Maggie’s Birth Story

On Monday, January 13th while I was folding laundry in the afternoon I started feeling some strong contractions.  My biggest fear was getting stuck in traffic on O’Neal.  I called my midwife Bethanie who was at the office that day.  I asked her if I could come in to check me to see if I had progressed since my last check-up.  She was only going to be in the office till 4:30 and it was around 3:30 pm.  I took a quick shower, called my mom and neighbor to come watch the kids and headed to the doctor’s office.  I had some pretty strong contractions while I was driving.  When I got there, Bethanie checked me and I had progressed from my previous appointment.  She told me to go ahead and go to the hospital since I was considering getting an epidural this time. 

I don’t know what it was this time, but I was more scared of the pain.  I think in the long run this fear prolonged the labor.  Once they described the epidural process to me, I knew that I didn’t want to go that route.  I knew I would regret it later and would also miss the freedom I have immediately after I deliver like taking a shower and getting up & walking around.  The first couple of hours I progressed a little but I was scared to let them break my water because I didn’t want to deal with the pain.  So I just walked hoping that it would progress more.  Finally, when I was ready for them to break my water the midwife Kathy wouldn’t do it.  I mentioned my fluid level was a little high and the baby was still high up that she was afraid if she broke my water the cord would come out first.  So we had to wait until the doctor came on the next morning.  They suggested I get in the bed to red but I couldn’t get comfortable in the bed. 

So at 7:00 am on 1/14/14, Dr. Huynh did a quick ultrasound to make sure the baby was in the right position and then broke my water.  I sat down in a chair because my feet & legs hurt from basically standing up & walking all night long especially since I had been up for 24 hours.  A new midwife Jan had come on at 7:00 and was massaging my feet when 2 more gushes of water came out.  After this, the pressure was getting worse so I moved to the bathtub.  I asked them to check me to see if I was ready to push, but they just told me to push when I was ready.  I started pushing in the tub but I eventually just stood up in the tub.  At one point, they told me to raise my leg and put it up on the side of the tub.  They kept telling me to push, but I felt like I was pushing all I could and nothing was happening.  This is when I shouted out “I ‘m going to die!”  Poor Levi, he had come to witness this birth and at that point he left the room.  At 8:10 am Maggie Faith was delivered weighing 9 lbs, 14 ounces and measuring 21 inches.  She was my biggest baby, but the funny thing is I didn’t have any stitches with her. 

This was the 1st time we didn’t have another adult with us when she was born so I don’t have a lot of pictures.  Amy came up to the hospital when I first went in and stayed for a good part of the night.  But eventually she had to go home because Rob had come with her. 

Here’s some of the pictures from when we were at the hospital. 

Louisiana State Museum and State Capitol field trip

On Thursday, January 9, we took a field trip to the Louisiana State Museum and State Capitol building.  Our group was so big that we split into 2 groups.  We started at the state museum while the other group started at the capitol.

First at the museum, the director went over some famous people in Louisiana's history.  She had some of the students help her out.

Tate as Andrew Jackson and Luke as Napoleon Bonaparte, Cai as Louis Armstrong, Cameron as General Chennault, and Abram as Huey P. Long.
Andrew Higgins, inventor of the Higgins boat used in WWII and Napoleon Bonaparte who sold the Louisiana Purchase to the US

Cade and Ian representing the Houma and Bayougoula tribes

Baton Rouge gets its name from a pole that was red from blood of animals and fish. This was the boundary marker between the 2 tribes. The Native American name for it was Istrouma. The French called it Baton Rouge meaning "red stick." Cole represented Zachary Taylor who fought in the Mexican/American war. He is the only president from Louisiana. Tate as Andrew Jackson helped defeat the British in the Battle of New Orleans. There's a famous statue of him in New Orleans in Jackson Square. Huey P. Long was governor of Louisiana nicknamed "The Kingfish" After winning his Senate seat, Huey explained his nickname by saying, “I'm a small fish here in Washington, but I'm ‘the Kingfish’ to the folks down in Louisiana.”.

Louis Armstrong was also known as Satchmo which originally came from the nickname satchel mouth. He possibly got this nickname because of the way his cheeks puffed out when he played. Once when he was playing in France, the French mispronounced satchel mouth as "Satchmo." General Chennault was a leader of the "Flying Tigers." Clementine Hunter was an African-American artist whose favorite flowers were zinnias.

The girls got to represent different animals found in Louisiana.

Micah was the Louisiana black bear, the state mammal. J was the alligator, the state reptile. Emma was the honeybee, the state insect. Sarah was the crawfish, the state crustacean.

These girls represented the catahoula cur (state dog), white perch/crappie/sac-au-lait (state fish), and brown pelican (state bird).

Here's a little song she sang about the animals in the swamp.

After this presentation, the children were able to do a scavenger hunt through the museum. There were different levels for the different age groups.
Unfortunately they were not able to finish the scavenger hunt because the fire alarm went off and we had to evacuate the building.
After a quick lunch on the state capitol grounds, we went for a tour in the state capitol building.

First, we toured the lobby with all its intricate marble and gold work.

Next, we toured the House of Representatives chamber.

Then we went to the hallway where the governor's elevator is located as well the location where Huey P. Long was assassinated.

Next was the senate's chamber.

A pencil remains embedded in the ceiling of the chamber from the force of a bomb explosion in 1970.

After the tour was over, we had the option to go up to the observation deck. I chose not to go since I was 38 weeks pregnant. Amy took my camera to take these pictures from the top.

A bright future for Louisiana ;)