My sweet little man is 4 today! Looking back his birth was symbolic of the child I have today. KianAdley has challenged me and stretched me as a mama and a woman. I have worked hard as his mama but I am loving every minute of it! He is a precious gift! I love him so!!!
Kian= Ancient; God is graciousAdley= God is just
Addison= son of Adam
This pregnancy certainly did stretch my faith. I struggled with alot of fear which began from the m/c I had in March of 2009. Then it took me the longest it has to date to become pg again. I had finally started to think maybe I might not have anymore. I just wasn't used to it taking as long as it did. But, the L-rd in His wisdom gave me a bigger space; 2 1/2 years and time for my body to heal from my last birth. Looking back I see His timing is best. We don't always see that at the time.. hindsight is 20/20...
Also with this pg I could not get a sense as to what gender baby was. His heartbeat was high like a girl's the whole time. See, now that's why they say heart rates are an old wives tale! :) And I carried him all out front like I have with previous pregnancies where it was a girl. The whole pg it was a mystery to me!
Around 36 weeks or so the L-rd gave me a dream in which I had given birth and it was a boy. In this dream I was very upset and I began to cry..I was sad it was a boy and wanted a girl. I woke up and was so shocked at the attitude in my heart! I then begin to cry and to pray. When my dh woke up I told him of the dream and we talked a bit about it. After he had left for work I went right to prayer and gave these feelings to the L-rd, repented and surrendered to whatever He had for me. The L-rd had through this dream shown me the true attitude of my heart. I am so thankful for the G-d I serve and that He made me see the truth of my heart...
I still had no feeling if baby was a girl or boy but in the back of my mind I was assuming a boy..and I was truly happy! It no longer mattered; girl or boy...I had been given what I prayed for! A precious new life!
40 weeks came and went and after having so many pg's and never going beyond 4 days late; 40 weeks 4 days; I assumed I would go around this time with this pg also. I was wrong! Each day dragged on and on! I begin to wonder what was wrong? Why was baby not coming. I had an u/s date and cycle date all accurate...
At 41 weeks we tried castor oil and it did nothing. My dh was checking my cervix and found that I was at least dilated to a 4 and effaced. I was feeling so impatient and again my faith was being stretched...this was something new to me. I continually had to keep my focus on the L-rd by staying in the word and in prayer.
The weekend of my 42nd week arrived so at 41 weeks 6 days I again tried castor oil and it did nothing. I also tried herbs and my dh stripped my membranes. I was then dilated to a 6 and effaced. And still nothing happened!
With this birth and again it being an unassisted birth my belief about birth and faith in my body was challenged. I kept asking myself if my body had forgotten how to birth? My asked my friends and my dh... I struggled with thoughts of going 43-44 weeks or longer and how would I handle that. I came up with a plan to induce at a hospital if I went beyond 43 weeks. Then after prayer and time spent in the word I decided not to do that and to trust the Creator who had created my body and formed this child within. I was referred to an article on how labor starts when baby's lungs are ready for outside the womb. This just further cemented what I felt the L-rd telling me; to wait and trust.. to take it one day at a time. This was my lesson learned on Saturday and Sunday may 15-16th...little did I know that the L-rd had planned my birth for the early morning hours on Monday..
I had to learn new things that are possible with post date babies such as meconium staining of the amniotic fluid....I also had to prepare myself for a big baby...I knew that since baby was late he would be big and had to reaffirm within myself that my body could birth an even bigger baby then my last at 10lbs 5oz.. because of that birth I knew I could do it...
Sunday May 16, 2010 I spent the day with my family at a state park. I needed some time out not thinking about when I would have the baby or any other thing involving the birth. We walked one of the easier trails and checked out an old schoolhouse. We let the kiddos play at the playground area and saw the lake where swimming was allowed. We had a very nice day together! :)During the day I noticed my braxton hicks ctx had changed...They were still braxton hicks but with them I noticed more pressure..I told my dh and he said to me that things would happen in G-d's timing and not my own...I continued to have the braxton hicks ctx thruout the day...they weren't true ctx just more practice so when I went to bed I had no inclination I would be in labor very soon! The thought had crossed my mind but I had given up by this point in trying to guess the day or hour! Sometime in the early morning hours I woke up thinking I had just had a true ctx but as I was groggy and sleepy I wasn't sure but I did have to potty so I got up. I then discovered I had diarrhea. UGH! :( It was then though that I remembered that with some ladies and some labors diarrhea can be a sign of early labor. I went back to bed and while laying there I had a hard ctx..a true in labor one...then nothing...I then went to the bathroom again and when wiping I noticed a bit of pink. I then begin to pray and ask the L-rd to let me have some bloody show which for me never appears until I am truly in labor and on my way to giving birth very soon. My dh would be up soon and I needed to tell him to stay home or go to work. Also my oldest son Josiah was headed to the horse farm. I didn't want them to be gone if I was in labor. Especially since my dh's place of employment is 30 minutes from home..and the horse farm 45 minutes...
