Oh baby don't it feel like heaven right now, Don't it feel like somethin' from a dream

Sure enough, next post is the birth story.

It's a GIRL!

Christine Ione Reaves was born at 5:57 a.m. on November 28, 2008.

I had been having what I am assuming prodromal labor for what felt like weeks. I was so hoping that I would have had the baby before Thanksgiving so I could eat as much as I wanted. That didn't happen, of course. My sister goaded me into taking castor oil, but I only took 2 ounces. I threw that up not long after I took it, so I don't know how much I actually had in my system. I took it with Marty too, and he was born that night, so I will always wonder about both of them and whether they would have come their nights anyway or not.

Well, to my knowledge, nothing was happening, and I fell asleep on the couch watching the House marathon on USA. Now, I have every episode of House available on DVD, so I was watching the marathon only because nothing else was on.

At 3 a.m., I woke up with severe cramps/contractions. Sure enough, I had diarrhea. Because I had taken the castor oil, I wasn't convinced I was in labor. I was seriously waiting for my water to break before I believed I was in labor.

From 3 to about 4:30, I labored alone, still not convinced I was in labor. A couple times in there, I tried to get Martin up because I didn't want to be alone, but he didn't get up until 4:30. We decided to call my mom so she could come over and tell me if she thought it was real. We called her about 5 a.m.

My mom came right over and actually timed my contractions which I hadn't been doing. It turns out that they were coming every 1-1/2 to 2 minutes lasting 45 seconds to a minute. Occassionally, I would get a longer break between the contractions which to me felt like 3 or 4 minutes, but it was really only the 2 minutes. They were actually right on top of each other. Basically, I was in transition from the time I woke up and never knew it.

When mom got here, I was laboring on my knees bent over leaning on my pillows on the couch. I couldn't keep my feet relaxed, so I stood up and ended up leaning on mom during my contractions with my wonderful husband rubbing my lower back during them. Everything they did was exactly what I needed done.

At 5:35 a.m., we looked at the clock and decided to call the midwife at 6. Then, we decided to go ahead and call anyway. Mom called my dad and told him to get to the house and told my sister to hurry and get to my house.

A few minutes later, I informed Mom that I was feeling pushy. In a slight panic, Mom called Lynne, the midwife, back and informed her. She told mom to get me to lie down on my right side and breathe. I did NOT want to lie down, but I did it. Mom called my sister back and begged her to get to the house. Mom ran and got Mara out of bed and then sent Mara to get Martin off the phone outside where he was smoking by the pack and calling everyone and their brother.

My hips have a tendency to lock down where I can't move when the baby is right there. I asked someone to lift my leg. When Martin lifted my leg, the bag of waters was bulging. I never intentionally pushed, but then again I never have with any of my 3 kids. My body always seems to do it for me.

In one of those unintentional pushes, the bag burst and the head was completely out. With the next contraction, my body pushed the rest of her out. Her head never even molded. She has the most rounded head I have ever seen from a vaginal birth.

The midwife didn't make it here until about 20 to 30 minutes after she was born. I was so happy the way it worked out. It was what I really, in my heart, wanted. After 8 previous grandchildren and attending a total of 12 births, my mom finally got to catch one. She says it ranks right up there with her most amazing moments. I remember telling her that if anyone could do it, she could. I was probably the calmest one in the room when she was being born. Mom trusts birth and the female body, but she had never thought to be in a position where she was the only one there. She had always figured that if she ever got to catch, there would be someone there to tell her what to do.

Christine was 6 pounds 13 ounces and 21 inches long. She was 4 ounces and 1/2 inch bigger than Marty was at birth. She was a great latch at birth and nursed well. Her big sister and brother both adore her. She was perfect and calm. She never wanted to cry. My mom got her to cry just so she felt better about it.

Once the midwife got there, the cord was done pulsing, and Mara cut the cord. I delivered the placenta about 30 minutes or so after she was born.

Mom drove me and Chris into her first appointment with the pediatrician this morning, where Chris was, of course, perfect. We were talking about the birth, and I said to her, "my dear mom, that was a natural birth." She cracked up.

Do I have regrets? Sure...I don't think you can have any experience without having some kind of regrets. My regrets are that I didn't realize I was as far into my labor as I was. Both of my previous labors had been 6-1/2 hours. This one was just under 3. I wish my sister had been able to get here a few minutes earlier so that she was here. I wish my dad had gotten here a few minutes earlier too so that he could have watched his brave wife catch her 9th grandbaby and taken pictures. I wish I knew what my Nana really thought about a baby having her middle name (Ione). Do I regret that my midwife didn't make it? No. Do I regret it that the birth was technically unassisted? Absolutely not. It was really exactly what my heart wanted with the exception of the rest of my family not being here. I had really wanted my mother-in-law here too, but I had given "permission" for them to go visit their daughter so they were in Atlanta. It turns out that even if they had stayed home, she would have never been able to make it from where they live 2 hours away.

