Tuesday, March 22, 2011

birth announcement


made by my wonderful husband, Darrin!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Addy Joy's Birth.

Here is a condensed version of Adelynne's birth story!
Sunday - December 12th- My due date...
Mom and Elsie were following a winter storm to get here! Since I had no signs of labor whatsoever, they stopped overnight in TN. I was pretty sad that I didn't have any contractions, because I was so excited to meet the baby!
Monday - December 13th...
Went Christmas shopping with Mom and Elsie all day...ate spicy food for lunch, hoping that would help! Came home and made enchiladas for dinner...still no signs....until 1:30a, when my water started leaking! Started taking black and blue cohosh...which tastes just aweful!
Tuesday - December 14th...
Rested all morning, and then went shopping in Greenville...just trying to walk the baby out! Came home and played games.
Wednesday - December 15th...
Darrin and I wet to see Sandy, my midwife. Besides my water barely leaking, nothing was happening! Started drinking caster oil to get things moving. Did other natural labor stimulants too...which I had actually been doing for about a week, casually...but it never really seemed to help me.
At about 6pm, my water started leaking a lot more. Elsie and I went to get pedicures and had to leave as soon as we could! The fluid seemed to just come out in gushes!
That night my contractions started...they weren't super strong, but we started timing them and they were 2 minutes apart...and had been for over an hour! Called the midwife, and she thought I didn't sound like I was in enough pain...feel bad, because I think I was rude to her on the phone. She was right, I wasn't in enough pain, but they were on top of eachother! So at like 3a, we went to the birthing center (this is about a 40min. drive)....when we got there, the contractions pretty much started dying off. BY 8a they were gone. I was so embarassed, and felt bad for having all the midwives come in! But fortunately for me, another lady came in to have her baby! It was pretty much a bad night.
Thursday - December 16th...
Elsie's 12th birthday! We left the birthing center before 9a, and took mom and Elsie home. Then Darrin and I went to run a few errands...it was a little morning date! We celebrated Elsie that day...she was just great through this whole thing! My mom wasn't surprised that the labor was dragging on, but Elsie just went with the flow. Always smiling and doing whatever was needed of her! That night me and Darrin went back to see the midwife...I was only 1 cm dilated and the baby was at a zero. Even though my water had been broke for over 24 hrs I just absolutely didn't want to go to the doctor. I knew I would be c-sectioned, which I didn't want since everything was fine. Did more stimulants, but nothing seemed to be happening. I had more contractions that night, but when I would get tired, they just died off. I pretty much showered like every hour that night! The water and heat made my contraction pain minimal.
Friday - December 17th...
On Friday, Darrin had the day off, and all four of us just enjoyed the day! Shopped, went to the park to walk, went out to eat. That night my contractions were pretty bad! I thought it might happen then...but once again, by about 3a they had pretty much spread out, but never really stopped. I was pretty stressed about this baby, I seriously thought she was just going to stay in!
Saturday - December 18th...
Mom and Darrin got me up early and made me start walking! I walked outside our apartment, and up and down the stairs. Then me and mom went to target and walked around, my contractions were about 6/10 pain wise...I had to walk through them, and concentrate on breathing. We came home, and mom called her old midwife (mostly just wanting a second opinion on  if this was normal or not!) who told me to just relax, drink a glass of wine and take a bath. I really didn't want to stop my contractions, so I skipped the wine. Mom and Elsie talked about what there travel plans were, and decided to stay until this baby was here! I was so relieved, I thought they would have to leave. Well, I think just knowing I wasn't on a time schedule, and that I just needed to sit and relax really did the trick! Contractions got more intense and closer together. Darrin and Elsie went to get dinner, and by the time they got home I couldn't eat. When going through a contraction I really wanted to be alone. I mean, messaging just made it worse, music annoyed me, so I just closed my eyes and breathed on my own...and leaned on my dresser. Mom was super supportive, just casually doing the puzzle and timing my contractions. Soon after Darrin got home from getting dinner, he tried to help me walk through my contraction, and I couldn't even stand! I mean the pain was bad (for that one minute it lasts) but it was so intense in the whole middle of my body, that I just couldn't stand anymore! So we knew, it was time to go! For me, the 40min. car ride didn't seem that long, and it might have been less, but I pretty much slept in between contractions. When we got to the birthing center, my body was ready to deliver! I had naturally started pushing in the car, which surprisingly felt so good! So I got into the tub, and for the next hour, I pushed, but couldn't feel my contraction pain! I could tell that I was having one, but could not feel it. It was amazing! The pushing part was work, but really only painful right before she came out! I pushed her out in 2 consecutive pushes, instead of waiting for another contraction, just because I could...I couldn't feel anything so I just kept pushing.
8:10pm...
Adelynne Joy was born! She was so beautiful! I just held her in the tub until her umbelical cord was ready to be cut, and then Darrin took her. I then got out and moved to a bed to deliver the placenta, which by that time was so easy! We stayed at the birthing center while I fed her, then they weighed her, checked over my placenta, and I got all cleaned up. We were on our way home before midnight!!


My midwife advised me to stay in bed, wearing bed clothes for at least 2 weeks, letting my body heal! I was pretty sore a lot of days, so that was easy to do :)

Looking back, I am so glad I decided to not go to the hospital...I was so set on having this baby naturally, and I knew if I would have gone in, I would have been c-sectioned...probably back on Monday!! I could not have done it without the strength that the Lord gave me!
This was such an amazing experience to go through with Darrin...just learning about all of our different options, and deciding which route was best for us!
Thank you, Darrin for your constant love, support and knowledge! All that you learned just for me to have the best birth experience means the world to me.
Thank you to Mom, Anneliese and Elsie, too...each a major part of that week!!