Update

Cienna had her 2-week appointment on Wednesday and all is well. She had grown an inch and gained nearly 2 pounds to weigh 9 pounds 8 ounces! She was 7 pounds 12 ounces at birth. She's a great nurser, needless to say. :)

Monday evening was momentous for us. Tim helped Cedric go potty in his potty chair for the first time, while I was changing Cienna and discovered her umbilical cord had fallen off. Such milestones. Tim and I have such fun with these things. :)

Here are some of my favorite pictures we've taken recently:

It has been tough adjusting to 2 children. I feel bad not being able to give 100% of my attention to either of them. Oh, sometimes I can, but not like I want to. I know it's how God designed the family and that it teaches children that they are not the center of the universe (a valuable lesson). But it hurts to see Cedric struggling with it and to have to leave Cienna to cry once in a while. I don't want either of them to be lonely and feel insecure. I guess pain is what causes growth, and I need to let Cedric feel it. Change is never easy but it is good. Especially this kind of change.

Picure comparisons

Here are a couple picture comparisons with Cienna. It's fun to see who she looks like. I think she looks most like Tim but with a feminine flare. :) First comparison is of Cedric and Cienna and the second shows what I think is a resemblence to Tim's mom whose middle name is also "Yvonne". Check it out:

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Cedric - 4 days old

Cienna - 3 days old

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Cienna - 18 hours old

Diane - Tim's Mom

Cienna Yvonne Vassar's Birth Story

August 24, 2008 Sunday

Around 1:20am on Sunday morning I woke up with stong contractions that kept coming every 5 minutes or so and lasting 45 to 50 seconds each despite a shower, drinking lots of water, and pacing around the house. Earlier that evening I had thought there was a possibility that my water had broken, but it turned out later not to be so. After an hour, I decided to call Tim home from work. He was so excited! He had guessed that I was going to have the little one on Sunday. A little later I went ahead and called Mom and Dad as well, and they headed down the hill.

The contractions continued and by the time Mom and Dad got there around 4am, I had been having 45-50 second contractions about every 3 minutes for over an hour. They continued that way until 5am when I went to bed to lie down for a while. At that point they slowed down to one contractions every 15 to 20 minutes. I slept until 7am while everyone else snoozed on the couches or worked on the computer. After getting up the contractions continued to stall so Mom, Tim and I went for an energetic walk while Dad stayed with Cedric. That 20+ minute walk didn’t do much at all for the contractions so we decided to go out to breakfast at Whistlers. I ate light and the contractions continued to come only every 15 or 20 minutes.

After coming home we decided to go ahead and call our doctor to let her know what had been going on. She was doing rounds at the hospital so she had us come in to get checked. So while Dad watched Cedric again, Mom, Tim and I went to the hospital. She confirmed that my water had in fact not broken yet but that I was dilated to 3 cm. She really did not expect the contractions to continue to stall much longer and sent us home with orders to call her on her cell phone if we wanted her to come by our house to check me or when we were heading to the hospital. Since things had slowed down so much, Mom and Dad went home to get some things done. We were to call them if anything changed.

The contractions began to pick up a bit around noon and were stronger. Cedric, Tim and I took a nap, and around 1:30pm or so the contractions started waking me up and sped up to about every 10 minutes and were definitely more intense. That carried on for a while before I called Mom and Dad again. They arrived around 4pm. They all sat outside and watched me pace. The contractions were pretty reactive to rest. Every time I sat down on the birth ball they would slow way down, so I did a lot of walking. We timed contractions between 4:30 and 5:30 and they averaged between 2 to 3 minutes apart, lasing for 50+ seconds, and were strong enough to need to lean on something and stop talking through them. Somewhere in that length of time I lost my mucus plug. About 5:30am I had several contractions only a minute apart so we finally decided to go to the hospital.

We met Dr. Bolz there, and after I changed she checked dilation and I was only at a 6. At that point I really started considering having her break my water since I was already getting tired. After she returned after a half hour (6:30pm) I had jumped up to 8 cm. We went ahead and had her break the water anyway with the hope it would get things really rolling, but it didn’t work out that way. The contractions definitely became more intense at that point, but we still had a couple hours to go.