As much as I enjoyed my birth center births, this birth was by far the most special. She is wearing her "I was born at home" onesie that I decorated for her.

I am thrilled about her birth. She is such a sweet little girl. I am so happy to be the mother of 2 girls and a boy, and I still secretly hope that Martin will give in and let us have 1 more before I get too much older.

That's enough for now. Chris is still sleeping, but family is coming soon.

So much love for everyone right now...

Every day you see one more card

Today is my due date. Of course, that doesn't mean much. Just the middle of my due period. I must say I am really hoping for tonight. Marty was born at 40 weeks 1 day, so of course, I am hoping this one will match him. If not, no big deal. I will happily wait for Baby Chris to be ready to make his or her debut into this big ol' world. The honest fact is that I have had no problems other than my carpal tunnel in my right hand, and at this point, that just feels like I have superglue all over my hand. So, if I get to carry this baby until sometime in December...no big deal. This week would be convenient, but mostly because the end of this week is Thanksgiving, and Mara wouldn't have to go anywhere, and everyone would be around at some point.

In other news, I met with Mara's art teacher today who admitted he made a mistake on her grade and changed it. I still think he is putting too much of a grade into the subjective and is grading on ability, but I can't change his grading if the principal isn't in the meeting. I can only defend my own child.

Not much else has happened in the last week around here. I am hoping that the slight bit of downward pressure is Chris thinking about engaging. Once s/he does that, it shouldn't be much longer until s/he decides to come on out. Other than that...things are status quo. I have been enjoying watching Martin play his newest game, Fallout 3, a lot. Man...we live a boring life.

Anyway, enough ramblings for now. Hopefully, my next post will be my home birth story.

You take it on faith, you take it to the heart

Well, at 39 weeks 1 day, still no baby. Despite a few days with good contractions due completely to either not drinking enough or doing way too much or both, I am rather glad to still be pregnant. Those days, I am ready to go, ready to have this baby and be done. But in reality, I would rather this baby wait until next Tuesday to come. I will explain in a minute why next Tuesday.

I have been working from home for the company I used to work for before coming home to stay with my kids. I ended up getting scheduled for Equal Opportunity Orientation Class for this Thursday. This past Friday, my supervisor asked me if I could attend, and I said I didn't know for sure. If I had the baby before the class, then no... But if not, then of course I could attend. Well, there was nearly a week between him asking and the class. Yesterday, the coordinator of the class and my supervisor sent emails back and forth, and they took me out of the class. Well, even after the baby is born, I am not going back to an office to work 8-hour days, so it would be more inconvenient to reschedule the class after the baby, so I got up early this morning because I was so worried about this I couldn't sleep and emailed the coordinator and explained that I would rather attend now. He put me back in the class. Yeah!!!

Martin told the baby last night that s/he has to wait until Friday or Saturday night or next Wednesday to come. LOL. For some reason, he wants to have the best of both worlds. He wants to stay home the day after the baby is born and he doesn't want to miss any work. He doesn't get time off with the job he has. He has to schedule vacation by picking 2 weeks out of a year the year before. A year ago, we had no idea we would have a baby due at the end of November, so of course, he couldn't have taken it off. I told him that it was okay, I didn't care if he went to work the next day, but he wants to stay home to make sure that I don't have to do anything the first day. Sounds sweet, but what that REALLY means is that he wants to sleep all day after being up all night waiting on his baby or that he just wants to play his video game all day or some of both. Honestly, I think that there will be NO correlation between how much I "have" to do the first day and whether or not he is home. If the baby were to come on a weekday and he went to work, Mara will probably stay home from school that day, and she could help me. She is a huge help when she wants to be.

The reason I want the 25th of November for the birth day is that it was my Nana and Poppa's wedding anniversary, and I just think that would be sweet considering if it is a girl, she will carry my Nana's middle name as her middle name, and if it is a boy, he will carry my Poppa's first name (well and my dad's, brother's, and nephew's) as his middle name. The 25th would also be 40 weeks 1 day, which is when Marty was born.

I don't want the baby to come this Friday because that is my niece's birthday, and so far, this baby has been kind enough not to doublebook Mara's or my nephew's birthdays.

Also, since next week is Thanksgiving week, about everyone will be off Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, so it would be way more convenient, and I wouldn't have to watch my youngest nephrew. I don't mind watching him; he likes me most of the time, but I would like a few days to get to know my new baby before I have to chase my nephew around.

Well, the yard got clean this last weekend. It was most of the reason I had strong contractions on Sunday night. I probably made 20 trips between the front yard and the back yard carrying various woody things to the burn pile. Then, I had to push mow the parts of the yard the riding mower won't get. I am pretty happy with the yard now, and I can see around the palms in the front yard again which had gotten to the point it was almost dangerous to back out of the yard because I couldn't see around them.

