Spring Break/COVID day 0

We had the nicest spring break with my parents. We stayed along the Rainbow River, paddle boarded and kayaked, swam with the manatees, played games, and had daily happy hour (happy time per Mags). 

One night out and the lighting and background was lovely

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Look at the way that baby is looking at her Mama.

Don’t worry about Mags - she’s just practicing her “lip smile”

Maren and me!

I just downloaded the blogger app on my phone. It is such an interesting time that I wanted to write a few notes about it.

We came home from Spring Break on Wednesday, 3/10/20. I went to clinicals on Thursday and we planned an afternoon at the beach with friends on Friday. While at the beach, they started talking about social distancing, and, by 4pm, schools were closed for what they said would be one additional week.

Louise Christine Prevatt: A Birth Story

Louise Christine Prevatt
February 4, 2019
5:37 pm
9 lb 10 oz
22 inches

The short: two pushes, no pain meds, big sisters cut the cord!

I suppose your birth story begins in fall 2017, when we decided to try for a fourth baby. In the process, I got diagnosed with my ASD and had OHS. It is a story for another day that I owe to myself to write. Although we were frustrated that I didn't get pregnant before fall 2017, I thankfully did not have to wait through a pregnancy with an unrepaired heart. Life is funny.

After surgery, I had some complications but was doing so well five months post. I went for my TEE and "graduation" visit to cardiology. Dr. Garas assured me it would be my healthiest pregnancy if I got pregnant, and this 38 year old woman must have gotten pregnant the same day! Who knew I was so fertile? (re-reading this is cracking me up - like Dr. Garas was your dad! Don't worry - Dad is your dad!) It was a hard pregnancy. My heart did not cooperate and I ended up with recurrent pericarditis on low-dose steroids. I felt badly that I had not fully recovered before getting pregnant, but you were the fourth child I always wanted.

Despite the pain and general exhaustion, all my ultrasounds, NSTs, and BP readings were looking great. That is, until about 38-39 weeks, when my BP started rising and I had protein in my urine. They decided that it was time for delivery. There was some question as to your due date. I was given dates from 1/30-2/9. Personally, I thought it was closer to 1/30. I guess that's why they call it a guess date! I went to the hospital for monitoring on February 1, but my BP went down and my urine looked great so they let me go home. I had to come back for an induction on Sunday night, February 3.

I reluctantly showed up after Grammie and Pops came to get the other girls. They started my IV and Carol, my midwife, inserted the Cook catheter. My cervix was apparently extremely posterior. It was a ridiculously painful, long procedure. I definitely got the impression that three attempts was not the norm. After the world's longest insertion, I started contracting almost immediately and the catheter fell out about an hour. That meant I was about 4 cm dilated - progress! Unfortunately, I didn't maintain the contractions and decided to try to sleep on the advice of my doula, Kelly.

I actual rested off and on throughout the night. Women who are nine months pregnant don't sleep much anyway. In the morning, they started pitocin and the contractions started too - slowly. Kelly was with another mom (same hospital), so I was with a fill-in doula. I rocked on the birth ball and walked the halls. At some point (maybe around 3?), they broke my water, and things got intense quickly. Chris called my Mom, who brought Annie and Maren to the hospital. My ideal birth plan included Annie and Maren. Well, my ideal birth plan would have involved having you at home, but that unfortunately was not an option. Chris did not want the sisters there because he said it was too scary, gross, and potentially traumatizing. This compromise worked out perfectly.

Annie and Maren (and Kelly!) kept me calm because I did not want them to see me panic. Chris said it was my best delivery, and Annie said she's heard me make more noise after stubbing my toe. I felt you come down quickly, and then it was time to push. Midwife Kim helped guide you into this world. Two very big pushes and there you were. Absolutely beautiful and completely perfect.

There is no feeling in the world like meeting your baby. It is the purest love, a miracle on earth. I knew you and loved you before I met you. And then you were here.

It was a beautiful, peaceful, best-case scenario birth. It was complicated by the following: high blood pressure, magnesium, preeclampsia, echo, EKG, and cardiology consult. Everything checked out perfectly, thankfully. When we finally made it home on Friday, it was blissful freedom!

Apologies for the movies that are really live photos. I'm certain it's fixable, but oh well! It takes too much time to upload images anyway.

You were both supposed to cut the cord, but Maren went first and cut right through it!

The former science teacher showing you the placenta. Maren said, "I want to be a doula someday."

 Bliss. I'm pretty sure heaven is just holding a newborn on your chest all the time.

 I wanted a rock star doula and Kelly was awesome. I thought she was a little expensive. Chris said, "I would have paid double."

