Our new little blessing!

Our little Miss Muffet

Born: February 20th at 11:40pm
Weight: 6lbs. 12oz.
Length: 19 1/2 inches
A perfect little piece of heaven!

She was born at home and delivered by her proud daddy! The homebirth was planned... the unassisted part was not. :) Here's how it happened...

The morning of the 20th, I felt a few contractions that were stronger than the normal Braxton-Hicks, but they were really far apart (15-20 mins) and irregular. I told FarmDad that I probably would be having the baby that night or in the next couple days.

Throughout the day they stayed the same, so we went about our normal routine. The older kids did school and the younger ones made messes and I tried to keep the house semi-clean. :)  In the evening, I debated about whether I should go to Awana's with the kids, but my contractions were still not very close together, so I went. When we got home, I could tell that my contractions were closer together, but I was so focused on getting kids to bed and the house cleaned up that I wasn't really timing them. By the time everyone was in bed and the house was cleaned up and vacuumed (thanks to my amazing husband!) I decided I'd better call my mom and give her a heads-up since she likes to come to my births. I told her that I was having some contractions, but I hadn't called my midwife yet and I thought they would probably go away once I went to bed.

I decided I would take a bath before bed, and FarmDad went out to do his late night chores. At this point, I was pretty sure I was really in labor, but since all my previous labors have been several hours long in the early labor stage, I wasn't too concerned.

While in the tub, I had a couple of contractions that were really strong and close together. That was the moment of realization that "Oh, this baby is coming now and a lot sooner than I thought!" When FarmDad came in from chores, I was frantically making preparations in between contractions and I asked him to call my midwife quick. She had an hour and a half drive to get to our place, so even then I had a niggling thought that maybe she wouldn't make it in time.

From that point on, everything progressed very quickly. I remember thinking "Wow, if my labor is already this intense and I have several more hours of this, I don't know how I'm going to do it!" I discovered later that FarmDad was having the exact same thoughts. :)

I could tell FarmDad was worried but was trying to stay calm. He kept looking at the clock. I remember hearing things like "The midwife should get here about 12:40" (It was 11:30) and "Maybe you should try lying down to slow your contractions down" (yeah, right) and "You didn't push on that one, did you??"

I remember looking up and seeing a rather panicked look on his face. I could see the wheels turning in his head as he tried to think if there was anyone he should call (911 perhaps?) and he said in his deceptively calm drawl, "Well, I think this baby is coming right now. What are we going to do?"

Of course, by this time I was totally and completely focused on birthing a baby, but I felt very much at peace and I managed to tell him that everything would be fine and we could do this!

After only three more pushes, little Miss Muffet made her grand entrance into the world and into her daddy's waiting hands. Once we saw she was breathing and looked healthy, FarmDad was quick to check and see that she was a girl. She was very quiet and immediately opened her eyes and began looking around. For several long minutes we stayed like that--me sitting on our bedroom floor, holding baby, with FarmDad right there untangling her from the cord, wrapping her in blankets and finding a little hat to put on her. After all the intensity of the labor, it felt like such a peaceful precious time with just the three of us quietly sitting there and getting to know each other. Looking back, I realize how wonderful that time was without anyone else around to poke or prod or check baby. We quietly talked to baby for a few more minutes, then we started calling everyone who was on their way to let them know they had missed the main event. :) Again, I laugh when I think of how calmly FarmDad shared the news in his slow drawl, "Well, we have a baby..."

Our midwife arrived around 12:20 (yes, she drove that fast) and my parents came about twenty minutes later. By that time, the midwives had cut the cord and delivered the placenta, and baby and I were all snuggled up in bed. A couple of hours of pictures and weighing and checking vitals ensued before both baby and I were declared healthy and perfect.  Then, we got to go to sleep with our precious little gift from God all tucked in beside us and we looked forward to waking the next morning as a family of seven!