Anna Jean's Birth Story

Oh Baby Anna Jean.  How happy we are that you are here.  And, how grateful we are for the prayers we have seen answered in your arrival!

My due date with Baby Anna was May 1, 2012.  And, if you have been following this blog at all, you will know that we have spent A LOT of time preparing for baby Anna.  Literally, every room in our home has seen a makeover as we have arranged and re-arranged our lives and home in preparation for this sweet one.  As with Caleb, I started to have some anxiety as I neared my due date as I started to worry about who would take the boys when it was time for Tim and I to go to the hospital.  We have great friends and dear family, but most everyone works or has their other small children to care for.  Tim's family is fabulous, but they are in California.  That's just how it is for us.  We don't have that "drop everything so we can go to the hospital" person who can stay at our house at a moment's notice for as long as we need them to. And, so, this is an area that we committed a lot of prayer to in advance.  When a group of dear friends came over to shower me and this babe with prayer, it was one of my foremost requests.

With Caleb, Tim's parents made a surprise trip to see us and the Lord allowed me to go into labor the morning they decided to start their 12 hour drive here.  Caleb made his debut a few hours after they got here.  I'm pretty sure it was only because they decided to come that I went into labor when I did.  I was "holding it" until I knew Jared & Will would be ok.

With Anna, Tim's parents planned a trip to arrive on May 5th as they had to schedule time off in advance and didn't want to miss her.  As my last two babies were a week early, I had a pretty strong suspicion Anna would follow suit.  Tim's sweet Aunt, Elizabeth, offered to drive here with her husband and take a week's vacation the week before Bob and Kim came so we would be totally covered in case she came early.  The date Elizabeth & Fernando had scheduled to leave was April 27th.  Once I had this date, I fixated on it.  I knew that if I could make it until April 28th, that my three boys would be well cared for and covered.  I relaxed and aimed for it.  No more stressing, as long as I could "hold it" until April 28th.  I was overjoyed to have two weeks of back to back family in town to stay with us and help us make this transition.

As my due date neared, I had an ultrasound that showed baby was getting pretty big.  My midwife began to show some concern about this and tried to (gently) encourage me to be open to having her earlier than the April 28th date I was aiming for.  We talked about shoulder dystocia and the risks of delivering large babies.  My pregnancy got a little more uncomfortable, but I was not budging from the plan.

And then it happened.  All my well laid plans fell apart when sweet Elizabeth ruptured a disk in her back, winding up in the hospital and needing emergency spine surgery!  Poor thing!  There was obviously no way she could come and no one who could come out to cover.  I'd be lying if I didn't say that I fell apart (her too!).  I wept and cried out to the Lord for provision.  And, I began to try to accept the fact that I had to let the good in this case not be the total enemy of the bad.  Friends rallied and I made some plans and I put a little schedule together for the weeks before her due date as we tried to figure out who would be my "drop everything" person depending on which day I went into labor.  I felt the very strong impression from the Lord that I needed to stop "holding it" and be open to Anna arriving according to His timing (regardless of when that was or who I had lined up) or I might wind up with a 12 lb newborn.  Specifically, my friends Jessica and Christine stepped up to be available.  For them, I am forever grateful.  Their volunteering to serve my family gave me an incredible peace of mind.

On Friday night, April 27th, we took a bike ride.  Later that evening, Tim took Will on a date to Costco and bought some sleeping bags for summer camping trips while I kept Caleb & Jared at home.  They decided to try out the new bags by "camping" in the backyard on the trampoline.  I stayed up reading until far too late.  A few minutes after I finally closed my eyes, Will came into my bed restless and unable to sleep.

It was midnight.

For the next two hours he tossed and turned while I threatened to kick him out because, "I needed my sleep!"  Couldn't he see I was two seconds away from having a baby??!!

And, about 2:30am, it happened.  Contractions.  For real, around the back, burning contractions.  And, here I am.  No sleep.  Restless 4 year old kicking me in my bed.  Tim and Jared on the trampoline.  I did the only obvious thing to do.  I got up and threw in a load of laundry, and then tried to lay back down to get some rest.  Eventually, I did kick Will out as I attempted to doze between contractions which were about 20 minutes apart.  I prayed that if contractions were coming, that they would be hard and fast and productive and I said a prayer to welcome little Anna and let her know how excited I was to meet her.

