Lilah's delayed cord clamping

We waited to have Lilah's cord clamped until it was done pulsing and here you can see little Lilah laying on my tummy after being born for about 4 min's and we're getting ready to clamp the cord so she can come up for a breast feed and then they'll remove the placenta. Nice details huh?! haha You can hear me say that I'm happy with at least a 2 min's delay and the midwives saying that it's been well over 2 min's and asking me if I want to clamp and cut now. You can also hear my labor ipod mix going in the background faintly, it was on James Blunt!









Lilah looking cute with her eyes open and awake. She's 4.5 weeks old here.

Boobie Drama

Some of you may have wondered what happened to my regular posting. I had a bit of a set back on Saturday and had to go into the hospital because I got so sick very quickly. I remember the nurses telling me that if I get flu like symptoms to come in right away but I couldn't remember what that was in regards to. I had a fever, the shivers and shakes, body aches out of this world, and a head ache that wouldn't quite. Turns out it was Mastitis. My doctor put me on IV antibiotics right away along with fluids and pain relief. I got to come home sometime around the 38 hour mark I was able to come home with prescriptions for two different types of antibiotics. I feel a lot better already but I'll feel a lot less worried once I'm told that it's completely gone!

I'll keep you updated... I get a breast scan later today and then I'll see the doctor again on Friday to reassess the situation. Lilah was a good baby and was able to come and stay in the hospital with me and has continued to breastfeed beautifully!

pictures from the hospital

I think she looks like me... what do you think?

Cousin Bethany knew just what babies liked!

Lilah makes Jade look like such a big girl aready! (Jade is 5 months old)

Proud Grandpa Kingsley & Grandma Jan

Jan was a super big help through out the whole process! She came along with me to scans and doctor appointments to help me manage Emmy and then when I went into the hospital she had Emmy full time for several days. We could not have done it without her help, love, and support! Grandpa Kingsley helped out a fair bit too and alos brought along his awesome camera. The best and most clear photographs were snapped by him! Thanks! Hugs, Love, and Kisses! **Sari

Lilah's Birth

We went into the hospital on Feb 25, 2009 at 7 pm. We started induction with cervigel and went to sleep early to get plenty of rest for what was to come.

SAY CHEESE!

The next morning the doctor said not too much has changed ( I was still 2 cm ) and that he wanted to give it to 2pm before reassessing if it was a good time to break my water or not.


By 10am I started having contractions. By 11 I was starting to get very uncomfortable and by noon the doctor was called back in to check me and he said it was a good time to break my water and remove the cervigel. I was told that my contractions would lighten up and slow down and be easier and that I wouldn't need my epidural yet. They were wrong! In the time between getting my water broke and getting my epidural ( noon - 2 pm ) I went from 2 cm to 8 cm. Full on natural labor during that time and let me tell you....... IT HURTS!!

Trying to get through a contraction and praying the epidural guy was close!

Once the epidural was in I started getting relief and every contraction I had from there on out was slowly getting less painful and shorter. When I was ready to push I wasn't in any pain and was very grateful for that!

We had the help of some awesome midwives that told me when to push hard and when to push lightly and they prevented me from having the trauma that happened with Emmy's birth. In the end I had to have 2 tiny stitches and I virtually had no swelling. I was on such a high and felt wonderful! At 3:27 pm on February 26, 2009 Miss Lilah Asenith Harrison was born!

Emmy meeting her sister for the first time!

While I ate some dinner and was waiting for my epidural to wear off a bit more so I could hit the shower Kim took Lilah down for her first bath. They both seemed to really enjoy it!

Once we got back to our room we all settled in and I continued to work on breastfeeding and Lilah made really good efforts to latch on properly but was not interested in feeding.

kim cutting the cord

the birthing tale

I don't have as much time as I'd like to spend typing this all up, but I'll do my best with what I have. My mom kept excellent notes on everything that happened so here's the play by play with my commentary:

This was the view from my labor suite!

Feb 28, 2008
7:00 pm checked into the hospital. The Monitor showing small contractions on my own.
I was very happy to know that it was kinda happening on it's own even though I couldn't feel them.

8:10 They inserted Prostin Ez Gel to soften the cervix.
Basicly the midwife punched into my va-jj with her a few fingers and smashed the gel into my cervix. I was not prepared for it to be so invasive or painful and had total fire crotch afterwords. I was begging for an ice pack to sooth the burning.



10:45 They gave me sleeping pills and pain pills and slept until 4 am.
This suprised me! I wouldn't have thought they would have given me anything but it was nice to have them! I planned on staying the night by myself since I was in the Labor Suite and not a recovery room, but I got a little scared and my mom and Kim decided to stay with me. My mom pulled up two chairs to sleep on and Kim slept in the Birthing Tub haha I felt sorry for them, but selfishly I was glad they stayed with me!!

Feb 29, 2008

6:00 am the monitor was put back on and there was little to no change in my contractions and no dilation of my cervix.

7:00 am second set of gel was inserted.
I had a new midwife by this point and she was very gentel about inserting the gels and I had no pain afterwards. So that just goes to show what a jerk the first lady was!


