Nori's Birth Story

The night before Nori was born, that last thing on our minds was the thought that we could have a baby the next day. She wasn't due for almost 3 more weeks which seemed like forever! So yeah, we still  hadn't done a thing to get ready. We hadn't bought diapers, we didn't have clothes, (I made the mistake of giving all my girl clothes away after having Cam) We didn't even have car seat to bring her home in! But my babies never come early, so instead of getting stuff ready..

Taber and the girls camped outside in the igloo! (see previous post) 

Taber didn't get much sleep, but who needs sleep? It's not like we were going to have a baby the next day… 

The next morning was business as usual,  Cam made breakfast...

         

And the girls and I headed down to my sister's house for my niece's birthday party. I was planning on running errands during the kiddie party to get ready for the masquerade work party that me and Taber were going to that night,  but I was feeling super tired so I just sat on my sister's couch and watched the festivities. 

While I was sitting there I adjusted my position and suddenly felt a little gush of liquid. I stood up and told my sister, "Um I think just peed my pants." (Pregnant ladies pee their pants sometimes, it's cool.)

My sister (whose water broke before) looked at me and said, "No, I bet your water broke." I just laughed. In my mind I was like, "My water never breaks on it's own. My baby isn't due for almost 3 more weeks. I have a party to go to. I just peed my pants."

I got up to go the bathroom and noticed some spotting in my underwear. For a split second I was like, "wait a second, DID my water break?" But I didn't feel any contractions, so I continued my state of denial and went back to the couch. When the party got over my sister offered to keep the girls at her house so I could go to the hospital. Her gut told her I was having a baby that night.  I said she was being ridiculous and loaded them up in the car for the 45 minute drive home. 

My sister's gut feeling did have me a little nervous though. What if I went into labor on the drive home? Maybe I should call Taber... No, that would stress him out. It's fine, I'm not having a baby.

I did have one pretty strong contraction on the drive home but that was it. Naomi's gut feeling was obviously a false alarm, so we stopped at the party store to look for masks for the masquerade party that night. 

While we were at the party store Brinley said she had to go potty so we all crowded into the bathroom and since we were all in there, we all went. When it was my turn I noticed a lot more spotting in my underwear. Suddenly my gut started sharing feelings with Naomi's gut…I did a quick internet search on my phone to see what it means when your water breaks. All the results indicated I would most likely be having a baby within the next 48 hours. Oh snap!

When we got home Taber asked how the party was and if the babysitter was still on for that night. I told him the party was great, and that we should definitely still have the babysitter come. Then I said, "Also I don't want to alarm you, but I think we're going to have a baby in the next 48 hours."

Taber's eyes got huge and his breathing started to accelerate. 

"What do you mean? What does that mean?! What do we have to do? Oh my gosh nothing's ready!" 

 He started running around the house looking for…I'm not sure what, a hospital bag maybe? Yeah, we hadn't packed one yet.    

I told him to calm down and that I wasn't in labor yet, I wasn't even having contractions! I said we could still go to the party and see if labor started on it's own. He wasn't having any of that. He wanted to call the doctor. So I did, just to show him that everything was fine. The doctor said to come to the hospital so we could take a test to see if my water had really broken. I started to think we might not be going to the masquerade party that night. 

Our neighbors came over to watch the kids until the babysitter got there. I was glad we at least already had a babysitter lined up for the night. When we got to the hospital I didn't even bring in my bag because I figured we would take the test, everything would be fine, and they would send us home. 

Not the case. The test came back positive that my water did indeed break. "So does that mean we have to stay?" I asked the nurse. "yes ma'am!" She said, "You're having this baby tonight!"

And that's when things got real.

They started an IV and got some pitocin going. I tell you what, when your water has already broken, and you've already birthed 3 babies it doesn't take much pitocin to get the party started. 30 minutes after they started the IV I felt my first contraction. OW!!! My body wasn't messing around. 2 minutes later came the next one. OW!! One after another every 2 minute they came. Big, body wrenching, eyeball bursting, sledge hammer contractions …15 minutes later I was like, "OKAY PEOPLE IT'S EPIDURAL TIME!" 

Just a note, you should really never wait until you NEED an epidural to ask for one, since it still takes them at last 30 minutes to get the anesthesiologist in there to give it to you. By the time he got in there I was in tears. Luckily experience had taught me that despite the way they felt, the contractions would not actually kill me, so I only cried silent "this hurts." tears and not frantic, "I'M GOING TO DIE!" tears. 

The epidural went in and each contraction hurt less and less. Oh the sweet beautiful relief of a blessed epidural!! Praise whoever invented that glorious cocktail of goodness!

