The Big Day-August 5, 2012

WARNING: Lots of birth details, but nothing too graphic and lots of pics at the end....

At 4am I woke up with some back pains but just assumed they were from normal pregnancy aches and pains. I stayed in bed till about 5am when I got up to use the bathroom. I then had several back to back kind of intense contractions. I woke Jesse up after they passed and told him I thought I was in labor. I asked him to call my dad and Jimmi and let them know that within the next 24 hours I thought we'd have a baby and they needed to fly out. While he was on the phone with them I had several more stronger contractions back to back. Then they stopped for a bit.

Took this picture between contractions-39 weeks and 2 days, getting ready to go to hospital

I went downstairs to eat some breakfast-labor requires energy and who knows how long the day ahead could be. I also put away some toys, did some dishes, and straightened up the house. Hannah slept in till 7 which is about 45 minutes later than usual-as if God knew we all needed her to have extra sleep that day. During this time I was having contractions between 5-11 minutes apart. They were very irregular and about "medium" strength. We could tell labor was coming though and decided to take Hannah over to our friend Meredith's house to go to church with them and spend the day there. This was at 8:30am.

Jesse came home from taking Hannah and we settled in waiting for contractions to get closer and regular. We had been planning and preparing for a natural labor and delivery without pain medication or other interventions. Our prep paid off. We used all our relaxation techniques at home while watching the movie "Clueless"-I wanted a silly movie that I didn't have to pay much attention to for focus inbetween contractions. By 9, the contractions weren't getting any more consistent so we decided to go for a walk to see if that would help them become regular. On our 20 minute walk they became about every 3 minutes. (The general rule of thumb is to go to the hospital when contractions are 5 minutes apart, lasting for a minute after an hour) I was afraid that if I lay back down or went to the hospital that they would space back out and not remain consistent. So I decided we should walk for another 30 minutes to make sure they stayed consistent then go to the hospital.

Ten minutes into our walk they were every 2 1/2-3 minutes apart with a lot more pressure. We decided to go to the hospital, though I still worried I wasn't fully in labor yet and maybe we were going too early. But I knew they wouldn't send us home since at my last appointment I was already 3 1/2 cm dialated and figured the mornings contractions had done some more work. We left the house about 10am and got to the hospital about 10:30ish. We had to check in through the ER since it was the weekend. This process took quite some time and I started to really struggle with my contractions-especially after the 25 minute car drive with the 2-3 minute apart contractions.

We got to our room and I entered full blown "transition"-the hardest part, but shortest part of labor where you are getting ready to deliver. My doula was already at the hospital and met us in our room. She and Jesse helped me through the contractions while I had to get a hep lock put in. (an opening for an IV incase of emergency need for it, as I didn't need any IV at the time) They checked my dilation and I said "Please let me be at 5cm". I was at 7! Thank you Lord. Then I had a little bit of a melt down. I started crying and said "I don't want drugs, I just don't want to be pregnant anymore!" Jesse and my doula were quick to remind me that I wouldn't be and I was almost done.

After a few more contractions they checked me again and I was at 10cm! At this time, my water still hadn't broken. This made my contractions so much better than they had been with Hannah where my water broke first thing. Having my water intact really helped keep the contractions much more bearable-not that they still weren't the most painful thing I've ever experienced. But all our relaxation techniques and Jesse and my doulas encouragement and help made it all very do-able and never too overwhelming.

After staying at 10cm for awhile and never feeling the urge to push, the doctor, doula and myself agreed that breaking my bag of water would help give me that urge. After breaking my water I felt a little need to push and pushed for about 20 minutes on my hands and knees. When he looked like he would be born soon, I flipped over into a sitting position and he came out in one contraction. His head was pretty big-an average infant has a 12-13" head, his is 14". But his head didn't tear me, it was his broad shoulders. I got a second degree tear. But I was so happy once he was out!

Afterwards, I hemorrhaged, like I had with Hannah. So I received a dose of pitocin in my heplock to help my uterus clamp down. That didn't work though so they had to give me a shot of Methergen in my leg to help stop the bleeding. This was the most painful part of my labor. The whole labor went beautifully and I couldn't ask for anything different! I was only in our hospital room for about an hour till he was born and I did so good coping with the contractions and labor pain. My Natural Unmedicated Childbirth went perfectly! Thank you Lord.

Welcome to the world:

Elijah Hunter Clayburn

7 lbs 13.5 oz

21 inches

11:54am

 Just born! Welcome to our family Eli!

That night Hannah came up to the hospital with Pops and Poni. The first thing she asked when she saw me in the hallway was "Baby come out" while pointing at my belly. Then she went in the room and saw Eli with Jesse and said "That baby Eli?" She wanted to hold him immediately and all on her own just bent down to kiss him. She loved him instantly!

 The next day my friend Amie Murray came to visit. Her daughter Haylie was born one week before Eli. We are close friends who have now been pregnant together twice (her son Charlie was born 4 months before Hannah). This is Eli's first friend.

Hannah came back to visit the next day too-she loves her baby brother and can't stay away from him!

We are so happy to have Eli in our family! The last 5 days have been wonderful! I'm already wondering how he hasn't been apart of our lives forever. Hope you can all meet him soon!