The Birth of James

Finally. It only took me two months.

With Leah I was 40 weeks 3 days when she was born. That was nothing compared to being a week and 5 days over my due date with James. I think most people - myself included - expect that baby will come between 37 and 40 weeks. But definitely not 41 weeks! Well, let me tell you. Expect baby at 40 weeks, because that stretch of time between 37 and 41 weeks? Brutal. That's a whole month. A month of thinking "okay, any day now!" Needless to say, I never expected to ever be 41 +5 weeks pregnant. Definitely didn't think I would need to be induced. Especially considering I was dilated 3-4cm for over a week, and had 5 stretch and sweeps!
I apologize in advance for how long this may get, I'm really going to try to write every detail I can remember. Brace yourself....

Knowing the day your baby will be born is a crazy thing. It's scary, and the most nerve wrecking thing, ever. The anticipation is unlike anything else. On September 18, 2013 I went to bed at a reasonable time, preparing for an early rise. At 6:00 am. the alarm went off. I showered and got Leah up to start getting ready for school. I was supposed to meet my midwife at the hospital for 7:30, and Matt was just going to get Leah on the bus and come to the hospital after. But at 7:00 my midwife calls. She had just been up for over 24 hours at another birth an hour away. So she asked if I could meet her at the hospital for 11 instead, so she could get a couple hours sleep. Obviously I was okay with that - the poor woman. But seriously!? Another 4 hours I had to wait...


We were at the hospital for 11 and we were put in the triage room for our ultrasound to make sure the fluid levels and breathing all checked out. It did (yay!). My midwife, Esther, got there around 11:15 and she got us into a nice comfy room to start the induction. At 11:35am, she broke my water and gave me a quick stretch and told me to go walk around the hospital for a couple hours. We did some walking. My mom came for a short visit and joined us down in the cafeteria for some lunch, we did more walking. And contractions started coming. Five to six minutes apart, strong. I kept walking.



We got back to our room and told Esther the progress and she checked me, I was still 4cm. She told me that if I don't start progressing that oxytocin would be a good option to kick start things. I said no, that I really wanted to wait it out a bit longer. At 2:30, contractions were strong enough that I didn't want to leave my room. I paced the room, grabbed on to furniture, Matt. Then I got the birthing ball. That thing really works! What a difference I felt in intensity. I would say around 4:30 she checked me again and I was only 5-6cm. Esther said that if I did choose to get the oxytocin that it would speed things up and baby could be here in a couple hours, or I could keep going. I did not want to be stuck in a bed, unable to move and be restricted by a needle stuck in my hand. But I just felt like it was moving too slow for me, and I trusted my midwife. I continued for a little longer on my own, postponing the oxytocin for as long as I could. I got the oxytocin and saline drip at 5:30. Maybe a minute later, contractions doubled in intensity. Crazy intense, teeth baring, bed gripping contractions. Unlike any feeling in this world. Esther checked me shortly after and I was already at 9cm (woah!). She said there was a small amount of cervix covering the baby's head and that she could remove it with the next contraction. Well. Haha. The next contraction came as soon as I said ok. And just as it started I screamed "No, no! Get out! Get out!" There was no way I could do that intense of a contraction with her hand all up in there. Instead, I got on my hands and knees, which let me tell you, that far into labor is a battle all on its own. The second midwife walked in then. Hot flashes started and my sweet husband, doing all that he could do, got cold clothes and dripped them over the back of my neck (heaven). I also recall sneering at him and saying "STOP smiling!" (little did I know, he was just smiling at the midwife) which obviously only made him giggle more. Men.


Five minutes after I switched positions, at around 6:00pm, I got this intense, so intense pressure. The no-doubt-about-it-I-gotta-push kind of pressure. I flipped back over and both midwives were by my side, my feet on their hips, my hands wrapped around my husband's. Three contractions later, at 6:14pm my sweet James was out and on my chest. Warm and slippery. And then he pooped. And then he pooped again. Our amazingly big boy, weighing in at 9lbs 10oz (but I'm guessing he was closer to ten before those two poops).



My mom brought Leah around 8:00 to meet her new brother. She walked in and looked so nervous. I said "Remember how mommy's belly was really big, because baby James was in there? Well, he's here now, see." She says "Ya!! But, Mommy... your belly is still big." Oh that girl. She kissed him and fell in love immediately.

I remained on the oxytocin for about 6 hrs. after he was born. When you have a big baby, you're chances of hemorrhaging are greater. So, every two hours I got tummy checks and baby James got his sugars checked. Everything was great, perfect. He started nursing well right from the beginning (thank you, God).

Such an amazing experience, and I am so grateful for the midwives I had. I'm so glad and proud of myself that I went through with a natural childbirth. How many people can say that nowadays? When medicine and intervention is so common. It is so worth it to feel your baby coming into the world. Leah's birth story will be coming soon, the details aren't as fresh in my mind as James's are.


No matter how your baby comes into the world, its truly amazing and a gift, a blessing. A life-changing experience that you won't ever forget. But coming from someone whose experienced and epidural birth and a natural birth, in all honesty, it is so much worth it to go natural. The healing process is unbelievably faster. Things work better 'down there' with a natural birth. And this is coming from someone who gave birth to an almost 10lb baby naturally. You heal better! Labor can seem so long and pushing can seem so long, and usually with your first baby labor tends to be longer, and pushing longer. But when you look back it seems like it was over in a flash. All I'm saying is, educate yourself. Don't be naïve. This is life, and this is what God created our bodies to do.

A friend wrote to me a quote: “Remember this, for it is as true as true gets: Your body is not a lemon. You are not a machine. The Creator is not a careless mechanic.” - Ina May