Baby Michael's Entrance

On Monday morning, September 3, (baby's due date) Chris and I went to the hospital, took the elevator to the third floor and got checked in to the maternity ward for elective induction. GDM combined with a darkening mental horizon meant that despite my distaste for being induced, it was the better route. Plus, EVERYone at church got a real kick out of the fact that I would be laboring on Labor Day.

Our nurse during all of the labor and delivery was Nancy, a fabulous caregiver. I couldn't have asked for better. We did all the usual things, answer a bazillion questions, change into a hospital gown, get an IV going, started penicillin (for group B strep), etc. The doctor, Dr. Pittard, came in and checked me, I was at a 2, and so we started pitocin.

At a quiet moment of the morning, Chris gave me a priesthood blessing. Sometime near 11am, the contractions, while still within the range I can handle, started heading towards what I new would be exhaustingly painful, so I asked if the anesthetist could be called. Ofttimes it takes awhile before they can get there, and I would rather be ahead of the pain than behind it.

Jamie, an anesthetist with an easy-going manner and a great sense of humor, got there fairly quickly, and he got the epidural started. But weirdly, only a band of about six inches, starting from the top of my large belly to about my belly button, went numb. I could still feel and had full range of motion from the belly button down. Nancy (who kept getting tips from Jamie over the phone) and I tried shifting my position, seeing if gravity could help the epidural take effect further down, but clearly the epidural was not going to descend any lower.

Nancy informed Jamie, and he came back to see if he could assess the problem in person and provide a solution. He couldn't see how, even with my scoliosis, that band would be the only thing that had gone numb. Apparently, that could have been a typical response if the epidural had gone in at around thoracic vertebrae number 10 (T10), but he had put the epidural in at around lumbar 3, a vertebra at least 5 inches lower than T10. That's a long way for the epidural to travel, and seemed quite unlikely. Jamie said he wished he could take an x-ray and figure out what had happened, but couldn't seeing as I had a baby in my abdomen.

So he told me, "We can either do a new epidural, or no epidural." I said I liked the first option best (no contest!), so he, apologizing for the first one failing, set about putting in a new epidural. It wasn't nearly as painful getting the second one done (although I've never found epidural getting to be particularly painful, especially compared with some of the other pains of labor, like getting checked, or even getting an IV put in), thanks to the first one numbing that section of my torso so well. Jamie put the new epidural in at about L4, one vertebra lower than the first. The only clue as to what went wrong the first time was that a larger amount of epidural medicine than usual oozed out of the first "wound" site. So it's clear the epidural didn't end up where it was supposed to go, but why that resulted in the six inch band of numbness, we may never know.

Almost immediately after Jamie got the second one in, I felt my legs start to tingle and get warm, and within minutes we could tell that epidural no.2 was a win. Jamie again apologized and I assured him it was fine. The important thing was we got there in the end! He joked that we'd just call the first epidural acupuncture. I agreed.

One of my favorite parts of this episode was that Chris was given a chair to come sit by me at the bed while the anesthetist worked at my back and the nurse stood at my front. That was new for us. Nancy suggested he could hold my hand for support, and I was surprised at just how supportive that small thing was, holding hands while I got all poked and prodded in the spine.

The rest of the afternoon and early evening was pretty uneventful. I could rest, and just lay down the whole time, which is mostly what I did. I spent some of that time going through all the "educational stuff we need to you know before you can get discharged" on the iPad they gave me, and Dr. Pittard came at about 2pm and checked me again and broke my water, (his original plan was to break my water at noon and THEN I'd have an epidural, but since with Lucy I had progressed really quickly once my water broke, and since he'd been held up in the OR, I changed things up by having the epidural first) but most of that time I spent resting and waiting for little boy to be ready to be born.

Sometime between 6 and 6:30pm, Nancy asked if I wanted to be checked, she had a hunch I was close. She was right! I was fully dilated and effaced. Dr. Pittard was called and we were soon pushing. Little Michael Lewis Machado was born at 6:51 pm. He came into the world all wiggly and hollering and blue, just like the other three did. He was 8lb 11.7oz and 21 inches long. Our heftiest baby yet.

We came home from the hospital on Wednesday after receiving wonderful care from all the nurses (shout out to Madonna who is like the coolest, 60 something, Mary Poppins-like nurse I've ever had). Michael had some jaundice but it is now receding, and we are starting our life as a family of 6. Mom, Dad, two boys, and two girls. His siblings already adore him and love to hold him (for about 20 seconds at most) and give him kisses. And Dad and I are getting our fill of a sweet, sleepy newborn.

Welcome to the world, my new son.

Lucy's Birth

July 12, 2016

Think back to the early part of July 2016. That's when this miracle of a baby came into our home. Here's the story of how it happened (written when she was 9 days old. And reading it now I laugh because I can almost hear how sleep-deprived I was, I did a little editing for grammar and clarity, but mostly left my sleep-deprived voice stay the same):

At 38 weeks and 5 days I was still only dilated to a one. Despite the fact that I had way more contractions with this pregnancy than with my previous two, this baby was not going to make a very early entrance. 

So at my appointment, the doctor recommended we set a date for induction. Because of my gestational diabetes she thought it was a good idea, and frankly I was so tired of being pregnant I thought it was a fantastic idea. So we set the date for June 12th all the while hoping that she would come before then.  

