The Ivy Birth Story

What's great about this is that there's not really MUCH story to this, unlike Liberty's crazy labor. It's an answer to prayer that the Lord would take care of this, our last delivery, by allowing things to go smoothly.

It was pretty much textbook, fueled by the iron will and tremendous spirit of my bride. Savannah, you're amazing!

OK, the story:

I got home from work, as usual, at 7 p.m. Wednesday night. Savannah had planned to leave as soon as I got home to pick up groceries to make some meals for postpartum life. Dinner was sort of loosey-goosey, as we didn't have many groceries, so I quickly made myself a grilled cheese sandwich.

Savannah wasn't leaving for the store. "Why aren't you leaving?" I asked. "I don't know... I feel sort of different."

Then Savannah revealed that she had to pee a lot, and then after she'd go, she'd feel wet. Long story short, we determined that she was leaking amniotic fluid -- that her bag of waters had ruptured. We called the labor and delivery folks at the hospital, and they told us to come in.

Sheila and Anna, Savannah's mom and sister, had just left the house before I got home from work to help Savannah. So when we made "the call" to have them come back to watch London and Liberty, we were so relieved that they hadn't made it home to Vancouver yet; they actually only made it as far as Gresham.

It was hard to leave once Sheila and Anna got to our house. London and Liberty didn't want us to leave, and London in particular got very clingy. It was tough to see him so emotional. It was especially hard on Savannah, which showed the differences between men and women during times like these. I was sympathetic to London, but all-business: we had to get out of there.

Savannah had a few contractions on the way to Kaiser Sunnyside Hospital, but was still all smiles and very much "with it." After filling out a ton of paperwork (which we thought we already had "pre-registered"), we were shown our room at about 9 p.m.

The doctor couldn't immediately identify that Savannah was leaking amniotic fluid, but the monitors were clearly showing signs that labor had begun. After a second test of the fluid, they determined the bag of waters had ruptured (turns out she was leaking from the TOP of the bag of waters), and Sav finally was admitted to the hospital. We were assigned a really bubbly, cheerful, Christ-following nurse -- just the kind that puts Savannah at ease. (PTL!)

Labor was fairly uneventful and calm for the first two hours, with contractions starting and stopping at various times. It wasn't until just before 11 p.m. that the magnitude of the foreshocks started to pick up.

I hunted down a birthing ball and Savannah moved from the hospital bed to that, which was much more comfortable to her. From then on, though, labor really sped up. The contractions were hard, long and close together. At about midnight she started acting as if pushing was coming, although neither of us had any idea how far along she was in the process. (The doctors didn't check her dilation because they had checked her amniotic fluid instead, and they said that they wanted to avoid checking multiple times due to the risk of contamination.)

I called the doctor and the nurse at this point because I had a feeling we were close. They quickly saw that Savannah was at 9cm and that labor was coming to a climax. She had to get back on the bed, which was excruciating for her, and soldiered through crazy contractions -- with no pain meds, mind you -- for the next 20 minutes or so. Finally, she began to push.

Ivy Soleil Hathcock was born at 12:24 a.m. on Thursday, March 3 -- the day before Savannah's birthday -- weighing in at 7 lbs., 2.5 ounces (our smallest baby) and stretching to 20.5 inches (longer than London, shorter than Liberty). Ivy's heart rate was stable and fairly chill the entire labor, and she came out sporting a fashionable boa -- her umbilical cord, draped around her body in a stylish criss-cross pattern.

I can't say enough about my wife. Three pregnancies -- no medication. No complications. No problems. She breathed through the pain and kept her eyes on the prize. I not only would have asked for an epidural, I would have asked to be put under. She was smiling through much of her labor, and was smiling soon after Ivy's arrival. She's a real testament to the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, and my hero. What a great mommy.

Our prayer going into this was for wisdom and discernment for us and the medical staff, a safe delivery, and for the entire process to be a worship experience. We are grateful for the uneventfulness of the process that led to such a beautiful, magnanimous conclusion.

