Sunday, December 12, 2010

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Birth Story

First I want to start by thanking Sharon and Kandis of First Birth Ministries. You ladies have truly been a blessing to us and without your wisdom, support and encouragement I know our birth story would not be the same.

So here's my birth story, I don't know how interesting it is to anyone other than me, but I want to document it before I forget it.

I was scheduled to be induced on Monday, November 29th since I was 9 days past my due date. I was to go in to the hospital that night, they were going to ripen my cervix with some cream or something and then hopefully Tuesday I would have a baby...that was the doctors plans anyways, turns out the Lord had other plans...way better plans.

Sunday we ran around like crazy looking for housing supplies for a rental house we had purchased, I was hanging in there pretty well considering I was 10.5 months pregnant. Sunday night we got home and I had this urge to clean the house, or make it cleaner than it was considering it was already pretty clean, I should have known then the crazy nesting phase had kicked in and labor was not far away. I stayed up until 1:00 vacuuming (yeah I said it was crazy). At 2:30 am I awoke with contractions, these had felt different than the braxton hicks because they were lower and coming at regular intervals. I labored in bed until 4:30, remembering that Sharon had said to get as much rest as possible in early labor. From 4:30-6:00 I walked around the house and got into different labor position that seemed to ease the pain, I was contracting about every 3-4 minutes. At 6:00 I decided I wanted to take a bath...only problem was that in my crazy nesting stage, I hadn't thought to actually clean one of the bath tubs. I had to wake up Kris.

I woke Kris up and ask him to clean the tub, I remember his response being something like "This is crazy, didn't I JUST clean it?", my response "JUST, was 4 weeks ago and since then you went to Canada where you didn't shower for a week and then came home and used our bath tub". He agreed it probably needed cleaned - lol. By 6:15 am I was in the tub. The bath water was amazing, I remember there being a point in time where I actually thought my contractions had stopped. Turned out they hadn't cause the second I got out of the bath, they were back, coming at about every 2 minutes. I labored in different positions around the house for a little while longer and then took a shower so I could wash my hair and clean off before real labor started. When I got out I was pretty hungry so I thought I should wake Kris up, again, and have him go get us food.

By the time Kris got back with food it was 8:30 am and I was really in some pain. I told him we didn't have time to eat that we needed to get to the hospital (big mistake I should have stuck it out and eaten cause later I would be starving). I think he was a little shocked that labor had progressed that quickly. He loaded up the car and we were off. The drive there seemed to take forever and having contractions in the car with a seat belt on was not much fun. Not to mention that Fannin is like the bumpiest road in Houston!

By 9:10 we were at the hospital checking in and by 9:30 I was in a labor and delivery room. The nurse checked me and I was already at 5 cms! Labor was going well so far, but the pain was starting to get worse. Kris was doing a good job coaching me and helping me implement the breathing skills we had learned in our birthing class. We were determined to stick to our birthing plan and complete the process without an epidural.

By 11:30 I was at 7 cms and the pain was continuing to get worse, I was still on board with our no epidural plan, but I wanted something for the pain. They offered me Nubain to take the edge off, so I took it. I felt so much better, I was finally able to relax a little. The only problem was that it slowed my contractions. Luckily, the Nubain wore off in about two hours, however I had not continued to progress any. By 2:30 they were wanting to give me Pitocin. Kris and I both knew if I took the Pitocin the chances of me making it without the epidural was slim. The nurse was pushing me to take the epidural and the Pitocin; it was pretty obvious that I was getting tired and hungry. Kris actually had to ask the nurse to leave our room for a little while so we could discuss our options. It was time to call for back-up. Kris sent out a prayer request and called Sharon for some advice.

After talking to Sharon we knew that I had to get into some different laboring positions in order to keep progressing. I laid over the back of the bed face down to change my position. Kris also kept reminding me every contraction to continue to stimulate my breasts (not going to lie, I was getting pretty tired of hearing him say it). Doing this releases hormones that help the rogression of labor. I could tell the contractions were getting closer together and more intense. At this point I really thought I couldn't do it anymore and really wanted the epidural. Kris continued to be upportive and remind me that I was almost there...but I wasn't sure I was buying that, I still wanted the epidural.

All the sudden I was feeling the urge to push! I told the nurse and Kris that I was feeling the urge to push. She doubted that was really true since she had just checked me 15 minutes earlier and I was still at a 7. She ask if I wanted more Nubain and some pitocin, I agreed. So she checked me again - the look on her face was priceless - I had gone from a 7 to a 10 in 15 minutes (the power of prayer)! She agreed that I probably WAS feeling the urge to push.

She encouraged me not to push, to wait for the doctors (which I ignored and continued to push cause it felt better than contracting). I remember asking what happened to my Nubain; she commented that it was too late for that? I was going to have to do this with no meds - I wasn't sure I had it in me, but at this point it was too late to turn back. Kris continued to coach me and help me breath through the contractions, which were coming every minute or so at this point. At 3:30 the doctors and nurses were set up and they were ready for me to start pushing!

Then all the sudden - stage fright...the contractions stopped for 8 minutes. Nothing, everyone was just sitting there waiting. Finally they came back and I continued to push. Kris and the nurse held my feet and encouraged me that they could see the head! Finally after an hour of pushing Kris exclaimed - he's out!! I was so happy - I had done it and with no drugs!! At 4:38 pm, after 14 hours of labor, Edward Asher Von Hohn was born! He was 8 lbs 2 oz and 20.5 inches long!

