Hazel's Birth Story

The beautiful story of Hazel's birth!

Hazel was due on March 15, 2019. On Her due date the midwife asked if I would like to be checked for dilation, I said sure and was at 1.5 cm dilation with no signs of labor starting. 

The next day was Saturday and we went as a family to Bush Park to do some walking. We ended up doing a lot of walking but still no signs of labor, which was no surprise to me since babies just come when they want to. 

Sunday, March 17 I woke up around 2:15 AM to use the bathroom. I returned to my bed, but as I was drifting back to sleep I felt an unusual sensation in my abdomen, not a baby kick, but more like a balloon full of fluid just popped. Nothing gushed, leaked, or tinkled with this pop. When my water broke with Porter it came out like a gush, but I was standing when that happened. I tried to return to sleep but couldn't because of the potential of labor starting. 15 minutes or so go by and I have a mild contraction, one that felt much like the Braxton Hicks contractions I'd been having for weeks, but still no fluids leaked, so I brushed it off and continued my determination to fall back asleep. Another 15 minutes go by and I get yet another mild contraction, and with this contraction a bunch of amniotic fluid proceeded to exit my birthing regions! I woke up Roger at this point, and told him to grab some towels. It's around 3:00 AM and I cleaned myself off a bit and called my mom to let her know my water broke. I told her I only had two contractions thus far and would call her again when the contractions were stronger and closer together, but she decided she'd head over soon so that we could just leave right when we needed to (my labors go kind of fast so we don't have all day to decide when to head to the hospital).

By 4:00 AM I had several more contractions and knew labor had started, so I called the midwife to give her the news and that we would be heading to the hospital in the next hour or two. My mom arrives to my house around 4:40 AM while I finished some cereal that I would later throw up during labor.          Fortunately our other two children were still sleeping and we quietly slipped away to the hospital around 5:00 AM.

weight check!

We arrived at the hospital around 5:15 AM and as I was getting out of the car I became a bit worried that the hospital would turn me away because my contractions were still a bit irregular and far apart (every 15 minutes or so), but they didn't turn me away because my saving grace was my water breaking just hours before. 

At 5:30 AM I was sitting in triage at 3.5 cm dilated; this frustrated me because I felt like I had been working pretty hard and was only at 3.5 cm. They wanted to give me the IV and do labs at this point but I told them I didn't want an epidural and that the midwife gave me the okay to deliver without an IV. So they just put the external fetal heart monitor on to track heart rate for the next 20 minutes. This turned in to a bit of a nightmare because the baby kept moving and the monitor would slip down my basket ball shaped belly, and we couldn't get 20 minutes of continuous heart monitoring, and had to start over every time we lost the heart beat. Around 6:00 AM they transferred me to a room with the external monitor still tightly wrapped around my huge belly. That monitor was wrapped so tight I was more irritated by it than my contractions. So uncomfortable! 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

walking to the birthing room!

monitoring baby

We were now in our room and my contractions were getting stronger, more painful, and closer together. 6:45 AM was nearing and I was getting very tired. The contractions were becoming unbearable and I was starting to lose confidence in my ability to continue without pain medication. The hospital room that we were in did have a bathtub I could have used to labor in, but I couldn't birth in it. So I never got in. Nitrous oxide was an option for pain relief so I tried that for a bit, but due to my cold I was having a hard time breathing in through my nose while during a contraction. I would breath the nitrous in and then breathe it out into the air, and the nurse told me I needed to breathe it back into the mask or else everyone in the room might start to get a little giggly or groggy. So I quit that real quick! HAHA! While on the nitrous I would get too dizzy so I didn't continue using it. I was so disappointed! 

Just before 7:00 AM I decided I wanted to try the epidural this time. The midwife offered to check me to see how much progress I had made before ordering the meds. I was in full blown active labor and was so over it and wanted to be done. I was only at 6 cm! What?! I felt defeated and couldn't imagine continuing without medication. Roger reminded me that I strictly said no epidural in my birth plan. I was starting to become a bit hysterical and couldn't care less about my birth plan at this point. The nurse told me that I could get the epidural but it would take about an hour before I got it because I didn't get the IV and labs done in triage. I thought I was going to dye!

Around 7:15 AM things started really picking up and I started to feel the urge to push. They were trying to get an IV in me and get labs done so they could order the epidural but I couldn't hold the position they wanted me in long enough to get that IV. Roger recalls one nurse saying to the other that this baby was going to be here before any epidural anyway (she was right). My midwife wanted to check me one more time because only 30-45 minutes ago I was at 6 cm and she didn't want me to start pushing if I wasn't close to 10 cm, but lo and behold I went from 6 cm to 10 cm in about 45 minutes. Roger told the midwife that he had caught all of our babies and would like to catch this one too. What he didn't know was that babies born out of the water are a lot more slippery than those born in the water. 

