(Warning: this is a birth story, so if that stuff grosses you out, read no further)
My three boys are sleeping, as I should be in this quiet moment, but alas, I know Jonah will wake soon. Before he wakes, here is the story of how he entered the world and stole our hearts.
Friday had come, the first due date of two that we were given for Jonah. We were somewhat glad that I still wasn't in labor because we had a breakfast date with a couple from our church that were moving the next morning. So as anxious as we were to meet Jonah, we were glad that we were able to make our breakfast date and say goodbye to an awesome couple.
Anyway, so woke up Friday, went potty and noticed slight pink-ness down there, slapped a panty-liner on headed to breakfast. After breakfast I told Brion that I was slowly loosing my mucus plug, so anything could happen. I had no contractions or any other signs of labor, so I was a bit bummed and tried not to get my hopes up that we would be having a baby that day.
Alas after taking a walking and eating pineapple, I started having contractions at about 9:45 pm. At around 11pm they became consistent and were all at least a minute long, so we called the midwife! I was happy, anxious, sad, nervous and just about every other emotion you can think of at this point. (Sad only because I knew this baby would be born in the night-time which meant even more loss of sleep. Eli came very nicely in the evening.)
With the contractions strong right from the beginning, I had no idea what to expect about this birth. I went into it pretty set on delivering in the birthing tub and I really wanted to stick to that plan. Our midwife arrived and checked me right away and I was already 6cm dilated, which is the exact same thing that happened with Eli. Brion then began to fill the pool and I thought I was gonna rock it and have the baby in no time. Well, little Jonah took a little longer than my brain planned out my labor, so I started getting even more nervous about the actual pushing part.
And pause to feed a baby....
The contractions got a lot more intense and then all of the sudden I couldn't not push. But as soon as that urge came, it pretty much left. I was given the green light to start pushing, but I just could not do it in the water. I was trying different positions, but it just wasn't working. I knew that this wasn't gonna happen in the pool, so we decided to relocate. Once I was in a better position (out of the water) I felt like I had so much more control. But about half way through pushing, I really didn't want to do it anymore and I know I was talking about how much I couldn't do it anymore (like I had a choice or something! Ha!) My midwife broke my water at this point and a couple pushes later and my midwife was telling Brion to grab the baby and put him on my chest.
Jonah was born at 3:46 am weighing 6lbs 9oz and 19 inches long. They said he looked about 38 weeks, so I guess the second due date was the "real" one. As much as the head coming out stinks, when the rest of the body comes out it feels so crazy awesome! The placenta pretty much just shot itself out right after Jonah came out. The cord was still pulsing and we could actually feel it. Super nuts.
So with the help of my amazing husband, awesome sister and two great midwives, we welcomed little Jonah into the world. I have loved the two homebirths that I have had, but I know it's not for everyone. I am already amazed at how different two little babies can be from one another. Eli and Jonah seem nothing alike with their eating/sleeping right from the start. And of course, again, I said to myself that I will never do this again (during transition) and right now as I type this, I'm thinking "how hard was that?" God is good. Babies are miracles. We are beyond blessed!
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