Again I went back to the couch and tried to rest. While resting I had a very strong ctx and shortly thereafter my son Josiah was up. I asked him to please get his daddy. It was then I told John I was in labor and that he and Josiah should stay home. I again headed to the bathroom. I spent alot of time in there because of the diarrhea but it was with this bathroom trip I saw the bloody show; bright red.. It was time!
This labor was such a nice labor...if labor can be referred to as nice...yes the labor was painful but my ctx never were every 2 minutes..They would come in this pattern...easier one...then a minute or two later another easier one and then maybe within 3-4 minutes a very hard one. After the appearance of the bloody show all the following ctx were transition and pushing. And all in total from this point I had maybe 10 hard ones and then short easy ones here and there.. I laid on my bed thru the ctx in between my bathroom trips. At about an hour and a half into my labor I knew it was time to push but I decided I wasn't ready and so for the next 30 minutes and the few pushing ctx I had I just worked through them allowing my uterus to push baby down. At some point I headed downstairs to get in the pool and begin pushing but the water wasn't warm enough. My dh was boiling water in big pots on the stove to heat it up for me. During the ctx I would lean over our living room couch and sway my hips back and forth which helped tremendously with the pain. I had about 3 ctx and decided to lightly push with the next one. I leaned over the couch and in a standing position begin to push a bit. When the ctx was over I headed again to the bathroom on the way telling my dh I had pushed a bit with my last ctx. I also asked my dh to lay plastic down by the couch incase I ended up having baby there.
After going potty I headed back to the couch and the living room and decided to begin pushing. The children were all upstairs and my dh was in the kitchen heating water. I again went through a ctx pushing in a standing position and felt him move down even more into my pelvis. It was then I squatted and started seriously pushing. I pushed and felt his head crowning. I stopped pushing and reached down to feel his head. His head was about half way out at that point and I felt his head full of hair. I then started pushing again and out came his head. I waited for that relief you feel when baby's head is born but it never came so I begin pushing the rest of his body out. In my squatting position my bum was just inches off the floor so I birthed the baby right onto the floor. It was right as baby slid out onto the floor that I heard my dh pour the pot of boiling water into the pool. As soon as baby was born I called out to my dh saying, "baby! baby!" My dh came over and picked KianAdley up off the floor and then wrapped him in towels and receiving blankets. I then was so weak and shaky I had to sit so I just sat on the plastic where I had birthed him and spent the next hour and a half drinking in the sight of my new baby and resting. The other children came down to meet KianAdley about 30 minutes after the birth. My oldest son Josiah (14) cut his cord when it had turned white. Within 15 minutes of the birth my placenta came and my dh checked it over for tears and missing pieces. It looked healthy and complete! We all were in shock when we weighed our new little man! I knew he would be big but I sure wasn't expecting him to be that big!!! :) Also during the birth we noticed some meconium staining of the amniotic fluid. KianAdley did have a little bit of trouble after birth but we suctioned him really good and kept his feet elevated above his head. We listened to heart tones which were good and breath sounds.. We kept an eye on his color and made sure he was pinking up which he did. It took him a little bit longer but we just kept an eye on him. He did great! He also had almost no vernix except a little bit on his head. His skin is peeling on his hands and feet. All signs of a post dates baby.
I am so thankful that he is here! I am thankful for the new lessons I learned about birth and my faith. I was challenged in new ways and hope that I changed because of it.
Welcome to the world KianAdley Addison, 11lbs 3oz...born at home unassisted after 1 hour 50min. of labor....my 4th VBAC and 6th unassisted birth!!
Birth Works!!!
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