Ivy is very alert, with inquisitive eyes. The consensus is that she has Mom's nose, Mom's monkey toes and Mom's "boo-boo" sad lower lip. She does have my dark hair -- possibly the most hair out of all three kids at birth. Her little cry is pretty musical. Her skin color was given all 9s by the staff, and breathing and temperature seem good. Savannah's in great shape, too!

We are truly blessed!

Go Time!

It's 11 p.m. on Wednesday, March 2, and we're at Kaiser Sunnyside. Savannah is in early labor, but the contractions are picking up. Her water broke earlier today, but it was enough of a trickle that she wasn't sure what was going on until I got home from work. She's doing really well, and I'm so proud of her. Chances are, we're going to see little Ivy Soleil on Thursday, March 3!

DEFCON 2

A baby update... we are at DEFCON 2.

According to Wikipedia, that means a "further increase in force readiness, but less than maximum readiness." DEFCON 1, of course means it's go time.

At her appointment today, Savannah learned she is 80 percent effaced and 2CM dilated. It's no longer a matter of days; it's a matter of hours. Let's see if Dad is right with his prediction that Ivy would be born on Friday, March 18.

I wonder if we'll make it to the baby shower! (We hope so; Grandma Nomi has put a LOT of work into it!)

And... we're back

So, it's been a good... uh... year since we last updated the Hathcock Family blog. Needless to say, life with two TODDLERS leaves little time for updating the blog. They like to push all the buttons on the keyboard, or they ask to watch "Dora" or "Diego" or "Dinosaur Train" or just "a moooovieee."

The reason we're getting back into the swing of things with the blog is that we're going to be adding our third (and final) addition to the family, Ms. Ivy Soleil Hathcock, any day now. I was just reading about the awesome story that surrounded Liberty's birth just two years ago. (I saw "awesome" not because it was all good -- it wasn't -- but because it truly is a memorable one.)

Over the past few weeks, all our energy has gone towards getting ready for Ivy, and for getting over illnesses. Poor Liberty, in the mix of it all, didn't have a birthday party (yet?) and had a fairly subdued birthday -- although I don't know if you'd call Chuck E. Cheese and a fondue dinner "subdued" for a two-year-old.

We had our first false alarm tonight, Feb. 16, as Savannah began to feel some strong contractions and her body cleaned itself out. We've all put in our bets as to when Ivy will come on the scene. Savannah thinks it will be Monday, Feb. 21 -- President's Day -- and I've predicted it will be tomorrow, Friday, Feb. 18. The funny thing about that is that Savannah's baby shower is scheduled for this Saturday, the 19th. We'll see what happens!

This is where we'll post everything once stuff starts happening (and even if it doesn't)!

The Liberty story

OK, here's how it went down:

As you read earlier, we had a scare Friday before last: contractions that got our attention, but went away once Savannah got ill. So when I (Marcus) woke up Wednesday morning, Feb. 4, I wasn't sure what to think when my wife told me she was having some contractions.

The contractions were about 11 minutes apart for about an hour, and then they just stopped. So, disappointed, I went to work at about 8:20. But just as I was pulling up to East Hill, I got a call from Savannah, telling me that the contractions were back, and that they hurt A LOT worse. I told her to keep an eye on them, and to let me know if things looked like they were getting worse.

I got one task done at work before I got a call from Savannah, frantic and in pain. I knew it was time to go home fairly soon. So I went to our HR department, filled out my family leave request, and rushed back to my office to send off an e-mail to tie up loose ends. Before I could jet off, my office was filled with two-dozen or so prayer warriors -- staff from the church -- who anointed me, prayed for healing (I have a cold) and asked God's protection over Savannah and the baby. It was moving to have so many people covering us in prayer.

Then, like a bat out of hell, I made the trip from Gresham to Sandy in a personal-best 9 minutes.

