David's Birth Story

Baby's due date was May 1.  Since Brandon came about a week early, I was hoping this baby would follow his lead (rather than Andrew's) and not make it to the due date.  In the weeks leading up to the due date I was having irregular and non-painful contractions (Braxton Hicks) so I wasn't sure what to expect, timing wise.

At my 38 week appointment with my midwife, she agreed to do a membrane sweep at my 40 week appointment if I hadn't had the baby yet by that point.  So I showed up on May 1st for my appointment (much to my disappointment, because I was REALLY feeling ready for him to come before then!) and got checked and got the membranes swept.  She confirmed that baby was lower than my at my last appointment and I was about 2 cm dilated.

Since Aaron had taken a half day to come to my appointment with me, we decided to go out for lunch while my mom stayed at home with Brandon (Andrew was at school).  I felt a few random contractions that afternoon but mostly things continued as normal.  

That evening after the kids went to bed, my mom, Aaron, and I played a board game (Payday).  Again, some random and irregular contractions but they were starting to get more intense.  It seemed clear that labor was coming, but the contractions were still far enough apart that we didn't know whether we would be heading to the hospital that night or in the morning.

We went to bed around 11:00pm.  Almost as soon as we went to bed the contractions started coming close enough together that I couldn't sleep between them or through them, and at around 12:15am I got out of bed and started wandering around the bedroom, stopping to lean over the bed and breathe through contractions.  They were coming anywhere from 2-6 minutes apart when we called the maternity triage line at 1:30am.  I talked to the midwife for less than 10 minutes and had 3 contractions during the call so she told me to go ahead and come in to the hospital.

We arrived at the delivery floor of the hospital around 2:15am and they got me into the triage room.  After checking me, the midwife said I was dilated to a 3 between contractions but a 5 during them.  She left triage to get a room ready for me and during my next contraction my water broke (2:30am).

We got into a delivery room and my midwife asked me what kind of pain management I wanted.  I told her I was leaning toward getting an epidural, since I had done it that way with my other two.  In the mean time she offered me gas and air, which I used for a while but didn't feel like it really helped with the pain at all.

Things were starting to get really intense so my midwife checked me again at 3:10am.  I was dilated to an 8 but she said she could stretch me to the full 10cm.  It was basically too late for an epidural- she said she could request one for me but wasn't sure they'd get there on time.  Soon after that I felt ready to push and David Joseph Kimbler was born at 3:36am on May 2!  He was put right on my chest and Aaron cut the cord once it stopped pulsing.

I continued to hold him while the placenta was delivered and my midwife stitched me up, then he was weighed and measured and given back to me to start breastfeeding.  Then Aaron finally got a chance to cuddle his new baby while I took a shower and put on some clean clothes.

Eventually we moved up to the maternity ward until we were discharged at around 2:15pm that same day, less than 12 hours after David's birth.

Andrew and Brandon were both super excited to meet their new baby brother!  They have been very sweet with him and are always very interested in what "Baby David" is doing.  Grandma (my mom) has been here and is helping out a lot, plus Aaron has been home from work, making the transition a lot easier.  I think we'll all feel the difference once Grandma is gone and Daddy's back at work!

Kimbler Baby #3

I know that I'm way behind in posting, but I'm pregnant with our third baby boy!  I'm afraid this little guy might resent me one day for not documenting his pregnancy with the same diligence that I did his brothers', but it is what it is!

The important details:

• It's a boy!
• Due date: May 1, 2018
• Current progress: 27 weeks

This pregnancy started out much harder than my others- morning sickness was a beast and lasted much longer than I expected.  I have been very tired (not helped by the fact that I actually have to get up and dressed for the school run every weekday morning, rather than sleeping in as long as the kids let me).  And the timing was such that I was dealing with all the fun of the first trimester while we were in the process of trying to unpack our whole house and start the school year for Andrew.  Aaron was a champ during those hard months, and I'm so grateful to have him.

I started feeling the baby move pretty early this time, before 16 weeks!  And he hasn't stopped since- I'm pretty sure I've felt the movements daily since then.