7:30 Breakfast
Because I wasn't in true Labor I was able to eat some breakfast! Yay for food!

8:00 I started to have some bleeding.

12:45 Dr. Brian Pete broke my water and there was slight concern about a little bit of Maconium.
So braking my water was pretty intense! It was painful ladies, but it was an interesting feeling and because I was laying down I got the rush of water coming out. haha

2:15 pm They had me walking to move me into labor and also bouncing on a yoga ball. Pains were getting harder but not where they should be.

2:45 pm IV was put in place.
I wasn't very excited that I had not gone into labor by this point and was dissapointed to know they were going to have to use drugs to make contractions. I also knew how bad it was going to be so I said I'd also like an epidural since my contractions would not be natural.

3:10 pm Fluids were started through IV. Oxytosin for contractions.

3:45 pm Epidural in place and a catheter.
I was now having massive painful contractions and I felt like my epidural was not working.

4:15 pm Meds for contractions ( Oxytosin) was increased to 24 mL and increased the Epidural.

5:05 pm Oxytosin was increased to 60 mL Vaginal check showed dilation at ONLY 4 cm. The midwife said I probably won't start pushing until after midnight!
By this point I thought I was going to die. I started sobbing when the midwife gave me her opinion on when she thought I'd start pushing.

5:20 pm Electrode was attached to Emerson's scalp to monitor her heart rate better.

5:45 pm Epidural increased again.
RELIEF RELIEF RELIEF!!! My epidural was in full swing and I was happy to just lay back and be calm. Any women that tries to give birth without one is FREAKING NUTS!! Now maybe under completely natural circumstances it would be different, but I was induced with everything they had 100%

6:00 pm Oxytosin was increased to 72 mL and said we'd do a dilation check at 9 pm.

6:45 pm Epidural was increased.
Normally they would have not given this last dose to me if they knew I was ready to push... hehe but man am I glad to have had it!

7:00 pm I felt some pressure pushing so the midwife took a peek and to everyone's surprise her head was showing and it was time for me to push! The midwife began to set up for delivery.


7:21 pm 15 min of pushing and Emerson Rose Harrison was born. 6 lbs 14 oz 20 inches long!
The midwife rolled out a big mirror and put it right down at the bottom so I could see everything going on. At first I was unsure if I wanted to watch because I was afraid if I saw it happening then I would feel it, but it was totally awesome. I did about 4 sets of 3 pushes and out she came. She was small enough that her head and body came out with one contraction, but she was large enough to still cause me some minor tearing. My doctor stitched me up and I got to lay there numb and unmobile for about 3 hours just holding Emmy and feeding her. I was quite pleased with myself in the fact that I was able to push so well without having any feeling of what was going on. My husband, mother, and sister in law were there to support me and help me and I really could not have done it without them. They were so wonderful!

10:30 pm I was able to walk to the bathroom for a shower with the help of my husband and a midwife.
I was in horror when I reached the part of cleaning down there. Ladies...... I know what it must feel like to have balls. I'm not kidding... I was so swallon and huge and it just was not right! I can laugh about it now and I hope you are laughing too, but it's just not so funny in the moment!!

11:00 pm Me, Kim. & Emmy went back to our private suite and settled in for the night. She is such a good baby and didn't cry at all and just wanted to sleep or be cuddled on.

I'll post more when I get the time to do it!!

thursday is the day!

Just a quick update here. I'm booked in for February 28th at 7 pm for induction at the Womens & Childrens Hospital! Yay! The doctor did some measurements during the scan and said Emerson will be around 6 pounds! How awesome is that!! I hope she'll be easy to squeeze out! I was way worried all the newborn clothes we have would not fit for longer than a week because she'd be this 9 pound baby, so now I don't have to worry about that!

My mom is in transit to LAX Airport as I type so please say a little prayer for her safe arrival here to Adelaide! Her flights were canceled from Indy to St Louis and St Louis to LA due to weather conditions so they sent her to Chicago then to LA. I bet she's so excited but also worried she'll miss the big flight out of LA, but I think it'll be just fine!

new induction date

We have a new induction date of Feb 28th. Which means she'll be *gasp* a Leap Year Baby! It won't be finalized until this Thursday, but we're 99% sure this is what will happen unless I go into labor myself before hand.



I'll be drinking Raspberry Leaf Tea from now until Feb 28th. I'm not confident it will do anything, but I'm willing to do anything that will help the doctors induction go as smoothly as possible but it was recommended to me by a midwife so cross your fingers!

In a study carried out in Sydney, Australia, 192 first-time mums were given at random either a 1.2g raspberry leaf tablet or a placebo twice a day from 32 weeks of pregnancy. The herb had no harmful effects on mother or baby, and those women who had taken raspberry leaf tablets were found to have a shorter second stage of labour and a lower rate of forceps delivery (19.3% versus 30.4%).

What does Red Raspberry Leaf Do? Red Raspberry leaf does not start labor or promote contractions.It is NOT an emmenagogue or oxytocic herb. What it does is help strengthen the pelvic and uterine muscles so that once labor does start the muscles will be more efficient.