Josiah's Birth Story

Well, it's taken me a little longer than I planned to post the birth story . . . but I've been getting lots of good rest and bonding time with my new little guy, which has been wonderful. :) Anyway, here's the story, for those who enjoy all the details!

Mid-afternoon on Thursday, I started having a few mild contractions. Nothing all that painful, and not close enough together to bother timing them, but thinking back on it I realize that they were different from normal "Braxton-Hicks" contractions. Jim was home that day (it's really neat how God has worked it out that he's always been home when each of my labors started!) and we decided to go grocery shopping that evening. I was feeling pretty tired and had no clue what to make for supper, so we planned a quick stop at Burger King before going to Hannaford and Walmart. On our way to town, Jim gave me a funny look and asked me if I was in labor. I said, "Not that I know of!" and asked him why he thought that. He said I just looked a little funny and he wondered why I had my hand on my belly. I explained that it had been bouncing around too much on our bumpy road, so I just had my hand there to keep it still. But I added that I was having contractions now and then, but I still didn't think I was in labor. He appeared unconvinced and continued to give me some funny looks. :)

After a quick stop at the bank, we headed to BK. As we were standing in line, I realized that the contrax. were starting to get a little more uncomfortable, as well as being closer together. We got our food and headed outside to eat at a picnic table (it was a gorgeous evening), and all during supper I was getting more uncomfortable. By the time we finished eating, I decided it would be a good idea to see if we could get ahold of my parents and see if they could take the kids, just in case this was the real thing. They weren't home, but knowing that they always do their grocery shopping on Thursday nights, we figured we could probably track them down easily. We headed to Walmart and sure enough, they were there. My mom was pretty surprised when we came up to her and asked if she would like to have a couple kids for the evening! After leaving the kids with them, we went back to our truck and Jim switched the carseats over to their car. At this point (this was around 7 pm), I was having to pause and concentrate through the contractions, which were coming ever closer together. I decided to start timing them, so I would have accurate details to tell my midwife when I called her. They were coming about every 3-5 minutes and lasting 30-45 seconds. I knew at this point that I was definitely in labor; I just wasn't sure whether to call Sherry on the way home, or wait till we got there. In the end, I decided to wait and make sure things didn't slow down when we got home.

As we walked in the door, I knew I'd better call her, pronto. :) After all, she barely made it to Julia's birth, and this labor was acting awfully similar to Julia's! I tried her home phone first and got the answering machine, so I called her cell and got her immediately. (She was working one of her other jobs that night--she waitresses part-time.) Knowing she was on the way made me feel better. This was around 7:20 pm. Jim and I set to work getting things ready. Well, I should say that Jim set to work. I gave him instructions between contractions. :) He put the towels in the oven to warm them, changed the sheets, got out other labor supplies, and ran the bath for me. I got into the bath quickly. I wasn't sure if it was a good idea or not--I knew I was in active labor, but the contractions were still about 3 mins. apart or so, and I've heard that sometimes the water can slow them down if you haven't progressed enough. But I really wanted to be in the water, so I decided to chance it, and if things slowed down I could always get out again. I'm not sure exactly what time I got in the tub. Maybe around 7:45-ish. Thankfully things didn't slow down, instead I could feel that the contractions were coming closer together and getting more intense. By the time Sherry and the other midwife, Cindy, arrived, around 8:22 pm, I was definitely in transition. Jim was hanging out by the tub, holding my hand and encouraging me, telling me what a great job I was doing. (He's gotta be one of the best labor coaching hubbies in the world. :) He lets me squeeze his hand as hard as I want, rubs my back if I want him to, and breathes on my face to help me focus on my slow breathing through each contraction.) Sherry and Cindy got to work setting up their gear and Sherry checked the baby's heartbeat now and then with the Doppler. Everything was looking good. Before too long, I was feeling the need to bear down with the contractions. This is one of the reasons I LOVE homebirth. There's no one standing there telling you to push in some crazy position (such as on your back, legs up in the air), telling you how long to push, etc . . . just a midwife encouraging you to listen to your body and work with it. I would never say that labor is fun . . . but it is so much easier to work with your body than against it. :) (By the way, Sherry did give me helpful ideas for positioning, etc. but she's very "hands-off" and lets me do what comes naturally and feels most comfortable, and I really appreciate that.)

