A little background from the pregnancy...
We were surprised when we found out we were pregnant this third time and those feelings of surprise quickly turned to those of love, excitement, and thankfulness for the new babe that was coming. The first trimester was arguably my most challenging of any pregnancy just because there were a few different times we were concerned that we were losing this baby. Before my first official appointment I think I had been in 4 or 5 times to see if our baby was ok. God sustained the life of this baby and we were thankful to move into the second trimester and share about this baby's life with friends and family. Our pregnancy continued pretty normally other than two things. At our 20 week ultrasound we found that our baby's umbilical cord was attached to the edge of the placenta rather than the middle which could end up inhibiting Baby's growth. We had a growth ultrasound set up to monitor this at 32 weeks where we found Baby to be in the 43rd percentile for size and again at 36 weeks where we found Baby's growth had dropped to the 18th percentile and that Baby was still breech. After finding out these two things I was scheduled for weekly ultrasounds and non-stress tests for monitoring the baby as well as my regular appointments and we set up an appointment to have an external version done to try to turn this baby into the head down position. If you read or heard Harrison's birth story you'll remember he also was breech and when we tried the version with him it was unsuccessful and my water broke leading him to be born by a C-section that day. The next week for us before our Version for this baby was filled with getting everything done possible to be ready just in case the baby came that day. We were so happy and relieved when the doctor was able to successfully turn our babe and when we were allowed to go home after monitoring Baby for a long time. We are still praising God for his kindness in that!
Now onto the birth story...
In the weeks that followed I began to track how far apart contractions were and had times where they would be consistent for a decent chunk of time and then would taper off. I always felt relieved and a little disappointed when this happened because while I was excited to meet our baby, I was also happy to wait and let this sweet one keep growing in me. I knew that God would bring our baby at just the right time. There were also several things I wanted to get through before our baby came (I didn't particularly want a Halloween baby, we had friends coming up to visit for a weekend and I hoped Baby would stay put until after the left, and I really wanted to be able to teach at my homeschool co-op on November 5.)
I woke up with contractions around 4:30 the morning of November 5 and found them to be consistently around 10-12 minutes apart. As this pattern continued I started to think this could be the real deal! As I got ready that morning I gathered the last few things I needed for my hospital bag so I would be ready to go if Baby came that day. I was still hoping I could teach, but was so excited to see the consistency continue. Four hours later when there was a 30 minute break in the pattern I was really bummed--relieved that it looked like I would still be able to teach, but so disappointed to see my longest pattern of consistency taper off. I continued to track contractions throughout the morning and found no long consistent pattern again (12 minutes, 15 minutes, 8 minutes, 9 minutes, 6 minutes, etc.) so with my wonky and relatively mild contractions I loaded Harrison and Rubyanna into the car and we went to teach. I had two classes that were each an hour long at 11:30 and 1:30 and I continued to track my somewhat irregular contractions while I taught (23, 11, 11, 14, 13, 15, 11, 8, 11, 6, 4). For the most part my contractions were light enough that other than marking them in my app I was able to teach with no interruption. At the very end of my second class I had my first contraction that took my breath away a little bit and was harder to talk through (which of course happened when I was explaining something to a student).
As my class ended at 2:30 and I started packing up my materials I decided to text Michael to see if he would mind coming home a little earlier to help get kids down for naps since my contractions were getting a little more uncomfortable. I had my 39 week appointment scheduled for 4:20 so he was already planning to be home in time for me to go to that but he said was able and happy to come home a little earlier. As I picked up the kids from the nursery and got them all ready to go my contractions continued to be uncomfortable but inconsistent. I was very interested to see what my provider would have to say about them at my appointment. Finally, after loading the kids into the car we started driving home around 3:00. During the drive my contractions were 5-7 minutes apart and some were uncomfortable enough that I thought I maybe shouldn't drive myself to my appointment that afternoon if they continued to feel this way so when I got home before Michael around 3:20 I called him to talk to him about coming with to the appointment (or the hospital depending on how things went in the next 40 minutes) and calling either Claire or Shelby (whoever was closer) to come watch our kids. He called Claire to see where she was at and if she could come over and she said she would be happy to. Michael was still about ten minutes from home and I decided to wait in the van for him to get there since Harrison had fallen asleep on the drive and between the contractions and him being in the way back I didn't want to try to get him out and carry him in on my own. While I waited I continued to track and breath through contractions that after 3:15 where there was a 7 minute break had started to come every 4-5 minutes.
Michael got home around 3:40. We got the kids into the house and he began to gather the last things he needed for his hospital bag (he also trimmed his beard) while I used the restroom and then got Ruby laid down for a nap and spoke briefly with my mom on the phone (She had called to check in since she knew I had been having contractions earlier that day. I told her we were trying to decide whether going to my appointment or the hospital was going to be the right choice since my contractions were getting closer together at 3-5 minutes apart but in the last hour I had still had contractions that were 7 and 9 minutes apart.) Claire got to our house with their four kids around 3:50 or so and I asked the kids to go right down to the basement since Harrison and Rubyanna were napping. Claire and I talked in the kitchen about what they could do for supper if we didn't come back home and I showed her my contraction log and asked whether she would go to the hospital or the appointment since my average contraction time was now getting to about 5 minutes apart. I had a couple of contractions while we spoke but I talked right through them and she almost didn't notice I was having them.