I'm at a relatively comfortable phase of pregnancy now, which is good, but I'm getting pretty close to the third trimester now so I'm not counting on it lasting much longer!  Hopefully a few more weeks at least!

Andrew and Brandon are super excited and already talk about the new baby as a member of our family.  I'm sure they don't fully understand the changes that will happen in our lives and our home when the baby arrives, but they are looking forward to it and they already love their baby brother.  They have decided that his name will be George (but really we're not even close to choosing a name).

I've been working on some baby projects, but we still have lots of gaps to fill in the wardrobe (after my great pre-move purge) and some bigger gear to buy before we'll be ready for baby to arrive.  But we're looking forward to it- about 3 months to go!

Brandon's Birth Story

So here's the story of my VBAC with Brandon!  (Be forewarned: This post is super long and detailed- and I'm going to mention blood and mucus and all that awesome stuff...)

So on February 20th, I started having contractions.  Real ones, not the Braxton Hicks ones.  They were somewhat painful, but not close enough together to be worth timing or anything.  But I lost my mucus plug so I had a feeling things were getting started!  I had been dilated to 2cm at my appointment earlier in the week, which was already a change from my lack of dilation a few weeks prior.  I knew that in order to have my VBAC, I needed to go into labor naturally, and it seemed that my progress was good so far.  So I called my mom and let her know what was going on.  She and my dad were getting ready to go visit my sister for the night in Richmond, plus there was a big snow storm coming... great timing, right?

So the next morning (Saturday) I talked to my mom and let her know that I had been able to sleep mostly through the night, but that contractions were still happening.  She and my dad decided to leave a little early from Richmond and come directly to my house instead of going home.  By the time they got here, the snow was already making lots of trouble on the roads and my contractions were getting stronger.  We went over Andrew's usual routine and made plans for my dad to drive us to the hospital in their all-wheel drive in case we needed to go in the middle of the night (and in the middle of the awful storm). 

Contractions woke me up at 2:15 am.  We timed them for an hour and they were consistently 3-5 minutes apart.  The doctor on-call told us to come in, so we woke up my dad and headed out.  It was dangerous and slow but we eventually made it to the hospital.  Of course, soon after we were taken to the triage room and I was hooked up to the monitors, my contractions started slowing down.  (Dilated to 3 cm at this point, and fully effaced.)  I was monitored for a while and then they had me walk the halls to try to see if labor picked up again.  It didn't.  So they released me and my dad came back to get us.  I was so exhausted and frustrated!  We totally thought it was the real thing!

For the rest of the day (Sunday), my contractions were irregular, but I was having bloody show so I decided to go to bed early in case I woke up in the middle of the night again.  So I went up around 9 and the contractions start picking up again almost immediately after I lie down in bed.  I tried to go to sleep anyway, but they were way too strong and way too close together.  I texted Aaron around 9:30 and told him to come upstairs and help me through the contractions.  After a while of that, we went back downstairs where my mom was still up, and she tried to convince us to leave for the hospital again.  I really didn't want to go through everything like the night before, so we waited until the contractions had been going for over two hours before we called the doctor.  He basically told me that if they were stronger than the night before, I should come in.  So we headed out again, hoping that this was finally it!

Got to the hospital just after midnight.  They didn't even bother hooking me up to the monitors in triage this time because when they checked me, I was dilated to 7cm and my sac was bulging.  "This is the real deal, mama- you're at a 7!"

I had told them originally that I wanted to go as long as possible without an epidural (and possibly not get one at all) but it really didn't take too long before I was ready for it.  Each contraction was bringing a lot of lower back pain with it and I was contracting every 2-4 minutes.  Even so, I was so exhausted that I fell asleep sitting up between contractions a couple of times.  Even after I got the epidural at 3:00am, it took several presses on the "extra boost" button (which I could only hit every 10 minutes) before I finally felt real relief around 4:00am.  At this point the nurse turned off the lights and I fell asleep (off and on) for about an hour.  I don't know if I would have had the energy to make it without that nap!  Epidurals are amazing!