By 5:45am, they were coming closer so I decided it was time to wake up my cute husband.  I brewed a pot of coffee and stripped the sheets.  At 5:55am, I posted on Facebook that I was about to wake my husband up as it was LABOR DAY!

I tried to tempt him with coffee, but he's a pretty heavy sleeper.  After about the third attempt I just about shouted, "You're having a baby today!" and he sat bolt upright on the trampoline.  I had this vision of us sitting in the backyard sipping our coffee and having a moment before we headed to the hospital to welcome our fourth child.  That moment didn't exactly happen as Tim was exhausted.  He'd had about as much sleep as me thanks to a tree full of noisy birds and wasn't ready for a "moment".  Will came out a few minutes later, as well, so our quiet "alone" time was over.  I never finished that cup of coffee.

I did, however, keep on fussing around the house as contractions came harder and faster.  By 7am, Christine had come over because she could tell I was getting close.  She tried to push out the door.  I was still changing sheets as I couldn't bear to think of her or anyone else sleeping on not-clean sheets or coming into my house with dishes in the sink!

I called the midwife on call to let her know I would be on my way.  It happened to be the same midwife who sent me home with Jared when I was in labor and told me to come back when I was "really in labor" (I still hadn't forgiven her for that!).  I explained calmly, "This is my fourth baby, I'll be leaving soon.  With my third baby I checked in fully dilated and delivered a half hour later.  You should leave soon to meet me."  Basically, 'I'm not kidding around here, lady.  Just because I sound calm don't be fooled!'

Christine helped massage by back through a few more contractions and put the last few items in my bags and I started to the car.  As I was about to get in I got hit by what was seriously a 3-4 minute STRONG contraction.  I tried to wait for it to pass before sitting in the car but there was no passing.  We pulled out of the driveway.

At 7:51am I sent a text to a core group of folks that I was heading to St. Joes, a 15 minute drive from my house.  

As we got there, we had the dilemma again of where to park.  I felt like this time, I could make it from the garage as I didn't want Tim to drop me off and leave me to go park the car.  I felt ok as we were pulling in, but by the time we were walking from the car, I was cursing that decision as I was in the throes of another INTENSE contraction.  We walked by the front desk and were directed to the proper tower, a few steps later an orderly rushed to meet us with a wheelchair.  Mercy.  This was a lady in obvious labor, folks.

They got us checked into triage where the midwife had been waiting from us.  Apparently, I did manage to convey a proper amount of urgency in my phone call earlier as she had beat me to the hospital.  A quick check found me at 9cm and we headed to the room where I would deliver.

By this time I was tired.  Labor was intense and I was ready to be done, I was still at 9-9.5cm.  As with previous labors, my water still had not broken and so I gave the midwife permission to do under the express condition that it would speed things along.  This was the first time I'd had someone do any type of intervention in labor with any of my babes.  It worked.  And soon it was time to push.  I hate to push.  By 9:30am, I'd been pushing for a few minutes and I was ready to be DONE.  It hurt and I didn't want to do it anymore, but I knew I had to dig deep for that last bit of energy to get the baby OUT.  And so I looked at the clock, and told myself I would push where it hurt and within the next ten minutes it would be over.  That was my goal, by 9:40am I decided it would be done.  DONE.

I got serious.  My midwife wanted me to wait for another contraction, but I was seriously over it and had figured out I didn't need to wait for a contraction to push.  I had my 10 minute deadline, folks.  I had found my mojo with pushing and was going to push until she was born.  A few minutes later it was over and Anna quietly entered the world.  As with my other babes, she didn't even cry at first...

April 28th, 9:38am - Anna was here.

A few minutes later Tim cut the cord.

She had some bruising on her chubby cheeks from having such a big head and flying through the birth canal so fast ...

 They had to suction her pretty good as she was a little "juicy" :-)

When they told us 9 lbs, 11 oz we didn't even believe it.  Our biggest babe yet!

Hospital wardrobe. 

My girl

Such a bundle of love you are, little Anna Jean.

We waited for you.  We prayed for you.  And we saw the Lord's provision in very specific ways in your arrival.  Every prayer answered.  Healthy baby, perfect delivery.  We are so very grateful. 

And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Phillipians 4:19