The Birth Story

We woke up at 6 a.m. with anticipation.

Surprisingly I was able to sleep well the night before.

Jeremy, not so much. He was so excited and nervous.

We were going to have a baby in the next 24 hours!

We showed up to American Fork Hospital at 6:45 a.m.

We checked in to Room 1 and that is when it hit me.

Seeing the bed and all of the machines set up for me, wow this is really happening is all I kept thinking.

I was induced around 8 a.m.

I started to feel contractions about 10 minutes later.

Yikes, contractions are no fun.

Every time a contraction hit I would go completely silent and still.

I would close my eyes tight and take deep breathes in and out.

It was very painful.
But I was very surprised I was not screaming in pain,
the contractions were very intense.
After about 2 hours, i received the epidural which actually hurt.
The needle itself did not hurt but when the medicine went into my veins, I could feel burning and my body started to jolt in different ways.

It made me very nervous, but the pain went away within minutes and the contractions went away within 10 minutes.
My mom, husband and I watched episodes of "The Office" while waiting for me to progress.
By 1 p.m. I was dilated to an 8.
By 2 p.m. I felt so much pressure and I told Jeremy to get the nurse because I felt like I needed to push.
Our nurse came in and she checked to see how far I was dilated.
She looked at me and said "I will call the doctor, your ready"!
AHHHH!
I couldn't believe it was happening.
I pushed with the nurses for about 20 minutes, my doctor then showed up and I pushed for another 25 minutes and Mazie was here!
She weighed 9lbs 9oz and was 20.5 inches long.
BIG BABY!

Now here comes the scary part.
Mazie swallowed a lot of amniotic fluid.
There were about 5 nurses in my delivery room and they were working on getting her to breath.
They rushed her to the Nicu.
I didn't even get to hold her.
They showed me her for 2 seconds.
And I'm not even exaggerating. It was really 2 seconds.
Jeremy went with her down to the Nicu.
She had to get a CPAP.
She was down in the Nicu for about 2 1/2 hours.
They brought me down to see her and I just cried.
She had a strange mask over her face that held all the tubes of the CPAP in place to keep her breathing.
We were so worried.
I had such a healthy pregnancy and now she is in the Nicu having trouble breathing.
I just prayed to God that she would fight through this.
My husband took me to my recovery room.
I was in their for about an hour and they told me I can try breastfeeding.
I went back into the Nicu and breastfed her.
After about a half an hour, I was back into my recovery room waiting to hear when Mazie would be released into our room.
The nurses gave her a bath and Jeremy recorded it.
After she was done, they brought her in and she stayed in the room with us the whole time until we were released from the hospital.
She was doing so much better and I praise God for being with her and healing her.

Pushing during the delivery was super easy. I was lucky. I felt no pain, just pressure. I knew when to push. It was great. I thought that would be the hardest part.
Of course I had an episiotomy, what woman doesn't know a days. Right?!

The hardest part was the breastfeeding.
She would latch on fine.
It was me who had the hardest time with it.
It was more painful then the actual contractions.
The pain from her sucking was unbearable and my uterus contracting back into place.
OH MY GOODNESS!
Is this pain a joke?!!!
But I continued to do it because I didn't want to give up.
Thank goodness for my husband. He would help me through it and just hug me while I cried in pain.
It's actually amazing how fast your body gets used to it though. After about a week I was literally walking around the house with Mazie hanging off one boob and not feeling any pain what so ever. Ha!
I haven't been breastfeeding her as much because I'm not producing much for her.
She is now drinking up to 24oz a day and I'm producing about 4oz.

Well that is basically the birth story.
It was an exciting day and experience.
I still look at her and think "Wow, she was growing inside my belly for 9 months"!
She is such a precious little girl.
We thank God everyday!

Nurses are getting ready to put the CPAP in.

Mazie is 6 weeks old

Love,

Kristin

41 Weeks

Here I am at 41 Weeks (September 19th) at the hospital getting ready to be induced.

I know I am posting this late, but I've been super busy with Mazie and enjoying every second.

Love,

Kristin

Mazie is Here!!!

Mazie Adeline Hawley was born on 9/19/2011 at 2:58 p.m.

She was 9.9 lbs and 20 1/2 inches long.

We are busy changing poopy diapers and breastfeeding.

