Chessidy's Birth Story by Trent

In case you were thinking this might be a repeat of Ila's birth story, please kindly take your pessimism to some other blog!!  This story helps highlight, among other things, a new appreciation for healthcare workers and the beautiful teamwork that took place among our birth team members which included the hospital staff and doctor.

Chessidy's birth started the same, it seemed, as Ila's.  Good progression in the weeks leading up to the birthday, and leaving the doctor's office with encouraging words that it is likely "going to be today, and happen fast!"
Nicole started having fairly regular contractions right away on Thursday the 19th ranging from 10 to 15 minutes apart.  By the time I got home from work she was having them about 8 to 10 minutes apart, but we had some house hunting plans, and decided to continue with them, in an effort to spur on the labor.  It sure seemed like it was working, and by the time we were done looking at places we called our Doula and started in with our plan of making it to the hospital a little sooner for the birth.

We ended up checking in to our lovely birth room around 10:30pm on April 19th and were all expecting to hear that the baby was all but out.  To our surprise Nicole was still about 4cm dilated, which is what she had been at 6 hours earlier during her appointment.  We just figured that we hadn't really hit the "hard" contractions yet, and rolled up our sleeves (because the room was warm) and started in with our mantra!

Three or so hours later the nurses were excited with all of the positive labor, and attitudes and said we might be nearing the "pushing part" and offered to give Nicole a little checky-wecky.  Well, she was progressed to 7cm, which was positive, because that meant that we were definitely moving forward to the birth, but we were all a little miffed that it was now 2:00am and we were just starting the hard part!!!

That wasn't enough to phase this team though, and the nurses were encouraging and helpful in lots of ways.  However, by the time 4:00am rolled around, and Nicole was still not fully dilated, suggestions started being murmured of breaking Nicole's bag of waters to help urge things along.  We said we were open to that if it was going to be beneficial, but we didn't want to just do it and then find ourselves not progressing AND being in lots of pain from the missing cushion of waters.  The time for the water to be broken came when our doctor gave Nicole the go-ahead to start pushing because she had finally dilated (around 5:30am on 4/20).  Nicole asked if she could push a little bit to see if the waters would burst on their own.  After a couple really good pushes, she politely requested for the intervention.

Since Chessidy was positioned so low breaking the bag of waters didn't appear to accomplish too much since only about a tablespoon of water drizzled out.  However, this took some of that hydraulic pressure off of the cervical area and allowed for the pushing to drive little Chessidy on through.  The drive involved a change in positions from sitting up in the bed to kneeling while facing the bed.  This position allowed gravity to help with the descending little one.  As Grandma pointed out later, "Gravity: it's not just a good idea, it's the law!"

So with just a few more pushes Chessidy graced us with her entry to the world at a healthy 9 lbs, 2.1 oz; 22 inches long, with a head circumference of 35 centimeters!  I was able to clamp and cut the cord, after we re-positioned Nicole to have some skin to skin contact with Chessidy and the cord stopped pulsing.  The placenta also came out without having to be tugged on or anything like that.

Within a couple hours we were in a new room recuperating and getting used to life with Chessidy Light.  The nurses and doctors were all we could have ever hoped for, and left us feeling well cared for, and valued.  They appreciated our concerns, and didn't pressure us to make conventional decisions, and they were very helpful and attentive when we needed explanations about certain nuances in practices or procedures.  This was important to us because of the disenchantment we experienced with healthcare professionals with Ila's birth.  We wanted to feel more trustworthy of our local healthcare facility and Chessidy helped us do that with her birth.

Introducing Ila's Best Friend

She has finally arrived! Our new bundle of joy finally joined our family!

April 20, 2012 at 5:53am.

9 pounds, 2 ounces

22 inches long

Here she is, our beautiful daughter:

Chessidy Light Becker

Her name is quite unique like Ila's, and has very deep meaning as well.  We got Chessidy from the Hebrew word "Chesed" which translates to Lovingkindness.  Her middle name, Light, is to remind us and her of God's light that shines upon us, and her name is also chessiDELIGHT, as in we Delight in her, the Lord delights in her and we delight in the Lord.  We find her name to be quite Delightful! :)

Chessidy is nice and healthy, mom is doing well recovering after a long, hard, natural (yea!) birth and we are all trying to catch up on sleep, as we were up all through the night.

Settled

We are sure happy to report that we are nice and settled into our new/temporary home. Our 2 closets 9a regular sized on and a very large walk-in are stuffed to the gills with boxes as is the 4X4 storage unit that came with the place. Most of our stuff fits nicely enough though, and we are thankful to our Marma and poppy for storing the other stuff that doesn't fit, like our deep freeze.

Ila is pretty well adjusted to the new home and we are so happy to be back to our normal routine! I find that not having the internet sure makes for more productive days! I do miss being able to look up recipes and switch up dinner plans at the last moment, but I will survive! I do have several cookbooks that are being used, so that is nice.

My last doctors appointment put me at 2cm dilate, 75% effaced and the baby is at a -3. That means she is super low, which was no surprise to me as I'm pretty sure she's been at a -2 this entire pregnancy! My body is HURTING like crazy, but it's worth it. I'm super excited to meet our little one though, and to figure out her name! We're hoping for April 16th for the birth 9because we have so much control...right?!?!) because it's Trent's grandma's birthday, and it would be a real blessing to have a little one on that day. We'll see if we can make it happen!

Trent is enjoying his job. He already had a bit of a shift in what he is doing, and it fits him much better. He was the lawn care foreman, but now he is the landscaping foreman. He like landscaping wuite a bit, so he is excited about it. Also, if you've heard about the Chobani factory being built in Twin Falls, you'll be pleased to know that Living Earth (Trent's company he works for) got the bid to landscape it, so he'll be running the crew that does that landscaping there, and of course getting his hands dirty in it! He is currently studying for the CDL test, as his company would like him to have one and it comes with a raise, so why not, right?! Trent's two weeks working outside have renewed his appetite, darkened his skin and brought home some bacon, so I'd say things are going really great!

Ila's potty routine took a hit with the move, but we seem to be back to all good now. Her current favorite things are playing with her toys (which she has a new found passion for, since she didn't see them for two months). She plays and plays and plays, putting babies to bed, telling them to "be quiet" and taking them to the potty. She also has two new favorite movies (goodbye Tangled and Toy Story 3) Bolt and Finding Nemo. She especially likes the sharks and the whale in finding Nemo, and always likes to mention Dori. It's pretty cute, and it is nice to shake things up a bit! Her vocabulary is pretty incredible. She can sing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star all by herself, say the alphabet (with a little help) and count to ten, if you say five for her. She LOVES counting things! She knows her colors, and I think we'll start working on letter recognization next. Oh, and her other favorite song (TTLS and ABC'S are her favorite 2) is Little Bunny Foo Foo, who was hare today and goon tomorrow!

So that is our story! Please forgive the typos, I'm writing tis int he driveway of my in-laws and would rather go hang out with them, then re-read it! :)