Jane’s Birth Story
Posted on March 1st, 2016 by RWM AdminMy Sweet Baby Jane,
Today you are three weeks old. Time has surely flown by. You are a joy and you make my heart sing. This is the story of your birth.
I guess the story should begin on Friday, July 22 when your Yaya came over to help me clean the house. We thought that Monday was my due date so I was getting everything tidy in case you came right on time. While we cleaned, I started having contractions. They were timetable about every 20 minutes and boy were they uncomfortable. I kept on cleaning and taking care of Big Sister hoping they’d get stronger. I was starting to get excited that today would be the day! Unfortunately, as soon as I quit cleaning the contractions slowed down and eventually stopped. Bummer! I called Mamaw to tell her that things had died down and not to keep herself up. Then Wednesday, it happened again! This time the contractions were even stronger! I called Daddy to come home and take me to the chiropractor just in case. I didn’t want to get caught out driving and my water break or something. The contractions were every seven to ten minutes apart. And OW! I was really excited! I really thought it was going to be that day! I had called several people to let them know it could be soon. But, like last time, sitting in the car for half an hour made the contractions die down and eventually stop again. I was bummed. Again. So Dad and I decided to strap Big Sister on and take Larry out for a walk. It’s been so hot that he thought I was kidding, but I wasn’t. I was ready to meet my baby! The walk made the contractions come on again, but they weren’t the same as before. They were a little shorter and not as strong. As soon as we went to bed, they stopped completely. Darn!
A week later, on our second due date (our sonogram predicted this day), your Little Papaw’s birthday, I woke up at 4 am to nurse Annie and I felt a little twinge of pain. That’s interesting, I thought, let’s keep nursing and see what happens. The twinge turned into an “ow”, the “ow” turned into an OW! I just kept on nursing and breathing through the contractions. These were definitely different than the other two times. These really REALLY hurt! Dad woke up around 6 am and I told him to rest because today really could be the day and that he might want to start thinking about not going to work. I didn’t want to tell him for sure not to because I didn’t want to jinx myself. I didn’t want the contractions to stop again. I wanted to meet my baby TODAY!! By 8 am, I couldn’t handle nursing anymore and I wanted to stand up. Dad cuddled Annie and tried to keep her asleep while I walked around and concentrated on what was happening to my body. Dad and I decided that at 9 I’d call our midwife, Joyce and have her come check me since she’d be at the birth center close by anyway. I said a quick prayer that I’d be dilating, even just a little bit because this really hurt! Joyce said she’d be on her way in about an hour. I took a shower, put away laundry and kept moving. I refused to let these contractions get the best of me again. I had a sandwich and Joyce got here around 10:30 am and checked me. I was already 8 centimeters!! YAY! So, all those false starts and the past few hours really had been working! She went ahead and changed clothes, set up her stuff and called Nicole, the student midwife. I was so excited. I started making my calls too. For the next few hours we all just hung out in the living room while Annie watched her morning shows and had her breakfast. It was almost like a normal Wednesday, except that every 2 minutes we were all getting a little closer to meeting a new little person. Around 1:40 pm, my water broke. Luckily, I had been giving little pushes for a few minutes so Joyce had suggested that I move to the bed so she could check me. And then WHOOSH! There went all that fluid. Then I had lots of pressure and really needed to push. Dad held my leg, Mamaw held my hand and everyone buzzed all around me, but I couldn’t hear them. After a few more minutes, out slid a sweet baby and Daddy said “it’s a GIRL!!” we were all so excited! You let out a strong cry and we were all so excited! Another girl!! Annie is a big sister and has a little sister! Dad cut the cord and set you free in the world. Welcome Earth side, sweet girl. In all I had only pushed for 20 minutes! You weighed 8 pounds 7 ounces and were 20 1/4 inches long. You latched on like a pro and were so alert.
It was such a wonderful day. You are such a happy baby and I am so glad that you’re finally here. You smiled on the day you were born. You are such a gift. ♥
