Take your kids to work day?
Posted by Mark Armstrong Monday, March 31, 2008 10:32 AM 1 comments
Our Birth Story, by Margy Porter
Posted by Mark Armstrong 8:57 AM 0 comments
March 11, 2008 5:45pm
Joellen and Mark Armstrong were students in my childbirth class series at the Willamette Valley Medical Center. As it turned out, they were also good friends with several of my former Doula and Midwife-Assistant clients! That was a fun discovery. On the last night of class, Joellen asked me if I would be available to be a Doula for them, and if I'd consider bartering for payment. I was thrilled to serve them, and having Mark help me set up a website for my blooming Midwifery practice was a great trade!
Later that same week, Joellen felt she was having lots of contractions, and at an appointment with Dr. Barker she was assured that labor looked to be starting up soon. Unfortunately, it wasn't so. She was, in fact, having lots of contractions, but they didn't lead to labor right away. Joellen's uterus was doing its warm-up exercises, but wasn't in a hurry to shift to progressing labor. It was difficult to wait through the next two weeks, but Joellen and Mark found ways to pass the time.
Finally, on Monday March 10, Joellen started to feel noticeably stronger contractions at about 7 pm. She stayed around the house and felt things shift to become even stronger at 10:30 pm. She had a little applesauce to eat and laid down to rest for a bit. She even let Mark get some sleep as labor picked up momentum. At about 2:30am she decided to get Mark up and they made a trip to Winco to buy some food for Mark during labor. As they were leaving Winco they gave me a call at 3 am to say they thought they should head for the Birthing Center. I said I'd meet them there.
At WVMC, Joellen was settled into the exam room by Nurse Ellen, who checked Joellen's labor progress at 3: 15 am. She was 2-3 cm dilated, 80% effaced, and 0 station. Her cervix was stretchy, and Ellen was able to stretch it to a solid 3 cm. (I'm not sure what was up with the 0 station estimate, because later exams put her at-2 and -1 station.) Unfortunately, the exam made Joellen's cervix bleed more than usual, and Ellen became very concerned. She called Dr. Barker to come and take a look. Thankfully, Dr. Barker felt it was fine and pointed out that she had a friable cervix with a history of cervical bleeding during her pregnancy. Thus, admission procedures were completed and Joellen was moved to room 4, the only labor room without a soaking tub. As it turned out, she was moved to room 4 because of the concern about the bleeding, Ellen had felt that it was likely Joellen would be having a cesarean birth.
At 8 am, Dr. Barker arrived to check Joellen's progress and found that she was 3-4 cm dilated, and he was able to stretch her cervix to a solid 4 cm. Dr. Barker felt that this was slow progress, but still progress, and he suggested breaking her water to speed things up. Mark and Joellen talked and decided that they would like to go ahead with the rupture of membranes, which Dr. Barker performed at 8:20 am. LOTS of water! Mark and I helped Joellen onto the ball with a chux pad after about 10 minutes so that we could clean up the soaking wet bed. As we finished, Natasha Lawson, Joellen's Nurse-Midwife, arrived. She was a breath of fresh air and a great support to Mark and Joellen. She encouraged Mark and I to go eat breakfast while she stayed with Joellen, doing some back massage as Joellen sat on the ball. As it turned out, it was Natasha's birthday, too.