 Mags was the sweetest, proudest big sister ever. Every time you cried, she would go over and pat you and say, "It's ok, Lou, we are here. We are here Lou."

 The best feeling in the world: meeting you.

 Maren said, "no Annie, you already have one. This one is mine."

 I loved this bathing suit so much. This was New Year's Day, two days after a road trip to ski in NC, during which I put on 15 pounds, swelled like crazy, and swore I got pre-eclampsia. All the weight was off three days after this picture.

 It was beyond fun being pregnant with Erika. Constant texting. Two old (double meaning) pregnant friends.

 This may have been on the way to the hospital. I felt huge.

 Perfection.

 Twins

 Eagerly waiting for you to arrive.

 in the zone between contractions.

 nervous.

oh Magnolia

Sweet, sweet Magnolia. About three minutes after I met you, I thought, oh you are not the last. I have to meet another baby of ours someday! But the way I feel about you - it feels like you might be my last. It is not just me either. Your dad is crazy for you and you may never learn to roll because one of your sisters is constantly pick you up. It is funny because we get to do it all again - babyhood on - but it feels so very fleeting in a way it didn't before. Maybe it is Annie and Maren, who are so grown up and lovely and such a reminder of how fast they grow. Maybe it is Michael and the light in you that is so bright and needed now.

The love you can clearly see, in no particular order:

Magnolia Harper Prevatt: A Birth Story

Meet Maggie!

September 17, 2015
1:19 pm
8lbs, 11oz
21 inches

As (potentially) my final pregnancy, I wanted to do it the "right" way. I wanted a natural birth, and I pictured myself laboring at home and heading to the hospital ready to push (possibly even giving birth on the floor of my new minivan). Because I have had longer labors and poorly positioned babies, I decided I needed to hire a doula to help me during labor. With Maren, I just hit the wall hard, and the epidural caused my labor to stall, not progress. I used the same OB/midwife group as I had with my VBAC. My plan was in place.

My blood pressure this pregnancy was well-controlled throughout. I passed all my NSTs at my regular office. Everything looked great, and then everyone started getting twitchy as I passed my due date. Then I passed one week overdue. OBs don't like overdue moms, especially ones with high BP who are VBACs and AMA. I had very few contractions despite a membrane sweep and an hour of "baby come out" acupressure/massage. Then I had an ultrasound at 8 days overdue and it showed my fluid was low (4.5). It had been on the low side the week before as well. Off to the hospital for an induction. I felt okay, but it was not starting out like I had hoped.

We checked in to the hospital around 3:30 and the midwife came to break my water around 4:15pm. She told me that she was "sure" breaking my water would put me right over the edge, as I was 3+ cm dilated and 75% effaced. I was told I could decide when I felt like I was ready to augment my labor; they would make me augment after my water had been ruptured for 24 hours.

It did not put me over the edge.

I had very few contractions, and I was now stuck in the hospital. I had to be monitored for 10 minutes out of every hour. The rest of the time I was free to move and walk. It was a long night. I was a million months pregnant in an uncomfortable bed, on a clear liquid diet only, and getting up to the bathroom at least every hour. Sometimes I tried to be positive but I mostly was not, crying occasionally and just picturing my future cesarean around 11pm Thursday night. My attitude was terrible. They wanted to start pitocin around 6am and I told them I was going to take a shower and a walk and they could start it after day shift came.

Pitocin was started around 7:30 and contractions started right away. The nurse upped it every 30ish minutes from 2 up to maybe 14? The contractions were close together, allowing little rest, and they peaked early. They were short, though, lasting only 30-45 seconds. The labor was all in my back. As it got more intense, Chris called Christy (the doula). My mom came at some point too. When they checked me around 11:30-12, I was 6cm dilated, almost completely effaced (pitocin off around this time). Christy did some counter pressure on my back and gave me some peppermint oil to breathe to help the nausea. She did just as I had hoped and gave me the extra push I needed to avoid the epidural. I leaned on Chris and had a lot of trouble switching positions because I had such a short time between contractions. My body felt very hot and stiff, almost frozen. Shortly after I was found to be 6 cm, I felt Maggie change position and come down. I needed to push. The nurse came to check on me, told me it was time, and called Dr. Adams (whom I just adore!). I couldn't stop pushing and only pushed a couple times (on my side). I pushed too fast, I guess, because I did end up with a second degree tear and stitches.

I felt pretty great right after, and recovery has been relatively easy. There isn't time for a relaxing recovery when you have two big girls who have places to be! Our family and friends have been amazing. We are lucky.

