Soooo...

...my girls were telling me that I need to do a blog post soon or I'm going to end up with three birth stories in a row...
I guess this is that blog post...haha ;)...

The Home Birth of Emilee Alyssa Joy

How ironic that this post comes immediately after Abbi-girl's birth story, perhaps I should rename my blog "The Birth Blog", haha.

To fill you in a bit on what's happened between my last post and now...we bought a house and within a month after that we were blessed to discover that we had a new little blessing on the way. Add to that family walks, game and movie nights, a lot of home education, fellowshipping with friends, singing together, reading together, family worship, laundry, cooking, cleaning, finding a church that we love, and just basically living a good life and you're pretty well caught up.

The night before Emmi's birth I was having regular contractions, about 15 minutes apart. At this point I was not in the least convinced that "this was it", this had become a regular nightly ritual so I was just sure it *wasn't* it. I did wonder just a little bit when I woke up in the morning still having regular contractions. To this point I had been going to bed with contractions and waking up without them. They were still only 15 minutes apart though so I didn't waste too much brain power on it.

I was 2 weeks and 4 days past my expected due date at this point. I felt very blessed to have a doctor who would look at my situation and give me that extra week without suggesting inducing since we were both doing well, especially since you can't legally homebirth in SC after the 42nd week without a doctor signing off on it. I was very worried that even my wonderfully understanding family practitioner may not sign off on waiting yet another week though and I was doing everything I could to bring on labor, from eating gobs of pineapple to walking 8 miles in a day! Aside from worrying about whether my doctor would give me more time or not, I certainly didn't care to have to wait another week! While we were doing well health wise I was definitely ready to be done with the soreness, sleeplessness and exhaustion of the 10th month of pregnancy.

When the contractions were still coming regularly by 10'o'clock that morning I became really hopeful and the nesting instinct kicked into high gear. It is amazing what a 42 weeks pregnant, sore and tired mommy can accomplish when they are preparing their nest for a new nestling. When Lee called and I told him what was going on, and everything we were getting done. That convinced him this was it, though he didn't tell me that at the time, and started working on getting things arranged at work so he could leave early. I was so glad to see him when he came in the door. I was really pretty sure at this point that I was going to have a baby that night, but it did cross my mind how embarrassing it was going to be if he had to go back to work the next day and tell everyone it was a false alarm. It wasn't long after that we had accomplished pretty much everything that I felt absolutely needed to be done and Lee told me to go rest and reserve some energy for the hard work ahead while he finished getting the children fed and ready for bed. 

At this point I was really pretty sure that this was it, but still in that nagging state of doubt. Late that evening the contractions had never stopped and had been coming about every 10 minutes apart for a while so I called my midwife to put her on alert. She called back a couple of hours later and by this time my contractions were coming every 6-8 minutes apart but they were only very uncomfortably tight, not too bad. Hearing about my progress she decided that she and one of her assistants would spend the night at a friends house near us. Lee put the children to bed and I was so relieved to realize that I would be able to labor at night while they slept. We have very good friends who had offered to be there for the children and were prepared to be there at the drop of a hat if we needed to transfer, but I didn't want to take them away from their families unless it was an emergency and I wanted the children to be at home so they could see the baby as soon as possible. I prefer to labor at night anyway, it is easier for me to relax and concentrate in the calm and quiet and I had prayed often that it would work out that way.

Right after the children were in bed labor unmistakably kicked in. Lee kept telling me I needed to call Jami (my midwife), but I kept putting him off. Finally there was no more putting him off, haha :). I called Jami about midnight with contractions 6 minutes apart and *very* strong. By the time she got there just 30 minutes later they were 3 minutes apart and I was having a very had time with them. As soon as Jami was through checking my and Emmi's heartbeats I got into the tub. It did certainly help, not quite as well as it had during my labor with Abbi, but I was happy that it took the edge off. The atmosphere was soothing, the only light was a candle burning on the counter and I could hear Jami and her two assistants, Jessica and Brooke (who had also assisted at Abbi's birth) whispering among themselves as they prepared the room for a birth...my baby's birth. That was a very exciting thought!

By about 5 that morning I was getting pretty discouraged. I had been in labor for so long before active labor kicked in that I had been hopeful it would be a quick delivery once it picked up. My contractions were only about 2 minutes apart now and lasting a minute to a minute and a half each time! Emmi kept moving and eventually she was so posterior that Jami was having a hard time even finding her heart beat. The fact that Emmi was posterior explained the longer, harder labor and Jami started helping me try some different positions to get her to turn. Lee was so wonderful and supportive and tried so hard to make the different positions comfortable for me, but in the end any position that took my back out of the water was excruciating and I decided I would rather deliver a posterior baby than deal with the pain of those positions, haha.

