Full Circle Midwifery

Here’s a link with pictures to go with the story, and the story only is below.

http://organicmom617.blogspot.com/2015/07/welcome-phoenix-everett-his-birth-story.html

Welcome, Phoenix Everett!!

We were so excited to find out we were pregnant again right after we started trying because we knew we would get to work with the wonderful midwives at Full Circle for the 3rd time! Both of our daughters were born before their “due dates” so I wondered if this baby would do the same. On May 24^th 2015, at 38 weeks, I started having contractions in the middle of the night. They weren’t particularly painful, just uncomfortable. But they were definitely happening consistently every 12-14 minutes. I texted Jen to let her know I thought I might be in labor. Chris got the pool and all of our other supplies set up because we didn’t want to be rushed like we had been with our last daughter. I was getting excited! But then after 2 hours the contractions just stopped. I was disappointed, but I got up and started my day thinking they might start up again. Nope! Jen assured me this was common the more pregnancies you have.

I’m actually glad it didn’t happen then because my mom and Chris’s mom would be coming to visit us a few days later and they rented a house for a week that was just a few miles from us. It would be great to have their help when the baby came, but I was a little worried that if I thought about it too much the week would go by, the baby wouldn’t come, and they’d have to go home. So instead we stayed busy…going to the park, running errands, cooking a lot, canning some asparagus. My sister-in-law came up with her two girls and stayed a few days so my girls were plenty busy playing with their cousins.

On Friday night (May 29), we had dinner at the rental house and all I wanted do after was sit in the recliner. The baby was stretching all over the place and I was having LOTS of Braxton Hicks. (My mom and MIL claim they knew it was going to happen that night) I wanted to spend the night at their house so I could sleep in the recliner, but I’m glad I didn’t. Chris and I took the girls back to our house and went to bed. At 12:30 I woke up with contractions again. I knew they were real this time. I used the app on my phone and timed them for an hour and a half before texting Jen. By then, I didn’t want to be in bed anymore. I went in our living room, kept the lights very dim, and just rocked on the birth ball during contractions. They had gotten a little stronger since I’d gotten out of bed so Jen told me to time a few and get back to her in 15 minutes. (We didn’t know it at the time, but Jen and Patrice were already at a birth when I texted). My contractions were 6-7 minutes apart and I texted back, Jen asked if I wanted them to come over yet or wait until contractions were closer to 5 minutes apart. I said they could wait a little longer and I’d give her an update around 3am.

I texted our moms to give them a heads up that I was in labor and we might need them to come pick up the girls if they woke up. By 3am, I could no longer sit on the ball, but instead felt better on my knees leaning over it. I felt like it was probably time for the midwives to come over. Luckily Patrice and Jen were able to leave the birth they were at, but Laurie was at another birth and couldn’t make it. (We missed having her there. She was at both of our girls’ births.) Jen arrived right around 4am and Patrice was a few minutes behind her. I was still on the ball, but it was getting harder to just breathe through contractions. Then I experienced something I hadn’t had with either of the girls. I would feel the contraction subsiding, but then instead of getting a break, another one would start right away. So essentially they were 3 minute contractions! After about 4 of those coupling contractions, I was starting to feel like pushing. I took a quick shower and then got in the birth pool just after 5am. It felt so great to be in the water and just let my body push! My water broke with the very first contraction in the pool.

Just like with my second daughter Soleil, there was a little bit of lip in the way as I was pushing. Jen held it for several contractions while I tried to push the baby’s head past it. Through all of this, our girls were sleeping in the bedroom only 12 feet from where the pool was. We didn’t know if they would sleep through it especially when I started getting loud. I don’t really remember Chris doing it because I was so focused on what I was doing, but he called our moms and had them drive over to our house and sit in the driveway just in case the girls woke up.

It took about 30 minutes for me to push the head past the lip, but by 5:50 they could see the head. Jen helped with lots of counter pressure on every contraction and the head was born at 6:11. It wasn’t born facing down (OA) like usual, but rather with the head facing to the side (ROA). When the shoulders were born, the midwives could see that the cord was wrapped around the neck twice, but they unwrapped it as soon as the baby was fully born. Both of my girls had very short cords so I couldn’t pull them all the way to my chest. But as I pulled this new baby up from the water, I saw that we finally had our boy! I was so excited! I just KNEW it was going to be a boy! As I held our son against my chest, Chris and I just marveled at our sweet little boy and he starred up at us very alert and calm. I was definitely more emotional than I’d been with my other births. After the cord was done pulsing, Chris got to cut the cord and then take Phoenix for some snuggles while I delivered the placenta.

I would’ve gotten out of the pool and into our bed, but the girls were still sleeping in the bedroom. (I still can’t believe they slept through the birth!) So I went to the couch instead and had something to   eat and started nursing Phoenix.

Terra, our 3.5 year old, woke up at 7:10 and I will never forget her walking out of the bedroom and seeing me with the baby. You could just see it all register in her brain as she gasped and said in the sweetest voice, “Our baby is here!” She was excited that it was a boy because that’s what she’d been saying it was going to be. Soleil, 22 months, woke up a few minutes later and also got to meet her little brother.

Then we invited our poor moms inside because they’d been sitting in the car in the driveway on standby and never needed them. But at least they were there and got to meet little Phoenix right away. After a few minutes, they took Terra and Soleil back to the rental house for a few hours so we could get settled with the baby. I moved into the bed and got some alone time with Phoenix while Chris cleaned up the pool and the midwives took a short snooze upstairs because they’d been up all night. Around 8:20 they did the newborn exam. We also got word from Dorothy who was at the birth Patrice and Jen left that a little girl had been born just after 8am. And Laurie texted that a little boy had been born at the same time. Terra and Soleil both share their birthdays with other clients so why should Phoenix be any different?! That just tells you how amazing this team of midwives is! They were able to help 3 different families in 3 very different places deliver 3 health babies all within 2 hours of each other!

We are so thankful and blessed to have these wonderful women in our lives and I love that they have watched us grow from new parents into a family of five! We love you all!! And we are all excited to finally have a boy in the family! Of all the grandchildren, Phoenix is the first boy after our 2 girls and Chris’s sister’s 2 girls. This little boy certainly has stolen our hearts! Welcome, Phoenix Everett!!