in it.·      Vitamin b complex by pure encapsulations-my naturopath got me on these. Can't say I can tell a difference but vitamin b is always a good idea with nausea.·      Tried some Chinese herbal teas from the natural herb pharmacy that my acupuncturist prescribed but couldn't tell a difference.·      I've worked out consistently (3x a week, even if it's light) through this pregnancy which seems to help keep the hormones moving even though it's SOOOO hard at times.·      Tons of protein-this is huge. I've had to keep the odwalla-type protein drinks on hand. When all food sounds disgusting, these are huge for keeping me from getting too hungry (which also makes me sicker). I do the arbonne protein drink everytime I workout, but having something instantly ready in the fridge is super helpful.·      Drinking more water than I think I need and sleeping more than I think I need (sleeping pills necessary lately) does help.·      I tried diclegis, which is the new super safe anti-nausea drug. I don't think it helped, but it did make me super sleepy.·      Bentonite clay mixed in water at night-this helped a little bit as it sucks up all the nastiness in your digestion, including all the nauseating acid. Don't take it around the Time you're taking vitamins though.Lola has been super active in third trimester. She gets tons of hiccups, just like Avery did. With Avery, she also had many hiccups as a baby. Loves to stretch her legs way out in my side just like her siblings did.I loved the name Lola since college. I worked for an elderly lady named Lola throughout college, helping her with her household items and doing her shopping for her. She was sweet yet feisty and particular, refusing to lose her zest as she aged. Jacob didn't seem into the name Lola early in our marriage, so I moved on and didn't push it as an option when we had Avery.Jacobs grandmothers middle name was Lokinelola. When I was pregnant with Carter, I thought maybe we could use that as the middle name if he had been a girl.After we learned this time that we were having a girl, Jacob brought up Lola again as a first name option out of nowhere. I waited it out to see if he had real interest. We toyed with other names too like Alexis, and threw away our girl name we liked before we knew Carter was a boy (Kennedy) since it was way too presidential now. Avery instantly really liked Lola. After a month or so, we 'let Avery pick' the name and she chose Lola without hesitation. We decided on Lola Lokine since it's a remix of Jacobs grandmothers middle name. It also is very pretty, unique without being odd.34 weeks:•    Moving like crazy
•    Up throughout the night unless I take sleeping pill
•    Toes/limbs stretching way far on both sides
•    Seems to still be head up
•    No nausea
•    Super sore throughout entire torso
•    Easy to nap every day As of 36 weeks, I was already dilated to a 2 and 20% effaced. At 38 weeks, I was at a 3 and 60% effaced. I had tons of contractions by then. Some even came with very light cramping and could be timed for 2+ hours at 5-20 minutes apart.


The story of Lola's arrival:

Lola's birth story really  started weeks before it actually happened.When I went in for my 26 week appointment, Dr. Bohmke said that I was already dilated 2 cm and 20% effaced. At that point, she said Lola "could arrive that night"...or she may not come for a couple weeks. Third babies can be quite unpredictable.After that appointment, I got pretty excited and anxious and purchased all the last items I thought I needed for her. I also packed my hospital bag and put it in my car. Jacob and I made plans to be ready for labor to start anytime.Contractions happened frequently from then on. On November 21st, Jacob and I were staying the night at the WAC hotel and I felt uncomfortable contractions that seemed to be in a pattern. I actually tracked them for over 2 hours, but they were roughly 5-20 minutes apart. At one point, I even got up and started getting ready for the hospital just in case. Jacob woke up at that point and whined about the lights being on, which was pretty entertaining. Eventually, though, I decided to go back to bed since they weren't progressing and nothing happened. Situations like this continued to happen for the next several weeks. I have lots of notes on my phone where I tracked contractions for a while. Lots of pre labor or early labor, but nothing that turned into true labor.On December 4th at 10 am, I went in to see my doctor just to have her strip my membranes in hopes of making labor coming soon. She told me at that point that I was dilated almost to 6 cm. She also then said she'd rather I walk around nearby for a while rather than go home, since I should be in labor anytime. She also had me get hooked up to the monitor for an NST in order to make sure Lola was doing good. They then tracked my contractions at 4-6 minutes apart consistently. Apparently I was in labor and hadn't even realized! I had been so uncomfortable for the weeks prior that I didn't recognize that labor seemed to have actually started. Dr. Bohmke told me I should skip the plan to walk around and head straight to triage.I had been texting updates to Jacob and then let him know that things were really happening. Mammy had been watching the kids while I went to my doctor appointment so I let her know she'd be with them for a while.Jacob had really hoped there would be some type of drama involved with Lola's arrival, just to make it interesting for the 3rd time around. A high speed rush to the hospital, maybe a cop trying to pull us over, possibly almost having the baby in the car-any of those options sounded good to him. I assured him there's enough drama for me with simply birthing a child. Ultimately, there was the most minimal amount of drama when it came to our arrival to the hospital. I actually drove myself there. On our way to triage, I also insisted we pause to grab a holiday drink and a cookie at Starbucks in the lobby. I didn't see any reason not to start things off with some cozy comforts.We got all set up in a room around 12 or so and walked around the hospital for an hour or so. We even visited our second cousin Mali Hawkins, who had just delivered her baby Rosie the day before. I carried on conversations with Mali, Rylan and Berta while experiencing regular contractions that were slightly painful but bearable. No one could believe I was walking around and seemed to be managing labor at that point. I tried to convince Jacob that this was just because I am super tough :)Mammy brought the kids to the hospital after Avery got out of school at 1:30. It was really fun to have them in the delivery room for a while and let them be a part of the experience. Still, things didn't seem to be progressing much, so we decided to have the doctor break my water. I knew that after my water broke with Carter is when things got much more painful very quickly. So, I opted to have the epidural put in right before she broke my water.
Hours later, things were still not really progressing. We expected Lola to fly out, but she was taking her sweet time. We decided to use a tiny bit of pitocin to get things moving. This helped me (slowly) dilated from 6 cm to 8 cm. At that time, Lola's head turned sideways, causing the labor to stall again. Dr. Bohmke had the nurses put me in the exaggerated sims position to move her back (same thing we did with Carter around this point of labor). Within 5-10 minutes, it felt as if my epidural had stopped working entirely. We had already kept it at a very light epidural, so I had been having pain with each contraction, but this was a whole other level of pain. For about a half hour or so, I experienced the worst pain of any of my pregnancies. I could hardly stand it, the pain was so excruciating.  Jacob was playing the Amy Grant Christmas album at this time, and I tried to mentally check out as much as possible. I asked the nurses to have Dr. Bohmke check my progress, desperately hoping the pain was at least being productive. When she checked me at that point, I was thrilled to hear that it was time to push.It took roughly 10-15 minutes and 3 contractions to push sweet Lola out. Midway through, I looked down and saw her thick, dark hair and broke down in sobs. This was unexpected, and also made it feel so much more real that I was about to meet my baby girl. When she came out, she gave sweet quieter cries for the first few seconds before giving us a good wail to let us know she had arrived. Jacob and I were overcome with joy at her arrival.After delivering her, it took a long while to vet my placenta out. Dr. Bohmke ended up having to scrape it out with her hand. Finally, all was done with the delivery and the family was able to come meet her. Carter and Avery came first, and were both completely adorable and so excited about their baby sister. Mammy, B. Bo, Grammy, Poppie, and Auntie Mimi were also there to meet her. 

