Finally, I'm making time to write the birth story! Thanks for your patience from those of you who enjoy reading the details! :) I'm going to intersperse the story with pictures from that day.
First of all, to back up to my last pregnancy post, you may remember that we had used evening primrose oil to see if we could get anything started. At the time, I was dilated to about 3 cm and "very stretchy." Sherry felt like I would go really fast again, once things got started . . . but nothing really got started that day. That was last Weds, and nothing happened on Thursday at all, so I figured I was in for a bit of a wait . . . no big deal, since I wasn't even quite at the 39 week mark yet. The main concern was my blood pressure, which was the only reason Sherry thought it might be good if baby came sooner than later, but she wasn't really worried either way.
Sherry had sent home a blood pressure cuff with me on Weds. so I could monitor it at home. I was taking it 3 times a day and writing down the numbers. We talked briefly on Thursday, and agreed to be in touch daily so I could keep her up to date on that. In the meantime, Jim had blown up the birth pool "just in case," and sometime (maybe Weds. or Thurs. night?) we had put the labor sheets on the bed, also "just in case." And then we waited. Friday morning, I had some physical signs that made me think labor might be starting soon. I even had some contractions off and on, but looking back now I can see that they were just more Braxton-Hicks. It had been so long since I'd been in labor that I didn't remember exactly what it felt like, so these contractions were tricking me! I was in touch with Sherry throughout the day, letting her know I thought something was going on, and I also put my mom on alert that she might need to take the kids. But Friday passed without anything actually happening, even though that morning I'd been sure we would meet our baby by nighttime!
On Saturday I talked with Sherry again, and she offered to come up and check on me, and do another round of evening primrose oil, but only if I wanted to. She said it was up to me to decide if I wanted to risk being disappointed if nothing happened again. I talked it over with Jim, who didn't mind either way, and finally decided to go for it, mostly only because I thought it would be nice to have the baby on the weekend. I was still dilated to a 3-4 cm when she checked me. After Sherry and her student left, we went to Walmart for a while to get a few things. I hoped that the extra walking would help. It didn't seem to! We hung out at home the rest of the day, and I did go through one emotional meltdown of discouragement, but then I got ahold of myself and we all went out for a walk in the brisk fresh air. At that point I just gave it over to God and felt peace that this baby would come in His perfect time, whether that was now or a couple weeks from now! I felt peace too that if our little "nudge" with the evening primrose oil didn't work again, that we wouldn't bother to try to move things along anymore. My blood pressures had been maintaining at pretty much the same numbers over the course of the weekend--still high, but not alarmingly so, and I didn't feel really stressed that they would be an issue in the long run.
I called Sherry around 9 pm Saturday night to let her know nothing was happening, and I was going to bed. We planned to continue to keep in touch daily, and I had instructions to call her if I sensed something really was going on. She also assured me that she didn't mind me calling multiple times, and didn't mind coming up to check on me even if it turned out to be a false alarm. I tend to feel really bad about "bugging" people, so it was nice to know that she was fine with me being a pest. :) Jim and I stayed up till around 11 or so, watching a couple episodes of Hogan's Heroes online. I felt nice and relaxed, I wasn't having any contractions, and looked forward to a good night's sleep. Before we went to bed, we took off the labor sheet and the plastic sheet that were over our normal sheets. The plastic sheet makes everything really hot, and I didn't want to be sweating all night. Besides, I joked to Jim that taking off the labor sheets would probably cause me to go into labor. ;)
So we went to bed and I slept soundly until just before 2 am. I woke up with stomach cramps and headed for the bathroom. As I was getting ready to go back to bed, I realized that the cramps kind of felt like labor pains--or at least what I thought I remembered labor pains feeling like! I decided to stay up for a little while and see if I had more, and if they were coming at regular intervals or not. I brought my Kindle out to the couch and tried to read a bit in between contractions (which I soon realized they were). I had downloaded a handy free contraction timer on my iPod, so I used that to see how long they were lasting and how close together they were. From the beginning they were lasting about 30-60 seconds and coming about 4-5 minutes apart. But I still wasn't sure this was the "real thing." (Dumb me!) I timed about 7 or 8 of them, reading in between. I realized I was having to breathe and concentrate through them, and finally decided I'd better wake up Jim, around 2:30 am. Poor guy was a bit disoriented, and I'm sure he figured it might be a false alarm, but he gamely got up and started getting the birth pool ready in the living room while I brought out the box of birth supplies. And we put the labor sheets back ON the bed. :) This was all in between me breathing through contractions and trying not to get too grumpy. I called Sherry around 2:40 to let her know that I *thought* I was in labor, but it still might be a false alarm (I was still in disbelief at this point, I guess :)). She said they would be on the way as soon as possible.
