Sunday, January 24, 2016

Welcome to the Family--Part 2

I'm still recovering and adjusting to life with a newborn. It's hard to believe he's already 2 weeks old!!! Time is FLYING!!! If you missed Part 1 of my labor & delivery story, be sure to check it out HERE before reading. And now, here's the fun part--where we actually get to meet our little prince!

We got to the hospital around 3 a.m. and they brought us straight to labor and delivery. To be honest, I really could have lived without the wheelchair, but it was their policy, so I just wheeled along. We headed into triage and I was just hoping not to be sent home. There was something about being admitted; in my head that indicated we'd meet Robby soon. They checked me and I my water did break the evening before, as I had thought, but I was only 3 cm dilated. We headed to our room and I was immediately hooked up to IVs and monitors. My birth plan was to move as much as possible, so we kept disconnecting the monitors so I could walk, rock, even use a "birthing ball" (yep, fancy name for an exercise ball that they probably charge people 5 times as much for since it's for labor).

Once we hit the 24 hour mark, I was really tired and pretty much over it. The staff turned over and we got the BEST nurse! She was awesome and so supportive of me and my choices. The hours kept ticking by, and Bill need to make some important phone calls. At around 27 hours into labor, they checked me again and I was at a 3.5 cm dilated. The nurse tried to make me feel better by saying a 3-4, but really I wasn't making much progress. My midwife finally came to check on me, and we had to have a tough conversation--she wanted to prepare me that since I was progressing so slowly I might have to start on Pitocin, since once my water was broken for 24 hours the risk of infection becomes a factor.

I had wanted an all natural birth--no medication and definitely no drugs to induce or move things along. I had watched all the Netflix documentaries and really had put a lot of pressure on myself to do things as nature had intended. Finally, after somewhere between 27 and 28 hours of labor, I very teary-eyed looked at Bill and asked for an epidural. It was not what I had wanted, but I was exhausted and knew that we were in for a long day. About half an hour later, I got the epidural and was finally able to rest. I could not help but to feel like I had somehow failed; I was weak and not doing what was best for my child. That feeling sat with me for a few days, but now that he's here, I have no regrets.

As an added bonus to the epidural, the anestesiologist asked "did you know you have scoliosis?" Great. Just add insult to injury. Because of that I had some difficulty getting my right side to numb up. I ended up needing an extra boost a few hours later. It's really a weird feeling, but I don't know if I could have gotten through labor without it.


Pitocin was started to help move things along. They were super conservative and I only needed the very lowest dose. It got me moving, but also put Robby is a small amount of distress. Add in the oxygen! My all natural, granola labor was a faint memory! I don't know how, but the hours just ticked and ticked by.

I finally started to progress, and around 7 p.m. my midwife came back for delivery. We tried pushing once, but they wanted me to labor down for another 15-20 minutes to get him moving down. They positioned me, and of course, as just one more boost, I threw up. The midwife and nurse said this was a good sign that he was moving down. Finally, it was time to really push. That was the best and easiest part--5 pushes and he was here! I guess all that working out was helpful for something.

Photo Credit: Bella Baby
He was absolutely perfect--ten little fingers, ten little toes. 7 pounds, 12 ounces. 20.5 inches. A little bit of strawberry blond hair. All 39 hours were worth it, for sure, when I saw his little face. We had waited 40 weeks and 3 days for this little one to arrive; it was amazing. We are actually parents!

We've already had him in some great Disney outfits and imagined what our first trip to Disneyland will be like in September. He's already primed for a big finish at the 2016 Disneyland Half Marathon Diaper Dash! The future of this Disney baby is bright, and we can't wait to share some of his best Disney moments with you all!

Thursday, January 14, 2016

Welcome to the Family Robby!

It's official! Disney Runs in the Family has grown! We welcomed our little prince Robby to the world on 1/7/16 at 7:53 pm. No, it's not really running or Disney related, but trust me, this little guy (and I) participated in the marathon of all marathons, ironically enough during the WDW marathon weekend. And hey, since it's my blog, I can share what I want--and I can't wait to share my labor story.
The newest member of Disney Runs in the Family

I'll start with a quick summary: 39 hours. Yep, that says it all! With that in mind, I figured a multi-part post was in order.

