06 Apr Welcoming Baby Henry!
Thank you so much to this amazing mama for sharing her birth story and photos! It has been such an honor to get to know this family through their care and to get to be present as they welcomed this little one!
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My sweet little boy Henry, you are so loved, cherished, and were such a surprise! Many don’t know that you aren’t actually our second child, you are our third. While we were still mourning the loss of an early pregnancy, God decided to bless us with you. At first when I realized I was pregnant, only a month after losing our other baby (a big brother or sister in heaven, waiting for all of us!), I was in complete denial and shock. I thought maybe I was tricking my body into thinking I was pregnant. Our beloved midwife, Kate, confirmed the pregnancy through a blood test and suggested some supplements for me to ensure that you would stick around. You certainly did not want to be anywhere else but inside of me, the numbers to make sure the pregnancy was going well were always very good.
Your due date was August 15, 2017, just two weeks after your brother Paul’s 3rd birthday. The pregnancy was hard in the beginning, and you caused me a lot of morning sickness up until even 20 – 21 weeks. Other than that, the pregnancy went well. I craved chocolate chip cookies, and even at one point chocolate cupcakes. My pregnancy with you also changed my taste buds a little bit, where I now enjoyed spicy foods, mushrooms, and onions!
Around 36 weeks, I was getting tired and had been having off and on nerve and back pain, and I thought that I was for sure going to go into labor earlier than my due date. I thought maybe a week or two early, but you were so happy to be snug and warm inside me! I had no fear about the birth, only excitement to finally get to meet you. I had such a wonderful birth experience with your big brother Paul that I was actually excited to have another wonderful birth, and I prepared myself for a positive experience with no pain.
Grammy came to help on Thursday, August 10th, and it was nice to have her here and for when you made your arrival. On Saturday, August 12th, I was having inconsistent but noticeable contractions. They didn’t hurt, just made my tummy really tight; the same sensation as if someone was squeezing my arm. I didn’t think much of it, I thought it was just my body getting ready for the labor whenever it would actually happen. I went about as usual, even going to bed a little early.
At 12:45 AM on Sunday, August 13, I woke up abruptly to a sharp contraction that made me think, “Oh, that was pretty uncomfortable. I wonder if labor is starting.” I kept myself awake and waited for another one. Sure enough, I had another contraction about the same intensity about 15 minutes later. I decided to go ahead and try to sleep through the contractions if I could. I was able to fall back asleep for another 2 hours, before at 2:45 AM waking back up to a more uncomfortable contraction. At that point, I decided to time them and see how long they were lasting and how frequent they were occurring. They were about 8-10 minutes apart and lasted about a minute each. Midwife Kate had warned me to not put off calling her if anything was progressing, because I would be in denial (I was) and things would progress more quickly this time than they did with Paul. I gave her a call and a heads up about how things were going. She asked if I wanted her to come over, and I said, “No, not yet. I don’t feel like it’s progressed enough and I would like to try to get more sleep.” I was actually able to sleep or at least doze between contractions for the next 2 hours. At somewhere between 4:45 AM and 5:00 AM, I was breathing through the contractions to ease the discomfort (it really wasn’t painful), and I couldn’t sleep any longer. I rolled over, told your daddy Brian what was going on, and then went downstairs and told your Grammy that I was in labor. She asked if I wanted to eat something, and I gratefully answered that I would like some toast and a scrambled egg.
At this point I decided that I would like our doula Brenda to come over, because she has almost an hour drive to get here. While Grammy got up and made some food for me, I laid down on our couch and tried to relax and doze between contractions again, and I was able to doze just a little bit until Brenda arrived around 6:00 PM. She observed me breathing through contractions, and stated that she thought it would be a good idea for Kate to come now. I was in denial for sure about how far along I was, because I thought that things would take so much longer like they did for Paul. I went upstairs to put my hair up and get it out of my face. I thought about putting some makeup on (for pictures, apparently I thought I was going to look good at some point), but then I had another contraction and thought, “Forget it!”
Kate arrived closer to 6:30 or 6:45, and I was still able to talk to everyone, laugh, joke, and smile. As it got closer to 7:30, I was then beginning to think that the contractions were not just uncomfortable, but now they were becoming kind of a stinging or shooting pain as they happened, but again; not terrible, they mostly just felt like a lot of work. We were all downstairs and I remember having really awful, painful contractions while going through transition with Paul and having to go up the stairs while having them. I went into the bathroom because I thought I might have to throw up (which I did not), and telling Brenda that after the next contraction I was going to head upstairs.
I went upstairs, still feeling as if this was going to be a long, long morning and day. I woke up your father, Brian, and told him that this was happening faster than I thought. He said, “Okay, I’m just going to sleep like 30 more minutes…” and I yelled at him, “No, you are NOT! I am having a baby and YOU DON’T GET TO SLEEP NOW! People are coming upstairs now to help me!”
At this point, I sat down on the toilet and was breathing and vocalizing through the contractions. I lost track of time, and I remember Brenda and Kate filling up the bathtub for me. I remember getting into the bathtub and thinking how relaxing the water was. It felt so good to be surrounded by warm water that took pressure off of me. Before I knew it, the contractions were much closer together and more intense. It felt to me like they were further apart, but I must have been so relaxed that my brain interpreted them as being more time in between. It no longer was painful, it was as if I was working as one with my body and that made me so incredibly relaxed.
I had read a lot about different birthing positions, and I knew that I wanted to be squatting – it was easier for you to come through the birth canal and could be comfortable for me. Initially I was in the squatting position for a while, but my feet started to fall asleep, so I sat back down and kind of relaxed in the water for a bit. Soon I was feeling the need to push, like you were ready to be born finally, so I went back into the squatting position. Your big brother Paul came in at one point and asked if I was okay, and if I wanted a teddy bear to help me feel better. He asked if I was hurting and I said that I was just working very hard to push you out!
I also really wanted to receive you; to reach down and put you on my chest as you were being born. I was able to receive your head, and I remember thinking, “He’s got so much hair! He’s not bald!” and being elated at that revelation. Because I was working so hard at pushing you out, I felt as if I was going to fall over, and I asked Kate to please help me. She was able to help me receive your body with one final push and she helped me bring you onto my chest.
You rocked my world – everything changed in one heartbeat for me. Here you were, my second precious son, and you were perfect. You had a full head of dark brown hair, and you came into this world so peacefully. You didn’t cry at all, you just wriggled in my arms, and you finally opened your eyes and looked straight into my eyes. The world completely stopped and my heart was more full than it ever has been.
You are now 11 weeks old, and you are such a good, loving and cuddly baby. You have slept so well from the very beginning, and breastfeeding has been wonderful for us. You are always full of smiles and very happy. I love you so much, Henry Theodore, and I am so grateful to God for the gift of you in our lives. You bring all of us so much joy.
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