On Monday July 11th, we packed clothes for the kids and for us and spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa's Machado. Then July 12th, Chris and I got up early and left the house at about 5:30 so we could get to the hospital for the 6 a.m. induction.  

The check-in process began smoothly, and a nurse named Melissa helped start my IV and various other things. Originally the doctor suggested starting with a vaginal medicine but Lucy's heart rate kept dropping and because of that and because I was contracting on my own, we decided to go straight to pitocin. A little bit after 7 a.m. Melissa finished her shift and transferred her job over to two nurses, Tiffany and Sarah.  

Throughout the whole pregnancy this girl's been a very active baby, and her birthday was no exception. We had issues with the monitors all morning. The nurses had to keep coming in and adjusting the monitors so they could pick up her heart rate. Finally at a little after 8am, we were able to start the pitocin (I really really really really don't like pitocin contractions. Really.) All the morning I'd been having contractions which was uncommon for me to have that many in the morning.  

After about an hour of pitocin contractions, I started thinking about getting an epidural. I asked the nurse for her suggestion and she said because it was my third baby they didn't need to wait to a certain dilation before giving me an epidural, so at about 9:50 I decided I wanted one. The contractions weren't so bad that I couldn't handle them but I could tell they were getting to that point. Tiffany also said that most women seemed to ask for an epidural at about 11 a.m. so if I was going to get one it would be a good idea to ask for one before that so I wouldn't end up at the back of the line as it were. The nurses called the anesthetist, and in less than an hour she had the epidural up and running. The nurses placed a big, orange peanut shaped exercise ball between my legs which was way more convenient than several pillows, and turned me to both sides for a time in order to let gravity help the medicine distribute evenly. By the time the epidural started working I was really having to work to manage the contractions. 

Sometime between 11 and 11:30 they checked me and I was at a 5 or 6. It was hard for them to know for sure because my water hadn't broken. The nurses figured since my water hadn't yet broken they'd call my doctor and have her come break it, and then they figured it would be very quick until the time the baby came.  

Both they and Christopher needed to get lunch, so before leaving the nurses asked a technician to get the birth equipment table ready and then Chris and the nurses went and got their separate lunches. Chris got back just before noon and he hadn't been in the room for four minutes when my water burst like an over-filled water balloon. I just been thinking that I hoped I'd be able to tell if my water broke when, boom! It popped. I pushed the call button right as Sarah was walking back into the room and she and Tiffany helped clean up the huge amount of water. I could still feel contractions pretty well, in fact the best of any of my three children so far. I could also tell there was a lot of pressure from that baby's head starting to head down the birth canal. Since the doctor hadn't arrived yet Sarah told me if I started to feel the need to push I should pant like a dog to get through the contractions to stop myself from pushing. 

Tiffany paged the doctor and I love how she tried to convey a sense of urgency but not emergency to the doctor. She told Dr. King that "she's fully dilated and effaced and is trying hard not to push." "Trying not to what?" I heard Dr. King ask. "Push," Tiffany replied calmly and firmly.  

Dr. King booked it over to my room and quickly got ready to help me push. I was glad that Sarah gave me the advice about panting because I needed it through two or three contractions, I needed to push so badly! 

But I was able to wait until Dr. King was ready. And the next contraction I started pushing and by the end her head was nearly out. Dr. King asked if I wanted to push in between contractions to which I said yes! And we got her head out the rest of the way. Her body soon followed and they placed my little Lucy on my belly so I could see my little girl for the first time. 

I cried so hard. It was just so sweet to hold her and see her face. The nurses wiped her off while the doctor stitched me up. And I just marveled at this little girl who in some ways I've known for months and in some ways I was meeting for the first time.  

Lucy weighed 7 pounds 1 ounce, and was 19 and three quarters inches long. She's smaller than either Nathaniel or Eva were. And she's already stolen my heart. Nathaniel and Eva are so sweet with her baby sister. They love to ask what she's doing, and they love to give her kisses. Eva loves to give her toys to Lucy and then quickly take them back so she can play with them again. So far at Lucy doesn't seem to mind. We have a beautiful family of 5. And now if I can just get some sleep, I might feel like a regular human again.

 So there you have it. Lucy Annalise Machado. Her middle name is a conglomeration of her grandmothers'. Chris's mom and grandma both have the middle name Anne, and my mom's name is Lisa. Lucy we just loved the sound and meaning of, and Machado, well. yeah. of course.

She's almost 7 months old now. We thought her brother and sister were mellow babies, but man. This girl takes the cake. There's a reason #MomIsMyFaveJob.

Christmas Day, 2016

Until tomorrow

Dear Little One,

Tomorrow, if all goes well, you will come into this world. I'm so looking forward to seeing you and holding you. Smelling your baby smell, hearing your baby noises, seeing your squashy cheeks. Ahh.... some of the sweetest moments of motherhood.

You are baby number three in our family. I was also baby number three, as was your Grandpa Dean. I had two older brothers who, when I was born, were almost the exact ages that Nathan and Eva are right now. You have some powerhouse siblings. Your brother loves telling jokes, making Eva giggle, learning about cars and anything that goes, imagining he's a deep-sea explorer, and giving hugs and kind words at just the right moment. Your sister loves to snuggle soft toys, especially her bunny, and say "Awww!" while she give them a hug. She loves singing and joins in on the last word of each phrase of the songs she knows. She's starting to understand that other people have wants and needs and she loves asking about them. Like today when she asked if my crackers were all gone, and then asked, "Mommy, more crackers?" wondering if I wanted more. Oh, and of course she loves food. It's probably her true passion.

