Well I have set down to type this out several times, but just could not. The blessings of the Lord have just overflowed from beginning to the end of this birth experience and the best part was not only did I get the blessing of a new little one, I got a great friend and midwife.
I guess my birth story actually started with Bethany’s. After having her come via c-section because of being breech, but not just that it was being in transition with her and not being able to push for so long and then the c-section itself, I was scared. Could I handle the pain? When I was pregnant with Isaac I would dream about her birth and wake up shaking. I could think about it, and still feel those pains that I had long since forgotten with the others. So this pregnancy was spent in a lot of prayer and fighting fear or better yet the author of fear. It was a growing experience.
Toward the end of my pregnancy I had several nights of contractions that were crampy, but that did nothing. In fact, twice we called the midwife only to have her leave after midnight with no baby. So I prayed some more. I asked the Lord to give me a sure sign that this baby was coming otherwise I was not calling the midwife and Gary would have to deliver. Although he has delivered many calves, I preferred to have the midwife here ;-D.
On the morning of July 2, I woke at about five to go to the restroom and upon wiping noticed a bit of blood(my sign that I asked for). I had no contractions. I came to the living room and sat down. I was shaking, so I prayed and called the midwife. She told me to call her back when things started happening and she would get ready. It was finally happening. I was excited and yet nervous. After I hung up I had my first two contractions. It was 5:15. They were five minutes apart. This concerned me as I have had fast labors in the past, so I called the midwife right back. She was on her way. Gary started filling the pool. I was actually looking forward to the pool and I bet no one knew that hahaha. Both times that we called the midwife that was the first thing I told Gary, “Get the pool ready, when it is time I don’t wanna have to wait!”
In the meantime I walked and stayed on my hands and knees when I tired of walking. They began to hurt more and I could feel myself getting scared so we called the midwife to see if I could get into the pool. She said yes, but that it’s possible that it will speed things up and she might not make it. She was not far away, but I did not want to take any chances of her not being here so I waited. Becca and Leah were great. They fixed breakfast, walked with me, talked to me(when I was not having a contraction) and prayed for mama.
As the contractions increased and hurt more I found that if I focused on God and praying and not the contractions, they did not hurt. I don’t remember a whole lot of who I prayed for except for Brian and Sandy who were both having some medical issues that they could not find a cause for. Sandy found out a month later that hers had been caused by a recent outbreak Fifths Disease and only after a rheumatoid doctor ordered blood tests. It was a total act of God as to how it came to be that they got the answer. Meanwhile, I was hurting enough that I did not feel like walking so I was up on my hands and knees with my head laying on the bed.

A little funny here, both times that I had called the midwife this is the position that I liked best. Of course when you are in labor there is no need for panties. Bethany saw this and told me with the midwife standing behind her “Mama jou need to get jou panties on. The midwife’s gonna see jou butt!” This was said with her face right at mine. It was hilarious.
The midwife arrived and did a quick check on the baby and me. When she palpated the baby she found that the baby was breech. During the night I remembered waking briefly and feeling light hits on the left of my tummy and harder ones on the right and then I dozed right back off to sleep. I immediately began to feel fear creep in. I got back up on my hands and knees again and started praying and rebuking Satan and the spirit of fear that I was feeling. I asked the midwife about her previous breech deliveries what her thoughts were and she said that her last one the woman had to wait 45 minutes after feeling the urge to push before she could push. We discussed a couple of options one was having the baby at home or calling the Dr and seeing if he would allow me to try a vbac at the hospital possibly under an epidural. We prayed some more and asked God what we should do and to give us peace. This was my third breech baby. The first two that were breech were both c-sections. Gary, the midwife and I talked.
