As the birth of our 5th child approached I prepared. But this one was a bit different for several reasons. First my husband is deployed and I had to arrange back-up help. And second this was my first child to be born out of Texas! Colorado’s laws are a bit different and it required me to travel into town and have my baby at my midwife’s home instead of my own. These were two huge things to deal with! I’m writing this birth story for all interested, but also for my husband who missed out on the birth of his 5th baby.
On Thursday, October 21, I was in town shopping and attending my daughter’s parent/teacher conference. I had been having contractions all day and was uncomfortable, but able to continue with my day. By dinner time, I thought I should time these, they are not going away. Sure enough they were five minutes apart, but my midwife was out of town! I called her and let her know, they weren’t strong enough yet for me to be concerned, but since she was so far away I thought I better warn her. By morning the contractions had stopped. So I went on with our regular schedule and my midwife was able to finish out her trip.
Sunday, October 24, the contractions resumed and they were all in my lower back. These were a little more uncomfortable and about five minutes apart. With my last birth I had this little warning and thought things were gonna get moving soon, so my sister headed on her way to be my birth coach. She arrived Monday evening. By the time she arrived, the contractions had subsided . . . again. I went the rest of the week with hardly a contraction. A friend from Texas arrived Thursday and thus began the “waiting for baby” projects! They sewed all kinds of things, baked cookies and an apple pie, went shopping, painted with the kids, played Wii Fit games, and anything else we could to keep ourselves distracted.
Saturday, October 30, I started having contractions again, but every 15 minutes. I didn’t bother to tell the girls or my midwife. At this point I was totally disappointed every time they started and stopped. I went to bed and woke up with contractions still every fifteen minutes. I still had not mentioned it to anyone. We were going to go to church, but I was feeling very anti-social and the girls didn’t really bring anything to wear to church, so we packed up and went to JoAnn Fabrics instead. The girls needed more sewing materials! I was still having contractions and was getting really tired, so I found the book section and sat down while they shopped. We headed home.
I laid down for a nap once home and was finding it difficult to sleep thru the contractions, still fifteen minutes apart. I called my midwife and let her know. I still had not told the girls. I woke up and cooked dinner. After dinner, I let my sister know that we needed to be ready to head out tonight. She made sure everything was in the car and was ready to go. We let the kids go to bed and just woke Short Stuff up at around 10:00. And off to the midwife’s house we went.
The midwife checked me when I arrived and I was almost to a 5cm (I had been a 3 for the last 2 weeks). So we all went to bed to get what sleep we could. Around 3:00am I couldn’t sleep thru them anymore, but I didn’t want to wake anyone up just yet. So for an hour I played on my phone checking email and looking thru pictures. Finally at 4:00am I woke my sister up to keep me company. She crawled into bed with me and we talked a little. We finally got a little more sleep.
That Monday, November 1, was a long slow day. Short Stuff didn’t go to school and stayed there with us. My sister made all the food runs and we watched movies all day. They remained 10-15 minutes apart all day, but were getting stronger. I sat on my birth ball, laid on the couch, and sat in the bath tub. I found the bath tub the most relaxing, which was amazing to me because I’m not a fan of sitting in water. As they got stronger I had my sister apply pressure on my lower back. A contraction was coming on and I told her to try the pressure on my back while I was on the birth ball. But this contraction was different and I got on my hands and knees. I told my sis to get me in the tub and to call my midwife (she was upstairs).
These contractions were very close together, some on top of each other. My sister was sprawled across the back of the bathtub putting constant pressure on my lower back. My water broke in the water and I tensed up. I had no intention of birthing this kid in the tub! My sister got me to calm down and 4 minutes later our son was born. . . in the tub. It was a weird experience for me, but my sister tried to get me out of the tub twice. Once she lifted me up, my whole body felt heavy and I didn’t want to get out. I was truly amazed at the relief the water gave me.
Our little guy, lovingly called Peanut, weighed 7 pounds 7 ounces! My biggest baby yet had been 6 pounds 12 ounces, so this was quite a bit bigger than I was used to. He is a laid back little guy and a sweet addition to our family. Needless to say, my older son is so excited to finally have another boy in the house!
