Well, it’s been quite some time since I’ve written on here. I thought I might have done some writing over the past two years, but it turns out, I just wanted to do some living. But here goes with my first story, and it’s a good one! Our fifth sweet baby’s birth.
This was our third baby that we didn’t find out the gender for during the anatomy scan. And our tech didn’t give any inclination away one way or the other. Her face and voice were perfectly stoic yet delighted for us (and it turns out, she’s also my parent’s neighbor!). And that’s the hardest appointment to get through if you choose to not find out since you know you could. And that was going to be our only ultrasound, so that was that. No more giving in to finding out the gender. But…it turned out that we had three more ultrasounds after this one and one in the first trimester, which was also unplanned. So, let me back up to finding out that we were pregnant.
We had decided to start trying last year, and the first month charting, we found out we were pregnant! We were very blessed. And as soon as I found out, I told Kevin it was going to be another little girl, but then during pregnancy everyone told me it would be a little boy, so my answer changed of what I thought! Anyways, when I was 6 weeks pregnant, I was driving up to a beach in Delaware with the kids to see my in-law for the week, but the day before we left, I started bleeding. Bright red. And it was quite a lot. I burst into tears and ran to Kevin. I told him we were losing the baby. I didn’t know how I was going to go to the beach with this happening. But, over the day, the bleeding let up and I was just spotting. Talked to my midwife and tried to get an ultrasound appointment before I left, but the best I could do was one in two weeks. So, I sat with my anxious thoughts for the next two weeks. When the appointment finally came, I was so relieved to see and hear that beating heart that we thought we lost. During those two weeks, I prayed so hard that our baby would be okay. I continued to spot . But , our baby had a heartbeat. The word relief doesn’t even begin to describe how we felt.
So, after those two ultrasounds, my 33 week appointment came around. My midwife came over. We had our usual, wonderful chit chat and checking in. Then, she used the doppler to check the baby’s heart rate, and the baby’s heart was doing something so bizarre. It was skipping a beat ever so often and had a weird tone. It almost sounded like a gurgling noise. So, she immediately called a practice she knew to get me in for an ultrasound. Her doctor told me to go straight to L&D at the hospital. My emotions were all over the place. We didn’t know what was going on…as you can imagine, my head went to the worst places. We had friends and family step in and help us with the other kids immediately, and Kevin and I went off to the hospital! After some non-stress tests and another ultrasound, we discovered our baby just had a skipped heart beat, but it usually resolved by birth if not right after. Nothing serious, praise the Lord!
After that scary incident, I started having gall bladder attacks. Oh my goodness…if you’ve never had these, consider yourself lucky! They feel like one giant contraction that never lets up! I was 36 weeks when this started happening. It happened a few nights in a row, but I could eventually get the attack to subside. One night, though, it didn’t let up after two hours of constant pain. I was bawling, and Kevin didn’t know what to do. So, we went to the emergency room at 12:30 at night. We threw all the kids in the car in their PJs, and left! After blood work, a wonderful IV, and another round of ultrasounds of all my organs, we got to go home 7 hours later. The kids loved it, though, because they got to lay on the waiting room floor watching Paw Patrol at 2 in the morning for four hours. After that night, though, I never had another gall bladder attack.
I was so ready to get to the end of my pregnancy after that. I wanted labor to start so I could meet this little one and see who had been growing in my womb for the past 9 months and causing so many problems! Finally, at just past 39 weeks, Kevin and I were sitting on the couch after putting the kids to bed, and I told him that we were going to have a baby in the next couple days, because every Braxton hicks contraction I was having that night had a little extra oomph to it, and I had also lost some of my plug earlier that day.
But as every woman nearing the end of her pregnancy, you just kind of deny the signs of how it’s progressing.
The next morning, on March 14th, I woke up at 4am to Hazel, telling me she had just had a nightmare. So, she climbed in our bed for a snuggle with me. She instantly fell asleep, and I felt those Braxton hicks again…this time, more rhythmically, though. I felt one, and then another 7 minutes later, and then another 7 minutes later. Obviously, I couldn’t fall back asleep, so I laid there and kept timing them until about 7. I may have dozed off for a few minutes. But, they were steady at 7-8 minutes apart.