It's unreal!

W2e can't believe she's finally here.

We are so in love with her!

More photo's to come and birth story too.

Love,

Kristin

My bags are packed, i'm ready to go......

Yes, I am ready...oh so ready to go to the hospital and have little Mazie.

We are just waiting for her to surprise us!
But... I don't think she will be suprising us anytime soon.

Source
We are on our way to be induced.
I am 41 weeks today.
Wish us luck!
We are praying that everything goes great!

Love,

Kristin

Sleep Deprived due to Paranoia

Yes. I am still with child in my belly.

I haven't been sleeping very well for the past week, I am just constantly thinking and concentrating on the babies movements in my belly. I've been reading the baby books and they say after 40 weeks the babies movements really need to be watched because of how cramped the baby gets.

So that leads to me being paranoid. I am waking up at 2 or 3 in the morning and cannot go back to sleep until 5 or 6. It's no fun.

The good news is, if my water does not break by Monday the 19th I will be induced. I am 1st in line to be induced that day so hopefully we will have little Mazie the same day! Ekkk!

Love,

Kristin

I am hoping...

This is the last weekly photo I take with little Mazie in my belly.

I am ready to take photo's of her sleeping, playing, crying and smiling.

But I have a feeling I will be posting a 41 week photo.

We will see.

Love,

Kristin

40 Weeks (Mazie, Where are you?)

This morning around 1 a.m. I woke up to some sharp "cramping" pains. It felt like I was getting my period. So I thought, "Yay, contractions". I kept track of them, but they were not consistent and then they just stopped around 2:30 a.m.

I had my last doctor appointment today. The big 40 week appointment. I was hoping for the doctor to say "Your in labor, go to the hospital"! But no. I am still dilated to 2 centimeters and that's it.

He told me to just wait to go into labor and if that does not happen. They will induce me on the 19th of September.

I can feel myself getting very impatient. I really want to meet this little one already.

The days feel like they are going so slow but yet fast.

Waiting....is my job right now. I know she will arrive when she is ready and I should not rush it.

But I can't help it.

I just want to see her little face and hold her little hands.

Love,

Kristin

Since I have been pregnant, I have been reading articles online and pregnancy books that always talk about women waking up in the middle of the night and sneaking to the fridge to get a snack because of the cravings.

I have not done this once.

I just wake up every few hours to go to the bathroom and then I drink more water.

I have dreams about food but that is about it.

This just goes to show you that every women experiences different things while being pregnant.

Love,

Kristin

39 Weeks!

We had our 39 week appointment on Wednesday with Dr Lamoreoux.

I am still 2 centimeters dilated and the doctor is pretty sure he felt Mazie's head.

He was so happy that she turned.

He said usually after 36 weeks, if the baby is breech, the baby usually stays breech till delivery.

My 40 week appointment is on Monday. We will see how I am progressing.

I am ready!

I have been feeling good, but I do have those uncomfortable moments where I can't find a way to lay or sit.

But then some days I am completely fine.

It's very weird.

I am also sure some of my mucus plug has come out.

So now I am just waiting for my water to break or for the gut wrenching contractions to start.
I am pretty sure I am going to go the full 40 weeks and maybe even 41.
We will just have to wait and see.

Love,

Kristin

Waiting.....

I seriously feel like I have been pregnant for years now.

I am ready.

Mazie, are you?

Love,

Kristin

38 Weeks (I think it worked)

We went to the doctor's last week for our 38 week appointment.

We saw Dr. Ollerton and he told me I am dilated to 2 centimeters. We told him that our last appointment, we found out that Mazie was breech.

I told him that I really wanted the doctor's to turn her when I go into labor and I wanted to avoid a
c-section completely. He was a little concerned.

He told us that he can turn the baby but they usually like to do this around 37 to 38 weeks because of the amount of amniotic fluid that is available for the baby.

He said it's usually not safe because the further along you get, the bigger the baby is and the less fluid there is. So he took us to the ultra sound room and HALLELUJAH! (I hope I spelt that right)
Thank you God!
SHE TURNED!
She is now head first in my pelvic area.

Now I hope she just stays this way till delivery.

Thank you to all of my family and friends for your prayers!

We appreciate your love and support so much!

