Happy Thanksgiving! :)

It's Thanksgiving weekend! Last night we went to my parents house for dinner, tonight we are going to Gairod's parents house for dinner, and tomorrow morning we are going to my parents house for brunch!! I love eating at other people's houses, it means I don't have to cook! lol! Here are a few pictures from yesterday.

Kadance kissing her baby sister!

Sage snoozing in her carseat.
Family picture :)

All 5 kids!

All 5 kids, and their cousin Lily.

Getting Better :)

After a week and a half of ups and downs, good days/nights and bad days/nights, I think I am finally starting to settle in as a mommy of 5!

I am feeling more in control, and like I can handle things. Sage seems to be settling into a more predictable eating pattern, and is letting me get a bit more sleep at night!

The kids all seem to be back to normal, and don't have any issues with Sage. In fact, the boys, for the most part, couldn't really care less about her! They ask to hold her once in a while, but I barely get her into their arms and they announce "done!" and move on to something else! lol! Kadance on the other hand LOVES her little sister! She really likes to hold her, and when I am holding Sage, or she is in her chair, Kadance likes to sit beside her and talk softly to her! It is really quite cute. :)

The 4 little kids (Jade was at school)

Hayden "kind of" holding his little sister! lol!

Kadance holding her little sister

Cole holding his little sister

BAD night!

Last night was NOT a good night.

To start with, Gairod had to work late, again. He has had to work late everyday this week. Normally I wouldn't mind too much, but with a new baby, who seems to be more fussy around dinner time/early evening, and trying to get the rest of the kids fed, bathed, and into bed, I really wish he could be home to help! THEN, he called me when they were done work (around 7pm), and said that they were just going to go to a pub for a few drinks and some appetizers. Seriously?! I am EXHAUSTED, I still have to bath Sage, make Jade's lunch, do the dishes, do some laundry, and I haven't eaten any dinner yet, and he is going out to socialize?! I was NOT very happy. Anyways, he got home a few hours later, and I didn't say much to him.

I finished feeding Sage and got her into her crib at about 10:30pm. I was really tired, so I went to bed right away, and was hoping for some decent sleep. At 12:30am, Sage woke up to eat. So I got up and fed her. She ate, and ate, and ate! Then I tried to lay her back down in her crib, and she started fussing. So I took her out, and she still wanted to eat. So I fed her a bit more, she feel asleep, and I tried to put her in her crib. She started fussing again. This cycle continued until 2:30am, when I couldn't take it anymore!! I finally ended up just bringing her into bed with me, and nursing her laying down.

I also need to back-track, and let you know that the day we had Sage, they stared ripping up our street, to replace our water lines. So our entire street is blocked, off, and we have to park in the alley, and use our back door. This is a major pain, since our back landing is about 2 feet by 2 feet, has no closet for coats, and no room for shoes.

Since they are replacing the water lines, they have us on a water line that is above ground, going across everyones lawns, and going to each house with a garden hose. A few days after they started all of this, it started to get really cold. On Monday, one of the hoses burst, and we had no water for most of the morning. Great, just what I needed with three toddlers and a newborn!!

Last night, at around 2am (just after one of the times I tried to lay Sage down) I went to the bathroom, and discovered that we had no water AGAIN!! So this pissed me off even more, because I KNEW I wasn't going to be able to have a shower in the morning, and if I was going to be up all night, I at least wanted to be able to have a nice hot shower in the morning to make myself feel some-what human!!

So with no sleep, and no water, it was NOT a good night!!

1 week old, 1 week postpartum

My baby girl is 1 week old today!! I can't believe that a week has gone by already. It actually makes me sad, time is already going by too fast.

Nursing is going great, but totally unpredictable! Sometimes Sage will go for long stretches (last night she went for 5 hours!!), and other times she will eat, and then want to eat again half an hour later!! That makes it a little difficult to plan things around her eating times, but I am sure as she gets a bit older things will even out a bit more!