I pushed for quite a long time (1.5 hours) because Hazel was presenting anterior (sunnyside up), like her brother, instead of posterior. Eleanor was my only posterior presenting babe at birth and she still took about 30 minutes to push out. Although it took me one and a half hours to push Hazel out it honestly didn't feel that long. I think you must lose some sense of time while in that last stretch of labor. Half way through that last stretch of labor I asked to just have the external fetal monitor removed because I was already extremely uncomfortable and still had no luck achieving the 20 minutes of continuous heart reading. I knew deep down that my baby was okay and felt comfortable having it removed to switch over to the nurse using a Doppler instead. They took the monitor off, my back and belly now feeling so much better, I continued to push the babe out. The Doppler ended up working a lot better and was able to get good readings of Hazel's heart rate. Heart rate was perfect.

At 8:37 AM Roger got to catch his third child (with help from the midwife). Hazel Brooke Miller entered this world full of life and weighing 7lbs 7oz and 20 inches long on March 17, 2019. Notice the trend of the number 7? 

3 seconds old

Hazel was my first hospital birth and land birth. Our other two children were born at water birth centers. I prefer to birth in the water because it's more soothing, but the water birth center I birthed at previously moved from Tualatin to Portland. Tualatin is already a 40-45 minute drive from where I live and I didn't feel comfortable traveling any further, so we went with a local hospital and had a great experience there too.

After Hazel's birth I needed some suturing for a small tear. I also developed high blood pressure and there was concern that I might develop pre-eclampsia or eclampsia. I didn't have any other symptoms so I was still able to go home two days after the birth. My blood pressure remained high (140-150 diastolic and 90-100 systolic) for about a week and then I was prescribed some blood pressure medication to bring it down. This was a very stressful and scary week for me. I'm a bit of a worrier and this was not how I wanted my first week with my new baby to be. We got through it and only a week after being on the blood pressure meds my midwife, with the counsel of an OB, allowed me to go off the meds to see if my BP would remain normal while not being on anything. My BP remained normal, thankfully.

Life with three children is crazy, interesting, exhausting in every sense of the word, busy, but most of all exciting and fun. Everyday brings a new adventure. Some days are down right difficult and I can't wait until bedtime. Other days are filled with love and patience and are almost easy. And most days are a mix of the two.

                      

    

Hazel has brought our family closer together, and Porter and Eleanor absolutely adore her. She's smothered with love over here at the Miller household.

We love you, Hazel!

Eleanor's Birth Story

On Wednesday, April 6, 2016 we welcomed a beautiful baby girl into the world and her name is Eleanor Jane Miller. She arrived at 11:01am and weighed 7 lbs 13 oz and was 21.25 inches long.

7:00am I am awakened by Roger getting ready to head to his dentist appointment. I try to go back to sleep but some of my braxton hicks contractions seemed a little stronger than usual... was this labor?! I was so hoping it was. I decided to get up because it was becoming too uncomfortable to remain lying down in my bed. I let Roger know that I was having some pretty uncomfortable contractions and that this might actually be labor starting! I told him to still go to his appointment because I didn't want him to stay home and then nothing happen. If I really was in labor I wanted to look somewhat decent so I took a shower, shaved, and even did my hair, haha! Doing my hair was essentially my regular routine of scrunching it with some mousse and then blow drying it. Porter is awake by 7:40am and Roger throws him in the shower with me so he can get to his appointment by 8:00am. I of course have been having good strong contractions in the shower and was very happy about it because I was ready to welcome little Eleanor into the world. I call my mom around 7:55 and let her know what's been going on and that I would keep her posted if things progressed. I had also texted my midwife at this point. Twenty to thirty minutes later I call my mom again and tell her she should probably come and get Porter soon. Roger is home by 8:30 and is amused with me while I try to do my hair between contractions. I try to eat some breakfast but end up crying because all the memories of being in labor and how painful contractions become all came flooding back. Porter's crying too because he doesn't like to see mommy in pain. He kept patting my back and hugging me every time I had a contraction. Super cute.

My mom arrives around 9:00am to pick up Porter. Roger and I are in the car by 9:10 and he remembers to give me a blessing before we leave, so he does that and then we were off. I gave birth at the same location as I did Porter (Andaluz Waterbirth Center in Tualatin, OR) so we had about a 35 minute drive up I-5. Once we got in the car I didn't have another contraction for 12 minutes so I was worried that it had stopped there for a second, but it hadn't, but I also considered it a blessing that I wasn't doing a ton of labor in the car (only had 5 contractions on the way to the birth center!).

