In honor of Noah Bear's 1st birthday - Noah's birth story :)

I just can't believe it... my Noah Bear is ONE today. It truly breaks my heart, because my precious babe is growing up. I just love him so much - he has been such an easy baby, so tender, and laid back - we'll go to a restaurant and almost every time we have someone comment on how observant and quiet he is... he truly lives up to the meaning of his name - so peaceful and content, but STRONG like a bear (yes, his middle name truly is Bear) - he is TOUGH!! There aren't words enough to adequately describe my heart for my sweet little boy. I just love him, his bright, smiling eyes, his sweet squirmy little legs, his soft little hair... everything, I love him.

In honor of Noah's birthday, I thought I would share with you Noah's birth story. His birth was uneventful and perfect. I wrote this on November 6th, 2010. Read on.

Well, I reckon I better get to writing this before I forget all the details... but then again, how many mothers forget ALL the details of their births... the most amazing, wonderful moments of our lives are when our little babes enter the world. We always joke that if you get a group of women together eventually they will all end up talking about childbirth. :)

Sooo let's see... Noah was "due" on October 14th. Leading up to his due date I had a great sense of peace about when he would arrive, not really wanting to hurry him along by trying any natural induction methods, other than the fact that my oldest and first born son's birthday was approaching and he (Dakota) so desperately did NOT want his brother born on his birthday. The Lord had spoken to me via Bible Roulette Isaiah 66:8 & 9 which was his encouragement to me that he wasn't going to bring me this far and leave me hanging... so I was cool with just waiting until the time was right.

here I am on my birthday (10/8), about 10 days before he was born.

The morning of Monday the 18th I was 40 weeks and 4 days, we were all sitting around the 
breakfast table and Dakota stopped in the middle of breakfast to pray that Noah would be born "today, tomorrow, but not on my birthday". I thought to myself that it seemed to be a good day to have a baby. The 18th was the last day that I would be able to try anything naturally to "induce" labor because after that I'd just have to wait for him to come on his own... Dakota's birthday was on the 20th and I didn't want to be in the hospital or having a baby on the 20th. So I decided I would put Shiloh down for a nap and try a little castor oil to see if it would kick things off. The recommended dose for induction is 2 oz or more and then another 2 oz an hour later but I was not about to do that to myself! I decided 1 oz in a chocolate milkshake should be enough if I was already REALLY ready to go into labor anyway, this should set me off. 

I took the castor oil at 2:30 in the afternoon on Monday the 18th. 

By 4:30 I started noticing the Braxton Hicks-like contractions I was feeling were coming pretty regularly and so I started paying attention. I had not even had even the slightest urge to go to the bathroom yet. 

By 5:45 - 6:00 when Jason got home with Dakota, I let him know that I was having contractions, they didn't hurt, and I was paying attention to them, and we were to go about our business until things started to change. Monday night is Scouts night so Dakota got his uniform on and I started making dinner. I scrambled up some eggs with another 1/2 oz of castor oil and ate that around 6:30 or so. Again, still had had no urge to go to the bathroom and was contracting regularly, probably about 5 minutes apart, but not "painful", just growing in intensity. 

A little before 7 Jason left to go to Scouts with Dakota. I proceeded after that to get Shiloh ready for bed and by about 7:30, I started really feeling a greater level of intensity in the contractions and that they were closer together. I had not timed them yet. I called my doula and told her what was going on... and my midwife, and my mother in law, and then Jason to tell him I really needed him to go ahead and come home... that I thought this was the real thing and if it was, I needed to be walking so he needed to come home. 

By the time Jason got home, I realized I would not be doing any walking, I needed to lay down... but first I was going to put Shiloh to bed. That was the first time I'd had to lay down and relax through the contractions. They were about 3 minutes apart by then and definitely DEFINITELY more intense, not really incredibly painful as long as I totally relaxed through them. I was done putting Shiloh to sleep by about 8:30. 

