Sleep Sacks, Swaddlers, Slankets and Snuggies

Photos: photo one features the awesome Snuggie/Slanket. Photo 2 - the swaddler and Photo 3 - the Sleep Sack




Those are definitely the 4 S's of a warm night's sleep. Let me quickly address each one and let you know why it is a sleeping miracle.
1. The Sleep Sack - the sleep sack is just that, it's a blanket that looks like a sack with little holes cut out for the neck and the arms. A baby can toss and turn in it and it won't fall off. It also won't suffocate their cuite pa-tutie little faces. The Sleep Sack also makes small babies look comically long. I give the sleep sack an A ++.
2. Swaddler - this is a blanket that has velcro on it and basically mimics the womb. It keeps the baby snug and their extremities tight against their little bodies. Isaac seemed to love it the first few weeks, but now he likes his arms free to do their flailing and such. I give the Swaddler an A.
3 and 4 - I am going to combine the slanket and snuggie into one category because they are basically the same thing. A snuggie, in case you haven't seen the commercial, is an adult size blanket that you can wear. It is pretty sweet because the commercial depicts people playing games, at a football game, reading, knitting, cooking, watching TV, and so much more, all without taking their blanket off! The slanket was recently seen on 30 Rock when Liz Lemon becomes obsessed with the slanket and she wears it the whole episode. It totally made my day to see and hear about the slanket on 30 Rock. Dave and I have always made fun of the Snuggie/Slanket but really, I think I would fall in love with my Snuggie/Slanket if I owned one. I love to be warm. I give the Snuggie/Slanket an A + for it's hilarity and for it's practicality (even though I have yet to purchase one.)
Go S's of Sleeping!!!!

Sleep, Where Art Thou?

- Isaac sucking his thumb and enjoying HIS sleep schedule.
So I absolutely love Isaac with all of my heart. However, he will be 1 month old on May 1st and I am hoping for a May miracle. I miss my sleep - big time! The problem is, no matter how early we try to get started with bedtime, we never really get to sleep until after 11 pm because we are definitely on his schedule. It's nice because he'll sleep for about 3 hours, but the problem is that when he wakes to eat, he isn't interested in sleeping again for about 2 hours. He'll have a leisurely eating session, take his time burping, fill a couple diapers, keep his eyes WIDE open and want to, you know, talk to us for another hour. I can piece together 6 hours of sleep, but nothing is the same as a solid block of deep sleep - which we have been deprived of since April 1. Hopefully he'll get more into the sleeping routine in the coming weeks!
I end with - NO MATTER WHAT ANYONE TELLS AN EXPECTANT PARENT, YOU WILL NEVER, EVER, EVER BE PREPARED FOR THE SLEEP DEPRIVATION THAT IS SURE TO COME WITH A NEWBORN - REALLY!

A Bear Lake Stireman and Trickster Tales....

Born on April Fool's Day, quite appropriately, our little Isaac is already a little trickster. So far, his tricks have been confined to the diaper business, but I am afraid as he grows older and wiser, his tricks will spread to other areas of daily life.
Isaac thinks it is funny (seriously, he smiles every time) when we change a very dirty diaper, get him changed, freshen him up, and within SECONDS he gets a smile on his face and you hear a big, wet, gushing noise. He has done this at least once a day, every day since he was born (2 weeks ago.) Sometimes, he'll do it three times in a row. We started to get wise to him and wait for about 10 minutes from the first sign of a poopy diaper, til change time. He has become wise to us, though, and continues his tricks.
Also, Dave has nicknamed Isaac "A Bear Lake Stireman." Why? Well, if you are a Stireman, you can easily figure this out. If not, then let me explain. Large groups from my dad's side of the family get together to camp in Bear Lake each summer. They have contests to see who can fart the loudest and they even have blue dart contests (lighting your farts on fire, for those of you not in the know.) Gross, I know! I haven't been to Bear Lake for years, and I never entered any of those contests, but I have vivid memories, that's for sure! Anyway - Isaac can pass gas with the best of them. His flatulence is so loud that it rivals adult men. Unless you are holding him, there is no way you would believe that it came from such a cute little baby. Hence, his first nickname - A Bear Lake Stireman. My uncles better watch out, there is a new champ in town.
Here are a couple photos of Isaac - The first one, he is looking pleased with himself for tricking us into changing his diaper twice in a row. The second one, he is on the changing table doing his dirty work - second diaper in 3 minutes.

