the crawford family

While to date Rose’s labor remains my hardest and most physically challenging, she is my only baby who didn’t go all high-maintenance during birth. Both her sisters had heart-rate drops, not Rose. Both her sisters had placenta issues, not Rose. I like this about Rosie. She’s a happy-go-lucky little girl who loves life, and I think she was ready to get started. I like that she behaved perfectly well during her debut into this world. Hers was also the easiest and best recovery. Middle child 1, other siblings 0.

(more…)

In the early morning hours of Tuesday, August 23, I woke up to use the bathroom at some point. Don’t know the time. I was quite uncomfortable, and thought I had downed way too much Chick-Fil-A lemonade before bed and had really held it in for too long. I went and then got back in bed, and my bladder and sides of my lower abdomen felt noticeably sore. Sometime later—could have been hours, could have been 20 minutes, I have no idea—I again woke with the feeling I really needed to use the bathroom. It was 4 a.m. I kicked my poor orange tabby cat out of the bed and sat up.

(more…)

Within minutes of my C-section with Jane Darby, my doctor made a point to tell me I’d be an excellent candidate for a future VBAC. I guess she wanted me to know right then so I could keep it in the back of my mind and be encouraged. I have always supposed my “excellent candidacy” was because I didn’t labor long at all with Jane Darby, and she never got close to being in my birth canal. For me, laboring a second child would really be like laboring a first.

I never really explored the idea of VBAC with Rose, not because I didn’t want to, but I just didn’t believe it would ever actually happen. The C-section hadn’t seemed all that bad to me, and I never felt like I needed to reclaim what was lost to me by having a baby via caesarean versus vaginally. Also, I think I was scared. What little labor I’d gone through had spiraled out of control very quickly, and VBACs carry some weighty risks. Terrifying, life-threatening, traumatic? Been there, done that, no thanks.

(more…)

Before I had children, I never thought I’d be someone who would have dramatic birth stories and surprise-in-the night deliveries. I also figured my babies would always be late, because my mom’s were. Perhaps when you’re short and your husband is 6’5″, you get more than you bargain for, because here I sit, new mom of three, and I’ve yet to ever make it to a due date. Actually, I’ve never made it to 38 weeks 5 days. And somehow my water has broken twice, and I have a C-section, VBAC (vaginal birth after caesarean) and natural no-drug delivery under my belt, in that order. My doc said there really isn’t any other way to have a baby, unless I want to have one on my bathroom floor. Drew doesn’t like that idea.

(more…)