Afterwards I decided to take a shower. I had Jason start timing the contractions and call my doula. They were 2 and 2 1/2 minutes apart. The shower felt awesome and I'd say diminished the discomfort by 25%. I even thought the contractions were not as intense or labor was slowing down while I was in the shower. Talitha (doula) "wasn't sure this was the real thing" - which I later learned was her way of seeing where I was at and gauge my progress, so she said for me to go drink a glass of wine and lay down. I got out of the shower and did just that.

I laid down and got really comfortable and just focused on completely relaxing through the contractions. By 9:15 or so I called Talitha back. I explained what was happening and she said to call her back in an hour and let her know what was going on. I told her I'd talked to Kay (my midwife) who said to come on in if I wanted to labor in the tub (I was hoping to have a water birth), but I didn't want to go too soon if it would slow my labor down. We decided to wait it out. By about 10:00 though, I was really working through the contractions. They were more intense and still about 2 1/2 minutes apart. Jason came to check on me - I opened my eyes after a contraction and looked at him and started crying a little. Jason immediately picked up the phone and called Talitha and said "I think we've reached an emotional signpost"... I talked to Talitha again. I think at that point they decided instead of Talitha coming to my house from downtown they were just going to meet at the hospital. Jason began scrambling around getting everything ready. I don't know what time we left but I think it was around 10:45 or maybe a little earler. Before I got out of that bed I had felt the urge to push with the contractions already.

We drove the 45 minutes to the hospital with me laying in the back of our '89 Suburban... I went through transition in the back of that truck... oh my god. I kept trying to be a bowl of jello but I was getting sloshed around and this is with contractions on top of each other and much more intense. I am not sure if the intensity was because I was more tense or that's just transition. Probably a little of both.

We got to the hospital I'm told around 11:30. They wheeled me to the L&D room with a pitstop at the restroom. Talitha and her Mom Luci Fowler (she was my doula at Shiloh's birth) were there to greet us. Luci was there to pray and be spiritual support at the birth and is a dear and longtime friend of our family. 

Jason applying counter-pressure during contractions.

They checked me and much to my surprise I was 8 cm!!! I could not believe it. I was expecting much less. Compared to how long it took me to get to 8cm with Shiloh I just couldn't believe I had done comparatively such little work to get to that point. I'm just amazed what patience for the right time and knowing how to relax in labor can do for the overall childbirth process! Anyway, I just stood up and leaned over the bed face down in some pillows while they did some electronic fetal monitoring before I could get in the tub to have the water birth. Unfortunately Noah's heart rate was dropping with the contractions so they decided it wouldn't be a good idea for me to get in the tub. I was disappointed to hear this as I was sooo looking forward to getting in the water. But by the time they told me this I already had felt the need to push and with each contraction I was feeling like I just had to push this baby out! So, needless to say, I started pushing. No one told me when or how to push, I just did it when it felt right. The contractions were further apart and more irregular now so I just pushed when I felt like it. 

Lord have mercy, when his head started coming out I started praying. That was some serious work! But he was coming so fast and I was pushing well I guess. It took like 15 minutes for me to push him out! I was standing so I think gravity really helped out as well as my unwillingness for his head or any other body part to stay in that area for too long! I wanted him OUT! :)

I'm pushing... look at my ears... can you tell? To the right is my AMAZING doula, Talitha - I was squeezing her hands during the pushing. Poor thing, she forgot to take her ring off... :) I love her.

Well, I got his head out in a couple of pushes and then the rest of him in one good push, and Jason was there to catch him and hand him to me! He had a wonderful, lusty cry and was and IS still the most beautiful little man. He was born at 12:09 on October 19th.

I got to hold him for over an hour before they took him to be bathed and weighed, etc. It was such a sweet time to bond and he nursed perfectly from the get-go. He weighed 8lbs 2.2 oz and was 20 inches long. We stayed at the hospital one more night and went home on the 20th to celebrate Dakota's 10th birthday!

I was so pleased to have had a natural birth experience. I learned so much from my Dakota and Shiloh's births to be ready emotionally, spiritually, physically and mentally for this birth. I am not sure if we'll have other children, but having such an easy labor and delivery and such a precious little treasure to hold afterwards sure makes me think twice. :)