The best position for me was sitting on the ball with Tim holding my head against his stomach while I rocked my hips. I had more back labor this time than with Cedric, and I had to work harder with breathing through each contraction. Around 8:30 we moved up onto the bed, but I still wasn’t fully dilated. That was so dissapointing! I stayed on the bed at that point. There may have been a better position but I really didn’t want to move to find out. It wasn’t particularly obvious, but I believe I hit transition while on the bed.

Finally around 9pm I had the urge to push. It’s amazing how out-of-the-blue it comes. Tim and the nurse were the only ones there, and the nurse was very calm and encouraging, but Tim let her know that last time I only pushed for 10 minutes. Hearing that, she went for the doctor right away. After she returned, Tim went to get Mom and Grammy. Dad sat with Cedric right outside the curtain. Mom and Tim held my legs.

I didn’t get much break between pushing contractions. They were long and hard. I spent most of the time with my eyes closed. I even declined feeling the head as it crowned which I was able to do with Cedric.

Dr. Bolz came in and checked me and announced that I was indeed fully dilated and gave me the go ahead to push. So I did. She turned around to get set up and when she turned back around Cienna was crowning. She was like “Whoa!” and Tim said her apron was only half on and she whipped her gloves on superhero-fast. Not much else was set up. Cienna was born after only 3 pushes. I believe it was around 7 minutes or so from the first urge to push. It was such a relief when she finally slipped out, and it was so sweet to hear the words “It’s a girl!”. She was 7 pounds 12 ounces and 20 inches long, born at 9:06pm.

As Dr. Bolz checked her breathing, I slipped off my shirt so that I could really hold and feel my little girl when she was soon handed up to me. I cannot say how sweet it was to finally hold her and see her. We couldn’t believe all that dark hair! She didn’t cry at all at the beginning. Tim and I were concerned that she wasn’t crying or visibly breathing while we held her, but she was turning pink so all was well. She finally cried when they suctioned her nose again. She has been a pretty laid back baby, never getting all worked up over the normal things baby’s do, like diaper or clothes changes.

After a little while we had Dad come in with Cedric. Cedric watched Cienna from his grammy’s arms as Dad cut the cord. Mom cutting Cedric’s cord and Dad cutting Cienna’s cord has had such special symbolism of their support and the role they play in our children’s lives. Cedric soon needed to take a closer look, so he cuddled in on my left side. He was so affectionate to Cienna, repeatedly asking to give hugs and kisses. He had a good time listening to her heartbeat with a stethoscope that Dr. Bolz gave him. The first time he said her name he called her “Ceena”. It was so special to have Grammy there last minute and being able to join us in the delivery room.

We left the hospital at 4am and were home when Cedric woke up. Mom had stayed with him at our place. Recovery has gone really well. I thought for sure I had ripped but it turned out I hadn’t at all. Nursing contractions have been worse this time around, several rivaling transition contractions, but they are nearly gone now by day 4. Cienna is a great nurser and has been sleeping well.

This birth went so differently than I was expecting. And very different from Cedric’s. But it was as good and precious and will always be one of my most treasured memories. There may be only one or two other experiences in life where the outcome is as significant as giving birth to a new life. And even fewer are as difficult. To me, that combo makes giving birth possibly the most valuable experience a woman could have.

A few pictures

I'll write the birth story later and there's more pictures to go through as well. I'll send them out as I can!

Cienna Yvonne at 18 hours old.

Born at 9:06pm on August 24, 2008
20" long, 7.12 pounds

Look at all that dark hair! So different from the nearly bald, blonde Cedric.

Kisses for "Ceena"

Listening to Cienna's heart.

A family of four.

Cian's arrival and other things...

It was so wonderful being there when Cian Timothy Nelson was born. I will treasure that experience always. Cian is such a handsome, healthy boy! I think he has Holly's eyes and Tim's nose and mouth, and it's great to finally have a dark-haired baby among the "Hollenbeck" cousins. Four boys (so far)... what adventures they (and we) will have! :)

I loved watching a midwife at work. She was so calm, respectful, confident, and encouraging, and you could tell that her heart is in what she does. It was empowering to watch Holly successfully fulfill her dream of laboring and birthing peacefully and naturally.

My favorite moment after Cian was born was when, as Holly held him, Cian looked up and stared wide-eyed and intently at Holly's face for a good long minute, just absorbing his mama, this woman who's voice he knows so well. It was beautiful.

