Smooth Like Butter

We've survived our first week as a family of 5 and I think things are starting to settle into more of a routine. When the baby came the routine that I so proudly established was blown out of the water and I realized that I thrive on routine just as much as my kids do. I've felt a little floundery for most of the past week. I am up on my feet again and have even left the house on a few occasions and I'm beginning to adjust to the sleep deprivation. I'm starting to feel human again! :)

When I hear of someone who just had a baby I'm always fascinated to hear their birth story. I don't know if this is a "girl thing" or just one of my weird quirks, but I just love to hear all the details of how this new little life came into the world. So, in the interest of my weird quirk, I'm going to tell you about how our new little life came into this world!

The day before Alex was born we decided to go visit Joel's parents. I was 8 days past due at this point and none too happy about it!!! Joel thought that spending the day away from home would help keep my mind off of my misery. He was right to some extent. It was nice to have something to do and to have other people around to feed us and help take care of the kids. During the afternoon I began to feel like something might be happening and I even began to get a little excited that "tonight might be the night!!" We drove home around bed time and Joel and I went to bed thinking that we might wake up during the night to find that I was in labor! July 4 rolled around and I woke up to find that I was still pregnant. WHAT!?!?!? Oh the agony and frustration I felt were indescribable! Why was nothing happening?????? I was really starting to feel like I would be pregnant for the rest of my life! I had a couple of emotional breakdowns and spent a portion of the morning just lying in bed drowning my sorrows. It wasn't pretty! I was having some contractions, but they weren't regular or strong and I had been having contractions for weeks so I had no reason to think that these were going to produce a baby. Joel suggested that maybe I'd want to go for a walk. (Side Note: We went for a lengthy walk the night before Gabe was born and Joel is convinced that the walk is what put me into labor .. he'd been trying to get me to take a walk for days!!) Walking didn't sound particularly appealing to me, but I told him I would go on a walk if we went somewhere that was shady and flat. We decided to go to my parent's neighborhood to walk and I called my mom to see if she wanted to come with us. She said she would so we drove over to her house and we set out on our walk. There is a park nearby so we walked to the park so the kids could play while I tried to walk this baby out. My mom and I circled the park a couple of times and then we walked back to the car and went home for lunch. Once we got home my contractions became a little bit stronger, but I figured that was due to my walk and they'd calm down and go away just like they had all the other times. We put the kids down for a nap and and I tried to lay down and take a nap of my own. The contractions continued and I started to wonder if maybe this was FINALLY the real thing. My dear friend, Shannon, was going to take the kids for us when I had the baby and she happened to call during nap time to tell me that they were going to a BBQ and wanted to know if our kids wanted to come along. We decided that they'd probably enjoy going and if I was in labor it would be good to have them out of the house sooner rather than later. So, Shannon came to get the kids right after nap and Joel and I began to time the contractions. It was about 4 o'clock in the afternoon. The contractions were getting a bit stronger and they felt different than the other ones I had been having for the past weeks. We decided to call Merrie to let her know. Merrie said it sounded like I was in early labor and she would come over at 5 to see what was going on. Joel and I came downstairs, put a movie on and got ready to wait. I called my mom to tell her what was going on and we agreed that she should come too. My contractions were growing increasingly more intense and I told Joel to start blowing up the birth pool and moving the furniture around for the birth. By the time my mom arrived at 4:45 I was having some trouble getting through the contractions and was in need of some coaching. I'm so thankful that we sent the kids away when we did and that my mom arrived when she did. Joel was frantically getting the living room ready for the birth and my mom was there to rub my back and help Joel between my contractions. Merrie arrived at 5 and began unpacking her things for the birth. She took me upstairs to see how much progress I'd made and discovered that I was 9 cm dilated and this baby was coming VERY SOON!!! She told me that if my water broke it'd be all over! We went back downstairs where Joel was filling up the birth pool. My contractions were hard and intense and I was beginning to think that death was a better alternative to what I was feeling at that moment. I was feeling the urge to push, but Merrie wasn't unpacked yet and asked me to breathe through a couple of contractions instead of pushing. As soon as Joel finished filling the pool I got in and felt some relief. Merrie gave me the ok to push and after two pushes my water broke. She checked my progress and discovered that I was fully dilated and the baby was at +3 (+4 is crowning). She announced to her assistants who were in the kitchen sterilizing tools, "In other words, GET YOUR BUTTS DOWN HERE!!!!!" I think I pushed 3 more times and he was here ..... 42 minutes after Merrie arrived! He was beautiful and perfect and TICKED OFF!!! He cried for about the first 10 minutes before nuzzling in to nurse. It was a marathon of a birth!!! Merrie said that's what they call a butter birth because it was so quick and smooth. I cannot tell you how thankful I was to have it behind me, but I'm so happy with how everything progressed. It was another wonderful, fulfilling home birth experience for our family!