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We went to the church camping weekend June 18th-21st . We had a great time. Everyone there thought I was nuts for camping on my “due date”, but I’ve never had a baby on or before my edd so I wasn’t worried at all. I joked that I just needed two days afterwards to get all the camping laundry done. It had rained and it was muddy so in addition to the usual extra dirty camping laundry there were lots of towels and extra wet and/or muddy clothes.
I got my two days: exactly two days! I actually got the laundry started Sunday evening after we got home and finished on Monday. Tuesday I got some other loose ends tied up.
Wednesday morning I was awakened at 7am by a contraction. I had been having Braxton Hicks, which I had never had before, for a week and a half. This one was real, though. I went back to sleep until 8:30 with two more contractions during that time.
Contractions continued all morning and afternoon, but they were very mild and I was only having about four an hour. I finally called my mw, Pam, around 2:00 and she sent the birth assistant, Debby (another mw,) out to check me. I think Debby got here about 2:30-2:40 and she said I was at 5cm. I was shocked! Pam has a student mw (Heather) working with her right now so Debby called her to come out, too. She got here sometime after 3:00. This is the time I always feel silly; I have these ladies in my house just waiting for me to do my thing. I feel like I’m wasting their time, though I know it’s their job. Debby or Heather would check my blood pressure and the baby’s heart beat every half hour. Other than that they were taking care of paperwork, eating their supper, reading a book, or catching a little nap. The children and I were carrying on our business.
About 4:30 the contractions started coming more frequently, but they were still very erratic; 5, 8, 12, even 20 minutes apart. It stayed like that all the way to delivery- very odd. They never got very strong either.
I’m not sure what time Pam got here. She had been at a hair appointment earlier and would call in to see how I was progressing. I think she got here around 6:00, but I wasn’t really paying attention!
I was kind of playing the waiting game on whether or not to call my mother-in-law to come down and hang out with the children. The way things were going I didn’t want to give her a heads-up call and have her wait for hours in worry for the “come now” call. It turned out we were able to put the children to bed shortly after 9:30. Sometime after 10:30 I was finally at 9.5 cm and I told Heather, the student mw that she could break my water. The contractions didn’t come much quicker, but they were stronger. I had three painful contractions and then one big LONG push. Baby’s shoulder was stuck and I had to pull my legs way up then she was out. Daddy caught her and rubbed her back until she started to cry.
LG was born at 11:10pm, June 24th. She weighed 9 pounds, 9 ounces, just like her oldest sister, whose shoulder also got stuck. She was 21” long. Her head was 14”, her chest 14 ½”, and her shoulders 16 ¼”.
We discovered another thing in common with her oldest sister; she has a deep dimple in one cheek! She has big hands like TJ had and long toes like Daddy’s. Later we were to also discover that she was a "power pooper" like SK was! Oh, the joys.
I get to hold her for a few minutes before everyone else tries to steal her!
The weigh in
"The girls"
This is like 6am the next morning. No one knocked on the door or anything, they just bursted in to see Laura! SR hadn't met her yet. Notice TJ in the red shirt. He just has this look about him like he's thinking "Hey, this is really cool!". After 5 min. I sent them out so I could go back to sleep! I didn't pose this shot at all, this is just how they came in and checked her out.
SR would always ask before touching her. Then he'd stroke her cheek and say "He's nice. He's a nice sister." LOL!
Sunbathing for her jaundice
And one funny one!
