Babies, Fitness, & Family by Mel ! : Charley Rose Merk

Baby girl Charley Rose Merk 6 lbs 14 oz, 19.5 inches long. Born May 16th 2013 at 12:56am

Welp - it's official.... our precious baby girl Charley is HERE! We weren't supposed to meet her until June 1st, but she decided to bless us with her presence on May 16th at 12:56 am.

For those of you who know me and were keeping up with how my pregnancy was going, I was just about DONE at 37 weeks. I donno about you - but with my 2nd pregnancy, towards the end, things seemed WAY different. With Jackson I didn't have the aches and pains you read about.... but with Charley my lower back started aching, my knees hurt, and I just could not get comfortable. I literally was moaning and groaning the last 2 weeks. That being said - I was DESPERATE to encourage the little girl to come out early. I tried a number of things, including but not limited to:

Prego Pizza (can be found at Skipolini's Pizza in Walnut Creek) - we ordered the same kind at Jake's in Willow Glenn with a few friends the Saturday before she came.
WALKING - we are talking 10 miles per day people. I have a little obsession with this device called Fitbit, and towards the end I was aiming for upwards of 20,000 steps a day. Crazy. I know.
Mineral Oil - will not go into details about that one. Gross.
Eggplant Parmesan
Evening Primrose oil and Black Cohosh tablets from Whole foods.
Jumping Jacks - have a video to prove this one! haha

VIDEO

Sweeping of the membranes (performed 3 times by my doctor, spaced out 48 hours apart. The last one she did was Wednesday morning at 11:00am)
Acupuncture - I went and visited Mr. Frank He in Sunnyvale. I told him that I was almost 38 weeks pregnant and was looking for some "relief" and to be able to relax so the baby would come soon.... he told me he would start with just some general needles spread over my body in the places that were bothering me, and that if I really wanted to coax Charley out, to come back on Friday, and we could do the real deal to try and help get things moving. He finished me off with a nice foot massage - and I was on my way. (This was Wednesday May 15th).
Mani/pedi - my last stop on my way from the acupuncture place - when I started feeling contractions.

So - the big question is: what came first - the chicken or the egg? Was it the acupuncture with foot massage that set me off into labor at 37 weeks 4 days, the membrane sweep Wednesday morning, or was little Charley girl just ready to meet us? I will never know - but I am sure that next time I am pregnant and desperate, I will not be hesitating to run down to Frank He's office for some acupuncture. Just sayin'!

Now.... a little about my Labor and the Birth of Charley Rose:

I wanted to make sure and write about my experience before too much time passed and I started to forget the real details of what actually happened and started transforming it into this pretty bubbly story - that's what mom's do after giving birth that makes them forget how bad it was so they do it again and again, right? OR - in my case - I had an epidural with Jackson, and had no idea what labor and delivering a baby without drugs would actually feel like. The experiences were so totally different - night and day. So much so, that I really look back on the birth of Jackson and think "I can't believe that is what I thought giving birth was." It was a relaxing, special birth, of course, and I was able to enjoy every single moment of labor and of the actual birth process, because I was not focusing on all of the intense physical and mental pain I was feeling, just on getting him out effectively and safely.

With Charley - things moved pretty quickly. My doctor had been preparing me for a quick labor because this was my second child, and I had given birth less than a year ago, so my uterus was still in "go mode." I just didn't know how fast it would actually go. I had started feeling contractions on Wednesday around 3:30pm, on my way from the acupuncturist to my nail appointment. I sat in the nail salon, and downloaded an app on my iPhone called "Full Term" that had a contraction timer. I started logging them around 4:30, and at that time they were lasting 30 seconds and were 7 minutes apart.

Contractions - I sometimes forgot to stop timer cuz I was kindaaaa busy

I ran home after nail appointment, showered, and rushed off to meet my family for our Wednesday night dinner at the country club at 6:00pm. When I got there, the contractions were lasting 30-45 seconds and were 5 minutes apart. I was able to eat a nice light meal, and spend some time giving Jackson some extra love, knowing it would be probably be his last dinner with us an an "only child." We got home from dinner around 8:00pm, and I knew we were getting closer. Bryan had called El Camino Hospital to ask them when we should come in, and based on his answers the advice nurse told him that we should come within 30 minutes to an hour. In the mean time, I was determined to stay at home for as long as possible, because my goal was to have a natural birth, and I knew the more time I spent at the hospital, the more likely I was to be messed with or have some sort of intervention. If it were up to Bryan we would have gone in right then, but I pushed it out till 10:30! I bounced on my bouncy ball, watched What to Expect When You're Expecting, and rolled around on our bedroom floor! If you've ever been in the labor before, you know that the scariest part can be not being able to escape from the pain. No matter what you do or how hard you try to get into a comfortable position, there just isn't one. The only thing that felt somewhat comfortable for me was being on my hands and knees and letting my belly hang, or using the ball to lean over and onto my side. Sitting down or laying on my back was NOT working for me in any way..... which is how I was placed in my last birth with Jackson after receiving an epidural.

dinner at the Country Club.....

Giving momma a smirk =)

Belly pic in the bathroom at home before going into the hospital to have Charley!

