Jamie's Birth of Jocelyn
Monday, December 20, 2010 at 3:27PM Jamie's birth of Jocelyn
It all started early the morning of July 9th, 2009. I was sleeping soundly when what I thought was a strong Braxton hicks woke me up. I tried to go back to sleep, but the darn things kept coming. When I realized they were about every ten minutes apart, I decided to get up and time them a little better, even though I had serious doubts that it would turn into anything since we were still ten days out from our due date. And I really thought this baby was going to take its time and be late. So, I settled myself in our big comfy chair, turned on some music videos, and timed contractions. For the next hr or so they came every six to ten min apart, but never got any closer or harder. Then they stopped being as regular and I only had about three an hour. I decided that it really had been nothing, and that we would still have plenty of time to prepare for the arrival of our little one.
Throughout the day I continued to have sporadic contractions. I was starting to get a bit frustrated, and wished they would decided to do something or go away completely!!! I tried to get things done around the house, but couldn’t seem to muster up enough energy for it. At that point a nap sounded pretty good. So at just after 4:00pm I laid down on the couch to snuggle Kailyn, my two year old. We had just gotten comfortable when another one of those pesky Braxton hicks hit. This one had some power behind it, and as it ended I felt a deep pop. For a split second I thought “What the heck!” Then I realized my water had broke. I immediately called my mom, who would be making a three hour drive from KS. Then called my midwife Margarett, to give her the heads up and told her I would call back when things started moving a bit faster. I tried to call my husband Burney a few times, but after no answer sent him a text. He then called and said he was on his way.
Suddenly, I had tons of energy, and started straightening the house. When my husband came in he thought I was crazy and asked if I should really be up moving around. I said of course, and continued getting stuff done, stopping along the way to breath through contractions. When they were about 3-5 minutes apart I called Margarett and she said she would send Anne, my other midwife, right then and soon follow. By this time the contractions were coming faster and harder. So I left Kailyn with her daddy(who, we found out with Kailyn, does not handle the delivery room well so would leave this birthing stuff to the women) and went to our room to lay down.
After a particularly hard contraction I called Anne to let her know they were getting closer together with lots of pressure. She said she was coming as fast as she could but was stuck in rush hour traffic, and suggested I get in the tub. The water helped me relax, and at 6:00 Anne arrived. She checked me and I was at 8cm. By then my contractions really got down to business. They immediately started strong with barely any time to recover from one before the next one hit. Anne told me to listen to my body and push if I wanted to. Sometime during this my friend and photographer, Amber arrived. I think I managed a smile at her, but was in the zone, concentrating on breathing through each contraction. Soon Margarett arrived and she , Anne and Amber patiently waited while each contraction brought us closer to meeting my new baby!!!
Suddenly a contraction hit and my body knew it was time to push. Margarett immediately checked to see the progress, and there was my baby’s head!!! From there they encouraged and cheered me on, but still let my body do the deciding on when to push and for how long. It was really amazing to see just how well our bodies are made for this and know naturally what to do. After pushing for a handful of contractions, I started to feel a burning sensation, but not where I expected it. This kind of freaked me out, for lack of a better term, and I decided right then and there that I didn’t want to do this anymore. I told Margarett and Anne just that, but they laughed and said it was a little late to stop now!! Which of course was the truth! Then Margarett prayed that God would help give me strength and courage to get the job done. It helped, but I was still struggling with pushing since it made everything hurt so much worse. Anne told me that if I didn’t get the baby out with the next contraction I would have to get out of the tub and on the birth stool. I had absolutely no desire to do that, so with the next contraction I pushed for all I was worth, and was rewarded with the baby’s head coming out. Margarett told me to hold on while she unwrapped the cord from around the neck. Then with another small push at 7:28pm the rest of the body followed. Margarett immediately lifted the little miracle to my chest. “What is it? What is it?” I asked, and lifted a tiny little leg to see that I had another precious little girl!!! I held her tightly to my chest, and looked up to see Burney and Kailyn coming to meet our newest little family member Jocelyn Renee. I will never forget the look of wonder and amazement in Kailyn’s eyes as she saw her baby sister for the first time. As she came up to the tub she gently reached out to “pet” the baby’s head, then turned and touched my cheek. What a beautiful moment that I will forever cherish. As I lay back in the tub clutching our fresh from God baby in my arms; I looked up at my husband and little girl and felt more blessed then I could ever deserve!!
After the umbilical cord stopped pulsing, I had the honor of cutting the line that had connected my beautiful new daughter and me for the past nine months. I was then helped out of the tub and into my nice comfy bed with Kailyn snuggled on one side, Jocelyn on the other, and Daddy proudly standing beside us. While the ladies began cleaning up, I called family with the happy news. Margarett insisted that I eat something, so Kailyn and I shared a peanut butter sandwich right there in bed. Anne checked over and weighed Jocelyn. She was a perfect 7 lbs 12oz and 20 and 3/4 inches.
Margarett and Anne finished cleaning up, made sure we were comfortable and said their goodbyes. My mom and dad arrived to meet their newest grandchild and Kailyn took great pride in showing her off!! Not much later my newly enlarged family snuggled up together in bed where I said a big thank you to Jesus for the incredible gifts he had given me and the wonderful birth experience I had!!
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