Dallin Stanford McBride

Miriam was born via c-section (breech) and Eliza was born all-natural, no pain relief, 20 hours of labor. Both times my water broke to signal the beginning of labor.  

So when I started having some contractions Saturday morning without my water breaking, I wasn't sure if "this was it."  Then I got out of bed, went to the bathroom and the contractions stopped.  This was the first time I had false labor.  This made me anxious for the next several days, wondering when labor would really begin.  

When I went to see my doctor on Wednesday he said the baby was really low and I was dilated to 3 cm.

The baby would surely come soon.

And he did.

Around 1:00 the following morning I began having contractions again.  I couldn't go back to sleep, so after awhile I finally started timing them.  At first they were 10 minutes apart, 1 minute long.  By 5 a.m. they were 6-7 minutes apart.  At 6 a.m. everyone was awake.  I told Stan I had been having contractions and I was going to get out of bed and walk around and see what happened.  With Eliza we had gone to the hospital before I ever had any contractions and it made for a long day.  This time I had wanted to labor at home longer before going in to the hospital.  

Since my water hadn't broken, I wanted to make sure it wasn't more false labor.  Once I got up and started walking around the contractions got closer together (2-3 minutes apart) but shorter (30 seconds long).  I wasn't sure what to make of that.  But after 30 more minutes of it I knew it was time to go.  They were much more intense and I couldn't move or talk through them.  Stan quickly got our bags and children to the van.  

By the time we dropped off the girls at a friend's house, it was 7:30 and I was starting to worry.  After a long and difficult labor with Eliza and the recent pain of breaking my leg, I had decided to have an epidural.  I was done with pain.  I began to worry that I had waited too long to go in to the hospital and I had missed my window of opportunity to get an epidural.  I also started panicking that we were going to get stuck in the morning work traffic and I was going to have a baby in the van.  Thankfully the Lord showed some tender mercies and we got through it pretty quickly.

By the time I got to the hospital and was checked it was 8:30 a.m. and I was dilated to 8 cm.  Oh no!  I pleaded with the nurses that it wasn't too late to get the epidural.  They said they'd certainly try.  Thankfully I had two of the same nurses I'd had two months previous when I broke my leg.  They were so sweet and hurried and within 45 minutes I had the epidural.  

Unfortunately it didn't work all the way.

I could tell it had taken the fierce edge off some of the contractions but I could still feel everything, and some of it was really bad.  We kept moving positions and trying more medicine, but it never worked all the way. 

Thankfully I progressed about a cm an hour after 10 a.m. so it wasn't too much longer.

About 20 minutes of pushing and he came out.

And I cried. 

 There is nothing in this world quite like hearing your baby's first cries and seeing him for the first time.

It only took us a day, but we finally settled on his name:

Dallin Stanford McBride

 February 27, 2014

12:49 p.m.

7 lbs 15 oz

19" Long

 

Delivered by Dr. James Hannah

I really liked Dr. Hannah (I've had a different doctor each pregnancy). 

I especially liked that he was there the entire time I was pushing.

My sister, Rebecca, witnessed the birth and took some pictures.  I'm not sure how I managed not to get a picture of her holding Dallin, but she was there.  She brought Miriam and Eliza by later to meet him.

They love their new baby brother.

As for my broken leg, it was not an issue.  The orthopedic doctor had told me I could labor as normal, I wasn't going to hurt anything.  The epidural had numbed it enough that I didn't feel any strain on the muscles.  I had been weight-bearing on that leg for exactly 2 weeks.  That was just enough time for me to be able to limp around, hands-free.  That has been such a blessing because I can walk around and hold Dallin.

We had to stay in the hospital for 2 days for Dallin to be observed.  So we had a few visitors:

Renee MacCabe

  

                                         Grandpa Hornberger

 Grandma Hornberger

Dianne Milewski

One of my friends also had her baby the same day as I did.  It was quite fun because we had been teasing each other our whole pregnancies as to who would go first.  I won, by about 3 hours.

Katie Castaldi and baby Mariah.

I needed a break from the awful hospital bed so Stan seized the opportunity to take a nap with Dallin.

Dallin was on the billi blanket to help with a little jaundice.

