Josiah's birth!

Since I know so many of you(well at least one of you) are clamoring for my birth story I will indulge you and divulge! Actually if truth be told I am a sucker for your wonderful comments and this story is sure to make you come out of the woodwork! I mean who can resist a good birth story. I personally love to hear them! Plus the little guy is a month old and we all know that if I don't get this written out soon I will forget some of the important details.

The whole thing started Friday morning. Lainey (my 15mo) woke up and had an unusually long nursing session. As she nursed my contractions started to get closer together and a bit more intense. I was really excited and started to think that this was it! Well about 30 minutes after she stopped nursing the contractions tapered off and started being much more irregular. They did stay fairly intense though. I had a midwife appointment that day and since the contractions were not regular we decided to go see her just in case I did not go into labor for a few more days. We went to San Antonio where she practices and had a nice family day. We ate at Chick-fil-a which the kids love and did a little shopping. We even bought our car seat, yes a little last minute I know!

All that time I was having contractions anywhere from an hour apart to about 10 minutes apart and they were all fairly intense, some of them made me pause and concentrate my way through them. When we got home and got the kids in bed Michael and I watched a movie I think and then went to bed about 10. By this point I was pretty sure I was in labor but I decided that I needed to get any rest I could so I didn't really mention it. Oh and I lost some of my mucus plug right before bed. I kept getting up to use the restroom about every hour and officially woke up at 2am knowing I was in full blown labor. I didn't know how far along I was so I decided to let Michael sleep for awhile longer. At this point I found myself hanging out in the bathroom on the throne if you know what I mean...for some reason this was the most comfortable place for me to be. At 3am the dog woke Michael up and I decided it was a good time to tell him I was in labor. He started running around getting things ready. We turned up the hot water heater so there would be plenty of water for my birthing tub (aka the big inflatable pool). I am still hanging out on the throne having to relax and concentrate my way through contractions now. I kept wondering if I was in transition because I kept having the self doubt thoughts that normally come at that time...I just kept quoting "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength!" I can't tell you how much peace that gave me.

Somehow I found my way back to our bedroom, I think I was checking on Michael's progress with getting the birthing tub set up. I was needing some relief from my contractions. It was set up in a corner and he was filling it up with water. I looked over at the floor and said "babe is there water on the floor or am I just seeing things." No the pool had not leaked it turned out that because we had turned up the hot water heater, per the instructions of the birthing pool, it had started to overflow. Well it overflowed from the next room, through the wall and onto the brand new laminate wood flooring that had been installed just 2 days before. My dear hubby was freaking out a bit! So yes poor dh was franticly trying to dry the floor, and get the pool ready for me. I am trying to help in between contractions and not doing a very good job of it and am told to stop and go concentrate. Well by this time it is 3:30am and hubby says he thinks we should call the midwife. Well I feel bad calling at this time of night so I say why don't we wait a bit longer and see if this is really it. I would hate for her to come all this way for nothing! Well praise God that my hubby knows me so well because he insists on calling her and tells her to come on because I am in labor. After that I decide he is probably right and call my parents to come too. I called my friend GFG but unfortunatly she was not by her phone and missed it!(we were both pretty bummed about that)

By this time the pool is almost ready and I gratefully get in it. Because of the hot water heater mishap Michael has been alternating between using the hose and boiling water to put in the birthing tub. The water helps me deal with my contractions a little bit and then I notice that I have entered into the phase of labor where I get pretty serious and intense. My parents arrive, mom comes in with me and dad hangs out in the living room. Now it is probably around 4:30. I begine to feel the urge to push but am not totally sure so I sort of dismiss it. I feel like this is much to soon for that. At about 4:45 the midwives arrive and begin to set up. I tell them that I would like my cervix checked because I have the urge to push but am not sure...well she checks it and says "Yep he is right there I can feel his head". Boy does that give me some hope!!! I am almost done. Soon after that I start pushing. I decided to stay in the birthing tub to see what delivery is like in there. Someone goes and gets Micah and Maddie because they wanted to see their brother being born. The pushing is intense and as soon as I start I wish I could stop. I can relax and concentrate my way through contractions but pushing is something I really dislike!!! I backed way up against the side of the pool sort of trying to escape the pain. I am still in control though and don't freak out. I make low groaning noises through the pushing to try to help. With the first push my water breaks. After his head is out I ask them if they can't just pull the rest of him out and of course they tell me they can't! Then I pushed his chest out and decide I really don't like seeing him there underwater. It is a bit strange and he looked almost dead to me which is just not something I can deal with. Finally I pushed all of him out and Michael caught him. I immediatly took him and held him close to me. Then I had to put his body underwater so he would stay warm. It was such a relief to get him out and be done with the pushing! After he was born we found out that he was posterior and although I did not have back labor my contractions were still a little harder than normal to manage and that must be why. We waited till the cord stopped pulsing and Micah, my 5 yo, cut the cord. Since he was born at 4:57 the midwives had arrived with just about 10min. to spare. The kids were so glad that they got to see their little brother be born! It was such a special labor and I was so blessed to be able to do it in the comfort of my own home! I loved that the kids got to be there and experience it. .

I'm sorry that was so long...I hope you were able to get through it. There is even more to be told but for space sake and your time I am leaving it out. I hope you enjoyed my story though and if you can any questions about homebirth or midwives please e-mail me!