Love,

Kristin

Lazy Days

Since being home on maternity leave, I never realized how much television sucks during the day.

There is never anything on. I have been going back and forth to Redbox renting movies while Jeremy is on shift. I've seen some pretty good ones and some pretty boring ones:

Very good but sad.

Extremely creepy at the end finding out that this was based on a true story!

Rating: 8 out of 10

Very interesting and kind of depressing.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Another movie that was very interesting to see how Facebook was created and very sad to see a friendship completely demolish because of money.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Never Let Me Go was a sad and interesting story, but I really did not feel the love story between the couples. Kind of a slow movie, but beautiful scenery.

Rating: 5 out of 10

I am not a Country fan at all. But I like the sound of the story, which made me want to rent it.

Ummmmm.. the movie was very boring. I kept getting up from the couch and doing things around the house. That's how bored I was. The ending was really sad though.

Rating: 3 out of 10

Ugh, can you tell I am bored, I am rating movies. I never do that. HA!

I went to see my friend Mollie the other day and she gave me some shows to watch while I'm at home.

Jeremy and I just finished Season 2 and 3 of "The Office" and now we are watching the 1st season of "Modern Family".

Both shows are extremely funny and put you in a goofy mood.

I love it!

Love,

Kristin

Oh...these contractions

At first, the braxton hicks were coming and going during my 2nd trimester constantly.

The 3rd trimester hit and nothing.

Ummm, hello...

They just completely stopped.

Well I am now experiencing them now during my 37-38 weeks. There are several contractions a day and sometimes they are painful or just very uncomfortable.

Mazie is also very active during the night when I am trying to sleep. Not very fun. She is so active and of course more active on my bladder.
I am hoping she is trying to turn. That would make me very happy!

Well the day is coming and we can't wait!

Love,

Kristin

37 Week Appointment (This Sucks)

We went on our 37 week appointment last week. Jeremy and I really wanted an ultra sound and good thing we asked for one. We found out that little Mazie is breech. Ugh! Seriously. My doctor started to talk to us about options on turning her when I am in labor, which means I will have to get an epidural in order to relax my muscles or the dreaded c-section. A lot of my family and friends who know me knew I wanted to go completely natural. THIS SUCKS! I feel very scared and disappointed. My pregnancy has been such a breeze up to this point. I'm scared of the doctor turning her because he said this can always cause complications and when it comes to the big C word, I just don't want that at all. Well I have 3 more weeks to turn this baby girl myself. My schedule starting today is to consistently lay on my back with my pelvis propped up about a foot. I've read that this needs to be done 3 times a day. I know these are old "wives tales", but I am willing to try anything just so I can stay away from that operating table.

But mostly, I am putting all of my faith in God. I know he knows what's best for Mazie and I. I just want her to be born safely.

Source

I would try this, but I am holding to much weight right now.
So I am basically doing this:

Source

Except with a bunch of pillows supporting my pelvis higher off the ground.

Here is little Mazie's profile, the Doctor says she looks good and that makes us happy.

He estimated her weight at 6 lbs 14 oz!
And look, she's blowing bubbles. So Cute!

Mazie, let's make mommy happy and turn for me.

I promise I will feed you as much as you want when you are born. Even when I am tired.

Love,

Kristin

Evening in the Sun Part 2 (Lots of Photo's)

Can't wait to meet little Mazie.

Love,

Kristin

36 Weeks.... Ekkk!

Here is my birth plan:

Birth Plan for Kristin Hawley

As long as the baby and I are healthy, I would like the following to occur during the birth.

* I would like to go natural with an epidural on standby.

* I would prefer not to have pitocin.
* I would prefer to not have forceps involved in the delivery.

* I would like to breastfeed as soon as possible.

This birth plan is pretty simple, right?

Well I went on my 36 week appointment last week, I took the GBS Test and the Doctor checked to see if I am dilated. I am 1 1/2 centimeters dilated. YAY! This makes me excited because if I am dilating now, hopefully by 40 weeks I will be 9 centimeters right when I walk into the hospital and Mazie will just pop out. HA! I wish it could be that easy. We will see. I am now on weekly doctor visits.

I am excited. I am ready for Mazie to enter this world.
I also had a wonderful photo shoot during my 36 weeks with Rachel Vivienne.

She is absolutely amazing!

Love,

Kristin