Madilyn Lee Becher's Birth Story

It was 4 days before my official due date of November 25^th. I was getting very anxious and very uncomfortable! My hands and feet were so swollen that all I could wear were flip flops. I could not find a position to sit, stand, or lay down that was comfortable. My bags were all packed and Miles and I were ready for our baby girl to arrive! On Tuesday November 20^th, I was at work and many people had told me I should try sitting on an exercise ball to possibly induce labor. I figured it wouldn’t hurt anything so I sat at my desk bouncing away on the ball. I went home, relaxed and didn’t think much of it as I didn’t feel any different. 

We went to bed that night not knowing our lives were about to change! At 1am I woke up and felt a gush of water…either I peed my pants (hey, I was 9 months pregnant, that was definitely a possibility!) or my water broke! I was still half asleep so I nudged Miles and tried to tell him what happened. After a few attempts he finally picked out the words “water” and “broke”. He flew into action immediately! I on the other hand slowly got out of bed and started going through my checklist of items to grab for our stay at the hospital. After calling the doctor, we were advised to wait until my first contraction to come to the hospital (if no contractions started we were supposed to go to the hospital in the morning because my water had already broken). I took a shower and did a few things around the house because I definitely couldn’t sit still. (One thing I never learned from all my pregnancy classes…apparently when your water breaks, its not just a one time gush of fluid…it’s a constant leak after that! Not fun, but at least I knew my labor had started and I didn’t have to worry about counting contractions!) 

I felt a contraction around 2am so we headed to the hospital. After I was admitted I don’t remember too much of what happened until later in the morning. I tried to sleep some and we started making phone calls to family. Probably around 8am my contractions were getting stronger and I requested some pain meds via IV. The medication basically knocked me out in between contractions so I would sleep, wake up to a contraction, and then fall back to sleep. I did this for a while and then decided to try out the Jacuzzi to see if it would ease some of the pain from contractions. At this point I was in a lot of pain and I was very vocal during contractions! My mom said I sounded like I was singing opera, I thought I sounded like a beached whale. It was about 11:30am and I couldn’t handle it anymore…time for an epidural!! I had immediate relief and was instantly in a great mood. I was able to get some rest for the next hour or so and my body did some awesome work. When I was checked a little while later I was fully dilated and effaced and ready to go! We had to wait a little while for the doctor to get there but at least I wasn’t in any pain. I was completely numb from the waist down so I never felt the desire to push as many women do. Because I couldn’t feel anything it was a little difficult to push, but with a lot of direction from my doctor, I only had to push for a little over 30 minutes. 

Finally, it was time to meet our baby girl!! Miles was ready to catch her! He was able to actually help deliver Maddie, which was an amazing experience for us both. Maddie gave us a little scare, as the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck, but the doctor calmly clamped it and Miles was able to cut it. And then all of a sudden my baby girl was placed on my chest and she was absolutely perfect!!! I was able to snuggle with her for a minute or so before they took her to clean and measure her. I’ll never forget that precious moment that Miles and I got to share as we met our baby girl for the first time! She was born at 3:26pm and she was 7lb 6oz and 19.5in long. 

Our happy little family!

1 month flew by!!

I love her smiles, they melt my heart!

38 Weeks!

This may or may not be my last pregnancy post! We’ll see if I make it to 40 weeks! I might even go to 42 weeks (Let’s hope not!!). Just in case, I’ve had fun with this questionnaire and thank you to everyone who reads it! I will try to be good about updating this blog after Miss Madilyn comes!! Can’t wait!!

How far along? 38 weeks

Maternity  clothes? Can I just start wearing muumuus all the time? Uncomfortable in pretty much all my clothes now. I’ve stolen some of Miles’ clothes now too.

Stretch marks? Still none on my belly!

Sleep: Not going so well. I am too uncomfortable to sleep much. I just toss and turn (which is a workout!) and get up to go to the bathroom a lot.

Best moment these last 2 weeks: Packed my hospital bags and got the nursery pretty much complete! Also had a OB appt last week and I’m “progressing” so that’s a good sign!!

Miss Anything? Being pain free! Mainly my hands and feet hurt and get tingly b/c they get really swollen.

Movement: Yea, she’s still a crazy girl! She has “dropped” so she’s putting even more pressure on my bladder but less on my lungs. 

Food Cravings: Milk!

Anything making you queasy or sick: I’ve had some weird pains in my upper abdomen and it kinda makes me nauseous.

Gender: Maddie girl

Labor Signs: A lot of Braxton-hicks contractions! Not painful really but weird. Maddie “dropping”.