At 5:00 I was fully dilated and my sac was still intact and bulging.  The doctor broke my water and then left so we could let the baby's head descend naturally.  At 5:35 I'm feeling ready to push so we start, with just me, Aaron, and the nurse in the room.  That was going super well until the baby crowned and she told me to stop pushing.  So I stopped- the plan was that the doctor was supposed to come in then to finish the delivery.  But less than a minute later, I felt the baby start sliding out, even though I wasn't actively pushing.  The nurse had to literally hold his head in place with one hand while dialing and calling for the doctor and a tech with the other.  As soon as the doctor got there and got his gown on, I gave one little push for the head, and one more for the body and our son was born!  31 minutes from first push to baby boy.  He was covered in vernix and some blood but it was so great to finally see him and hold him!

I tore (second degree, almost third degree I think) so the doctor was taking care of that for a while, but I got to watch (from across the room, but still...) while he was wiped off and weighed and Aaron got to hold him for the first time.  And now we have a family of four!

End of Pregnancy Update

I know we're already 3 days past the due date and a week and a half past the birth date, but I just want to finish writing up how this pregnancy was at the end.

At my 36 week appointment, the doctor told me that my belly measurement was a little small, and that it had been small at my last appointment too.  So he sent me to get a growth sonogram, just to make sure everything was okay.  He didn't seem super worried about it, so I didn't worry either.  I was mostly just excited to see the baby again!  We had a friend watch Andrew so Aaron could come with me for the ultrasound.  It showed that baby was a little on the small side, but not enough that they were concerned at all.  So good news and we got to see him again!

Other than that, the last part of this pregnancy was pretty much par for the course.  I (fortunately) didn't swell up like a balloon in the last month like I did with Andrew, but was otherwise uncomfortably large.  I was having Braxton Hicks contractions a lot, but they weren't painful or anything.

Anyway, bump pictures!  (I sure am glad to be done with these again...)

32 Weeks 4 Days

35 Weeks 1 Day

37 Weeks

37 Weeks 6 Days

 And just for fun:

40 Weeks!

Next up: the birth story!

32 Weeks- Pregnancy Update

What?  32 Weeks?  Only 8 more weeks (-ish) until we get to meet our second cute little baby!  Less than 2 months left!  In some ways, I feel like this pregnancy has sped by, yet I often feel like I've been pregnant forever!  Crazy how that works sometimes.

Baby bump pictures!  (Compare to my last pregnancy here, here, and here.)

14 Weeks 4 Days

15 Weeks 5 Days

17 Weeks

18 Weeks 6 Days

21 Weeks

23 Weeks 6 Days

24 Weeks

25 Weeks

26 Weeks 3 Days

28 Weeks 3 Days

29 Weeks 4 Days

31 Weeks 6 Days

Updates:
I've had some hip and pelvic pain for the last two months.  Fortunately it has eased up a bit lately and it really only hurts after I've been lying down for a while, like first thing in the morning.  And sometimes if I've been doing a lot of walking.

Mostly this pregnancy has been going very smoothly.  I'm feeling rather large these days (even though I know I've still got some growing to do!).  And my lap is shrinking, though Andrew always manages to find a way to fit there.

It's still too soon to tell what position this guy is in, but I can tell that he definitely likes hanging out on my right side.  I'm always feeling bulges over there too, but I really can't tell whether I'm feeling a butt, a head, a knee, or an elbow trying to push its way out.

Andrew "knows" that there's a baby in there, but I don't think he has any clue what's really going on.  I think we're going to have some jealousy issues when the baby actually gets here, since Andrew is so used to being able to cuddle up to mama anytime he wants.

I sorted through a bunch of baby clothes this weekend.  That's the nice thing about having a second boy- I already have the clothes!  However, since we basically haven't started getting his room ready, I don't have anywhere to put them.  Oops.  I'd better get on that.

We're looking forward to meeting our little guy- but we still have lots to do to get ready for his arrival.  Less than 2 months to go!

It's a...

Baby!

So we had our 20 week ultrasound yesterday. Since we had Andrew with us, they wouldn't let Aaron come into the room until the last few minutes of the scan. The tech tried to tell me the gender before she even called him in, but I was patient and asked them to wait. And...