At about 11 am, Joellen asked to be checked so that she could decide about having an epidural. She was very clear in her request. Natasha found that she was 6 cm dilated and -2 station and Joellen decided that she wanted an epidural for pain relief The process of calling the anesthesiologist was initiated, and Joellen tried to settle into the bed to handle very strong contractions that she no longer had motivation to cope with. It was a very difficult time in her labor for both Joellen and Mark. Dr. Richardson, the anesthesiologist, arrived at 11:40
At 3:30 pm, Joellen was 9cm dilated, but no further descent of the baby's head. Natasha said that she was beginning to worry about the length of the transition part of labor. Although baby had been doing very well, she felt that the baby's heartrate was beginning to show signs of a tired baby. We helped Joellen in to a squatting position at the foot of the bed, with th
At 5:15 pm, Joellen left the labor room while Mark and I dressed in scrubs, mask and hat. We joined her soon, and baby Asher was born at 5:45 pm. Mark was able to watch his arrival, and headed for the baby warmer to welcome his newborn son. Mark and Asher came back to visit with Joellen for about 10 minutes before they left to return to the labor room for newborn procedures. I stayed with Joellen during the completion of her surgery, hopefully providing comfort and reassurance. Joellen was uncomfortable with the feeling of her body being manipulated, but seemed to handle the medications and everything else very well. Dr. Barker was finished with her skin staples at 6:05 pm and she headed for recovery at 6: 15 pm. I wasn't able to accompany her to recovery, so I went back to the labor room with Mark and Asher. Newborn Asher weighed in at 8 pounds, 14 ounces and 20 lh inches long. His slightly molded head was 15 inches in diameter. He had sweet, long feet and very boy-ish hands! Cute as can be! He had his first bath at 6:25 pm and headed to the postpartum room to meet his mama at about 6:40 pm.
Congratulations on the birth of your sweet son! I know that Joellen and Mark will be devoted, loving parents to this wonderful baby boy!!! Thank you for asking me to serve you. With love, Margy
Joellen and Mark Armstrong were students in my childbirth class series at the Willamette Valley Medical Center. As it turned out, they were also good friends with several of my former Doula and Midwife-Assistant clients! That was a fun discovery. On the last night of class, Joellen asked me if I would be available to be a Doula for them, and if I'd consider bartering for payment. I was thrilled to serve them, and having Mark help me set up a website for my blooming Midwifery practice was a great trade!Later that same week, Joellen felt she was having lots of contractions, and at an appointment with Dr. Barker she was assured that labor looked to be starting up soon. Unfortunately, it wasn't so. She was, in fact, having lots of contractions, but they didn't lead to labor right away. Joellen's uterus was doing its warm-up exercises, but wasn't in a hurry to shift to progressing labor. It was difficult to wait through the next two weeks, but Joellen and Mark found ways to pass the time.
Finally, on Monday March 10, Joellen started to feel noticeably stronger contractions at about 7 pm. She stayed around the house and felt things shift to become even stronger at 10:30 pm. She had a little applesauce to eat and laid down to rest for a bit. She even let Mark get some sleep as labor picked up momentum. At about 2:30am she decided to get Mark up and they made a trip to Winco to buy some food for Mark during labor. As they were leaving Winco they gave me a call at 3 am to say they thought they should head for the Birthing Center. I said I'd meet them there.At WVMC, Joellen was settled into the exam room by Nurse Ellen, who checked Joellen's labor progress at 3: 15 am. She was 2-3 cm dilated, 80% effaced, and 0 station. Her cervix was stretchy, and Ellen was able to stretch it to a solid 3 cm. (I'm not sure what was up with the 0 station estimate, because later exams put her at-2 and -1 station.) Unfortunately, the exam made Joellen's cervix bleed more than usual, and Ellen became very concerned. She called Dr. Barker to come and take a look. Thankfully, Dr. Barker felt it was fine and pointed out that she had a friable cervix with a history of cervical bleeding during her pregnancy. Thus, admission procedures were completed and Joellen was moved to room 4, the only labor room without a soaking tub. As it turned out, she was moved to room 4 because of the concern about the bleeding, Ellen had felt that it was likely Joellen would be having a cesarean birth.
At 4:30 am in room 4 we were introduced to our labor RN, JoAnn. Joellen found herself most comfortable sitting up on the edge of the bed for contractions. She also tried sitting in the rocking chair, but it wasn't as helpful. We turned down the lights and she tried walking a bit between contractions. By 6:15 am, the contractions had picked up again, becoming longer, stronger, and closer, and she was feeling more pain in back. Joellen was relaxing well during contractions, and used a variety of positions for comfort. She sat on the birth ball for quite a while, laid down to rest for a bit on the bed, and took a shower with the hand-held wand to help with her back pain. At 7 am we were introduced to Linda, our day-shift RN. Joellen decided to sit on the side of the bed again.
