The Birth Story...

For those that wish to read on, here is the birth story  (Not too detailed but read at your own risk)...

This was the first pregnancy where I was not sure of the exact due date, just an estimate of August 5th.  For at least a month, I had my usual pre-labor contractions but no signs of labor.  By Friday August 10th, I decided that I might need a boost to start labor...the awful but always faithful castor oil.  I have taken this with probably at least half of my deliveries.  I spent most of Friday vacillating between courage and fear as I knew labor was approaching regardless.  Around 5:00pm, I decided to take at least a little to help labor progress.  Around 9:30pm, I had a few contractions that told me labor was just around the corner.  I headed to bed around 11:00pm and was able to sleep off and on for the next three hours.  Around 2:10am, I knew this would be the night that would change our family ... a boy or a girl?  After just a contraction or two, I called the midwives, telling them that they could come whenever they wanted.  She told me that they would be over in an hour.  By the time I got off the phone, the contractions were really picking up.  Around 2:30, I called her back and said...the sooner the better would be great.

They arrived sometime around 3am. At that point, I was breathing through the contractions and glad to see them come.  I really thought it might be a few more hours.  After about 35 minutes, my water broke.  About 6 more contractions and she was born at 4:06am, about an hour after their arrival.  It was the first time that I delivered on hands and knees and I think the gravity helped make it faster.  It was a very smooth, calm, fast delivery, much faster than any of us expected.  

As some of you may remember, I had a very difficult recovery with Benjamin.  So, we had already decided to take some extra precautions and act as if I was going to bleed a lot again.  This was the best decision we ever made!  I did start to bleed quite a bit despite the fact that we were being proactive.  About an hour after delivery, we debated on transporting to the hospital.  My bleeding had slowed considerably but was still at a trickle and would not stop.  Thankfully, my blood pressure and pulse stayed stable which is what went wrong with Ben.  It did slow way down and we decided to just watch me for the day and stay completely on bed rest for 24 hours.  I could tell right away that I was feeling much better than after I had Benjamin!  I have been feeling stronger and better everyday which has felt so encouraging!  I am to stay down for about a week and let things heal which is actually proving to be quite difficult.  Selah has been a trooper through it all.  She was a vigorous nurser from the start and is much happier now that my milk has arrived! Thank you all for your prayers for a healthy birth!  I could feel them!!!!