Carter's Birth Story

The last few weeks and months before your arrival left me a very anxious mama. I was very hopeful you’d come early since I had a work event on September 17^th and wanted as much time as possible with you beforehand. I knew your sister came early and really hoped you would too. Your due date was August 16^th and I spent the week or two beforehand trying all sorts of ideas to get labor going-I even did acupuncture for the first time! As of Monday the 5^th, I was already dilated to 4 cm and having Braxton-Hicks contractions all the time.
I really wanted you to come only when you were ready but I had even penciled in an induction for August 12^th in case you hadn’t arrived yet. Actually, we had first scheduled an elective induction on the 11^th, but we rescheduled it for the 12^th because B-Bo and Mammy had a big Bethel reunion party at their house that day.
On the 11^th, at 4:17 am, I woke up with a contraction that was definitely uncomfortable. After that, I couldn’t fall back asleep. Contractions were 4-10 minutes apart for a few hours as I sat and tracked them (while watching Downton Abbey on TV). I still didn’t know if this was false labor or the real thing.
Meanwhile, Laura Agaba had been texting me the night before that she was in early labor and then that morning she wasn’t responding to texts, a clear sign that she was busy delivering a baby. I was so hopeful that you might arrive on the same day as Eden!
Once Daddy and Avery got up, we continued on to get ready to go to church. The contractions stayed steady but didn’t grow much in intensity or frequency. We went for a quick walk that morning but decided to go ahead and go to church since it still wasn’t certain that this was real labor.
I continued on through church service, quietly counting contractions as Pastor Kevin preached on The Jesus Stories, and went out to lunch afterwards at Chandler’s Crabhouse with Poppy and Grammy. By this point the contractions were definitely growing in strength, but I still didn’t want to get my hopes up too high. I had been hoping and praying for true contractions and labor so much, so I was probably a little extra skeptical about whether this was the real thing.
After lunch I called in to the on-call doctor at the hospital, Dr. Bohmke. She suggested I come in to the hospital to check on any progress. We took Avery home, put her down for a nap, packed up some bags just in case, and headed in to triage at the hospital.
We arrived shortly after 3 pm to the hospital. Our good friend, Leia Brown, was working in triage so she got us all checked in. Dr. Bohmke checked me and found that I was dilated to a 6, so we would be able to stay! A wave of relief washed over me as I realized I would be meeting you soon! It was such an answer to prayer and perfect timing for your arrival. 
Around 5 pm, after getting checked into a room, Leia sent us to go walk around the hospital for an hour. We had been walking around the hospital for about 10 minutes or so when we passed through the lobby and (pop!) my water broke. I couldn’t hold in nonstop giggles as Daddy and I rushed back up to our delivery room. I found it so hilarious that I had basically involuntarily wet myself in the middle of a public place.
We returned to the room and soon after, Jill and Mammy and Baby Kate arrived at the hospital. We chatted with them in the delivery room as my labor progressed. Right as I entered transition, I decided it was time to get an epidural. Many of my contractions were right on top of each other at that point. I definitely handled them better than I remember having done with Avery, but the 15-30 minutes before the epidural were like torture.
It was a couple hours more and I still had only progressed to a 7. Dr. Bohmke came in and felt that your head was turned sunny side up, which was stalling labor. She then turned me into a sideways position and dropped in a little bit of Pitocin to get you moving. Within about 5 minutes, I started feeling an intense amount of pressure. I mentioned it casually, but within 10-15 minutes I was a little more emphatic about this intense pressure I felt. Dr. Bohmke then came back in to check and found that I was at a 10 and you were on your way out! The doctor and our nurse, Leah, moved quickly into position for delivery.  Before you knew it, we were all set up to push.
My epidural was much lighter than it had been with your sister, so I felt every push and cut (albeit somewhat muted because of the epidural). It was 21 minutes of pushing to get you out. These were very intense, very painful, and super hard work, but I was thrilled to have it over so much quicker than with Avery. You then arrived at 9:41 pm.
The moment they brought you up on my chest right after you came out was full of joy and a natural comfort. I didn’t feel the overwhelming mind shift like I had with Avery, I just felt like I was so your mom and you were mine. I knew what I was doing this time. I also then had the thought that you felt much heavier than I expected! I later learned that this was because you were 9 pounds, 7 ounces-2 pounds heavier than your sister!
After giving birth, I almost immediately felt so much physical relief. Carrying you around was not very easy on mommy’s body! The week after you arrived, though, Daddy took work off and I felt awesome so we did so many fun activities. We went to the park, walked to Molly Moon’s, went shopping at University Village, took the ferry to the Whidbey Island Fair, went to Woodland Park Zoo with the Overfields, and had visits with family and friends.

Homeward Stretch

I'm now officially full term (as of 3 days ago) and getting very excited to meet our little guy.

It still could be weeks before his arrival, or it could be hours. I'm remembering this stage well when I feel like a ticking time bomb-so eager yet trying to be realistic about timing. It's both wonderful and frustrating. Last Wednesday I wasn't dilated or effaced at all, and today (Monday) I was so excited to learn that I'm about 80% effaced and dilated to a loose 2 (I'm at 3 at the opening of my cervix and more like a 2 where Carter's head is, in case we want to get detailed about it). With baby #2, it's common for your body to begin prepping earlier. So, while this is where my body was at 24 hours before I went into labor with Avery, I'm trying not to get too excited since things will likely go differently this time.

