I was sure that this baby was not going to make it to 40 weeks. Afterall, my last baby came at 38 weeks, and this was baby number five, surely my body new what it was doing. As soon as 38 weeks approached I had finalized all the homebirth supplies and I was ready for the baby to arrive any moment. I stopped going to the crossfit gym at 37 weeks so I had plenty of time to check all the boxes off of my to do list. To my slight disappointment, Baby did not arrive, but I was sure it would be within the week. Time, went on…still no baby. I started to try and keep my mind busy with all the spring gardening I needed to get done. I soon started hand digging holes, planting peas in the ground tilling up weeds by hand, anything I could think of to get labor to start up. I should have known, my body was so used to be active at the gym, no small amount of gardening or hole digging was going to suddenly make me go into labor. I kept checking in with the midwife and my due date came and went. I was ready to be done being pregnant, my kids could tell…my patience with the
m was becoming none existent…the midwife told me that was a good sign. the day after my due date was a friday evening and I started having contractions every ten minutes apart. I was excited and quickly called my Jacob who was at the gym that he had better come home. I was excited because I figured I would be laboring through the night for the next 6 or so hours like my last labors but after a few hours, nothing had changed. contractions every 10 minutes apart not stronger or closer together. by about 1130 pm I gave up and went to sleep.
The next morning I was sure it was going to be the day, so I did some light gardening and weeding on my hands and knees to get things moving along, but still nothing changed. For 50 hours straight I was dealing with contractions every 10 or so minutes apart but no progress. By sunday night I was texting the midwife and we agreed I would go in to her office on monday to get my membranes swept. Realizing that my body wasnt going to do what I wanted I sat on the couch with my family to hang out and watch a movie with them and relax a bit. Within, maybe 10 minutes or so after kicking my feet up on the couch finally resting my water broke right then and there. I quickly texted the midwife who said she was coming over right away. She arrived within 15 minutes and we sat around and were chitchatting. I was sitting on a birthing ball and I could feel the contractions already getting stronger where I had to focus on them. I could feel the contractions in my back…back labor again…I didn’t say it out loud, I didn’t want to speak it into reality. This would be 3 out of 4 labors that were back labor… Back labor is a beast in itself. I knew I was gonna have to really rely on God’s strength and not my own to get through this. The midwife had Jacob fill the birth tub and as soon as it was ready I hopped in and my contractions immediately picked up.
The midwives went to hang out in the tv room and try and get some rest while Jacob and I worked through some contractions alone in my room. I felt like we were only in there for an hour or so when all the sudden I felt a “pushy” contraction. I immediately told Jacob that I had the urge to
push already so he ran to tell the midwives. I had one more normal contraction while the midwives were setting up their stuff and then I was fully pushing with each contraction. I am a little more seasoned as a homebirth natural laborer so I knew to work with the contractions make the most of each one and rest in between. They were intense and I prayed through each one that Yeshua(Jesus) would give me the strength needed to get through each one. I worked through each contraction with my eyes closed praying constantly for strength. I could feel the babies hair and new I was getting close, When the baby started to crown it was at the end of a contraction. I was stuck, the babies head was crowing and I had no contraction. I was worried if I pushed without the help of a contraction I would tear. The pain when the babies head crowns is the worst part. Called the ring of fire for a reason. I audibly called for Yahweh under my breadth. the midwives were waiting telling me she was crowing but said it was okay to wait for the next contraction. oh boy, the few seconds it took for a new contraction to come felt like eternity. But, as always Yahweh strengthened me, Jacob was by my side reminding me to breath (which I forget to do) and I was able to push her out the next contraction. she was born in the birth tub in my bedroom, peaceful she needed to be rubbed a bit and encouraged to cry. Jacob got to announce it was a girl, as Chloe watched and cried as she realized her dream of having another baby sister just came true. The placenta was pushed out in one push a few minutes later and we all were tucked in my bed and surrounding our new little miracle.
- I just marvel at how Yahweh has made our bodies to change and birth humans. how he knits us together in the womb. He knows us before he has even formed us. Birth is hard, beautiful, messy, amazing and always worth the prize and the end. I’m thankful for Jacob who knows exactly what I need when I am in labor, always within a hands reach, there when I need him but hands off also letting me do what my body knows how to do. He has seen this before, he knows where I need the most help remembering and reminding me during those difficult moments to breath. My water broke at about 10pm and baby was born at 1:01 am.
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