Welcome Baby Hazel

1 week old

Hazel Jean Durtschi arrived Friday, May 14, 2011 at 8:46 pm via csection. She was 7 lbs 14 oz and 19.5 inches long. I started going into labor around noon, Mike took me to the birthing center around 4 pm. I'll admit it was painful. The Hypnobabies stuff wasn't working for me. Ever since I had the rash, I could never ever really get into a deep hypnosis when I practiced for the last two weeks. So anyone who does it naturally is awesome.

I finally got an internal exam because my contractions were getting really close together and they were about 2 minutes long. I was 100% effaced and only 1 cm. My doula thought I would have been atleast 5 cm based on my contractions. The midwife felt a bum instead of a head. They did an ultrasound to confirm and then we had to transfer to a hospital.

I had an appointment that Monday and she was head down and since week 28 she was head down. I am pretty sure that the next day when I was trying to sleep on the lazy boy that she flipped. I am shocked because she was so much bigger than Olivia and there wasn't much room left.

During the csection the OB said that my scar was pretty thin and deteriorating and she thought my uterus could have ruptured if I would have done a VBAC and she would recommend in the future to only have csections. So while I wanted to do a VBAC, I don't feel too disappointed that I didn't because 1. it hurt like hell 2. I think Hazel knew what was best and decided that she needed to be breech so I could have a csection.

The things I hate about csections is the anxiety during the surgery and the recovery. People talk about the miracle of birth, I think it is the miracle of recover. I hate being in the hospital for 3 days and being confined to a bed. I hate not being able to sit up by myself for days and moving like a slow old lady. I hate being on pain medication. I hate the constipation caused by the pain killers and the anxiety about finally having a bowel movement. One thing I had this time around were killer hemorrhoids.

Unfortunately my PUPPP rash came back and I got super paranoid and that is all I have been able to think about the last week. It was torture and I don't want to go through that again but I started my routine and hopefully I have it under control meaning not spreading but itches like crazy. I have a lot of things to blog about but not much time.

On the bright side the thing I struggled with most with Olivia came really easy with Hazel. It was the nursing. Hazel was a natural and latched on like a pro. It also helped that I had some idea what I was doing. With Olivia I always did the football hold because of the csection and her body harness but the lactation consultant taught me how to do the cradle hold. I only feel comfortable nursing with the boppy pillow but hopefully I can get comfortable enough without it. My nipples did bleed a bit for 2 days but I caught it fast and it healed itself thankfully. And I can honestly say that BF doesn't hurt which I never experienced with Olivia. We have our bad days where I have a hard time getting her to latch properly but hopefully we will have more good days than bad.

PUPPPS aka pregnancy rash

So I broke out in a rash that is pregnancy related. I thought no big deal. I have had eczema before, I can handle this. Boy oh boy I was wrong. First of all I should have known better to not scratch it. But I did and it felt so good and it spread. It started out in my new stretch marks. And yes my belly is bigger than last time and I have gotten new stretch marks. I was using lavender oil but then it got really bad and it kept me up at night and I had to google it.

I am pretty sure my liver is being overloaded with the pregnancy and it is trying to detox through my skin. So I have been taking dandelion root to help support my liver and flax seed oil for the omega-3s. I have fish oil pills but sometimes they give me fishy burps so I stopped taking those a long time ago i.e first trimester. I have also been rubbing vinegar on the rash and it burns so bad but after it evaporates it brings me a lot of relief from the itch. I also went to the Boise coop yesterday and bought some Grandpa's pine tar soap which was highly recommended by many other pregnant women.

The weird thing about this rash is there is no one catch all solution. Different things work for different women. Even prescription medication doesn't work for all women. Most pregnant women get the rash at the end of the pregnancy but some also get it after they have the baby. My hope is I can get my rash to heal and manage the itch and hopefully it will clear up after I have the baby.