Symptoms: A lot. All the same stuff, sore and achy entire body!!! I’m really starting to waddle now!

Belly Button in or out? Even

Wedding rings on or off? Off, let’s hope it fits soon after I have Maddie!

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!!! And getting anxious to meet her! I don’t like not having any idea when she might come! (I’m not good with surprises!!). Will it be today or 3 more weeks?!?

Looking forward to: Getting all my to-do list stuff done. I have a lot of little things I need to get done, nothing that HAS to get done but stuff I can do to better prepare. (cleaning, work stuff, etc!) And who knows, I might get to meet our Maddie girl very soon!!!!

36 Weeks

Jennie at 30 weeks and me at 36 weeks. Didn't even mean to match!

Our Halloween costumes! Farmer and a nice fat cow!

The tree decal is absolutely perfect!! Love it! Also we bought the crib bedding!

Dresser/changing table (I need to organize it!) and Maddie's name blocks put up on the wall.

We took maternity pictures last week. 3 of my favorites!...

How far along? 36 weeks

Maternity clothes? Yep. My options are getting pretty limited but with only one month left I’m not buying anything new. I’ll make do with what I have.

Stretch marks? Still none on my stomach surprisingly.

Sleep: Not too bad. I’ve been exhausted lately so when I finally lay down I pass out pretty quickly. Just wake up for trips to the bathroom and heartburn sometimes. 

Best moment these last 2 weeks: My mom and I put up the tree decal in the nursery and it looks amazing; I can’t stop going in there and looking at how cute everything is! The nursery is coming together, I just need to get some more shelves and organizational items.

Miss Anything? Being comfortable. Only a few more weeks to go though!!

Movement: Yep! She hasn’t really slowed down much even though she’s getting bigger. She still flips all over and her elbows and knees poke out my belly. I swear she’s gonna bust out of my stomach one of these days!

Food Cravings: Spicy foods and chocolate. (not together). I ate a whole bag of jalapeño chips and I really need to get some chocolate ice cream! 

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope

Gender: Girly

Labor Signs: Nothing noticeable

Symptoms: Heartburn, swollen fingers and feet, sore back, stuffy nose.

Belly Button in or out? Still even, but it’s pretty weird looking now.

Wedding rings on or off? Off, and the substitute ring doesn’t fit anymore either. I found an old thumb ring that fits pretty well. Poor chubby fingers!

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy! I can’t believe it’s less than one month til her due date! I have everything I “need” for her arrival. Now I just need to get into nesting mode and start cleaning our house like crazy.

Looking forward to: Enjoying the last few weeks without a baby, b/c I know our lives are going to be drastically changed (for the better of course!!) Getting all the final preparations ready and looking forward to meeting our little girly soon!

34 Weeks!

  Miles and I decided to wear our Tiger's shirts this week in support of our Tiger's who are in the playoffs right now. Up 2-0 on the Yankees!

How far along? 34 weeks

Maternity  clothes? Yep, my tummy is getting pretty big!

Stretch marks? Nothing new luckily

Sleep: I’ve been tossing and turning a lot which is pretty hard when I have to flop my belly back and forth and take my body pillow with me! Haha.

Best moment these last 2 weeks: Had another baby shower yesterday and Maddie got so many cute things! We have almost everything we “need” and also almost everything we “want”. Now to use all the gift cards to get the rest of the stuff.

Miss Anything? Being comfortable; anywhere I sit or stand I’m uncomfortable because of my back and feet aching.

Movement: Yep! She has figured out how to stick her little feet into my ribs which is so weird feeling!

Food Cravings: No, but my spice tolerance has gone up apparently. I made a Mexican dish and had to keep adding hot sauce. And for those of you that don’t know, I usually am a huge wimp about spice, as in BBQ sauce is too spicy normally!  

Anything making you queasy or sick: Not really, sometimes the heartburn makes me feel sick.

Gender: Baby Girl Madilyn

Labor Signs: No

Symptoms: My hands and feet keep getting so swollen. Achy back. All that fun stuff!

Belly Button in or out? Evened out, sometimes it pops out a little!

Wedding rings on or off? Sadly off.

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy! It’s getting closer…6 weeks to go!

Looking forward to: Getting the nursery organized and set up with all the new stuff. Also I need to pack my hospital bags soon in case Maddie decides to come early! (keep cooking away girly!)

32 Weeks!

 How far along? 32 weeks

Maternity  clothes? Yes, and it’s gotten to the point where some of my early maternity clothes are too tight now…time to buy even bigger stuff.

