Baby Makes Us Five - How She Arrived!

How SHE arrived... Here it is a month later and I already feel like she's been here forever. [Note: it has taken me the entire month to write this post...] Life is a bit crazy in our home these days, but with the help of my mom, who we call Gaga, Darling Daddy's mom, who we also call Gaga, and wonderful friends bringing us meals, we're getting by. Many are anxious to hear how this newest baby arrived, so here is her story.

My due date was March 9th. That day came and went with not even the slightest sign of impending labor. It was a beautiful day, I think it even got up to 70 degrees, but no signs of baby despite the amount of laps I walked around our loop. 

In the following days it was quite evident that she had dropped into position. I was increasingly uncomfortable with a lot of pelvic pressure. I also think my bladder shrunk to the size of a pea because I was waking every 90 minutes at night to pee. But still, no labor signs at all. I was trying everything - walking, bouncing on the yoga ball, drinking raspberry leaf tea, eating fresh pineapple, eating spicy food... This baby did not want to be coaxed out!

Then Monday, March 14th came. For all those unknowing, that happens to be Pi Day in the math world. And being a math teacher at heart, I know that many were hoping I'd have a Pi Day baby. Darling Daddy and I, however, were hoping that wouldn't happen. Our poor kids are already somewhat doomed into the nerdy math-loving world with a math teacher mother and chemical engineer father, this baby didn't need one more strike against it ;) The day started out like most other days. I was uncomfortable, but I was still going to do the mom thing. I dropped Curly Girl off at preschool and Ginger Boy and I had a morning of relaxing and playing magnatiles and watching Thomas and eating good snacks. Then I picked Curly Girl up from preschool and we went home to do the nap/rest time routine. I needed nap time as much [or more!] as the kids in the last weeks of pregnancy!

I brought Ginger Boy up for his nap and then knelt by his bed for about 15 minutes while he settled to sleep. Since turning 3 he kind of turned nap time into play time, so if I want to ensure a peaceful and restful nap time for myself, sitting with him to settle down is a must. Otherwise I just end up frustrated and disciplining him the entire time... But as I knelt there, I started to have a couple of contractions. They were spread out and not very painful, but they were contractions! I then went downstairs to read to Curly Girl. While reading, I had another contraction! She then went in for her rest and I was left to rest on the couch. 

Over the next hour or so, I had about 3 more contractions. And I started to feel the slightest bit nauseous. The combination of the two made me start to think that things might be starting. I decided to text my midwife just to give her the heads up. 

I then called Darling Daddy at work to let him know the same thing. He asked, "So, should I come home?" To which his manager [who sits next to him] replied, "Go home! I don't even know why you're here!" So that answered that question. 

Over the next half hour the kids woke up and Darling Daddy got home. I had a few contractions. Then it was dinner time. I managed to make chicken nuggets and cut up veggies for dinner. I even ate a few, despite my slight nauseousness. The evening routine of dinner, cleanup, baths, stories, bedtime continued with little to no action on the contraction front. This was actually a good thing because The Bachelor finale was on that night and I reeeeeeally didn't want to miss it. I actually told Darling Daddy I'd be pretty upset if baby chose to come then. Baby listened ;)

I of course fell asleep on the couch after The Bachelor was over. I think I woke up somewhere around 11:45 and decided to head up to bed. As I got ready for bed, I think I may have had a contraction. And I went pee my usual 3-4 times before actually getting into bed. [When your bladder is the size of a pea, even the slightest change in position makes you feel like you HAVE to go!]  I was walking into the bedroom and was almost into bed when I felt a slight "gush" of liquid. I honestly wasn't sure if I had just peed myself or if it was my water breaking. Then it happened again. I was pretty sure now that it was my water breaking.

I decided to go downstairs and get the test stick that my midwife had hung along with phone numbers on the refrigerator. It would tell me if it was indeed amniotic fluid or pee. When I got back upstairs, Darling Daddy woke up and came into the bathroom [I had left our bedroom door open and the bathroom light was shining into the room.] He was there as I tested to find out that it was indeed amniotic fluid. My water had broken. It was a little after midnight on Tuesday, March 15. We were not going to have a Pi Day baby! 

We called my midwife to tell her that my water had broken. I wasn't having any regular contractions yet so she suggested I try to get some rest and call her when things were happening. So, I put on a pair of Depends [don't judge until you've been there!] and went to bed. It didn't take long for Darling Daddy to fall back to sleep. I maybe dozed a bit. Then the contractions started to come. 

At first they were 10 minutes apart, but it didn't take long for them to become closer together and stronger. As I laid in bed I could feel them radiating down the fronts of my quads. And they were getting much stronger. They were about 6 minutes apart and I wasn't sure if I should wake Darling Daddy and call the midwife. I then decided to pray. I said, "God, please give me a sign so that I know if it's the right time..." I kid you not, almost immediately I had two very strong ones that were about 2 minutes apart. That was my sign! I woke Darling Daddy and told him that he should go fill the birthing tub with water. I knew it took about an hour to fill and I wanted to be able to enjoy it. I then called my midwife and told her that she should probably come. It was about 2:15.

Darling Daddy set out for the basement to get the tub set up. I stayed in the bathroom for a bit dealing with contractions. It felt best to just stand and lean over the counter, so that's what I did for a little while. The contractions then got to a point where I wanted to change positions. The tub wasn't ready yet, so I made my way down to the living room to use my yoga ball. I found it most comfortable to be kneeling on the ground and leaning into the yoga ball. So this is what I did for quite a while. 

