It's a...

Friday night the three of us watched Tron.  The kids had a tough time going to and staying in bed so we started the movie a little late and had to pause it a couple of times.  I don't think we actually went to bed until 10:30 or 11:00pm but I'm not sure.  Near the end of the movie, I had three very sharp, quick pains.  Since tomorrow was my due date, I thought that most likely the baby will come in the next day or two. We ended the night figuring out how long my previous labors were.  Hailey started at 6:00am and went until 4:00pm (10 hours), Robert's started at 9am and went until 7pm (10 hours), and Hannah started in the middle of the night went to 2 hours then stopped for almost 12 hours, started again around 3:00pm and went until 12:00am (9 hours). 

I was starting to feel really uncomfortable in bed and finally got out of bed around 2:30am to go potty.  That's when I realized I was having contractions.  I tried to go back to bed and relax through them but that just didn't work out.  I felt like I had to pee with every contraction and frequently went potty.  Nathan got up at 3:30am to use the bathroom.  I told him we were going to have a baby today. He said "Great! I'm going back to bed." I told him I would too.  I was only one hour into labor, we had plenty of time.  However, I couldn't sleep so I went in the front room and watched "You Again", a movie I didn't really care about but it was something to distract me.  I never really timed my contractions because Nathan always did it for me and I was afraid this was just a false start like I had with Hannah.  I kept having to go potty and was in a lot of pain.  I felt like there was hardly a break between the contractions.  However, Hailey's contractions were 2 minutes apart the whole time and still took hours, so I thought I was just going to have a tough labor like Hailey's.

Around 4:30am I was laying on the couch with the movie in the background, in unbearable pain.  I didn't know how I could manage 8 more hours like this and was seriously thinking of going to the hospital.  I'm pretty sure I started moaning on the couch and decided I wanted a blessing from Nathan NOW even if I had to wake him up at such an early hour.  On the way to our room, I could hardly walk due to pain and also had to pee so I stopped in the bathroom.  Before I knew what was going on, I realized I was screaming again.  Nathan soon came in, followed by my mom within seconds.  I remembering gripping Nathan's arm telling him it hurts.  Mom then quickly switched places with him so he could call the midwife.  They tried to make the switch between contractions but as soon as one stopped the next one started.  While Nathan was finding the phone, and mom holding onto me trying get to me to move to the room, my water popped. Mom and I heard it popped and it kind of shot everywhere though I hope most of it went into the toilet. 

Mom then somehow got me to move out of the bathroom and into the bedroom.  I started crawling into bed on my hands and knees and I remember saying things like the "baby is coming!" "the baby!" "it hurts!" I just stopped on the bed with my bum in the air and I'm pretty sure my mom had to roll me over so I'm on my back to push the baby out.  It 5:05am and Nathan's on the phone with Michelle and  towels are being put underneath me.  Michelle is woken up to hear "This is Nathan Clements, Audrey's water broke and the head is crowning."  Within a matter of minutes I pushed the baby out and Nathan caught it in the extra towels we had on the bed.  He quickly gave the baby to mom and they started rubbing the baby down.  The baby hasn't screamed yet and they did CPR on it.  I remember my mom saying "It's a boy and beautiful baby boy." I'm happy but very exhausted and just glad the pain has stopped. Under Michelle's directions they put flipped the baby facing down with its bottom higher in then its head and rubbed its back with a towel. Did that for a few minutes, then turned the baby again and gave it breaths covering its nose and mouth. A couple of minutes later, mom realized that the baby wasn't a boy but was a girl instead, just very swollen.  I was still happy to hear this. A boy or a girl doesn't matter to me, I was just happy to have a baby.  Finally, after about 20 minutes of CPR, she decided to start breathing on her own.  She was never in distress and was still getting oxygen through the cord.

I was now able to hold her and Michelle was now driving through Blackfoot (20 minutes away). She seemed pretty big to me. I tried to nurse her and she sucked a couple of times.  Since my stomach was hurting, I had her lay down next to me. At this time, Robert is calling for me from his bed.  He eventually realizes that no one is coming to get him and he comes in the room.  He sits by my head and sees his new baby sister.  He has the biggest smile on and is so proud to see the new baby.  He is very gentle with her which was a concern of mine.

Contractions started again. Now my pain tolerance is pretty low.  It was much harder to push the placenta out then it was the baby.  Robert leaves at this point. What I remember most about this part is that my legs were shaking uncontrollably. I'm not sure if it was because I was freezing or just out of physical exhaustion. I am doing a lot better now that all contractions have stopped and I can finally roll onto my side.  I haven't been able to lay on my back comfortably for 7 months so I just prefer being on my side.

Around 6:00am the girls wake up and Michelle arrives. The girls are excited to see their new sister. Hailey has been talking about catching the baby for the past two weeks now.  Hannah was very soft with the baby.

Michelle needed to sew up the tear and used two stitches.  Even though she numbed the area (with two painful shots) I still felt her stitching me.  I guess I'm surprised that there was still painful things to go through after I pushed the baby out.  With Robert and Hannah, I labored completely drug free and then the drugs kicked in when it was time to push. So, I never realized that after birth and the stitches were painful.  I'm still glad I did it this way, I just wasn't fully prepared mentally for it all.

After I was all taken care of and had new sheets, Michelle checked the baby. She weighed 8lbs 2oz, was 20 3/4in long and head circumference was 13 3/4. She told us that our baby was just perfect and nothing was wrong with her.

I don't remember much about the rest of the day expect that Darlene came around 10:00am and spent the day with us. My mom got me flowers (6 pink roses) which is the first time I got flowers for a birth.  I only asked for pain medicine once and was told to use a belly binder to help add pressure on my loose stomach. It helped so much and only needed Ibuprofen once. I also remember drinking a lot of water and juice. I just didn't feel like eating real food.

After lunch time, Nathan and I talked about names and made our final decision on Rachel Darlene Clements. She came into the world quickly and is a pretty good baby. She eats frequently but not for a long time. I am glad we planned on a home birth and am very grateful that my mom was there to help with the birth. Nathan and I could not have done it on our own.