or had 3 kids(as the blog address implies).
We have had lots of fun and a big change!
This past June we were blessed with a new addition. Our 5th child and 4th girl. Now, having come from a family with just me and three brothers this seems fair. Well, maybe except to our Sam.
Here I am before the action! It was Saturday and the three older kids had been gone all week. Even two year old Rachel had been at Grandma's since Friday. Baby was now a day "late" and the kids were all expected home the very next day. Aack! What to do? I needed some peace and space to be able to go into labor. On top of that, I was worried about having a really quick labor while the kids were home and no time for sitters to come and pick them up again.
So, I decided to do what I had vowed not to do this time. Castor oil. I really wanted to go into labor naturally. I never have. Mostly because I am terribly impatient. Here is a list of my inductions:
#1 5 days early took Castor oil
#2 2 days early blue/black cohosh
#3 2 WEEKS late castor oil
#4 2 WEEKS late castor oil
So, I sent out my sweet husband to get the dreaded castor oil. I usually drink blended with a teeny bit of orange juice and follow with an orange juice chaser. My midwife, who is wonderful, recommended a castor oil milkshake. Threw that up despite my best efforts and took another dose with my OJ. So you have my recommendation on taking castor oil if this information comes in handy!
Then I settled in for labor. Here I am, waiting. I have been so busy with life that I still cannot get my head around having a new baby. I was excited though! Here I am with my hair done, expecting my baby to be born sometime before midnight as the midwife and I had discussed. ha ha ha ha ha!
After a while, I heard a little pop and my waters leaked a bit. So I called the midwives and asked them to come. They got there around midnight. I was so happy to see them. They are with Birthstream Midwifery and are wonderful! By 2am, I was a 7. Things appeared to be moving along. This was my 5th baby after all!
At 6am, the midwives asked me to get out of the tub to change position. I was still a 7! When I got out there was a huge gush of amniotic fluid. I had sort of assumed my waters had broken more fully in the birthing pool. I walked another couple of steps and there was another gush, walked a couple more steps and there was a 3rd and final gush of amniotic fluid. There was so much amniotic fluid! Things were really going to happen now...or not!
Don't worry, this has a very happy ending. Here is a sneak peek!
So, after much walking and squatting and trying to sleep just a bit(it was exhausting) we made it to 2pm. It was quite something as I watched the sunrise and wondered if this would be my first baby born during daylight hours. At 2pm it was determined that baby was trying to present forehead first. The midwives had me get into a knee chest position to draw the baby up and out of my pelvis so that she could be repositioned. AND THEN...things happened. Labor progressed! Just after 6pm baby Mary made her grand entrance into the world!
It was the longest, hardest thing that I have ever done. I am so thankful to have a wonderful husband who supported me through this and knew in his heart of hearts that I really didn't want to go to the hospital and have a csection IMMEDIATELY!
It appears as if my large amount of amniotic fluid and Mary's short cord were behind her extra long birth. She was carefully monitored throughout and her heartrate was good until the last minute before she was born. Incidently, when she was born Mary had the cord around her neck and a true knot(pretty rare) just like big Sister Rachel. My babies are acrobats!
So, that's it! Isn't she beautiful? Well worth it! My midwives were great too. I am sooo thankful to them for their support!
Here is big sister Rebekah with brand new baby Mary. Two of my adorable girls!
So that was how we got our 5th, extremely precious bundle of joy! Precious Mary.
1 comment:
I finally came to read! I'm so glad I did. What a great birth. It made me feel exhausted by the end! I have long labors too and the endurance can be killer. I thought that was quite interesting she was presenting wrong and how they had you change positions to help reposition her. My first two girls were long labors and both had their hands by their cheek (or chin?). Like their heads weren't already big enough... Your girls look like you. You look pretty freakin amazing for just having had a baby! And I'm so glad you're blogging!
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