We also wrapped the mattress with the vinyl cover and made it up for the birth so we don't have to do that whenever the time comes. The only problem with this is that it necessitated removing our memory foam topper which I have come to love dearly. Between the hard mattress and the crackling from the vinyl cover and shower curtain, I am not sleeping near as well.

Marty, my darling son, has lost his mind. He is currently laying on the ground under the folded-up baby swing yelling about something. It sounded like puppies, but I don't think so. He just now crawled from there back to his room where it sounds like he is yell "hey you." Who knows... He has only acknowledge one time that Mommy is having a baby. When the midwife asked him about it yesterday, he turned around and walked away shaking his head no. I think he is denial that he won't be the baby of the family anymore.

Oh yeah, one of my midwives came for my appointment yesterday. She says she is waiting for us to call. She says its head is still floating (which I knew), and s/he seems to be curled up pretty good. She thinks it will only be 6-1/2 to 7 pounds from palpation. Mara was my biggest baby so far at about 7-1/2 pounds, and Marty was only 6-1/2 pounds. So in my way of thinking, this is just the normal size for my babies. Who knows...with another week or more in the womb, this one might actually be the biggest.

I think I am done for now...I need to see if I can find something to eat and get dressed before my sister gets here to walk to the school to pick the girls up. Yes, that's right still walking at 39 weeks. HA to all those lazy grumblers out there which I am sooo terribly sick of. I mean come on, don't get pregnant if you can't do what it takes to have a baby the right way. Elective inductions and c-sections should be illegal and, to me, are morally wrong. If you can't put your baby first for the last month or so of a pregnancy, then you how in the hell are you going to do it for the rest of their lives. Selfish people suck.

Okay...now I am done.

The waiting is the hardest part

Officially, I have now been in the waiting period for a week and a half. I am now 38 weeks 2 days. I am really excited, but I still don't "feel" all that pregnant. It could be that I have only gained a total of 3 pounds (from my lowest weight this year) or it could be that I have stayed pretty active or it could be that this is the third time through for me. I enjoy being pregnant.

My only complaint, and therefore my only reason for hoping the baby comes soon, is the carpal tunnel problems I am having with my hands. My right hand is mostly completely numb almost all the time. Two of my fingers are akin to sand paper right now and there is not much of anything that I can do to lessen that. Even lotion is not helping with the skin on my index finger and thumb. In reality, if that is my only problem, I don't have any.

I am also excited about the birth and finding out if it is a Christopher or a Christine. I really want a girl, but I have been "setting myself up" for a boy. I refer to it as a he, but everyone else is convinced it is a girl.

I really, really hope my mother-in-law makes it for the birth. Right now, the "guest list" is my mom and dad, my sister and her kids, my brother's family, my mother-in-law (and father-in-law if he can/wants) and my 2 kids. My JanJan might come, but I sort of doubt it. I have an earlier post about my Nana and how she passed away and how this will be my first birth without her. I would also like for my husband's grandmothers to be able to be here, but I doubt either of them really want to.

In case you are actually following this blog, my living room is complete. Most of my to-do list is done. The front porch still needs some work, and there is a large pile of crap in the backroom that needs to go to the shed, and I would like the yard to be mowed and weeds pulled and otherwise cleaned up (mostly for the last time for the year). There is also a large branch that needs to be cut up and moved. So hopefully, we will spend this weekend taking care of that.

The funny part about the yard cleanup is that when I was pregnant with Marty, it was March. The weekend he was born was when we mowed and cleaned up the yard for the first time of the year. Of course, I was 40 weeks exactly mowing the yard. My water broke that night and Marty was born 6-1/2 hours later.

I am working with my new job from home which is actually my old job I had before I decided to stay home with the kids. I am really enjoying it. My only problem has been finding time to sit down and work. I got in a bunch of hours yesterday with the kids occupied. I am going to try to get in a bunch more this afternoon.

Oh yeah, my midwife was so impressed with all my renovation work that she made a comment about trading co-pay for us putting in her new windows that she has to do soon. I think that would be an awesome idea.

So, everything is ready here for baby Chris. The only thing we really need to do is put the mattress cover on the bed and actually put sheets on the bed. For whatever reason, Martin mutilates the sheets every night, so I gave up keeping sheets on the bed, so we just sleep with the memory foam mattress topper and comforters (one for him and one for me). I have been trying to push off preparing the bed for Martin's comfort, but it is getting closer to the point where he will just have to deal without the memory foam for a little while. After all, it will only be until the baby is born, and then he can have it back.

I am sure I have more to say, but I can't think of it, and my hand is getting number and number as I type. So...here I am waiting for baby...not really worried about when s/he will come, but still waiting for him/her.

By the way, The Waiting is my favorite Tom Petty song ever.