Isaac's (extremely long) Birth Story

For those of you who are interested, I wanted to document Isaac's birth story. It is sooooo long because I want to be able to go back and read it in the future and remember just exactly what happened the night he was born. If you don't like the intimate details of labor, blood, guts, whatever, then don't read this :) If that doesn't bother or bore you, then go ahead. Anyway, here goes:

Isaac’s Birth Story

Isaac was due on March 27^th, 2009. I was hoping that he would be on time, but had a sneaking suspicion that he would be a late arrival. Each passing day felt like a week to me. I was so big and uncomfortable, plus I couldn’t wait to meet Isaac! On Monday, March 30^th, I went to have a non-stress test, to make sure the amnio fluids were sufficient, as well as monitor the fetal movement/heartbeat. Everything was looking good, and I even saw him sucking his thumb on the ultrasound.

The next day, March 31^st, I went to see my midwife. I was dilated to a 3, and 60% effaced, which was a good sign, but also meant it could be any minute or days away. I asked Margy (midwife) to separate the membranes because that can help stimulate labor. She said that she had already tried while she was checking to see how dilated I was and they were already separated.

I got home around noon and noticed that I was starting to feel a little bit of pain/cramping similar to fairly mild menstrual cramps. I was having contractions, but they were irregular and not easy to time, so I just figured that I was continuing the braxton hicks that I’d been having for weeks. I wasn’t in much pain and in fact, I laid down to take a nap for an hour and did some things around the house, pretty routine actually.

Dave got home around 5, and we had planned on making Indian food together. I told him I was feeling a little blah, and asked him to make the food. He did, and I just did a little bit of chopping some veggies. We ate a big, spicy Indian meal, which was delicious. I watched Law and Order and went to bed at 10 pm. I fell asleep just fine, still experiencing a little crampiness and contractions, but nothing that I couldn’t sleep through.

I awoke at about 12:45 AM that night, so it was now April 1, or April Fool’s Day. I got up and went to the bathroom, then came back to bed. I was not able to get comfortable and the cramping/contractions started feeling a little worse. They say that if you change position and activity, the contractions should go away or become less intense if it’s false labor. I decided to take a shower. I had a nice warm shower, but the contractions were staying regular. I finished my shower, braided my hair, and decided to try to go back to bed. That lasted about 5 minutes until I decided that this was probably it. It was about 1:30 AM at that point. I woke Dave up and he was on it! We decided to time my contractions and they were 1 min and 30 seconds apart and lasted about 30-60 seconds each. I called my mom to see what she thought, was this true labor? I still didn’t know. She seemed to think so. The contractions slowed down a little while I was talking to my mom so I told her that I would call her back in about 10 minutes if they didn’t go away. Well, they didn’t, so I called her back and told her we would be leaving for the hospital and I’d call her when we get there to tell her if I was really in labor (in retrospect, I don’t know how I could have thought it might have been false labor, all the signs pointed to the real thing. I think I was just feeling like the pregnancy would never end, so didn’t have faith that this was actually happening yet!) Dave got all of our things together while I sat on the bed having contractions. I could still easily walk and talk though them, and was feeling pretty calm.

We left for Salt Lake Regional Medical Center at about 2:10, and the main thing I remember about the ride there was that one, it was quick because there was nobody out at 2 AM and two, every bump that we went over, big or small, made the contractions hurt much worse. Dave did his best at trying to avoid the bumps on the road – thanks Dave :)

We arrived at the hospital at about 2:30 and parked in the parking garage. We walked in and waited for a minute for someone to admit us. I sat through the contractions while she asked me the questions and got the paperwork ready for me to be admitted. That took about 10 minutes or so. We walked to labor and delivery and simply told them that I thought I was in labor, can I please be checked? A nurse took us into a labor and delivery suite, checked me, and said I was dilated to a 5 and 100 % effaced, “it’s baby time!” We called my mom right after, at 3, and she arrived about 3:30. Margy, my midwife, arrived shortly after. Before Margy got there, they gave me a heplock in case I would be needing any type of IV during the experience. I imagine most women need these for when it’s time for an epidural. They probably figure most women will ask for one at some point. The first time they poked me, she couldn’t find the vein, so she had to take it out and try another spot, on my hand. This time she found a vein. It hurt a little, but I figured it was nothing compared to what was to come. The nurses were great and didn’t even question my decision to go natural. They went with the flow and were very supportive. I think having a midwife helped because they expect that most women who choose Margy tend to want the same things. Margy and the nurses had a great repertoire – made me feel good.

