Birth Story + Update

For Ellery's birth story, click here.

Short version of Capri's birth story:

I was sort of induced, but not really because apparently I was in early labor when I went in to be induced, and my water broke on its own, basically. It all happened really fast. I went from a 5 to a 10 in 25 minutes and felt a lot of pain, but had an epidural that at least helped a bit.

Long version:

Capri Juliet Shurtliff was born on Thursday, April 17th, 2014 at 3:04 am at the North Hills Hospital in North Richland Hills, TX, weighing 8 lbs 4 oz and 21 inches long (is that ever accurate though?! Both my girls had completely different lengths from the hospital to their two day old dr appt. Capri was supposedly only 19 inches at her two day check up...).

I had minor, non painful (just uncomfortable) contractions on and off for a couple of weeks, but really not very many until the couple of days before she was born. I did also have quite a bit of low pressure in the last week or so, feeling like she was ready to come soon. At my 39 week doctors appointment, I was dilated to a 2, but still very thick. Nothing changed at my almost 40 week appointment (Wednesday, the day before my due date). So, because I was still only at a 2 and not thinned out yet, my doctor thought I should go in that night to have cytotec (a pill to help thin me out) to get me ready to be officially induced, or given pitocin, at 6am the next day, on my due date, so I would have her on my due date. All day Wednesday I had minor contractions. They were not painful, just uncomfortable. They were, however, close together, but I wasn't worried about it because they didn't hurt, and I was going to the hospital soon anyway.

We got to the hospital at 8pm. They hooked me up to the monitors and asked me questions until 10pm. At 10 they gave me the cytotec pill. My contractions quickly got painful, but were still bearable. At 12:30 my water broke on its own. The nurses were quite surprised, but didn't bother checking me, just changed my sheet. At 1am I asked for pain medication because I was in a ton of pain. Clay was sleeping next to me and in his sleep he said, "You're asking a lot of questions!" I was annoyed that he was annoyed by me asking for pain medication when I was dying of pain! haha. But he was out of it, and had no idea that I was in so much pain. The thing is, when I'm going through contractions, I'm silent. I don't yell or scream or even talk because it hurts too bad, so he had no idea. Anyway, she brought me the medicine, but by 2am it had no effect, and I was hurting so bad that I called the nurse back and told her to check me because I knew the baby was coming. They were supposed to give me another cytotec pill at this time, but there was definitely no need for that, or the pitocin in the morning! When she checked me at 2am I was dilated to a 5 and 90% effaced. Again, she was surprised and said I could get an epidural now. I said yes! And then we waited for the anesthesiologist to come. From the time she checked me to the time they finished giving me the epidural it was a total of 25 minutes. In that 25 minutes I went from a 5 to a 10. The contractions got so bad that I couldn't breathe (during the worse part of the contractions) or talk or move. I shook uncontrollably. I cried and threw up. It was so so horrible. I couldn't believe a 5 was so painful, that before the epidural had finally taken effect, I told the nurse to check me because the baby was coming (I was feeling like I needed to push her out!). She checked me (at 2:25am) and that's when she said I was at a 10 and yelled "Don't push! Call the doctor!" She kept reassuring me that her and the other nurses had delivered babies before and everything would be okay (in case the doctor didn't make it on time). Yikes. By then the epidural was mostly working, however not like it did with Ellery. With Ellery I felt nothing other than a tiny bit of pressure to push. With this one I could literally feel everything, it just wasn't nearly as painful as without the epidural (they gave me a spinal epidural to make it take effect faster). I had to concentrate not to push the baby out. The doctor arrived and we quickly worked to get her out. It took 14 pushes and she was free. Halfway though the pushing I was in pain and asked for more epidural, but the doctor said, "Sorry, she's almost out!" So I toughened up and got her out. They put her on me immediately and left her there while I delivered the placenta and got stitched up (same tears as I had with Ellery, basically, just re-torn). I felt all of that too, but it wasn't THAT bad, and I had Capri to look at, so it was okay. I held her and nursed her until 4:50 am (she was born at 3:04). So that was nice to have her for a while, but then they took her to the nursery until around 8 am. That was a long time! It felt like forever. I was eager to see my little girl again. 

They had taken my epidural out right after she was born and the tingling in my legs went away within the hour. At 7am they finally gave me pain medication because I asked for it. I also had a bad headache at that point. I went to the bathroom (no problem walking), which was very strange…ha, but not painful, and then we switched rooms. The pain medication began working and my headache went away. So then when they brought her back to me at 8 am I nursed her again. They gave her a bath while she was in the nursery, and I was a little disappointed, I liked how they bathed E in front of us the first time.

One thing that was different with Capri than Ellery is that I had really bad cramps post delivery with Capri, whereas I had none post delivery with Ellery (this is normal, I guess). Not fun, and super painful. Not looking forward to this next time because I guess it gets worse with each baby you have. Too bad you can't have an epidural every time you nurse (when the cramps are the worse).

We stayed in the hospital all that day, that night, and all of the next day, until the evening (so we left the evening of the 18th). Overall the hospital experience was great. The nurses and doctors were all wonderful. Our first full night with her in the hospital was good. We got more sleep than I expected. They had her in the nursery all night besides when I was feeding her (kind of sad, but at least we got some much needed rest). The food all tasted great to me. My wonderful mother came in town Tuesday night, the 15th, so I never had to worry about Ellery, because my mom had her. My mom and Ellery came to visit us a few times in the hospital. Ellery reacted a bit like I predicted, but maybe even a little less interested than I thought. She basically would say things like, "oh baby!" and "she's cute" "she's crying," but other than that, she was more interested in the room than she was in Capri. She did hold Capri a couple of times, but only for 30 seconds before she was done. She also had zero reaction to me being in the hospital bed, which was good.