As I started to push, Sherry checked to see where the baby was at and the head was moving well down the birth canal. There was still a little lip of cervix there, so Sherry held it back to help the baby get past it. She had asked Jim if he wanted to catch the baby, and he said sure. We had talked about this a bit ahead of time, and he had thought it might be neat to do that. As the baby's head started to emerge, I heard her ask Cindy for scissors, and was trying to figure out why in the world she would need them. It turned out that the baby was born "in the cull" which means the bag of waters hadn't broken and his head was coming out inside the bag. Jim caught his head and then the bag ended up breaking on its own, at which point everything burst into the water, including the rest of the baby. :) Sherry got him up onto my chest right away and Jim said "It's a boy!" He took his first breath and let out a holler, and continued to yell very loudly for a good long time. They didn't even have to suction his nose or mouth, and he cleared his own lungs out very well. :) That was one thing that was totally different from Julia's birth--she was very calm and relaxed after being born. Not Josiah! He seemed plenty mad about his fast trip into the world! Start to finish, the active labor part was probably about 2 hours--we were at BK around 6:30 and Josiah was born at 8:40 pm.

I cuddled him there in the tub for a while, as we waited for the cord to stop beating. That seemed to take forever! It finally stopped and Sherry clamped it, and Jim cut it. The placenta was born a few minutes later. In the meantime, Josiah had gotten nice and pink (actually red--probably from all the screaming :)), and received 10s on both his Apgar scores. I handed him over to his Daddy and got up and took a shower (which is another great thing about having a tub birth). After that, I climbed into bed and attempted to nurse the baby. (I'd actually already tried to get him to nurse right after birth, but he wasn't having any of it, being too upset. He never really did catch onto it that night, so I was a bit worried about that. But later on in the early morning, he began to "get it" and by now he is doing very well with it, so I'm very thankful.) It was at this point that we started trying to figure out what to name him. We had considered a bunch of names, but none really stuck out to us as "this is the ONE." Josiah was the one we both liked the most, so that's what we ended up with, and now I'm really liking it. And the "Charles" is after Jim's grandfather.

Sherry did Josiah's newborn exam and also checked me out at some point. I had a very small tear, but nothing that needed stitching. Jim started calling our families, and we decided to have my parents bring Sam and Julia back so they could meet their new brother and sleep in their own beds. Sam was very excited about the baby! Julia was unsure at first, but she hasn't shown too much jealousy and is definitely getting used to having him around now. My parents took the kids again on Friday for us, which was a great blessing, and Jim has been able to be home this week, which has also been wonderful. :) I'm getting lots of rest and the kids are getting lots of good Daddy time. But poor Jim--I think he'll feel more rested when he goes back to work. :)
So that is the story! It was another great experience and I am so thankful for another precious, healthy little guy to love and enjoy. He's starting to squawk a bit right now, so I'd better go nurse him. I'll try to update more in the next few days! Thanks for all the sweet comments on my last post--you guys are the best! :)

Introducing . . .

Josiah Charles!!

Baby Josiah arrived last night at 8:40 pm, after another quick and intense labor that was very much like Julia's. He weighed 7 lbs. 4 oz. and was 21" long. More pictures and birth story to come in a day or so . . . right now I'm not really supposed to be out of bed. :) But I just wanted to let you all know that our little one is here and that we are all doing well. Thanks for your prayers!!

Question of the Week

My friend Jenny asked a question on her blog last week and I thought it would make a great question of the week for all my readers also, so I asked if I could copy her. :) I know some of you have already answered this on her blog, so don't feel you have to answer here if you don't want to--but if you do, go for it!