Once it was time for Kevin to wake up, I told him that today was probably the day, but he should still go into work since the contractions were still consistently about 7-8 minutes apart. So, he got ready, but just a few minutes later, he looked at me and said, “ I think I should stay put. The last couple babies have been quick, and my drive is really far today.” So, he stayed put, I texted our midwife, and that was that. I was going to check back in with her at 10.
I also texted my friend who is supposed to be there for the birth and my other friend who is the photographer. I let them know that the baby was coming today, but to take their time since the contractions hadn’t picked up.
I stopped vacuuming the house (because …crumbs ya know) around 9 and go lay in my bed to labor . I couldn’t stay on my feet any longer. Kevin was working on the kitchen table and the girls were playing together. Thatcher walked in to snuggle me on the bed through contractions. After about 30 minutes, I have a few waves that are 2-3 minutes apart, but I didn’t even recognize this until I looked at my contraction app after the birth! After that bout of close together contractions, there’s a calm…about a 7 minute gap again between one wave and the next…but the next one lasts for TWO minutes! Thatcher was trying to tell me a story, and I can hear Kevin on FaceTime with his parents in the kitchen, but I really needed it to be quiet, and someone to squeeze my hips quickly! This contraction felt like it was going to snap me in half, so I yelled for him… “KEVIN! Please get off the phone and get Thatcher and HELP ME!” You know…just please do all the things and do them right now. So, he jumps into action! After 4 births, he knows I like to labor alone until I don’t . So, until that moment, he didn’t know how intense labor was getting.
After that two minute contraction, I told him that I was going to try to go potty really quick (because I had been having diarrhea after every contraction that morning), and as soon as I sat on the toilet, my water breaks. I scream out to him once again, “ FILL THE TUB UP!!” My midwife was supposed to be bringing the birth pool like I had for Thatcher, but she wasn’t here yet, and I needed some sort of relief. And yet, somehow, I was still in denial that labor was drawing to an end. It didn’t feel like baby was going to be there as quickly as she ended up coming. I just needed relief.
As I started walking to the tub, Kevin asked me if I had called my midwife back, but I hadn’t , so he called her, and said my contractions were about 5 minutes apart (which they weren’t ha! I guess Kevin and I both though things weren’t going to happen as quickly as they did). And then, I find out later on, she hears noises in the background, and asked if it was me or the kids. Kevin said it was me, so she immediately said, “ON my way!”
I stepped into the tub, and after one minute of being in there, I felt the baby’s head drop into my pelvis. I had never felt that sensation with my other births before. I told Kevin the baby was coming! I wasn’t pushing at all. My body was doing it for me! So crazy how it all happened. Before the next contraction, I felt her turn inside of me, and then she started crowning. Kevin started yelling to the girls to come into the bathroom. They had migrated to the play room upstairs, because they also didn’t know how close I was to pushing a baby out. But in the next contraction, just before 10am, her body slid out into my hands so gently. I unwrapped the cord from her neck, and my oldest daughter, Hallen, yelled out, “IT’S A GIRL!!” I was in disbelief. We were all so elated to add another little girl to our family.
Three minutes later, our midwife walks in and congratulates us! 10 minutes later, my friend walks in and sees us in the bathtub holding her. 30 minutes later, my other friend shows up for photos. Two hours later, my mom walks in and finds out she missed the birth, but has another granddaughter! And an hour or two after her, my dad walks in to his newest granddaughter and the party in my bedroom.
Nell’s birth will forever be one of my favorite memories as a mother and as a family. There’s nothing that quite compares to catching your daughter with only your husband and son there. Thatcher will still tell you about her birth and the blood that followed.
For that whole day, we just soaked her in. I had another daytime birth just like I had prayed for. And her birth felt like an answer to prayer after a chaotic pregnancy.
Kristina
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