Born December 28th at 12:57 am 7 lbs. 13 ozs, 20 inches

Kathryn was due on the 31st of December. On the morning of the 27th I started having very minor contractions at around 8:30. Since her due date was so close, I thought maybe this might be real labor. I had an appointment with my midwife, Lisa, at 11:30 where she said I was 2 cm dialated, but the baby was still not engaged. I went home and continued my day all the while the contractions remained at about 10 minutes apart. At around 8 pm, they moved to 7 minutes apart and about 45 seconds long, getting slightly more uncomfortable. I talked to my parents that afternoon and they decided they would go ahead and make the 6 hour trip from Ohio just in case. Once our boys were in bed, Rick and I settled in to try and get some rest for the evening, but by 9:30 I was not able to rest with the contractions as they had become 4 minutes apart lasting at least a minute. My parents arrived at 10:30 which was perfect since my dad could stay home with the boys and my mom could be with us. My plan and hope was to be able to labor at home as long as I could and only spend a minimal time laboring at the hospital. We checked in with Lisa at 11:15 who felt that labor was progressing to the point that I should go to the hospital. Once we arrived, I was checked in to the most perfect birthing suite complete with a queen sized bed instead of a standard hospital bed. Lisa checked my progress at 11:45 and I was 9 cm, 100% effaced. I couldn’t have been more relieved and happy to have made it that far at home! The next hour was difficult labor, but with the help and support of Rick and my mother, and laboring between the queen sized bed and the birthing stool, I felt completely in control of how I was laboring. Lisa and the nurses could not have been more supportive of how I was laboring and basically followed my lead in whatever I did. I was said to be complete at 12:48 am. I pushed with the contractions on a birthing stool, held up by my husband. After 9 minutes of pushing, our beautiful daughter was laid on my chest. It was the most amazing moment and being so clear of any medication I can fully re-live and focus on every moment of this birth. Having Rick support me the way he did really made me feel we were part of a team in this birth. Since the birthing tub in the room was full of water and my mother and Rick were able to give her a bath in the most relaxed and peaceful environment you could ever imagine, and then she nursed like she’d been doing it forever. Rick and I were able to stay together for the night in the queen sized bed with our daughter between us. As much as I wanted a home birth, I can’t imagine anything could have been more perfect than what we experienced.

Every aspect of this journey has been a surprise to us, from the pregnancy to the announcement that it was a daughter, to the most perfect birth I could have imagined for myself. It only shows me that I have very little control of things in my life and that there is a bigger plan for me that I need to just be open to. If there is anything as close to Heaven on Earth, it has to be the life I am living. I have the honor and privilege of being surrounded by angels in my life everyday in the form of my children and a savior in the form of my husband. Everyday I can’t imagine that I could be any happier or be any luckier, and yet everyday I am proven wrong.