Siena Fern Miller

Siena Fern Miller

June 23, 2021

4:09 AM

8 pound 5 ounces

20 inches

The best day ever.

Siena was due on June 13 and we were secretly hoping that she would come early (isn't everyone?). I had been walking miles every day, eating dates, raspberry tea, pineapple, spicy foods, bouncing on a yoga ball, doing the miles circuit, curb walking, etc. for weeks and my due date came and she didn't. She had been sitting pretty low for several months and had definitely dropped in the last few weeks. She had shocked several of our providers with how low she was so I figured she was ready to come soon! In the third trimester we had to have two extra ultrasounds because my belly was measuring small but at the ultrasounds Siena would be in the 70/80 percentile but since she was sitting so low she made my belly seem "small". She gave me a lot of hip/pelvis pain because she was so low. I hadn't really felt any crazy contractions but did have a lot of braxton hicks where my belly would get super tight but not really any pain. On some walks I would feel some mild contraction like pain.

At our 40 week appointment I got checked and I was a 0 which was disappointing because I figured with her being so low she would have at least had some progress. The midwife did struggle to even get to my cervix because Siena's head was in the way.

One week went by and still no signs of her coming. At our 41 week appointment, we got checked again and I was a 1 and 80% effaced. The midwife again had trouble getting around Siena's head to feel my cervix. She tried twice and had someone else come in to help. We had the doctor sweep my membranes. Both the midwife and the doctor were impressed with my pain tolerance and told me that giving birth was going to be a breeze for me.

After the appointment we went and got some cookies at the new Crumbl store and got taco bell with their hottest sauce to try to encourage labor. The rest of things are kinda a blur but I am going to try to write them down so we can remember in the future. My water broke sometime in the evening. It started with one bigger rush of water and then just kept coming out basically anytime I would sit up. Aaron went to the store to get me pads. After my water broke (I think around 6pm), I started having contractions. They were pretty painful from the start and about 3 minutes apart from the start. We called the hospital about my water breaking since that is one of the things to check in with them about and they told us to keep laboring at home if we felt comfortable. So we headed to bed to try to get some rest. I was up the entire night with non stop painful contractions. I could sleep for a few minutes between some but it was a rough night. In the morning when Aaron woke up he started helping me through the contractions with conterpressure, etc. The contractions were extremely painful and quite shocking to me. I thought I had a good pain tolerance so I didn't expect them to be pushing me to my limits from the start. We were in contact with the midwife on call throughout the morning. I took a shower to try to ease things, Aaron gave me a massage, etc. We tried to do as much as we could to labor at home and make things more comfortable but nothing really worked. Hot shower felt good and would slightly slow contractions but right when I got out they would be worse again. Aaron was a perfect birth partner and I wouldn't have made it that long without him.

By 11am my contractions were still coming every three minutes or less and were beyond painful for me. We felt like we should go to the hospital to have the midwife support and intervention options offered there since nothing at home was working. We figured I had to have made some good progress and the baby would be coming soon with how long I had been having consistent painful contractions for.

The 10 minute drive to the hospital was brutal and even worse was the wheelchair ride from the car to the labor and delivery unit. I was just silently crying trying to push through contractions while on the elevator with multiple other people, etc. It was horrible. Aaron was incredible and while we were wheeling throughout the hospital would stop when contractions where coming to try to give me a private place to breath through them. It took a few minutes to check in at Labor and Delivery and then we got to get set up in our room.

After arriving at the hospital things are a blur. I was working through contractions that were still super constant. Our midwife checked me after we arrived and I was only a 2, I was so disappointed (even though she told us not to be). We labored for a few hours or so without any progress. So the midwife suggested we get a morphine drip that would make me sleepy and help to give my body some rest so that it could progress. After they gave me that, I was able to fall asleep for a few hours which was a nice rest after no sleep the night before. I woke up when it wore off to contractions. After a while laboring through more contractions, I got checked and was still only a 2. At this point it has been over 24 hours of these contractions intense and close contractions with no progress and I was exhausted. The midwife suggested that I start pitocin. So I start pitocin around 6pm which made my contractions 100 times worse. We kept trying to labor, I got in the tub they had there, tried different positions, etc. It was brutal. After a few hours I couldn't handle it anymore and decided to get an epidural. The time between that decision and actually getting the epidural was the worst. The contractions were constant with no break so I felt like I had no time to recover in between and the guy wasn't making the pitocin happen quick enough ;) once that kicked in, it was a game changer. I could still feel some but it wasn't bad at all (comparatively). The epidural allowed me to get some more rest. We decide with the midwife that at 3am she would check me again.

At 3am she checked me and I was an 8! I progressed quickly from epidural to then to when we had Siena. I can't remember the timing but a little after checking me we started pushing and after only 25 minutes of pushing, we had our baby Siena. It was amazing! Aaron got to help pull her out and cut the cord.

I will never forget them pulling her up on my chest as Aaron and I just cried. We love her so much.

We spent the next two nights in the hospital and came home to Shellyne and my mom visiting. Addy still lived in Stafford, VA at the time so we had all the girls together which was so fun and super helpful for us. My mom ended up staying for two weeks to help out while Aaron went to MN for a conference. We had a lot of fun and are so lucky to have so much support!

Get ready for a photo overload of Siena's birth and first few weeks of life.

The only picture I have from laboring. Aaron heated me up some bath water and gave me a massage in between contractions, Best birth partner ever.

Relaxing in the hospital room after the epidural :)

Good times trying to smile through labor :/

Siena is here!

Cute chubby girl!

Hearing test! She passed :)

My two babies sleeping on the first night :)

Hospital meals :) So nice to not have to feed ourselves for a few meals.

Smiling at her dad from the start.

Going home on Friday (she was born Wednesday morning)! They let us leave with this girl?!

She lost a lot of weight in the first few days before leaving so they had me pump and us spoon feed her some food. We had a home health nurse come check on us the day after we left and she was already gaining a lot and on track. Then we had an appointment on Monday with the pediatrician to check on her.

First bath for our girl!

She wasn't a fan of her first bath but she has loved everyone since!

Cutie sleeping in her crib!

She was SO dry when she came out. Her feet took forever to peel and then get moisturized. Every time we took off her socks there would be dead skin flying everywhere.

She had the longest nails ever when she came out and had scratched herself everywhere - her stomach :/

Snuggling dad after school.

Aaron taking the visitors on a tour of the capital.

See that dry skin! So sad but apparently normal especially for overdue babies.

All the faces she makes are the best.

Helping Aaron study :)

Taking everyone out to ice cream to thank them for helping us so much! One of Siena's first car outings. She was pretty sassy in her carseat in the car at first. She doesn't mind being in the carseat if you are moving her/she is swinging but just being in the car wasn't her favorite. But she has grown up a bit and doesn't mind it now!

Tummy time!

Love this baby girl! We are so so so lucky to have her. She is the best! We say to each other a hundred times a day "she is perfect" "she is the best baby ever". Even when she wakes us up a million times a night and won't go down for naps :)