The birth of Elizabeth Mary Ann (posted late, but better than never) I wrote this earlier, just posting it now.
Six weeks have passed since the beautiful birth of my youngest daughter, Elizabeth Mary Anne Landis, born Dec 20, 2009. She arrived a little early to our suprise and gave us a little worry just to keep us on our toes... here’s her story.
On the evening of Dec 19 Dave, Ben, Isaiah and myself relaxed with a late night movie after the young ones drifted off to sleep. As far as movies go it was good, but I did fall asleep on the couch because of the hour. I woke up a the end of the movie around 1:00 AM, and proceeded to use the bathroom as pregnant women often do. An odd thing happened. I won’t go into detail, but suffice it to say that I felt like my water was leaking. I was uncertain, but about 5 minutes later I went to the bathroom again and had the same feeling. I called Jeanie, my midwife, and we talked. I was uncertain because I was still 4 weeks away from my due date of Jan 15, so I didn’t think this could be happening. We decided the best thing for me to do, would be to get some sleep just in case something did happen, I would be somewhat rested.
Ya right. Do you know how hard it is to fall asleep with the anxiety of a looming labor and delivery in the air, much less an early one? Well I think I did sleep some. I vaguely remember about 8 contractions in my half sleep, when I awoke at 3:00 AM to use the bathroom again, my water broke more. I now thought that labor was certain. I called Jeanie again. My biggest worry was deciding on going to a hospital or staying home to birth. Usually Jeanie doesn’t allow a birth at home until 37 weeks, and I was at 36. She said the biggest worry would be if the baby needed oxygen. She said she has some, but if the baby looked like she was having trouble breathing we would call for a transport to the hospital and the baby would probably need oxygen for a couple hours or up to a couple days. Since it would be a problem that would be easily handled with the aid of her oxygen I felt more peaceful about staying home. I really didn’t want to go to the hospital. I am much more peaceful at home. That decided, we then talked about when she would come, but since my contractions were mild and I had been sleeping through them, I decided to have her wait to come.
I tried to sleep more, but I get so worried and anxious about the pain of labor that I just couldn’t sleep. Dave and I mostly just laid in the dark, talked once in a while, and called a few people to ask them to pray. Contractions were still light and about 15 minutes apart. Then around 4:00, I had 3 hard contractions right on top of each other. Jeanie was called immediately. Come fast, was the order!
Dave began to fill the bathtub for me and came to my side at the bed for each contraction. In between, he awoke Regina and Clare - who didn’t believe Dave - they thought he was joking, mostly because I was a month early, and some because they just watched “Father of the Bride 2” which was about two baby deliveries, so they thought Dave was teasing. But they soon believed him and they came to my aid as well. After a couple hard contractions I had a strong sense of wanting to get OUT of my bed and into the warm water. Dave said it was ready so I practically ran (as much as a woman in labor with a walker can run) to the bathroom to get in the tub. But then he said it was too hot, so I sat on the floor and waited. Another awful contraction. I thought I’d have the baby right there. It scared me. Moments later I sank into the warm bath waters and relaxed. Heavenly. Untill the next contraction anyway.
Earlier, when Dave had made a few calls for prayer requests, he texted Fr. Corey to pray for me. He actually answered. Not like him, especially at 4:00 in the morning! When he answered I had a sudden strong feeling to demand that he go to adoration for me at that exact moment and stay till the baby was born. He texted back, “Now?” Dave texted back, “Yes - that’s what she insists.” He agreed, reluctantly, but he did :-) Now, I asked Regina to run downstairs and get the picture of the Eucharist for me and place it where I can see it. It was right in front of me during the last hour or so of labor. Each time I looked upon it I was reminded that a real person was in front of the Real Presence on my behalf at that moment. It was beyond comforting!
At this point my contractions were stronger and Jeanie and Melissa, her assistant, were still not to my house. I was beginning to worry. The contractions were closer and harder, but I was just focusing on that picture of the Blessed Sacrament before me and praying. At one point I sat back and relaxed between contractions and Dave rubbed my back. It felt soooo good. I remember thinking how different this labor was from William’s labor, and how I had enough energy for it this time. That made me happy.
Finally Jeanie arrived and started setting out her supplies right away. Melissa arrived just a few minutes after her. I had begun to feel like pushing so they arrived just in time. I don’t know why I felt this way, but I felt the urge to speak to Elizabeth at that moment. I told her to get ready and to get into position. I arched a little and suddenly it seemed like I felt her roll into position. It was the weirdest feeling. Then another contraction occurred and she started coming down! She came out in one relatively easy push. Jeannie grabbed her and I turned around and scooped my newborn into my arms and onto my chest. She was so small! I worried a bit about that, but Jeannie assured me that she wasn’t too small. Breathing was the biggest issue at that point, so both midwives rubbed Elizabeth vigorously to get her lungs going. Her breathing was great and her lungs were very clear, she was just fine.
I still couldn’t believe how small she was though. I never had a baby this small. Well I guess Clare was 7# 3oz but she didn’t SEEM this small. Maybe I only felt this way because she was early and I was concerned, but my LAST daughter was 9# 4oz!!! Elizabeth is 6 weeks old and she is just starting to look like Maggie’s baby pictures.
So after a few minutes to take a breather after birthing Elizabeth, we made our way back to the bed to cuddle up and nurse. Oh how I love that brand new baby nursing experience. I love the bonding it creates. Then I took a break to eat breakfast - Dave makes the BEST breakfasts after I have a baby - Eggs, sausage, homemade hash browns... a big plate of them, then seconds!
Jeannie and Melissa then do a throughout newborn exam on Elizabeth. I just wanted to know what her weight was! My girls, Regina and Clare LOVE to be involved, so of course they are right in there with the midwives helping where they can. During her newborn exam, it was noticed that Elizabeth’s umbilical cord was somewhat herniated. This was something to be concerned about so we called in to our family doctor. The doctor on call said it probably wasn’t something that needed emergency care at that moment, but to bring her in within a couple of days. We took the first appointment available which was Tuesday.
As they were continuing with the newborn exam, I became very light-headed, even though I was just sitting. They came and checked me and I was starting to clot and hemorrhage. Jeanne had to break up a large clot and get it out and then give me a shot of pitocin to help with the uterine contracting. I am glad that she is able to carry some of those low level emergency supplies like oxygen and pitocin for times such as this. Within a half hour or so the bleeding was down enough that she was not worried about me any longer, but she did say that this border-lined on being called a bad hemorrhage.
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