Here is the birth story for anyone interested in knowing....
Contractions started around 11:30pm on Friday night. Luckily I had been a litle extra tired that evening so I had been in bed for two hours already! Matt had not gone to bed so we sat in the front room and timed a few contractions. They were consistent enough that we knew I was actually in labor! It was only 8 days later than I had planned on having her. I called my friend Amy who was going to come and take pictures during the delivery and told her to be ready for a long night. Around 2:00am we called the Midwives at the Birth Center (*For those who don't know why we chose the Birth Center see below) and they told me to meet them there around 3:15am. I wasn't sure how fast it could go so I thought sooner than later would be better. I had practiced relaxing and had listened to the hypnobirthing cds in preparation for a drug free delivery. I was tolerating all the contractions very well and was even smiling upon arrival at the birth center. I knew that meant I wasn't far enough along to mean much but it would have to happen eventually.
We got settled into our room and at that point the contractions were very much in my back! I sat on the ball, used a heating pad on my back and still felt like things weren't moving fast enough. Matt even took a little nap on the couch while I talked to my friend Amy. Around 6:00am I started to get really tired so I started walking and moving around to make things happen. I also wasn't sure if the midwives would break my water so we sent Amy in to check with them. Right about that time the contractions started to get a little bit more intense. The midwives had told me that if I got in the tub too early that could slow things down a bit so I had waited to do that. They ended up coming in around 6:45ish and said that they could break my water. I got in my swim top and prepared to get in the tub. The contractions really picked up at that point and my water ended up breaking minutes before they were going to do it!
It was about 7:20am at that time and I started to wonder why I decided to go drug free. I threw myself into the tub and they told me I was only a 7. I felt totally deflated at that point. I thought for how intense the contractions were I would have to be further along than that. However, I had nothing to worry about. It was only a few more contractions and I yelled that I felt like I had to push! No one said I couldn't so that is exactly what I ended up doing. I had been on my knees at that point but realized the baby was coming and flipped on my behind and out was the head! It was 7:48am. One more contraction later and Tess arrived. The cord was wrapped around her neck so they pulled that off and she was quite blue when they put her on my chest. She was covered in vernix and took a minute to find her voice.I was thrilled to see that her head was covered in hair! She looked a lot like her brothers did.
I held her for a few minutes and then we passed her onto Matt. They were able to snuggle for a few minutes and then we all sat together on the bed and adored her! It is quite an amazing thing to have a new little baby. I fed her and then we all relaxed for a little bit. The midwives came in and did the newborn check. Everything looked great. She weighed in at 7 lbs and 13.5 ounces and was 22.5 inches long. They measured her 3 times to make sure that the 22.5 measurement was correct. She is a very long baby. It happens to be in the 100th percentile for height!
We came home at about 11:30 that morning. It was so nice to go home and relax. We introduced her to the boys and they weren't quite sure about it. Ethan wanted to know when the other baby would come out of my tummy (as it is still swollen!) and Cole gives me daily reports on how my tummy has gotten smaller. For the first few days they ignored her and now they can't touch her or look at her enough! They love to watch her take a bath and love it when she looks at them and smiles.
*I had originally planned on delivering at the hospital with an OB but ended that relationship when I realized she wasn't the OB for me! I really wanted to do a drug free birth and thought the midwives would be the best option for that but the midwives at the hospital were unavailable at the time which is why we chose the Birth Center. If I wasn't going to use drugs I also thought giving birth in the bathtub was an appealing option which is not available at the hospital but is at the birth center.