Though Eva is a little too young to understand that you're coming, Nathaniel understands quite well, and he can't wait. You should have seen the look on his face when I told him that tomorrow, Daddy and I would be going to the hospital where the doctor would help you be born. He ran right over to Grandma Kimi and excitedly told her the good news, which of course, she already knew!

This pregnancy has gone by so slowly and so quickly all at once. I think about you every day, and I feel a calm assurance that you're coming to our family and coming at this time by design. This pregnancy has been hard on me, and yet, I feel so deeply that you are worth all I've been through and overflowingly more.

I wanted you before I even new you were coming. A week or two before I found out I was pregnant with you, I attended a conference all about families in Salt Lake City. I thought so much about my own family and felt such gratitude for the shape our family had already taken. And I was already looking forward to the day when we'd have another child in our home. Wouldn't it be fun, I thought, if I was pregnant with that baby right now? Well, it turns out, I was pregnant with you. Right then. I just didn't know it.

And tomorrow morning, at 6am, we're to be at the hospital where they'll start the induction process. And then a few or many hours later, I hope to be holding you in my very own arms and kissing your very little cheeks.

Until tomorrow, then. I'll see you soon.

Love,
Momma

Birth 2.0

The three or so weeks leading up to Eva's birth were quite the mental/emotional struggle for me. Each week I felt like the contractions were "going up a notch" and getting us closer to the real thing, but because of how Nathaniel's labor/delivery went, I didn't really have a clue how many "notches" I still needed to go before we were at the real thing.

Enter Saturday, October 18th.

I'd had some uncomfortable contractions during the night, but by morning they had stopped being regular. One of the songs Chris wrote was being premiered up in Salt Lake that evening, and so his Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Tine came down for the premier. They took us out to lunch, took us shopping, and then drove us up to the concert in Salt Lake. I'd been having sporadic contractions throughout the day, but I wasn't timing them, and they weren't increasing in intensity.

During the concert I started realizing that the contractions were coming at a fairly consistent rate. We went out to eat afterwards and during dinner, the contractions were starting to get kind of painful. I was having a harder and harder time concealing them from everyone else (As a side note, I'm not exactly sure why I felt like I needed to conceal them, maybe I just didn't want anyone to fuss over me or worry about me? Whatever the reason, I just wanted to keep them to myself).

On the ride home (about a 45 min drive) I began timing them. Sure enough they were consistently coming 3-5 minutes apart and they were getting harder and harder to deal with.

As soon as we got home, I told Chris that I thought this was the real thing. I was fairly certain our little girl was on the way. So... now we had to figure out what to do with Nathaniel while we went to the hospital. A good friend told me we could bring him over to her house, but I couldn't get a hold of her. I tried calling my mother to let her know and see if she could start making the two-hour trek down to our house, but no one at home answered the phone (and no answer on any cell phones either).

Finally I tried my brother and asked if he could maybe just hang out on our couch until we got a hold of someone who could take his place (he had a one-month-old baby at the time and also worked early morning custodial). He answered his phone and was able to come over.

During all this, the contractions were getting hard. I was sitting on our exercise ball trying to do anything that felt like it helped me cope with the pain of each contraction. I also began singing during them. Each made-up song went something like ,"Oh maaaan, this is reeeeeaaally uncomfortable right nooow! I really really wiiiish that this contraction would end! I really really hope that this is the reeeeall thing because if it's not, then I don't want to know what the reaaaaal thing feeeeeeels like!! etc. etc. etc."

Hey, you do what you gotta do, right?

Once Stephen was on his way, I had the idea to try calling my aunt who lives kiddy-corner from my parents to just see if she knew where they might be, or if they were home. She answered and said she'd go over and knock on their door to let my mom know I was in labor.

Stephen arrived, I grabbed my hospital bag, and Chris and I drove over to the hospital. On the way over there (about a 5 min drive) my mom called. Yay! She sounded super apologetic. She said that they'd all been watching The Two Towers downstairs in the basement and didn't hear the phone ring. They were at the battle of Helm's Deep and it was really intense when they finally heard pounding on the door from my aunt.

Very appropriate I thought, that while my family was watching the orcs' chant of war, I was facing my own intense battle and chanting/singing to get through it.

We filled my mom in on what was happening and said we'd call her as soon as we knew for sure that I was staying at the hospital.

We checked in at a little after 10:00pm and were shown to a room. The nurses came in a little while later and checked me. Melanie, who did the checking said, "Oh, yeah you are totally having this baby. You are at like a seven!" Whhhaaa? a seven!? I had nooo idea that's what a seven felt like! I felt kind of proud of myself, but the first thing I asked was, "Is that too late for an epidural?" "Nope," Melanie replied, "but we gotta step on it".

Quickly the nurses got the anesthesiologist who gave me a very big dose of epidural stuff. I don't know how far along I was by the time it took effect, but I think I was further than a seven by that point (my contraction-coping songs and noises were getting stranger and stranger by that point, but thankfully no one commented :). They also called my doctor, and did all the other things like hooking up monitors, asking me questions about my health, etc.