Before we headed out I wanted to use the restroom one more time and as I walked down the hall I thought maybe we would just call the hospital on the drive to see if they thought we should come in. I passed Michael in the hall and told him I would be ready after using the bathroom and he said he was just gathering the last things to put in the car.
I started having a contraction when I got into the bathroom at 4:03 and as soon as I sat down on the toilet everything about the laidback, mostly comfortable situation changed. In hindsight I think my water broke then, but in the moment all I knew was that there was an unbelievable amount of pressure. Immediately I started mentally freaking out because I remembered this kind of pressure from when Ruby was born. Michael knocked on the door to see how I was doing and I replied "not good. We need to go now." He said he was going to run downstairs to grab a few more things to which I said, "No. Don't grab anything else, we need to leave." He went to throw our bags in the car having noticed the change in my tone but not realizing how much the laboring situation had changed. I tried to stand up in hopes that I would be able to walk to the car but had to sit back down and immediately felt the urge to push. This was alarming to me since I didn't have any idea how progressed I was and because it was so contrary to what I had been feeling just five minutes before. I tried not to push, but it was impossible and just like that I felt our baby crowing and shouted Michael's name. He heard me in the garage and came barreling up the stairs (almost taking out Claire in the process) and tried to get into the bathroom, but the door was locked (because if I ever get to close the door to go to the bathroom I'm going to lock the door to ensure a few moments of privacy). Now our bathroom door is just a pop lock and we had a "key" above the door, but Michael was so frantic he couldn't get the door unlocked and he was shouting that I needed to unlock the door...I however had a baby crowning and couldn't manage to reach over at the moment to turn the handle. It felt like forever and Michael was all set to try to break the door to get into the bathroom, but God kindly allowed my contraction to let up just enough so I could reach over to open the door before Michael attempted this.
He assessed the situation as soon as he got in the bathroom and saw Baby's head. I asked him what he saw because I needed him to tell me it was the head--knowing this calmed me down in a lot of ways because once you know for sure your baby is crowning you know you are just going to have to buckle down and push that baby out. Michael affirming it was the head gave me the focus I needed. After Michael had assessed the situation he had his phone start calling 911 but never got it on speaker phone (at 4:08) and he told me I needed to get into the tub. When I told him I couldn't move he lifted me in and told me I needed to push. I replied that I was supposed to wait for a contraction. Claire was in the hallway and asked if she could just call 911 which Michael said yes to while he cleared away excess towels, put a bath mat behind my head, and gathered clean towels and washcloths to be ready. I told him another contraction was starting and he coached me through pushing our newest baby out in that one contraction. He caught our baby, announced that she was a girl, checked her over, wiped her mouth and nose, and she had her beautiful first cry. Once she looked good he handed her to me and I snuggled her while he covered her with a towel. We took our first picture of our new daughter at 4:13.
Shortly after she was born the firemen came, followed by a police officer, and finally the EMTs. We answered some questions and walked out to the ambulance to go to the hospital (I walked out barefoot using a towel as a diaper of sorts...needless to say I hope there weren't many neighbors looking out their windows). We named our sweet baby girl Roselynn Dawne (Lynn for my sister Charlsea Lynn and Dawne for both my mom Stacy Dawne and sister Shelby Dawne) and she and I took our first ever ambulance ride. Once we got to the hospital they took us up to our room and did all the things you normally do after having a baby.
We have been and continue to be exceedingly thankful for how smoothly everything went. God was so gracious and kind in so many ways:
- I had been in the car driving home with our kids within an hour of Roselynn's birth
- We were minutes away from being in the car on our way to the hospital/appointment
- Michael was home (and eventually able to get into the bathroom)
- Claire was at our house to watch our kids
- Harrison slept through the entire thing (he sleeps HARD--his room is right next door to the bathroom).
- Harrison sleeping meant that all of Claire's kids were downstairs while Roselynn was born (granted they heard what was going on, but they weren't upstairs).
- Our baby had been breech two weeks before, but God allowed the doctor to turn her and she remained in the head down position!
- The cord wasn't an issue in delivery and there were no other delivery complications.
The biggest con to delivering Roselynn at home was that I had tested positive for GBS which meant I was supposed to be on antibiotics for a few hours before delivery which obviously didn't happen. This meant Roselynn had to have her vitals checked more frequently and she had to stay in the hospital until she was 48 hours old. Those 48 hours went by nicely with several visits from Harrison and Ruby as well as other family members and a couple of friends. We were delighted to bring Roselynn (back) home on Wednesday evening.
Again, we are so thankful and praise God for our little Roselynn (who weird 6 lbs 5 oz, and measured 20 inches long) and for her smooth, though very unexpected, delivery.
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