It's a boy! Andrew is going to have a little brother! We are so excited to add another little boy to our family.  (Poll results: 56% of you guessed correctly!)

We had a bit of a scare when the doctor called yesterday to tell us that the ultrasound had shown low levels of amniotic fluid and they wanted us to go to a specialist for another scan. Low fluid levels can mean a lot of scary things so we spent the evening worrying and googling. Fortunately the specialist was able to get us in today. And also fortunately, there is plenty of fluid around the baby. Copious amounts, actually. So all the worrying was for nothing- presumably the first sonographer just did a bad job. 

So anyway, our second little boy is looking healthy and we couldn't be happier!

Pregnancy Update and Gender Predictions

Well, here we are- more than 19 weeks along in this pregnancy!  In a way it seems like this pregnancy is moving along a lot faster than the last one, maybe because I'm busy with Andrew this time.

This baby is active.  I felt him/her move for the first time on Labor Day (when I was almost 14 weeks along) and Aaron was able to feel the movement a few weeks ago too.  This is WAY earlier than we felt Andrew.  I guess that's normal though for second-time (and more) moms.  At our last two appointments, the doctor even commented on how much the baby was moving around- they had to keep moving the doppler to follow the heartbeat.

Like last time, I thought it would be fun to look at some old wives tales about gender.  They were definitely wrong last time; let's see if they can do better this time around:

• Chinese Gender Predictor:  Based on my age and conception month.  BOY.
• Carrying: If you carry low, it's a boy; high, it's a girl. NOT SURE?  Isn't it too early to know if I'm carrying low or high?  Or maybe I just carry in the middle...
• Heart Rate:  Girl is over 140bpm, boy is under 140bpm.  GIRL. They haven't told us bpm since the dating ultrasound though, so not sure how "accurate" this is.
• Feet Temperature: Boys cause cold feet, girls don't change mom's feet temp. BOY.
• Morning Sickness:   Have it?  Girl.  Not so much?  Boy.  GIRL.
• Cravings:  Craving sweets = girl. Craving salty/sour = boy.  BOY.  I haven't been craving salty/sour foods so much, but I've been pretty anti-sweets since I got pregnant, like last time.  My sweet tooth is starting to come back though.
• Boobs:  Which one is bigger?  Left = girl. Right = boy.  GIRL.
• Sleeping Position:  Preference for the left side means a boy, preference for the right means a girl. BOY.  Though I often switch part of the way through the night, after my potty break.
• Headaches:  Boys cause headaches, girls don't.  GIRL.
• Sympathy Weight:  If the husband gains weight, it's a girl.  If not, a boy.  BOY.
• Opinion of the Mom-to-be:  In a study that asked women with no previous knowledge about their baby's sex, the moms-to-be correctly guessed the gender of their baby 71% of the time. NOT SURE?  Really, no idea.  Sometimes I'm convinced it's a girl, and other times I say "he" when talking about the baby.  (Aaron was convinced Andrew would be a boy, and was right, but this time he won't even make a prediction because he doesn't know.)

So the old wives aren't coming to a consensus this time.  (What do you think?  Vote in the poll above!)

We have our ultrasound early next week, so hopefully baby cooperates and lets us see if he's a boy or she's a girl!

Andrew's Big News

Andrew has been keeping a secret from everyone for a couple months now.

That's right!  He's being promoted to BIG BROTHER!

Honestly, he has no idea what's going on, but we are very excited!  New baby Kimbler is due on March 3, 2015.

I'm almost 14 weeks along now- finally about to be done with the first trimester.  Morning sickness has been pretty awful, exhaustion is real, and none of my clothes fit right.  But baby is worth it (even though I'd still appreciate some relief!).

We had an ultrasound at 8 weeks 6 days, and I heard the heartbeat again on the doppler at my appointment last week.  Everything seems to be perfectly on track.  We're looking forward to seeing him or her again in early October and finding out the gender!

