A little part of my journey...: June 2012

I had to laugh as I went to write this blog... I found a post I started a month before Noah arrived. It only amounted to "It's been to long since...." Haha! YES! It has, been so long since I've done an update here and hopefully I make it into a least a full paragraph this time! So, here we go!

As most of you know the pregnancy was a difficult one for me, filled with much morning sickness (the entire 9 months!) and other odd events like Noah pushing 2 of my ribs out of place! My mom told me many times that her births "were a breeze compared to the pregnancies." Well the Lord blessed me with such a story with Noah. It definitely hurt a lot, but I do consider myself blessed.

Labor started on Friday, April 27th around noon. I was at week 38 and two days. That night I had only gotten an hour and a half of sleep, and I had joked that morning about it not being a good day to go into labor because of the fact. That morning, I had mom's group that meets at my house. My last mom left at 11:50 and by 12:00 I was started to feel icky. James came up from working down stairs and started sharing some things that had moved his heart that morning. I knew something was odd when I looked at him and said, "could you just stop talking?" Which was much nicer then the "SHUT UP!" going through my mind! I then went into the living room and started balling because I felt like a horrible wife for shutting my husband up when his in the middle of sharing his heart! Haha, I don't know if all labors begin with emotional breakdowns, but mine did!
By 1:30 my water broke, which again was quite a drama for me because I was in denial that it really was my water breaking and not just me peeing my pants a lot! I called my midwife and doula, and both we're so encouraging. I remember Debbie (my midwife) telling me I would probably have the baby tomorrow! HA! And Julie (my doula) telling this was no surprise to the Lord and He would provide for every need in the moment I need it, even if I only had a short sleep the night before.
I don't remember much of what we did for the next hour other then try to convince myself that I might be having a baby soon... I don't know why I was so shocked after 9 months leading up to this event! My contractions were around eight minutes apart at this point. At 3:00 we went to the chiropractor because I wanted to make sure my hips were in good shape to have a baby, I was mostly nervous about the car ride and not being able to move around. But all went well and it wasn't until we got home that contractions stated to get intense and around three minutes apart. I got into the bath-tub and that helped, and soon after, my doula, Julie, arrived. I was so thankful for her and she helped me deal with the pain immensely. Up to this point James had been trying to talk me through the contractions, but I had such a hard time receiving from him! We laugh all the time about when Julie got here, she would say the exact same things he did, but I responded so much more to her! It helped me knowing the has been through what I was going through!
Around 5:45 Debbie came and we got out of the tub and she checked how far dilated I was, which was 3cm. I don't even remember processing that I had to be at a 10 before baby came. My pain was so intense that all I could focus on was getting through it. Even when I was in the bathtub I was beginning to have the sensation to push, and even more so when I got out a was laboring on the bed. During this time James was scrambling to get the tub ready. We both figured my labor would be long enough that we would have plenty of time to get the bed and birthing tub ready. It takes a while to fill a birth tub and we ran out of hot water!
My contractions and the urge to push were getting more intense (sorry, I will use this word over and over, but it's the only way to describe them!) and Debbie felt like she needed to check me again. In 30 minutes I had progressed to a 7 and in the next 10-15 minutes I went to a full 10.
At 6:45 the water was filled enough, and finally I was able to get into the birthing tub! I can't say I felt a huge amount of relief, but I think it was because I was so close to delivery and my labor was past the point of being comforted. I'm sure in earlier labor you would feel more of a difference. I did like how much easier it was to move around though. So I squatted with my arms over the side and gripped onto James' arms for dear life! Even looking back, although there was so much pain and it hurt so much, it really was a beautiful time. I can't express enough how greatful I am for my birthing team. The room was so full of peace and joy. Through each contaction I felt everyone focus with me- It so helped me not feel alone in the place of pain.
One thing we had prayed a lot about was the fear of the possibility of Noah getting stuck after his head came through, I had to work through and surrender it to the Lord many times during the pregnancy. The Lord was so faithful and it didn't happen, but I was so thankful how I really had laid that fear at His feet, because at the moment his head did come through and as I waited for the next contraction to push the rest of his body out, the fear never once entered my mind!
At 7:39 Noah entered the "outside" world! James and I were both in shock that he had really arrived and it took a bit to process but it was so good to have him here with us! We are so thankful for our gift from above. He is such a joy and and true comfort to our family!!