Full Circle Midwifery

I had had a couple of hours of sporadic contractions on Friday, evening of the 28th, 2 days past my due date; tempting me to hope that labor would be coming soon. After a good night’s sleep, I woke to a strong “real” contraction at about 6:30 am on Saturday the 29th.

7 oclock: I told Kenrick that we might be having our baby today, if things wanted to get serious. I puttered around the kitchen, putting last night’s dishes away, fixing a pot of my birth tea instead of coffee, and eating a little high protein snack.

8 o’clock: I decided to be safe and text Dot, my friend and midwife, to let her know what was going on; contractions were still varying, but wanting to be regular at 10 minutes. Kenrick went out to do chores while I called his parents to see if they could come get our other children. I got eden up and dressed, vacuumed, and the older boys got their breakfast around and excitedly asked how they could help. When Kenrick came in, he put Orryn and Kooper to work in helping set up the tub and filling it. I timed contractions as I wandered around tidying up, lighting my candles, getting my music and diffusers set.

9 o’clock: Dot got here and began her set up shortly before Kenricks parents came and snagged the kids. We put our Rottweiler puppy in his crate and things quieted down, right now. Contractions were at about 5 minutes, but very gentle and I hardly even had to breath through them. I was beginning to question whether things were as serious within me as they were around me. Time was beginning to blur as Kenrick and I took to the bedroom. Patrice, another of our wonderful midwives, appeared in the doorway to check on us, to see if I had made my way into the tub yet. I was worried about things slowing down, but also was ready to be welcomed by the warm water. Still feeling like they weren’t nearly painful enough to be very productive, I asked Dot what her observations were of my progress. The next contraction brought a push, she chuckled and told me that she thought I was just having a really easy labor. I decided the tub was the best place to be.

10 o’clock: I was singing along to psalms between contractions, praying for grace and strength to complete this journey well as contractions began, and praising God for His faithfulness as they subsided. The other midwives showed up in the room and I knew things were moving along. They have this amazing homing instinct to the sounds a woman makes when that baby is getting closer to coming out. Even when I thought I wasn’t doing much. This brought me hope, relief and such appreciation for these women who are a tremendous encouragement and support. Patrice put cool cloths on my face and my neck and kenrick held my hips as I continued the suddenly very hard work of pushing our baby into this world.

11:19 Cyrus Archer made his final decent and was placed in my hands. What a joy to be so richly blessed with another strong, healthy baby boy!