Andrew's Birth Story

Be warned that this is going to be a long post.  I want to make sure I record his full story for myself, at least.  (If you want the short version, see this post.)  I have to start about a week before Andrew was born, because things were happening way before the big day.

I was getting a little nervous because I felt like Andrew wasn't moving around as much as he had before. So I mentioned it to my OB and she ordered an ultrasound to check on things. Everything looked fine- Andrew was just being lazy. I was glad everything was fine but they ordered a non-stress test for a few days later and gave me instructions to set up the induction for the next week.

I was feeling some contractions at this point, but they weren't really very regular and not strong enough to make me stop what I was doing.

At the non-stress test, I was contracting regularly every 3-5 minutes.  But they were really mild contractions still and I was still only dilated to a 1 (like I had been for a couple weeks) so they sent me home.

My mom came up to stay with us a couple days before my induction date, just in case I went into labor on my own before the induction.  After all, I was already past my due date, so she had cleared her schedule to be available for me anyway.  We spent those couple of days hanging out and doing some last Christmas shopping.

My induction was scheduled for 6:00am on December 14th, but the hospital called me around 4:15am that day to tell me that they had to push back my time because they were so busy.  I was really disappointed, but at least we were able to go back to bed for a while.  We eventually were able to go in for our induction at 2:00pm that day.

Because I was already contracting, they didn't actually give me anything to move labor along right away.  At 5:00pm the doctor stripped my membranes and things finally started to get moving.  I was still in early labor technically until about 10:00pm, and the contractions started getting painful around midnight.  We couldn't really sleep because of the contractions as well as our excitement.  I labored for a while in the jacuzzi tub, but the monitors weren't staying on very well with the jets going so I had to hold them in place.  I gave up on the tub around 2:30am and Aaron and I both tried to get some sleep until my contractions got too intense at 4:00.  I got my epidural just after 5:00am and it helped so much!  The doctor broke my water at this point.  I had some BP issues, which were solved by lying on my left side and using the oxygen mask.

At 11:00am I had been stuck at 6 cm for several hours so I got an internal contraction monitor and we started the Pitocin.  My contractions increased in intensity until I reached the maximum dose at 3:00pm.  I had only dilated to 6-7 cm in that whole time.  Less than one centimeter and I was crying through each contraction.  Not a good sign.

Eventually the doctor recommended a c-section.  She gave us some other options too, but she seemed to think that I was not likely to respond well and that I wasn't likely to make any more progress based on how things had been going up to that point.  Aaron and I took some time to talk about it and cry about it and decided to go ahead with the c-section.  I remember the nurse telling me "everything happens for a reason.  We might not always know what that reason is, but it will all work out.  And in a week it won't even matter that you got a c-section because you'll have your baby in your arms.  It all happens for a reason."  I was glad my parents were there with us because Aaron and I were both so emotional and scared, but my parents had been through this before.  My mom had even told me a couple of days before about her experience when she was pregnant with me, when she had cried when they told her they would need to do a c-section.  My dad and Aaron gave me a priesthood blessing and I was wheeled off to the OR around 5:00pm.

A c-section is so strange because you can't feel any pain.  There's a sheet blocking the view, so you feel tugging and pulling in the belly but no pain to compare to what you know is happening on the other side of that blue curtain.

At 5:47pm on December 15, 2012, Andrew Jon Kimbler was born.  He cried, I cried, Aaron cried.

It turned out that Andrew was "sunny side up" which is probably why things were stalled.  Baby heads are meant to fit through the pelvis facing the other way.  He also had the cord wrapped around his neck, so he likely would have gone into distress if things had moved along as planned.  So yes, things happen for a reason, and really all that matters is that our little man got here and is healthy.

Baby Bump- Part 3

The last of the baby bump pictures!

I was so frustrated that I was still pregnant when I got to my due date!  (See this post for the rant...)  But at least this completes the baby bump pictures for Gummy Bear's pregnancy!

Past Due

Be warned: this is the post where I complain about the fact that I'm still pregnant.  If you're not up for that, stop reading now.

I'm starting to think this baby has taken up permanent residence in my body.  He obviously didn't get the memo that he was supposed to come out by yesterday!

