And then there were 3... The birth story of Emery Lynn Spotz

I still can not believe that I am a mom. It has been just a crazy ride and I love it! I love everything about being a mom. Even though most days I am a Mombie because of the lack of sleep, I wouldnt trade it for anything. Before getting pregnant with Emery I had had two miscarriages. They were heartbreaking. I remember thinking that I would NEVER have a baby. I thought maybe I didnt deserve to be a mom. Maybe God thought I couldnt handle it or that I wouldnt be a good mom. Being a mom was something that I had always wanted to be. I hated having jobs and working. I just wanted to be a stay at home mom. And now that I have Emery I am living my dream of being a stay at home mom. But it isnt near as easy as I thought that it would be! It is the hardest thing I have ever done. That being said, it is also the BEST and most rewarding thing I will ever do. I love being a mom. And I love being Emerys mom. She is such a sweet baby! I'll write more about her in another post.. probably on another day. For now I will tell about how she made it into this world, her birth story. Also known as, The Day My Life Was Forever Changed.

I wrote this a few days after she was born... SO GLAD that I had! It was so fun to go back and read.

The All Natural Birth Story of Emery Lynn Spotz
(Yes I gave birth to her naturally in a birthing center, and had a midwife)

April 28th- That night I was having really strong Braxton Hicks contractions and they were pretty regular. We were watching a movie and it got to the point where I was uncomfortable to just keep sitting so I told Caleb lets just go to bed. We got in bed and I remember him saying "I hope you have her tonight!" I said "Well dont hope too hard." We just laughed and went to bed. I was due May 3rd and was convinced that she'd come late. but little did I know...

April 29th-
 4:30am I got up to go pee, like usual. After I got back in bed and tried to fall back to sleep I started feeling sharp cramps, then felt a sharp jab, literally felt like she poked my cervix! It kinda hurt. Then I felt a gush of fluid. I woke Caleb up and told him I think I either peed the bed or my water broke. He thought I just peed the bed! I told him I had just gone to the bathroom. So we got up and I had another huge gush of fluid stream out! Yup, my water broke!

5 am- I called my midwife told her my water broke, she said to try to go back to sleep and go about my day as normal as possible. She said it could take hours before contractions would start. But not for me, as soon as I hung up the phone they started. And were very regular.

7:30am- I couldnt "sleep" anymore. Every time I moved another gush of water would come out and I had already soaked through a few towels. And the contractions were starting to be annoying and getting uncomfortable. So I just got up, showered, started cleaning our house and packing the bags.. yes I hadnt packed the bags until then! Caleb got up then too and ran our dog Luxi to his parents house.

12pm-My midwife called me to see how I was, I told her contractions were 3-5 min apart but still bearable. She told me to come in soon to get checked and so they could listen to the baby. We were still cleaning our place up to make it nice for when we brought the baby home.. and when I say "we" I mean Caleb cleaned most of it and I sat eating the three grilled cheese sandwiches that he made me.. After every thing was clean and vacuumed we decided to head in. We were sooo excited! The car ride definitely was super uncomfortable and made the contractions feel 10x worse.

Caleb wouldnt stop taking pictures while we were cleaning and getting things ready before we left.. HOLY huge belly!, and puffy face.. and Calebs clothes were the only things that fit me....

1:30pm-We arrived at the Birthing Center, They checked the baby.. everything looked good, my midwifes assistant checked me.. said I was at a 6! I was thrilled! I thought I was doing SO good handling the pain of the contractions. I continued to labor.. thinking I'd have her pretty soonish..

 4:30pm- My midwife checked me this time... Said I was only at a 4 not at a 6. NOT what I was expecting! UGH! So Caleb went and got us food and I continued just laboring, and tried watching The Emperors New Groove, but didnt get very far into it. The contractions were getting stronger and walking around seemed to help me more than anything.

Laboring in the bed, listening to music...

7 pm- They checked me again, I was only at a 5. So the progress was SLOWWW. they told me to try and get some rest between contractions. so I laid down on my side.. had a contraction.. BAD position! Hated it. I cried a little. (I hated that I had cried because I told myself that I wouldnt. But it WAS only for a second... and that was the only time that I did through out the whole process so I am still proud of myself) They then tried to put me in the tub. I loved it! It really helped with the contractions, Every time I had one Caleb would pour water on my belly and it helped SO much. Only... It slowed down my progress so they told me to get out. We were in there for over an hour and by the time I got out Calebs arm was pretty much dead. What a great husband I have! I wanted to stay in there and do a water birth but that didnt happen. When I got out it was SO painful to walk or do anything. I was just trying to stay focused and positive.
 
