a Birth story

On Monday, at 8:35pm, Samuel was exactly two weeks old. At 8:30pm I looked at the clock and got nervous....thinking back to those final pushes and all the pain - it's already just a memory! How weird and quickly you adjust to having another person as part of your family! It's really amazing how God makes us so adaptable and opens our hearts as mothers. Plus, it's even more amazing that everything went well and we are all safe and happy. Can you even fathom that Samuel was just as alive and perfectly formed INSIDE of me two weeks (and a few days) ago??!!! And now he's here, out in the world, and being part of our family.

Well, here is the story. It's long and a little graphic (most births are :) - so, be warned. No pressure to read about it, because I am writing mainly so I can remember this important event. But some of you may enjoy hearing about it too. :)

At 37 weeks I felt a huge change in my body. I became super tired; so much so that I started to take naps every day to conserve my energy for labor. I also made sure I was super hydrated and eating well, in preparation for the big day. My Braxton Hicks became a daily occurrence and I felt flu-like sick for a few days - but, at 39 weeks my midwife still told me that she thought I'd go to my due date. That was on a Friday... but on the following Sunday I felt a few really strong contractions during church and started to get excited. Of course, all the signs of labor really just mean that sometime in the near future (up to 3 weeks later!!!) you might go into labor. Might. I tried to hold my excitement in and only kind of mentioned my feelings to Nathan. He also tried to not get overly excited, especially because once we told the kids they wouldn't understand if it didn't happen that day. :)

On Monday morning I lost some of my mucus plug and I assumed that meant the day had arrived. That's how my labor started with Luke too. I did start to have contractions; but they were not long and not timeable. By lunch time they were more timeable and hurting when I laid down for a nap. It seemed like when I would change positions (standing, sitting, laying down) the contractions lost their strength and would stretch out as well. Once I got up and started moving around, and cleaned-up the house last minute, the contractions finally got a bit stronger. Nothing I couldn't handle on my own, but good enough that I need to stop and not talk. Lydia was adorable at this point because she followed me around the house with the exercise ball, giving it to me when I needed to bounce a contraction away. :) She also kept reminding me to drink water! Luke, on the other hand, grunted and groaned with me and hugged my belly. Not so helpful, but cute. They were both very excited for the new baby - but also for their new toys and drinks that they got to have at the birth center. :)

We had been in contact with our midwife throughout the day, and around 2:00pm I gave her another call. My contractions were about 4-6 minutes apart, but she wanted them to be longer before I started to head down. That made sense in theory, but I was reminded that Luke's contractions never really got super consistent or super long until transition.....and I didn't want to wait that long to start a 45 minute car ride to the birth center. Another complication was the time of day - it was nearing the beginning of rush hour AND it was very rainy. This meant the possibility of heavy traffic was very real, and I didn't relish the thought of an even longer car ride with contractions. Plus, we were trying to coordinate with Nathan's mom, who was going to watch the kids at the birth center so we wouldn't have to, and she lived over 2 hours away. So, waiting until the last hour (literally) did not seem like a good plan.

Nathan convinced me that we should leave around 3:30pm and just start to head down there. (Lydia reminded us of things like, "turn off the computer you two". We must have looked stressed!) We weren't going to be meeting the midwife or asking her to come to the center yet; we were just getting past the traffic. We weren't sure where we would go because it was pouring at the time, and I wasn't super fond of the idea of laboring in public at this point. Once we got in the car and started going, my contractions slowed down even more - about 10-15 minutes apart - although they were very strong. I felt pretty discouraged and stupid for even starting to drive down. I did not want to get there and have her say, "You're at 3 cm; come back tomorrow!"

Thanks be to God, all the decisions turned out to be for the best. I know that was from all the prayers people were offering-up for us. When we got into SC, the rain stopped and we were able to go to a local walking place and get my contractions active again. We also arrived almost at exactly the same time as Nathan's mom - no traffic! - and I felt peace about that. Strangely I had maintained a pretty good appetite and thirst throughout the labor, so we all headed to Wendy's around 6pm to get some dinner. (I got a healthy berry salad and a frosty cone - don't worry!)

At that point I was really starting to hurt and I called my midwife again. The contractions still weren't super long, but they were consistent. Nathan and I headed to the walking place again to do another lap, while Nathan's mom took the kids to the pet store and then headed to the birth center. After about 20 minutes of walking, I had the slightest feeling that I might need to push, and we called the midwife and told her to head over to the center. We arrived there first at about 7pm, and she followed in about 10 minutes. By 7:30 we were in our room and as I had a contraction my midwife said, "You sound a little pushy?" That was a feeling that I wasn't super familiar with, because I didn't feel it at all with Lydia (epidural) and with Luke it came on very quickly when she broke my water at the end of the labor. I wanted to say I did feel like pushing, but was again nervous that I was only at like 4 or 5 cm. At this point my midwife checked me, for the first time, and I was at 9cm!! Praise God! She said I could push at any time I felt like it.....but it would be nice to wait for the other midwife to arrive. Her assistant did arrive as I started to give some good pushes. :)

 I had known from the moment I arrived at the center that I just wasn't feeling the birthing tub. Although it was filled-up and ready for me to use, I eventually just ended-up on the floor near the bed. I wanted to be near Nathan, because he was my squeezing/leaning post for each contraction. And I just wasn't in the mood to get all wet. So, I didn't. The last few minutes were super super intense, and I was thinking three things: 1. I wonder if the kids can hear me screaming (I didn't want them to be afraid) 2. This is not really hurting as much as I am screaming, but it's helping anyways. 3. I hope the people in the birthing class right next store aren't scared out of their wits! (apparently they did hear me. :) Good life lesson)

A few minutes before 8:35pm his head was out, and my midwife narrowly escaped a face full of water as his sac of waters broke at the same time. Another big push later and there was my baby! My midwife claimed it was a girl - but, lo and behold! A boy! I had broken the Crow tradition! :) He was the best colored, quickest breathing baby of them all - and the biggest! It was a very surreal time, more than ever before, but he was a real baby and he was ours. The kids loved him immediately, although Luke said, "We thought it would be a girl!" Poor guy, he must have totally convinced himself that he was out of luck! Earlier that day he had said, "If it's a girl, I'm going to get into a helicopter and fly away." - he was pleasantly surprised! And Lydia said, "Even though he's a boy, he's really really cute mom." Luke got to announce that it was 'a boy' to his grandparents, and Lydia got to announce his name. :)

By 10pm the kids were on their way back to our home. By 11:30pm the new mama, papa and baby were on their way home. Luke had been talking with Nathan right before they left and he asked, "So Dad, what are we going to do next?" :) I think that was enough for one day!