13 Sep Fertile Myrtle
Since we felt so blessed to have two little ones we once again thought there was no way we could have another. We had prayed for another baby since our miscarriage and we were certain God was just blessing us with two. It was February 2018 and both the boys had just recovered from the flu and then I came down with it. They had it for a little less than a week but mine just kept dragging on and on and on. My husband joked he thought I was pregnant again but I was certain that wasn’t an option. He managed to get some pregnancy tests from a friend of ours that bought them in bulk when they starting trying to start a family. I reluctantly took one but was certain I was just still sick. Turned out he was right again. How in the world did he always know I was pregnant before I knew!? I called my midwife and told her we were having another baby and I wanted another wonderful home birth and this time we could afford to pay her the full price and in advance! We were so excited.
The whole pregnancy I was in disbelief and couldn’t believe we would have three kids running around soon. We upgraded from a little Honda Fit to a minivan and started re-accumulating all things baby because I always gave my stuff away thinking I won’t need it again. This time we opted to not find out if we were having a boy or a girl and only had one scan just to make sure we were only having one since twins do run in the family. We also opted to not have a doula this go round and to use the money to hire a birth photographer because we really enjoyed having those photos from the first birth home birth.
This pregnancy was like the others, terribly sick the first trimester and part of the second trimester losing weight but this time with two kids to care for that liked to imitate my puking sounds back to me while I puked. I also was over 35 years old so clinically “high risk” just due to my age and struggling to keep my iron up. With this pregnancy my youngest nursed up until two days before the baby arrived which I contribute to my low iron, but who knows. I also developed heart palpitations during this pregnancy which landed me in the ER once leaving with a monitor I had to wear for a month. Luckily I was cleared for a home birth with my cardiologist and midwife so I was glad about that. We wanted to try for a water birth again, this time forking over the $14 to get a connector hose to fill the pool. I had asked my midwife not to tell me my due date because from the last two births at almost 42 weeks and the last at 42 weeks I knew this one would most likely be late as well and I hated the wait. So I went almost up to 43 weeks with this little nugget. I had the prodromal labor again so I knew once labor stuck it would be fast.
It was a week before my youngest son’s 2nd birthday and everyone was fast asleep all cozy in our beds with my oldest wrapped up like a caterpillar in a cocoon in his bed sheets. I woke quickly to a ‘pop’ noise and a gush of water. I jumped out of bed and went to the bathroom realizing my water had just broken but I wasn’t having contractions. It was close to 4:30am so I grabbed a towel and went back to bed thinking, well they will come when they are ready so I better rest because there’s a baby coming soon. I fell back asleep for a few minutes and then the contractions hit. I got up and woke my husband once I realized it was really happening and we were downstairs airing up the pool at 4:45am when I called my midwife.
I waited to get in the pool because I wanted my midwife to check the position of the baby. The whole pregnancy baby had been every which direction except head down and I had been going to a chiropractor who specialized in the Webster’s Technique for weeks trying to get this baby to rotate. When the midwife arrived she gave my belly a quick pat after asking me where I thought the baby’s head was and we both agreed it felt head down. I was actually a little disappointed because I thought it would be pretty amazing to have a breech home birth.
I quickly hopped into the birthing pool and labored quietly while one of my midwives read Frog and Toad to my oldest on the couch and my soon to be middle child watched his songs on the laptop in the dining room next to my birthing pool. I remember the boys asking if I was going to take a bath, and my oldest petted my hair during a contraction (I LOVE my hair to be petted). Our photographer captured some truly sweet moments of the boys loving on me while I was laboring with one photo of me in the pool alone in the room and just behind me in the other room were my three midwives, my sons and my husband. I didn’t think I would enjoy laboring alone but it was nice and my husband and midwives popped in and out as needed. The boys were starting to get a little wild so we called a friend to come pick them up. She arrived around 7:30am and hung out for a minute before loading the boys up and taking off. Things picked up quickly after she left. I guess the stress of having the boys playing and screaming and running around and fighting was more than I realized and once they were gone I was completely relaxed 🙂 I hit transition and it was a hard one this time – not like some shaking from the last time. I refer to transition in my classes as the uncertain, I can’t do it time. Boy did I have that! I said I didn’t want to do it, I couldn’t do it, someone else do it for me, please don’t make me do it. All three midwives and my husband were right there telling me I was doing it and I was rocking it. I panicked so much that when pushing came I forgot how to push! My midwife leaned in and whispered some tips to me, “blow bubble into the water” she said. Ok that sounded easy enough and so I did. It was so helpful and I continued to blow bubbles until they asked if I wanted to reach down and touch the baby’s head. I quickly nodded no because I was in my zone and didn’t want to break my concentration. I knew baby would be here soon and I would touch the baby then 🙂 I recall never feeling the ring of fire this time and boy was I thankful but the pressure, oh the pressure of that baby moving down and out! I wanted to go back to the laboring part so bad because it was nothing compared to pushing! Finally baby arrived after what felt like an eternity of pushing but really it wasn’t even an hour. I was so happy to have the baby out that I reached for it as the midwives were handing it over and right before they placed the baby on my chest my husband yells “wait, what is it, a boy or a girl?” In the excitement of being done we all forgot we didn’t know what we were having. I desperately wanted a girl – I know most people just want a happy healthy baby and I wanted that too but I wanted it to be a happy healthy baby girl baby. My midwife held the baby up and my husband took what seemed like that fasted look in history and screamed “IT’S A GIRL! WE HAVE A GIRL!” Everyone let out screams and yells of cheering and excitement because everyone in that room knew just how bad I wanted a girl. I finally had my little girl. Good thing too because we only had a girl name picked out, we couldn’t come up with a boy name for the life of us.
She was so peaceful and cheesy – so much vernix it was in chunks floating around in the pool. She never cried but once and it was a split second. She just laid in my arms on my chest looking at me. I swear it looked like she was studying every freckle and wrinkle on my face. One midwife gave me a herbal tincture to help the placenta release and deliver because she knew my fear was having have that happen again. I was constantly asking “how long has it been” “is it still ok” “should I be worried yet”. Then I gave a little push with my next contraction and out came the whole placenta. After two other births I finally got to see my placenta! It was pretty amazing, and the cord was still pulsing. My midwives said it was the longest they’d ever seen a cord pulse. Finally it stopped and my husband cut the cord.
I handed baby girl over to my husband while the midwives helped me out of the pool to use the restroom and clean up. My husband took our daughter in the living room and talked to her and danced with her and told her all about her brothers she would soon meet. Once I was cleaned up I went into the living room and laid on the couch, drank some orange juice and watched our baby girl be weighed and measured and check out. She never fussed once. The afterbirth contractions were terrible just as the the midwives had warned me prior to labor that they would be and strongly suggested even though they knew I didn’t like medication of any sort to buy something for the pain because the afterbirth pains would be worse then they were with the first two. I didn’t take their advice and deeply regretted it. They were kind enough to stay a little longer while my husband ran to the store to pick up some medicine. Once he got back they said their goodbyes and were on their way leaving my husband, myself and our new baby relaxing on the couch.
We decided our friend could keep the boys just a little longer while we ordered some food and ate in peace. After we finished our meal my husband went and picked up the boys and they met their little sister for the first time. Our oldest was thrilled he had a little sister because he had been wanting one 🙂 and our now middle son wanted nothing to do with her until he saw his brother love on her and he quickly leaned in to give a kiss and a hug. We still refer to her now almost 2 years later as our little peacemaker. She entered this world so peaceful and has been that way since. Maybe God knew we needed a peacemaker with our two wild boys 😀
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