On Matt’s last day of school, Thursday June 18, Lydia and I joined Matt for lunch.  We were sitting outside on a blanket and when I stood up I noticed that my behind was wet.  I hesitantly brushed it off (the grass must have been wet or something).  I had an appointment with the midwife the next day and asked her about it.  She said it very well could have been fluid so she gave me some nitrizine paper to test any discharge.  The next day I tested and it came back as amniotic fluid.  After some research and discussion with the midwife we decided to load up on immune boosting herbs and take my temp regularly.  On the afternoon of Friday June 26 I started having mild contractions that were irregular, but consistent and time able.  Just before I went to bed that night I had some more painful contractions and figured that I was in labor and would have the baby sometime that night or the next morning.  I called my mom to have her come over (she lives an hour away) and I put our midwife and some close friends on alert.  But around 3am Saturday morning the contractions stopped.  I was VERY disappointed.  I went for a walk later that morning and then made a visit to our chiropractor and then went on another walk, but nothing!  My mom went home and I accepted that the baby wasn’t coming and proceeded with life.  On Sunday we got up and went to church.  I hadn’t had any hint of contractions since the last ones on Saturday morning.  While we were on our way to church the midwife called to check up on me and suggested we consider using castor oil to induce labor.  She was a little concerned that I had maybe been leaking fluid for a week and half at this point.  She also figured that since I had been in early labor Friday and Saturday that my body was probably more or less ready.  I spent the whole church service thinking about what we should do.  I consulted some friends at church and decided to go ahead and buy some since we were out, but I hadn’t for sure decided that I would use it.  When we got home I put Lydia down for a nap and started researching castor oil, talked to our midwife and PRAYED!  I decided that I would take the castor oil just before putting Lydia to bed that night in the hopes of having the baby during the night.  INSTEAD. . .

    When Lydia woke up from her nap at 2:45ish I nursed her.  I had a few painless contractions while I was nursing and then had a hard contraction just as she was finishing.  I continued to have hard contractions so at 3:31pm I started timing them.  They were between 30 and 60 seconds long and between 4 and 6 minutes apart.  I kept myself busy until just after 4 when I had a contraction so hard that I ended up on my hands and knees in tears.  Matt asked me when we should call the midwife and said I wasn’t sure, but that when the time came I would surely know.  He asked if maybe right then was the right time.  I said “no.”  He said “I think it is because I don’t want to deliver this baby alone.”  I cried harder because I suddenly realized I was going to have the baby . . .SOON.  At 4:15pm Matt called the midwife and I called my mom to have her come back.  I continued having contractions and by this time had set myself up in our bedroom and was leaning on my birthing ball while Lydia watched a Winnie the Pooh movie on the TV in there.  At 5pm the midwife arrived and at 5:15pm my mom got there and took Lydia, screaming, from our bedroom.  I was so involved in labor at that point that my only reaction to that was “she’ll be fine, right?”  I noticed our midwife setting up the birth supplies and I thought “oh man, I better be in labor otherwise she is getting all this stuff set up and I’ll have to put it away if I don’t have the baby!”   The midwife did her thing and then left Matt and I alone.  She came back a little while later after I had Matt let her know that I had felt a small gush.  She checked it to make sure it was clear and then left.  I was having a contraction when she left and was feeling a hint of the urge to push.  When that contraction ended I asked Matt where the midwife had gone and told him to go get her because the baby was coming.  While he was out of the room I started pushing with the next contraction.  Matt came back with the midwife and she asked if I was “feeling a little pushy?”  I simply nodded.  I complained that the ball was no longer an adequate thing to lean on and that I needed something more solid.  It was suggested that I turn around and lean against the recliner that is next to our bed.  Some rearranging was done and I turned myself around to lean against that.  I pushed a few more times and asked if they could see the baby’s head to which the midwife said not yet.  I reached down and could feel his head right there.  The midwife seemed surprised by that. I also remember at some point mentioning quietly that it really hurt.  At some point the midwife told Matt that he would catch the baby and got him in position to do that.  And then out came the baby’s head and with another push the rest of the body was delivered.  I couldn’t believe that he was out and was even more surprised when the midwife announced that his time of birth was 6:30pm.  I had only been in labor for three and a half hours!  I was so tired after the baby came out that I didn’t look behind me right away to see our baby.  But I heard Matt announce, through his tears, that it was a boy.  I heard a weak little cry and then I looked back at my baby boy.  He was still a little blue, but within a minute (and with some urging by the midwife) he let out some good color producing cries.  He was and is such a beautiful boy!  

These are for you, Daddy!