Anyway, her question was: "What things, looking back on your birthing experiences, do you WISH you had known before going into birth? What things would you advise a brand new mom-to-be to be cautious of?"

Before having Sam, I did a lot of reading and researching both in books and online, and found the subject of birth to be very fascinating. I knew from the start that I desired a natural birth with as few interventions and drugs as possible. I chose a hospital that had a large midwifery practice because I felt that would give the best chance of having that kind of birth. (Midwives tend to be more "natural-minded" than most OBs.) I really enjoyed the midwives in the practice, and thankfully I was able to have a great birth experience (I realize now that that is not necessarily "normal" for a hospital delivery). Anyway, after thinking and praying about it, researching some more, and talking to friends who had delivered at home, I chose to go with a homebirth for my second (and hopefully all future children). Where my first birth had been a great experience, my second birth was an excellent experience. Sometimes I wish I had considered homebirth as an option for my first . . . but since I just didn't feel brave enough to do that, I'm glad I was able to have a good hospital birth. I guess I said all that, to say that I feel it's very important for moms-to-be to really research and study about birth, and have an idea in mind of what their hopes and desires for birth are. Some people do not desire to go "all natural" and that's fine--but it's important to understand the risks of various medications, interventions, etc. I also think it's important for women to realize that it's their pregnancy and for the most part, they are in charge, not the OB or the midwife. Obviously there are times when a medical professional has to call the shots due to warning signs in a pregnancy or delivery. But as the mommy, you have the right to speak up if you're not comfortable with something. It's OK to question your health care provider--yes, they have credentials, but they are not all-knowing and can make mistakes.

Obviously, I have become a big fan of homebirthing, and would highly encourage women to look into it as an option. At the same time, though, I don't ever want to come across as pushy about it, because I realize that a lot of women (or their husbands) wouldn't be comfortable with the idea. I am blessed to have a husband that is as enthusiastic about homebirth as I am, and I think that's very cool. :) So anyway, while I try not to push homebirth on other people, I am more than happy to share my positive experiences if someone asks. And I'm more likely to recommend Ina May's Guide to Childbirth over What to Expect When You're Expecting, and "The Business of Being Born" over "A Baby Story. " :)

Another area I think moms-to-be should study up on, is breastfeeding. If you want to make it work, it's important to realize that it doesn't always come naturally, for both the mom and baby! An excellent book that a friend gave me when I had Sam is So That's What They're For! by Janet Tamaro. It's fun and easy to read, and was very helpful. It's also super important, if you have your baby in a hospital, that you make sure the nurses are on the same page with your desire to breastfeed. I know a couple of ladies who wanted to breastfeed, yet before they could even start trying, the hospital nurses were already giving their babies a bottle of formula! Thankfully that was not the case in the hospital where I had Sam . . . there was one nurse in particular who I appreciated SO much, because she literally spent several hours with me, helping me get Sam latched on and figure out the whole process. She and the other nurses also told me right from the start that I needed to nurse him as often as he wanted to--that it was a supply and demand principle. I was happy to have such good info. and support and I believe that helped us get off to a great start with breastfeeding.

One more thing and I promise I'll stop jabbering and let the rest of you comment. :) At my baby shower before Sam was born, the ladies all wrote down a bit of advice for me on a recipe card. I still have all those cards and read them over from time to time! I loved getting advice from older, more experienced moms. One thing that has especially stuck with me is this comment from one of my friends. She said, "Trust God! Don't read a lot of parenting books! The baby will be unique and will develop at their own rate. Raise them in the most Godly way that works for both of you." As I'm sure you can tell, I'm one who likes to read and learn, and I do think there are plenty of good things we can glean from books. But first and foremost, we need to trust God and use HIS Book for wisdom in parenting.

