The Story of Jonah

Picking up where I left off with the first post.....around 2pm we made it outside for a walk, I think we made two passes up and down our street before the contractions were coming too hard and strong for me to walk anymore, not to mention the baby was now pushing down on the nerves in my legs making them almost numb. We headed back inside around 2:30pm and decided that it was time to start setting up the birthing pool. It took some time to get the pool blown up and then filled with some nice hot water. At around 4pm the pool was all set and I was very eager to get in as the contractions were pretty intense at this point. I labored in the pool with some really good, long contractions that seemed to come harder and stronger with each new change of position. Neal was a fabulous support, physically and emotionally. 6:30pm rolled around and I started feeling the need to push with my great big contractions. Up until this point everything had been bearable, the contractions were certainly not pleasant and they hurt, a lot, but pushing while having a contraction was a whole new ball game. Since, Sophie was born in the hospital and I had an epidural, my body had never really felt the pain of labor before since the epidural masked it all and it was a pain that was clearly overwhelming. I was sick with the pain that each contraction brought and was throwing up and pushing all in one, I actually missed several good contractions/opportunities to push because I was too busy throwing up. My energy was depleting fast and I ended up dozing off in between contractions only to be awoken by the midwives and Neal reminding my of the work that needed to be done. I can remember feeling so drained and that I really had nothing left to give to get this baby out and I could hear Neal praying in my ear that this baby would come quickly. I changed positions and locations a lot. I started off in the pool changing from sitting to standing to squatting, then moved to the bathroom, because I thought I needed to go, but I was not having my baby on the toilet so we got out of there quickly! Then I moved onto the birthing stool (a U-shaped stool that puts you low to the ground in a supported squatting position) then onto laying down on my side on the floor, where some good progress was made, my hips started hurting so I moved back to a squatting position only this time Neal was my support, he sat on our love seat and I squatted in between his legs. This was the last position change, I have no idea how long I pushed in this position, but that is how and where Jonah Michael Slimick entered the world at 8:59pm surrounded by love and the Glory of God on our living room floor (which was well protected with chux pads which are these awesomely absorbent little plastic backed pads.....think puppy training pads except a lot softer and for humans!) All in all I pushed for 2.5 hours with a grand total of 16 hours in labor.

The midwife stayed overnight and by 7am the next morning she determined everything looked good and gave us some final instructions and was on her way. She will be back on Thursday the 5th and the 12th to check in. Around 1pm Jonah's doctor came by to give him the once over, everything looked great. Sophie came to visit her new baby brother at 6pm and she was over the moon excited she could have cared less to see Neal or I it was all about the baby! She was so ready to get up on the bed and hold and him love on him. It was sad to see her go and she wanted to stay, but I was way too tired and still too weak to be anything but a log in the bed. Neal and I decided that she would stay one more night with my parents to give me just a little more time to recoop and get mobile. She will be back with us tomorrow probably after her nap sometime in the afternoon and we will get our first taste of being a family of four!