Announcing the arrival of Miss Sarah Ruth ♥

Yes, she is finally here!!! And as adorable as can be! :D

I know some of this is chronicled on here already, but for those who haven't been reading all along...

Found out I was pregnant and got very sick right away. Thankfully I don't throw up, but I get so nauseous I can't eat. I also get very exhausted. Like falling asleep sitting up exhausted. So in the midst of this we moved across country. Not easy, or fun, packing and moving in that state.

Thankfully by the time we moved and got a house I was feeling well enough to be able to get my house unpacked and organized. (with the help of my mom, sisters and kids) I got a very severe kidney infection in Sept. Once I got over that though everything smoothed out and I had a very "uneventful" pregnancy from there.

When I went to the OB I was told I was diabetic. I started testing and my blood sugars were all perfectly normal. I had an U/S which showed a perfectly healthy little girl. At my next appt I was told I had to see the male OB/GYN. I had already stated that I would NOT see any male OB's and so I (thankfully!) was able to switch to a different practice. There were only 2 OB's there, one being the OB I saw when I was pregnant with my second son. She was actually a homebirth midwife in the past. They were both very supportive of me having a homebirth. They were not happy with the diagnosis of diabetes without the results showing so. (the other office never would produce those results) So because my sugars were all normal they weren't convinced. They ordered a 2 hr glucose test and I passed with flying colors! I am NOT diabetic!

In the meantime I was going to see my midwife along with my sister. It was always so nice to have the time to visit with her and have my appts with no kids :) (her husband would watch all our kids for us) The only issue I had for the remainder of my pregnancy is that my iron levels were low. They didn't continue dropping, but they wouldn't come up. Not sure why, but I am fine in spite of it.

My sister had her son on Jan. 21st. I was blessed to be able to be there. The midwife did my prenatal after her birth :D Our due dates were 3 weeks apart to the day and she ended up being late.

I got to my due date.

I passed my due date.

Really I was OK with it. I was tired, but I wasn't miserable and wasn't in a hurry to have her. My kids however were so anxious they were asking me everyday to try SOMEthing to put me into labor! LOL... Kids are so funny! I couldn't convince them that nothing ever worked for me before and it just wasn't worth it. At 40 weeks the OB said I was only to a 2 and 50% effaced. At 41 weeks I was a 2 and maybe 80% effaced. So she stripped my membranes. That was on Wednesday. After my appt and all day Thurs. I had severe cramps almost non-stop. Friday morning I was so miserable I decided to go to the chiropractor. I really felt like my hips were so crooked that she couldn't get in the right position. After the adjustment my cramps stopped and I felt so much better! All during this time I was not really having contractions. I would just have them sporadically and they would stop.

On Saturday morning around 6am I woke up with a really strong contraction. I had them every 10 mins for over an hr when I finally couldn't stay in bed any longer. I didn't know if this was "it" or just false labor and I didn't want to have everyone come and have it stop. So I didn't call anyone I just took a shower. Fixed my hair and put my make up on. (hey, if this was it I had to look nice ;) The contractions weren't really coming closer at that point, but were very strong. Finally around 9am I called my mom and the birth assistant, Jacquie. Jacquie was going to come over and see how things were going and observe for a while. My mom was going to go to the store and come over later. Then the contractions started coming 3-5 mins apart. So I asked her to just come straight over. I was starting to panic a bit because they were so strong and the midwife was 2 hours away. So I called her and she said she'd be on her way. My sister called during all this and was trying to decide when to come. While on the phone with her I had a contraction and threw the phone down. LOL... Makenzie picked it up and told her to call back :) Which she did a few mins later to tell me she was on her way as well.

Jacquie got here and checked me to find that I was still at a 2, but could stretch to a 3. Was still having very strong contractions. I was thinking that I couldn't keep this up all day. So I was a little frustrated and was crying through contractions. I was so disappointed seeing as the contractions were so hard. Claudette (the midwife) got here around 12. After talking with Jacquie and watching me, she told me to lay on my left side and try to rest for at least 30 mins to an hr. Not exactly what I wanted to do at this point :) But since I hadn't slept much in the last 3 days I was very tired, so I tried. I really didn't sleep, but I did get a bit of rest. The contractions picked back up and got closer so after 45 mins I asked her to check me again so we could decide what to do from that point. I was still a 2. She offered to do cervical pressure points or we could discuss other things. I said go ahead and do the pressure points. That was a very long 8 minutes! When she was done though I was at a 6!!! WooHoo!!! She told me I should either stand or lay down on my left side to keep baby's head engaged properly. I felt like I could manage contractions better standing. That was at 1:00.

After that there was a flurry of activity. Everyone was trying to get things set up quickly. The pool was aired up but had to be filled. Claudette was bringing all her stuff in my room. My bed had to be changed. Water had to be heated on the stove. I tried to help by "directing" in between contractions. But they were pretty much all I could manage. I stationed myself at my door and held onto it during the contractions.

I'm not sure exactly what time it was, but the pool was finally ready so I got in. Talk about relief! Water is so helpful in labor! So I continued to labor in the pool for a while. Claudette checked me when I started feeling "pushy". I was still 9 with a lip, but she said I could start pushing whenever I wanted. I didn't really want to push. I knew it was going to hurt ;) But I started pushing anyways. I always have such weird thoughts at this point. Claudette was standing in my doorway watching me and I kept looking at her thinking "why doesn't she come over here so I can get this baby out?"

Finally her head was crowning! I PUSHED her head out. Then there was a lull. I could feel her head and her little ear. I think I was a bit tired at that point. At this point I noticed Claudette started to climb in the pool. I remember thinking "can she not reach? Cause I can't move closer right now" But then I started pushing again and the rest of her came out. (They thought she was stuck I think?) Claudette helped me lift her up and she was in my arms! She kinda gurgled and cried a bit and then she started screaming! She was starving and started to nurse right away. She was the quickest of all my kids to want to eat. And then she didn't want to let go, for 3 days! We named her Sarah Ruth. Sarah, because we like the name and Ruth after James' grandma. She weighed 7 lbs 10 oz and was 19 in long. She was born Feb. 11, at 2:58pm. Just 1 hr and 50 mins after the cervical pressure points were done.

She is absolutely beautiful! She is quite a screamer. And I don't mean the cute newborn cry, I mean a high pitched scream screamer! Things are finally settling down and she's sleeping better at night now. The kids all want to hold her and look at her all day long. They ALL love her to pieces :D

My sister and I with our babies who are 3 weeks to the day apart :)

 I am so thankful to have been able to give birth at home again. It was such a wonderful experience and I had such a great birth team!

Blessings, ♥T