Well, sorry to have gotten so long-winded in this post! I guess I got a little carried away. :) I look forward to reading what the rest of you have to say! Oh, and no sign of baby coming yet . . . my midwife will be back sometime today or at least by tomorrow, so I'm hopeful that baby is waiting for her, and will arrive sometime later this week. We'll see! :)

38 Weeks

Getting closer and closer!! I had my 38 week checkup yesterday. My weight was up 1 more lb, and my b/p wasn't too good when Sherry first checked it (130/88). However, when she checked it again a little later (while I was lying down) it was completely normal. So it seems that position makes a difference. Obviously we'll still keep an eye on it, but I was relieved that it was fine while I was lying down. Baby's heart rate was in the 130s-140s again; he or she was being very calm and not jumping around a lot as usually seems to happen while she's checking the heart rate. I was measuring smaller again this week, so I guess the baby wasn't sticking his bum up as much or something. :)

I'm praying that baby decides to arrive by Friday morning, or waits till next Tuesday, because Sherry will be away for a long weekend. There are two backup midwives whom I can call on if I do go into labor, but of course I'd be most comfortable if my "own" midwife was able to deliver. :) So if you think about it, please pray about that for me! I suppose if things go like my last labor, Jim could end up delivering anyway . . . :)

If I don't have the baby early, my next appt. will be next Weds. (23rd). I'm definitely feeling ready to go anytime, but baby appears to be very comfy and cozy in there, and is taking his time about coming out. :) I'm not super uncomfortable (most of the time) but the pregnancy hormones are really getting to me. I seem to cry about anything and everything! Ugh. I'm thankful for a patient and understanding husband. :) I'm also thankful that it probably won't be more than a few weeks and then I'll just have the postpartum hormones to deal with, LOL. :)

Thanks to everyone for your sweet comments and prayers . . . I love being able to share my pregnancy journey in this way and I'm thankful to all of you for your encouragement!

36/37 Weeks

Sorry it has been a while between updates! Things have been busy and I just haven’t had as much blogging time as I would like.

Anyway, here I am at 37 weeks. I feel that I have officially started to look like a whale. :) This is the maternity jumper that I started while pregnant with Julia, and finally finished a few weeks ago. I’m not as happy with it as I’d hoped, but I decided to wear it to church Sunday so I would at least get a tiny bit of use out of it before packing it away.

My last two appts. (on the past 2 Mondays) have been good. At my 36 week visit, my b/p was up a bit, at 120/85. Not a really scary number, but higher than I’d like. (For those who don’t know, my b/p has a history of jumping at the end of pregnancy.) At my 37 week visit, it was back down to 120/82. Yay! At 36 weeks, baby’s heart rate was all over the place, and at 37 weeks, it was in the 130s-140s, nice and strong. At 36 weeks, I was still measuring small--around 32 cm. At 37 weeks, that had changed dramatically and I was measuring 38 cm! As I recall, a similar thing happened with Julia. Either baby had a major growth spurt, or just changed position enough to give me the extra 6 cm. :) I’ve gained 30 lbs. total, which is pretty normal by this point in my pregnancies. Baby is in a great position, definitely head down and putting more pressure on my pelvis all the time. :) All in all, everything looks great and I’m gearing up for the birth--hopefully not too much longer to wait before we get to meet this little one!!

We’ve been nesting like crazy around here. Even Jim is getting into the act. He has gotten up on his big ladder and vacuumed/dusted the ceiling fans for me, scrubbed the tub, and rearranged all kinds of furniture. All the newborn clothes are washed and put away, the birth supplies are ready, and I’ve ordered my new nursing bras and Lana wool nursing pads (which I’m really excited to try!). And I’ve been drinking huge amounts of pregnancy tea. :)

A couple neat blessings: I’ve been wanting to try a pouch style sling for the new baby. My sister called last week and offered to let me try the one she used for her first baby, as she had just been given a new one by some friends. I’m so excited, because this way I can give it a try and find out if I like it, without spending any money to do so! Thanks Jo, for your generosity!!

