Olivia's birth taught me that babies do not always come on schedule. I went 6 days past "due" with her, so going over with baby girl #2 wasn't TOO much of a surprise. What did come as a shocker was going past week 41....then week 42...and approaching week 43. Our girl was due November 16th, but that day flew right on by and November turned into December. Several of my friends and acquaintances happened to be due about the same time, and it was exciting waiting for our babies...until everyone (and I do mean everyone) had theirs before me. Baby's due date came and went, and the days kept on going. And going. And going.
At 41ish weeks, our midwife discussed our options, as well as the reality that by law, her care for us could only extend to the start of week 43 before we'd end up in the hospital. I was pretty chill about waiting for baby to come on her own...that is until we had a deadline set before us. Still hoping for a home birth, I decided to take the plunge into natural induction methods to coax baby girl out. Thanksgiving day was spent putting a couple of miles on our walking shoes, followed by many more miles in the days that followed. I ate spicy foods, had an appointment with an accupressurist who practically anointed me with labor inducing essential oil. I did a tad bit of
It became a running joke that I felt like I was living in an episode of the Twilight Zone, where every night I'd go to bed certain I'd wake up in labor, but instead would wake up the next morning still pregnant. I had a couple of terrible, self-pity filled days after baby was due, but the Lord was working on my heart. I had to come to grips with the fact that this was totally out of my control (isn't everything?!), that I needed to wear my faith well, trust that God would bring the baby at the right time, and try to enjoy the last days of pregnancy. Great encouragement came through the prayers of family and countless friends, and even friends of friends who were praying for us. It was so touching to hear that people we didn't even know were praying for our delivery and a healthy baby.
Week 42 had me making a couple of trips to a hospital in a nearby town for sonograms and non-stress tests to make sure baby girl was doing alright. During the final sonogram, the hospital midwife discovered three cross-sections of baby's cord wrapped around her neck. "A necklace, not a noose, but still a possible concern." was what she said. With an ice storm heading our way that weekend, she suggested it would be best to come in for induction. Grateful for the technology that revealed the potential danger to our baby, Andrew and I planned to head to the hospital for induction at the end of the week. We both hoped I'd go into labor before then, but those days also came and went. The idea that we wouldn't have a home birth saddened me, but the real goal (within our power) was a healthy baby, not an experience or a place. We would do whatever needed to happen to bring our girl out safely, even if that meant saying goodbye to a drug-free, birth at home.
Wednesday the 4th, I made the call to summon my Mom to come up. That night I woke up with serious contractions. They were so convincing that I called my birth team, who came out in the middle of the night. Andrew sprang into action setting up the birth tub, and the ladies arrived...only for my contractions to subside. It was disheartening. My Mom arrived on Thursday, which was the same day the ice storm blew in. I had contractions all that day which made her pretty nervous. The idea of assisting in an emergency delivering of her grandchild didn't sit will with her, so she was extremely ready for us to take off for the hospital.
On Friday morning the 6th, we got packed up for every possible birthing scenario and length of stay imaginable. Once the truck was loaded, Andrew and I kissed Olivia goodbye, and headed down the very icy roads for the hospital an hour away. Even in Andrew's big 4x4 truck, the ice made driving difficult, and the ride a jolting, bumpy one. My contractions grew stronger as we drove on, and after admitting ourselves, I had to lean on Andrew to blow through a contraction on our way up to L&D. Being shown our room and meeting the nursing staff seemed a bit surreal. We were there to have our baby. The time had come. After such a long wait, one way or another, it was finally going to happen!
The nurse midwife on duty went over our induction options, but watched me through a few contractions said they might not be necessary. I was hopeful, without getting my hopes up too high. With a low dose of pitocin being our first option, I called my midwife Christy and birth team to come out to the hospital. They made the treacherous journey down while we filled out a million consent forms and a nurse put in my IV. My precious doula and friend, Leila, who helped us through Olivia's birth, arrived at the same time as the midwives. She had come into town on this baby's due date, and had patiently and graciously stuck around for three whole weeks waiting with us for baby girl to come. Talk about dedication!
