Emaline Sophia

Emaline Sophia, May 17, 2010 7lbs 12oz & 21.5 inches long

The Birth:

Contractions started at about 11:30 on Sunday night; 2-3 minutes apart but only lasting about 30-45 seconds. Even though the contractions were pretty strong I wasn't sure if it was the real deal since they weren't lasting too long and my mood was still excited and pretty happy between contractions. So I got up and walked around, sat on the birthing ball and timed them. They continued like this for a couple of hours, slowly getting a bit stronger and by about 2:30 I had Adam get up with me. We couldn't decide wether or not my labor was progressed enough to call the midwife, but opted to give her a heads up anyway. When Adam called and gave her the stats I was kind of surprised to hear her say "I'm on my way!" We also called my mom and had her come get Isla. Once all this was in motion I started to worry that maybe this wasn't the real deal and that everyone would come over and then labor would stop. I just felt too good between contractions! But sure enough, when Michelle got to our house (around 3am) and checked me out I was 6cm, fully effaced and baby had moved down...definitely in labor! My mom and sister arrived shortly after Michelle and took Isla back to their house. (Isla was so excited to see her auntie and Grammy that we later found out she didn't sleep the whole rest of the morning).

Once Isla was gone, Adam and Michelle got to work setting up the birth tub and all the supplies while I tried to keep walking and using the birth ball. I was still feeling good between contractions and was doing a pretty good job of relaxing my body through each contraction. Don't get me wrong, it was a lot of hard work to get through the contractions but I really felt like I did a much better job of letting my body do its job this time. By 3:30 or so I was able to get in the tub. It was so nice to labor in there and helped me to relax even more. I pretty much stayed in the tub (with the exception of a couple bathroom trips) until about 5am when I started to feel like pushing. (Sometime between 3:30 and 5 our other midwife, Melissa came too.) Michelle checked me and I was at 9cm and she said I could push if i felt like I needed to. The picture below is me in between contractions and feeling pretty good:

I had Adam get in the water with me and I started to do a few little pushes but it just didn't feel right. So we headed for our bed and I needed to use the bathroom first. But right when I sat on the toilet I got a huge contraction that was pretty intense...I knew the baby was coming soon! The next contraction was even stronger and my body just started pushing. Michelle said we need to stand you up because the baby's coming. I could not stand up on my own because the contraction was to intense and my body was pushing way to hard. Another extremely intense contraction came and they pulled me up and my water broke (umm, exploded everywhere), her head came out and then there she was! She screamed and screamed immediately and looked great. Emaline Sophia made her entrance at 5:33am. It was all pretty fast; about 6 hours from the first contraction to her birth. Here is our new little family about an hour after she was born: