Micah was born at 5:45 am on December 9th, he weighed 8 lbs, 14 oz (the same as Aj-how funny!) and was 20 ½ inches long. Micah has a cowlick on his forhead in the same spot as Aj, that’s so funny!
I was looking forward to labor, I know that sounds weird or funny, but I was excited with A.J.’s too. I think it’s the thought that the pregnancy is almost done and I can soon hold my baby. The anticipation and waiting for labor to begin makes it actually starting, exciting. As in ‘finally, something is happening’!
A.J.’s labor was 48 hours, I prayed that this one would be shorter, but just long enough to make it to the birth center. I thought that it would be nice to labor for a few hours, drive the 1 hour to Wasilla, then labor for another 2 or so and have the baby. I didn’t think much about what it would be like after I had the baby, maybe just relax for a little while then go home. Boy, was I wrong!
I had a prenatal appointment on Tuesday, December 8th, that was 8 days overdue for me. My midwife checked me and stripped my membranes, to help get things going. I normally wouldn’t have done that, but Aaron’s parents were leaving in 2 days! They had been there since November 23rd! I started having some contractions right away, nothing serious, they were about 10 minutes apart or so. Aaron’s mom and I had some shopping to do and we thought the walking would be good for me too! By the time we were ready to go home, they were getting more intense, Aaron’s mom had to drive for me! J Aaron told me on the phone that we’d get home and have to turn around to go back again, that almost happened! J
We got home at 8 pm or so, contractions were coming regularly every 10 minutes or so, just enough to make me uncomfortable on the ride home. I kept trying to change position, but we were jam packed with everything from groceries to a toilet that we had to exchange, so I didn’t have much room to move! J Aaron’s mom said that my body would tell me when it was time to go, but I think it was as confused as my mind was! Haha That was stressful, thinking, ‘Do we go now?...Do we go now?...How about now?’ I didn’t want to labor there for 10 hours when I could be at home, but I also didn’t want to have the baby in the truck, even though Aaron’s mom has caught enough babies, that I joke that she is my midwife! I did get a 2 hour chunk of sleep in or so, but I don’t think Aaron slept at all! Finally by 3 am I decided that we better just go, I wasn’t looking forward to the ride down at all and figured I better get it over with now before the contractions get harder.
On the way down, Aaron saw 5 moose, which I thought was fun (even though I didn’t see them) as long as they stayed off the road! I was pleasantly surprised that my contractions seemed to slow down while driving, we had an hour drive and they came about every 10 min., so I only had about 6 or 7 of them which was very nice.
We got to the birth center at 4 am, I was chilled so I decided to get into the birth tub. I was planning on not using the pool this time because I did with Aj and wanted to see what the difference was, but the warm water felt so good and helped me relax through contractions! After only about 25 minutes and 20 pushes, Micah was born!
My water didn’t break until his shoulders were coming out, I birthed the bag of waters first. That was the weirdest feeling, pushing it out unbroken! Aaron’s mom said she could see the fluid swirling around Micah’s head after his head came out, that sounds so interesting, I’m kinda of disappointed that you can’t see that on the video camera. It took an extra push to get Micah’s shoulders and body out. The umbilical cord was short, so he was only able to be up on my belly instead of my chest. I only got to hold him for 7 minutes, until Aaron held him so they could get me out of the tub and try to get the placenta out. After an hour, if the placenta doesn’t birth then midwifes will usually transfer you to a hospital because of the risk of bleeding and other complications. My placenta wasn’t coming out even though they tried a number of different things. They gave me a dropper of 2 different tinctures (black cohash and some other one) in my mouth that burned like crazy-I had to keep it under my tongue for a minute before I could swallow it-like I’d want to anyways! Ugh! Haha Those are supposed to help my uterus clamp down. We tried having Micah breastfeed (which encourages uterine contractions), tried using a breast pump, and tried massaging my uterus (that’s always comfortable! Haha) Nothing worked, so my midwives ended up calling the ambulance and I was taken to the hospital that was 10 minutes away.
I was in a room with my midwife while nurses poked me and asked me questions and I was scared and waiting for Aaron to get there. Finally he came and brought Micah so I could see him again, I didn’t even get to look at him much.
The doctor came in and told me about the procedure, he called it surgery, but they didn’t actually cut me. I had a DNC, which is where he had to go in and get the placenta out, he went on to tell me that there was a chance of scaring which could effect my change of getting or staying pregnant again, and there was a chance of bleeding and if I didn’t stop bleeding I could need a hysterectomy! As if I wasn’t scared enough already! On top of that, the anestigeologist (spelling) told me the risks of being put under, one of which is death! I am just glad that I know the Lord was in control of everything!
So they wheeled me to the operating room, and that was the longest few minutes of my life, Aaron could only come back so far, and then I was on my own, that was so scary, the feeling of being totally alone. I was praying and resting in the Lord the whole time, but being physically alone was hard. I could hear nurses and doctor or whoever in the background chatting about fishing or something. That was weird, laying here just waiting. The next thing I remember, I was groggily waking up in another room (there were only curtains for the walls) alone, besides a nurse who kept asking me things. I was so tired and just wanted to sleep, but she seemed to want to interview me! Haha jk
After a little while, they brought me to my room where Aaron, Micah, and Aaron’s mom waited! What a nice feeling of relief to finally see my loved ones and to not have to be wheeled anywhere again!
Everything after the actual birth is kind of a blur, it all happened so fast! Looking back, I was disappointed that I didn’t get to hold Micah until about 11 that morning, about 5 hours after he was born.
I was in the hospital for 2 days till we got to finally go home. They told us we could leave at about 2 pm or so, but it took until 9 I think until the paper work was finished and the doctor came to talk to me one last time! It felt so good to finally be home, even though it’s not really home, it’s more home then the hospital that is for sure!
Aaron’s parents had to leave early morning on Thurs., so Aaron’s mom didn’t get to see Micah for long, but I was so glad that she was able to be at the birth, she is such a great support and I couldn’t do it with out her!
Aj did ok, we brought the pack & play to the hospital for him to sleep in that night that we were there and he did ok. The first 2 nurses that we had were nice and the 2nd one tried to be quiet so she wouldn’t wake Aj up, but the 3rd one didn’t seem to care that Aj was asleep, I was slightly annoyed with her, but she was ok, she could have been worse!
So far Aj has been doing good with being a big brother, he is quite fussy at times, and I think I can see his jealously, but for the most part he is doing really well. I am really nervous to have him near Micah, but I am getting better with it. Aj has rubbed Micah’s head a couple of times and I had Aj kiss Micah-it’s so cute!
I found Aj standing over the co-sleeper looking at Micah, and after the initial shock I thought it was cute!
I think it will take a while for me to get used to having 2 little ones, today I had to try to feed both at the same time! That was interesting!
I am doing well, I feel back to normal, even though I am trying to take it easy still. Aaron will go back to work on Mon., I am a little nervous to be totally on my own with the 2 boys, but I pray that the Lord will help me though each day!