Of course, I am now more anxious than ever to have this baby. I feel so much bigger and heavier with this one than I did with Cedric. Everything is a big effort. There are so many things that I want to get cleaned or accomplished before this little one arrives, but my belly and swelling ankles won't allow it. I guess it's just time to take it easy and wait. Probably just another week or two.

Tim finished another refinishing project. Here is the "before" picture (without the drawers):

And here are the "after" pictures. Light green is the main color for our nursery:




Isn't that a great paint job, especially for a child's room??? I love it. Tim plans to eventually refinish that little 3-drawer dresser next to the big one. He'll stain it the same shade as the first dresser and use the same hardware. We'll eventually have a whole set of matching furniture for the kids' room!

Birth Plan

Below is our completed birth plan, thoroughly discussed with and signed by our doctor today.

She's an awesome doctor. I think she's as close as you can come to having a homebirth without actually staying home and being attended by a midwife. She lives only a couple blocks away and has given us her cell #. We're to call her when we go into labor for sure and she'll likely head over and check me at home. If it's at night she said she'll just snooze on our couch for a while. Then we'll head to the hospital (3 minutes away) to deliver the baby and head home within a few hours. Since labor was only 8 hours for Cedric with 10 minutes of pushing, she's expecting this one to come pretty fast. She warned not to stay home too long or we may seriously end up with a homebirth after all. I just really do not want to end up having the baby in the car!

Anyway, here is the birth plan:

Tim & Lindy Vassar's Birth Plan

Our goal is to deliver our 2nd child as naturally and safely as possible. We view childbirth as an inherently normal and safe process and as a profound rite of passage, even if medical care must be a part of the birth.

We ask that no procedure, large or small, be performed without our full knowledge and consent. Please provide us with information on all available options with adequate time to ask questions and to make our decision.

Lindy's mother and two sisters may be present at the birth. We ask that during labor family and friends may come and go as we see fit.

Thank you for all your hard work and support in making this special time as peaceful and intimate as possible!

First Stage:
· Keep vaginal exams to a minimum.
· Intermittent external fetal monitoring.
· No IV unless mother becomes dehydrated, will accept heparin lock if necessary.
· Please do not offer chemical pain relief.

Induction and Augmentation:
· We prefer to use natural methods. No labor stimulants or the artificial rupture of membranes unless absolutely necessary. Under normal circumstances there is no hurry.

Second Stage:
· Prefer a natural tear to an episiotomy. Please use compresses, massage, and support to help avoid a tear.
· Mother to push at her own pace. Under normal circumstances there is no hurry.
· Use of delivery aids such as manually spinning or pulling the baby only with parents’ full consent.

Third Stage:
· Spontaneous placenta separation and delivery encouraged by nursing and fundus massage only. Please no cord traction, use of pitocin, or scraping of uterus. Under normal circumstances there is no hurry.
· We would like to view the placenta before it is discarded.
· Ideally, we would prefer to be discharged home within a few hours of birth.
· If baby is Rh positive, we will return within 72 hours for the Rho (D) immune globulin injection.

Baby Care:
· Baby held and nursed by mother immediately.
· One of parents to stay with baby at all times.
· Delay clamping of cord until cord stops pulsing. Grandfather to cut the cord after mother is draped.
· Delay routine examining until parents and 2-year-old brother have had sufficient time alone with baby.
· Breastfeeding only please.
· Baby will receive its first bath at home.
· We refuse the erythromycin/prophylactic eye treatment.
· We refuse the vitamin K injection. If abnormal circumstances exist, we may choose to administer oral vitamin K ourselves, which we will have with us.
· We refuse the hepatitis B vaccine.
· We refuse the newborn screening routinely done before discharge. We will return to have it done when baby is 1 week of age.

Tim's project

We have been using this decrepid old dresser that Tim had gotten for $5 several years ago as a changing table. The drawers were falling apart, the knobs were loose and at least one was missing. It was quite ugly with scratches and nicks, so Tim decided to refinish it and fix the drawers before this new baby arrives. Here are the before and after pictures.


Cedric spent some time helping his daddy sand. Tim would sand and then blow off the dust, and Cedric copied his every move. It was fun to watch.

Here is the finished product. It's beautiful and as good as new! I am so pleased to have it in the nursery now. :)

We have another, larger dresser that needs refinishing as well. Tim plans to start that project this week. I'll send the before and after pictures when he finishes that one.