At 8 am, Dr. Barker arrived to check Joellen's progress and found that she was 3-4 cm dilated, and he was able to stretch her cervix to a solid 4 cm. Dr. Barker felt that this was slow progress, but still progress, and he suggested breaking her water to speed things up. Mark and Joellen talked and decided that they would like to go ahead with the rupture of membranes, which Dr. Barker performed at 8:20 am. LOTS of water! Mark and I helped Joellen onto the ball with a chux pad after about 10 minutes so that we could clean up the soaking wet bed. As we finished, Natasha Lawson, Joellen's Nurse-Midwife, arrived. She was a breath of fresh air and a great support to Mark and Joellen. She encouraged Mark and I to go eat breakfast while she stayed with Joellen, doing some back massage as Joellen sat on the ball. As it turned out, it was Natasha's birthday, too.
Mark and I were back in 15 minutes, and found Joellen handling stronger contractions with grace. By 10 am she was beginning to show signs of discouragement, and Natasha suggested that we move to one of the labor rooms with a soaking tub. I went down to fill the tub in room 2, while Mark and Natasha helped Joellen get ready to walk down the hall. Once settled in the water, Joellen had a lot of relief from the pain of contractions, but she also threw up and started to feel shaky-signs of more rapid cervical change. Her contractions were further apart, but very long when they came. At one point Joellen felt a little pushy, but the feeling passed. She made it through the contractions with long, open sounds, but it was obviously becoming a much stronger experience for her.
At about 11 am, Joellen asked to be checked so that she could decide about having an epidural. She was very clear in her request. Natasha found that she was 6 cm dilated and -2 station and Joellen decided that she wanted an epidural for pain relief The process of calling the anesthesiologist was initiated, and Joellen tried to settle into the bed to handle very strong contractions that she no longer had motivation to cope with. It was a very difficult time in her labor for both Joellen and Mark. Dr. Richardson, the anesthesiologist, arrived at 11:40
am and Joellen had pain relief by noon. In fact, she said that she felt the best she'd felt in 9 months!
At 12:30, Natasha checked her cervix and found that she was now 7-8 cm and the baby had made a little bit of progress to -1 station, which was still pretty high in the pelvis. The baby's head was in a favorable position (LOA to LOT) and was beginning to mold. So Joellen settled in to rest in a dark and quiet room
and let the labor progress on its own. Unfortunately, the popsicle she enjoyed was soon thrown up, but she handled it well. Natasha stepped out for a little while, and returned at 2:20pm to check Joellen's progress, 8 cm and -1 station with more molding and some caput (fluid under the scalp-common). Natasha suggested that Joellen try pushing to get the baby to come down because the cervix felt plenty stretchy to move out of the baby's path on descent. After a couple of trial pushes, Natasha said to wait a little longer before getting serious. So we sat and chatted, hanging out in the labor room.
At 3:30 pm, Joellen was 9cm dilated, but no further descent of the baby's head. Natasha said that she was beginning to worry about the length of the transition part of labor. Although baby had been doing very well, she felt that the baby's heartrate was beginning to show signs of a tired baby. We helped Joellen in to a squatting position at the foot of the bed, with th
e squatting bar, to start pushing. Natasha was certain that Joellen's pushing efforts and contractions were very effective-no need to add pitocin to increase the labor. Eventually, Joellen even got up onto the birthing stool to push. She seemed to be making a tiny bit of progress. But the baby's heartrate began to slow at the end of contractions at about 4:15pm. Natasha asked her to stop pushing and lie down on her left side in the bed so that the baby would get the best dose of oxygen from Joellen's bloodstream. At 4:45 pm, Dr. Barker checked Joellen, and found that there had been very little change in the baby's descent, so he recommended a cesarean birth. Mark and Joellen decided to go ahead with surgery.
