Eva's Birth Story: Part Four

Don't forget to check out Parts 1, 2 and 3 of Eva's birth story.

My water had been broken at 11 am, and by shortly before 1 pm, I told my midwives that I desperately needed to push. They helped me through a few more contractions in the bathroom and then the Dude assisted me back to the bedroom where I was checked to see if I was at 10 cm and ready.

Colleen was the one to check me this time and immediately, she said "Oh, there's the head. She's ready". I remember hearing Carrie instruct her to go ahead and call Taryn (the secondary midwife would comes when birth is imminent to take care of the baby). When instructing me how to push, Colleen put pressure on the place where she said I should feel the pushing. They told me to get into whatever position was most comfortable and they would coach me.

This was definitely the stage of labor where I received the most coaching from my midwives, and it was very beneficial. They gave me suggestions of different positions. I decided to try on my side. With each contraction, the Dude would lift my right leg so that I could maximize the effectiveness of the pushing. The midwives instructed me to try to get three good, strong pushes in with each contraction. As one contraction peaked, I was to give a good push, take a short breath, another push, short breath, and another push. After a few series of pushes on my side, I decided it just wasn't working for me.

I decided then to get on my hands and knees and try pushing that way. With the very first series of pushes, I knew that this was going to get the job done. I could just tell that it was effective and helping bring my baby out.

I was definitely in the zone by this point, I don't remember a whole lot, like the Dude putting a warm cloth on my back and neck with each push, but I do remember hearing everyone in the room cheer me on with each push.

It wasn't long until I heard the Dude say that he could see her hair. I wanted to see with a mirror but there wasn't really time, or I didn't ask, I'm not sure. A few more pushes and I was told that her head was now visible even between pushes. My baby was really almost here.

I asked if I could touch it, and they guided my hand down to feel my baby's hair. The secondary midwife, Taryn, arrived just in time. When she walked in the door, the Dude didn't realize who was coming in and thought it was our neighbor, so he said "Excuse me, what are you doing?" ... Poor Taryn.

I remember hearing the Dude say, "I want to catch, where are my gloves?" Quickly the midwives got him situated and started explaining to him what he would need to do.

They told me to keep pushing with strong pushes, until they told me to stop and then they wanted me to breath (hee hee haw type breaths) as my baby's head came out. They said it would be hard to stop pushing but they would help me.

A few more pushes and they said, "You're almost there. Okay, stop and breath your baby out".

I'm not sure which midwife it was, but one of them got right in my face at this point and helped guide my breathing so that it was effective.

The rest is kind of a blur.

Her head was out, along with her tiny hand (which she began sucking on as soon as she could) and then her shoulders were out, and then, quite literally, the rest of her just popped out. My baby was welcomed into the world by her Daddy. Colleen also had her hands on her the entire time, but the Dude did most of it.

The Dude and the midwives passed her to me, I saw my sweet baby's face for the first time and I fell in love.

I was the one who got to look and see what kind of Monkey we got. I'm not sure why, but this was very important to me - I wanted to be the one to tell everyone, "It's a girl" and I did.

I smothered my baby with kisses, told her how much I loved her, that I had waited for her and I thanked God for bringing her to us safely. At this point, I realized just how true one of my labor Scriptures really was ....

Whenever a woman is in labour, she has pain, because her time has come, but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the JOY that a CHILD has been BORN into the world".
- John 16:21

The next few hours were spent taking care of all of the "post birth" stuff ... the placenta was delivered, I was stitched up, and she was examined, weighed and so on. The midwives helped us get started with breastfeeding, and made sure that everything was in order. They stayed with us for about three or four hours following her birth, had lunch with us, and made sure we were all comfortable before they left.

She was so excited to meet her Daddy, Nana and Auntie Katie right after she was born.

Our family.

We were so blessed to have a straight forward, normal labor and delivery for our sweet girl. Here we are with the midwives who helped bring Eva into the world. The plaque on our wall says it all: "Home is where your story begins".

I can't wait until Eva grows and is able to hear all about how her story began.

Thank you all for your prayers and love as we waited for Eva and thank you for allowing us to share her story with you.