Seth's Birth Story

My mom flew in when I was midway through my 38th week. We figured this would be great timing- Asher was born at 39 weeks and Collin at 38 weeks, 2 days. We waited & waited for little Seth to make his debut. I tried everything I could think of to induce labor naturally- I even did the castor oil again. It didn't work. There really is something to be said for your body being ready & clearly mine wasn't. After waiting for a week and half, my mom had to head back home. That was last Sunday. My contractions started Monday morning around 5am. Can you believe it?! Not less than 12 hours after she left! I knew this baby was gonna be a stinker from the get-go! ;)

We waited, timing contractions...I watched Top Chef to pass the time...things were developing a little more slowly than my previous labors. Around 7am, contractions were 5.5 minutes apart & lasting about 45 seconds. Normally we would have waited longer to move into action, but we had to wait 45 minutes for my brother-in-law to drive up and be home with the older boys AND Nate and I had a 45 minute drive to the birthing center. AND I was gonna need 2 hours of antibiotics prior to delivery due to testing GBS positive.

I remember the drive to the birth center was worrisome...my contractions were slowing down. I kept thinking, "What if this is a false alarm?? I will be so embarassed and frustrated." Nate assured me it wasn't. We arrived & got settled in around 8:30am. Tessa met us there- she was wanting to see the birth. They checked me & I was dilated 6cm!! I can't tell you what a relief that was- this was really it! And getting to that 6cm had been a piece of cake! Nate and I walked around and around the birth center trying to help labor progress. It was a gorgeous day. We listened to Muse. Walking was effective but I got tired & discouraged because at 11:45 I was still just 6-7cm. I didn't know what to think- I had never experienced a plateau in labor before. I was afraid I was disappointing everyone. (crazy thought, I know) The midwife suggested breaking my water since it seemed a bit "bulgy". We talked over the pros & cons & decided to go ahead and do it. That was shortly after 12pm. Within minutes of my water breaking, I was having close, hard contractions. After a few of those I could feel little Seth moving down...which also meant I was in transition. They suggested I try the birth tub. Sure, why not! But I didn't want to give birth in there. For some reason, the thought of sitting in a tub of...birth fluids...and other stuff...didn't sound appealing to me. :)

Transition came & it was hard. And yes, it hurt, but even in the fog of it I knew that it was pain with a purpose. I knew I would get to hold my little baby soon- Nate kept reminding me of that. He is the most amazing birth coach. He knows all the right things to say to comfort me. He never leaves my side. He is steady and constant & helps in every way he can to see our children into this world.

I remember someone saying, "If you want to move to the bed, now would be the time." There was no way in Hades I was getting out of that tub. The feeling to push came on strong- as soon as I got the green light from the midwife (we had to wait on just one last little bit of cervix) I pushed. Three pushes later (1PM) I was holding my sweet Seth. He was a bit purple- I guess his cord was all twisted up. But he was crying and cuddling into my chest.

As agonizing as things had felt just seconds before, my pain fully & instantly vanished the minute he was in my arms. It was replaced by sheer joy & relief. I was holding a little baby who just recently left the presence of Father in Heaven. It's always an emotional experience. Here we are with our newest addition, about 10 minutes after Seth was born...



Whenever people find out that we do natural birth, they are usually surprised, given it's not the norm. I never feel like I have an adequate response as to why I feel so strongly about it...Then I came across this post from nienie & I thought I would share an excerpt with you:

"ohhh you are brave" but deep in my heart, I know it is our divine make-up that gives us all that opportunity. It is not just for the brave, but for every woman searching for confidence she didn't even know she possessed.

Sure it hurts, of course it hurts. Of course I wanted to quit and give-up, but that's when the angels enter in and somehow the pain and suffering is all worth it. In fact as I sit here and type this, I don't remember the pain--funny, since I seriously thought I was going to die during it all.
When Nicholas came out my midwife placed him on my chest and Christian and I were quite emotional. It had been a long, intense 14 hour journey. He lay peacefully there and blinked his charming eyes at us and then fell asleep.
We examined his chubby fingers, large head, broad shoulders, and mini toes. I lay there with an outsized grin soaking up all those "I'm a queen, look at what I just did" feelings. Then I got into a hot shower.