The triplets seem to be adjusting more and more each day. The first few days were hard, they were definitely out of sorts! Cole was SOOO clingy, Hayden was acting out, and Kadance was overly emotional! Even Jade was acting a bit clingy the first few days, always wanting to sit RIGHT beside me! But like I said, they seem to be getting back to normal :)

I am feeling better and better each day, although I DO need to slow down a bit. Yesterday I was feeling good. I took the kids to playgroup, took Sage to her doctor appointment, and got a few things done around the house. Now today I am feeling it. My body is much more sore today.

At the end of my pregnancy, I had gained a total of 44 lbs. At 1 week postpartum, I am down 22.5 lbs. I have lost HALF of my pregnancy weight in 1 week :) Yay!!

First Check-Up :)

Sage had her first doctor appointment today! Everything is good, and she is up to 7lbs 15ozs. The doctor said that I can go back to demand feeding her, which I am happy about, because there are times that she will go for 4 - 4 1/2 hours between feedings!!

Her next check up will be at 3 weeks old :)

Hormones

After both of my previous pregnancies, I can distinctly remember having one night, shortly after birth, where I would wake up SEVERAL times, drenched in sweat, freezing cold, and needing to pee, not now, but RIGHT NOW!

With Jade is was a few days after she was born, after I was home from the hospital. With the triplets, it was only a day or two after they were born, and I was still in the hospital. That one really sucked, because it was hard for me to get up because of my c-section, and I was still hooked up to an IV, so it was quite the process to get out of bed and to the bathroom, without peeing my pants! lol!

Just yesterday, I started thinking about the fact that I hadn't had that night yet, and Sage was 5 days old. Well all it took was thinking about it, to make it happen! lol! I got up to go pee at about 1am, and as I was getting back into bed, I all of a sudden got the chills, BIG TIME! I was shaking so hard and uncontrollably, that it actually woke Gairod up! He moved over and snuggled me, to try and help me warm up. Then I started crying, because I was so cold. Man, gotta love post-pregnancy hormones! lol! After that, I woke up several more times, damp and chilled, needing to pee!

I understand that it is just a normal part of the post-pardom process, but really, as if a new mother isn't up enough times with her baby, does she really need to get up several more?!?!

The next few days

Friday morning, Gairod had to work. I was quite nervous about going it alone, my first day home, especially since Sage had another rough night, and I only got about 2 hours of sleep! Luckily, the morning went quite smoothly, and I managed to get everyone fed and dressed! lol!

In the afternoon, the health nurse came. She weighed Sage, and she was down to 7lbs 8ozs, a 9% loss. The nurse said that between 5-10% is normal, but they start to get a bit concerned when it gets closer to 10. But since I am not a first time mom, and Sage was nursing well, she figured my milk should come in really soon, and Sage would start gaining again. But she told me to make sure I am not letting her go more than 2 1/2 - 3 hours between feeding, until my doctor appointment on Monday, when we make sure she has started gaining weight. My milk ended up coming in later that evening! Friday night was MUCH better, and I ended up getting about 6 hours total sleep.

On Saturday, we gave Sage her first bath :) She screamed through the whole thing, but that didn't surprise me, as I have yet to see a baby who actually likes their first bath! lol!

Today, the lack of sleep has really started to catch up with me. I got about 4 1/2 hours of sleep last night, which is just NOT enough for me!! I really think I need to start trying to nap in the afternoon, when the triplets are napping, if Sage will cooperate! :)

As for me, besides the tiredness, I am feeling pretty good. I had a small tear that required a few stitches, so I am a little extra tender in that area. My entire body is still quite sore as well, especially my hips and lower back. But I guess that's to be expected after the work of labour and delivery, and everything trying to get back to normal now that there isn't a baby taking up so much room! But compared to a c-section recovery, I am doing GREAT!! I can pick up my kids, go up and down stairs, bend over, sit up, etc. I am SOOO happy I got my VBAC!! :)

Sage's first bath!

Look at all that dark hair!

My precious baby girl!

The first few days.

