Poppy is just over 48 hours old now and I am sitting on my couch while she lays asleep on my shoulder and Alomae is upstairs asleep. It is incredibly quiet in my house and the perfect time to write down Poppy's birth story...
it's a quick one...
Wednesday October 12th was just another day of being pregnant! I feel like the only change that day was the
Peace I felt from fully surrendering my pregnancy as written about
here. It's funny how once we surrender (and I mean
really surrender) God sometimes just lets us have what we need!
I had been having Braxton Hicks contractions (just tightening, no pattern or pain) but nothing note worthy off and on for days. At around 6pm Andy left for SEVEN which is 7 weeks of prayer and fasting for the city of Portland that our church puts on every year. I joked as he walked out the door "Pray a new baby is born in portland tonight!" He looked at me like I was a little nuts and continued on his way!
I settled in on the couch with Alomae and decided to do the new iphone update. I plugged my phone in and let it do it's thing for the next hour or so... with 10 minutes left until I could use my phone, at 7:30pm my water broke! I could not help but laugh as I stood in my living room doing a little dance as I figured out where to go or what to do since my phone could not call out! Alomae just looked at me and smiled, not having a clue what was going on!
at 7:40pm I was able to unplug my phone and I ran upstairs to the bathroom where I made my calls.
call 1: to my sister who lives 3 hours away and would need to make the drive down!
call 2: to Andy
call 3: to Adele my midwife
My sister hit the road, Andy headed home, and Adele told me to call her when I wanted her to come!
At 8:15pm (ish) Andy arrived home and at about the same time my first contractions began. Nothing major and I could still talk through them as I walked around upstairs and made sure everything was ready and that Alomae would be okay (when I was in labor with Alomae my contractions were so intense that I could not focus or think for about 3.5 hours so I wanted to know everyone was good if/when I got to that place.)
At 8:20pm Adele and I were texting to try and coordinate when she should come. I told her that my contractions had begun but that I could still focus through them, that they were every few minutes and that I was fine! Her text back was "I am just going to come to you!" She headed to the birth center to pick up a better working doppler and arrived just as the clock turned 9:00pm.
during this time I just sat in my little bathtub (I thought it was way too soon to fill up the birth tub!) listening to my playlist of Patty griffin, Eastmountainsouth, & Rosie Thomas ("wedding day" was playing when Poppy was born!) and organized the folders on my iphone that the update had messed up (I did this until about 15 min before Poppy was born- I really did not believe I was in very active labor!) I would have a contraction, blow through it and then pick up my phone and be on my way until the next one came! Silly, i know!
While this was going on, (around 9:10pm now) Andy was trying to put Alomae to sleep but she knew something was up and was too excited to lay down! So out she came and hung out by the tub by me. Adele and Andy decided to hook up the hose and fill up my tub! But that was not going to work! We live in an old downtown NW apt and the sink was too old and could not handle the pressure so it instantly began to leak from the bottom! So the tiny bathtub it was...
Little did we know I would not be spending much more time in my tub! About 5 min later I began to feel pressure and told them I think she is coming! One uncontrollable push later Poppy's head was out and a minute after that our sweet baby was born at 9:18pm (1 hour after the first contraction began!)
It was crazy and I was laughing! I could not believe Poppy was already here and that my birth really happened like that!
Andy called my sister who was driving from Seattle to say "we have a baby!" I don't think she quite believed it until Poppy gave out her first cry for her to hear!
That very cry was the only part that scared Alomae, and she too began to cry! I asked her if she wanted to get into the tub with Poppy and I and she lit up and was happy as can be after that! (before you think gross, the water was still very clean because I did not birth my placenta for another hour, in which Alomae was not in the tub!) My second midwife Jennifer arrived about 20 minutes after the birth and both her and Adele were gone by 11:00pm!
it was fast, it was crazy, it was amazing! truly truly amazing!
I spent hours in the middle of the night unable to sleep from the adrenaline and pure awe of replaying the birth over and over in my head!
I trusted my body and it came through for me! It worked above and beyond what I knew it was capable of and I am so thankful to have such a beautiful experience and memory!
Poppy Grey
8 lbs 2 oz
18.5 inches long
born on 10.12.11
at home in the water at 9:18pm after 1 hour of labor
Andy, Alomae & I are so in love
