Our Journey: 40 Weeks = New Baby

So life has been a bit busy around here. I was really hoping to be able to do a 40 week post (almost three weeks ago) with an updated pregnancy picture, but Litl B decided that was the big day. Never thought I would have a due date baby but secretly, I was hoping for either the 1st or 3rd. The 1st being one of my closest friends birthdays and the 3rd being my grandparent's anniversary.

When I woke up at 2:30 in the morning on the 1st, I kind of wondered if that was the day. I just felt different. Went back to bed and was up again at about 3:30 knowing then that it was indeed the day. Took a bath to help relax and ease some of the pain I was already feeling. Waited until just after 5 to let BJ know what was going on. Things went quickly from there. Like with Iyana and Dayson, I went into the hard stage of labor almost right away. After letting our family know and getting all the last minute things taken care of, I stayed in the bedroom until BJ asked that we head over to our midwife's house. Poor Dayson just wanted to stay with me in the room and figure out what was wrong. He did great though when the time came for him to go over to Grammy Sheba's (Kara) house. Once he was gone and the car packed, we headed out. I must say that I am not a fan of having contractions out in the cold.

Labor itself lasted just shy of 12 hours. As much as we were hoping that things would progress a little faster, it just wasn't meant to be. I ended up with some pretty intense back labor. This for sure was one of the hardest things I've had to do. Even with all the relaxing techniques that I've learned over time, the pain would physically bring me to my knees. I'm so thankful for my husband and his support. Poor BJ ended up sitting on the small ledge of the bathtub (for a couple hours) while I would wrap his arms around my neck and pull him back and forth during a contraction. He never complained once, even when I was aware enough to ask him if he was ok. I don't know if I would have been able to make it through if he hadn't been there.

Fast forward to the delivery. Our homebirth at our midwife's house was definitely an experience that I would not want to relive...we almost lost our baby (for the record, I'd do another birth at home with my midwife again, its just this particular one was hard). As some of you know, it was a pretty tramatic experience. I didn't feel the uncontrollible urge to push like I did with Dayson. It was more of I knew it was time and if I started to push, it would then take over. After what seemed like a lot of pushing to me, Litl B's head finally emerged. It was then that I heard my midwife say in a very firm voice (or as she called it, her momma bear voice) that I needed to get out of the tub asap. Being weak and out of it as I was, I ended up with three people picking me up and getting me on my hands and knees on the floor. After being told to push again and feeling an extreme amount of pain, I was told to flip over onto my back. Once again, I needed the help of those around me. This happened a couple more times before Litl B finally made it into the world. I don't remember all the details clearly, I've had to rely on BJ for a lot of that info, but what we found out happened was that our little baby had both shoulder's stuck (the medical term being shoulder dystocia). Donna (our midwife) had to physically reach inside and help turn Litl B each time they had me flip over. In moving me and with Donna's help, we were able to finally get the shoulder's to move enough to be delivered. We had a little girl! I quickly dropped to the floor in utter exhaustion while the midwive's worked on getting her to breath. What I remember is hearing them count the time off in 30 second increments until she finally started breathing on her own and then crying. Seeing her completely blue, limp and unresponsive with an oxygen mask over her face was so scary. It wasn't until they hit the 2 minute mark that we finally heard that blessed sound of a very weak cry. I wanted to cry and rejoice all at the same time.

We named our new little blessing Samara Joy (pronounced sah-mar-uh). It means protected by God which truely fit with how the delivery went. We are so in love with her and she is so snuggly. I will try to do some more updating as time allows. As you can imagine, recovering this time around has been a lot more difficult. So thankful that my mom has been here to help out over the past couple of weeks. Not sure how things would be going right now without her help.

And now, for what you've probably been waiting for, some pictures. :-)