One year ago today I was telling my midwife I wanted to give up. I was looking Faith in the eyes telling her I was done. To me it's ironic that her name is Faith when that's exactly what I needed! Faith in my body and Faith in God that he had the perfect plan for Wyatts birth.

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This is where it all began....

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I have to say, at first I was very nervous about having the baby at home. The only reason though was because I was worried about the pain I would be experiencing. You have to remember, I had already given birth to two babies in a hospital with epidurals given to me both times. I never even made it past a 3 in dilation without asking for medicine. Looking back on the birth now, I feel like I rocked it when it came to relaxing through contractions but only when it was steady contractions. I struggled through the stalled labor portions. While my labor might have been stalled it didn't prevent my body from having contractions, they were just ineffective contractions that hurt, A LOT!!

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On Thursday March 9th at 4:45pm I went to Academy to pick James up from work. When I walked in

the door several associates at the store could tell something was up. I waddled back to camping and I told him I was having contractions steadily for the past two hours every 20 minutes.... I know I had a long way to go (which is a major understatement) but I wanted James to be informed about what was going on. We talked after we got back home and we decided to send him to work at Home Depot and I would keep him up to date about what’s going on. I also contacted my doula Cherina to let her know what was going on. I continued to have contractions all evening and they steadily got closer together. They moved to every 10 minutes at about 9pm and I told Cherina I was going to get James from work early so he was there to help me. James called on break a few minutes later and I told him I needed to come get him. He said okay and told management I was in labor and he had to leave. Let me tell you.... trying to drive a standard vehicle while have contractions is HARD WORK, but I still had a lot of hard work ahead of me. At midnight my contractions were about 7-8 minutes apart and Cherina asked if I was ready for her to head over. I said yes and she was there shortly after that. I labored all night with my contractions getting closer together.

 

At 5:30 Cherina called in the student midwife Annabelle because my contractions were every 4-6 minutes lasting a minute long. She checked me but I had asked them not to tell me where I was dilated to. Later on they told me I was at a 4 and 60% effaced. My midwife had a funeral that day so they called another midwife to come help me.... that made me nervous and in my nervousness my labor stalled..... thus began a two day trial that looking back, I would do all over again.

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All day Friday March 10th I had contractions... they were sporadic and ineffective. They would go back to every 20 minutes then they would space out to every 30 and then I would have 2-3 contractions in a 20 minute time span... it was annoying and it was painful. I couldn’t get really good sleep because the contractions would wake me up. Later that morning my midwife suggested I call chiropractor Jannell Zimmerman and ask her if she could come over. That afternoon Dr Jannell Zimmerman came over to the house and adjusted me to try and get my body to relax and in a more aligned position to help my body go into effective labor so I could deliver. It worked a little but again I went all night long with contractions sporadic and ineffective.

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At 8:30am on March 11th my midwives, Faith, Annabelle and Cienna along with Cherina and Dr

Zimmerman came over to the house to talk to me and come up with a plan. By that time I was very emotional and very tired so I told them I just wanted my contractions to stop or I wanted to just deliver my baby. I’ll be honest. I was seriously contemplating switching to the hospital so they could deliver Wyatt because I felt like my labor was never going to end. Jannell looked at me and told me I could have the birth I wanted, I just needed to calm down, relax and try and let my body do what it was made to do. She adjusted me and then we decided to try and slow my contractions or stop them if possible and try to rest and do some adjustments and positioning to try and get the baby in a better position. What Wyatt had done(we believe) is turn his head so that he was looking at my hip bone. With his head in that position his fontanel wasn’t in the right places to press on my cervix to dilate at all.Wyatt’s Birth

So I got in the bath with lavender Epsom salts and some lavender and Roman Chamomile EOs and I just relaxed and soaked. It really helped me calm down and in a way just float. I was having contractions but they were way slowed down at that point. I got out of the bath and laid down to try and nap at about 10:30am.

 

At about 1:30 my contractions picked back up again so Cherina suggested we do some side-lying hip releases (google it if you need to, it’s really interesting). That position is what forced Wyatt to turn his head back the appropriate way and my labor started again. At 3pm my water broke and my contractions started getting some what stronger. This whole time I was laying on my side in bed. It was the most comfortable position for me to be in. When my contractions started double peaking Cherina called the midwives to come back over. They got there about 4:45pm and when checked I was dilated to a 7 and 80% effaced. I continued to lay in bed, and just focus on breathing and relaxing my body. At this point, Hayden was helping to fill the birth pool with water while Hailey, James and Cherina where rubbing my arm or back, helping put blankets on me when I was cold or throw them off because I was hot. At 6 I got up to go to the bathroom and my contractions on the toilet were really really strong. When I got back to the bed I switched to laying on my left side instead of my right. My contractions were pretty strong and that is when I discovered the wonderful essential oil called Clary Sage! We put a drop or two on a cotton ball and put it under my nose so when I would breathe in I would smell it. Talk about calm and relaxing!!! I was so out of it! It did amazing things to help me focus! At 7pm I was checked and dilated to a 9 and 90% effaced. At

7:05 I was feeling like I needed to push.... I kept calling it pushy though. 😂 😂 😂 😂 I told them I really wanted to get into the water... my midwife said, “As soon as this contraction is over you can get in.” to which I replied, “it’s never going to end!!!” Right after that my contraction stopped and I got up as fast as possible considering I was about to deliver a baby and got my booty DOWN MY STAIRS.... and into the water. Now I must admit... it was in no way graceful, I probably looked quite ridiculous but I was determined I was getting in the birth pool. As I was going down the stairs I had Cherina in front of me with gloves on... Annabelle behind me, also with gloves on and I just didn’t comprehend why at the time. A couple days later I asked why they were wearing gloves and they

told me they thought I was going to deliver on the stairs... ON THE STAIRS!!!!! 😱 😱 😱 😱 😱 😱 I just gotta say, that thought NEVER occurred to me! Around 7:15 pm I started pushing in the pool and at 7:23 on Saturday March 11th 2017 James guided by my midwives helped me deliver our beautiful baby boy Wyatt James. I had finally gotten the birth I always wanted and now.... I want another LOL!

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It’s taken a year to compile my birth story... if you read it all the way through... THANKS! It is something that is still so amazing to me. I feel so empowered by Wyatt’s birth and I’m thrilled that I got to have my water birth. Yes it might have been long and at times I DEFINITELY wanted to give up.... but God is amazing and he knew how it was supposed to go the whole time. I am sometimes speechless when I think back on that day. Wyatt has grown into the most amazing, precious boy and I am so thankful that I get to be his mom!

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Happy FIRST birthday my baby boy! Mama loves you to the moon and back again!