2 years ago...

Two years ago tonight I was in labor with my precious first born, Liberty Ann. The labor was long and at times very difficult. You can read about it here. Long story short, I woke up with labor pains early in the morning on the 29th of December, 2008. I hoped this was "it" because my due date was the 20th. The labor stopped then re-started that evening for real about 6pm after laboring at home in bed, in the shower, and on my birthing ball we headed to the hospital around 1am. The longest ride of my life! After getting settled into my room and spending hours in the shower my precious baby girl finally made her appearance at 11:21am. I pushed for 2 1/2 hours. Without pain meds. It was HARD! But holding my tiny newborn for the first time made everything worthwhile. She looked up and around and immediately stopped crying when she heard mine and Tim's voices. She also was able to instantly latch on and start eating. It was truly a magical time. After she spent some time in the nursery they brought her back to us and we reveled in her preciousness.
We brought her home and we were so happy to have her with us, we felt like we had always needed her with us.
The last two years have been wonderful and fun. We've had some rough times with our headstrong little girl, but she has a sweet heart and a desire to do the right thing. She is an amazing addition to our family and we couldn't ask for a better little first born child. Oh and for her birthday she requested: pizza, cake and icecream, and hats (because one of her best buds Miles had hats at his bday party). We were going to have a little party with our best buds but I've been horribly sick and don't want to share the germs. Poor girl, she was sick for her first bday and now mommy is sick for her second. :( Oh well, we'll still make it a blast!!
Here are some recent pictures of our darling:

Birth story of Cecily Jane (super long version)

This is really long and a birth story, so expect a few gory details. :)


The Birth Story of Cecily Jane Merkin
Friday, August 6, 2010 at 5:06am
7 lbs. 5 oz; 20.4"