Around 6 I finally felt pushy enough to want to get out and I moved to the bed. By this point with Abbi it was very quickly over...not so much this time. Jessica was given the job of keeping an ear on Emmi's heartbeat. Between Emmi's position, my position and the fact that she had to keep a pretty constant ear on her because her heart rate had dropped just enough to need watching (though not enough to worry). I'm sure it was quite a job! Finally Jami told me Baby was crowning! About the same time Jami's other assistant starting saying, "That's a girl" over and over and it confused me because I was *hearing*, "It's a girl" over and over and I thought, "Oh no, she must be breech!". After a minute I remembered that I had made that exact same mistake during Abbi's birth, haha. Next time maybe I'll remember Brooke has a habit of saying, "That's a girl" and I have a habit of hearing "It's a girl" during delivery! Haha :).

Finally I had simply had enough and wanted it over, I didn't even care if I tore so you know I was seriously done. With the next few contractions I really pushed, with one I actually heard and felt a pop as I tore. Jami helped me pace myself so it didn't get any worse and with another few pushes Emmi entered the world outside. Such relief, joy and love as I saw my little girl! Everyone just laughed with pure joy when we discovered we had another little girl! Jami gave her to me right away and she nursed wonderfully. I was reluctant to give her up even after a nice good snuggle, but I was also anxious to have Jami look her over and weigh her. Initially Jami guessed 8 pounds, but later during her exam she had Emmi laying on her tummy as she checked her spine and she just giggled and said, "Look at this fat, this is a big baby!" as she pointed at the back of her neck, haha :). Emmi was 9 Lbs. 2 oz., our biggest baby yet. Her placenta was perfectly healthy, though it showed signs of age. Jami showed the placenta to Bri and Tori later and explained the different parts and how it worked, talk about a home school moment! I was very pleasantly surprised to find that the tear sounded much worse than it actually was and would heal on its own, no stitches, yay!!!

Lee told the children the baby had been born but he was going to save the gender surprise for later, alas for him he kinda slipped up a little and then Jami kinda let the cat out of the bag with Bri and Tori when she congratulated them at breakfast, oops! Haha :). After baby and I were comfortable we introduced the children to their new little sister, one of my very favorite things to do. Abbi was so excited that the baby had a nose just like she did! When we told Andrew is was a baby girl he gave a Charlie Brown style, AAAAAA!", it was hilarious! He didn't really mind in the least, he was just being goofy :).

Over the next couple of days Emmi was too sleepy to really nurse well so I fed her as much as I could and then I pumped and fed her what I pumped with a dropper. Ironically, after having a low heart rate during labor she ended up with a high heart rate for a couple of days afterward that we kept an eye on, but she was perfectly fine and squishy and absolutely beautiful. After the first few days Emmi started nursing better so I could stop pumping and start getting some sleep. I barely slept for those first three days.

Bri told me recently that one of the most exciting things after a birth is when Daddy asks them to get mommy something because they will often get to hold the baby when they bring it. She also said the biggest disappointments are the times when Daddy meets them at the door and they don't even make it in the room, haha :).

I often wondered if I loved my home birth with Abbi just because her's was simply an easy birth. Well, I can now put those suspicions to rest ;). Because of her position, Emmi's birth tied with Andrew's which had been my second hardest, and yet still it was a beautiful birth and circumstances being the same I wouldn't change anything...except maybe get more sleep the day before ;). I am very glad I wasn't in the hospital. During labor I kept thinking of all of the likely interventions an average OB would be pushing at different times.

We named Emmi the next day. I have always loved the name Emily, in fact I had a doll named Emily when I was little (the girls have that doll now). We used the spelling Emilee so we could spell Emmi with an i and it would fit with Bri, Tori, Bethi and Abbi. We chose Alyssa after Lee's grandmother on his dad's side. Her name was actually Alice, but when we ran the name by Lee's dad he told us he wanted us to modernize it a bit. So, out of respect for his wishes we chose Alyssa which is a derivative of Alice. Joy came because it fit so perfectly. So, Emilee Alyssa Joy she became, and she truly is a joy to all of us. Her name means "Industrious, Noble and full of the joy of the Lord ", the perfect Proverbs 31 woman, so I'm sure you won't be surprised to know that the verse we chose for her is Proverbs 31:25, "She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.".