Maggie is spectacular, sweet and gentle and peaceful. This pregnancy was hard, with its constant nausea, and it made me state nearly continuously that THIS IS IT. But holding this tiny girl makes me think, I have to do this again: meet a new person for our family. We are all so in love.

Final note: I have given birth three different ways. This one was the best, but they are ALL. HARD.

About 41 weeks pregnant:

 Family of Five:

The torturing of poor Mags begins:

The sweetest little face (don't you LOVE newborns?!):

Dear Mike,

How to start?

I miss you so much. You are constantly on my mind and in my heart.
or how about
Can you believe you are dead? Gone? Where are you?

Mom and Dad are doing better. It has been just as terrible as you could imagine.

I hope you know how much I loved you. I am pretty sure that you did, but when you don't get to say good-bye...

Your FIT friends are so nice. Your apartment was so nice. Chris hasn't dove (dived? who the hell knows?) without you. We just miss you so much.

Annie and Maren have taken your loss hard. Remember when we were kids and everyone was still alive? Annie started sucking her thumb like crazy after we lost you, but it is actually almost a broken habit (once you start losing teeth, you are too busy wiggling to suck). We have also bribed her to stay in her bed. $1/night. I think you would appreciate that. Maren cries and cries over you - but most of this is when she is in trouble. As in, "I am crying because I am so sad about Michael." (As opposed to terribly sad because Mom was disciplining her.) HA! I know you would appreciate that. But the way she wails and screams, "MICHAEL, MICHAEL, MICHAEL!!!!" It is how I want to yell and howl too.

Can you believe the Gators this year?

We had another baby girl. Did you know her before she came to us? I try to tell her about her uncle, but it is very hard to talk about you and not cry. I was glad she was a girl because I couldn't stand having the same family we had. If she had been a boy, I would not have even been able to breathe his entire 27th year.

Any Christmas gift ideas for Mom and Dad this year?

Love you and miss you.

Michael: Myth vs. Man

This is written for Annie, Maren, Woody, Tohi, Baby, etc. To those of you who won't remember Michael, per se, but who will know the myth:




First of all, this is what happened to Michael: he was coming home for his birthday to go to a concert on Friday, September 19, 2014. He had a friend with him in the car, and they were driving north on 95, listening to music and looking forward to a fun weekend. In a horrible, random, freak accident, a wheel flew off a semi heading south on 95, crashing through Michael's window and crushing him. They tried to revive him but there was no way he could have made it. He officially died later at Flagler Hospital.






So Michael is gone. We talk about him regularly, but he can't help but obtain some sort of legend status. I am here to set the record straight. This is what Michael was like:




He was fun. He was a guy who liked to "do stuff," for lack of a better expression. "Hey Mike, do you want to...?" "Sure!" or he would say, "we should...." He was an explorer and a traveler, easy-going, agreeable, and (again) fun.




He was generous and kind. He was the.best.gift.giver. Seriously thoughtful. He had good ideas that he thought about months ahead of time and planned.




He was a nut for sports. He loved the Gators and the Jaguars, but he knew everything about every sport. He also loved the Boston teams, the Red Sox and Bruins. He loved organizing the family fantasy football league and played various sports. He was more than a decent athlete, and he was competitive. That competitiveness extended to any game ever played with him, and he loved playing games, cards, etc. He liked the rules to be followed, and he liked to win.


He was passionate about cooking, music, and scuba diving. He didn't develop his sophisticated palate until later in life, but, once he did, he was really into trying new things. He loved listening to and making music. And he loved being underwater. He also loved his program at FIT and loved the project he worked on..


Michael, the man, was, in many ways, larger than life. He was taller than most people, with a bigger smile and a louder voice. He was unlike most men in that he talked a lot and was also open with his emotions. He was the kind of guy who could talk to anyone and made friends easily. He was the kind of brother who would call his sister with girlfriend woes. He was the kind of boyfriend who fell in love easily. Don't let these statements lead you to believe, however, that he was anything less than a man's man.


Michael really, truly loved his family. He spoke almost daily to Grammie and Pops, and he was always available to hang out. He liked to spend time with us, and with you. He loved being an uncle.


So that is Michael, briefly. You would have loved him! I hope his spirit continues to bring light to our family.

Happy Birthday Mare Mare!

Dear Sweet Maren on Your Third Birthday,

You are the sweetest love and we just adore you. I birthday-interviewed you and promptly lost the sheet of paper where I wrote down your answers, but I should mention that your favorite color is blue, your favorite dinner is pasta, and when you grow up, you are going to be a mermaid.  I just wrote a long post about everything you are doing, so I will keep this short and say that you are truly amazing and you bring so much love and light to this family.

Love, Mom