Homemaker Chronicles

After I spoke with our midwife-to-be (B.P. let’s call her) I knew without a doubt that THIS was for us.  I called Todd and he said we should keep praying about it and we scheduled a consultation with B.P. to get some facts.  So many awesome answers to prayer came with that visit.  The most important being that she agreed to deliver the baby!  No looking back…we were on our way to HOME BIRTHING!

For the next few months we didn’t see B.P. very often- maybe once every six weeks or so.  I loved not having to go to a regularly scheduled visit in a busy doctor’s office where you wait for 2 hrs. just for the doc to say, “everything looks great”.  At each visit she measured my belly and listened to the heartbeat.  No needles, no pelvic exams, no invasion of privacy-LOVED IT!!

What a huge lesson in faith too!!  I can’t say that at times I didn’t wonder if the baby was doing okay in there.  But I wouldn’t have treated that baby any differently if there WAS something wrong.  I felt like God was putting my “seeing is not believing” to the test.  Just like we believe He’s there even if we can’t see Him.  I believed He was taking care of my baby even though I didn’t have medical proof!  Freedom like that can only come from the Father.

We also opted not to have an ultrasound -we didn’t want to know the gender either.  It was really fun to keep everyone guessing!

By 38 weeks I’d had a couple of “false labor” episodes and I was SOOOO ready for the baby to come!  Physically I was feeling okay, but emotionally I was a wreck.  My due date (and I use that term loosely) was Dec. 4th- a Monday- but Monday came and…

NO BABY!

Todd and I just kept praying that my water would break and I would go into labor…that’s how we would know it was REAL labor.  Our prayers were answered again!

At about 2:00am Dec. 5th I got out of bed to use the bathroom (something I did atleast twice every night) and as soon as I stood up, my water broke!  I was half asleep and not registering everyting, but after a couple of minutes it hit me…I’M IN LABOR!!!

I woke Todd up and anticipating a quick delivery we rang B.P. at 4:30am.  My mom came and got the other kids and It was then that everything slowed WAAAY down.  The contractions began to ease up, and the pain lessened with each one.  The awesome part was that Todd and I were able to just spend the day hanging out together.  I made lunch for all of us, then Todd and I took a walk around the block in the mild December weather.  We even looked through a house that was on the market down the street from us.  B.P. left for a while.  Todd and I rested a bit and prayed together.  When she got back she gave me a wonderful back massage and then she rested on the couch.

While she was resting the contractions picked back up again…this time they were VERY painful and coming quickly.  I remember at 1:30pm thinking in my mind, “this baby is going to be born at 2:00 or I’ll die if I have to keep going like this”.  I looked up at Todd and said, “I can’t do this anymore…we have to be getting close”.

B.P. arose from her rest and came into the bathroom where I was sitting in pain.  All of the sudden I had a strong contraction and felt the urge to push.  Back on the bed B.P. checked my dialation (for the first time in an entire 9 months!!).  I was so afraid she would say, “oh you have a long way to go honey- you’re at a 4″.  Praise God I was at a 10 with a baby head RIGHT THERE!

At this point I was so weak that I couldn’t hold myself up anymore.  So Todd sat on the edge of the bed behind me, holding me up with his arms (I was squatting on the floor beside our bed).  Such a great coach…he was so calm and helpful.  If it wasn’t for his strong arms and encouragement I couldn’t have endured that much pain.  I was so determined to get that baby out that I didn’t wait for contractions…I just held my breath and pushed.  After doing this ONLY two times the baby was born!

Immediately all three of us checked to see if we had a boy or girl and we were so excited to see for ourselves and know for the first time that it was a GIRL!

Instinctively I sat down on the floor and picked her up- she was so warm and soft.   We just starred at her in amazement.  What an accomplishment…I had done it…I had felt it all.  Now I was holding in my arms the product of all that hard work.  It was a beautiful moment!  Plus, I looked at the clock…2:04!  Wow, did I call that or what?

B.P. ran us a bath- aahhh!!!  The warm herbal bath was my favorite part.  It smelled so good and I know that it began the physical healing process as soon as I slipped in.  Adia just laid in the warm water starring up at the light while I held her.  Surely the environment seemed familiar to her, but I felt like I was getting to experience her world for a moment.

After B.P. cleaned everything up and Adia got her “latch on”, I got in the bed and rested.  By 3:30pm we were clean, dressed and resting…in our OWN house, our OWN bed!

It was simply amazing- and quiet.  No blood-pressure cuff going of every 30 seconds.  No nurses rushing in and out taking my baby to the nursery for a bath.  No I.V. (therefore no extra fluid in me = no swelling).  A few good friends stopped by to see the baby, but it was very comfortable and they were even able to stay and visit in the living room (at the front of the house) while Adia and I rested.

The one thing I regret was not having the older kids there more.  I wish they could have stayed for the day and gone to Grandma’s just for the delivery and clean-up.  They didn’t even get to see us until around 4:00pm, and they were so anxious to see her and name her.

We didn’t name her until the next day, but the final vote was for Adia over Eden.

Adia Jubilee…our precious baby girl!

One more awesome thing…Adia was probably 2 weeks early according to B.P.  She could tell by the amount of varnex and her reaction to the outside world.  I know, I know, I know, that IF we had been in a hospital for that birth they would have probably taken her C-section because the labor was going so long and it was my fourth delivery.  When they saw that she was early, they would have hooked her up to a ventilator and whisked her away to ICU.  I know this because that’s EXACTLY what they did with Regan and Caleb and they WEREN’T early!!  Precautions can be miserable!

Adia was just fine.  B.P. didn’t even suction her nose and mouth.  Her philosophy is, “that’s the first strength test.  They need to practice caughing and breathing on their own”.  I agree- it made Adia stronger to have to get that stuff up on her own.  Also, the cord was around her neck when she came out.  B.P. told us later that is such a common thing, and nothing to be afraid of.  She simply sliped her finger between the cord and her neck and eases it off- most parents don’t even know it’s happening!!  Wow!

Let me tell you guys, faith was birthed in our house on Dec. 5th 2006!!  I loved home birth for many reasons but the most convincing one is that God was in control.  He is ALWAYS in control, but I saw it through unveiled eyes.  No intervention…just God’s masterwork in motion.  He created this process and I lived it.

One more part to this story…my most recent birth.  It’s a doosey- come back and read in a few!

To be continued…