Stretch marks? Nothing new, slathering on the cocoa butter b/c I know my stomach has a lot more to grow.

Sleep: Ok, just hard to get comfy because of my back sometimes.

Best moment these last 2 weeks: BABY SHOWER!! Had my first one yesterday and it was so much fun! I’m so blessed with an amazing church family who got Maddie so many cute things! I’m starting to feel a little more prepared!

Miss Anything? Cracking my back! Haha…it’s so sore all the time but all I can do is stretch a little and put a heating pad on it.

Movement: Still like crazy, I can definitely tell she’s getting bigger in there! She’s the most active at night.

Food Cravings: No, but I did put peanut butter on my chocolate chip cookies last week. I’ve been eating more sweets compared to the beginning of my pregnancy.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope!

Gender: Baby Girl Madilyn

Labor Signs: No

Symptoms: Sore back and feet, and swollen fingers sometimes. The bottoms of my ribs are sore too, she’s taking up a lot more space in there.

Belly Button in or out? Evened out, sometimes it pops out a little!

Wedding rings on or off? Sadly off.

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy…especially now that I have more baby supplies and I can start organizing her nursery. 

Looking forward to: Miles and I are going on a baby-moon next weekend and going camping (in a pop-up camper). It’ll be nice to get away one last time with just the two of us (and Diesel). Also, I have another baby shower coming up so more goodies for baby girl!

 The beautiful and tasty cupcakes Jennie and her mom made!

All the presents before I started organizing and putting everything away!

30 Weeks!!

How far along? 30 weeks

Maternity clothes? Yep, and my mom bought me a pair of maternity jeans, so I finally have pants! Woohoo! I hope I have enough sweaters that will stretch over my belly with the fall coolness coming!

Stretch marks? None on my belly! (sadly a few on my behind…boo!)

Sleep: Some nights great, some nights not so great. My back hurts a lot so trying to find a comfy position takes a while sometimes.

Best moment these last 2 weeks: We started our parenting classes (4 classes in sept). They’ve been pretty informative and I’m learning about how much labor is going to hurt!! (yay for epidurals!) I also started going to the OB every two weeks so that means it’s getting closer!!

Miss Anything? My normal fall clothes…I have so many jeans and sweaters and none of them fit. And this is the first year where I’ve been super excited about fall weather! Oh well, I can still fit in my cute winter boots!

Movement: Still going like crazy. She is gonna be one active baby! I’ll put a book on my stomach and she’ll make it bob up and down, its so funny. She also gets hiccups a lot which is so cute!

Food Cravings: I’m just trying to learn what makes me have heart burn, which seems like everything! The only thing that helps is warm milk, which I add either chocolate or strawberry syrup to and it’s so tasty!!

Anything making you queasy or sick: My heartburn, ugh!!

Gender: Little Missy

Labor Signs: No; I think I may have felt a braxton-hicks contraction though…whatever it was it hurt!

Symptoms: Heartburn

Belly Button in or out? Even; sometimes out a little

Wedding rings on or off? Off. Can’t wait to wear it again!

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!! Every once in a while I start to feel a little overwhelmed because we’re getting closer to the big day…but I still can’t believe God has blessed us with a little baby girl and I cannot wait to meet her!! She is going to be so loved!

Looking forward to: My upcoming baby showers! I have 2 within the next month! I can’t wait to get all the baby supplies and start getting the nursery filled up!

28 Weeks!

How far along? 28 weeks

Maternity clothes? Yep!

Stretch marks? Nope!

Sleep: Just a lot of tossing and turning but it’s been pretty good lately.

Best moment these last 2 weeks: Feeling so much movement from Missy! She definitely doesn’t sleep a lot!. Also, finding out my friend Jennie is having a baby GIRL (due 6 weeks after me) so our girlies will be best friends!

Miss Anything? Getting so tired out and sore just from walking. I need to be more active though!

Movement: All the time. She has figured out how much room she has and likes to stretch out! There’s been a few times where she almost takes my breath away from her sudden kicks and jabs! Haha.

Food Cravings: Nothing crazy yet.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope!

Gender: Baby Girl Madilyn

Labor Signs: No

Symptoms: Sore back and feet. Swollen fingers and I think my face is getting a little chubby.

Belly Button in or out? Evened out, sometimes it pops out a little!

Wedding rings on or off? Sadly off.

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy! I just love sitting and watching my belly dance and I love going in the nursery and looking through all her cute clothes!

Looking forward to: Another doctor appt this week (but I have to do the glucose test so I have to drink the orange syrup nastiness!! Ugh) I just like hearing that everything is going well though!