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! :)