Since it was already after 10pm when I had Sage, it was after midnight by the time they got me into my postpartum room. Gairod got me some food (I hadn't eaten anything that morning, because I was too nervous, so I was STARVING!), and headed home. He was exhausted, and wanted to get somewhat of a good sleep in our own bed!

Sage was AWESOME the first night! I had to wake her up to nurse her, because she would have just kept on sleeping!! So the next day, I was feeling surprisingly well rested. Gairod came up late morning, and my grandma came up around the same time, and stayed for a short visit.

Normally after an uncomplicated vaginal delivery, they send you home after 24 hours, but because it was so late when I had Sage, they let me stay another night. I wanted the kids to come up and see their new sister, so late afternoon, Gairod went home and got them. They were all thrilled, and so excited to hold her!!

Hayden holding Sage

Kadance holding Sage

Cole holding Sage

Jade holding Sage

They didn't stay for very long, because the kids were bouncing off the walls! lol! A little bit later that evening, my mom came up for a visit. After she left, I figured I would feed Sage, and settle in for another restful night.

Sage had other plans! She was up fussing almost the whole night!! I literally got about an hour of sleep. She was really gassy, and just would NOT settle! I guess it served me right for thinking things would go as smoothly as the night before! lol!

So needless to say, I was very tired Thursday morning, and ready to go home! They discharged me around 11am, so I called Gairod to come and get me. By the time we got home, it was 1pm. Gairod's mom had just put the kids down for a nap, and since I was exhausted, I decided to lay down for an hour too!

Birth Story!

Tuesday, September 29th, I had an induction scheduled for 9:30am. I woke up that morning cramping, and having some bloody show!! When we got to the hospital, they hooked me up to the monitors, to check the baby's heart rate, and see if I was having any contractions. By this time, I was feeling some mild contractions, and the monitor was picking them up! So they monitored me for about half and hour, and everything was good. Then we just had to wait for the doctor to come and insert the catheter!

At 11:00am, the doctor finally got there. She checked me, and I was a finger tip dilated, about 50% effaced, and quite soft. She inserted the catheter. For anyone who doesn't know, what they do, is they insert a catheter into your cervix that is closed at one end. They fill it with saline, creating a balloon which starts to put pressure on your cervix, hopefully releasing your own natural hormones, which cause you to start dilating. When you reach 3cm, the catheter will either fall out when you stand, or it will come out easily if they tug on it gently. This can take SEVERAL hours, it depends on how ripe you are, and how ready your body is to go into labour. Because I was already starting early labour, they were quite confident that it wouldn't take too long.

At about 11:30am, they transferred me to antipardom, since like I said, it can take a long time, so they didn't want me taking up space in labour and delivery. They monitored me for half an hour again, and I was noticing my contractions getting stronger and more frequent. At noon they took me off the monitors, and said that they would come back in 2 hours to monitor me again. So we sat and waited.

At 2:00pm, I was on the monitors again, and I was definitely noticing my contractions getting closer, about 3 - 6 minutes apart, and stronger - to the point that I was starting to concentrate and breath through them. So at 2:30pm, when the nurse came back, she gave a little tug on the catheter, and it easily came out! So they transferred me to Labour and Delivery!!

When I got to labour and delivery, they started an IV, and got me on the monitors again. They said that because I was VBAC, they had to monitor me for most of my labour. At 3:40pm, the doctor came in and checked me. I was at 3cm! Then she broke my water, and said that things should start moving right along!

My contractions were getting quite strong, and I was really having to concentrate and breath through them. They hadn't checked me in quite a while, so when they finally did at 6:20pm, I was REALLY hoping for some good progress, like AT LEAST 5cm. I was only 4cm. That discouraged me, but the nurse explained that from 3 - 4cm can take the longest, but since I was now at 4cm, I was in "active labour" and things should start picking up!

I had told them that with Jade I transitioned really fast. I was stuck at 7cm for quite a few hours, but they figured that her head was in a weird position, and once she shifted, I went from 7cm, to she was out, in 13 minutes. Because of this, my nurse was quite confident that I would transition fast with this labour too. She figured that I would have the baby before her shift was over at 11pm. I wasn't quite so convinced, but was hoping she was right!

