Well I guess it is about time for me to write Rebekah's birth story. She is 3 1/2 months old already!
My whole pregnancy I was excited that we were going to have another baby, but I did not know where to have her. My last 2 births were at home in California with a midwife. They were born in a tub, and I couldn't imagine having another baby without having a tub! My first 2 were born in a hospital and due to nurses just not paying attention there were complications.
But now we live in Alabama where it is illegal to have a midwife assist you at home with delivery. It seems crazy to me that I can have a baby at home without a midwife and that is legal, but I would have to break the law if I wanted anyone with expertise to assist. I knew I wanted nothing to do with the hospitals. I was seeing an OB here who from what I have heard from everyone was the most natural doctor of all of them. However he had horrible bedside manner. After each appointment with this man I left angry and upset. I would call a friend after every appointment and rant about it. This was not someone who I wanted when I was in labor anywhere near me. Anger is not the emotion I wanted to feel as I brought a new life into this world.
So I began to calculate how much money it would cost to drive to California, and stay there for a while, plus how much it would cost for the midwives, and living expenses while we were there. Over and over I did the math. Then I realized baby #5 would need a car seat. Our van had enough seats however fitting one more car seat in it would be incredibly tight! I didn't even want to think how we would all drive from California back to Alabama with that many car seats. It seemed very unpleasant! My task at hand was now to find a bigger vehicle. A 12 passenger van used but not trashed is not an easy thing to find! Finally I found a van that I liked, and no matter how many times I looked at other vans I kept coming back to the same one. I decided God had spoken and this was our van. (Same thing happened with the house we live in.) I got more information on it, and made arrangements to go get it in Atlanta 4 hours from our house. I put our old van on craigslist. Within 24 hours we had our van sold, for $1100 more than we were asking for it! After buying the 12 passenger van, warranty, and paying for the rental that we needed one way to go get it we still had enough money to get us to California, and then some.
The plans were all falling into place. Not nearly as fast as I wanted them to go but all in God's timing. My grandmother flew out here the night before our big trip. I began feeling like something was wrong and began to worry about the baby but knew it would all be fine once we got to California. We left October 20th and made it to my midwives on October 28th. We spent a night at a friends house and a few nights in Reno to visit with my mom. By the time we arrived at my chiropractor everything hurt! My ankles were HUGE and my whole body ached. He adjusted just about every joint in my body, then we were off to see the midwives. Children cheering in the van that we were finanly getting to our destination, and they got to see people who they had missed very much. When we got to their house, my children all jumped out and ran leaving me, the youngest and my grandmother to trail behind. I was excited to finally have someone to take care of me and my baby that loved both of us and was not just another patient for them to see. At that point they told me the baby may be breach but was not sure yet. I was to do all of my exercises and REST! At that point I am pretty sure I laughed. Resting with 4 young children and my husband 2500 miles away for 6 more weeks. I didn't see rest happening any time soon.
Days past fairly quickly. We filled our days with old friends and our old homeschool group. Since we were staying about an hour from the midwives, and our friends the days we saw friends, it was an all day adventure. Walking became very difficult, and my heartburn became unbearable. When we went back to the midwife they were sure she was breach. At that point I knew what the worry about the baby was. She was not positioned correctly.
Homeopathics were given, exercises, and convincing the baby she was not where she needed to be. Then she turned. What a sick feeling I had while she turned and then there was RELIEF! I could breathe, the heartburn was gone, and walking was better. Her heart rate was perfect, she dropped down into my pelvis and went to sleep. She seemed like she was much more comfortable too!
My husband arrived in early Dec. just in time for the big snow storm to hit. We were in the foothills so we got lots of snow. Over 8 inches. It was enough for an area that just gets a light dusting once a year to snow us in! The power went off all day. But the children loved it. I took the youngest out to play and was worried he would slip on the iced stairs. I fell! I hit the stairs so hard. My leg and foot were all bruised because I made sure not to fall on my toddler, or my belly. The baby seemed to be ok, she didn't move for a bit but was sleeping when I had fallen. I had a doppler so I had my husband get it and we checked her heartbeat and she was fine, just sleeping. A bit later she woke and was moving just like she should. A few days later we went to the chiropractor and found out I had jammed my leg up into my hip, and messed up my wrist, and ankle. All of that was adjusted and I was back to normal with just a bit of bruising left.
1 week before christmas I began to start getting restless. I wanted my baby in my arms. My due date was the 29th. My 3rd child was 3 weeks early so in my mind I was thinking ok baby lets go! We went shopping and I was having lots of contractions. They were 5 min appart and pretty strong but they were only 30 -45 seconds long. We finished our shopping then headed home in hopes of meeting our new family member that night. The contractions kept up and I went to bed and thought I would be woken up at some point in the middle of the night by them. I woke up at 7am the next morning. Still having contractions but not as strong. They finaly stopped around 3 in the afternoon. I was disspointed but thought thats ok it will start again soon. Contractions came and went many times. With each contraction my patience slipped away and my smile began to fade.
Christmas day came the children were all excited family was over, and no baby. It was a very sad day for me. There were presents under the tree for Rebekah and she was not in my arms yet. All the christmas pictures had 4 children instead of 5 in them. I just felt as if my whole family was not there. I was begining to get very irritable. When one family asked if it was time yet I replied with "I will let you know when I see a head!"