Jim started filling the pool and got the package of towels in the oven to warm up. I wandered around, trying to time the contractions and find comfortable positions. It turned out that I felt most comfortable standing up this time, or leaning over slightly and hanging onto something like the counter in the bathroom. The contractions were definitely coming closer together at this point, but I was still able to work through them pretty well. The pool took a little while to fill, and Jim kept having to mess with the water temperature to keep it at around 100ยบ. This was a little bit frustrating (for me ;)) because I wanted his support through the contractions and he kept having to leave my side! But it wasn't that bad--just seemed frustrating at the time. :) (It's funny in retrospect, the things that become really annoying during labor. Later on when I got in the tub, I was in the quiet, dimly lit living room, which is right beside our bedroom, and I got seriously annoyed that our bedroom light was on and everything was brightly lit up in there! I told Jim I knew it was stupid, but I really needed him to turn it off because it was bothering me. :)) Anyway, back to the contractions . . . we were still waiting for the water to get deep enough, and it was getting close. I was standing by the piano, right near the pool, waiting to get in, when suddenly I had an extra intense contraction and felt a pop and a gush--my water had broken! This was the first time since I had Sam that it had broken before getting in the water. I really hadn't expected it, but there it was . . . and by now I knew without a doubt that this was really and truly labor. No need to feel bad about dragging the midwives out of bed in the middle of the night!
We noted the time when my water broke--it was 3:13 am. I got in the tub just a couple minutes later, so around 3:15 am. Using the birth pool this time (vs. the bathtub) was amazing. I loved having the freedom to get into different positions and having the water so much deeper. I think I was pretty much in transition by the time I got into the pool. Jim stayed with me as much as he could, aside from jumping up to turn the hose on (we had it hooked up to the laundry sink) and add more water once or twice when I felt like we needed a little extra warmth. I tried to relax and breathe through the contractions, which were coming right on top of each other, and hoped that the midwives would arrive soon! It seemed to be taking forever for them to get there! (Although it really hadn't been that long. :)) I was still kind of in disbelief that my labor was going so fast. I knew it had the potential to do so, but part of me really figured I was in for a totally different kind of labor this time around, being my 4th child and not having given birth for more than 6 years. I told Jim that I was starting to feel "pushy." I really didn't want to push until the midwives got here, but I'm also not the type that can hold back if my body is saying it's time to push! Jim calmly said, "Just do whatever you have to do and it'll be fine." I'm sure he was hoping I could wait a bit too, but I appreciated him being calm about it. :)
Sherry and the assisting midwife, Kathryn, arrived around 3:35 am (I think). I have probably never felt happier about seeing someone come through the door. :) They got right to work getting out their supplies and getting ready, as they could tell it wouldn't be long! Sherry got her gloves on right away when I told her I felt like pushing. At this point I was on hands and knees in the pool and I suddenly had a tremendous urge to push. At the same time I felt like I needed to change position and ended up in more of a sitting position with my back against the side of the pool, and I heard Sherry beside me calmly saying "We have a head!" It had all happened so fast, I could hardly believe the head was already out. I rested for a little bit and then the rest of the baby came flying out with the next contraction. And I suddenly felt a LOT better. :)
The baby looked really whitish gray and wrinkly, and the cord was around her neck so it took her a minute to get a good breath and start making some noise. The midwives calmly rubbed her and flicked her feet to get her started, and then she began to cry and pinked up quickly. Her first Apgar score at one minute was an 8 due to her color and tone not being great, but her second Apgar at 5 minutes was a 10. By then she had gotten lots of good color and was working on clearing her lungs nicely. :) While all this was going on, I hadn't remembered to look and see if we had a girl or boy. I remember Sherry calling the baby "Buddy" or something, so my first assumption was that we had a boy . . . but then I looked and was super surprised to find out we had a girl! Jim had already noticed, I think, but hadn't said anything yet. When I said, "We have