Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Long overdue Birth Story

Our sweet little Jayne Moriah was born Wednesday, November 23, at 12:58 a.m. She weighed about nine pounds and measured 20.5 inches long.


Her birth story is pretty brief. I had stayed home with five of our children who had gotten ill after our week of VBS (coughs, some with fever). I had experienced a few good, low contractions during the day, but at around 9 p.m. they seemed to suddenly get serious. I hurried the children to bed so I could labor quietly.

Hubby got home late, around 10 p.m., and found me relaxing in the tub. He started getting things ready while I got out and got ready for bed. I didn't know how long I had before she would be born, so I thought I might try to get some sleep. We both went to bed and slept from 11 to 12 a.m. I was only half-waking when the contractions came. Midnight was when I could not lie there anymore.


I paced a little, breathed through some contractions as I leaned against the wall, against the bed, on the bed on all fours, once propped up on pillows (hated that - it hurt my back), then went to the bathroom. While sitting on the toilet, my water broke (glorious moment!) and we knew her descent would be fast from that point.

I felt for her head, all wrinkled up. I stood up, and she crowned within a minute or two. Hubby knelt, ready to catch her. I supported her head with my hand, felt the incredible, involuntary urge to push, but tried to hold back just a little so I could ease her out. Just two pushes and her head was born. Another good push for the shoulder, and her body slid out into her daddy's hands!

HalleluYah!


She let out a cry just as she was born. The cord was rather short, so Daniel helped keep her close to my body while I sat down again and got a little situated to hold her. He put a towel over her, and we checked her over, suctioned a little mucus from her mouth and nose. The umbilical cord was pulsing beautifully, so we left it alone to do its job. She was looking around, blinking in the light, and soon started breathing on her own. I put her to breast - not interested yet.

We cleaned her up a bit, and Daniel got her clothes laid out while we waited for the cord to stop pulsing. Pretty soon I felt the placenta coming, so I stood again and he held a bowl under me to catch the placenta. By then, of course, the cord was not needed, so he clamped it about two inches from the baby and cut it with sterilized scissors we had ready.

I held her while he checked the placenta, which was whole and looked good. He also took note of my blood loss. Then he took her to clean her up and dress her, while I cleaned up in the birth pool. (I didn't labor in it much this time, but it still came in handy! No hot water in our upstairs bathroom.) It felt good to settle into bed to nurse our new little one, who was more than happy to latch on this time.

We are so excited and blessed that the Lord allowed us another healthy home birth and has given us this beautiful gift of a healthy baby! Thank You, Abba!

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am so glad that everything passed so well. So, are you obligated to check a doctor? This kind of birth is not allowed in my country. Some women give birth like that but only in unusual circumstance.

Unknown said...

Thank you, Natasa! We have not taken the baby to a doctor. She is evidently quite healthy and normal, thank the Lord! :)

Why is home birth "not allowed" in your country? How do they keep women from doing it?

Tori Leslie said...

Congrats Tammy. This was a very interesting post. I loved having Josh and Hannah at home and would do it again in a second.
She's lovely!

Daniel and Jaynee Lockwood and Family said...

She's beautiful! And I'm especially partial to her first name :-) Praising the Lord with you!

sarah said...

Congratulations!
Leah is expecting her second blessing from God, I'll be sure she reads this, it will be encouraging to her.
I read this in amazement- And glorify God for the help and wisdom He gave you both!
love in Him,
Sarah

Tammy said...

Wow! You are lucky and blessed that you are able to do that with no complications and all. It is becoming more common to have babies at home and/or with a midwife.

Elizabeth said...

Many congratulations to you Sis Tammy and also to Bro Daniel. She is truly beautiful!! Such a blessing.

What does this bring your boy/girl count to now?

Unknown said...

Thank you, Tori and Jaynee!

Sarah, I pray that all goes well with Leah and her new little one. Congratulations!

Tammy, I do consider it a great blessing to be able to give birth at home. The birth before this one, I did have some excess bleeding afterwards and I almost had to go to the hospital. This time we were better prepared, and I had been taking some herbs to help with that. Things went MUCH better this time! Praise the Lord!

Thanks, Elizabeth! We now have five girls, three boys. We win. ;o)

DariLolis said...

Thank YOU, our LORD, for the wonderful miracle of life!

What a delightful story, dear Tammy! I was longing to read it. Thank you for sharing these sublime moments of your life.

Last night I saw the precious pictures of Baby Russell's home birth, and now I read your story and see pictures of your beautiful baby girl. What a wonderful double blessing!!!

Baby Jane Moriah is so precious and very sweet.
May our Lord give you and your faithful husband all what you need to teach her about the true life that only is found in a personal relationship with our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Congratulations to all of you!!! I will keep praying for your beautiful family.

TO GOD BE ALL THE GLORY!!!

In Christ alone,
Hermana Lolita

DariLolis said...

I'm sorry for misspelling your little baby girl's name. I truly meant to write:

Baby JAYNE MORIAH is so precious and very sweet.

God bless you,
Lolita

Unknown said...

Ja ja, no tenga pena, amiga mía. :o)

I saw the Russell's pictures, too. What a precious time for them! Praise the Lord!

DariLolis said...

And I also want to thank you for your prayers for the Russell Family.

Sincerely,
Sis. Lolita

Chana said...

I just love her name and she is just so precious! Praise the Lord for her safe arrival! Congrats :o)

Mom of Many Blessings said...

What a wonderful story. I'm new to reading your blog, but I'm so glad I came across it. I'm expecting my first at the end of September and went last weekend to a "delivery class." They showed us about five videos of births where the women labored for hours on end in agony. It is very encouraging to hear that not everyone is like that because I've always held firm that the reason birth is like that is due to a lot of fear and anxiety on the part of the mother. Would you say that you had an easier time because you relaxed? Have all your births been this easy?

Thank you for sharing your story. God Bless You!

Unknown said...

Hello, MOMB. :o) I can personally testify that not every labour goes on and on forever, and not every labour is agony, as is usually depicted in the movies and by hospital birth class videos. You are right about fear and anxiety making birth more difficult. The mama's confidence in God and that He created her body to perform the task at hand will help her to focus and relax, not trying to make things happen, but allowing them to happen.

Not all of my births were this easy. I think one reason why is because I've learned more about myself in labour each time, and another reason is physical - I've simply had several babies, and my body seems to know just what to do. :o)

God bless you, especially as you prepare for your new little one.

Mom of Many Blessings said...

Thank you for your sweet comment on my blog and answering my questions I left here!

I am so happy that you confirmed my feelings on labor because I have been having this feeling from the start that as long as I don't fear the delivery and trust in God I will be fine...he won't give me more than I can bear. I'm very committed to having a natural birth, and I hope to succeed fully in that even though I will be at a hospital due to my past medical history.

I'm slowly but surely making my way through the rest of your blog posts each morning, and they are such a blessing to my heart and encouraging. Take care and God Bless!