For most of our New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day blog posts, we have some sort of collage of the babies or couples we’ve photographed that year.  This year we are enjoying time with our own baby who arrived just before Christmas!  He is our sixth baby, and our second home birth, and several people have asked me to share his birth story.  I thought it would be a great last post of 2015!

It doesn’t seem that long ago that we shared the news that we were expecting a baby.  This pregnancy seemed to go by so quickly!  Though it is often said that babies come sooner to moms who have had many kids, this has not been true for me.  My first was my earliest, and he was born 5 days past his due date!  Our youngest was 9 days past her due date, so I expected this baby to be late as well.  Sure enough, his due date came and left and I posted this picture and poem on Facebook to remind myself to enjoy this time being pregnant because he would be here soon enough.

“My baby’s not a library book so he’s not overdue.
He doesn’t take too long to cook ’cause he’s not veggie stew.

The day after my due date, I was feeling exhausted and emotional.  Jason did his best to tiptoe around my irritability, and I was feeling very sensitive too.  Our family went to Mass that evening and I started crying for no reason and had to step out!  Though I am usually able to push myself to stay up when I have work to get done, that night I was so exhausted and could not stay awake.

The next day I was not feeling well.  I was even having a few very small, irregular contractions.  I wasn’t 100% convinced that they were “real” contractions because they weren’t strong at all, and because I hadn’t had contractions before labor began before.  In fact, I remember with my second daughter I had emailed someone that I was never going to go into labor about 10 minutes before I was having regular contractions!  Just to be safe, I called my mom that morning and told her to be sure to keep her phone with her that day just in case we needed her to come watch the kids.  When the contractions didn’t get any stronger or more regular, I called her back less than an hour later and said never mind.  She told me that I might still go into labor, but it was only 2 days past my due date so I wasn’t hopeful.  Still, I knew the baby would be here soon enough and I still had editing to do!  Jason took the kids out for some holiday fun while I caught up on some work.

I continued having some small contractions on and off that day, and still felt really tired.  In fact, I had to take a quick nap that afternoon!  I wasn’t hungry most of the day and my stomach felt a little upset.  I knew my body was getting ready for labor, but still thought it could be a couple days away.  That night we had a family movie night and watched “A Christmas Story.”  The kids had been waiting for a while to watch it because we wanted to watch it together as a family and hadn’t had time to.  After sitting down for a few minutes, I noticed that I was having the small contractions more often.  After about 15 minutes, the contractions were a bit stronger.  My second oldest was sitting next to me and held my hand through one or two of them.  I knew that even if I wasn’t in labor right then, it would be either that night or the next day.  I felt bad for leaving the kids but I told them that I needed to lay down and rest in case the baby was coming soon.

I was in bed trying to sleep for only about 10 or 15 minutes when the contractions were real enough that I knew I was going into labor.  I asked my sister to come over to watch the kids, and soon after that I called Jason (who was still upstairs watching the movie with the kids) and told him that I needed him with me.  He seemed confused but he came downstairs and soon was timing my contractions.  When my sister arrived not long after, she stayed with me and timed my contractions as Jason cleaned the house and, when their movie was over, got the kids to bed.  I told him to call Katie, my midwife from Wonderfully Made, before it got too late so that she knew it was happening tonight!

A little over an hour after we started to time the contractions, they were five minutes (or less) apart.  I had the shakes really bad and had three comforters on me to try to lessen them (though I didn’t feel cold or hot).  They did thankfully go away and the contractions were strong enough that I couldn’t stay in bed any more.  I tried a couple other positions but the contractions were harder to get through and were coming closer together so Jason made me a bath and I told my sister to let my mom know that things were happening faster now.

Jason stayed with me while I was in the bath and it did help take the edge off a bit.  My mom arrived and was there to help too.  After an hour, I was sweating and the shakes were back.  Contractions were really strong and very hard to get through.  I focused on breathing and trying my best to relax my muscles.  I knew I was in transition and told Jason to call Katie, the midwife.  He didn’t want to call yet because I hadn’t had any bloody show and my water didn’t break, but I told him I knew I was in transition and since she was 45 minutes away he needed to call.

When I got back in the bath, during contractions I felt the baby against my hip bones.  I knew the contractions felt more productive when I was standing, but they also hurt more!  I wasn’t timing contractions any more but I felt as if I wasn’t even getting a break!  I got out of the bath once or twice and could feel that the contractions were moving the baby down more, but Jason saw that I was in more pain.  I was standing and leaning on him and he would ask me where I wanted to go.  I didn’t know what position I wanted to be in and just stood there having really intense contractions until Jason encouraged me to get back in the bath.  I didn’t even notice when Katie arrived; I was so focused on breathing and trying to get through the contractions.  The birth assistant arrived about a half hour after the midwife and again I barely noticed.  It had been about 6 1/2 hours since I had left the movie and contractions had been intense for 3 1/2 hours.  There was no bloody show and my water still wasn’t broken.  I felt like things were stuck and I wondered how much longer I could keep at it.  Katie said the only other thing to do would be for her to check to see how dilated I was, but I didn’t want that.  It is great to be empowered to make your own decisions during a home birth with a supportive midwife.  Katie did check the baby’s heart rate and my blood pressure, but otherwise I was free to labor without interruption and to listen to my body.