At 5:15 pm, Joellen left the labor room while Mark and I dressed in scrubs, mask and hat. We joined her soon, and baby Asher was born at 5:45 pm. Mark was able to watch his arrival, and headed for the baby warmer to welcome his newborn son. Mark and Asher came back to visit with Joellen for about 10 minutes before they left to return to the labor room for newborn procedures. I stayed with Joellen during the completion of her surgery, hopefully providing comfort and reassurance. Joellen was uncomfortable with the feeling of her body being manipulated, but seemed to handle the medications and everything else very well. Dr. Barker was finished with her skin staples at 6:05 pm and she headed for recovery at 6: 15 pm. I wasn't able to accompany her to recovery, so I went back to the labor room with Mark and Asher. Newborn Asher weighed in at 8 pounds, 14 ounces and 20 lh inches long. His slightly molded head was 15 inches in diameter. He had sweet, long feet and very boy-ish hands! Cute as can be! He had his first bath at 6:25 pm and headed to the postpartum room to meet his mama at about 6:40 pm. Congratulations on the birth of your sweet son! I know that Joellen and Mark will be devoted, loving parents to this wonderful baby boy!!! Thank you for asking me to serve you. With love, Margy
Prayers Needed
Posted by Joellen Armstrong Saturday, March 29, 2008 1:40 PM 0 commentsHey Everyone,
We know that many of you either know or are close friends with Jeff and Chelsi Lacine... I wanted to give a quick update as they are needing lots of prayer.
On Thursday Chelsi began bleeding extremely heavily again while out to dinner with relatives and was rushed by ambulance to the hospital. I won't go into great detail but after a few different methods, they were finally able to slow the bleeding to the normal postpartum rate but not without a lot of work and many special Dr.s. Chelsi then came down with a severe fever (which is now under control) but all of the surgeries trying to stop the bleeding may have given her an infection in her uterus. She is stable now, but they will be keeping her at the hospital at least until Sunday morning - she'll be checked again to see if she's able to leave.
Please pray for healing and peace. Pray that her body will recover quickly as she has many responsibilities as the house mother at The House of Ruth. Pray that God would restore her to full health, never to go through ANYTHING like this again. And pray for all of their family as I'm sure this has been such a rollercoaster - having a baby is enough of one much less facing this kind of ordeal for weeks afterward.
For more details and updates check out the Lacine's blog... www.lacinefamily.com
Thanks so much for all your support - we love Jeff, Chelsi, Hosanna and Hope so dearly and they need all the prayer they can get!
I can do this!
Posted by Joellen Armstrong Thursday, March 27, 2008 4:50 PM 2 comments
Wow... today has been a dramatically different day than the past few weeks. I think the hormones have gone through some adjusting and have started to shift towards normality :-) I went to bible study this morning... only to find out we didn't have bible study... but it worked out really well actually. I ended up going over to my friend Katie's house - she had her baby boy (James Micah) the day before Asher was born so it was fun to see her baby and just talk about how each of our labors went and how the boys are doing. It's so great to be raising our little Asher surrounded by so many godly families with young children!
So, I think we figured out a little more about Asher and his habits. He was so fussy yesterday, we couldn't seem to figure out what was wrong and he eventually cried himself to sleep. But today, we have found that he just gets distracted and needs a lot of help soothing himself to sleep. And with a little more effort and patience, what do you know, he went to sleep easily for quite a few hours! He woke up, ate a ton and is sound asleep once again. Hopefully he isn't awake all night but either way, it gave me some time to feel accomplished and capable which is definitely worth a night or two of lousy sleep :-)
Mark is super busy with design work so it's good that I'm feeling more able to take care of Asher on my own and it's great that he's getting paid through AT&T (vacation time) and for working on his design stuff... maybe we will catch up on things someday soon! Mark has a ton of work coming up too so it's bound to be a very busy month! Since my recovery is going well and getting better each day, I might go out and shoot photos at the Tulip Farm in another week! Jeanne and I have quite a few annual photo shoots to get through this spring... it will be a really good thing to be busy with though (as if I won't be busy enough). And I'm going to be working on putting together some framed images of my flowers to put up at our local coffee shop... I don't know when, but hopefully soon! And I might start trying to put some of my vineyard photos into local shops in Mac as well as the other local Winery places... maybe there is more opportunity for my photos than I've been taking advantage of.
So that's pretty much it for now... we'll keep you all updated as usual! God bless :-)
Asher puts on an extra 20%
Posted by Mark Armstrong Wednesday, March 26, 2008 7:53 PM 0 comments
While Joellen is now only 6 pounds from her pre-pregnancy weight and I am down to less than 2 pounds away from my target loss of 25 pounds, Asher has put on over a pound and a half since we left the hospital! Joellen weighed herself without and then with the baby and lo and behold, our little guy now weighs 10 lbs! that's right, he's put on more than 10% of his body weight in less than two weeks. In fact I guess it's closer to 20% since he was just over 8lbs by the time we left the birthing center.
