I went in for my 40 week check with the midwife on Thursday and told her my plan was to go into labor on Friday evening because my husband would be off work the next day and I hate making him miss work or sleep. I've been reading a lot of Ina May Gaskin and in several stories she indicates that you can indicate to your body when to go into labor, so I figured we'd give it a go. Friday I went for a walk to move things along but then we found out that Gary had to work Saturday! I was disappointed and changed my plan to go into labor Saturday evening instead. Saturday I went on another walk, this time with my sisters, to try to kick start labor. My nephew was adorable because after we told him I was trying to go into labor he thought we were going to a PLACE called Labor! After we walked 1.5 miles we turned around to head back to our car and he was crushed because he thought we had given up on walking to Labor and he wouldn't get to meet baby Eleanora after all! We did a lot of explaining after that about what labor is, haha! So, I was having some mild, sporadic contractions that day but I convinced my sisters I wasn't in labor and Kate went home for the night. Gary and I decided to head to walmart and get a few last minute things I kept forgetting to pick up (Depends... Ugh). I drove and as we were turning into walmart I had a contraction and almost couldn't brake in time because I couldn't move my leg during it! That's when I realized I was in labor (about 7:30 pm), but I didn't tell anyone yet. We got our stuff and I became pretty insistent that we needed to get HOME. After getting home, I knew I needed to sleep because I hadn't had a nap that day and I was exhausted. I casually timed my contractions while "sleeping" and they were about 10 minutes apart. Around 2:30 am I woke up and was confident that this was definitely definitely real true labor. My contractions weren't the steady "5-1-1" that everyone says is labor, but I knew anyway. I walked around for a while, mostly on our screened-in porch. During contractions I danced a little and swayed and tried to focus on the moon and the cicadas to distract myself (it was a gorgeous night). I also, oddly, did a lot of counting to help me focus. I definitely didn't plan that part but it was a big help!
At 4 am, I woke Gary up and told him I was in labor for real. I was thinking I still had loads of time. I told him I wanted to get in the hot tub (on the porch) and I wanted him out there with me. We quietly snuck out of the room hoping to escape without waking Ana up and failed. I fixed her a bottle and put her back to bed and then I went and woke Sophie up and let her know to keep an ear open for Ana. Out to the hot tub I went and eased in. I almost immediately threw up. Luckily there was a bucket right there! From labor with Ana, I knew that throwing up was my big neon sign flashing "BABY IS COMING!" I was in transition! Yay! Oh crap, we haven't called the midwife yet!
Gary quickly called our midwife, Marianne, and I told him to be sure she knew that I was throwing up, even though contractions were inconsistent. She said she would be there ASAP but she lives about 35 miles away (which I knew). Meanwhile my parents left to head over to my sisters so they could watch her kids and Kate could come over and "doula" me. Around this point I was getting really hot because the tub temp was set too high. I tried to get out but as soon as a contraction hit I was almost in tears and got back in the water immediately. It was such a huge relief!
I only felt the contractions in my lower abdomen, like really intense menstrual cramps. That was totally different from my labor with Ana where I felt my whole uterus contract. Anyway, Gary turned off the heat and the tub cooled off pretty quickly so I was able to stay in. Back to the story!
The midwife arrived at exactly 5 am (a mere 40 minutes after we called her!) and I was so grateful for her presence! I still thought I had a few hours and I was just telling Gary that I couldn't do it and wondering out loud what on earth was I thinking when I signed up for this. Marianne got a few things set up and listened to me labor for a couple minutes and then informed me that I would be having a baby VERY soon. I thought she was just trying to be encouraging. My next contraction scared me because I felt my body pushing which I never felt with Ana. It was a whole new experience! Without really needing to ask Marianne said "That was a little push, wasn't it?" Yeah. It was. Super scary all of a sudden. I began to remind myself of some of the birth affirmations I had written: "God created my body for this" and "Babies DO come out". It's normal! It really does work like this! Marianne asked me to see if I could feel Ella's head. I checked and felt something squishy and she said it was my water bag. My body began to take over during the next several contractions and pushed for me, which was such an incredible feeling and surprisingly felt good (satisfying good, not comfortable good!). I knew the end was in sight and I had planned to not push more than 3 times (I pushed almost 3 hours with Ana and didn't want that again.) I knew I could make it because it was almost over! Except... Kate hadn't arrived!
At some point shortly after 5, Ana went back to bed and Sophie came out to help support me. The birth assistant, LeeAnne, arrived around 5:20, just an hour after she had been called. Well, despite Kate not being there, Ella took ownership of another birth affirmation "My baby knows the right moment for her birth!" After maybe 20 minutes of pushing, I reached down and felt Ella's head, had a contraction, and pushed her head out. I was crying at with joy and relief and waiting for the next contraction. Gary remembered that I had asked him to catch Ella when she came out so he rushed from my side to the other end of the pool and caught her just as the next contraction pushed her out. He and Marianne immediately lifted her to my chest and I was in total bliss. This is, thankfully, the most vivid part of my memory of her birth. The feeling of her coming out, seeing her laying on my chest, the almost immediate end of contractions, it was heavenly! I was sitting in that pool saying "Oh my God, I had a baby! I can't believe I just had a baby! Oh my God!" This moment was so incredibly beautiful to me because I don't remember Ana's birth very clearly thanks to the IV I had, everything was fuzzy and confusing and I greatly regret that. Eleanora's moment of birth isn't the slightest but hazy.
So, at 5:35 am on July 20th, Eleanora Jane Fields left the womb and joined the outside world. I will never forgot the feeling of her on my chest, every still moment as I noticed her little round ears, her perfect eyebrows, her sweet quietness, her alert eyes, her wonderful dark hair, and the perfect shape of her head. As I was sitting there in my euphoria, I looked up and saw the headlights of my sisters car, not 5 minutes after Ella was born. Oops! Oh well, like I said. Eleanora knew the right moment for her birth!
One part I loved about this was that after Ella's birth, my midwife gently helped me to bed to deliver the placenta, and let me rest for a bit and nurse Ella before she even tried to do a newborn check or see if I tore or anything. There was no doctor timeline, there was just peace and patience and the beauty of new life. Marianne and LeeAnne helped me into the shower after a while and then cleaned up and started a load of laundry while I was refreshing. They helped me into bed so Gary, Ella, and I could take a nap and then they left! No nurses in my room every 4 hours for a blood pressure check, no obnoxious pulse-ox to keep on Ella, no uterus mashing every hour. Just sweet rest and recovery and new baby smell. So, there you have it, the incredibly uneventful birth of Eleanora!
Disclaimer: I know that "oh my God" is used casually by many people and if you know me very well you know that I can't use that phrase in that way. However "Oh my God" is also a term used in scripture to worship God. This was not a slip of the tongue after delivery, I really want to clarify that I was worshipping my God for the beauty of life, of labor and delivery, and for His goodness in keeping Ella and me safe. I wish I could describe the awe I felt in that moment. My God is so great and so good!
PS: Eleanora has a perfect latch :D 