My water broke a little while after the epidural really started kicking in, and I could feel as our little girl descended the rest of the way down into pushing position.

By midnight, we were at pushing time. My doctor had arrived a couple of minutes earlier and we started pushing. I was asked if I wanted a mirror to which I tried to politely but firmly say "no." My doctor, the two nurses and Chris all cheered me on with every push. Once she started crowning, my doctor exclaimed, "She has so much hair!" (woohoo! I thought. I'd certainly had enough heartburn for her to have a lot of hair.) She really was ready to come by then. Nathan took over two hours of pushing before he came out. With our little girl, I pushed for about 20 minutes. She emerged all beautiful and blue and squirmy and as soon as she was cleaned off and weighed and stuff, I got to hold her and nurse her.

Our Eva Magdalena Machado was born at 12:21am, October 19, 2014. She was 20 inches long and weighed 8lbs 8oz.

Eva and I spent the normal two-days in the hospital and have both recovered well. She's even more mellow than her older brother, and I thought he was an easy newborn. Nathaniel loves his little sister and calls her, "Uh-va."

We're happily adjusting to life as a family of four. There are some challenging times, but there are also lots of beautiful moments each day.

To my daughter...

Dear Little One,

You are growing so much! I can tell because I feel huge already even though I'm only at 25 weeks. I'm already waddling, especially by the end of the day. You are a wiggler like your older brother was (and still is), although you might be giving him a run for his money based on the acrobatics you're already executing. Sometimes you move so much, my belly looks like the underside of a trampoline. The most sure-fire way to get you to stop wiggling is to turn to Daddy and say, "Feel her moving! She's going crazy!" That's when you stop right away. Occasionally I wouldn't mind it if you calmed down a bit, but mostly I love it. Every wiggle is a reminder that you are growing and developing and becoming. That knowledge fills me with peace.

You should know that your Daddy and I are so excited that you're a part of our family. You were welcome here even before we knew you were on the way. You should also know, that despite our best efforts, your older brother is totally clueless that you're coming. He probably will be until we bring you home from the hospital. But on the plus side, he'll also never remember not knowing you. He's a fantastic boy and I can't wait for you to meet him. I'm so happy knowing that you two will learn so much from each other. He's lucky to have you as a little sister, and you are lucky to have him for an older brother.

When I was a little girl, my momma (your grandma) would always tell me, "There's nothing better than being a mom!" And I believed her. She loved being our mom, and we loved being with her. I remember feeling special because I knew I would someday be a mom and could feel like that too. My brothers had to content themselves with being fathers, while I was going to get the best deal.

Now that I am a momma, I can say with Grandma, "There really is nothing better than being a mom!" It's by far the most wonderful job I've ever had. It doesn't bring me money or fame, instead it brings joy like nothing else ever has. Because you too are a girl, you are part of this heritage of motherhood. How happy it makes me to know that you will experience the joy of being a mother and a wife because you are a daughter of God. Not every daughter of God will be a wife and mother in this life, but it is part of our divine heritage to be mothers. What a joyful prospect that is!

Though I won't hold you in my arms for a few more months, I love you already. I'm nervous about being your mother because it's a big responsibility, and I don't want to mess it up, but I find peace when I remember that you are Heavenly Father's daughter too, and He will help me be your mother.

Dear Little Girl (DLG for short), I love you with all my heart. Keep on growing and before we know it, you'll be here!

All my love,
Momma

It's a......

We had the 20 week ultrasound yesterday, (oh, by the way, did I mention we're expecting again? I'm due October 26th. :)  and baby looks great! The nurse said everything was just how it should be.

And in case you're wondering...

It's a GIRL!

photo credit

Oh, and we already have one hair accessory for her. The first of many, I'm sure.

Little girl, Mommy and Daddy and Nathan all love you and can't wait to hold you and watch you grow into a beautiful woman. 

Nathaniel lately

This boy is full of awesomeness. He makes us laugh every day. Mostly because he has this great smile.

He's also found out where his hands are. He holds his hands in front of him like this (and usually interlocks his fingers):

He's starting to get more interactive. He'll smile when you play peek-a-boo with a blanket and pull it off his face. He also loves it when his daddy holds him high in the air and then pretends that he's going to eat his face as he slowly lowers Nathaniel down towards him. Nathaniel smiles huge and blinks his eyes more and more the closer he gets to Chris's face. 

We like to watch him when he sleeps. He's just so peaceful. 

He's a really good sleeper, for which we can take virtually no credit. He came as a good sleeper, we just tried to stay out of his way.

Lately, I've been playing this Mendelssohn violin concerto for him, and I'll move his arms and legs to the music. The whole movement is about 6 minutes long, but he smiles and wiggles through the whole thing. I'm amazed that he has that kind of attention span.

Basically, I'm in love with being a mom. It's hard of course, but it fulfills me in ways that being a student or having a job never have. I honestly didn't think I would enjoy being a mom at this stage of his life, or at least that those moments of satisfaction would be few and far between. I thought that it'd be only when I looked back that I'd be able to say, "Oh that was such a wonderful time of life!" I thought that in the moment I'd pretty much only feel worn out and tired.

It's remarkable to me how much I am filled when I take care of and play with this sweet kid. Almost every day comes this simple (but strong) joy and peace from being Nathaniel's mom. I know those feelings are a gift from God, my Heavenly Father, and I thank Him for sending such an incredible boy to our home. He knew exactly what child would be perfect for us. 