We packed up the car and headed off to the hospital a little after 10:30. When we arrived, the nurse assigned to us checked us in, checked me for dilation, told me I was at 6CM, and that we were officially staying to have the baby.... hooray! I was able to keep on my comfy jammies from home, and just had to have an IV station put in my hand in case they needed it later. By the time the nurse came in to put the station in, my contractions were getting pretty intense, and she wanted me to sit on my butt on the bed. I told her there was NO way that was happening, and she was going to need to move really fast to get it done, because I could just not sit through a contraction. She seemed kind of annoyed with me, and moved verrrryyyyyy slowly to get it in. I had to kneel down on all fours with my hand in the air through a contraction while she worked on getting the IV in!! This did not make me happy, but once it was over, I was back to walking the halls. My mom and sister and Bryan followed me up and down the halls, and watched as I stopped to hang onto the walls and kneel down on the ground as I needed to. It was so helpful to have all of them there cheering me on, and just letting me know that they were there for me, even though at times I was so focused I couldn't even see or hear them - but I knew they were there.

I mentioned being on my hands and knees felt best

Right after we checked in and learned I was 6cm

While the pain was still medium-intensity

Around 11:30, my nurse had asked me only SEVERAL times if I was ready for an epidural yet, and that if I was going to get one, I should do it soon before it is too late. She seemed annoyed that I was moving around so much and going in and out of the room, trying to stay on my feet and get through the contractions naturally. I was able to have a shot of Fentanyl around 11pm, to take the edge off.... and after about 20 minutes that was worn off completely. I had asked if I could have another shot of it - but the nurse told me I was so close to having the baby that she didn't want to give me any more because baby would come out drowsy. Damn!! I got over that real quick and just accepted that I would have to keep pushing through the pain, because I was so CLOSE to meeting our little Charley boo!

By 12:00am, we were already to 8cm and I was feeling a LOT of pain. The walking around was really hard to do, and I was finding more comfort in kneeling down on the floor, or on the hospital bed, draped over the high back of it. I rested my head to the side, and breathed as best as I could, and also found that moaning/groaning out loud through the contractions also really helped to get me through each one. I remember listening to myself thinking "this does not sound like me," but I kept doing it because it was the only thing that helped me feel some sort of relief. Bryan had a cold rag held to the back of my neck, and that also felt really comforting. At this point, the nurse had called my doctor, and she was on her away. I felt a HUGE sense of relief in knowing that she would be there soon. We have formed a close relationship over the past two years, and there is just something about that woman's voice, face, and overall disposition that is so comforting!! When she walked in the room around 12:30 I was kneeling on the hospital bed, with a bag in my hands - telling everyone in the room that I was going to barf and "I feel like barfing!!" The pain level was so high that I swore I was going to vomit.... but thankfully that passed, and I didn't. The nurse told me that this was a good sign, and meant that I was almost there!!

Ouch!

Contractions monitor

This is towards the very end where I'm telling Bryan I can't do it and he's telling me I can. So lucky to have him by my side, believing in me!

Dr. Azad came over to me and told me that she could break my water right now, but that she wanted to me to know it would get a lot worse and much more intense. I wanted to know how much longer it would be before this was all over, and said it could be anywhere from 15 minutes to 2 hours. I looked at my mom and Bryan with a distressed look and was begging them for the reassurance that it would be quick, only 15 minutes. They both told me yes, that it would be so quick, and she was almost here, so I told her to get it over with and do it. After a contraction passed I laid on my back, and Dr. Azad broke my water. Literally, within a second, things went from a 10 to a 20, and I truly believed that I could not do it. I felt like I was writhing around like a fish out of water on that bed, and felt SO out of control of my body. It hurt so bad, it was like my mind just floated up and out of my body, and was looking down watching. I was immediately to 10cm and ready to start pushing, which is one of the scariest things I think I have ever heard!!!! I thought I would be so excited to get to that point, but it hurt so bad and was so intense, I just did not think I could endure anymore. I knew in my head it was way too late for an epidural, but I asked for one anyways, and got the response I knew I would get - that it was too late. SO - I had no choice but to get little Charley out..... and so there it went.

Both Bryan and the nurse had to hold my legs back towards my head, as I was fighting them to put my legs back down, because I was convinced that I could not do it.... I was terrified!!! After a test push (OUCH) I knew it was going to be hard work and even more pain..... why the hell would I want to put myself through more of this!? Haha! It was so CRAZY! I felt like I was blacked out and could not see anything.... I was just hearing the audio... it was so unreal. I think I gave about 4 or 5 good pushes, and out came little Charley Rose. As soon as she popped out, ALL of the pain stopped, immediately!

Daddy meeting Charley

Meeting my squishy piggie girl

There she was, in my arms, just like that. Everything had happened so quickly and with so much intensity, I could not believe that we had only been at the hospital for two hours and that all of that had happened in such a short amount of time. I had Charley girl in my arms, and was up walking around and up standing next to her while they did her vitals and gave her her first bath. I felt amazing... and knew all the hard work that I had done in staying active and healthy during my entire pregnancy was what had gotten me to this moment - a healthy mom with a healthy little girl. The entire experience was incredible and one that I will never ever forget. Thank god we have it all on video just in case I do. These are just some of the details of the night.... it flew by so quickly and I am sure I am forgetting some of it already, but I will always have it in my mind, and I will always have my special little girl to look at and be reminded of it as well <3.