I can't believe that already she has teeth, she's taking steps and trying to say words. Time just flies and I cherish each day the Lord gives me with my little ones while they are here. I know all too soon they will be grown and starting families of their own. I am looking forward to being a grandma someday but I will miss these days of baby kisses, fingerprints on the window and the giggles of my little ones. I am so grateful for these little ones God has graciously given me and I pray fervently that I would bring Him glory as I mother my little ones knowing they are really His. Perhaps the Lord has more surprises for us, I certainly hope so :).

The Homebirth of Abigail Calista Anne

I know it has been a few months since Abbi's birth but I wanted to share her story with you all anyway. I had to put blogging way down on my list of priorities since Abbi's birth last August. Abbi needed lots and lots of mommy care and then Christmas with five littles left very little free time. I'm not complaining though! It has been a very blessed few months!

The morning of August 28th we were up early and on our way to what I hoped would be my last appointment with our midwife who lived about an hour away. I was already slightly overdue and anxious to deliver since SC has legislated how overdue you can be and still have a homebirth, no matter how well things are going. On the way I mentioned to Lee that I was having "different" contractions. I had been contracting for weeks just like I had with Andrew...aren't you all glad I saved you that drama this time...but these were different, they really felt like the real thing.

At the appointment I was given the awesome confirmation that an infection I had been battling for weeks was finally responding to all of the garlic, apple cider vinegar, blueberries and cranberry supplements I had been taking. Whew, that was rough but I was very determined to spare both Abbi and I the ill effects of antibiotics unless they were truly needed and I felt such accomplishment when I finally got through it naturally. While she was measuring my tummy she felt a contraction and all of a sudden the conversation turned from how great we were doing to how soon it was going to be, great news to an overdue mommy's ears! While she tried to not get my hopes up too high it was pretty obvious she thought it would be sooner rather than later.

We left and while part of me just wanted to go home and sleep most of me knew that I would just sit and wait for labor to start if we went home so we stuck to our original plans and went grocery shopping to refill our cupboards before Baby's arrival.  By the time we got to the natural foods store I knew this was the "real" thing, it was almost torture to climb in and out of our 15 passenger van! After we left there we went and got something to eat and stopped by Lee's store. I don't think I said two words to anybody while we were there because by that time I was really uncomfortable. We went home, cleaned the house and started walking. As we were all getting ready to walk, Lee ended up in conversation with our next door neighbor who happens to work for the FBI. Lee told him we were expecting our baby to make an appearance that night and we were having the baby at home. He thought that was pretty neat and offered to escort us to the hospital with his blue lights, on the off chance a transfer was needed. While I didn't expect a problem I thought the offer was pretty neat.

About ten'o'clock that night I called my parents to give them some notice. While a part of me was worried that I was putting everyone on call for nothing I was almost sure I would have a baby by morning. About midnight Lee told me it was time to call everyone. I was still worried about getting everyone here and then having to send them home, it is one thing to make the thirty minute drive to the hospital for a false alarm, it is another to have five different people driving from thirty minutes to an hour and thirty minutes to your home from four different directions for a false alarm! Lee was worried about having to deliver a baby alone ;). I was so glad he convinced me to call because while I was on the phone with my midwife I had some doozies and they immediately dropped from every six'ish minutes to every three! I told her I was afraid of having her drive all that way for nothing but she could tell from over the phone that it was time.

The midwives assistants lived closest and arrived first. I had a couple of really good contractions and then they got a lot more manageable and spread out for a few. I was starting to feel a little silly but the reprieve only lasted for a few contractions and then they kicked into high gear. When our midwife checked me just before 3 in the morning I was only at a 4! I was sooo disappointed! I knew I had been "working" all day and I was only at a 4?! My midwife suggested I get in the tub to help with the pain, which was quite intense by now. I came out to talk to my parents a little bit who had arrived in the meantime and after one more contraction I decided I needed some relief now! I got in the tub which helped quite a bit and I was even able to relax to the point of almost sleeping for a little bit. Lee sat and held my head the entire hour and a half I was in the tub because that was the only way I felt truly comfortable, my hero.

About an hour later I started "losing it". I couldn't imagine what was still in store and I was very tired! What is it about my children and laboring at night ;)?! About the time I had convinced myself, with Lee's encouragement, to just stay calm I started trembling all over and feeling very pushy. Only one and a half hours ago I was only at a four so I was thinking I had several hours left, feeling pushy caught me greatly off guard. I told Lee, and after just one more contraction I was begging him to help me get out and to go get the midwife! She also thought I had many hours left and knew I wanted to be kind of alone so she was out taking a nap. I found out later that Lee didn't exactly believe me ;). He thought I may have just hit that "wall" I hit every time. He went out to the living room and told one of the assistants what was going on and then came back by himself. When he came back and I found out the midwife wasn't coming right then I started to panic. Lee went and got the midwife's assistant and after just one more contraction she flew into gear!