The bath water was cold by this point so I got out of the bath while they put in warm water, and every movement caused a strong contraction.  I could barely walk because it felt like his head was really, really low.  I felt strong pressure and thought I might be close, but didn’t want to get too hopeful and still have a while left.  I knew babies could be born in their bag of waters, but I had bloody show with all of the other kids so I thought I’d at least have that if things were progressing.  But the pressure was strong and I had to squat with each contraction, which meant that Jason had to hold me up and Katie was putting counter pressure on my back.  After just a few contractions Jason was encouraging me to go back in the bath.  Just as before, I knew that I was progressing more while I was standing, so I said no.  Or probably grunted or screamed no, which was about all I could manage at that point.  After just a few minutes Jason was encouraging me to try the bath again since the water was now warm.  I didn’t really want to, but I could tell that I was hurting him the way I was pulling on him with contractions so I got in the bath.

It was so difficult to get my leg over the tub to get into the bath!  It took a while because I’d have a contraction every time I moved, but I got back into the warm water and the very next contraction was more like a spasm as I felt the intense need to push!  My water broke and immediately after I could feel that the baby was coming!  I called for Katie who saw that he was coming and rushed to the side of the tub.  He was born in just three pushes and entered the world at 3:17 am!

One of the best parts of having a home birth is that our kids get to be part of the experience.  Our oldest son had cut the cord for our last home birth, so it was our second oldest’s turn.  Jason went to get him while we waited for the cord to stop pulsating.  My mom had stepped out a little while before to get some sleep, so she woke up and got our oldest son and daughter so they could meet the baby too.  We let our two younger kids sleep.

Our son cut the cord, and our daughter was the first (besides me and Jason) to hold the baby.  Our oldest son held him as well, but he didn’t want his picture online since he was in his PJs.  It was wonderful taking a shower and getting into my own bed after having the baby.  I nursed him and we all enjoyed this amazing time together as a family!

After a while, Katie did our son’s newborn exam.  He weighed 7lbs 8oz and was 21 inches.  Our last baby was over 9lbs so he was so tiny in comparison!  About 2 hours after our baby was born, we sent the kids to bed, Katie and the birth assistant left, and Jason and I were left marveling over our newest miracle.  Looking at our tiny baby only hours old, we felt so close to God.  Babies truly are God’s gift to the world!

Just a few hours after we went to bed, our younger kids woke up.  We didn’t tell our toddler that he was born so when she walked into the room we told her we had a surprise and then pulled back the blanket and showed her the baby!  She thought it was my sister’s baby who was born 3 1/2 months before, so she wasn’t too impressed.  We kept trying to tell her that her brother had been born but she didn’t believe us.  Our other daughter woke up and saw Jason holding the baby and was so excited!  She wanted to hold him right away.  Seeing her sister talking to the baby and calling him by his name, our youngest finally realized that the baby really was her little brother and she then she never wanted to stop holding him.

We spent the rest of the day as a family holding and snuggling our new baby.  Our family tradition is that new siblings give Big Brother and Big Sister gifts to their older siblings so little brother gave those out.  Because it was almost Christmas and we knew how busy things would be, Jason also did a few newborn pictures that day.

That evening our family already had plans to get together to celebrate my sister’s birthday.  Everyone came to our house so we wouldn’t have to go out with a baby who wasn’t even a day old.  Our baby boy met his cousin who is 3 1/2 months older.  Looking at them together is such a reminder of how quickly the first year goes by.  In just a few months, our son will be so much bigger and will have reached so many milestones!

Our baby is just over a week old now and we are really treasuring this time.  I love nuzzling my cheek against his soft skin and silky hair.  I love when he wraps his hand around my finger.  I love holding him and cuddling him, both as he sleeps peacefully and when he is awake and staring at me, trying to learn my face and take in this new world.  I wish I could freeze time, or capture this in a bottle so I can open it in a few years and experience it all again!  Our family is so in love with our newest blessing, and my heart is so full it almost hurts!

Christmas Eve was just a few days after our son was born.  We all got ready and went to Christmas Eve Mass that evening.  After parking the car, we took a quick picture of the kids before going to the Mass.  It was just a quick moment, but when I saw the picture I started to cry.  This is my world; this is my heart.  I am ending 2015 feeling happy and blessed beyond measure, and so grateful to God for the gift of my amazing family.