Is it any wonder that we just can't get enough of this little guy?

Rolling

He did it! Nathaniel rolled over for the first time!!

Last night we put him on his blanket on the floor for some tummy time. At first he just laid there, but after a few minutes when Chris and I were chatting, I looked down at him again and exclaimed, "Oh! He's tipping!" And then, whoop! Just like that he was on his back.

Mom and Dad were so proud! Nathaniel himself just looked kind of dazed like, "Whoa. What was that all about?"

We tried putting him back on his tummy to see if we could get the rolling over-nes on camera, but no luck. He was done.

Then this morning, he rolled over three times in front of all my co-workers at a staff meeting. Soooo cool!!

It's official. Being a parent totally rocks my world.

Our little guy is seven weeks old today!

Nathaniel's birth

Here's the story of Nathaniel's birth. It was an incredible experience, and one that I will treasure in my memory forever. This version has lots of details, so it's kind of long, but I tried to limit the gory details. Even so, everyone's squeamish about different things, so... be warned. It is a labor and delivery story after all.

Thursday night (March 28th, 5 days after baby's due date), my water broke. Except, I didn’t know that it broke, or rather, I knew something happened, but I couldn’t tell if it was my water breaking, or if I had lost my mucus plug, or if it was just that I had suddenly lost the ability to hold it when I needed to potty. It was such a slow leak that only happened every couple of hours. By Friday evening, I was starting to wonder if it really was my water broken because it hadn’t stopped (so it wouldn’t have been my mucus plug) and it didn’t have the scent of urine. But I wasn’t having any more contractions than I had been (just a few here and there that weren’t very hard), so we decided to hold off going to the hospital until after Chris’s choir concert. The concert was beautiful. My mom and Chris’s whole family got to attend with me, and afterwards all of us went and got frozen custard at Coney’s.

On the way home, we told my mom that we felt like we should go get me checked out and see if my water really had broken, so we dropped her off, grabbed my hospital bag and drove over to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center. They checked me in, and put us in a room. The nurse did a ph strip kind of test on the fluid and sure enough, it was amniotic fluid. We were staying. Because my body hadn’t gone into labor really at all, we decided to start me on pitocin right away, and see where that got us. Also, because it had been about 24 hours since my water broke, they started me on anti-infection stuff as well. So just after midnight on March 30, baby was officially on his way.

Contractions started coming fairly consistently, but they started out quite mild. I felt like I was able to relax and let my body work with the contraction instead of tense up and fight against it. Chris and I didn’t have much to do but wait. Every once in a while, nurses came in and checked on us. Our main nurse that night was a gal named Hillary, and I loved her. She was so personable, and really competent. Sometimes the way people take care of you can feel a little condescending, but she was remarkable at putting me at ease and even laughed at some of Chris’s jokes and mine.

There was a couch in the room next to the bed that folded down into a bed. That’s where Chris slept that night. Neither of us slept a ton, but we did each get a little sleep during the night.

Sometime between 3 and 4 in the morning, the contractions started to get a lot harder to deal with. I was really struggling to relax during them, and definitely wanted something to help with the pain. (I decided before going in to the hospital that I was planning on an epidural) My doctor wanted me to be to a 3 or 4 before I got an epidural, and I was only at like a 2. But the nurse said I could have something in my IV that could help take the edge off the pain. I thought that sounded like a great idea, so my IV tree got another bag (I think at one time I had 5 different bags dripping into my arm). The drugs really helped, and even though they made me dizzy, I was able to sleep again.

By 6 a.m. I got checked again and had dilated to a 3. The nurse called my doctor and then the anesthesiologist who came and gave me my epidural. He was this older man from some Middle Eastern country (I think, judging by his accent and name). A fantastic anesthesiologist who obviously had been giving epidurals for so long that I’m pretty sure he could have done the whole thing in his sleep. He was really nice and really efficient. Fairly soon, I lost all feeling and control in my left leg and almost all feeling in my right. The nurse put my catheter in, and once again, I was able to sleep.

On and off throughout the morning, nurses came and checked on us, took my temperature, helped me switch the side I was laying on, checked how dilated I was, etc. etc. Mostly, I just slept. I’d wake up here and there for a little while, but thanks to that blessed epidural, pain was fairly minimal and I got some much needed rest. Chris was there with me almost the entire time. He left to go home (a five minute drive) and grab things or to change his clothes I think two times, and sometimes he’d go out into the waiting room and update my mother and his parents and sisters about how things were going, but overall, he was just constantly by my side, willing to do anything he could to help, especially by getting flavored ice chips for me to suck on. He was my rock: constant, steady, and loving.

Partway through that morning we got kind of discouraged because it had been several hours since I had been checked and when they did check me again, I was still at a three. I thought, “oh no. c-section, here we come” but about two hours later I started progressing again. I think I was up to a 4. Then I progressed quite rapidly to a 6+ , then fairly quickly all the way to a 9+ and by 1:30 I was fully dilated and effaced.