Right at midnight on Thursday, August 5th 2010, I woke up after feeling a slight gush. I went quickly to the restroom where I thought perhaps my water had broken but I couldn’t believe it. So I put on a pad and went back to bed. It promptly happened again and I had to repeat that process several times throughout the night. That was a pretty rough night for us and we didn’t get much sleep. First of all, we were excited about my water breaking but also Libby had a bad cold and did not sleep well. So we really only got about 3 hours of sleep that night. I got up about 7 and took a shower and called my midwives’ office and talked to Tanya, the midwife on duty. I told her I didn’t want to go to the hospital right away so she suggested I walk around and try to be active and then check back in around noon. After that I called my mom and several other people and told them the news. Mom had been on call since I initially realized what happened so she was almost ready to come up. Tim went to work as I wasn’t having any contractions and I started cleaning up while waiting for Libby to wake up. She finally woke up about 9:30 and was obviously still sick. Still, I loaded her and the dog, Maddie, up to head to the park to walk. I really wanted to get labor going so I was willing to walk even in the 95 degree weather! I only lasted a little more than a mile before I knew we had to head inside. I still wasn’t having any regular contractions so I was getting a bit nervous. Back at home I finished cleaning up and ran up and down the stairs a few times. About noon I called the midwives back and talked to the nurse who told me I had to come in right away. I was quite disappointed as I still wasn’t feeling any regular contractions and I was deathly afraid of being induced. I called Tim tearing up at the thought of my plans going out the window and he agreed to come right home. In the meanwhile I called our babysitter and asked her to come over to be with Libby that afternoon. Since Libby was sick I wanted to minimize the time she spent with our friends who were planning on watching her. I got in the shower and then packed the rest of my hospital bag, trying to be as positive as possible. The nurse had told me to come in immediately but I dragged my feet, not wanting to be at the hospital too early. Ellen arrived after a while and we finally left and arrived at the hospital a little after 2pm. We went up to Maternal Observation where I waited for Gloria, the midwife on duty. She talked to me a little bit and then did an internal check where low and behold I was already dilated 4 cm! She did not think I would need any kind of inducement! I was also hooked up to the monitor, which tracked several nice contractions. I had brushed those off as just Braxton-hicks contractions but had been feeling those same ones for about the past week. So I guess they really were working! The nurse came back in and asked me about a million questions before we headed over to L&D where I answered more questions and had to do more monitoring before being allowed to walk around. While on the monitor the baby’s heart rate had a few significant drops so the nurse was a little concerned. After the midwife came in and checked it out she cleared me to go walk!
So walk we did! And walk, and walk! Mom also went and got us some dinner so I enjoyed a delicious turkey wrap and some banana pudding. My contractions picked up throughout the evening and gradually become more intense. After walking and then being monitored for increments the midwife asked to check my progress again around 8pm. At this check she discovered I was still at a 4 and hadn’t made any real progress. So we talked about it and she did a little “sweep” and discovered that my water hadn’t broken completely. She asked and I gave her permission to break it the rest of the way to keep things going. After that the contractions got quite intense again and I couldn’t simply walk through them. The walking and monitoring continued, along with a few soaks in the amazing tub, for a few hours until around 2am when I was monitored yet again and I actually fell asleep for about 20 minutes. During that time the baby’s heart rate didn’t really change and I didn’t have any contractions! It was amazing. It really seemed like my body just needed a bit of a break. But the midwife was concerned with the seeming lack of progress so she wanted to check me again. I was a little worried but didn’t have any need to be because I had progressed to 8 cm!! She was relieved and so was I because I wanted to avoid any kind of chemical induction. Her checking me and breaking my water was about as far as I wanted to push things. She wanted me to walk again to try to really keep things going and by this time that got very, very difficult. No longer were we power walking through the entire hospital. Now I was limping along next to Tim in just the L&D wing, stopping when a contraction hit so that I could lean on him and hum my way through it. During contractions I found it helpful to moan and “ohm” my way through them. I also repeated to myself, “I welcome the pain, with each contraction I am closer to meeting my baby”. And it really seemed to help! About 3 or 3:30 I got back into the tub and the contractions really hit hard! The warm water helped immensely and mom and Tim stayed by my side giving me ice and wiping my face with a cool cloth. After a while in the tub it became obvious I was getting close. I could feel the baby descending and the midwife came in. I started to feel the urge to push and did so for a while in the tub. I was having trouble getting into a good position and the baby wasn’t moving down. Unfortunately I had to move to the bed at that time. So incredibly difficult! They had to practically carry me to the bed but after a little while I was able to finally push her out! The whole pushing stage took about 45 minutes, which was quite a bit shorter than Libby’s but it was still pretty difficult. As soon as I pushed her out they handed her straight to me where I discovered we had another little girl! She started crying and rooting around and latched on almost immediately. The cord had been wrapped around her neck but the midwife was able to easily remove it before she came out all the way. Gloria said that the blip in the monitoring at the beginning of my labor might have been related to that. Thankfully the cord was nice and long and didn’t interfere with her blood or oxygen supply. The after pains were much more difficult this time around and it was a real struggle to deal with those. After a good long look my midwife proudly declared I hadn’t torn at all! Not even a “skid mark”! I was so grateful and it’s made my recovery a lot faster and easier. We rested for a few hours in the room before moving up to recovery where we were very well taken care of. Cecily didn’t leave my side the entire time we were in the hospital. Everything from the weight check to the pediatrician visit and hearing test were all done in our room. It was really wonderful to have her with me the whole time. I think that helped my milk come in the day after she was born. We had a great experience at Harris Methodist and will gladly use them again in the future!
I’m so grateful that my mid-wife was patient with me and never even suggested any kind of induction. I got to have everything I wanted: I wore my own clothes, ate the entire time, moved around when and how I wanted, and didn’t even have to have an IV! I had the baby with me the entire time and the nurses were very respectful of our wishes. I will definitely use that group and hospital again!

Introducing Cecily Jane!

On Friday morning at 5:04am, August 6th 2010, we welcomed our sweet little Cecily Jane!!
7 lbs. 5 oz
20.4" long

Full story to come!!
Teaser...water broke at midnight Thursday morning, went to the hospital at 2pm and baby arrived at 5am!! Another successful natural delivery and I am so pleased with our midwives and the hospital we used. I'll give all the great details later, I'm still working on the birth story.

Time to guess!

Here is our set-up for baby #2. Cute, huh? He/she will share a closet and drawers with Lib but will sleep in our room.


Well, baby #2's birthday is coming up! Is the babe a boy or a girl? July birthday or August? Bigger or smaller than Libby? Here is your chance to guess! And just like last time there isn't really a prize, just the satisfaction of being right. :)

Gender:
Date:
Time:
Weight:
Length:

Here are a few "hints" (I have no idea how helpful they are :) Libby weighed 7 lbs. 7 oz. and was 20.5" long at birth and was TEN DAYS late (please, oh please don't follow in big sister's footsteps, little one!). Like I said before, Lib was late, I started labor 9 days after her due date and she was born the following day. She was born at 11:23am on a Tuesday.
Today at my 37 week check-up I declined to be checked so I don't know anything really and baby is apparently a bit sideways or transverse. The mid-wife wasn't concerned at all and said if I go into labor they can move the babe around. She also said that second babies are typically a little bigger and come closer to their due date, whereas first born's are usually late.
Good luck!!