15 minutes after the epidural my OB came in and told the nurses to turn up the pitocin, put me in stirrups and get ready to push. I was like, What? Reeally? It's pushing time already? How far am I even dilated? 

The nurse went to check and was like, "Whoa! there's the head!" And then it got all crazy in there. The doctor started barking orders while the nurses ran around suiting him up in his baby catching gear, getting the cart ready, and telling me not to push. 

"I'm not pushing, but the baby is coming!!"

"Wait!" Said the doctor.

"Sorry!"

Pop!

 Out came her little head.

"Stop!" he said.

The cord was wrapped twice around her neck.

"Sorry Dad, you're not going to be able to cut this one." he told Taber

Taber was like, "do what you gotta do Doc."

 The Doc did some ninja moves and her neck was free.

One more push and the rest of her came out.

6 lbs 1oz and 18 inches of perfection.

From the first contraction till that peanut was in my arms was about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Not too shabby.

We did it!

When we went into the hospital my favorite name was Kensington, but when we looked at this girl we knew she was a Nori. 

Nori Ke'alohi Rigg

Oh my we were smitten!

Naomi's family came to visit the next day.

And so did some neighbors and friends. Grandma Karen even flew in last minute even though her original baby visit flight was scheduled for several weeks later. She just couldn't wait. 

The girls came to see her and it was love at first sight.

Cam wasn't too impressed. 

He wouldn't even look at her without some bribery from the iPad and a popsicle.

Family of 6! (Cam was still working on warming up to her.)

Mommy and her girls. 

First diaper change goes to Daddy!

He didn't mind. Anything for his princess.

Even though she was early and a tiny little thing, she still had the most scrumptious little cheeks. 

Welcome to the world baby Nori!

You are perfectly perfect in every way.

Big Mama at the Bulls game!

The last week of pregnancy isn't my favorite. I get so big and uncomfortable and pretty much just feel like hibernating in my pajamas and avoiding all contact with the outer world.  But a week before Nori was born Taber scored some tickets to a Bulls game, and that was exciting enough to convince big mama to put on some clothes and get out of the house. 

The weather outside was frightful, but inside the Untied Center was one big party.

 It felt so good to be out of the house! I even let the Chicago Bull take a photo op with Big Mama.

Those Bulls put on a good show, when the flying bull blimp started cruising around the arena I was like, "This is awesome!"

 Naomi and Kevin came with us and we had a good old time. The Bulls were destroying the 76ers, so there wasn't a question of whether or not they would win, but they have a deal with McDonalds that if the Bulls score over 100 points, everyone at the game gets a free Big Mac! When the score starting climbing into the 90's the whole crowd started chanting, "BIG MAC! BIG MAC!!" Every basket they scored set the crowd on fire as we got one point closer to greasy goodness on a bun. With seconds to spare, the Bulls sunk the last basket that tipped us over 100. The whole arena exploded!!

The cheerleaders ran laps with giant Big Macs on a stick. Everyone was going NUTS!! It was awesome!

Totally worth shedding my pajamas and getting out of the house!

Speedy Delivery!

This is kind of long, but for those of you who wanted the details, here's Brinley's birth story:

A couple nights before Brinley was born I had some strong contractions that would last for a few hours and then fade away. Every time it happened we would get excited, pack our bags, and then be totally disappointed when nothing came of it. So Tuesday night when I started having contractions at 9:30 p.m. I didn’t think anything of it. I told Taber we should just keep getting ready for bed and not worry about them. Well after 5 or 6 really hard ones that seemed to come pretty close together I started to think this was the real thing. I told Taber to call the babysitter, but he was still scared about getting our hopes up so he told me to lie down and see if they started to fade. They just kept getting stronger though and at 10:40 p.m. we called the babysitter and started frantically loading up the car. At this point I was in a ton of pain and was seriously rethinking my decision to try doing this naturally.

We left for the hospital at 11:00 p.m. and it was the longest and worst car ride of my life! The contractions were only 2-3 minutes apart and in the car I just couldn’t get my mind in the right place to control the pain. We got to the hospital at 11:35 and I was already dilated to an 8 and going through transition. My Dr. was actually there on call and when they wheeled me upstairs I said, “Oh Dr. Moore! I don’t want a natural birth anymore!! Please oh please give me some drugs!” She assured me they would get me some as soon as my labs came back. Meanwhile the contractions were one on top of the other and I swear I thought I was going to die! I had Taber’s hand in one hand and the nurse’s hand in the other and was squeezing them both so hard I thought I’d break their fingers. I was shouting out all kinds of things and dramatically calling on the heavens for relief like a fired up preacher. I kept asking for my epidural but by the time my labs came back I was already complete and dilated to a 10 and ready to push. Still, I didn’t care; I was honestly at the brink of sanity and just wanted some kind of relief before I had to push. So at literally the last second possible they gave me a shot that helped numb me up (and only lasted for an hour) and 10 minutes later Brinley was born. I can’t believe she was born just 45 minutes after getting to the hospital! It was a very fast labor and delivery. From my first contraction to her birth was less than 3 hours. Next time we’re getting in the car the minute the contractions start hurting!

