August 29th, Ella's due date, came and went with no sign of her coming. I continued with my weekly prenatal appointments with my midwives, and at 41 1/2 weeks I saw an OB for a non stress test and detailed ultrasound. The ultrasound showed that Ella was small and probably not as far along as we originally thought. The OB said everything looked great and that he didn't see any reason to intervene. So I we kept waiting. I kept drinking my red raspberry tea, taking evening primrose oil, and red raspberry capsules (none of these are to "induce" labor, they just help prepare the body for more effective contractions/birth) and seeing two chiropractors regularly, each who specialize in different areas.
As the days passed, I kept busy doing fun things with the kids, keeping the laundry pile caught up, making sure there were snacks prepared for my always-hungry children, etc. I felt well physically and was doing pretty well emotionally. After the 42 week mark passed I would wake up each morning discouraged to STILL be pregnant, but I got out alone in the early morning and walked while praying and listening to the Psalms on audio Bible, and every day I would come back in encouraged and resting in the Lord for when baby girl would come.
On Monday, September 18, I saw both my chiropractors, ran a few errands, cleaned up the house, and we had a friend from college (who was in town for work) over for supper. It was a good day, but nothing out of the ordinary happened. I went to bed but as I was about to fall asleep, I had a harder than normal contraction around 11:30pm. 10-15 minutes later I had another one that made me think, "hmmm, maybe labor is starting?!" I casually mentioned to Jacob, who was still up working on orchestra music, that maybe we'd have a baby tonight. At 12:00AM (I was exactly 43 weeks pregnant) I had another contraction with a definite "labor bite" and I called my midwife to let her know we'd be headed to the birth house in TN as soon as we could. Jacob called his mom to come over and stay with the kids and I called my mom and sister, who planned to meet us at the birth house. The 50 minute drive was pretty uneventful. I had 4 or 5 contractions and just took the time to pray and think and of course slather myself in my essential oils.
We got settled at the birth house and my mom, sister, 2 midwives and the midwives' apprentice all arrived soon after. I worked through some contractions, but honestly, they didn't seem to be progressing/getting harder. They were very sporadic as well, some a few minutes apart, some 15-20 minutes apart. It was really strange. I bounced on the birth ball, stood and swayed my hips, and squatted, to try to help the contractions get more regular. My tailbone is what was really uncomfortable with each contraction and I needed someone to give counter pressure through them. I was also nauseous through the whole labor until it was time to push, so I sipped on ginger tea and sniffed a lot of peppermint to help calm my tummy.
With all my other labors I've carried on conversation between contractions, but then would get in a zone and not talk between them, as they got harder/closer together at transition. This time, from around 1:30-3:30AM, I was still talking and laughing between contractions and I was thinking, either I wasn't in labor or this was going to be a super long labor.
Around 3:30, my midwife suggested I lay down on the bed and let her feel my belly to see if maybe there was a positioning issue with the baby. Both midwives felt and said that Ella was in perfect position. I lay there for around 10 minutes and didn't have a single contraction. I had pretty much convinced myself that I wasn't in labor at all. I said, "well, I'd better get up and see if I'll have some more contractions." I proceeded to get up, immediately had a contraction and felt my body start pushing. I said, "I think I'm pushing!" Haha!
I got on my knees on the bed and leaned over the birth ball for support. We waited for another contraction and after a minute or so of nothing, I "stood up" on my knees and that brought on a contraction. Miss Ella Joy was born at 3:45 in "a push and a half" according to the midwives. ha! Jacob caught her and held her for a minute before passing her to me because I was feeling dizzy and just in so much shock at what happened...remember, a few minutes earlier I didn't even think I was in labor!
We stayed at the birth house for several hours to rest and do all the post-birth stuff. The midwives found several calcifications on the placenta, some weird veins on the water bag, and the cord insertion into the placenta was not very strong. We praise the Lord for caring for me and Ella when those issues could have caused a life threatening situation at any point in the pregnancy for both of us.
3 hours old. Headed home to meet her siblings. She was actually born with her little hands up under her chin like she was praying and ever since she's liked her hands up by her face. So sweet!
All together and so happy Ella is finally here!!
Huge thanks to my sister for capturing the pictures during Ella's birth! Having my mom and sister there is so special and I wouldn't trade it for the world.
If you love birth stories, here are the links to all of my kiddos. It's fun reading back through them and seeing how I've changed and how our family has grown is many different ways.
Levi's birth story
Asher's birth story
Ava's birth story
Ezra's birth story