Incidentally, going into this birth, Isaac was positioned with his back halfway toward my back and half toward my stomach, head down, legs pointing toward my left side. Supposedly if you have the baby’s back toward yours, it makes labor much more painful. I don’t know if he changed positions or not, but I was definitely feeling some back labor through the entire labor.

Going into this, I didn’t know what to expect as far as what comfort measures I was going to want. We had written out a birth plan detailing some of the things I was certain of, such as wanting to birth the baby naturally with no epidural or medications, wanting to be active and in positions I wanted for the contractions and for pushing. In the class I took and our meetings with Penny (my mom’s friend who is a doula and childbirth educator,) we had discussed massage, touch, music, positions, bath, birthing ball, moving around, etc, etc.

It turns out that despite having Dave, my mom, my midwife, and a couple nurses in the room with me, I didn’t want help from anyone. I wanted the music (a CD I had burned for the occasion) and I just wanted to tune out everything. I found one comfortable position – sitting STRAIGHT up (straight as an arrow!) on the bed with my legs crossed Indian style. I tried a couple other positions for a minute, but realized that I just wanted to sit like that with my eyes closed.

At about 4 AM, Margy checked and I was dilated to a 6. I wasn’t too happy about this news because I felt like if it had taken me over an hour for 1 more cm, then each cm would take this long. The contractions were starting to get fairly painful and uncomfortable but still bearable. I should mention that I was a rock star with the breathing – occasionally someone would have to remind me to breathe a little differently, but overall, focusing on deep breathing and thinking about each breath really got me through everything. Margy reminded me several times that my body knows what it’s doing and it’s built for this, and those were some of the only words I remember hearing during the entire birth. It helped hearing it.

I asked them to fill up the bathtub for me, thinking this may help to ease the pain a little. Margy wanted me to wait a little while to use this comfort measure until I didn’t think I could stand the pain anymore. I waited just a little while and got in. I got in with my gown on because I was so focused on just getting in that I didn’t want to stop and take everything off. The tub didn’t do much for me. It felt good for a minute, but didn’t really seem to change my discomfort level. When I got out, I had to lean against a wall through a contraction and have Dave and my mom just peel my gown off of me and put a dry one on. I remember thinking that I couldn’t wait until I could get back into the bed and sit straight up with my legs crossed again. It was about 5 AM at this point.

Suddenly, the contractions went from being the worst pain that I could imagine, to SHEER AGONY! I hate to say that they were agonizing, because it gives natural birth a bad wrap, but I’ll get into that later. My contractions got to the point where I was involuntarily doing these guttural anguished moans at the peak of each one. I could feel them building up and while I was making these moaning noises, I could only compare what it felt like to imagining a stampede of buffalo trampling over my abdomen with each contraction. As the contraction faded, I would have about 30-45 seconds of very little pain and I would feel so relieved, but exhausted. There were a few times when I KNEW that I feel asleep during these brief seconds between contractions because it was just that exhausting. I can see how women who want to go natural might ask for an epidural after doing this for 15 hours – you might want it if nothing else, just so you can sleep a little.

After about 60-90 minutes of these EXTREMELY INTENSE contractions, Margy checked to see how far dilated I was again. I was surprised to hear her say that I was at 9 cm! If I wasn’t in so much pain, I would have started crying tears of joy. She said it was time to break my water and she took out this small white hook that looked like a crochet hook. I was a little freaked out about that, but remembered that I probably wouldn’t be able to feel it because the placenta doesn’t have nerve endings and isn’t really part of me (weird.) Anyway, she broke the water and I felt a gush of warm fluid.