By 3:30 the midwives were arriving. I was still on the floor and using the yoga ball as I worked through my contractions, which were coming on much stronger and closer together. The midwives were all coming in and bringing their gear down to the basement. I was trying to stay relaxed and keep my mouth relaxed as I had contractions. I was doing a lot of "horse lips" as Ina May talks about in her Guide to Childbirth. They gave me something to focus on and I think they really helped to relax me.

By 4:00 Darling Daddy said the tub was ready. I think he had told me even before this, but I was trying to work out the logistics of getting to the tub in my head. My contractions were coming fast and strong, about two minutes apart. I was thinking I'd need to have a contraction, quickly make my way downstairs to the basement, take my clothes off and get into the tub quickly before the next contraction came. I was also feeling like I might have to go pee, so that was going to be a problem...

After a couple more contractions and a quick talk with my midwife about pee being ok in the birthing tub [it's sterile!!] I realized that it wasn't actually a pee feeling that I was having... I just needed to get down into that birthing tub and I needed to get there fast. I had one more contraction and made my way quickly down the stairs with Darling Daddy and a midwife following me. Two midwives were already down waiting for me. 

I got into the tub and got on my hands and knees, leaning against the side of the tub. It was about 4:20. I felt a bit of relief. Darling Daddy poured some warm water on my lower back and it felt nice. And then, I felt the immediate urge to push. This baby was coming now!

I told them all that I needed to push. I'm not sure that they believed me at first because it was all happening so fast. One of the midwives then took a mirror to look down and see the progress. She could see the baby crowning! [Note: this baby was ready to come out and I had not been checked a single time during my entire pregnancy to see how dialated I was... ]

I pushed during a contraction and out came the head. There was a bit of commotion among the midwives catching the baby and I wasn't sure why because I was still pretty focused on pushing. One of them told me to really bear down on the next one and I did, and out came the body. I asked what it was [gender] and they were all busy dealing with the baby and didn't answer. What I wasn't aware of was that when she came out the cord was wrapped [loosely] around her neck twice and draped over her shoulder. The water level and my position also made it a bit tricky with the cord situation. Her head either needed to be completely in or out of the water, not bobbing in and out like it did a little bit. Because this had happened, she let out one quick cry, but then went silent. The midwife pulled her up on to the side of the tub and gave her a quick rescue breath and then she started wailing. Sweet relief! It was now 4:30 am.

I then asked again what the baby was and they told me to look for myself. I strained to look behind me and had a hard time seeing because the cord was dangling between the legs. But then I saw that it was a girl! Another daughter. One of my first thoughts was how excited Curly Girl was going to be. I had the feeling it was a girl while I was pregnant, so this was not as much of a surprise as I had anticipated that it would be.

I then changed positions in the tub and sat back on the seat inside the tub so they could place her on my chest. As she laid on my chest, we let the cord pulse for as long as it needed to, until the blood stopped flowing, which was probably close to ten minutes. Then Darling Daddy cut it. And as I sat there with her on my chest, I was extremely impressed by her neck strength as she continually lifted her head up off my shoulder. 

After some time we made our way out of the tub and over to the futon bed where I could lay and nurse and they could do measurements and vitals for both of us. Our baby girl was 8 ponds 7 ounces and 21.75 inches. Our biggest baby yet! But she was still so small as I held her there in my arms and nursed her. 

Because everything had happened overnight, no one even knew anything was going on! And both the kids had slept through the entire thing! We were so excited to share the news with our families, but we waited until about 5:30 to make any calls. We knew that both of our moms were sleeping next to their phones anyways ;) 

By 6:30 we were done in the basement and I was ready to head up to my bedroom and settle in for some much needed rest. Darling Daddy carried the baby as I was spotted by the midwives up the two flights of stairs. They wanted to get me into the bathroom first to make sure I would be ok on my own once they left. 

Right as we were approaching the top of the stairs, Curly Girl was coming out of her room to go to the bathroom. The baby let out a little cry at that time too. The sisters got to meet face to face for the first time! It was so precious. The genuine happiness on Curly Girl's face was just awesome. And luckily, a midwife grabbed my phone and started taking pictures of their first meeting. One we'll never forget.

After this, we settled in for some rest. My mom was on her way to our house to help watch the big kids so that we could rest. She arrived around 8:00 and then stayed for almost a week. It was incredibly helpful and such a blessing! Thank you, Gaga!

The days after all blend together for me. I rested in bed and was well cared for by Darling Daddy and my wonderful mother. Meals in bed, baby snuggles and watching Fuller House on the iPad. It was a wonderful baby moon! 

When Darling Daddy had to return to work two weeks later [or go on vacation as he said then...] his mom came to stay for almost a week and help out. It was so wonderful. 

All of this help was so welcomed and appreciated because not only did we have a new baby, but during that time she was diagnosed with a tongue & lip tie, which were both laser corrected at 6 days old. There were lots of appointments to follow this, between the recommended cranial sacral therapy, follow up with the dentist and seeing a lactation consultant. [Note: a tongue and lip tie make nursing a baby almost unbearable - I'm talking latching pains that compare to labor pains...] Not only that, but Darling Daddy had to do the leg work [many visits and calls to town hall] of getting the birth certificate since she was born at home, as well as making many calls to insurance to get her tongue & lip tie revisions covered. And as luck would have it, my car was part of a massive airbag recall during that time, so he got a rental set up for me, which I will likely have for months while my car sits at the dealership waiting for the parts to become available. Oh, and I got a wicked case of mastitis over Easter weekend! So it was basically like I had the flu - chills, fever, body aches. All in all, we were SO thankful to have the help of our moms!!!

So that is the story of how baby girl arrived and made us a family of five :)