Anyway, all that to say I guess something is going according to plan :) Joellen is excited to go out to the pool at mom & dad's this summer and it's looking like her goal to lose all her pregnancy weight by June may not have been so far fetched after all (as some would have thought - not me of course). Asher is healthy and it's no wonder he's been eating every hour since he's growing so fast. Some of his wardrobe has already reached end of life... Guess we'd better bump up that clothing budget for next year!
Productivity
Posted by Mark Armstrong 4:48 PM 0 comments
Well folks, I started out today with all intention of having a nice productive day but then... Well nothing major happened; only a bunch of small things needing attention: the dishes in the sink, the billing error on our cell phone bill, Asher's bottle, then another bottle, and another one. Anyway, at least we got to meet with Jeff & Chelsi (and Hosanna & Hope). They stopped by and brought us Thai Food. It was great catching up with them, and Hosanna just had a great time talking to the cats and trying to get them to eat a candle she found on the coffee table. After they had gone, Jo and Asher and I all went out to Cornerstone to meet with Kory and discuss an upcoming design project I will be working on for him, and now here we are. Back home at almost 5:00PM and only 2 of the dozen items on my to do list are checked off :)
Oh well, such is life sometimes. Everyone is healthy, fed and (mostly) rested. What more can I ask for?
Relaxation
Posted by Joellen Armstrong Tuesday, March 25, 2008 4:10 PM 4 comments
No one in our house understands relaxing quite as well as Asher does at this point. Don't get me wrong, we're actually getting a decent amount of sleep but it's just too cute to see him so relaxed and comfortable :-)
I had to post an image! Here he is just taking a nap on mama's lap.
Life has been pretty simple lately. Feeding, changing diapers and just trying to let this little guy know he's loved. I've been reading a book my dad gave me for Christmas called "Mothers of the Wise and Good" by Jabez Burns. It was a bit challenging to get into (written in the early 1800's) b/c of the old english and just the style he writes in but it's made me think a lot! Motherhood is definitely more than just taking care of duties and I want to make sure I am working to cultivate all parts of Asher's being - his intellect and demeanor. Nature has a lot to do with some of these but I just want to make sure I am preparing him to be his best self and become who God desires for him to be.
The book has also made me think about my other "activities." My photography, work for Jeanne, sewing hair scarves, my writing (which has been severely neglected) and other things I "do" are all up for review now. I want to make sure I am putting God first, family next and then leave all those other things up for God to decide how much time I'm spending on them. I could so easily be consumed with my photography... especially now that flowers are blooming. I know it's something God has blessed me with being able to do... but I don't want to neglect building others up and investing time in blessing people through my devotional blog or not be spending time with friends b/c I love taking pictures of flowers. At the same time, the more I invest in taking quality images the more I get paid. And money shouldn't be my motivation, but it is a way I can help take some of the financial strain off Mark and be a helper in the family. If I'm taking good images I can pretty much pay for all the groceries we need each month... maybe even expand it to paying for gas if I'm consistent. Anyway, all this to say I'll need some prayer support as I'll be seeking God's will in this and trying to find the time, energy and motivation to get to a good balance.
One good thing really fast... I realize now how little my "planning" has an affect on what actually happens :-) Duh, any parent could probably have told me that, but it was not so fun to find out for myself. Much of the past 2 weeks have not gone as expected - the labor progress, C-section (though it was always in our minds), breast feeding, pacifier... and then Sunday, gDiapers! They didn't go as well as I'd hoped and I had to really admit that I am not in control! I don't know why I even start thinking I am :-) But, God really blessed me the past 2 days with allowing the gDiapers to work well... they've been actually easier to change, better on Asher's skin and save lots of garbage room since I can flush them down the toilet! And once I can be up enough to do all the laundry myself it won't feel quite so overwhelming... maybe.
Anyway, those are my thoughts for the day! Thanks for taking a peek into my life and my brain! Love you all.
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