They checked me again at 7:45pm, and I was 4 - 5cm. Again, I was really hoping that I would be farther along! I was starting to get even more discouraged. My contractions were getting more and more painful, and I was REALLY hoping for a drug-free delivery, but I wasn't sure how much longer I could go for! The nurse kept on trying to get me to try different positions, saying that changing positions would help speed things up, but the most comfortable position for me was reclining in bed. I was mainly feeling pain in my lower uterus, and the tops of my legs, so I wanted to take any excess pressure off of those areas. I was so tired, that I was almost falling asleep between contractions, and they were only a couple of minutes apart! With each contraction I would squeeze Gairod's hand, breath, and try to concentrate on seeing my baby. As each contraction let up, I would let go of Gairod's hand, and just relax every muscle in my body. At this point I had my eyes closed almost all the time. I felt somewhat disoriented, and was really struggling to keep my thoughts positive.

At 9:00pm, they checked me again. I was 5 - 6cm. By this time I had been tossing around the idea of getting an epidural for a few hours already, and I decided I really wanted to get one. I had no idea how much longer this was going to take, so far I was gaining less than 1cm an hour. So theoretically, we could easily be looking at another 4 hours or more until I got to 10cm, and then who knows how long of pushing!! I was totally exhausted, and in so much pain! I decided that I didn't need to "prove" myself to anyone, and no one really cared if I got an epidural but me. So Gairod told the nurse, and she called the anesthesiologist.

It didn't take long for the anesthesiologist to come, and start getting his stuff ready. I had to sit on the bed, hunched over, which was one of the MOST uncomfortable positions for me! I just kept on telling myself that after a few more contractions, the pain would be gone, and I could enjoy the rest of my labour and delivery! So he started trying to find a spot to put it, and had a hard time finding a good epidural space in my back. He finally found a spot (after SEVERAL painful contractions) and threaded the catheter in. He hit a blood vessel. He said that that happens about 10% of the time. So he had to try and pull it back a bit, to get it out of the blood vessel, without pulling it all the way out of my back. After several more contractions, that were getting even more painful, he thought he had it out of the blood vessel, but wanted to try giving me a bit of the epidural before he finished it all, to see if it was going to work. So I had to wait a few more contractions, still sitting up hunched over, to see if it was going to take effect. By this time my contractions were almost one on top of the other, and I was feeling quite a bit of pressure with them, and almost feeling like I needed to push. The epidural, wasn't working, so the anesthesiologist said he would have to pull it all out, and start all over again, this time with me lying on my side, to see if he could find a better epidural space. This was about 45 minutes after he started the whole process!

I was debating whether or not to let him try again, and the nurse wanted to check me before he did anything else. So I was finally able to lay down again, and with my next contraction I could feel my body starting to push! It was 9:57pm, and the nurse checked me, and I was at 7cm. The doctor was just outside the room and heard me pushing with my last contraction, so she came in to check me as well. She checked me while I was having my next contraction, and said "Your body is ready to push. You are at a 7, but you are just going to push the rest of the cervix away, so you go ahead and push!!" At 10:02pm, only 5 minutes after I was 7cm, I was at 10cm. They had to get me to slow down my pushing while the baby was crowning, so I wouldn't tear too badly. After a few more pushes, my baby girl was born, at 10:06pm!! I beat my old record by going from 7cm to baby out in 9 minutes!!!

Sage Autumn Begg, was born Tuesday September 29th, 2009, at 10:06pm. She was 8lbs 4ozs, and 20 inches long.

I was SOOO shocked that she was a girl!!! I never really had a feeling of what the baby was throughout my pregnancy, but I guess I really was expecting a boy! lol! But I am SOO glad that she is a girl, because in all honesty, that is what I was really hoping for! <3

It's a.........

GIRL!!!!!!!!

Sage Autumn

Born September 29th, 10:06pm
8lbs, 4ozs, 20 inches.

More details and pictures to come!!! :)