Getting ready for a baby the second time around seems so much easier! I feel very very little, if any, anxiety about the labor process and I feel so much more ready for the newborn stage. The tricky part, of course, will be balancing that out with taking care of a busy toddler at the same time.

I can't say I've slowed down in preparation for Carter until maybe just recently. June was a very busy work month, with prep for WFC's fiscal year end and annual conference being intense, a new rental house that we bought, fixed up, and rented out, annual meeting for Project Hope Northwest that I coordinated, and still doing Beza Jewelry stuff on the side. Then, late June and most of July was a very busy and fun social month-Bodine trip to Mt. Rainier, 4th of July, 10 year reunion & festivities (big success!), Amanda and Brian's wedding (Jacob was a groomsman, Avery was an amazing flower girl, and Frank was the officiant), a week in Sunriver, baby shower for Carter (a wonderful afternoon from Cousin Katie), 60th birthday party for Frank & Jan (hosted by us and McClungs at the McClung's house).

As of Friday when I officially hit full term, I've decided to switch into work-only-at-home mode. This gives me more time with Avery before Carter's arrival and it avoids the risk of going into labor in the middle of a work meeting. It also seems more necessary this time because I'm so much more uncomfortable at this stage than I was with Avery. One day last week when I was in the office, Carter was in a position that made it dreadfully painful to even walk. I'm pretty much constantly in a notable amount of discomfort, and at times terribly exhausted or uncomfortable. I don't remember it being that extreme at all with Avery. We also have cleared our calendar as much as possible-even sold our tickets to the JT & Jay-Z concert in Vancouver :( Finally starting to get some downtime though and it feels fantastic....although, I have a weird sickness where I feel almost guilty when I'm enjoying downtime without doing. I'm working on getting over that.

Jacob and I went on a date night to Al Boccalino last week, which is where we had one of our last nights alone before Avery arrived. This is the picture we snapped right after dinner.

I had originally planned on doing maternity pictures again, but decided to save our time, energy and money to do some after Carter's arrival instead. However, when we were on vacation in Sunriver this month, I asked Cousin Kristina if she might take a few for us. I realized that it would be fun to have some belly pics with Avery in them, and that my Carter belly has turned out to be much larger than my Avery belly was. So we took maybe 10 minutes to snap a few pictures in the middle of family hangout time (after family group photo and before a trip to Goody's for ice cream). Kristina did a beautiful job of capturing this stage in our family's life.

Almost time to meet Carter

Wow, all of a sudden I am nearing the end of pregnancy! Technically he's not due until August 16th so I have almost 2 months left but I'm pretty convinced he'll come at least several days early (wishful thinking maybe?)
There are certain things that are so similar about my 2 babies during pregnancy, but mostly it's so different. I haven't been sick in a couple months now, whereas with Aves I was still on Zofran even in the 3rd trimester. I've even had an appetite and enjoyed food often, which I don't remember ever happening until immediately after I delivered Avery. As a result, Carter feels much bigger and stronger than Avery did. His movements seem to be stretching out into whole new areas of my body. I'm also really easily winded because he is up in my lung space. I definitely am much more uncomfortable and sore this time around.
Carter's position, however, seems to be pretty similar to his sister's. In this blog I noted that Avery's legs hung out way on my left side and her head rested in my right hip for much of the 3rd trimester, and Carter has been doing the exact same thing.
All in all, though, pregnancy the second time around is much easier. Mostly the mental part of having been here before makes the process much easier. The main thing that has been more difficult is managing what feels like a much busier life during this stage of pregnancy. We recently purchased a second rental home, so I've been working on full-time work (WFC), part-time job (Project Hope NW), management of 2 rental houses, very part-time job (Beza Jewelry), nearly full-time mom with a toddler, and plenty of events (including a few that I'm hosting) and social stuff going on. I'm finally nearing somewhat of a lull in a couple of these areas, so I can breathe a little easier, but it was really hard and really overwhelming for a few weeks there. Especially with the hormones mixed in to intensify it all.
Tonight I worked on some organizing and decorating in Carter's room. Jacob put the crib back together for a baby (we had it converted to a toddler bed for Avery). I have another shower come up so I'm holding off on some bedding and other essentials, but the room is nearly ready for him! I also got a wonderful hand-me-down bassinet from Jill so he'll hopefully be happily resting in that in our room for up to a month after his arrival anyway.

