Sophie's Birth story

I have decided that my births are not going to go according to plan, which I guess is typical. Margie came too quickly for me to make it to the birthing pool, and Sophie... well, I am getting ahead of myself.

June 2nd and 3rd I suddenly was hit with bursts of nesting energy. I had been really tired for awhile before, not able to do much extra, but between the two days, and with a lot of help from Mike and my sister-in-law Melissa, we got the house completely clean. So I was hopeful that the energy meant something was happening. We went out to eat at Golden Corral the night of the third to keep the kitchen clean and because I wanted steak.

I started having some mildly painful contractions at the restaurant, but didn't think too much about it, because I had been having contractions for a couple weeks. Then in the car on the way home, I had a couple that made me go, "Ooooooow!" Mike said he hadn't heard me talk like that since Margie was born. I think I freaked him out, because that had been so fast, but I told him they weren't that bad yet.

We got home and got the kids cleaned up for church the next day and then to bed. The contractions kept up, and stayed pretty painful, so I called my midwife (Cheryl) to let her know things were happening. She seemed to think it was serious enough to tell us to blow up the birthing pool, which made me happy, I was afraid it was going to be a false alarm, that they would go away while I slept. We called my cousin who wanted to be there for the birth, and was going to be responsible for my eldest, Mason, who I wanted to be there, and she came over around 11 to spend the night. I knew I should go to bed, but I had trouble falling asleep.

I woke up at three in the morning and the contractions were too painful to sleep through, but not so bad that I felt I should wake up anyone. Around six, they got more intense, and I contacted my midwife again. The problem was, they were very irregular. They were pretty painful, but I was tracking them and they were 7 minutes apart or more. So I figured I still had a while.

It was Sunday, so when the kids got up, we gave them cereal, and we called my Aunt Liz and asked her to come get the two youngest and take them to church. The plan was always for them to go with her if the birth happened during the day. She came and got them around 7:30, and told me later that she thought from observing me that it would still be several hours before baby came.

Around that same time, I messaged my mom and some of my sisters about what was going on, and mentioned that I was wanting medication already, that it HURT. I probably should have said the same thing to my midwife, but I was so hung up on the irregular contractions. I took a shower for a little bit, but it didn't help much and I didn't want to use up all the hot water, so I stopped and just walked around the house. My sister-in-law had come by this point, so Mike, Mason, April, and Sara were all in the front room talking.

Sometime after 9 am, I called Cheryl again and we talked for a few minutes, she listened to me through a contraction and had me see if I could feel anything going on with my cervix. I had been laying on my side for a bit, so she suggested I go walk around for about half an hour and see if that got the contractions closer together.

As soon as I hug up the phone, I was hit with a SUPER intense contraction, I couldn't move, think or talk. I should have called her back then, but I was hung up on the timing thing still. I went in the front room and walked around the birthing pool, stopping for contractions and timing them, and they were still too random. They hurt like the dickens, they just weren't consistent. Cheryl texted me, asking if I wanted her to come out and check my progress, but I didn't want her to come out if it was too early. I was just thinking that maybe I should go ahead and ask her to come, when I was hit with a very strong PUSHING contraction.

Now, when I pushed with Margie, no one else knew I was pushing. I felt the pushing urge, but the contractions were no worse than the others, and I was so caught up in them that I didn't tell anyone I was pushing. These were different. My lower back and bottom hurt SO BAD that I screamed with every contraction. Mike was sitting on the couch, and I threw him the cell phone and told him to call Cheryl and tell her I was pushing.

She said she was coming as fast as she could, and told him to have me lie on my left side on the bed, I am assuming to prevent gravity from bringing baby before she got there. He immediately started trying to fill the birthing pool with water. At some point, in between the painful pushing, I yelled for him to come in our room and get the protective padding under me, in case my water broke or something. Other than that, I was alone in the room because everyone was trying to get the tub ready, which I resented, but I wasn't lucid enough to ask them to send someone in to help me.

The birthing assistant showed up first, and they got Cheryl on the phone, on speaker. She could hear me screaming, and yelling that the baby was coming. At some point, I told Mike to just turn off the water, I wasn't going to be making in the tub. But I also didn't want to have her on my bed, I had visions of blood all over my nice bed. Mike suggested moving to the bathroom, but it was too late, before I could get up, I had another contraction, and the head started coming, I couldn't really move after that. I yelled for Mason and Sara to come in or they were going to miss it, Cheryl came running in at this point, and two minutes later, Baby Sophie was born.

Of course, I didn't know she was a girl yet, they put her on my stomach, and I just held her and cooed over the hair and the cuteness. We didn't check the gender for about five minutes, actually.

I again didn't make it in for a water birth. I had minimal tearing this time, which was nice, the first time I haven't needed stitches. She was 8 pounds, 12 oz, 21 inches long, and I was in labor for over 12 hours, my longest natural labor. Probably my hardest too, as far as pain goes. The pushing REALLY hurt, Cheryl thinks she was facing the wrong direction, causing back labor. She is four weeks old today, and absolutely adorable and sweet. She was only about a week and a half past my due date, so not Aiden stubborn.

Pictures!

Brand new!

After first bath

One of my other kids with cousins, when my aunt came over.