Looking back I probably could’ve just sucked it up and pushed through the pain for 10 more minutes and had my totally natural birth, but at the same time that shot was so glorious and the relief so heavenly, that I really can’t say I regret it. It wore off quickly too and I was up and walking in no time. My recovery this time around has been sooooo much better than it was with Teya. Not sure if that’s because the labor was so fast or because I didn’t get an epidural. Either way I’m just happy that she got her safely and just can’t wait to take her home!

Right after giving birth, tired, relieved, grateful and happy it's over!

Rigg Family of Four!

Brinley Grace Rigg is Here!

Brinley arrived early this morning at 12:17 a.m. She weighs 6 lbs 10 oz, is 19 inches long and has black hair. We're still at the hospital but everyone is doing great! We'll post more pictures and details when we get a chance!

The newest little Rigglet

Daddy's little girl

eyes open

lots of black hair!

An "exciting" Friday

Last weekend after eating Thai food with some friends, I opened my fortune cookie and it said, "This coming Friday will be an exciting time for you." I totally freaked out and got super excited and thought, "There you have it! The baby is coming on the 4th of July!!!" Why I got excited about some bogus piece of paper in a cookie is beyond me! I'm really not a superstitious person, but for some reason I thought this cookie knew something we didn't, so all week I was preparing myself for our little firecracker to arrive. On Thursday night, nothing had happened yet, so I decided to help things along and went on a major power walk. I had contractions for a few hours afterward and got so excited I made Taber pack our hospital bags.

Well the next morning, still no baby! So I went on another power walk and then we headed out to find some raspberry leaf tea. All day long I walked and walked, I swear I must've walked at least 10 miles. By 4pm my feet were swollen, my legs were exhausted, and I was still as pregnant as ever with no sign of impending labor. Finally I resigned myself to the fact that the "something exciting" wasn't going to be baby. Unfortunately I hadn't made any 4th of July plans since I thought I'd be in the hospital (hehe! I'm so silly) But luckily some friends called and invited us to go watch fireworks with them at the local college. It was Teya's first time seeing the fireworks and I was impressed that she didn't get scared since usually loud things frighten her. Instead she just sat in Taber's lap and held tightly to his arms and said, "It's okay Daddy, fireworks not loud, they're cool!" So at the end of the day the fireworks provided our something exciting, and I learned an important lesson about not putting too much stock into the words of a fortune cookie!!

Hanging out with daddy just before the fireworks started

Teya and me (still very pregnant)

Snacking on popcorn before the show

covering her ears during the grand finale (it got a little loud)

Baby Shower

Today my wonderful friend Norma threw me a baby shower. She probably has no idea how much it meant to me, but it really touched me so much that she did it. We've only been in Tennessee for a year and sometimes it's hard to be away from family and close friends. When I got pregnant I thought it would be hard to have a baby and be far away from everyone. I'm happy to say that I was completely wrong, as my wonderful friends out here have been so supportive and truly made me feel like I have a family out in Tennessee. We had a great turn out, ate delicious food, played fun games and got lots of darling presents for baby girl. Thanks to everyone who came, and especially to Norma for putting in all the work to make it happen!

The yummy munchie spread
The daughters of the awesome families we home and visit teach
Me and Norma, one of the coolest people I've meet in Tennessee

Diaper cake
Games and presents

Pregnancy Watch

36 Weeks along

30 lbs gained

2 cm dilated

50% effaced

100% excited for baby to get here!!!!

We're getting down to the last few weeks and Taber and I are feeling the baby buzz excitement! We went up in the attic and pulled down a bunch of Teya's old baby things. Bassinet, car seat, baby bouncer, and some clothes are now washed and ready for baby. Also one of my awesome friends from church is throwing me a baby shower this Saturday so I think this little girl is going to be set! I'm definitely looking forward to being able to walk instead of waddle, sleep on my tummy, eat after 8pm without fear of heartburn, tie my shoes without breaking a sweat, and most importantly, holding this sweet baby bean!