Capri has been so great. We feel incredibly blessed and lucky. She's completely perfect. The only concern we had was that she was quite tongue tied, meaning she couldn't move her tongue a whole lot because of the attachment thing under it. This can cause problems with nursing and possible speech problems down the road. After a bit of consideration and talking to the nurses and doctor, we decided to have the doctor do the minor cut to release her tongue just a little. It's a very low risk, non painful snip (there are very few nerves there). I am really grateful we did it because she seemed totally fine after (hardly even cried), and nursing became less painful, and much easier after (With Ellery, it was incredibly painful for about a week, but not with Capri, thank goodness!). She is a great eater and latches on no problem. I'm much less worried about getting mastitis again (I had it three times with Ellery). She also had very minor jaundice, which cleared up quickly. She is very sleepy! Sleepier than Ellery was. She is also easier, in general than Ellery was. E was very fussy in the evenings. Capri is awake and happy in the mornings, sleeps all day, and then is awake and a little fussy in the evenings, but not bad. Overall she is very easy though. She mostly only cries to tell us she's hungry. She is very patient with Ellery, who is typically really good with her, but sometimes tries to pick her up by her head…Everything is just easier though the second time around. Nursing, recovery, just knowing what to do with a baby, and being less nervous about everything.

Oh, another thing, Capri does throw up a lot (full, projectile vomiting). Well, about once or, more often, twice a day, where I have to change my clothes and hers. Ellery had the same exact problem and her doctor always disregarded it and basically just told me not to worry about it. Well, Capri's doctor is basically saying the same thing, but I think I like her way of saying it a little better haha. She is telling me to "watch it." The thing is, Capri is gaining weight (8 lbs 13oz at her two week appointment) and is not fussy, so they don't think it's reflux. The lactation nurse told me I could keep track of what I'm eating and see if that has any correlation, but she didn't seem to think once or twice a day was a lot and that again, because she's gaining weight and happy, and has lots of dirty diapers, that she's totally fine and basically I just need to deal with the mess. I think it may be a combination of the fact that some babies just throw up, I have a ton of milk, and partly my diet. Nothing I can do about the first two, so I'll just work on my diet a little bit.

Overall, things are SO much easier this time around with the BABY. But I think it's been even harder this time because of Ellery. Poor girl had her world turned upside down. I was expecting it to be hard, but it's harder than I thought it would be, and in a totally different way than I thought. I thought E would be jealous of the baby and be upset when I nursed, etc. but instead, Ellery LOVES Capri (she says so several times a day). She kisses her and hugs her all day long. She really doesn't act jealous at all, and is pretty much always so sweet to Capri. However, since Capri was born, Ellery has been throwing tantrums like crazy, hitting, not wanting to go outside, seeking more attention, and wanting more control over everything. She's gotten quite a bit better in the last 5 days or so, but it's been rough. I think she's starting to get used to everything now though. We just need to survive the next few weeks and then get back into a routine and get E out of the house more, etc.

The biggest change for me with new baby is the lack of sleep and the lack of time. I am SO so tired. It is hard! But I know this is just how it is, and it will get better eventually. Also, I've never had so little time in my life. For example, I have five million pictures I want to edit, and zero time to edit any of them. It used to be that I had a little time in the morning to myself while Ellery watched a show, plus occasionally in the afternoon while she either napped or played by herself, and then in the evening after she went to bed. Now I'm usually taking care of Capri in the morning while E watches her show, Ellery no longer naps or wants to play by herself, and then after E goes to bed is Capri's awake, fussy time, and I also have to go to bed as early as possible to get enough sleep to function! How do people do it with five kids?! Well, I'm sure soon enough, I'll get the hang of things, and the girls will be on a little better schedule and we'll get more sleep. I just remind myself to count my blessings. Yes, I would like more "me time," but I am so grateful for the time I have with my sweet girls, and for the opportunity to be their mama and take care of them full time. I am so lucky.

Oh and a couple of other notes I've made about the girls:

Capri has two red birth marks, one on each leg. They didn't show up until she was about a week and a half old. The doctor said we'd have to keep an eye on one of them as she grows because its on a joint..Neither Clay nor I have any birth marks. Also, she was born with two calluses, one on each hand, in the same spot. The doctor said she must have constantly rubbed her hands on something in the womb. They will go away soon (they already have a bit).

Capri takes a bottle well. I've been giving her one every few days, just so she'll be able to take one when I need her to. She does take the paci, but isn't as big of a paci fan as E was, so far. And unlike Ellery, whom we swaddled till she was nine months old, Capri is not a big fan of being swaddled, so we don't swaddle her, or if we do, we leave her arms out.

Ellery has been talking so well the past few weeks. She seems so old now! She is a very good big sister, and likes to help a little with Capri, but mostly just likes to give her kisses and tell her she loves her. She does not like it when Capri cries. She covers her ears and says, "uh oh! Capri crying!" but she doesn't get upset or anything, she just wants Capri to be happy. She loves it when Capri is awake. Ellery has been telling us she loves us a lot lately, randomly. She talks about the zoo all the time, and her favorite toy right now is her Barbie. 

I will post pictures soon, I promise (er...I hope)!