One thing that hit me as so awesome with the homebirth was how everyone trusted me. When I said the baby is coming they didn't say, "Well, maybe, let's check just to be sure...". Those exams during transition are excruciating and I didn't have to go through any, yay!!! I had had many conversations with my midwife about how the pushing stage was terrifying to me. I have given myself up for dead every time, until this time. She had spent a lot of time talking to me about it, praying for me and sharing bible verses with me during our prenatal visits. Isn't that neat?! It wasn't easy, but it was amazing compared to past births! No one screamed at me to "push! push! push!", no one told me to "get mad at the pain" or to hold my breath. I have this coping mechanism of saying something repetitive, when the going gets rough. I find a phrase and repeat it over and over and... Hey, it works! It usually ends up being something like, "Lord,  help me". And He did. He sent some awesome and talented women to support me in labor, he sent my mother who stood in the hall and interceded for me through the worst of it, he designed my body to do this work and most importantly he sent my dear husband who is an unbelievable source of strength and comfort for me when things get tough.

After just 22 minutes of "not pushing", and my water breaking on it's own (a first for me), Abigail Calista Anne was born. I will forever treasure the look on Lee's face when he got to announce that the baby, unbeknownst to us until that moment, was a girl. One of the first things Lee said was, Bri is going to have so much fun. Lee had spent the whole pregnancy telling Bri he just "knew" that the baby was a boy and she kept telling him she was going to think it was so funny when the baby was born and turned out to be a girl ;). And she has had fun with it ;). The cord was cut minutes later instead of immediately to be sure that baby got as much of her blood as possible, but it was cut fairly quickly because she had a very short cord. Her cord was tied with cord tape, it looked like cotton string, it was sooo cute compared to those clunky plastic clips. I did think to myself as she was tying it on, "I wonder what the pediatrician is going to think...". He didn't actually say anything about it, I think he is just used to us doing things pretty counter-culturally by now anyway.

I nursed baby for a while and everyone just sat around and talked about what a great birth that was and what a beautiful baby Abbi was, though at that time we hadn't named her yet. Lee went in to wake up the children and found Bri already awake and bouncing at the end of the bed in her excitement. Andrew wasn't quite sure what to think, he loves her to pieces now though. After we all had had the chance to love on our baby a good bit our midwife and the assistants starting weighing her and cleaning her up. While they did clean her up they didn't actually give her a full bath and all of that good vernix was eventually rubbed in and she had the smoothest skin of any of our babies, ever. She never got flakey like they all have before. I will never allow a bath soon after birth again, I loved her silky soft, smooth skin! The midwife and the other ladies left at about nine and Lee and I collapsed in our bed and snuggled with Abbi and had a good nap while my parents watched the big children until later that afternoon. 

While I was pretty stiff and sore I felt sooo much better than I have ever felt after a birth before! God answered some major prayers when I had no tearing or stitches, just a couple little skid marks. I have never gotten through a birth without pretty extensive stitching, it was awesome to not have to go through that this time!!!

I know that not everyone can birth at home and some situations do require a hospital and I would be so thankful to have a hospital available to me in those instances, but this is definitely the way for me and I think it is the way for a lot more women if they truly knew the difference. Just yesterday I was snuggling Abbi, kissing her sweet little toes and making her giggle on my bed in the very spot she was born and the wonder of it hit me anew. This has been an awesome and amazing journey and I pray the Lord allows us the privilege to welcome a new little one into our home, from the moment of birth, again someday.

Thank you Lord for your good gifts.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. ~James 1:17

Abbi being weighed in a special baby sling scale...

One Of Those Moments That Makes You Smile...

Something Bethani told me yesterday: 

"Mommy, the Bible says that Jesus was in Bethany. I love that!".

"Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper," ~Matthew 26:6

Thanksgiving 2008

... thy children like olive plants round about thy table. ~Psalm 128:3

My Brother, My Protector

And so it begins :).

Abbi has found her fist. This is a good thing because it is her first step to self-calming. On the other hand this is a not-so-good-thing because it has caused Andrew's blood pressure to sky rocket ;)! He thinks she's biting herself and every time he catches her doing it I hear, "No! No Baby!!! No!", with a tone somewhere between concern and sheer panic in his voice.

It is really quite cute :).

Happy Little Abbi

I was finally able to catch Abbi's big grin on camera :)...


She continues to gain weight very slowly, but there is nothing wrong with her developmentally! She's been smiling for weeks and yesterday she turned over from her front to her back for the first (...and second...and third...etc. ) time :).

She's a sweetheart :)...