Elia gayle's birth

Elia was a surprise from the beginning. so I shouldn't have been surprised that her transition earthside was so different from my previous births. 

Thursday, August 21, I woke at about 3am to the feeling of leaking when I shifted position in bed. I was instantly wide awake. was that my water? no, can't be. I'm only 35+4 weeks. I don't have babies early. and my water doesn't break before the very end of labour. so I must have just wet myself. no biggie, I'm too tired to get up it can wait. I shifted again. more leakage. I did not wet myself. I sat up. little gush. yeah, definitely not wetting myself. 

freaking out just a little. this isn't supposed to happen. I don't have babies early. yelled at the man to get up. asked for the phone. called the midwife. am I having contractions? no. go back to bed she says. I put a diaper and lay down. mind is racing. I don't have a birth kit. don't have clothes for this baby. it's too early. 

messaged my two friends who I'd asked to be with me in labour. the man decides to go to the office and get things done. Michelle comes over early and brings breakfast and coffee. God bless her! we chat and wait for contractions to start. 

later I decide to try and nap. Michelle goes home to check on things and nap. daven comes over. we talked. I need a distraction so we head to the babywearing group meetup around noon. midwife comes by before we leave to get a swab to confirm water has broken. everyone's surprise at seeing me was fun! :P

after that, home to nap. then shopping for some clothes for baby. contractions picking up. things stall out after midwife says we have a 72 hr deadline. if babe doesn't make an appearance earthside we must transport. stress is bad for labour. have dinner and kids to bed. daven and Michelle and their nurslings stay the night. 

Friday morning. the man makes breakfast. contractions are strong but very far apart. daven and Michelle head home to take care of things and get some rest. daven comes back and I realized I've had no water leakage since first thing in the morning. do another swab around 4pm and its negative. that relieves my anxiety about transfer. not leaking no need to worry, right?

around 7pm daven, Michelle, and me go to dinner. nice dinner. good conversation. we eat and pay and are chatting and I feel a small gush. we hustle out of the restaurant. daven puts a cloth diaper and extra wrap on the passenger seat to catch any leakage and we head home. we talk and laugh about it. we stop for a bottle of wine, cuz I need to relax and get some sleep. 

at home text the midwife. no contractions to speak of so I drink a glass of wine and go to bed. 

Saturday. sometime after 4 am I wake up to contractions. I lay there awhile deciding. I message daven and Michelle. daven asks if I want her to come and I say she could wait awhile. next contraction changes my mind. come now please. they arrive sometime after 6 or so. 

back pain. strong contractions. nothing is really comfortable. around 7 we text Leah(the midwife) that it's time. strong contractions. back aches and legs hurt. I ask for the hip squeeze and it's never hard enough. my legs hurt so much standing but lying down is worse. so I stand. hanging on daven with the man squeezing my hips and Michelle encouraging and getting cool cloths. 

the pain in my legs is constant and makes it hard to be calm and relax. contractions get close. on top of each other. I get sick. the point where I feel I can't do it. I'm too tired. it hurts too much. Michelle and daven reminding me my baby is almost here. I'm doing great they say. 

I end up on my knees leaning on the couch. pushing. babe is coming. I feel her head crowning and I encourage her. she's here and Leah passes her to me between my legs. her cry is good and she's so beautiful. the kids crowd around to see. 

obviously the edd was close. she's early. Leah had the O2 ready. we watch her and she's good at first. slowly she declines. I keep thinking she'll turn around. she'll get it. but no she's worse and we decide to transfer. Leah, daven, Michelle, the man, and me rushing around to get ready to leave. I dress with help and Leah calls 911. 

when the firemen and ambulance arrive it seems to take forever for them to get her in the ambulance and on the way. stupid people don't know how to get out of the way! I'm praying and crying. please God, let my baby be okay. 

so much scary at the hospital. sepsis. too much blood. weeks. they say. she looks so fragile there. tubes and wires all over her. intubation tube mutes her cries. two days later she's so much better. still six more days in hospital.

finally home. rough ride, but worth it all.

Oliver Matthew's Birth Story (short version)

Monday I was very sleepy. I'd some mucus the night before and through the morning but nothing else. The man had been at work but got home around 5 and we went out to do some shopping and then went to Abuelo's and split a quesadilla and a chocolate eruption cake. Yum!

The contractions were a bit stronger but not regular or even that close. At home I lay down and tried to rest while the man got the kids to bed.

I woke at midnight. After a couple of contractions about 10 minutes apart I decided I would wait until 1 to wake the man and call the midwife. The next contraction changed my mind. Woke the man called L.

Contractions got closer and stronger. I'd never felt the need to vocalize in labor before. I did this time. Around 3 or 3:30 I started feeling pushy during ctx. I was having a lot of pain low in front and the mw said that was likely from a cervical lip. So I didn't push just tried to ride the ctx.

Nothing was comfortable. My back ached and the pain in front made it hard to deal. If the man wasn't squeezing my hips during a ctx I just could not keep it together.

So I got in the shower. That didn't help much. By 5 I was done. Exhausted and it was on the tip of my tongue to say "Take me to the hospital and let them cut me open. I'm done". The mw could tell I was at the end of my stamina. She offered to help get babe's head over the lip and a VitB shot.