10pm- Another check.. NOW at a 6. Not what any of us wanted to hear! They had me try different positions and switch every half hour. It was starting to get SOOO VERY painful! I had been in active labor for most of the day but the reason my progress was so slow was because my baby was facing posterior. So those complications made it even MORE painful and difficult. Caleb was exhausted at this point and was trying his hardest to stay awake and help me.

12am- Finally they told Caleb to go take a break, eat, shower, sleep or do whatever. They had called in a doula to come help me out. She was awesome!

After she got there I have no idea what the time was. They checked me and I was at a 9! But wouldnt progress any more. My baby was posterior and my cervix was turned so that her head wouldnt even be able to fit through it. They were having me push with the contractions but it didnt work. Finally my midwife had to get up in there and with her fingers try to flip the cervix over the babys head when I was having the contractions. SOOO PAINFUL!! Contractions were bad enough.. having her in there was too much. After quite a few contractions and still no progress she then told me if we cant get it in the next few contractions then I would have to be taken to the hospital and would probably end up having a c section. TERRIFYING. BUT we tried a couple more times and I was determind and she was able to get it over the babys head! I then asked if it was pushing time.. they had to try one more thing. Turning the baby.. she got up in there and AHHHHH whatever she did was the WORST pain I had ever felt. I screamed a scream that I have never done before (and hope to never feel that kind of pain again) and Caleb told me after he actually thought he might lose me at that moment. But after that she said it was time to push. We made good progress pushing, until my perineum (sorry tmi) wouldnt stretch more any more in the amount of time they wanted, they checked the baby and she said we need to get her out. NOW. She was still posterior and had been crowning for a bit. She had to give me an episiotomy since it wouldnt tear or stretch fast enough. It wasnt bad at all. After that I pushed her head out in the next couple contractions. After I pushed the head out I thought that I was done.. nope.. KEEP PUSHING we NEED to get this baby out NOW they said.. so I pushed the rest out without a contraction. I was so amazed in that moment that I DID IT! I was waiting for someone to say something to me, like you did it, or congrats.. no one did, I then sat up and saw my baby, she was BLUE and her hands and feet were white. Her cord had been wrapped twice around her neck. And she wasnt breathing. My heart stopped as I stared at my tiny little fresh out of the womb baby. My midwife was trying to get her to breathe, her assistant went to get the oxygen, they gave her two puffs, cleared out her nose and lungs, did a few more things to her then started slapping her feet to get her to cry or scream, IT WORKED!!! When I sat up and saw her for the first time I was terrified. I looked at Caleb and he was terrified. He had tears in his eyes and thought he was going to lose her.  But I saw her flick her eyes open real fast and I knew then that she would be okay. No one else saw her open her eyes but me. And then they got her going and she was okay. SHE WAS PERFECT!!! They quickly put her on my chest and I just kissed and loved on her not even caring that she had JUST come out of my body..  We did skin to skin for about an hour, then tried feeding, She latched on like a champ! She did so good! My midwife said that if we were to have gone to the hospital she would've ended up in the NICU. And I wouldve ended up with a csection. I am SO THANKFUL that I was able to push through it and not end up at the hospital and that my midwife is amazing and has the knowledge and skill that saved my little Emery!




I ended up having her at 3:32 in the morning on April 30th. After we did skin to skin they took her to measure and weigh her and clean her up. While they were doing all that my midwife helped me to the shower and I showered off and when I came back out Caleb was holding her so of course I wanted to take a picture. As I am taking them they all tell me to stop and sit down and relax. I was on a natural high. I couldnt relax, I was a new mom and my dream had finally come true. :) We only slept for a few hours before we got ready to go home.

People have asked if I plan on doing it natural again... ABSOLUTELY I will. I hope that next time I wont have all the complications.. posterior baby.. turned cervix.. and all that. But my midwife is amazing and I trust her. My experience was VERY difficult, long, crazy, and PAINFUL. But It was absolutely AMAZING and beautiful. I think back now and it was a total out of the body experience. It doesnt scare me for my future labors.. it gets me more prepared! It was the longest most difficult but the most beautiful best day of my life! :)
 

First time holding Emery

7 lbs 15.5 ounces (8lbs) 20 inches long of pure perfection! :)

Caleb and Emery doing skin to skin

I dont know how to rotate it... but she is perfect.

The next morning... which was really only hours after I had her. And I still look so puffy.

 More posts to come about our life with Emery!.... another time, another day.