Rachel's Arrival

Rachel Louise Boyer

July 22, 2016 at 12:07am

8 pounds 1 ounce and 20 inches

We have welcomed the newest member of our family to this world and she is just the sweetest little blessing! After weeks of anxiety over the possibility of another rapid, unpredictable labor we were all surprised that my labor had a much slower progression this time and we made it to the hospital with plenty of time. Looking back, the labor was actually fairly smooth and not too long, but during the process it felt very slow and frustrating. Having the recent memory of Nate's precipitous accidental home birth in my mind really influenced how I processed my early labor with Rachel.

My contractions started at around 3pm on July 21st and were different than the many, many contractions I had in the weeks prior because of the intense and increasing pelvic pressure that accompanied them, especially if I was standing. I let Philip know what was going on and to start thinking about coming home from work soon. After talking with my midwife we decided to head to the hospital and arrived at about 4:45pm. At this point my contractions were still about every 3 to 5 minutes and I was dilated 3-4 centimeters. I was really hoping to be more dilated, but also thankful to have arrived at the hospital with plenty of time. After a couple of hours of walking around the room I was rechecked and remained about the same dilation. At that time we (my midwife, Philip and I) decided to break my water to encourage things along as well as lift my belly upwards with each contraction to attempt to help Rachel engage better into my pelvis (she was left occiput posterior - LOP - which means her head was turned crooked in my pelvis and couldn't come down as easily). My large diastasis (separation in by abdominal muscles) was making my uterus tilt forward quite a bit making it harder for her to turn and descend. A couple hours later I was 6 centimeters dilated, so I continued with walking, sitting on the exercise ball and lifting my belly with contractions.

lifting my belly with a contraction

After another couple of hours it was now around 10pm and I was still 6 centimeters dilated. I was getting more frustrated, so we decided to try a few different positions to try and get her to descend. First, I got on the bed on my hands and knees and the contractions felt different, but I could tell she wasn't ready yet. When my arms and legs got tired we decided to try laying on my right side to see if that would help her turn into a better position, and oh man, that position made the contractions a lot more painful! I had Philip apply pressure to my hips during the contractions (our go to method to help me tolerate the contractions once they get intense) and after 4 or 5 I decided I needed to empty my bladder to try and get more comfortable. Once I got up to the bathroom I could tell she had finally descended and I was ready to push. I walked back to the side of the bed and leaned over and rocked with each contraction while Philip pressed inward on my hips. My attempts at pushing were making no progress, so I tried sitting on Philip's knees (which is how I delivered Joel) and was frustrated again to feel like she was not moving with my pushes at all!

My midwife, Lindsay, suggested that she might move lower if I was able to lean back some so that she could engage into my pelvis better. I knew the only way I could do that was in the bed. So, I climbed up onto the bed and after laying back, and pulling up my knees I could feel her coming down and for the first time during pushing realized I might actually be able to get her out (I might have said a couple of times earlier that I didn't think I was going to be able to do it!). With the help and encouragement of my nurse, midwife and Philip I pushed her out, straight OP (face-up) about 3-4 contractions later after a total of about 20-30 minutes of pushing and around 9 hours of labor. I checked for her girl parts right away, and was happy to see we wouldn't have to come up with a boy name! Philip and I were so relieved to see her healthy and also thrilled that her placenta delivered right away with out any complication (I had a difficult retained placenta with Nate). I was a bit worried she might have problems with low blood sugar levels since I had gestational diabetes, but thankfully she passed thoses test easily!

I am still in a bit of disbelief that I have a beautiful little daughter with dark blue (for now) eyes, olive skin and a head full of straight dark hair. She is so so sweet, laid back and easy to please. I can't wait to watch her grow and am so thankful that God gave her to our family!

Celebrating 7 years of Levi!

Last Sunday our family all came over to celebrate Levi's 7th birthday (a couple of weeks early, just to make sure baby sister didn't spoil the fun). Levi wanted to have a swimming star wars themed party in our backyard and thankfully had some pretty simple requests - this momma is tired! He wanted a chocolate cake with green frosting and a ewok battle theme of characters on top, hot dogs, hamburgers, chips and watermelon for lunch and a BB8 piñata in addition to swimming for the entertainment. It was a pretty day, not terribly hot, and almost all of the family was able to be there! Levi had a lot of fun and it was such a sweet laid back party with our family. Thanks to everyone who came and brought such fun and thoughtful gifts as well. I cannot believe my first baby is about to be 7 whole years old! Wow! I sure do love him :)

Levi LOVES his Nora

He was excited to be the one to bust the piñata!

Cute cousins!

Silly faces :)

Very excited about his new big boy bike with gears!

Sweet Shower

My friends Lorrie, Natalyia and Celice wouldn't take no for an answer and hosted a very special shower to help me prepare for Rachel's coming arrival. It was with my closest girl friends from my church bible class and they all gave me the sweetest most thoughtful gifts. The hostesses did such a sweet job decorating and preparing for the shower and I was touched by how perfect and thoughtful it was. The food was delicious and perfect for my oh so fun gestational diabetes diet. Thank you girls for such a fun morning! I'm so lucky to be surrounded by such supportive and caring friends and fellow moms!

Cousin Trips to the Ranch!

Every summer my parents set aside 3 days and 2 nights each for the "age-mate" cousins to have their own special grandparent time spent together for a treat. Levi and Nora had their days 2 weeks ago and Joel and Asher took their turn last week. This year was extra special because it was their first time to have their special sleepovers at my parents new ranch house on the lake. Levi and Joel absolutely love, adore, cherish their cousins and consider them their best friends. Any time they get to be with them is always to exciting and getting one on one time with Pop and Moe is an extra awesome treat too. They are huge fans of their grandparents as well. Both sets of cousins had a wonderful time at Pop and Moe's ranch! Each pair spent time fishing, swimming, riding horses, being in charge of meals (including extra treats) and all other kinds of adventures and activities. My mom sent several pictures during their stay, you can tell how much fun they were having! I'm so blessed to have parents who take great effort to build strong relationships with their grandchildren and invest a lot of time and effort into getting to know, loving and caring for them as well!

Big Boy Bed!

Nathan has now slept four nights in his twin bed and is doing great! I'm a bit in disbelief that he is old enough to graduate out of his crib and that it has been such a smooth, simple transition. The first night I had to go back into the room once to encourage him to sleep, and every night since he's gone to sleep like a champ! He hasn't even tried to get out of bed or leave his room once. Hopefully, he will transition to having a roommate just as easily when the time comes for Rachel to sleep in the crib in their room.

Showering Molly!

Last weekend Kate, Morgan and I co-hosted a baby shower for our sister Molly, who is expecting her first baby in August. We had so much fun getting ready for the party and everything turned out great! Kate's house is beautiful and was the perfect back drop for a sweet baby boy shower. Morgan made beautiful flower for the buffet and other decorations, I made bunny themed cupcakes and cookie favors (bunny Molly and Ryan's pet name for each other) and Kate made a sweet bunny banner, wall of framed pictures of Molly and Ryan as babies, as well as providing perfect flower arrangements. We all contributed to the lunch and it was yummy! It turned out so pretty and I think Molly loved it!

We love Molly and baby boy so much and were so excited to help her get ready to become a mom! Molly received a lot of great gifts and is well on her way to being ready to welcome little man in just a few weeks! Our due dates are only one week apart, and it has been a lot of fun to share the experience of being pregnant together. I can't wait to watch our babies grow up together and cousins and friends!

We all got a good laugh out of the 'my brestfriend'

such a blessing to be pregnant at the same time!