When those ladies who had become such sweet friends walked into our room, I breathed a big sigh of relief and moved quickly into another contraction. Our awesome assistant midwife Jamie, and Leila jumped right into action with counter pressure on my lower back and hips. Talk about ministering angels! While they were helping me, midwife Christy and the hospital's midwife consulted about where I was in labor. The words "She's going on her own." were music to my ears. Three weeks extra wait, and changed plans had loosened our grip on what we wanted for the birth, and yet for some reason, once we'd given up on our design, the Lord delighted us. He had beautifully timed it for me to go into early labor as we arrived at the hospital, and active labor when my midwives arrived at 8pm. Induction wasn't necessary!
Having Olivia's 14 hour labor set in my mind, I felt like we were jumping the gun when Christy asked if I wanted to walk. If it would help labor progress, I told her why not?! We made several stops as I waddled and contracted down the hallway before I found a counter to rest on. I remember giving a cheesy smile to Andrew who had grabbed the camera for a few pictures before I needed to lean on him again. After a few more contractions, Christy asked if I thought the birthing tub sounded good. Looking back, I now see I was pretty clueless that things were progressing as fast as they were. I imagined a good half a day of labor still ahead of me, but the water sounded nice, so she gave the word for the tub to be filled up. We headed back to the room to grab my recovery clothes (again I was thinking it was too soon for that), Christy walking backward helping me to the room. After resting my forehead on hers after a contraction, I said something stupid like "You're the perfect height!".
Entering the water birthing room I felt at ease. The lights were dim, there was the scent of lavender diffusing, I had Andrew and my trusted birth team surrounding me, with praise and worship music playing softly in the background. I got in the water and practically melted into it's comfort. Contractions subsided for a bit before becoming incredibly intense, and then it took all of my attention to work through them. Jamie and Leila were on top of things with timely counter pressure, peppermint oil when I got hiccup-y and nauseous, and encouraging words as I dove into hard labor. As for Andrew, my beloved Andrew, he was the perfect picture of supportive husband, and rock-star birthing coach. He was my pillar to lean on when the pains came, held and cushioned my head as I labored on all fours in the tub, kept a fan on my face when I felt like I was melting, had a barf bag nearby when I was nauseous, and whispered into my ears coping techniques, encouragement, and prayers as I labored. He was incredible and I'm teary-eyed remembering his strength for me when I needed him most. I praise the Lord for my strong, tender warrior husband!
Not long before entering the pushing stage, I sat back on my legs with my eyes closed and listened to the song that was playing in the room. The chorus drifted into my ears: "You make beautiful things...You make beautiful things out of dust...". It was perfect, and after 20 minutes of pushing and roaring like I never knew I was capable of, our beautiful daughter, the Lord's perfect design made from dust, entered the world. Our Emma Shea. She is named after my Great-Grandmother Emma, and Shea, after our doula's middle name. After just 2.5 hours of labor, Emma was gently glided up to me where I was able to bring her up out of the water. A beautiful 8 lbs. 8 oz., Emma weighed only 2 oz more than Olivia did; being nearly 2 1/2 weeks older in gestation than her big sister! God truly knows better than anyone how to grow babies, and exactly when to bring them.
As I sit here typing and holding my 3 week old girl, I marvel at God's good and totally undeserved gifts to us. Struggling to recover from severe tearing, and breaking my tailbone weren't issues with this birth. The ice storm and road conditions on Friday evening likely would have kept our midwives from making it to us if we'd had Emma at home, but were doable getting to the hospital. The cord wasn't triple wrapped like the sonogram had shown the day before. I went into labor as we arrived at the hospital, so the drugs and interventions we didn't want but agreed to weren't necessary after all. Thanks to an incredible midwife group and excellent hospital, we were still able to have a water birth with our wonderful birthing team. The hospital midwife and nursing staff were also able to (many for the first time) witness an un-induced, drug-free, water birth. The Lord's care and orchestration over every detail of Emma's birth was perfect and so beautiful.
I have debated sharing some of the personal details of Emma's story on my blog, but have done so in order to tell you of our amazing God. He wrapped us in His peace, walked with us through every step of the pregnancy, and has given us more than our hearts could desire with a gorgeous, healthy little girl. We also received the incredibly rare bonus of a beautiful homebirth-like experience in a hospital. Our God is limited by nothing, and faithful to many generations. He works with impatient hearts, softening and growing them. He brings the increase at just the right time. And He makes such beautiful things out of dust.
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