Labor Pics

Below this post is the birth story to go along with the pic. Warning: there are some pictures with a little blood.
This is before things got too heavy.

In the pool finally.

Letting my sister know how much her presence is appreciated.

Getting ready to push a baby out.

There she is.



Cord cutting.

Still in pain.

With Daddy.



Me, a little happier to see her.

Mera's Birth Story

So I know Matt has a version of the birth, and he told it so well, but now it is my turn. I will start by saying that I had no idea how emotionally draining it was going over my due date by 11 days. Really it was no big deal, and I was still in the realm of "normal" gestation those 11 days, but it took a mental, and physical, toll on me.

Thursday night, when I went to bed, I had a conversation with my uterus that was mostly one-sided. I pleaded with it and implored it to start contracting. I visualized. I tried to force contractions. I think I might have even tried to push the baby out. I was overjoyed when I realized at about 3 am that I was having fairly regular contractions. Ruth's policy is to call her as soon as you think you are in labor, but I wanted to let her sleep as I knew she had been up at a birth recently.

I dozed off and on, then at 5 a.m. I realized Matt was rolling around, so I figured he was not sleeping too well, so I told him I was in labor. He was excited and we laid there until 6 when he got up and took a shower and ate. When I called Ruth, it was like Deja Vu. She was on another delivery, just like when Darby was born, and it didn't sound like she was too close to being finished. I said "no big deal" and told her I would check in with her in a couple of hours. That was all it took. No more contractions for me.

We sent the kids to school, so we could have the day to have the baby, but I had very few, to no, contractions throughout the morning. We decided to meet Ruth at her house after her previous delivery to have her check me out. We got there around 3. I was at about 4 cm and 85 percent effaced. She stretched my cervix and sent me on my way. I was supposed to call her when things picked up.

In all of this, my mom had picked up the kids from school, and my sister had made her arrival in town from Stillwater. So it is 3 p.m., and I have been thinking for 12 hours that I am in labor and going to finally have this baby. We get home from Ruth's and nothing really happens. Well, I start to get a little discouraged. I am tired and I haven't eaten much, so I am starving and I think, " I am not having this baby today, because I am so drained I don't think I will make it." So, of course, about this time I start having contractions 3 minutes apart that are pretty strong, but not very long.

I call Ruth and she decided to send her apprentice Brandi over to check me. Brandi gets to my house around 6pm, checks me and says I am 5cm dilated and to start walking. So I do some laundry and clean up a little bit. The contractions stay strong and regular and I have to start focusing on relaxing through them. From 6 to 8 it is just Brandi and me (Matt was at my mom's house spending time with the girls). At 8, Brandi checks me again and I am only 5.5cm, so Brandi decided to do some hateful cervix stretching that causes me to immediately run to the bathroom and puke. To quote Brandi, "Throwing up is actually a good thing. It can really help dilate you." I was not happy.

At this point, things get a little fuzzy. My sister, sister-in-law and husband are all out in the living room chatting it up. I go out there and Brandi tells me to either walk or go lie down and rest. I choose the laying down, because my contractions have gotten so strong I probably couldn't stand through them. For some reason my body goes into super-labor mode when I lay down, which is not the case for most women. I start having some long and strong contractions. I have no idea how long I laid there before calling Brandi back and saying that I needed Ruth to get here. Now, I know Ruth got to my house around 10:20, and I know Brandi checked me before Ruth got there, and I was a seven, but the 2 hours before Ruth's arrival are a blur.

So anyway, my sister, sister-in-law and husband come to my room and get ready for the show. Christy (sister in law) is going to video tape the whole thing, my sister is taking still pictures and my husband just wanted to watch. Once I am sure Ruth is almost to the house, I get in the tub to hang out. That was such a relief and felt so good. I knew that from here things would go very fast, or at least I hoped. Once Ruth got to the house she took her spot next to the tub and coached me through the contractions. She is very good at what she does, but I knew what was coming and was so reluctant to actually push the baby out that I think it worked against me. I finally decided the only way I was going to get through this was to do it, so I relaxed and let the urge to push take over and started pushing. Once I starting pushing, Mera came out very quickly.

Just to slow it down here, because it actually happens in slow motion when you are experiencing that kind of pain, I felt her head start to come out and thought it hurt so bad. Then I heard Ruth say, "Here comes her head." I thought I was going to die, because her head was not even out yet. I can't really describe the pain of the head coming out, so let's skip ahead to the moment that her head is out, yet her body is not. I gear up for one big push, and let it rip. Then I realized her body is not coming out with just my push, but I feel Ruth reach in and grab her. Oh. My. God. Here I am in a place where I don't think anything can hurt worse. Then it does.

So, needless to say, she was born at 11:03 pm, after one of the longest days of my life at a whopping 9lbs 6oz and I survived. I had to get 2 stitches, which was great considering and I recovered far more quickly than with either of the other children. I can honestly say I feel a little something for this baby I didn't feel with the others, but I can't quite put my finger on it. It is a positive feeling, and it might just be knowing she is my last.

Brave Girl

This one wanted to see what it was like to put both ears in the water tonight. She put her head in so far she got water in her mouth and eyes. Pretty brave!

Another Pinky Baby

Being the breastfeeding fanatic that I am, I don't really do pacifiers the first 6 weeks. G and D took to sucking on my pinky finger over a pacifier and looks like little Mera is no different.

Born Friends

This is my friend Eva's baby who was due 4 weeks before Mera and was delivered 2 weeks early. They are almost 8 weeks apart and about the same size.