I knew that when I hit transition was when fear is at its worst for me. So much so that I ask for an epidural, which to me is a scary procedure. Once I have the urge to push it is very hard if not impossible for me to stop pushing. This was the part that was so traumatic to me with Bethany’s birth. I remember being on the operating table and trying so hard not to push that I would raise my bottom up off of the table and squeezing my legs together to keep her off of my cervix so that I could keep from pushing . We talked some more about calling Dr D and I just felt a total peace about doing that. I told Gary to make the call. I remember him calling and while waiting for him to call back I told Gary that if we were going let’s go ahead and head that way and then when he calls we’ll be that much closer in case these pick up and get worse. I did not want to deliver in the suburban, nor did I want to have a lot of pushing type contractions on the way to the hospital. Just before we left Dr. D called and agreed to at least check me.
Gary readied the suburban and I made a bee-line for it. Gary was concerned that I had no panties on and I was not in the best position for modesty. I was in the back seat, again with my fanny in the air and my head on the seat. Thank goodness for tinted windows. The midwife was right behind us. No one got to eat the breakfast that Rebecca had fixed. On the way to the hospital I prayed that I would have very few contractions or none. I believe I had three until two lights before the hospital when I started having them close together and felt the urge to push. I put my head on the floor trying to keep baby off of my cervix so that I did not feel the urge to push and I told Gary to run the lights and put on his hazards. Those were the longest lights ever.
I got out at the door of the emergency room and the lady wanted me to sit in a wheel chair. I looked at that thing trying to figure how I could get in and get my head lower than my bottom. I tried to sit backwards and it was a no go. I hate sitting during contractions. I told her to get me a bed lol. She took me to admissions and I told them there was no time this baby was coming and if they didn’t want to deliver it they better get me upstairs. When they found out I had been there before and this was our seventh baby, we took off upstairs.
When I got upstairs the nurses wanted me in the bed. I was having contractions hard and fast and could not move until it passed. Somewhere between the wheelchair and the bed my gown was changed. I finally got in the bed on all fours. The nurses started yelling at me to turn over. I told them no I just needed a c-section the baby was breech and I could not move. I heard them ask Gary what he wanted me to do. At that point I hated to tell them I didn’t care what anybody wanted lol. I finally got turned over and they put that dreaded monitor on my belly.
Dr. D came and found the baby had turned and I was at 8 cm. I remember Dr. D asking how much weight I had gained during this pregnancy and no one could tell him, I thought that was so funny. Here I was in labor and all he wanted to know was how much I had gained. I know now it was because he was concerned with how big the baby was, but the mind does funny things when you are in labor. It is amazing that you can be in so much pain and it is like your mind is a totally separate part of you. All I could say was give me an epidural lol.
They said I was too close and he could break my water and make it better in 10 minutes or not and it be 30 minutes, but first I had to sign the papers saying that I wanted a vbac. I was having a battle in my mind. So they had taken away my epidural and the quickest way to get out of this pain was a c-section so I asked for that lol. Gary and the midwife reminded me that that was not what I wanted and I just needed to sign the papers. So now they were taking away my c-section option too lol. It was funny the way my mind was thinking. So I relented and signed/scribbled on the papers. I started having another contraction and I knew I could not take it on my back so I started to flip over and the nurses started yelling no. I said that could not take it and I flipped over. I heard Dr. D tell them to leave me alone I was okay.
I immediately started to push. I felt my water break. The baby was coming down. For the first time I felt and was aware of the baby moving down the birth canal. I was totally inside myself. I heard no one. I felt the ring of fire and then relief. The baby was born and we had a big boy. Daniel Roger was born at 8:10 weighing in at 9 lb 13 oz and was 22 inches long. So many feelings flooded my heart. It was wonderful! I had had a baby naturally, again.
I had prayed for so many things for this labor. I had an aunt that told me to pray specifically in detail and so I did. I prayed for as pain-free a delivery as possible, God answered this for as long as I kept my focus on him, I felt no pain. I prayed for a vbac and I had Daniel naturally. I prayed for my water not to break until I was ready to push and it broke as I was pushing. It was wonderful to pray during labor and see God move immediately. I remember at one point singing “How Great is Our God,” and just feeling his loving arms around me, totally wrapped in his love. Our poor midwife and Gary, I can’t carry a tune in a bucket on my best day and here I was in labor singing. It has been two months today since giving birth to Daniel and I still cry when I think of the amazing things that God did during this birth.