We arrived at the waterbirth center around 9:45am. There was already a nice huge tub full of warm water for me, and the student midwife prepared a plate of kiwis, strawberries, crackers, and peanut butter for us to munch on. They really do try to make your experience a good one... if only I could get this kind of service when I'm not in labor! Haha!

listening to baby's heart beat

I do most of my laboring on my hands and knees and I walk when I can. By 10:00am contractions are super intense and I just take them one at a time. It's overwhelming and paying $500 for that nitrous oxide sounds well worth it. Why was I doing this again?! Oh, right, because I love babies! Around 10:10 the student midwife suggests that maybe getting in the tub would help ease some of the discomfort. So they ask if I would like to be checked to see how many centimeters dilated I am. I was 5cm at this point, which was a little disappointing because I'd been having some really hard contractions and I thought I would have been a lot farther along.

                   




I get into the tub and it helped ease the pain a lot. The warm water really helped me relax. With Porter, the water was nice but it didn't really have the same effect on me as it did this time. Around 10:30 pushing started. Really? I was only 5 centimeters 20 minutes ago. How was I already feeling the urge to push? But I did what my body wanted to and it felt like pushing, so I pushed. At 10:58am my water breaks. Baby's head isn't really crowning yet but then at 11:01am a baby is born. She kind of popped out which was not good for me because I ended up with a partial 3rd degree tear! I'm a fast and hard pusher which doesn't do me any favors (other than getting my baby here faster) so I tear. Just as a side note, even without pain medication you don't feel tearing. There is so much pressure (and that burning sensation) during the actual delivery, and everything else going on, you don't even know you tear.

Roger catching Eleanor!

I am finally holding my little Eleanor! She's so tiny. I'm so happy. I sit in the tub with this new baby of mine for about 15 minutes or so. The placenta is also delivered in the tub. One of the student midwives catches the placenta in a bowl and it will then stay attached to Eleanor (via the umbilical cord) for about 45 minutes (that's not a set/recommended time, that was just how long they left it while other things were taken care of like mother and baby bonding time and trying to latch for breastfeeding). I support delayed cord clamping but I've heard that once the umbilical cord stops pulsating, the blood from the placenta has sufficiently "drained" into the baby. I'm not sure how long that normally takes but the midwives just left everything alone for a while. I would guess the umbilical cord stopped pulsating after only a few minutes.

Shortly after the placenta was delivered I handed Eleanor over to Roger and then I get out of the tub and walk over to the bed to rest. After only 4 hours of labor I still had so much energy and walking wasn't nearly as difficult as it was after Porter was born (even though I was only in labor 8 hours with him). Afterbirth pains (yeah, the uterus continues to contract until it's back to it's original fist-size state) on the other hand hurt more. I took acetaminophen, ibuprofen, cramp bark, and placed a small heating pad on my belly to help with afterbirth pains. Cramp bark is this herbal tincture that they had on hand at the birth center. They added about two drops of this stuff to a small cup of water for me to drink. Tastes kind of gross but I think it helped the most.

Roger and I were still trying to figure out a name for our little girl. I told him I really liked Eleanor Hazel, but he said he liked Hazel Jane (he had a great aunt named Hazel Jane). We compromised and named her Eleanor Jane.

After about an hour and a half of some skin to skin bonding time the midwife checks me for tearing and Eleanor gets weighed, measured and checked over. Turns out Eleanor is tongue-tied and lip-tied just like Porter was. NO! Are you kidding me? Breastfeeding is going to be rough... more than usual. It also turns out that I need to be transferred to the hospital because the tearing was slightly worse than a second degree tear and the midwife felt that it was best if a professional surgeon repair it. I was pretty sad because the last thing I wanted to do is get out of bed and dressed to leave the birth center. So the midwife comes along with Roger, Eleanor, and me to Legacy Emanuel in Portland. Eleanor actually nurses while we were there at the hospital, which is great because it took Porter a few days
before he was able to nurse (I pumped and we fed him with a little syringe that had this 8 inch small tube connected to it. Porter did better once the frenulum was cut under his tongue and and under his lip). The same tongue-tie/lip-tie procedure that Porter had was also performed on Eleanor when she was a few days old. Eleanor was also able to receive craniosacral therapy because my midwife had been trained in this relatively new therapy... at least I think it's pretty new. This therapy basically puts a little pressure on some bones around the jaw, head/skull, and sacrum to help align and release any muscle tension due to inappropriate use of the tongue-tied tongue. Eleanor is now a nursing champion and it no longer feels like shes just biting me the whole time!

We arrived back at the birth center by 5:00 pm, just in time to order some dinner to be delivered to us (we got some amazing food from Claim Jumper). Family started rolling in around 6:00 pm. Porter got to meet his new baby sister or "baby sitter" as he calls her because he can't quite say sister yet. He loves her.