This past week has been difficult for me.  I've been having contractions, but not strong enough to do much of anything.  My feet look like overinflated balloons- I have to wear Aaron's shoes if we're going to do much walking.  And I finished all of my pre-baby projects so I would be ready for him to come.  Unfortunately that means I don't have much going on to distract me from waiting.  My belly is huge and everything I eat gives me heartburn.  I've tried a bunch of natural induction things, which obviously haven't worked.

I had a nonstress test yesterday.  I was contracting regularly through the test, but they weren't intense enough.  Lost my mucous plug, but still dilated to a 1.

Tentatively scheduled for induction on Friday.  Still waiting to get confirmation from the hospital.

Yes, I know that I'm only one day past the due date and I know that only 50% of women deliver by their due date.  But somehow, despite that knowledge, December 10th was etched in my mind as the day I would have my baby by.  You know, like how if a paper is due on Friday, you can turn it in anytime BEFORE or ON Friday for full credit.  So this baby was supposed to be here BEFORE or ON December 10th.

I guess the silver lining here is that maybe he'll be born on 12/12/12.  We'd never forget that birthdate!  (Although you're still more than welcome to come today, Gummy Bear!)

*sigh*

On the plus side, Aaron has been a trooper.  He gets to deal with crazy me all the time.  He's been great about helping with meals, dishes, foot rubs, etc.  I couldn't ask for a better hubby.  I know he's anxious to get things going but he's had a much better attitude than I have, especially this past week.


Sorry for the rant- hopefully my next post will be happier, complete with photos of the little guy!

No Baby Yet!

Apparently yesterday was just a little teaser.

I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before so Aaron and I left church early.  I had a sub already lined up to play piano for me in primary, so I planned to take a nice long nap when we got home.

Instead, I did some serious nesting, cried over everything, and had lots of contractions.  Nice.

But the contractions weren't at all regular (and only a little painful) so my great plan to go into labor last night didn't work out.  Dang.

And poor Aaron had to deal with me being an emotional wreck when we had planned a nice relaxing day at home.  Dang again.

Here's hoping that Gummy Bear decides he's ready to come soon, because this pregnant lady is ready to have a babe-in-arms rather than a babe-in-belly!

Baby Bump- Part 2

It's been a while since I posted baby bump pictures, and I certainly look bigger than I did last time I posted photos at about 24 weeks!

27 Weeks

28 Weeks 3 Days

30 Weeks

33 Weeks 1 Day

34 Weeks 3 Days

36 Weeks 2 Days

I'm feeling pretty huge these days but we only have a few weeks to go!  Only a few more of these pictures and then we'll have our little baby to look at instead of my big belly!

Updates:

Shoes?  Forget about it, unless Aaron's around to tie them for me.  Even though it's getting colder, I still wear flip flops if I go anywhere during the day since those don't require reaching my feet!

Rolling over is nearly impossible.  If it weren't so annoying, it would be funny how I have to grab the headboard or edge of the bed to help me roll over to get up for my middle of the night potty trips.  It doesn't help that I'm sandwiched between Aaron and my body pillow (so I will stay on my side instead of my back) so I'm not even really that close to the edge of the bed...

SWELLING.  Face.  Feet.  And my right hand.  Weird.

Baby shower is postponed :(  The girl who is hosting it had a death in the family and had to go out of town for the funeral so we have to push back my shower.  I just hope we get it in before I go into labor!

Bassinet is set up!  Aaron's been anxious to do this since we borrowed it from my parents about a month ago.  I didn't want it set up too early, because I didn't want it taking up space for too long before we can use it, but I finally let him assemble it this weekend on his day off.

Baby laundry is all done and organized.  Whew.  That project took way longer than it should have.

We tried playing "name that body part" the other day.  Gummy Bear was being super active and sticking hands, feet, and rear end out at us.  Sometimes we could tell what was a foot or a butt, but it's pretty hard to differentiate between a fist and a foot.  Oh well, it was just fun to be able to interact with our little boy!

Less than 4 weeks to go!  And we even get a holiday in there to (hopefully) distract me from my discomfort!