a girl!" he replied, "I know. I thought she would be!" The neat thing is that I had really hoped for a girl this time around, although I would have been happy either way, of course. :) But when we first found out I was pregnant, I just had the feeling for some reason that it was a girl. As the pregnancy went on, though, I wasn't so sure anymore. It seemed like the pregnancy in general felt a lot like my pregnancy with Julia, but it had been so long that I couldn't remember for sure. And I felt like I was carrying more like I did with Sam. Anyway . . . it was neat how God gave me the desire of my heart and now we have two girls and two boys. Both Julia and Josiah had really hoped for a sister, as well, so they were quite excited! And although Sam had said he hoped for a boy, he totally adores his baby sister, as you can probably tell from the picture further up the page. :)
Anyway, back to the story. :) I cuddled the baby in the pool for a few minutes, all wrapped in a towel. She was covered with lots of vernix, so she looks pasty white in the very first pictures we have (which the assisting midwife took, and won't be posted here for modesty reasons :)). The midwives and Jim got out towels and made a path from the pool to our bed, then they helped me and the baby out of the pool (she was still attached to me with the cord, as they hadn't cut it yet) and onto the bed, where the placenta was delivered a few minutes later. Then Jim cut the cord, and Sherry took a cord blood sample (I'm RH negative, so we needed to know the baby's blood type in case I would need a Rhogham shot), and I was able to nurse the baby for the first time. She caught on quickly, a lot like Julia did when she was first born! The midwives left us alone and Jim and I enjoyed those first quiet moments with our new daughter. Later, Jim took the baby while Sherry examined me for tears. I did have one, but thankfully they gave me the option of not having stitches, and just letting it heal on its own. I have always torn a little bit when giving birth, but have never had to have stitches except when Sam was born. I think I tear because I am in too much of a hurry to get the baby OUT! Then I was able to get cleaned up and back into bed, and Sherry did the newborn exam, weighed her, etc., while Kathryn took pictures for us. It was really special having more pics this time around, of baby's first hours! I was thankful she offered to do that for us.
Sam had woken up just after the baby was born because he heard her crying. He peeked out of their room while we were still in the pool, and we sent him back to bed, with the promise that we would get him up to meet her as soon as we were all settled. He stayed wide awake from around 3:45 on, and we finally let him get up around 6 am. The midwives left by around 6:30, then Sam and Jim went to work making a big breakfast, while I snuggled in bed with Arielle (who was still nameless at that point). It took us the better part of the day to choose a name for her! We were finally able to start calling family and letting them know she was here, which was quite exciting. :) Then Jim and Sam cleaned up the birth pool and Josiah and Julia finally woke up and got to meet their new sister.
As you can tell, all of the kids were thrilled to find that they had a baby sister. Julia had been asking me almost daily if THIS would be the day that the baby would be born . . . finally her long wait was over! They marveled over Arielle's tiny fingers and toes, how tiny and perfect she was . . . and they still tell me over and over daily how cute and sweet she is. They love to hold her, and Julia is interested in all the "new" things that happen with a baby, like nursing and diaper changing. She can't wait for me to give Arielle her first bath, so she can help. :)
The rest of our Sunday was very low-key and restful. Jim and I ended up both taking naps, and we sent the kids outside to play for most of the afternoon. In the evening, my parents came by to see the baby, and Dad ended up getting takeout for us from our favorite local seafood/BBQ place. Those first meals after having a baby are SO yummy . . . finally I have enough room to fit in some good food without getting heartburn! :)
So, that is the (very long-winded) version of the story. I am so very grateful that everything went well and our sweet Arielle Grace arrived safely. Also that my blood pressure stayed in a safe range and didn't do anything crazy there at the end! We are enjoying our "babymoon" and it's been such a blessing to have Jim home all week, and friends bringing in meals . . . we're getting quite spoiled!!! I love that my main job right now is to cuddle a sweet, warm baby girl, and that I can take my time getting back to "normal" (which I'm sure will be a new normal!). Hope you have enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it! :)