Eleanor was and is such an alert baby girl. Recovery has been smooth and quick for me. We are so happy to have this adorable angel in our home and we can't wait to see what kind of person she will become.

Eleanor was blessed on May 1, 2016

We LOVE you our darling Eleanor!

        

Porter and My Labor Story!

Our little bundle of joy arrived on December 3, 2013! Porter Dean Miller, weighing in at 8 lbs., 2.5 oz. and 21 inches long is the best baby anyone could ask for!

December 2nd (two days post due date) was a very busy day! I went grocery shopping, I dropped off my key at the dealership to have it programed for my car, Roger then picked me up from the dealership and drove me to my prenatal appointment which was in Portland instead of Tualatin, we then dropped by Fred Meyer to grab some dinner at the deli, we drove by Roger's cousin's place to pick up our colander that we left there by accident, then we went back to the dealer to pick up my key, and headed for home so I could work on studying for my finals.

Around 6 pm I received a text from my friend Tina, who's birthday it happened to be that day, asking me if there were any signs of labor starting. I told her no and that it looks like Porter won't be her birthday buddy unless he comes in the next 6 hours. Only 3 and half hours later my water broke! I was studying for a final and around 9:30 pm I decided that I should do some dishes and then head to bed so I can get rest in case I go into labor during the night or the days to come (pregnant women need their rest!). Well, my worst nightmare came true while standing there at the kitchen sink... my water broke and it was bedtime, and that means no sleep for me if contractions start. I was shaking uncontrollably (due to adrenalin and freaked out of my mind!) and took back all those comments I made about saying I didn't want to be pregnant anymore. I was a bit scared for I knew what the next few hours or even days would hold for me, and the shaking didn't help! I talked to my midwife and texted my mom. We weren't planning on telling anyone that I was in labor (besides my midwife of course) but once it started I wanted to text my mom because I knew it would help comfort me. And it did! After I talked to my mom I was good to go! Contractions started about an hour later. I figured I was in early/light labor but Roger thought I was making too much noise for it to be early labor and my contractions were already pretty close together. Around 11:30 pm Roger convinced me that I should call the midwife back and let her know that we would be heading to the birthing center, and it was a good thing too because by 1 am I was already dilated to 8 centimeters! If i wasn't in so much pain I would have jumped for joy! Soon after that I got into the warm birthing tub that they had all ready for me.

I figured since I was already 8cm dilated only 2.5 hours after labor started that Porter would be born very soon! Not the case. Porter wouldn't be born for another 5.5 hours (which doesn't sound terrible for I know of many women who have labored for days) of which 2 hours and 45 minutes was pushing! I didn't think I could do it. I just wanted it to be over! At Andaluz Waterbirth Center, which was where I had Porter, they don't have any pain killers besides the tub... haha. I knew this because I wanted to have an unmediated birth, but there were a few times when an epidural did sound pretty good, but we would have to pack up our things, get in the car, and drive to the hospital... that didn't sound appealing at all! I was basically too lazy to have someone drive me to the hospital to get drugs! So I stuck it out and dismissed all negative thoughts and thoughts of wanting an epidural.

Porter finally arrived at 6:28 am. He was born in the water and was placed on me by Roger. Yes, Roger caught Porter! According to the midwife and Roger, the umbilical cord was tangled all around Porter. Porter's presentation was posterior and acenclitic (came out with his face facing up and the head was tilted to one side). This was one of the reasons why my pushing stage was so long!

That bump on Porter's head was where his head came out first. As you can kind of tell it's slightly off to the side due to presenting acenclitic. That might only be a face a mother can love. I love that scrunched-up face!

Proud Daddy!

Tired Mommy!

Porter was tongue tied and lip tied and wouldn't feed until we got those things taken care of. The day after Porter was born we had to go to Willamette Ear, Nose and Throat (they were the only ones at the time that could get him in that early) for them to clip the skin under his tongue. About a week later we had to have it clipped again along with the lip tie because the first doctor didn't clip enough of the skin! Porter was a champ and did very well with all the procedures. The second doctor, Dr. Ghaheri, who was trained by some world renowned tongue/lip tie specialist, used a laser to clip the skin, which is virtually painless. I would definitely recommend seeing Dr. Ghaheri if you have or know of a baby or child who has tongue or lip tie! He works at the Oregon Clinic in Portland.

Porter is 3 months old today, and life with him has been amazing! He has truly brought so much joy to our lives. I would agree with most mothers that the first two weeks are the most difficult but they went by so fast when I think about it. Porter smiles all the time and every once in awhile will give us some little laughs!

All ready to see some visitors!

Porter's favorite place to sleep.

First day at church

Job shadowing dad.