When I got home, Savannah was in the downstairs bathroom, working through a contraction as London was playing in the living room, oblivious. I grabbed the three things I needed -- this laptop, our phone charger and some cough drops -- and tossed London in the car.

The tough part was getting Savannah out of the apartment. She was clearly in pain, and was working through some difficult contractions.

"Savannah," I said, "We have to leave, honey." She responded by telling me to knock it off (I chuckled... she slugged me... I chuckled again) and that she was in too much pain to move. I realized that if we didn't get out of there soon, we weren't going to get out of there at all. Things had progressed extremely quickly. I finally was able to escort her out the door and into the car.

The car ride from Sandy to Clackamas must have been excruciating for Savannah. Her contractions went from 5 minutes apart to 3 minutes apart, and I realized that Liberty was a LOT closer than I had thought. I drove up to 80 mph on Highways 26 and 212, trying to weave through some sluggish mid-morning traffic.

I noticed Savannah had entered the climactic Transition Phase when she was sort of in her own little world and didn't respond well to my voice or touch. She basically was like a turtle in her shell. When that happened -- somewhere in Happy Valley -- I realized we had to MOVE.

I blew a red light -- almost two -- and I zoomed down Sunnyside as Savannah said, "HURRY!" By the way she was holding her pelvis I could tell she wanted to PUSH!

We got to the hospital -- finally -- and I was at a loss for what to do. My initial instinct was to leave London in the car, while it was running, as I escorted my bride to the nurses... but Savannah told me to grab the boy. I turned off the car, plucked London out, and stayed with Savannah until a team of like a half-dozen people descended on her.

Then I met up with Savannah's mom, Sheila, to pass off London and grab our labor and postpartum stuff that was packed in the car. I knew I had to hurry because I was afraid Savannah would have the baby without me!

With serious adrenaline, I somehow grabbed a trunkload of stuff and hoofed it to the labor and delivery room... and seconds after I set everything down, the pushing started. PUSHING? She walked in at a 9.5 dilation! I could not believe how quickly everything went!

Just THIRTY MINUTES after getting checked in, Liberty Haven was born at 11:06 a.m. She was born face-up (which resulted in a couple nose scratches) and with no complications. Her skin color was rated a 10 (the best!) and breathing and everything has been flawless! She needs a little nudging to eat thus far, but is handling it like a champ!

[[Interesting facts: Grandpa Steve showed up about an hour after Liberty was born, because he heard Savannah was in labor and wanted to see how things were going... little did he know, Liberty was born! Also, our nurse, Sarah, told us that had her son been a girl, her name would have been Liberty. Her son's name? London!]]

Liberty is such a doll. She has a cute cry, curious soulful eyes, a fuzzy head, ruby lips and a relaxed disposition. We couldn't be happier! She got her first shot, her first bath, first spa treatment (hair-washing, which she loved!) and has been so graceful.

She truly represents her name: A gal who makes us feel such freedom and rest. Praise Jesus for a truly perfect day.

I asked Savannah, "So, if you had to choose a labor like London's or Liberty's, which would you choose?" Without question, she said, "Like Liberty."

Check out the photos in our last post, or visit my (Marcus's) page on Facebook.

Liberty: Any day now!

Well, Liberty is on her way!

See the countdown clock in the upper right hand corner? It says how long until Liberty's due date, Feb. 7.

Well, she's probably not going to wait that long. Doc says Savannah's probably going to go early, and by the looks of things, I'm guessing that our girl's going to be here within a WEEK!

Check out these signs of imminent labor. Savannah's got all of these but the water breaking.

Even as I type this Wednesday night, Savannah's having some short contractions within a decent amount of time. We're really excited, but not 100 percent prepared (as in, totally packed with a complete birth plan...)!

London, still, is unaware that his fancy-free days of only-childdom are coming to an end. Today he blew me a kiss when I asked him to over the phone. He's been playing with an old stethoscope (Dr. London) and is learning new words every day. On this video below, he even says "I don't know" for the first time.

Enjoy!