Oh what a sweet boy!  He has just won me over and I love to snuggle him.

 

Miriam and Eliza were staying at Grandma and Aunt Rebecca's while we were in the hospital.  Unfortunately they both took turns being sick and the roads were too icy and snowy, so we didn't have them come home until the following Wednesday.  

It has been so nice to see how the girls both love and adore their baby brother.

Welcome to our family of 5!

Quality Time at Home

We've had a LOT of time at home the past six weeks.  At first we had some play dates scheduled for the girls (and myself).  Then we all got sick and had snow for over two weeks so we really didn't see many people and stayed home, a LOT.  

So Miriam and Eliza have been playing together, a LOT.

Overall, they really have done well.  They've definitely had their screaming matches (I just broke one up right now).  But they really do enjoy playing with one another.

  

Stan has been super-dad and housekeeper and bread-winner.  I can't express how thankful I am for him.  This whole experience has reminded me just how much I need, appreciate and love this guy!  

He has also decided to night-time train Miriam.  No more pull-ups at night!

He moved Eliza and Miriam in the same room last weekend.  

He even brought out the training potty for Eliza, although I told him now was really not a good time to start potty training her.  He agreed.

He was able to work from home for almost 4 weeks, which was a HUGE help.  I am so grateful to his understanding co-workers.

  Miriam has also been a great helper.  I think she's all ready to have a baby in the house.  She's already trained for Mommy not being able to do much.

Eliza is obsessed with picking her nose lately.  

While they might drive me crazy sometimes, thank goodness I've had these cute kids to keep me smiling.  

I do love them, and can't wait to meet their little brother!

Weight Bearing

I am not going to lie, I am not a very patient person.  So if there's one thing I've had to practice the past 6 weeks, it's being patient.  Patient for those who do things for me that I can't do for myself (thanks Stan!)  Patient with my children when I can't just pick them up and physically move them to time-out or another room.  Patient for my leg to heal.  

I feel like the Lord has really strengthened me during this time.  Don't get me wrong, I've had my cries and pity parties, especially when we all got the stomach virus. 

 I threw up for 24 hours straight and couldn't keep anything down.  34 weeks pregnant, sick as a dog with a broken leg.  It was my first "why me?" of this whole experience. 

Then we all had colds.  The kids couldn't go anywhere or have friends over for fear of sharing the sicknesses. 

Then it snowed and canceled everything in town for almost a week.

I was feeling a little crazy. 

But with the Lord's help, and the help and support of many friends and family, we made it through what has hopefully been the most difficult part of this whole experience.

I have been hopping on my good leg with a walker for the past 6 weeks.  So needless to say, I was very much looking forward to my follow-up x-ray appointment with my orthopedic doctor.  

I was ready to say goodbye to the walker.

The doc comes in and puts up the new x-ray and says "you're good to go, you can put weight on it now."  Stan and I both squint our eyes at the new x-ray and are thinking to ourselves, "are you sure, cause that still looks just as broken as before."  

See for yourself:

Well the good doc must know what he's doing, so we'll take his word for it.  He did say that putting weight on the leg would help stimulate new bone growth.

Another plus, I don't have to wear the air cast boot anymore.  Although I still might want to when going out and about in public for a little while.  

Unfortunately, I still need to hold on to things while "walking" so the walker is still going to be needed for a few more weeks.  

This week I start physical therapy.  It's amazing the flexibility and muscle tone that I have lost the past 6 weeks. 

I asked the doc how long before I was back to "normal."  He said I should be walking with a slight limp in about three months.  

It's going to be awhile before I can drive with my right leg.  I'm trying to talk Stan into letting me learn to drive with my left.

Deep breath.

This isn't over yet!

And the worst unexpected news of all this is how bad the swelling has become.  Even though I can get around a little better (although definitely not any faster), I have to put my foot up as much as possible or it doubles in size.  I can't even find a shoe or flip flop to fit over my foot at this point.  I think I'm going to be borrowing one of Stan's for awhile.  The doc said the swelling should go away after three months.  Oh boy!!

So there you have it.  Now we're on the long, slow road to recovery, but at least we're moving now!

37 weeks pregnant and hoping I can limp without assistance by the time this baby comes.