The Birth Story of Macheus Pt. 1

Ok, I kept thinking I would sit down and do a post about his birth.  I haven't had time!  You forget how busy a newborn keeps you! :o)  Well, the out of sorts three year old, laundry and school that has to be started back help with the busyness too!
I sat down over the weekend and made myself write in his journal all about the labor up until when we came home.  I was so glad to get that done!  I decided if I was ever going to blog about it, I would do it in parts.  So, until someone needs me............. here goes part 1!

My last post when I wrote about my last visit with my midwife on Friday the 1st, there wasn't a whole lot of change.  She offered to strip my membranes, but I told her I would rather wait and see what the weekend brought and that I would go back on Monday.  That was the day that Marc took me shopping. :o)  Later that night we were all at home watching Mary Poppins.  It was about 9:00 P.M. that I had my first contraction where I thought,  "That was different AND it hurt."  They came about every fifteen minutes for several hours.  We went ahead and went to bed because I like to labor as long as I can at home.  I actually slept some even though some of the contractions woke me up.  The next morning I had "signs" that the contractions were doing their job.  Matthew had to work all day and McKenzie was supposed to babysit.  I told them both to go ahead and go and I would call if anything changed.  I laid down that morning and the contractions really slowed down.  My midwife was not on call that weekend, but she said to call her cell phone and she would come to the delivery anyway.  (She is incredible!)  At lunch time she called me and when I told her nothing was progressing she told me to go for a walk.  Marc and I went out and walked about four miles.  The contractions picked up really hard and by 5:00 I was calling McKenzie to hurry up and get home.  We got everyone situated at the house and Marc, McKenzie, Madeline and I headed to the hospital.  My midwife called to check on me as we were driving and asked if I minded if Ashley came and did the delivery with her.  Ashley was my labor & delivery nurse with Myles and now she is training to be a midwife.  We ran into each other at one of my prenatal appointments this pregnancy and we both recognized each other.

When I got to the hospital I was 6 1/2 cm and 90% effaced.  I was hurting really bad by this point!  They got me into the labor room and Jeri (my midwife) and Ashely got there a few minutes later.  Jeri told me that if they broke my water we would have a baby soon.  I was so scared about the pain but I went ahead and let them do that.  The contractions got very intense with not much of a break in between them.  At one point I asked Jeri if it was too late for an epidural. :o)  She said yes and I told them all to pray.  McKenzie later told me that my midwife laid her hand on my arm and started praying.  It is so neat to have a Christian for a midwife.  What seemed like an eternity was really only a couple of hours and at 9:14 P.M., we had a beautiful baby boy!

 

Daddy cutting the cord.

It was very sweet having my oldest two girls with me.

 

Looking back, it was neat how God's hand was on the whole thing.  My midwife wasn't on call, yet she was there.  Ashley, who is also a Christian, came and delivered when she really wasn't "officially" supposed to be there..  It was like we were at the hospital but not a part of it at all!

This was Madeline's first birth.  I worried that she would get freaked out, but she did great.  She was our video girl.

Midwife- Jeri

Ashley

 

Ok, I am still a little sleep deprived.  Hope this post makes sense.  I will end it here for now.