A few days after Christmas we talked with the midwives and they reminded me that the dream that I had for her. In my dream my labor did not start until the 30th. I began to loose hope. Something strange happens when you have contractions for days. I do not know if it is hormones or just being tired but I get very sad. The 29th, I lost it. I stood crying in the shower that my baby was never going to come out. I wanted to badly to hold her and kiss her but I couldn't. On the 30th I wouldn't get out of bed. My husband snuck out of the house and called the midwives. He explained I was done! I talked with Kaleem on the phone and she asked me "Are you ready to have this baby yet?" I though of course I am get her out! But then realized I was not really ready to go through labor. I had been getting nervous each time the contractions got strong. Fear had set in. I did not want fear to be any part of this labor or birth. I had birthed my 3rd child in fear and it was very very painful. My 4th child there was no fear and it was a wonderful birth. I hung up the phone with her and prayed and thought about it for a bit. I realized I had to go through it no matter what and got the feeling that God was saying "now or never." So now it was!
I called Kaleem back and told her I'm ready lets go. She gave me a list of things to do and told me they would be at the house at 10pm. I called my friend who with her daughter were planning on being at the birth. I told them to come at 10pm. I took a shower, and got things ready. At 3pm I began taking the concoctions I was told to take. I took them and sat on the birth ball and spent time with my family until about 8pm. We put the children to bed and I began to walk and take my concoctions. My friend and her daughter showed up around 10:30 pm. By then the contractions were coming very regularly. I was eating and walking around the living room. With each contraction I had to stop and lean on something. I began to count in my head with each contraction then I would continue walking. Then I needed my husband to help support me with each contraction. I counted and focused on a speck on the floor. At that point I decided the midwives were taking to long and had my husband call to see where they were. They were happy to know we were checking on them because they knew labor had begun. The midwives were only about 10 min away. They showed up a bit after 11.
I had my friend bring me a towel and the birth ball so I could lay on it with my knees on the ground. I labored like that until the midwives were there, and ready to check me. I was so excited and scared at the same time. The number they were about to tell me was going to tell me how much farther I had to go. I knew how much work my body had already done. Now I just needed to know how much more to do. Marlene checked me and told me I was doing good. "What number I need a number" I told her. She said "six". Ohhh the relief. It was not 8 but I would take 6. I know the hard part for my body was getting to 6. I began asking how long it took with the rest of my births. Micah was about 4 hours, Ben was about 3 hours. I thought ok so another 3 hours and I will have baby sounds good! I continued to labor on the ball with my husband helping to support me. All of a sudden I told Marlene I want in the tub. It was getting harder to deal with the contractions and I knew the tub would be the answer to my pain.
They began filling the tub, and that is when the hot water heater decided it didn't want to keep up! So off to taking every pot we had in the house and boiling water. Lots and lots of water boiling. I went to the bathroom and felt a huge desire to push. I kept thinking no not yet, not on the toilet! I gave a few small pushes and the desire to push went away, but the pain eased a bit. I got in the tub and suddenly the pain was nothing! I remember talking with Marlene and telling her it didn't hurt anymore it was just pressure. "I can do this!" I told her. She replied with the same smile she has when she sees a baby for the first time and tells me "That's all labor is, is pressure" The contractions began to get harder, and harder until the no longer felt like simple pressure but strong pressure. I got very sleepy and began to sleep between contractions. I could no longer count out loud so I would move my hand and Marlene would count for me as I stared at her. Suddenly I realized I was very close to seeing my baby. I had my friend get the other 4 children up. They all came bounding in with huge grins.
I began to feel a bit like pushing but not the overwhelming feeling to push. I checked and had just a bit of a lip of my cervix left. Marlene then told me we needed to break my water and it would be gone. Once my water broke I had to push! Marlene told me to wait a few contractions but I told her "No she is coming out NOW!" I gave one big push and could feel that she had moved down. The next contraction I pushed out her head. Ohhhh the relief! I felt wonderful for abut 10 seconds. Then decided no this hurts! I then told my husband to pull her out. I knew very well that you can't just pull them out but I felt like I couldn't do anymore. Then the next contraction started. I pushed the rest of her out. My husband caught her, and handed her to me. She was perfect! She didn't breathe right away but the cord was still connected. I got worried. Ok I got very worried but everyone else told me it was fine. Kaleem checked her heart rate, and breathing and she was fine. She didn't cry. She was so comfortable in my arms. The only time she cried is when I moved her to put more of her body in the water. She was in my arms and quite content.
We moved to the bed, and she nursed right away. First try she got a good latch and just looked around while she nursed. Daddy with the help of the children cut the cord. After she was done nursing, the midwives checked her out. 8 lb 2 oz. and 20 1/2 inches long and beautiful! The children helped get her diapered and dressed. At that point I realized I forgot to get the diapers out and the baby's clothes ready. But they all figured it out. Clean up was done, children all got to hold the baby. Family pictures taken. Then mommy and baby got to snuggle up and go to sleep.
I can't imagine having a baby any other way than in the tub, and being able to go to bed with my newborn after the birth in my own bed.
By the time she was 5 weeks old she weighed 12 lbs! She is a happy baby that loves to laugh and play with her siblings. The rest of the children are so happy that she is here. They all love to talk about her birth, and tell her about it all the time. Our family can not imagine life with out our Baby Bekah.
