On September 15th, 2014, our seventh child was born.  Since that time I have taken a blogging break, but I hope to get back here soon!  I really miss the encouragement that I receive here from you wonderful friends.  Unfortunately I only have two hands, and right now they are usually both occupied!  There are lots of unpublished comments that I hope to get to quickly.  Thank you for showing me grace!

I wanted to drop in and share my sweet daughter’s birth story before time began to fade it from my memory however.  During the first half of my pregnancy I wrestled with what type of birth plan that I would have.  By choice, my sixth child was born naturally.  This was a hospital birth, and things didn’t quite go as I had hoped.  What was amazing about my sixth child’s birth was that everything that I had prayed for came to pass.  I hoped that I would be able to labor quickly, and mostly at home.  I hoped that I would be able to wait until morning to drive to the hospital.  All of my other births involved a drive to the hospital at around 12-2 am, and I really wanted to avoid this if possible.  All of this came to pass, but a doctor was on call who was quick to intervene even when no interventions were necessary.  I was made to stay in bed which made laboring very miserable.

I wanted to avoid this with baby #7, so after questioning my midwife, I decided that I would definitely opt for an epidural during this birth.  I had trouble with excessive bleeding after my last child, so I did want to deliver in a hospital.  There really isn’t any way to know if a doctor or midwife will be on call once it is time for delivery…if a doctor was to be on call, I knew that a natural delivery would be difficult.

My hope was for this:

-Lack of fear and for a feeling of peace.

-To be able to leave for the hospital during daylight hours.

-To be relatively free of pain.

-To be able to receive an epidural in time for delivery.  During my fourth baby’s birth, she came so quickly that I received my epidural when I was 10 cm, and it went into effect after she was born.

-For there to be a midwife on call.

-For everything to go well with my baby’s and my health during delivery.

Two days past my due date I awoke at around 4 am with contractions about 10 minutes apart.  I wasn’t sure if these were Braxton Hicks contractions or not, but I paid close attention to them since my due date had past.  After an hour and a half I took a shower and awakened my husband.  We called for my mother-in-law to come and stay with our children, but I still really wasn’t sure if this was it.  I wasn’t in much pain at all, and my contractions were 8-10 minutes apart.  My hospital is an hour away from home however, and I didn’t want to wait too long in case this was the real deal!

We left and stopped by Chick-fil-a and I was able to enjoy a yummy breakfast.  Contractions were still around 10 minutes apart.  When we arrived at the hospital the staff thought I would be sent home based on my apparent pain level.  I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I was six centimeters dilated!  An IV was started and I walked to a birthing room.  I had to wait to receive a bag of fluid prior to receiving my epidural, and during this time frame my contractions stalled considerably.  I was happy as can be and in no pain.

The anesthesiologist was amazing, and I received my least painful epidural ever.  I was able to sleep while Pitocin was started to help my contractions pick up a bit.  At around 1 pm I was checked again, and my nurse said that I was still around a six, but was completely effaced.  I told my husband to go downstairs to the cafeteria to eat some lunch, since the birth still seemed far off.  After he left, my midwife came in to break my water 15 minutes later.  She discovered that my water was in fact already leaking, and there was a “pocket of the sack” near the birth canal.  She pushed this out of the way and I was immediately fully dilated!  I was instructed to call my husband back to the room immediately, and after two contractions our sweet daughter was born at 1:32 pm.  She weighed 8 lbs, 3 oz.

This birth was everything that I had hoped for.  I am so, so grateful for it. Thank you so much for stopping by to read this update, friends!