Epidural or Natural Delivery?

With D-day exactly 2 months from today I've been thinking more about how I want to do labor this time around. With Teya I had an epidural after I got to a 5, and believe me, I thought I was dying at that point! Problem was, the epidural slowed down my labor, I fell asleep, and by the time I was ready to push it had worn off. I asked for another one and they gave it to me but then my leg was numb for weeks afterward and I had to see a neurologist to figure out what was up.

Anyway, so I guess the epidural, though wonderful and a huge relief, still wasn't the greatest experience because I just hated not being able to walk, feel my legs, know if I was even pushing, etc...Also Teya was super groggy when she was born from being so drugged up.

So I've been considering doing it natural this time but still need to do a lot of research and don't really know all the pros and cons. Plus, I honestly don't know if I'm up for that, though I guess if I was born 150 years ago it wouldn't be an option, whether I thought I was up to it or not! If anyone has researched this subject, gone through a natural delivery, or has any advice to offer up I'd greatly appreciate any insights I can get. Knowledge is power right?

Pregnancy update!

Spring is here and my belly is in full bloom! My tummy has grown quite a bit in the last few weeks and has really popped out. Maybe it's because I'm short, but more likely it's because I just really love to eat : ) I got plenty of comments about it at church on Sunday, especially from my precious 12 year old Sunday school kids who said something like,"Wow, your baby must be huge!" I thought it was sweet that they didn't say YOU are huge. Bless their hearts.
I'm feeling good though. With my bigger size I've definitely slowed down a bit. It's harder to carry Teya around and she's thrown plenty of fits because I won't hold her. I figure she'll have to get used to that though once the baby is here. Also with my bigger belly has come the always fun occurrence of heartburn. : ( Rolaids, Tums, and Mylanta are my new best friends! I don't go anywhere without them!

The baby is really packing some punches these days and Taber has been able to feel some impressive kicks. She is very active and gets especially hyper when she hears kids playing. Seriously, when we were in Utah and Teya and her cousins were running around, screaming in delight, the baby was pounding on me like she couldn't wait to come out and join the fun. I think she's going to be a party animal. : ) Also while we were in Utah we went to a little Gender Ultrasound place at the mall to get another peek and we were able to confirm that she is indeed, still a girl.

So that's the latest and greatest on my pregnancy! Just 12 and 1/2 weeks to go!

How long can you keep a secret?

Well I have been keeping one for 20 weeks and I’m ready to let it out:

I’m Pregnant!

Baby Rigg #2 will be joining us in early July. (Due date is July 14^th)

We thought since we don’t live by family, it would be fun to keep it a secret until we found out the gender. We didn’t think it would be a problem to keep a secret for 20 weeks, but I’ll admit, it’s been harder than I thought. Especially since we went out to visit family for Thanksgiving and Christmas! Sure I was only in my first trimester, but I was also dealing with morning sickness. Luckily all the holiday food made a good cover. When I felt sick I just told people I ate too much. It was also a good excuse for my poochy belly. : ) Another road bump we hit was when my little sister noticed a different “aura” about me and asked me point blank if I was pregnant. Yikes! So here’s my confession to the world, I lied! (Sorry Liz!) I felt bad because she was so sure and even predicted the gender (which, as we found out today, she was right about!) So yes, it was tricky when we were staying with my family, but since we’ve been back in Tennessee it’s been smooth sailing.

So today we went to our 20 week ultrasound and found out that Teya will be getting a new little sister! Taber’s first reaction was, “Whoa, there’s gonna be a lot of hairspray around here!” But after getting over the shock of being out numbered 3 to 1, he is very happy to be expecting another little girl.

As far as my pregnancy goes, I was only sick for about 4 weeks in the beginning, but once I hit the 11^th week it got a lot better. I feel great now and am totally starting to show. In fact, I swear my belly just popped out overnight about 2 days ago! (I’m sure it doesn’t help that I’ve had mad cravings for Girl Scout cookies and other calorie laden goodies) I don’t mind the belly though. Teya likes to rub it and say “I got you baby, I got you” She also gives it hugs and kisses and always asks to “see” the baby. I think she’s going to be a great big sister.

Another fun fact is that two of my sisters are or were pregnant at the same time as me. Naomi just had her baby at the end of January, and Sarah is due 5 weeks after me! We actually took a funny picture at Naomi’s baby shower with Sarah and me stuffing our shirts to look pregnant. At the time, neither of us had announced our pregnancies, so even though all three of us are really pregnant in the picture, nobody else knew!

So now the secret’s out! 20 weeks down, 20 to go!