Another thing that was on my “wish list” was a nursing cover from Peekaboo Baby. Not a necessity, but I really liked the look of them and thought they might work better than a blanket. However, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to spend $30+ on one. I thought I had seen some free instructions online somewhere for making your own, so I went searching to see if I could find them again. Sure enough, I came up with this link.
Now I just need to find some cute fabric and I can make my own, at a fraction of the cost! As if I needed another sewing project, right? :) Still, I am looking forward to trying it. If it turns out nicely, I could make more in the future for gifts for new moms.

I’m having trouble coming up with a good question for this week. Any ideas? For anyone who hasn’t placed a guess as to the birth date and stats on my 34/35 week post, feel free to do so--or you can make your guess on this post instead. Hopefully sometime within the next few weeks I’ll be posting a birth announcement here! I’m so looking forward to that!! :) Hope you are all having a great week!

"The Business of Being Born"

This week I got to watch “The Business of Being Born,” courtesy of Netflix. :) I thought it would be fun to write down my impressions and share some of what I learned from the film.

First, for a little background, this film is a documentary about the maternity care system in the US. The point of the film was to expose some of the problems with the current system, as well as to give women some good information on the alternatives (midwifery care--homebirth or birthing centers). Overall, I felt the film was very eye-opening in a lot of ways. And it did a good job highlighting the positive things about OBs/hospital birth while at the same time exposing the not-so-good things. I didn’t come away with the feeling that they were completely knocking hospitals, but rather trying to show women that there are good alternatives, and that there is a lot more chance of receiving unwanted (and often unneeded) interventions in a hospital than there is with the midwifery model of care. Here are some of the statistics I jotted down as I watched the film:

~ Midwives attend 70% of births in Europe and Japan, and less than 8% of births in the US.
~The US has the 2nd worst newborn death rate in the developed world (that’s pretty scary).
~In 1900, 95% of US births took place at home. In 1938, half of the US births took place at home. By 1955, less than 1% of US births took place at home, and it remains the same percentage today.
~Since 1996, the rate of c-sections has risen by 46%. In 2005, one out of every 3 births in the US was a c-section. (There is something very wrong with this picture!)
~The US spends 2 times as much money per birth as any other country.
~People in our culture are likely to spend more time researching a major purchase such as a car, TV, camera, etc. than they do on researching their birth options.

I think one of the scariest things to me was the huge increase in c-sections. There is no way that that many c-sections are necessary. At least one of the OBs interviewed for the film admitted that there is a definite link between inductions and c-sections, which I found very interesting.

There were a few OBs that they interviewed who were very cool with homebirth and midwifery, and a couple others who had quite a negative attitude to the whole idea. One of them even said something to the effect that telling someone it was OK to have a homebirth was like telling them it is OK to not wear their seatbelt.

It was neat to see the interviews with midwives (particularly Ina May Gaskin, one of America’s most famous midwives) and to see their compassion and dedication to helping women have the kind of birth they want.

There is no way I can sum up the whole film in this post (since I would probably put you all to sleep anyway!), but I was really glad to have the opportunity to see it and I definitely recommend it. Even if you are not the least bit interested in homebirth, I think you would benefit from the information presented. A quick “disclaimer” just because: This was not at all a Christian film, and there is a bit of language scattered throughout (disappointing but not surprising). Also, there are several real births shown on the film, so it’s not something you would likely want to watch when your kids were around, and some husbands (like mine) may not be comfortable watching those parts, as well. These are not the “G-rated” vantage points of birth that you will see on “A Baby Story.” :)

I was glad to be able to see this at this point in my pregnancy, because it helped me get even more excited about my next birth. No, I don’t love the pain of labor . . . but I do find birth so interesting, and I love the end feeling of having just “conquered the world.” :) I really love watching births and reading/hearing others’ birth stories, too--maybe I’m weird, but it helps me as I gear up for my next labor and I just find the whole process so fascinating. It is so amazing how God designed us to take part in the miracle of bringing new life into the world!!