My doctor (who amazingly was in and out most of the day checking on me. I thought this was awesome, and she probably couldn’t have done it all the time, but I guess because it was a Saturday, she had time) recommended that they let me “rest and descend” for an hour before we started pushing. I was still blissfully in epidural land, and so didn’t feel in any rush. Also, though baby had descended to a measurable stage (I think he was at -1 at that point) we were hoping he would drop a little more before we started pushing. At 2:45, my nurse and her capstone student (Shea and Heather respectively) came in and told me that the other patient they were helping was also ready to push, and would I mind waiting just a bit longer (this was apparently that other lady’s 6th child so they thought that pushing would be rather short, which it was. They said she pushed like one and a half times and the baby was out). I had spent almost all of the previous hour sleeping, and didn’t at all mind sleeping some more, so I said that’d be just fine.

Finally at 3:40, a nurse named Jennifer came in and said that since Heather and Shea were still finishing up with the other patient, she was going to help me start pushing until they got there.

She told me the basics of pushing, and at the next available contraction, we got going. Thus began the approximately 2 hours of pushing. An hour in (so about a quarter to 5:00) Shea and Heather came in and relieved Jennifer. All three of these nurses and Chris were really good at being encouraging and saying things like “Good, Sarah, another one just like that!” or “You’ve got it, you’ve got it, keep going!” etc. I was amazed at how much power and strength their simple words gave me to keep going. I could rest in between contractions, and nothing really hurt very much, but it was still a workout. Their words helped me find the willpower to keep at it. Chris also kept me going by feeding me ice chips in between contractions and by occasionally grabbing my hand or firmly patting my leg as if to say “you’re doing fantastic. keep going, and I love you.” Like I said, he was my rock. Not squeamish at all, just steady and sure.

A few times I wondered if all the verbal encouragement everyone was giving me was just a farce to keep my spirits up or if we were actually progressing, but it turns out that we were progressing, it was just a slow and steady progression. At about 5:30 it looked like he was getting really close, (I think that’s when Dr. Burnett went and changed into her scrubs.) and that he’d be born before Shea and Heather’s shift ended at 6:00. Shea asked me what drink I wanted to have once the baby was born (I chose apple juice) and she went off to get it. She came back in with a big cup of apple juice and a boxed meal with an apple, cookies and a turkey croissant sandwich. She said it was incentive for me because I could eat and drink once baby was here, and I’m almost embarrassed to admit how much the sight and thought of food was what helped me find the last reserves to finish those final pushes.

Nathaniel Dean Machado was born at 5:42. When I heard that first cry, I just had this rush of relief and joy sweep over me. I pretty much just sat and cried while they weighed him, looked over him, measured him, etc. (a NICU team was there to check him out because I had a fever during the day and because the amniotic fluid had had some meconium in it). Chris took pictures and then before I knew it, they had placed my beautiful little boy on my chest and I got to hold him for the first time. It was pretty amazing. Dr. stitched me up and then things quieted down fairly quickly.

I got to nurse Nathaniel right there, and he latched on really well. Also while we were there, and after things quieted down we decided on his name. There had been two front runners (the other one we're keeping to ourselves in case we want to use it for another child), and we went with Nathaniel Dean Machado. Born on March 30, 2013 at 5:42 pm. Nathaniel weighed 8 lbs 3 oz, and was 20 inches long.

If you're still reading at this point, you either just love me a lot, or you really like hearing labor and delivery stories. Regardless, thanks for taking the time to read our story. Like I said, it was an incredible experience and one that I want to remember forever. I also found that when I was pregnant, I wanted to learn as much as I could about labor and delivery, so maybe this story will help some gal who feels the same, and she can read in lots of detail one version of childbirth.

I'm recovering well, and our little Nathaniel is such a sweet boy. He loves music, and whenever you sing to him while he's awake he'll get really still and turn and look at whoever is singing to him. Its adorable. We love him lots and are sooo glad he's here.

Lastly, as a bonus, here's another picture of our cute little guy with his momma. 

Mom and Dad sure love you, Nathaniel!
It's like he's saying, "Aww, Mom! Do you have to do that on camera?"
Yes. Yes, I do.

 

Due date... no sign of baby yet.

The title of this post basically sums up what's been happening with baby. Today is baby's due date and it looks like he's just content to stay cozy and warm inside of momma for a while longer. He's still super high, and still moving around tons. I've been trying different methods that are supposed to either help him turn sunny-side down, or to help him drop (as long as the methods aren't too weird). Don't know if any of them will actually do anything, but I think it helps me psychologically to feel like I'm doing something. Physically I still feel quite excellent. Mentally and emotionally?... I'm running out of steam. Come soon baby!

Green food for St. Patty's

Yesterday, Chris woke up with his cold being worse, and decided to just go to Sacrament meeting. He came home afterward to get some rest while I stayed and taught the music in Primary. When I got home, Chris had surprised me with lunch, where pretty much everything was green! We had green biscuits, green eggs, green hash browns, and green milk. Super yummy, and very festive. He's the best.

Also, want to know what true love is? Painting your wife's toenails when she's 9 months pregnant. They're super cool looking too. See?

(btw, it's not easy to take a picture of your feet with
your laptop when you're 9 months pregnant)

Lastly, Saturday afternoon/evening was quite the adventure. I had 9 1/2 hours of Braxton Hicks that were only mildly painful, but almost all 2-5 minutes apart. They didn't go away despite drinking water and laying down, or walking around, but they didn't get more intense either. We figured I was in the early stages of labor, or my body was just getting a lot of practice. Turns out it was the latter. Little guy's still in there, and looks like I'll keep my doctor's appointment today.