I know I have to do a liver detox. I can tell by the way my foot looks from foot zoning. I did a liver detox before I conceived Olivia and Hazel. Unfortunately I can't do a detox until I am done nursing. Anyway that is my complaint for the week and by far the rash has been the worst thing I have experienced while pregnant. Even worse than morning sickness.

Happy Easter

I have photos but that would require more work than I am prepared to do right now to download the photos and resize them for the blog. Our original plans were to spend Easter weekend in Boise but I had to attend a funeral in Logan so we spent Easter with Mike's family. Both of my sisters came for the funeral from California so it was nice to see them.

Mike's family had a big Easter party with their neighborhood and Olivia had a great time playing with all the kids. She also enjoyed the Easter egg hunt but I think she liked playing with the flashlight more. Hopefully I can get some pictures uploaded this week.

Pregnancy update

So close yet so far away. Things are going really well other than I am uncomfortable. I broke out in a pregnancy rash which is just annoying but nothing serious. I started taking dandelion root yesterday so hopefully my flare ups will die down a bit. I have my bag packed and the babies stuff ready. I have been listening to my hypnobabies CDs. The only thing I have left to do is find a sitter for Olivia for when we go to the birthing center.

I got a pregnancy massage today and I have to say that I was super impressed. The massage therapist shares office space with my chiropractor and it was nice to go to someone who obviously has worked on a lot of pregnant women.

I don't have much motivation at this point to keep updating my blog because nothing is really going on so this might be one of my few entries until the baby comes.

Happy Birthday

It was my birthday yesterday. 30 years old. Didn't do anything spectacular but Mike did take me to lunch and we went to the park and ate some junk food. Today I had a chiropractor appointment thankfully. Tomorrow is Mike's birthday and hopefully we can get some nice weather and do something fun. It is hard to plan stuff to do when I am super pregnant. Hopefully my 30s will be just as exciting if not more than my 20s.

Pregnancy update

I had my 34 week appointment today and everything is going really well. I have been measuring a week bigger than my due date. My due date was based on the first day of my last period but when I had my ultrasound at 22 weeks the baby's measurements had my due date 5 days earlier. The birthing center left my due date later just in case I went over 40 weeks but my midwife said I have been measuring 1 week bigger which is exciting.

I am excited because hopefully the baby will come around her new due date which is almost a week earlier and if anyone has been pregnant knows time moves like molasses during the last month. So 5 days is a huge deal. It makes me a little nervous because that means I have less time to get my stuff ready for the baby. Really the only thing I am worried about is packing my hospital bag.

The midwife also asked me if this baby has felt different than my pregnancy with Olivia. I guess another mom who had a breech baby at first and a head down baby this time said she was in a lot more pain. I said exactly the same thing. I never ever had any discomfort in my hips with Olivia toward the end and this baby has been really uncomfortable. I figured it was because she is head down.

Another good thing is the baby is head down and she is sitting low enough the chances of her flipping are very very slim.

Placenta Encapsulation

Sounds weird but it is exactly what it sounds like. Putting the placenta into capsules. I am going to do it. My last prenatal I was asking about postpartum depression. I had it with Olivia. I didn't ever talk about it but it really sucked. I had to get on an antidepressant and I felt really guilty about it but it did make me feel a lot better. So my plan was to get on an antidepressant sooner than later with baby 2. I am pretty sure I wouldn't have given up on nursing if I wasn't so frustrated.

My midwife gave me a brochure on placenta encapsulation. She said it is quite popular in Boise. I did a lot of research and I know it sounds gross but based on what I knew already about other cultures the placenta is a really sacred organ. If it can help me avoid postpartum depression and recover quicker and it is all natural, it is definitely worth a try. I was going to wait to share but I though just maybe there might be someone out there that might consider it too. Here is the website of the person I am going through: http://synergybirthservices.com/PlacentaEncapsulation.aspx Here is a website with a lot of information and testimonialshttp://placentabenefits.info/: