Emily's Birth

Emily will be 5 weeks old tomorrow! The time flies! 

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Emily's birth was such a precious experience for me, just like Eli's was. The experience has taught me a lot, but especially it has taught me that God created us to be strong! I think we doubt ourselves and don't see how strong we really are. He can help us see what He has always seen in us- that we are strong and capable, and that we can do hard things! My birth experiences have helped me feel that I am strong enough to do the hard things this life will require, especially raising these precious little children. 

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I started feeling tightenings (contractions) weeks before the birth. My water broke the night before Emily was born, and I had tightenings throughout the night. I just stayed in bed, listened to my music playlist (so inspiring!) and relaxed. I fell asleep often and then would wake up again. It was kind of a dream-like state. I found that visualizing a Hawaiian beach with the tide rising and falling helped me really relax during contractions. 

By early morning I called the midwife to let her know what was going on. We decided I would go into the birth center at 10am. My sister-in-law came and picked up Eli for us, and he spent the day with his grandma and aunts and uncles! 

I was so relaxed in the morning and my contractions stopped, and I fell asleep for a while. I also remember that at some point in the morning I asked Seth to call the midwife and ask if we could come in earlier because I felt like things were starting up again. We went into the birth center around 9:30. My tightenings had stopped (my body was resting) and since my water had broken, the midwife reminded me that it is very important for the baby to be born within 24 hours of the water breaking.

The midwife suggested castor oil. I told her I really didn't want to take it, but after talking to her, I realized it would really be the best thing. 

They made the castor oil into a smoothie for me (guava nector, almond butter, and castor oil!). It was exactly like the castor oil smoothie I drank before Eli was born. 

Castor oil takes about 2 hours to kick in, so we went home. 

 Around 1:00 (2 hours from when I took the castor oil), we decided to walk around the Provo City Center Temple (it's just 5 blocks from our birth center). As soon as we parked and started walking for a few minutes, I needed to use the restroom, so we just went to the birth center. After using the restroom, the midwife recommended we go on a walk.  My tightenings hadn't started back up yet and she wanted us to get things moving! She said, "It's either that or another dose of castor oil..."

Seth said something like, "Ok! We're outta here!" That made me laugh because I did not want another dose of castor oil. He and I walked around outside for quite a while.

Eventually I started feeling things start up again. I felt my abdomen get super tight and stay tight. 

We headed back to the birth center. We told the midwife that I was feeling things start again, but that they weren't strong consistent contractions. She asked what we wanted to do next. After talking to her and asking her suggestion, she recommended breaking my water. 

I agreed to have her break my water. Right after she broke my water, I could tell the contractions would start coming very strong. I asked my midwife, "When can I get in the tub??" She responded, "Once I hear some moaning." I started moaning jokingly. She asked, "Really? Do you think it's going to be soon?" I replied, "Yes!" She was so awesome! She really trusted me and she started filling the tub right away! 

I went to the restroom and stayed there for about half an hour or so. The tightenings came like waves, one after the other. They were close together and very strong. My husband came in to help me, and he called our doula to come.

After about 30-40 minutes laboring in the bathroom (our heroic doula arrived during that time), I was asking when I could get in the tub, and my doula told me I could! She just said it was too hot so she was going to add more cool water. 

The contractions were coming so fast and so strong. I was listening to my playlist with the wireless headphones, and breathing very deeply to relax. It was working well, but I was feeling that it was starting to overwhelm me and I was so excited to get in the tub. 

Getting in the tub was a huge relief! I instantly felt a lot of pressure lifted from me. At the same time, my contractions became much stronger. I was in a sitting position, with my legs kind of bent to the side. The water helped my body relax between pressure waves, but the waves themselves had become very, very strong. My doula used counter pressure (pushing against my knees), and Seth put cold wet washcloths on my forehead and neck. It felt really nice because the water was super warm! I didn't feel comfortable in the sitting position and the counter pressure wasn't working very well in that position, but I didn't feel like moving. I started noticing that my body was forcefully bearing down. My body pushes on its own and I couldn't stop if I tried! 

I stayed sitting for a while, but it soon became very uncomfortable and I was still feeling that my body was already starting to bear down very hard. I decided to move to my hands and knees. Seth and our doula would both do counter pressure, each pressing on one of my hips during each contraction. I think it was around then that I lost everything from my stomach. I was shaking a lot and my temperature was feeling really strange. We had a bowl near by, and I threw up over and over into it, as well as into another container. Our doula then replaced those yucky bowls with a little plastic bin (floating in the water right under my nose- I was still on hands and knees) and she sprinkled a bunch of essential oil in it! It smelled amazing and really soothed me. (She later told me it was peppermint to help with the nausea.) At this point, Seth and our doula both were having similar thoughts. They remembered all of these same things happening during my labor with Eli, and he was born soon after all these signs- the shaking, throwing up, etc. Neither of them voiced their thoughts because they didn't want to get my hopes up if it wasn't true, but they both thought the baby would be born soon. They were right. 

I stayed on hands and knees and my body was still bearing down very forcefully. I was saying "Aooowwww." My body was trying to push the baby's head out and it really hurt. It felt like my body was trying to push baby girl out before it was open enough for her to fit through.

 I soon felt the head bulging but I was concerned that she wouldn't fit through. I didn't feel like my body had had enough time to open up for her. I told them that she was coming. The doula ran to get the midwife. Soon I could feel that her head was crowning, and it really burned and stung.

I remember feeling especially strong burning and stinging, and it really hurt. It felt like someone was poking me down there. I thought it was the midwife, and tried to tell her to stop. I reached down to move her hand away, and I was so surprised to feel that the baby's head was out! I was shocked. I had no idea that that was what was happening right then. I lifted my headphones off of one ear and asked, "Can I push?" I heard the midwife say "yes," so I pushed the rest of her body out. I instantly felt a huge huge relief! 

There is really nothing like that moment when your brand new baby enters the world and you are just filled with the hugest love for that perfect little one. 

Everyone helped me to get rearranged and soon I was sitting in the tub holding my beautiful girl!!!!!!!!!!!! (So beautiful!!!!) The first thing I felt was a huge sense of joy! And that was the first word that popped into my mind. When Seth and I asked each other what we thought of for her name, I told him I thought Joy should be part of it. After holding her for a while and after the chord stopped pulsing (getting all that good oxygen to our new baby girl), the chord was cut and Seth held her while I moved to the bed. 

We had been thinking of the name Emily ever since before we found out from the ultrasound that we were having a girl. It had just felt right for a long long time. After a day or so of thinking about it, we decided on Emily Joy. It just fits her perfectly. 

I was so shocked at how fast it all went. She was born in about an hour and a half! I kept asking questions like, "how did that happen?" Emily's birth seemed to be more intense than Eli's because it happened so fast! Afterwards, I was talking to one of the midwives about it and she explained that when you have a fast birth, your body still needs to do the same amount of work, but it just does it in a whole lot less time. 

After Emily was born, Seth and I held her on the bed at the birth center for hours. We were in heaven!  We just kept admiring our beautiful girl! 

 I was exhausted. I felt totally drained! But also so happy! I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open. 

Emily was born at 4:35pm and we were back home around 8:30 or 9:00pm that night. 

I've never seen such a beautiful girl before! Emily has been such a joy in my, Seth's, and Eli's lives already! We love her so much!!! She is a little angel.