No news is good news?

So I'm just over a week away from my due date (which is March 24th) and feel both ready and not ready for this baby to come. Not much new to report, except that he was still really high at my last doctor's appointment. Which I'm okay with. Chris and I are physically prepared for him to come (I think...) but mentally, I'm good if he bakes for a little longer. I'm really excited to meet him and hold him and smooch his baby cheeks and stuff, but I'm also still apprehensive about labor and delivery (is there any first time mom who isn't apprehensive about labor and delivery?). On top of that, I'm feeling pretty awesome physically which is a rarity amongst women at almost 39 weeks, so I'm counting my blessings and not super concerned if he doesn't come before his due date.

In related news, Braxton Hicks contractions are cool and weird at the same time. I've been having at least a few every day (usually when I haven't had enough water to drink) and it's got to be one of the strangest sensations.

Baby? Momma loves you, and you'll be here before I know it. :)

Pregnant Belly

I never knew that pregnant bellies were so itchy! But the bigger I get, the more I itch.

It's fascinating to me how much my body has changed during pregnancy. So many little things change that I never would have thought of. It's way more than just an expanding abdomen.

Fun and fascinating. (And itchy! ;)

Valentine's date, and other stuff.

So because Chris had class and I had to work on Valentine's Day, we decided we'd go on a Valentine's date on Monday.

Chris planned two special activities. First we went to Color Me Mine. It's a super fun place where you pick out a pre-made ceramic piece, paint it, and then come back a few days later to pick it up after it's been fired. Chris and I painted cereal bowls, and I have to say, Chris's is pretty epic. Check 'em out.

Chris's on the left, mine on the right.

A closer look at Chris's. Isn't it awesome?

... and the other side. Truly a "cereal" bowl, don't ya think?

It was super fun. It's a really great date activity in my book, because you can do lots of talking while you paint, and it's really fun to create things together.

After that, we went to dinner at Pizzeria 712. Oh man, if you live in the area, you should save up for a fancy meal and eat there. It. is. sooooooooo. good! I could eat their short rib and polenta every day of my whole life. Even just the pita and hummus is epic, and the pizza... well it's just all around a fantastic place to eat. It's a little more spendy than say, a Texas Road House, or Applebee's kind of place, but because it's Utah County, it's not too crazy. I have a feeling that if they were in New York or somewhere trendy they could charge twice what they do in Orem. And it is seriously amazing food. 

In other news, I'm now at 36 weeks. It still seems unreal to me that in just 4 weeks, (give or take) I'll have a baby. A real one. He will be ours to hold and love and feed and change and cuddle and smooch and everything else beautiful and hard that comes with a child. I cognitively understand that it's going to happen, but it still often seems so unreal.

And in other news, we bought a stroller! We did some researching and decided we liked the kind my brother and sister-in-law have. It's a universal car seat holding stroller. I'd done some looking around and the cheapest we've seen it is for $60, but on Saturday, Chris and I went to Burlington, and they had it on sale for $40. Woot! We snatched it right up. Here it is with our car seat attached.

I feel like baby is still going to be baking for a few more weeks, but if he did come tomorrow, I think we'd be ready for him.

Update: I just got back from my 36 week check-up today. Dr. said I'm dilated to a 1!!! (which doesn't mean a whole lot, I could go around for the next several weeks and have it not change at all, but still. I'm so excited!) She said baby's still high, and I'm not having anything close to regular contractions (in fact I'm barely having contractions at all), but this is a sure sign that my body is gearing up to get this baby here. Whew! What a thrill!!

Today in Primary...

There's a story from Elder Bednar's life about the insights that the Holy Ghost gives to children. It goes like this:

[Elder Bednar] remembers a time in 1987 when he was the bishop in Fayetteville, Arkansas. “I went into Primary one Sunday,” he says. “They had invited me. I decided to wear red suspenders. I thought that I would somehow use them as an object lesson. So I got in the Primary room, took off my coat, and said, ‘Now, boys and girls, the bishop has these red suspenders. How are the scriptures like my red suspenders?’ And one little boy raised his hand and said, ‘The scriptures hold up our faith in Jesus the same way your suspenders hold up your pants.’ I said, ‘That is exactly right.’” (click here for the source)

I get to work with the Primary children (the kids ages 3-11) every Sunday. I teach them music. This month we're learning a song about how the beautiful things in the world are evidence that Heavenly Father loves us. I thought it might be nice to have a picture that goes with each line of the song and went onto lds.org to find some. The very last line of the song is, "Yes, I know Heav'nly Father loves me," and I couldn't find a good picture of Heavenly Father, but I thought that I'd use this painting of Jesus Christ blessing the children.

I thought that it would still work nicely because even though we know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are two separate beings, we also know that Christ taught that he and the Father are one. I thought this might be a good thing to discuss with the children today.

Holding up the picture, I asked them, "Is this a picture of Heavenly Father?" They responded that it was not. I then asked, "So how does this picture work with the line 'Yes, I know Heav'nly Father loves me'?" One of the eleven-year-old girls raised her hand and said in essence, "Because Heavenly Father loves us so much that he sent Jesus Christ to die for us."

