Contractions

4potato’s birth story

September 10, 2009 by mamakay Leave a Comment

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4Potato’s Birth Story

4Potato’s arrival was the longest anticipated birth. We thought she was due December 29^th but she did not arrive until January 20^th.

She was born at 10:12 a.m. Jan 20th after 14 hours of labor. Out of those 14 hours only 2+ hours seemed like hard labor. I went into labor between 7 & 8 p.m. on Wednesday night. We called Paul’s parents over to spend the night after several false calls. I had been feeling like my body was preparing for labor although I hadn’t actually been having contractions yet… Things weren’t too intense but I was definitely in labor. We went to bed for awhile and things picked up around 2 am. We called the midwife to come over. Labor was pretty intense for an hour or so after Donna got here but then let up. So we went back to bed for awhile. I can’t really remember what happened after this. At some point after the sun came up my labor picked back up and I took a shower. Donna checked me afterward and I was at 7 cm as usual. She got ready for the baby’s arrival much earlier this time since 3potato had surprised her. After a couple of pushes we had another beautiful girl at 10:12 am. She weighed 7 lbs and was 21 inches long. Although she was later than we expected the midwife commented that she actually looked early. We were just off on our due date and I was so glad that we waited on God’s timing instead of inducing labor based on our timing.

This poem helped me get through the very long wait for 4potato’s arrival.

Waiting

by Robin Jones Gunn

Dear Baby, here beneath my heart,

I thought that you might come today;

The timing seemed just right.

But the stars are out

And the moon is high

And sheepishly I wonder why

I try to arrange the plans

of God.

For now I know

You will not come

Until the One who holds eternity

Rustles your soft cocoon

And whispers in tones that I will not hear,

“It’s time, precious gift.”

“Now it’s time.”

Birth Story

October 18, 2007 by mamakay 2 Comments

Things are starting to settle down and I thought it was about time that I posted our birth story.

I awoke at 4:30 am on Tuesday morning with contractions. They were not strong but fairly consistently 5 minutes apart. I waited until 5:30 to wake dh up and we continued timing the contractions and I called the midwife around 6 to tell her I was in labor. We also called my in-laws to come over so they could watch the kids. Around 7 or so the contractions started spacing out more although I was still having them. Dh decided to stay home from work and we went for a leisurely walk around the neighborhood. We returned to the house and I really didn’t feel like eating but enjoyed a smoothie.

The day progressed slowly with just enough contractions for me to know I was in labor but but nothing serious enough to feel like I was down to business. I occupied myself with watching Pride and Prejudice (the A&E version). I made it through the first of the 2 disks and then just as I was putting the second disk in the contractions starting coming on hard. It was around 2 pm. Just before 3 I told dh that if the contractions continued like this we should have the midwives come. He recommended that I call them right then. So I did. After that point the contractions really kicked into high gear. The first midwife got there around 3:30 and then the other one got there around 4. I was handling the contractions pretty well with only a few of them getting away from me. Dh was a tremendous help to me in helping me to moan low and encouraging me that I could in fact do this and that I was made to be able to birth babies.

We tried using a birth ball which helped a little bit until I had a really long and very hard contraction in which my composure really left me. Soon after this I had them check me and I was at dilated to 7 (which is the same place I’ve been whenever I’ve asked to be checked with my last 4 births). The sensation to push closely followed but I seemed to be having trouble keeping my legs opened so I tried standing up with dh holding me which really helped me open up. My water burst at this point. (At the same time the phone was ringing — it was my sister calling to check on us — but we didn’t answer. It was 5:30.)

I moved onto the birthing stool and all of a sudden something clicked in me and instead of feeling pain and resisting it, I felt pressure and started working with it. I started just blowing and pushing very controlled until the baby eased out. She was born at 5:38 pm. I did not tear even a little bit! (Which I have everytime before.) This was the most amazing birth!

May God be praised! Every birth is such a miracle! I praise him and am so grateful for each of the 5 babies he has allowed me to birth. That life could be grow within my body for 9 months and come forth into our family in such an amazing way — who but God could have designed it?

Looks like today’s the day!

September 18, 2007 by mamakay 1 Comment

I woke up at 4:30 this morning with contractions. Looks like today will be the day to meet our new baby! Please keep us in your prayers. We’ll keep you posted.