Soren's Birth Story

(the nurses gave him this cute red hat for Valentine's Day)

Soren Thatcher Sandberg was born on Saturday, February 13, 2016 at 1:00pm - 41 weeks and 1 day. Weighing 7lbs 12oz and 21.5 inches long. He came with a full head of dark hair and mellow little personality. He definitely made his momma learn a little patience waiting that extra week to get here but it was totally worth the wait! At my 40 week appt I was dilated to a 5 and 90% effaced. I couldn't believe he hadn't made his appearance yet, especially because Ames came on his due date. I was a little nervous I was going to be giving birth to a 10 lb baby (Ames was 9lbs) if he waited any longer. I really wanted a natural birth again though so I decided to wait it out. I think everyone thought I was crazy and I got asked on the daily if I was going to be induced. Fortunately I'm lucky and really wasn't too uncomfortable - just at nighttime - the hardest part was just not knowing when he would come and wanting to meet him so badly!

Well early Saturday morning (about 2:30am) I woke up having bad period like cramps. I honestly didn't know what early labor would feel like because with Ames I woke up in the middle of the night with contractions 3 min apart and in full on labor. So this time I wasn't sure if it was labor or not. The pain was pretty consistent though, about every 15 min I would feel the cramping so I figured it might be it. I was finally able to go back to sleep at about 4:30 in the morning and slept until 8. I woke up still not feeling anything too painful and feeling like the timing wasn't very regular either. We had decided to get out of the house that day and go down to Scheel's and use all of the gift cards Landon has accumulated from Christmas and credit card rewards. I made pancakes and we started getting ready for the day and that's when it all started to kick in. I got out of the shower and told Landon I didn't think we would be going anywhere but straight to the hospital. The contractions got stronger pretty quickly and I didn't even manage to finish getting ready for the day before we headed out the door. We hurriedly tried to find someone to take Ames because both of our parents were out of town for the weekend on trips they had planned a while back thinking he would have been born already. Our awesome neighbor came and took Ames to her house and we were off.

Contractions were 3-4 minutes apart when we left the house. Luckily my midwife had given me her cell number and told me to text her when we were on our way. She knew he would come fast once I finally went into labor because I was so far dilated and effaced. We got to the hospital and literally within 1 hour Soren was born.

My midwife came in the room shortly after we got to the hospital, I was dilated to an 8 and she broke my water. I know some of you will hate me for saying this but I honestly couldn't believe it when I felt the urge to start pushing an hour later. I felt like the contractions weren't painful enough yet. I don't know if I was just coping with them really well using my breathing or what but it was all just so fast and so insane. With Ames I was in labor for about 7 hours which still isn't that long but it was long enough that I sort of went into a brain fog and don't really remember the pain of pushing him out. So I will say that I did feel that ring of fire everyone talks about this time.

It was such a completely different experience this time around though. I kept telling my midwife and Landon that I couldn't believe it was going this fast. I knew my labor would be shorter than with Ames but I didn't expect to be pushing him out within an hour. It honestly was invigorating and really amazing to be so coherent when he came out and to experience everything so differently than I did with my first labor. Don't get me wrong, my labor with Ames went great but I was exhausted by the end and like I said was in a bit of a brain fog so I didn't get to experience it in the same way.

My midwife was amazing and helped me through every contraction, along with Landon, and the plan was to go a little slower once I started pushing so I wouldn't tear (she doesn't do episiotomies which I was glad to hear because I didn't want one with Ames. The doctor talked me into it - of course I'm going to say yes when I'm in pain and want to get the kid out of me!) but Soren's heart rate dropped to the 60-70 range when I started pushing, so they needed to get him out sooner than later. We found out after that it was because the cord had been wrapped around his neck. So 2 pushes and he was out! Unfortunately that meant I did tear, but for good reason, and it has been a heck of a lot better healing than with an episiotomy so I can't complain.

Postpartum has been great this time around. I did have my placenta encapsulated again just to be safe since I had such bad postpartum anxiety with Ames. My midwife also suggested taking fish oil, so 2 months before I had Soren I started taking it. I don't know if it was the short labor, the witch doctor pills, or what, but I'm feeling great! I just wish it wasn't flu season so I could get out of the house more. Luckily Spring isn't too far away and the weather has been great so we can get outside a bit.

Soren does have a bit of jaundice like Ames did which I was worried about because it affected his feeding, but luckily Soren's isn't too bad and we don't have to have him on lights. He also hasn't been overly sleepy and has been eating great. We couldn't be happier or more excited to finally have him here!

Ames has been doing pretty good. He loves to share things with Soren and help me take care of him. We have definitely seen a side of him that we haven't and don't want to see again though. Ames is normally a pretty obedient kid and isn't a huge tantrum thrower. The other night when Landon tried to get him ready for bed he literally was screaming at the top of his lungs for a good 15-20 min because he didn't want to take a bath. He's also being really resistant with eating dinner along with a few other things. I feel bad and expected some what of an adjustment period, but hopefully we can get back to normal soon. He definitely still has his sweet moments luckily, so I can remember why I love him so much ;)

Also if you're wondering where his name came from, both are family names. Soren is my great-great-great grandfather on my mom's side, and Thatcher is Landon's grandma's maiden name.