Edited to add: my EDD is August 3rd, Kacie. :)

Thanks for playing everyone!!! Here are my guesses:

Gender: girl! (I had a super vivid dream last night that we were having another little girl)
Date: August 5 (I really think this one will be around my EDD and will be an Aug. babe, plus that would be convenient for my to give birth at the beginning of the weekend! :) )
Time: 3:30 pm
Weight: 8 lbs. even. (I just have a feeling that this baby will be bigger than Lib)
Length: 21" (remember, baby measured long at the last sono I had)

Ok, so there we go!

Last time Todd was almost exactly right and with his guesses this time I wouldn't mind if he were right again! Go Todd!!
I really, really do not want the baby to come on our anniversary, so I hope you're wrong, Heather! I don't want to share. :)
Seems like my family really thinks we're going to have a boy! I guess we'll just wait and see. :)

Thanks again for playing, everyone. Can't wait to make our announcement!!

ONE YEAR!!!

On the 30th Libby turned the ripe old age of ONE YEAR!! We were at the Ranch and celebrated with presents, cake, and birthday singing. Unfortunately, Libby was recovering from her first bad illness so she was not feeling up to par. She had fun with her first cake though. First she just kind of poked at it and didn't know what to think and then she dipped down her head and licked a bit of the icing. Then she smiled and dug right in! But she never used her fingers! Just ate it right off the high chair tray! It was really funny. :)


Libby wearing her bday shirt from Aunt Steph.


Rocking in her chair from Uncle Todd and Aunt Mindy, wearing her hat from Sue Sue, and holding the puppy from Mom and Dad.


Opening another present with the shopping cart from the Pence family in the background.


Testing out the cake.


Going in face first!










Well, here are a few things that our little girl is up to:

~She has six little teeth
~She runs around everywhere
~She can say: out, dad, eggs, mama, cat, cold, that (dat), please (deeze) and probably more things that we don't understand. She also tries to imitate us a lot and it's pretty funny what she can say sometimes.
~We taught her to sign a few things and she can sign "please", "more", and "all done". She also waves hello and good-bye but she's done that for months.
~She makes a few animal sounds, mostly a half-whinny, half-gargle for horse, a moo for cow, and she pants for a dog (the sign for "dog"). She tries to make the other sounds but they're not recognizable.
~Loves to climb! Will climb up and down the stairs all day and on top of things to just get higher.
~We taught her the rule "one finger touch" so that we're not constantly telling her "no" all day. Plus, it's great for when we're at non-baby proofed places. Also, I find that she responds a lot better to when we tell her "no, don't touch".
~She is already learning how to obey! I'm so proud of her! She will look at my face when I tell her to. She's learning to do what we say when we tell her, it's really amazing what a child so young understands!
~This girl LOVES to eat! It's really funny! She will just eat, and eat, and eat. It's actually a lot of work sometimes to make sure I have plenty of food on hand for her. And I've stopped sharing my meals at restaurants with her, I don't get nearly enough food!
~Libby loves soft stuffed animals, especially ones that are very soft. Her particular favorite is her little deer that she carries around everywhere, but she has others that she loves too. She loves to rub her face on anything that's soft and my MIL told me Tim used to do that all the time. :)
~Along with stuffed animals, Libby also LOVES real animals. So trips to the ranch are a lot of fun for her. Tim had her outside and she literally started running down the drive-way toward the horses! She's also not afraid of any animals so we really have to keep an eye on her.
~She is not shy or scared of people. A friend of my BIL's came to the ranch for New Years and all the little girls were scared of him because he was so tall and had a deep voice. But Libby walked right by him and smiled at him and grabbed onto him so she wouldn't fall. That being said, she likes her mama and will sometimes not go to anyone else.
~Libby is very independent. Tim went on a walk with his mom and sister and her two kids while at the ranch and Mindy's girl never got too far from her side. Libby, on the other hand, took off as fast as her little legs would carry her in the opposite direction!
~She sleeps from 8-5 every night and then from 5-7 or 8. She wakes to nurse around 5, but then falls right back to sleep. However, recently she's been sleeping a little longer.
~She is trying to switch to one nap during the day. I'm thrilled about this because it means a nice long time in the afternoon where I can get a lot accomplished. She'll oftentimes sleep for 3 hours in an afternoon!
~When asked Libby can point to her ears, eyes, mouth, hair, teeth, nose, and head! And she will lift her shirt up and point to her belly button when you ask her where her tummy is! She also points to those things on me and her animals and doll.
~She figured out how to smell things! Its so funny to see her sniff a candle or something and say "Mmmmmm!"