I got the shot and a couple ctx later I consented to the help with the lip. After that things got moving but even so this was my longest second stage ever. Babe was trying to get turned around and OH MY! Did that hurt! Poor boy has a bruised forehead and ear from that.

I got out of the tub and was going to try and make it back to the bedroom. Instead I sat on the pot during a few ctx and pushed.

Babe's head came slow and the mw remarked that the head was big. Once the head was out I could tell he was stuck. Down on hands and knees I went and the mw eventually had to reach in and grab him while I pushed with all I had. And then some!

Mw passed him to me between my legs and I noticed immediately that he was floppy and said so. It didn't take long for him to perk up, but those seconds were slightly terrifying.

He had lots of vernix which surprised me. I got around to seeing if we had a boy or girl after I felt sure he was breathing well.

It took awhile but we eventually got settled in bed. I've never felt so utterly exhausted or beat up from a birth before- except perhaps after my first.

Mw called it right after he was born and said he was 10lbs. She was only half an ounce off. :)

Sara's Birth

Well, I woke with contractions on Monday (June 23) morning about every 10 minutes apart. By that evening I was 2 cm. Not much but things were moving, or so I thought. Tuesday night I was only 2.5 cm. That was discouraging. My mom came out on Tues because I had been so sure Monday that the baby would arrive soon.

Wednesday and Thursday passed with no change, still having contractions about every 10 minutes and they were a little stronger each day but just not enough to get anything done.

Thursday night I slept great! And then Friday morning I went back to bed after my morning devotions because I was falling asleep while reading. I didn't get up until 11!

Friday I decided that I was just going to ignore the contractions because it was obviously pointless to think they were doing anything.
So Mom and the kids and I went to Sam's and then to the library and then back home. I took another nap then. When I got up Mom and Emma and I went to the grocery store. While at the store there was a noticeable change in the contractions. They would not be ignored anymore. We hurried up with the shopping and went home.

The midwife had already intended to come by and try stripping my membranes that day but I really didn't want to do that and am glad that she had ended up going to another town to deliver a baby early (1 am) that morning, so I called and told her I didn't want to do that and what had been going on that day. She said that she was going to take a nap because she knew I'd be calling her at 1 am! lol


I decided to go ahead and go to the discipleship meeting we have every Friday. By the time we left there at about 10 pm I was pretty sure that the baby was really coming! My dh was busy chatting and I had to tell him I needed to leave.
We got home and dh and the kids set up the birthing pool and Mom and Kyla and I set about cleaning up the house.




I didn't do too much, I was busy with contractions. I called a friend that offered to come and watch the kids. By the time she got here only Wes and Kyla were awake.

When the mw came (at about 1am) I had prepared myself to hear that I was only 4 or 5 cm so when she said 7 I was thrilled!


I had already been in the pool for a little before that and then after I got back in. Time seemed to be moving fast for me. I remember asking once what time it was and it was 2:30 and it just didn't seem like it had been that long.


Wes got in the pool with me for a little bit the first time I was in it. I wish I'd thought to get a picture of that. He was wired the whole time. I couldn't believe he stayed up through the whole thing. Kyla went to bed about 2 and Cora got up about the same time. Gilbert woke up just before the birth.


The water was nice. I had wanted to get out to deliver but when I got up to get out and while dh and my friend and my mom were getting the towels and my dry clothes another contraction came and I said, "Forget it, it's too late." and got back down in the water. Dh said that he felt rather useless because I didn't seem to need anyone, but I was very thankful for his presence and encouraging words.
The urge to push came on gradually. Starting out it was just at the peak of contractions. I would push just a little with those. I never paid so much attention with my other births to what my body was feeling and what it was telling me to do. And I never would have believed that childbirth can be painless (allowing, of course, for some very intense sensations! Thank you Dr Grantly Dick-Read! and all the women who put videos out of their own painfree childbirths).

The mw had been dozing on the couch until I got to where I was pushing hard and could feel Sara's head. That was amazing!! I had never felt the desire to do that before, but it was just such a wonderful thing! When I could feel her head I started talking to her.

I have no idea how long I pushed, my perception of time was way off and no one else can give me an idea because most of the time I was pushing they were unaware I was. I had a bit of trouble with her shoulders, or at least it seemed so to me. Dh says it didn't take any time at all but I felt like it was taking too long.
When she was born and I lifted her out of the water I didn't even look to see if she was a girl or boy right away. I just looked at her and held her close. She was so perfect! Her color was good and she was moving around. It took the mw suctioning her mouth before she cried. After a few minutes of admiring her I finally thought to see if we had a boy or a girl.

Dh was so funny. He was so worried about her being in the water! LOL He kept saying, "Shouldn't we get her out?". I don't know how long we stayed in the water but it was quite a bit longer than poor dh felt comfortable with. We sent all the kids out while I got out. Dh cut the cord and I got settled on the couch. Delivered the placenta and then the kids came back in.

Wes was so cute, he said, "Mama, I like this baby." Cora was a little disappointed because she had wanted to catch but I was in the water. But she couldn't have been any closer without actually catching so she is satisfied.
Dh got the kids off to bed and I got cleaned up a little and then dh crashed. The mw left about 6 am and Sara and I were left alone in the quiet of early morning. I am in awe of the whole thing. I couldn't have gotten any closer to an unassisted childbirth without actually having one. I enjoyed the whole experience. It makes me smile to think how it went and to remember it all. My only regret is that we didn't video it.