Baby Number Three

IS HERE!

And still nameless.

Hopefully we'll decide tonight on what she'll be called, but for now, we just call her "Little Sister," or "Little Sissy," as Claire says.

The birth went well--when we finally realized I was in labor. But before that, we weren't sure what was going on. I woke up about 3:30 Tuesday morning and was having a really bad, sharp pain just below my belly button. It would come and go. I thought maybe they were contractions, but it was a very different kind of pain than in my previous labors. Rhett timed them anyway. They were often, but not regular. Some had only two minutes in between, some had up to fifteen minutes. After about an hour of them not going away, I called my midwife. She had been here just the night before and had felt the position of the baby. She said the baby was packed in there tight and maybe I was having some trapped gas or a bowel movement and needed to clear things out to make more room for the baby. So I worked on that for a bit. Made a little progress in both, but it didn't help with the pain. I got in the tub and tried to relax for a bit--which helped a little too. At 5, things settled down and I slept until 6. A little after 6, I woke up to the pain again. It was very painful, and kept coming like contractions would, just still not consistent. I got in the bath again and tried relaxing--still going to the bathroom quite often. Every time, I would notice a little blood and other stuff. We weren't sure, but thought it was maybe my mucus plug (do they really have to call it that???), or a problem. So at about 8:30, we called my midwife again--this time, expressing concern that something might be wrong. She said she'd be right over.

The girls had awaken about 7ish and began noticing I was doing funny things--like getting on my knees and leaning against the couch or the air mattress. I also would bend over and brace myself against the counter, rocking side to side to help with the pain. Summer asked, "Mom, are you doing yoga?" I told her I was. I think they could sense I was in pain (though I tried to hide it so they wouldn't worry). The next time I did it, Summer said, "Claire, Mom's doing yoga. It's okay."

During all this, Rhett was running around trying to comfort me, help the girls, make breakfast and pack a lunch for Blake (who is visiting while going to a work conference in CDA), and take care of himself too. He had been up with me since 3:30, and had never taken a break for himself. What a great guy.

We called our friend to watch the girls for the day. We were getting prepared to head to the hospital in case there was something wrong. Blake left for his conference a little after 8:30, and the midwife showed up a little before 9:00. (She lived 20 minutes away.) Rhett was getting the girls dressed to go to their friends' house when the midwife walked in and checked me to see what was going on. In only a few seconds, she said, "Oh! There's here head." I said, "What?!?" She responded, "You're having a baby." She then asked how long Rhett was going to be gone for, and I told her maybe ten minutes. She said, "He might want to stick around." What!?! I had no idea I was this close to birthing Little Sister. I told Rhett this, and he said our friend was coming to get the girls. As she pulled in a few minutes later, my midwife explained that I had a "lip" (or something like that) where, (as I understood it), the baby's head was pressing against part of my cervix, and I couldn't fully dilate on that side. So every time I had a contraction or the baby moved, it would pinch and hurt excruciatingly! Anyway, Brenda arrived, the girls gave me loves, and then headed out the door.

Finally, I could relax. I had been so stressed before this--not knowing if I was actually in labor, thinking something might be wrong, worrying about taking care of the girls, and trying to be a good host to Blake. My midwife put me on my left side and raised my right leg in the air. This helped the baby move away from the cervix. She said once the baby moved, I would start to have regular contractions. And I did. Just then (at 9:00) I started having regular contractions. At 9:45, my water broke, and at 10:00am, Little Sister pretty much just slid right out! Rhett was bracing me the whole time, so I actually was able to put my hands down and somewhat catch her. She was so slippery! I looked down and there she was, arms starting to flail and a little cry coming out of her. I couldn't believe it. I picked her up and Rhett and I cuddled her. It was amazing.

She weighed 6 pounds and measured 21 inches. All morning we kept saying, "I can't believe it! Here she is! She surprised us! We just had a baby!" We were excited to call and tell everyone because we knew everyone would be as surprised as we were.

We were also excited to see how the girls would react. I'd checked out a few picture books on "The New Baby" and "What's in Mommy's Tummy"--stuff like that. So we'd been trying to prepare the girls. We were anxious to see how they would react. But we enjoyed the day together, just us three. At about 3, Rhett went and got the girls. I sat on the bed with Little Sister and waited for them to come in. They walked in the door and I heard Claire say, "Sissy . . . Sissy . . . where go? Where go?" I could tell she was wandering around the front room trying to find the baby. Rhett herded them into the bathroom to wash their hands, and then they came in to meet her. Here's what happened: (I've been trying since yesterday to post this clip. I finally had to split it and save it as a lower quality. Sorry it's a bit blurry!)

I tore just a little, but not enough for stitching, and I've bled less this time than with my first two. I actually feel really good, except for a little tenderness down below.

Little Sister slept well through her first night (from 9 until 3) and has latched on well to feed. It does look like she might need her tongue clipped too, though she isn't as bad as Claire was.

We love her so much and are so excited she has finally joined us!