Baby MW's Birth

Here is a little backstory before I share about the birth of baby MW. With all 3 pregnancies, we waited to discover the gender of our babies after they were born. CW & BW were both born at the Women’s Center at Northwest Medical Center. This time around, Mr. GBE & I decided a home birth was the way to go. And I’m so glad we made this decision.

Like my other 2 boys, baby MW, took his sweet time to decide on what day to enter the world. He was born at home 5 days past his due date. But once he decided on the day, he wasted no time in making his arrival. Labor to delivery was just barely under 4 hours. Mix that with being able to labor and deliver at home, and this was by far the best experience ever!

A little after 4 am I couldn’t sleep. I had a couple of really long, hard contractions that woke me up. They literally brought me to my knees. At the time I was attempting to sleep in the recliner in my bedroom. These contractions were so intense that I kneeled in front of my chair to let my belly hang down towards the floor. After a few more of these, I went to wake up Mr. GBE. I wanted to let him know that I may be in labor, so I was going downstairs to watch TV. However, it took me about 3 strong contractions before I could tell him what was going on. For the first time ever, he believed that I was in labor, and he woke right away. During my two previous labors, he would mumble something and go back to bed while I would quietly labor in the dark, early morning hours. This time Mr. GBE got right to work. He double made the bed as we were instructed to do. He got dressed. And who knows what else he did. I was having CONTRACTIONS! And these weren’t normal beginning of labor contractions. These were every 2 minutes and were lasting about a minute or more each time. I was in denial that this was happening. I kept waiting for them to become more ‘regular’, as in not so intense and not so frequent. I was in such denial about it that I downloaded a contraction timer app for my phone. While timing them for about an hour, Mr. GBE kept asking me if he should call our midwife. ‘No, no, not yet. I’m fine.’ All the while I’m on my hands and knees or leaning over the reclining chair moaning. Looking back now, I’m such a nut.  I could barely stand up to brush my teeth, but I kept telling him to wait. He didn’t need to call, so about an hour of this went on. And after being ‘nagged to death’ I gave Mr. GBE the go ahead to call. It was time.

A lot of details are lost on me. I didn’t look at the clock anymore. And I can’t recall the comings and goings of everyone. I was too into what I had to do. I hardly remember when my midwife showed up, and as time went on I hardly remember when my other two midwives came as well. I do, however, remember BW coming into my room. He walked over to me and held my hand. I only patted his, not wanting to squeeze and hurt his little hand. I couldn’t even look at him during my contractions, but I loved knowing he was right there with me. He wasn’t scared that his Mama was on her knees moaning and breathing through contractions. Mr. GBE came in and took BW down to get his breakfast. It was the last time I ‘saw’ BW until his brother was born. CW never came to see me that morning, which was totally fine with me. He knew what was going on. I had prepped him on what was going to happen in the weeks leading up to this special day. CW & BW both spent the morning with their Grandpa. Once the two boys were gone, Mr. GBE was back at my side. And at that time, I was already in the tub.

The tub was relaxing, at first. Eventually, I couldn’t stay in it any longer. My legs kept ‘falling asleep’. Somehow my midwife and Mr. GBE convinced me to get out and go to the bed. But first, I made a pit stop. While relieving myself, I suddenly yelled, ‘I HAVE TO PUSH.’ And I should also mention that I have had my eyes closed for the majority of my labor. And at that moment, I happened to look at Mr. GBE. I saw panic. He was freaked that I could deliver this baby on the toilet. That freaked me out a little too. Thank goodness for my midwife. She was so calm, and she along with Mr. GBE moved me to the bed. I don’t know how I got there, but I did. It was show time.

I should disclose that with CW & BW I had epidurals. This time around, I could feel everything!! But the best feeling was reaching down and feeling MW’s head. It really made me feel like all my effort was really doing something. I got really excited to meet this baby, and specifically see if we were having a girl or a boy since we didn’t know that we were having a baby MW. It could have been a baby AM for all I knew at that time. After baby’s head was out, I did feel that my midwife was jockeying baby around a little. I knew the shoulders were stuck, but I’m so glad she didn’t verbalize this. Hearing it probably would have freaked me out a bit. And after the shoulders were worked loose, baby came right out.

And I held baby immediately. I was in love. While holding baby, Mr. GBE and I looked. I waited almost 41 weeks, so we looked immediately. We looked before counting fingers and toes. We looked, and we saw that we had a beautiful, baby boy.  My MW. He didn’t cry or scream. He was so calm. I was so calm. I talked to him, and loved on him. I told him about his brothers. I fell in love all over again.

 

It's not the most flattering of photos, but what do you expect after 4 hours of hard labor? I was lost in the moment of our first cuddle. <3