Baby Z's birthday!

Ok!  I finally have a few minutes to share about Baby Z's birth story!    So, you all know I was basically walking around for two months having false/pre/practice labor every.single. day.   Some days, I was having up to 14 hrs of contractions and thinking, "Is this it??!!"     We even went to the hospital to stop a sharp ligament pain I had that kicked off (what we thought would be) premature labor.    The Dr. estimated that we were already 36 weeks, even though our midwife was saying 34 weeks.  It was all confusing.    Whether I was truly only 40 weeks or not, I don't think anyone but God knows the answer to that!   But, by our midwife's numbers, Baby Z finally made his appearance at 40 weeks + 3 days.    Hm.  Kind of like 3 of my others...just past their due date....   Perhaps I should just embrace the pattern.   

Hubby and I went to bed late Sunday night, around midnight.   He was on-call for work and had just started a job during dinnertime hours.   All of the sudden, at 1:45am, a really strong contraction woke me up.  I waited and sure enough, about 5 minutes later, another one came.  I waited until 2:03am to wake Hubby up because I knew he was exhausted and besides, I'd been having contractions for 2 months already!   What were a few more?

I was right, he didn't really believe me, but he kind of woke up anyway and said, "Ok, let me know what you want me to do."  I waited through a few more and then at 2:18, I said, "We need to call D(our midwife)."    He was still a little bit hesitant, but called her anyway as I breathed slowly through another really strong contraction.    She was also a little hesitant, but said, "Ok, I'm getting up and getting ready."    I was starting to feel a little like Peter and the Wolf here, but I knew it didn't matter, they were all gonna see that I was serious in a short while!   

While I laid there, working my way through each contraction, I was busy praying for God to help me through another labor, especially our first homebirth.  I could feel His presence calming me down and assuring me that this was definitely "it" and that we would not only have a smooth labor, but have the baby before the kids were even awake in the morning!   (Now if that happened, I knew it was a God-thing, because none of my labors had ever gone that fast!)


At 3am, D called and said she and her helper were on the road, it would be the usual 1 1/2 hrs before they got there.   Hubby told her I was doing good, but really working to relax during each contraction.  I think that got her attention and she agreed that I was in active labor.   Finally!  They were convinced!  :-)    We got up out of the bed and re-made it for labor, plastic lining under sheets, etc.   At that point, I looked at the birthing pool and decided that D could set it up when she got there, if we still wanted to use it.   Hubby went to get his work laptop and updated the job he'd been working on, he also called and told the dispatcher to take him out of rotation, because we were finally having a baby!  Even that guy sounded like he didn't believe us!!  Sheesh!  

At 4am, D called to check on us and Hubby told her the contractions were getting really strong and only 3 minutes apart.   She asked if he wanted her to start speeding, because they were still half an hour away.  ;-)    By now, I had requested that Hubby sit beside the bed and I would hold his hands from the side of the bed.  It was working pretty well for us, especially since I am used to very limited range of motion during labor.  My hands are usually pricked with a painful iv and needles, with monitors strapped to my belly the whole time.  Being able to stay in my own bed and have the lights down low was great!

When D and her assistant got there at 4:40, I was in full blown transistion, although I still didn't believe it at the time.   I start shivering during transistion with every labor, and my teeth were chattering away when they walked in the door.   She listened to Baby Z's heartbeat for one contraction and then gave us an estimate that I was probably at least at 7cm by now.   We opted out of "checking" because of how hard and fast my contractions already were.

It seemed like 5 minutes after she said that, I was feeling a strong pinch and next thing I knew, my water was breaking!   Hubby had to help her yank my pajama bottoms off because little man was about to be born into my blue sweatpants!  As soon as my water broke, I felt like I had to push and his head came out right away.  One more strong push to get his shoulders through and he was out!   I was in shock that we were actually done, because D had to tell me, "Grab your baby Jana!  He's right here, grab your baby!"   That's when I looked down and realized, "Wow, he's actually here!!"   5:22am, he was finally here! 

The kids woke up right on cue at 6:30am and Hubby walked them into our room to see their new brother.  They were all surprised that he came in the middle of the night while they were sleeping!   Soon after labor, baby and I had had a warm bath, gotten all cleaned up, and we were laying in Mommy's bed.  By far the easiest and most relaxed labor I have ever had!  I couldn't believe how smoothly it went.  3 1/2 hours from start to finish, and no complications along the way.  I know they aren't all like that, but for our 1st homebirth, I couldn't be happier!!

*Oh, I found out afterward that D actually thought I was already fully dilated when she got there, but she didn't want to say "10cm" just in case it was a little bit longer.  Ha, smart lady.