Immediately after the water was broken, I felt the urge to start pushing. I must say that for some reason, I didn’t realize that I wasn’t supposed to breathe through pushing, but rather hold my breath as I pushed as hard as I could. I quickly learned this. The pain level was about equal to what it had been since 5 am. Margy said something to me at that point that I think decided for me how fast he was coming. At about 6:45 she said that I was in control of how long the pushing period would be. Average first time pregnancies, the pushing lasts for a 2-3 hours. She said I was in control – I could push for ½ hour or for hours, depending on how hard I work. I was so exhausted and in so much pain, but that turned out to be a good thing because it motivated me to work my ass off during the pushing stage. I pushed SOOOOOOOO hard, I never imagined I could be that strong! At one point I reached down and touched the baby’s head. The next 20 minutes were SOOOO powerful and intense. I was lying on my side with one leg up pushing it against a nurses hand and body – I thought I was going to send her shooting across the room! I heard Margy say to Dave “go wash your hands Dave, you are going to catch your baby!” One more push and his head was out. Not only his head, though, but his arm and hand were up against his head, making the circumference of what was being pushed out THAT MUCH BIGGER!

Now normally what you see is the head come out and the rest of the baby just glides on out, almost shoots out behind it. Not Isaac, I had to give a couple more giant pushes to get the rest of his body out. It was 7:07 AM on April 1^st. 22 minutes of pushing and only about 4 hours of being at the hospital and there he was.

Dave immediately placed him on my abdomen, but wasn’t able to put him all the way up because the cord wouldn’t pull any further. I looked at him and he looked so clean! I was surprised that he wasn’t covered in blood, guts, and that white coating most babies have. I was so overwhelmed but excited. The pain was next to gone – instantly. We waited until the cord stopped pulsating and Dave cut the cord. He said it was so think and tough, kind of like trying to cut an extension cord. Isaac found my breast almost right away and began nursing for the first time. It was amazing how instinctual the whole thing was for both of us. About 2 minutes later the placenta came out. Margy showed us the different parts of the placenta, which was pretty cool.

I can’t recall exactly how I felt while I was holding him. I think I was so exhausted, overwhelmed, and stunned that I didn’t immediately have the gush of emotion. I would like to say that I did, but it was more like I was in another world. The entire birth I kind of felt like I was in another world, almost outside of myself. The most vivid memory for me immediately after he was born was when Dave handed him to me -- I looked into Dave’s eyes and he was crying. That made my heart melt a little. :) It was also so wonderful to see him look around and take in his environment during his first minutes of life. He was so calm.

As I held Isaac, Margy gave me the bad news about the aftermath. I had torn in three places while he was coming out of the birth canal. So, as I held my new baby, Margy went to work on stitching me up. It didn’t hurt nearly as badly as I would have imagined. I guess I was already pretty numb from having given birth, plus they injected some local anesthetic to ease the pain. Before giving birth, this was my number one fear – needing an episiotomy or tearing while giving birth. It was my fear because in my mind, I thought you could feel the cut or tear as it was tearing and that was such a scary thought for me. Despite the pushing being very painful, there was not a moment when I though “yep, I’m tearing.” So while it was a bummer, it was not nearly as bad as I imagined.

After nursing and cuddling with Isaac for about 15 minutes while she stitched me up, they took him to dry him off and weigh him right there in the room. NINE POUNDS and TWO OUNCES!!!!!!!! Margy and the hospital staff were astonished. That’s a big baby period. Now couple that with a first time pregnancy and wow, that is a HUGE BABY! He measured at 20 inches long. He was so beautiful from the moment he came out. Now I know every parent says this, but really, he wasn’t wrinkly like a little old man, nor did he have a cone head. He looked perfect to me.

Although I didn’t really need or want coaching or help from anyone during the whole process, knowing that Dave and my mom were there made all the difference. Their presence truly helped me get through the labor. The only thing that I would have changed if I was in control is the tearing and stitching at the end because that is more of a long term healing process. I would not have taken away the pain because I think it made the experience that much more powerful. For me, it was a near perfect labor and I feel so thankful. Also, as the days go by, the vividness of the pain fades away for me. I think that must happen because if women remembered the pain as freshly as the day they gave birth, they might not ever choose to conceive again! It must be built into our systems, just like giving birth is built into us – our bodies know what to do.

And now, we have the love of our lives at home with us. He is, by far, the best thing I have ever done.