Homemaker Chronicles

If you’re joining me for the first time, start this story from the beginning.

After Adia was born we were sure we wanted more children-it was a no brainer!  The labor, delivery and recovery all went so well with her.  “Let’s do it again!!”

Sure enough, when she was only 11 months old, we found out I was pregnant AGAIN!  We called up B.P. and she happily agreed to assist us again.  

When I was 18 weeks along we went to a friend’s office who performs ultra-sounds for a living.  We were very adament that we didn’t want to know the gender and he was so gracious to do this for free!!

 As he measured all the bones he kept saying, “are you sure you’re July due date is right?”.  I never considered that the reason why I might be a little bit bigger this time around was because I was FURTHER ALONG than I thought!  DUH!  I was, in fact, 3 weeks further along than I thought.  So, on this ultra-sound day I was actually 21wks along-not 18.  Little did we know this change in due dates would affect the labor and delivery.

Only about 6 wks after the ultra-sound I was exercising on a stationary bicycle and by the end of the day I had a large painful bulge in my upper left thigh.  (Note:  exercising was not uncommon for me)  B.P. took one look at it and said, “That is an inguinal hernia- stay off of your feet when it starts to hurt”.  Too bad it hurt anytime I was on my feet!

For the next several months I was reduced to sitting down 90% of the day!  It was very hard for me and our family since I couldn’t do ANYTHING, but God was so good to use this so that I could see all of the loving people in my life!  Friends and family were immediately there to bring food, wash clothes, clean, take the kids out to have fun, and any number of things that I couldn’t do anymore.  It was so overwhelming!  I didn’t have to cook a meal for over 5 weeks!

NOT ONE!

To go any further, you need a little history first…  Todd and I had been praying for a MAJOR move of God in our lives.  We thought that would come in the form of a different job for him, or moving to a different city.  Something.  Anything!

After visiting some friends in Dallas (when I was 35 wks along) we were asked to come housesit for a family that our friends knew.  They would be on a mission trip to Alaska for 6 weeks:  The C. Family.

The catch?  The C. Family would be leaving in 2 weeks!!!  Say what?

After much prayer and consideration we decided not to do it!  Me with a hernia and Todd working a full-time job, somehow we packed our entire house into boxes (6 people’s worth), Todd got permission to work from home (that was a shear miracle), had a garage sale, AND found renters for our house. 

So, what about the baby??  It just so happened that C. Family had 7 children and they were home-birthers. C. Family mama recommended her midwife to me and M. was pleased to deliver our baby in 3 weeks…without ever seeing me…without any history…without any anything!! 

Although we now had a midwife, so many things were still unresolved.  What will our kids would do during the delivery?  What about food that day and afterwards?  What about the hernia?  So many areas we just had to have faith.

Inspite of all the unknowns we moved to Dallas on Memorial Day, 2008. 

After being in Texas for a week, now 38 weeks along, we visited with our new midwife, M.  She was totally awesome and so peaceful- she reminded me of B.P. 

I had several false labor episodes over the next 2 weeks but I knew it wasn’t time yet (eventhough I was about to die of a heat stroke).  I’m pretty sure there were icecicles hanging in our bedroom each morning from running the A/C. 

Again my due date (June 14th) came and went.  No baby!

15th. 16th. 17th.  NO BABY!

I was starting to get really discouraged.  So we began praying again that my water would break when it was time for labor to begin.  Whadya know…answered prayer a second time!

At about 2:15 am June 18th, I sat up to get out of bed and GUSH!  My water broke!!  Luckily I had put plastic sheets on since it was the C. Family’s bed.  I took my time getting cleaned up since the last labor took FOR-EV-ER.  Then I woke Todd up and we started timing contractions.  At 3:30 am (only an hour and a half after labor had begun) the contractions were only 3 minutes apart!  So maybe we were moving a little faster this time? 

C. Family had so brilliantly placed a garden bench at the foot of their bed.  They must have purchased this bench for birthing because it was AWESOME, and I sat on it through almost the entire labor.   Forget birthing balls and birthing pools- I’m inventing the “Birthing Bench”!!  (hurray!!)

Here’s a little clip when I am having a MAJOR CONTRACTION!!  (It’s not graphic…promise)

By 4:30 am I was in major pain and there was nothing to do but call M.  Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, her house was 45 minutes away. 

As Todd flipped his phone closed, I looked at him and said, “Todd, I can’t do this anymore.  I hurts so bad!”

Uh oh!  That’s the sign.  Emotional Signpost #3, according to the Bradley Method, is self-doubt.  The book says that most babies are born within 30 minutes of this signpost.  (It had been true for us in the past.)

Ya ready Todd??  I think he was a little paniky at this point.

Luckily M. must own a rocket because she was there as soon as Todd flipped his phone closed.  Or maybe I passed out from all the pain and came to when she got there.  Either way, it was only about 30 minutes after the call.  IMPRESSIVE!

When M. got upstairs at 5:00 am all the kids were asleep and I was sitting on the floor in front of the garden bench.  She came in, got her stuff all situated, and I heaved, “I need to push!”

She checked and sure enough…there was a big ole head.

Caution:  For the next 15 minutes of my life I experienced the most excruciating pain …hang on, I can’t breathe (short breaths in…out…in…out)  …I’ve ever endured.

Some of you might be familiar with what is commonly referred to as the (gulp) “RING OF FIRE”.

I was not then…but we are well acquainted now!

I would add to that name little bit though.  Something like, “The ring of fire that hurts so bad you want to stab someone’s eyeballs out”!  (that’s for you Nicolle)

I kept asking M. if everything was going okay, and she would so peacefully say, “yes- you’re doing great”.  I hunkered down, held my breath for 10 seconds and didn’t wait for contractions.  I pushed until I felt his head come out and then I had to rest.  M. said, “don’t sit on him sweetie!”.  Thankfully Todd was holding me up by the arms- the same position as when I birthed Adia.  His strong arms held my limp body until I could hold my breath and go at it again.  It was a very purposeful 15 minutes.

Finally, I had determind that this would be it- the final push.  So, straining with everything I had, shoulders followed by body came out where M. had been waiting to catch.

At 5:40 am we now knew it was a Boy and he was so big!!  He was the equal opposite of Adia in every way.  Chunky, red, not a drop of varnex, and sweetly crying.  Adia weighed 6lbs 3oz and he weighed 7lbs. 15oz…my biggest baby yet!  Salem Christian was born after only 3 and 1/2 hrs of labor!

The coolest part of the entire birth was that Todd was able to go wake up the kids and say, “you have a new brother this morning”.  By 6:30 am my entire family had joined me in the C. Family’s king-sized bed with our new baby boy!

Todd was doubly blessed because Salem was born on HIS birthday.  So, that night we had a birthday party for the boys and invited some friends over to celebrate with us.  They brought the food and my mom had a cake delivered!!  Every prayer was answered…what a blessed day!

For those of you even thinking about doing a homebirth, or even an all natural birth, let that be the sign that you seriously move forward!  I believe God truly blesses those couples who are willing to put it all in His hands (not that you don’t when having a baby at the hospital), but there is something so freeing about natural birth.  It’s NATURAL, the way God made us to experience this wonderful gift. 

What have your experiences been like?  Are you considering a homebirth?  This is one of my favorite things to discuss so please send me an email or a comment on this post.  I’d love to chat!

Thanks for taking time out to read this really long story!  I hope you are blessed.

Angie’s                                                                                                                                                  Homemaker Chronicles