Wow. I hadn't thought of that. I was so struck by the simplicity and truth of her answer. It was completely different than the one I had come up with, but I like it so much better. I love learning from these children. They are full of the light of Christ. They have an amazing capacity to know spiritual truths. I hope I never underestimate them.

P.S. Baby update: Chris and I attended a prenatal class on Saturday. It was fun and informative. And... I'm getting cankles. Oh joy.

Teaching Piano

Last July I got a job teaching group piano for the Art City Music and Dance Academy. It's a Springville based company that does an incredible job at teaching music. Their group curriculum is incredibly comprehensive. It teaches basic piano skills, music theory, solfege, sight reading, singing, dictation, etc. etc. etc. I was so excited to teach this curriculum when I got hired, because honestly, I've never seen anything of this caliber for children as young as 4 1/2.

I finished my first semester teaching with ACMA a couple weeks ago, and the new semester has begun. But this semester, there's a bit of a twist. ACMA also has a phenomenal private program (particularly their private piano program), and because of scheduling, I got asked to teach one student private lessons in between two of my classes. I am really excited!

I'm starting today, and am just a teensy bit nervous, but I've already met the student and she is darling. I've been trained in how to teach their private program, and I love all of the focus on technique that comes with the private program. It's the thing that I feel I missed out on the most in my own path to learning piano, and so I'm really glad for this opportunity to improve my technique and teach it at the same time.

And, on top of all this, I see myself teaching private piano from home once I no longer work at ACMA (like after Chris graduates), and what a great experience to have worked in such high caliber group and private piano programs. Just the experience alone that I have been gaining and will gain through this job will be such a blessing in the future. It will make me a better teacher. No question about it.

P.S. Bonus picture of me. I'm 33 weeks along. (We're in to the home stretch, Ladies and Gentlemen!)

Happy dance!

I'm so excited! Our little boy has a place to sleep!
Isn't it darling?

I just love the little giraffe. So sweet!

Pregnancy/Baby update

I'm officially to the 3rd Trimester. Woot, woot! A few updates/thoughts on this pregnancy:

• I had a RhoGam shot this week. I'm rh negative and Chris is rh positive, so that means I'll get a shot with every pregnancy. It was a hip shot and the first shot I think I've ever had that wasn't in my arm (apart from when I was a baby, of course). Not a big deal to get, but super important in the long run.
• I failed my one-hour diabetes test and got to take the three-hour version yesterday. It was kind of an adventure, and now I have a sweet bruise on my right arm where the blood draw went a little wonky (the other four were no problem, so my left arm looks fine :). Don't know the results yet, but I know gestational diabetes runs in the family, although my mom didn't have it with any of us kids, so it could go either way really. Anyone know, what do they do for treatment? Is it a watch-what-you-eat kind of thing, or do you have to take insulin or something?
• Baby boy is still a mover and a shaker. Last week I started to be able to feel him poking into my belly. I just felt my tummy one day and went "Whoa. Right here it's hard and not squishy, but over here it feels normal." Totally made my day. 
• My belly is getting bigger, but I'm still sleeping fine and have only slowed down a little. Really, I have been Hugely blessed during this pregnancy because overall I have felt fan-tas-tic. I know many women don't feel good during pregnancy, (my mother was one of them) and so I thank the Lord that I have been blessed this way, and pray that He will comfort every mother who doesn't feel good. You go, Mommas!
• Our friends and family have been so generous. We've been given lots of baby things, especially clothes. I think this kid has more clothes than he can wear up through the 3 month mark. We've also gotten a bouncy seat, a car seat, dressers, loads of diapers, baby shampoo, lotion, board books, baby toys, etc., etc. Thank you to all who have given so lovingly and graciously. It means so much to us!

29 weeks down, 11 to go!

Thoughtful mothers

So I have an awesome job where I get to work with awesome people. I teach kids how to play the piano, read music, etc., and their moms or their dads come with them to class every week. I love it because I get to work with kids, see parenting in action, and get to know some incredible parents.

Lots of the moms have been super excited for me and this pregnancy, and get this: two (count 'em... two!) of them have just given me a bag full of cute maternity clothes. How sweet is that? Just out of the goodness of their hearts they thought, "hey, she's a young, probably newly married gal. Maybe she'd like these maternity clothes that I'm not using anymore." Thanks to these two moms, my own mother, and my sister-in-law, I now probably have more maternity clothes than I'll even need. And on top of that, they are cute maternity clothes, so I'm better dressed as a pregnant woman than I was before my belly got big!

Thanks for looking out for me, girls. God bless you and your giving hearts.

P.S. Felt the baby have hiccups two days ago. Holy cuteness, Batman!

And the results...

(sung to the tune of, "I'm the map!" from Dora the Exporer)

It's a boy, it's a boy,
It's a boy, it's a boy,
It's a BOY!!!!!

We had the ultrasound yesterday and got to see our beautiful little boy. He was dancing and squirming the whole time. The ultrasound person nurse lady was really great and told us all about what she was documenting as she went through. It was sooo cool to see things like his heartbeat (you could actually see the valves pumping!), or his legs move, or his spine curve as he ducked his head. Wow. What a feeling! She also got some really good profile shots that have me in raptures every time I look at them.

Profile shot. Look at those cheeks!

Profile with his arm and hand.

His (left?) leg and foot. See his perfect toes?

Mommy and Daddy are just in heaven. Yay! Yay! Yay!