Baby!!

Baby has arrived!

She was born Sunday, December 12, 2010 at 3:07 pm.

9 pounds, 21 inches.

We had a great home birth. Well, being home was great... the actually labor was horrendous. I woke up at 7:45 with some nice easy contractions. I got in the bath and got the kids ready for church. I was in the bath for three hours and then the midwives showed up. I had two fantastic midwives who ONLY do home births and the older one has been doing it for 30 years. So, they showed up and figured out I was dialated to a seven, so we thought it wouldn't be too long. I had someone come pick up the kids to take them to church just as my contractions were getting "effective".

Well, this is where I was surprised, because after Elsie's 15 minute labor and delivery, I thought it would be easy peasy from this point on. Nope. It was horrible. I had super powerful contractions and felt like I was making no progress. It took forever for my water bag to finally break (it actually exploded)... and although it was a relief, the baby's heartbeat went way down, so I had to change positions until it went back up again. Then, when I finally was able to push, it felt like I had a cinder block stuck in the passage way and it just would not come down! It felt nothing like the last two natural births.

Well, my nice calm midwives had me change positions a few more times and FINALLY after an hour of pushing, the baby was born... SUNNY SIDE UP! Usually babies are born facing your back, but not this little joyful soul. She was like, "HELLO! Here's my face!"

So, it was a relief to know that I don't just SUCK at pushing, but that the baby came through wrong way. On the other hand, I can't imagine ever being able to walk normal again.

While they were probably just trying to make me feel better after I collapsed on the floor when it was all over, the midwives were overly impressed with my large and healthy placenta... I thought it looked like a jellyfish... all thanks to Jonah's healthy cooking I'm sure.

All in all, though, I was REALLY glad to have had my most difficult birth at home... who knows what would have happened if I was at the hospital when her heart rate went down.. and who knows if anyone would have thought to have me change birthing positions to move the baby through the birth canal. It was such a calm experience (except for my screaming)... we just had some Christmas music on and I had the baby and then got to go crawl in my OWN bed and be left alone. I got to eat all I wanted and Jonah never had to leave my side to go park the car or go home to check on the kids or anything. It was fantastic. I highly HIGHLY suggest it to anyone who doesn't LOVE hospitals.

It has been especially nice because Jonah takes such good care of me. He's been putting all his fantastic cooking skills to good use (I forgot to mention in that last post that my FAVORITE of Jonah's hobbies is his cooking hobby).... last night, he made an entire Thanksgiving Dinner using a turkey someone gave us and last of the potatoes from our garden among other things. He's also been watching over all the farm animals, keeping the house clean, and doing the laundry (yea!). It is REALLY hard for me to just sit here, but I pay for it when I move around too much, so I'm trying to be extra grateful to make up for it. What a great husband.

Anyway, here are the photos... enjoy!

Born on the living room floor beneath the huge picture window... born facing the sun!

My FATTEST baby... and she was almost exactly three weeks early... good thing she didn't go full term.

She's still so swollen (posterior births do a number on baby's face) we don't know who she looks like.. but she absolutely has MY toes... she and I can have toe grabbing contests galore!

Elsie came home from a friend's house around 8 and was completely delighted.

Except the "Green fingey" freaks her out... (the umbilical cord stump).

She's so fat that all she does is sleep.

Cam and Ana came home after there piano recital (nothing like missing your kids recital to have a baby) around 9 pm and Ana wouldn't let go of her. She's completely enamored.

Cam, on the other hand, said he'll just wait until she's three months old to make any attachments. "It doesn't care" (Camspeak for "it doesn't matter").

She's got some nice brown hair... but so did Elsie... and look what happened.

Elsie's been able to handle the new situation quite well, as long as she's fed and has had her 13 hours of sleep. But, this is how she feels when her giant bowl of macaroni and cheese is all gone.

Thanks for all the well wishes and prayers! We love this new baby. Hopefully we'll have decided on her name by tomorrow.