For more info, you can check out The Business of Being Born website, or this movie review from the NY Times.

34/35 Week Update

I had my 34 week checkup with Sherry last Monday, and am now at about 35 weeks. So here is an update for both. :) At my checkup, my weight was up one more pound, my blood pressure was normal, and baby’s heart rate was in the 130s-150s. I was measuring around 31 weeks. Baby has been hanging out on my right side for the past week or two; I often feel an elbow or knee or something poking out of my side. I remember Sam used to do that too, I’m not sure about Julia. Sherry felt for the baby’s position and he/she appears to be heading down, with the bottom up under my ribs. I’m feeling more pelvic pressure but I don’t think baby has dropped yet. I also have to use the bathroom a lot more . . . ah, the joys of those last weeks. :) I’ve been having more swelling in my fingers, feet and ankles, which is typical for me in the last month or two. I’ve given up trying to wear my wedding and engagement rings for the duration. I’m still guzzling the red rasp. leaf tea and water, and I can definitely see a difference in the swelling on the days when I drink the most. Heartburn has been off and on . . . sometimes I’ll hardly have any for several days, then it will be bad again for a few days. The sciatica has eased up some, as long as I don’t accidentally sleep on my back.

I did a bunch of cleaning in various parts of the house this week, but I still have a lot more I hope to do before baby’s arrival! I also want to make some more freezer meals, and I need to dig the newborn clothes out of storage and wash them. I also have some more birth supplies to get ready, which needs to happen by the end of this week. I feel like the due date is really sneaking up on me this time . . . I’m ready to have the baby out, but I don’t feel quite ready for his/her arrival yet, if that makes sense. :) And if I go early like I have both other times . . . then I may only have 2-3 weeks left to get things ready!

Thanks to all of you who left comments about going from two to three kiddos (or more)--it was helpful and encouraging to read all your responses. I know we’ll adjust, and I may just not try to go out grocery shopping with all 3 kiddos for a little while. :) I do plan to use a baby carrier or sling, though, which should help when I do take them all out together.

I think we’ve finally narrowed our name choices down, to 3 possible girl names and 2 or 3 possible boy names. It will be interesting to see what we end up with. :)

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: OK, it’s time to start making your guesses! Take a guess as to the baby’s birth date, gender, weight & length. It’ll be fun to see who comes the closest. :) For a point of reference, Sam was born at 37 weeks and Julia at 37.5 weeks. My estimated due date is April 26th. And my first 2 kids were 5 lbs. 14 oz., and 6 lbs. 8 oz. at birth. Guess away!

32 Weeks

I had another appt. yesterday--can't believe how fast the time is flying! Sherry did the finger prick to test my glucose and hemoglobin, and both numbers were fine, so I was happy to hear that. My b/p is still fine, at 100/80. Baby's heartbeat was anywhere from the high 120s- high 140s, so plenty of good variety there. I'm measuring somewhere around 30+ weeks, and my weight gain is up to 25 lbs. total.

Baby has been VERY active lately. I *think* he/she is headed down, but Sherry couldn't tell for sure yet. I'm just thinking that because all the hiccups I feel are way down low. :)

I can have a homebirth anytime from 37 weeks on, so less than 5 weeks to go till I reach that point, which will be early April. I doubt this baby will arrive quite that early, but I wouldn't mind mid-April!

I've definitely got the nesting urge now, but I haven't had quite as much energy as I'd like. Hopefully I'll get a fresh burst soon, because there is so much I want to get cleaned and organized in the next month or two!

Well, I need to go make supper, so I'll close with the question of the week, which is:

For those of you with at least 3 kids, did you find it harder to adjust from having 1 to 2 kids, or from having 2 to 3 kids? I hear varying reports on this, so I was just curious! I felt like going from 1 to 2 was no big deal, but I admit I'm a bit nervous about adding a third! At least Sam is doing a lot of things independently now, and is old enough to be a good helper. :)