I remember asking the doctor if I had to continue to push for the afterbirth, he said no that it would come out on it's own. What he failed to mention was that they would practically karate chop my stomach in order to get the plicenta out. After about 3 minutes the plicenta was out and I was done. We had done it, no drugs, no epidural, no c-section. Praise God our little boy was here! I was so happy! I of course immediatly ordered some food!





Friday, August 20, 2010

Maternity Pics - 26 Weeks.

I still need to post pics of our super awesome trip to Mexico! In the mean time, we went to Austin last weekend to visit our good friends, the Guesskids. Elizabeth is starting her own photography studio and took some maternity photos of me. She did such an awesome job! If any of you are in the Austin area and want some fun family photos, I highly recommend Elizabeth - email me and I'll put you in contact with her!

Here are a few of the fab photos:






Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Babymoon

Kris and I are back from our babymoon on Isla Mujeres...we had a fabulous time! The resort was so wonderful, the weather was perfect, and the food was so amazing...our favorite thing we did on the trip was swim with whalesharks (which aren't actually a whale or a shark, but rather, a giant fish). Here's a pic of the fun...more to come later!

Friday, June 25, 2010

Week 18 Momma and Baby Pics

Here are pics from week 18. We went in for our ultrasound on Tuesday - we're having a baby BOY!! Still right on track for a November 20 due date.




Baby BOY Von Hohn pics:






He def has 5 toes on that foot!




The whole 3D thing kinda trips me out...but I do think he has my nose...Kris thinks it's too early to tell :)

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Guard Dog

I'm home sick today and when I woke up from my nap I looked outside and this is what I saw...







Glad to know that Pate is so diligent at guarding the house during the day :)

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Pregnant Belly - Week 15

Okay so a bunch of you (mainly my 4 sister-in-laws) have been asking for pregger belly pics. Kris took these pics a week ago...you can't really see much so far, mainly cause I'm just now getting to the point where I'm keeping food down. But I have started to feel my pants getting a little tighter and my bellies a little flabbier, but that could be the lack of working out - not sure?

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Wednesday, May 19, 2010

What we've been up to

Okay so I've been really bad at updating the blog lately, I'm going to blame it on the fatigue and morning sickness (which really should be called all day long sickness)...but really it's more just because we've been busy lately. So what have we been up to... Baylor Men's Basketball was in town for the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight - it was super fun to go see them play - Go Bears!


Kris threw me a super, awesome surprise party for my 30th b-day!


I started a new job in mid April at Direct Energy and am really enjoying it. The hours are much better than in public and I really like the group I'm working with. Greenway is a super fun area of town to work in. Everyone switch your electric provider to DE!!


We had a super-fun crawfish boil with our Sunday School class, Found. The weather could not have been more perfect for it!

We've also been to the family lake house in East Texas several times to view the progression of the build out and wrap up the loose ends up there. Kris planted wild flowers and put up a bird feeder and bird houses, hopefully the birds are enjoying their new habitat. Puppy Pate always enjoys trips to the lakehouse, he particularly loves attacking the sprinklers!

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Back by popular demand...

PUPPY PATE!!

He's a giant...he's only about half grown but already weighs about 55lbs.






Thursday, March 4, 2010

Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

I love, love, love the rodeo! Did you know that this is the 78th year of the HLSR? 22,000 Houstonians volunteer annually to make it a success! "It's the world's largest livestock exhibition, world's richest regular-season rodeo and the Southwest's premier entertainment event." In 2009 almost 2 million people attended the rodeo making it the third largest fair or festival in North America. Since 1932 the rodeo has contributed more than $250 million to schalorships, research and other educational programs. And if that isn't enough...the mutton busting is sure to be a hit!



It's so much fun, this year we're going with a group of friends to see the Black Eyed Peas - I can't wait!!

Puppy Pate Update



So puppy Pate has been growning like a weed...he went in for his 5 month shots and microchip and he now weighs 42 pounds - yikes! Appearently there was a Mastiff in there earlier the same age as him and he didn't weigh as much!

He's doing really, he can sit, heal, stay, fetch, come and kinda lay down (he's not too great at that one). He's starting to bite less which is really nice, but he's still ALL PUPPY!!

Here he is fetching Martin, he's favorite squirl toy (that recently took a trip to the lake house and didn't return, I think he made a break for it).


He's such a happy puppy!

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Projects

Now that I know how to sew, I've had a lot of fun doing little projects around the house...

A few weeks ago I painted and upholstered this bench (which didn't require any sewing, but it did require cutting the material, which I think is the hardest part). It now sits at the foot of our bed with a "His" and "Hers" basket for misc. stuff found laying around the house...

I also made this fun apron with Rachel and Sam. We all got together a few weeks ago and cut the patterns and then finished them on our own, it was a lot of fun. Here's the finished product:

Here is it on...which isn't the best picture since I was taking it of myself.

My latest project was a pillow for our guest room. I'm quite proud of this one cause it was the first time I had used trim and velcro and because it only took me 2 hours from start to finish!! I was worried that I would get done and my pillow insert wouldn't fit inside...but it did!

Here's Trinity helping out...


Here I am inserting the pillow into it's case.


AND here is it...resting in it's new home in the guest room!