Her Story....
As everyone knows by now, this baby was not interested in coming out! I really was anticipating the baby coming in week 39 just like the other two did, when that did not happen I just kept saying I'm sure it will come out tomorrow. Then after I was one week late I felt a little like I would just be pregnant forever and he/she was never coming out. My midwifery group is only allowed to let you be two weeks late so the date she had to be born by was Feb. 13th, or I would have to go to a regular OBGYN and be induced in a hospital, I really did not want to have this baby in the hospital so we scheduled a natural inducement of the 11th. My mother in law was able to have an impromptu visit with us for the weekend and had to leave on the 10th, so on Monday I decided to go ahead and get induced because it would be nice to have her here when the baby comes.
I went into the office around 12pm and they monitored the baby for about 20 mins to make sure she was happy and then I took the medication and stayed in the office for 2 hours to monitor the baby to be sure she would not be upset about the medication. She was a happy baby and when I left the office around 4pm I was having contractions. I came home and Stephan and I started getting ready for the baby:) Miles and Lucy went to eat with their aunt and uncle who also took them to play for in a play room, so they were well loved and I am so thankful for Caleb and Ashley's presence in our everyday life. They also planned to return Miles and Lucy downstairs with my best friend Alicia who rents out the basement and they would be having a sleepover with Alicia and her daughter Isabella. I am also so thankful for Alicia and the fact that I knew my kids were close and well taking care of the whole evening. I was really able to focus on myself and not worry about anything else.
Around 5pm I was having contractions every 5 mins and my midwife Lisa came to the house, along with my birth assistant Lori. They got everything set up and paperwork ready and I just relaxed and worked through my labor with Stephan who was AWESOME!!! Around 8:00pm I was at 7cm and labor was moving very fast, the last 45 mins or so were pretty intense, I found out why later. About 5 mins before the baby was born I decided I would be more comfortable in the shower, most people may not know but I am know for my showers, I just find it very relaxing to sit and let the hot water bead on me, so I felt like that would be the most comfortable place for me at that time. I barely made it to the shower, since at this point my contractions were right on top of each other and I was nearly ready to push, But I did and about 1 min later I was pushing, Luckily only 4 pushes for me, the first one was my water, then the head and then the baby:) It was pretty fast and very exciting. My first question was, "It's a boy, right?" We really thought we were having a boy. No one had looked they were taking care of her and then handed her to me, I was just so awestruck and snuggled into her and Stephan and I were just staring at her with tears in our eyes. Finally after a few minutes we looked and were shocked that she was a girl, very excited but shocked. Stephan took her and warmed her up and I got out of the shower, and we all went over to the bed and snuggled, it was very sweet. Later my midwife explained that she came out holding her hand to her mouth trying to suck her thumb, that was why when she was coming thought the birth canal the last 45 Min's it was a little more intense. She is apparently very tenacious!!!
This is a picture of how they weighed her, she weighed in at 7lbs 2ozs.
She has very fair skin and very light hair, different than her brother and sister. She is so beautiful and such a blessing, we are so thankful she is finally here. Because we really thought we were having a boy we had really only finalized our boy name, which we are still keeping to ourselves since the next baby may be a boy, so she went unnamed for the first day while we figured it out. Stephan knew from praying for the baby when I was pregnant that his/her name needed to mean peace, so we went from there praying and talking about what to name her. We named her River Pax, Welcome little River!!!
