The Story of a Birth

As with most birth stories, gory details ahead, you have been warned!

I had been joking about having the baby on Labor Day but figured that I would go late again, so was planning for another week of being pregnant. However, that was not to be! (Praise God!)

Around 430 on Tuesday morning, I woke up to Caecilia crying and a feeling of heaviness in my belly. Joshua took care of her and I laid in bed, not thinking much of the contractions I was having. Ha. I wasn’t timing them and they were not that bad, but Joshua was timing them and they were about 10 minutes apart. At one point, he said “I am calling the midwife.”  I didn’t argue. Oddly. I usually do.

The midwife’s apprentice showed up about a half hour later and started getting things set up. My midwife arrived about a half hour after that. (And what a saint she is, she had just attended a very long labor and had pretty much no sleep all weekend).

With things set and ready to go, we were expecting a baby before Noon.

….

Nope, did not happen!  I was dilated to 5 cm, so certainly in labor, but not a quick one like I had with the girls. I took a bit of nap and my contractions were about 5 minutes apart, maybe closer, some very “productive” (read: painful) and some not so bad. He finally moved down far enough for the midwife to determine that he was posterior so she had me do hands and knee exercises for a bit. Things started moving again and let me just say “OUCH!!!”

Around 345, my water broke and I was hoping beyond hope to have him within the next few minutes (as the girls were born minutes after my water breaking) but, alas, he was stubborn.   Okay, perhaps not him, but my body. I had a cervical lip, so was not totally dilated. I wanted to push, but with the lip, this was not a good idea. I held off, only with the help of my midwife, she panted with me and put up with me telling her I did not want to listen to her advice. We went through a few contractions, holding off on pushing and let me just say, I hope to never have to do that again.

The lip disappeared and Benedict was born a few moments later, with quick pushes from me. I honestly was exhausted and did not feel that I could do it, I would say that he came out on his own, really. Okay, I know I pushed, but the energy was not from me.

When we realized Benedict was crowning, Joshua called the kids in and they were able to watch him come out. I honestly do not recall much of them being there but they did a great job and were very very excited about things. They were actually great all day long, too, watching movies, coming in to check on me, eating and even sleeping! When you get a chance, ask Karol about the birth and when baby Benedict came out, he will talk your ear off about the whole thing.

Karol has already put in a request for the next baby and I am sure most mothers, freshly  postpartum agree with this reaction: “Ha ha, no”.

Benedict had a follow up exam today with the midwife and is doing well. He seems to have passed most of the meconium and is soaking quite a few diapers, a good sign that my milk is at least adequate. (Prayers please!) I started taking a supplement called G0-Lacta before he was born and today I added Fenugreek and Blessed Thistle to help boost my supply.

The midwife said he has lost some weight, about 8 percent of his birth weight, but said that she is willing to attribute that to the amount of meconium he has passed in the past 12 hours. No, really, last night, Joshua was changing his diapers and went through something like four wash clothes, as Benedict kept “producing” each time he went to clean him off. I laughed and laughed. He did that again in the middle of the night, plus when the midwife was here.

He has a touch of jaundice, as our kids have all had. She suggested we take him outside to get some sun. I honestly thought “Is she crazy? It is cold out there.”  Then I realized, oh yes, I can take him out just not mid day as it is 94 degrees out there, so the heat might be a bit overwhelming for him. So tonight, after dinner, I will take him out and let him run around with the kids. Okay, I will sit with him outside while the other kids play.