32+ weeks with baby Carter

8 days ago we welcomed our new niece, Reagan Ann Mailelani, into the world. That means Carter is next for babies in the family! Hanging out through the birthing process for Reagan (which got pretty complicated and ended in a C section) got me really pumped for when the time comes to deliver Carter. I remember really enjoying the excitement of that process with Avery, and hopefully I feel the same this time around.

Halfway

20 weeks. Halfway there!

Got to meet our sweet niece Kate a little earlier than expected too. Love her!

Hey Mr. Carter

Today we found out our baby is a BOY!
Within practically a few seconds of the technician starting the ultrasound she pointed out that it was clearly a boy. "Without a doubt" as she said. That was a different experience than when we had to spend time looking around and checking to ensure Avery was a girl.

Most importantly, we learned today that our baby is healthy and growing right on track. During the ultrasound, he would rest for a couple months here and there but mostly spend his time flipping around and stretching out his little arms and legs. He was very active. I drank a huge cup of orange juice right before the ultrasound because I had heard that may supposedly help them get wiggly, so I'm not sure if that was the cause of it.

We went with the same plan that we did for the reveal with Avery. We found out around noon that we were having a boy, but then we turned our phones off mostly and did shopping and alone time. Then at 5 it was the plan to have dinner at either Pink Door (if it's a girl) or BluWater Bistro (if it's a boy). We took pictures at BluWater and then sent them to family and friends, as well as posting them online. We happened to have both of our phones freeze up right at 5 so we didn't get them sent until close to 5:05 and had our family dying of curiosity by then! We spent time at dinner playing 'tennis' going back and forth with all the reasons that it's so fun to be having a boy. I won our tennis game, but who's keeping track? ;)

Even before I was pregnant with Avery, we knew that we had our boy named picked out: Carter. We still stuck with it in full agreement this time around. We mostly just like the sound of it. However, it doesn't hurt that Jacob's favorite artist is Sean Carter (Jay Z) and one of his favorite basketball players is Vince Carter. And, Wayne Carter (Li'l Wayne) also has a song we really like called "Hey Mr. Carter". It's unfortunately pretty explicit in a few parts but you can hear it here.
The meaning of Carter doesn't amaze me ("one who pulls a cart") but I'm over it. And it's moving up in popularity (#17 ranking for baby names in 2013) but that's fine too.

Pregnancy the second time around really is easier, but I also can't help but be suspicious that it's been overall easier on me because I have a boy in there this time around.
Alright, time to get some boy gear and get our nursery re-decorated!

Photos from our baby gender day:

Sweet little face, toes, arm and leg

The official 'reveal' photo

Me and baby at 18.5 weeks 

Photos and reflections from when we found out Avery was a girl here: http://ourwashburnfamily.blogspot.com/2011/01/its-girl.html 

Almost Halfway

Ok, that title might be a little bit of a stretch, but not much!

I'm almost 17 weeks so we're nearing the halfway point. Still feeling lots of baby flutters but nothing on the outside yet and no distinctive kicks. March 19th is the date for our ultrasound when we find out the gender, and we can't wait. We both feel like it's a boy, but not as strongly as we knew it was a girl with Avery.

If it's a boy: the name is Carter Kaapana (Jacob's middle name and his grandma's maiden name).
If it's a girl: the name is either Harper or Kennedy...most likely. Middle name is almost for sure Lokini Lola (Jacob's grandma's middle name).

Took a quick belly pic just because I felt bad for not doing this often. With Avery I did it every 2 weeks, but this is just my second official one with baby #2.

Don't be deceived, I never actually work out. This just looks more tasteful than staying in my pajamas.

Here's me at the same stage in pregnancy back in 2010 with Avery:

I'm continuing to feel better little by little. Today is my first day on only one zofran pill (knock on wood...hope I make it until bedtime without needing another).

Also, having a toddler and working full time while being pregnant is crazy and so busy. But it's awesome. Avery is so much fun right now. Work is also very rewarding and flexible so all in all, I'm feeling relaxed and balanced. Jacob is amazing at doing whatever he can to help out with my tiredness and taking care of Avery when he's home.