My due date had come and gone (I was due January 4th). Oddly enough I never even thought I'd go this long; I always assumed I'd have him early. He apparently had different plans. There's something really strange about waiting to go into labor. You're just sitting around, hoping to have a sign that something was going to happen. You take everything as a sign--I stubbed my toe, must be labor; the light twitched, must be labor; my hair looks bad; must be labor. I think we Googled "what does a contraction feel like" at least 100 times. People kept telling me "you'll know" but that wasn't good enough.

Our little runDisney family
It was true, though. Around 5 a.m. on Wednesday, January 3rd I was woken up by some significant pains in my belly. They were different, more painful, and I had the urge to get up and move through them. I paced in my bedroom for a little, then decided to grab Bill's phone and start timing. Yep, it was different, and I was having contractions every 7-8 minutes. Woohoo! It was finally starting. I had planned a beautiful, natural labor, so I took a long, hot shower to get myself in a relaxed mind and body.  When Bill woke up, I let him know that I was pretty sure I was in labor. It was all very calm and relaxed. My mom was still at our house, and I really just wanted to be alone, so we spent a lot of time in our bedroom just being quiet.

To move things along, we headed out for a morning walk. It was peaceful and relaxing, but the contractions weren't really progressing any quicker. I also tried to nap but the excitement and anticipation combined with the contractions didn't leave much room for rest. My contractions slowed (even to as little as once every 10-11 minutes) but they never stopped. I ate small, energizing meals. I was doing everything I had read and seen to move labor along and make sure my body was ready to welcome this new little one into the world.

The night kept progressing, but the contractions never got more frequent than every 7-8 minutes. We binge watched a few new shows on Netflix (that I now have to go back and start over, because apparently I wasn't actually paying attention). Around 9 pm my water finally broke. That started to move things along, but not nearly as fast as I thought it would. We kept timing contractions and debated going to the hospital. My plan was to labor at home as long as possible. I wanted to be in a comfortable place and able to move around without being constantly monitored. We finally decided to go in around 1:30 a.m. so I took a long, hot shower, finished packing the hospital bag, even put on a little makeup and fixed my hair (hey, I knew there were some really important pictures in my future). The hospital is less than 2 miles from our house, so we arrived around 3 a.m. It was our last time driving anywhere as a family of 2. Our lives were about to change!


Stay tuned for part 2! I know you already know the ending, but it's about the journey!


Saturday, January 2, 2016

2016 Race Calendar

Yep, I'm still waiting on the arrival of the newest member of Disney Runs in the Family. Seeing that baby Robby isn't here yet, I've had plenty of time to think about the year ahead and goals I want to accomplish, specifically in running. Of course, I'm being realistic and know that I'm about to take on a whole new life with our baby, so my goals are short and sweet.

My "comeback" race: Las Vegas Hot Chocolate 15k--February 28th
This local race will be my first run postpartum. I'm honestly a little nervous, especially since it looks like I'll be going right up to or even past my due date of January 4th. I've stayed somewhat active, but may end up pulling back to the walker corral depending on when I can get back on the road.

My "speedy" race: Disneyland Half (as part of the Dumbo Double Dare)
I plan to take back my speed this year at the Disneyland Half Marathon. Since knee surgery and pregnancy, I haven't come close to my half PR of 2:04. This year, I'm planning on focusing my energy on getting my speed up so I can work toward that number again. I doubt I'll PR, but it will feel great to run fast and get close. I'm tired of running slow. I've learned a lot as a runner myself and as a coach to others, and I'm ready to put that in place and conquer some goals. I'm not setting a time YET, but once I can get back to running regularly, I'll have a better idea of specific goals.

My "just for fun" race: Disneyland Paris Half
We are so excited to be going to Paris, and there's no way I'm rushing through this race! We even got a Go Pro for Christmas so we can document every step, and we plan to take a million pictures on the course. No need for speed here! I'm ready to relish every magical mile, then spend a week putting in tons of miles of walking around the most romantic city on earth!

It's not a long list, but again, life around the Stater household is about to change BIG TIME. I can't wait to take Robby out for walks and runs (my BOB stroller was one of the first things I bought when I found out we were expecting). I really can't wait for his first race--the Diaper Dash during the Disneyland Half weekend. It'll be a fun, challenging year! Now, back to waiting for our Disney baby to arrive!