Baby Anna is here and I need to take the time to write down her entrance into this world before I forget it with everything else that is going on.
On Friday, February 22nd, I had a scheduled appointment with my midwife. I had been having contractions on and off for a few days now, but nothing significant. Just at night, which would exhaust me for my day at work. I was so tired that by Wednesday, I decided to take Friday off to catch up on some sleep.
After another night of little sleep, I called Lorri and asked if she would come to the house for my Friday appointment instead of my going to the office because I didn't want to get into the car for that long with the random contractions. I also really wanted to take a nap. She agreed and we both thought this was not likely the real thing, anyway.
Lorri came sometime after 3:00 and Pete was nice enough to come home from work to also be at the appointment. We determined that baby was posterior, which I had been suspecting for a few days by where I felt her hiccups and little kicks. We talked about positions I could lay in on the bed to help encourage her to turn to a more pleasant position. As Lorri was listening to baby and I was attemping mission "baby spin," I had a few big contractions. The contractions, again, were not consistant and Lorri and I joked that we might see each other Sunday. She then headed back to Yakima around 4:30 or so and I worked on the "baby spin" moves.
Around 5:00, I had some big, irregular contractions. The previous night, they had stayed regular for an hour and just disapeared. We still didn't believe this was it, but thought we would ask Pete's mom if the kids could spend the night at her house. Pete took the kids over with an overnight bag and I practiced my relaxation to get through the contractions. I am a huge proponent of hypno-birthing and I was able to relax and let the contractions do their work.
Pete got home around 6:00 and I was no longer watching the clock, just concentrating on the breathing and relaxing while I also did the "baby spin" moves. I managed to fall asleep between contractions using the relaxtion techniques, which was a wonderful break.
At 8:00, I asked Pete to call Lorri and ask her to come over. At this point, mission "baby spin" had not worked and I moved to my hands and knees to try to further encourage her to spin. She did not. The contractions got intense and with the back labor, I was no longer able to make myself sleep, but the breaks in between made them manageable.
Lorri arrived at 9:00, or so. At this point, I was really working to relax and no one seemed to realize that baby was well on her way. The contractions were back to back. I kept asking Pete to fill the tub and he had made me wait until Lorri got there. When she did get there, I don't think she expected a quiet responses from me. She asked me if I felt baby and when I told her, yes, there was a lot of commotion in the room as everyone rushed to prepare.
The major relief occured when Lorri showed Pete where to press on my back to relieve the back pain. He told me later that you could feel her head and see a lump through my clothes. I think conterpressure was what finally enabled her to really come down and it was a few contractions later that I could tell she was in the birth canal.
The tub was finally filled and I very willingingly got in. What a relief the water was. I could finally relax. We really should have filled the tub before Lorri arrived and I remember being mad at Pete for not doing so. I believe this was a little bit after 10PM. Lorri asked me if I felt ready to push and I admitted that I might have been working on that for a while now. She jumped into action and told me she needed to make sure I was ready to do that so I didn't hurt myself. I think she was a little surprised that baby was right there.
While I was pushing, baby made a quick spin and I told everyone she was no long posterior. I remember thinking these would be the last little kicks I got to feel as she readied herself for the outside world. 17 minutes later, baby was in my arms. She cried and turned pink immediately. At this point, Lorri's assistant, Hollie, arrived to hear baby crying.
Anna nursed very shortly after being born. When she was starting to get sleepy, we weighed her. She was 6lbs 3oz and 17 inches long. She has a downy fuzz of blonde hair on top of her beautiful little head.
She nursed again about 4 hours later. The midwives left sometime after 3:30AM and we all settled in for the night.
. I'm also a quiet birther, its difficult to tell where things are at by observing me. Thats wonderful that she had such a peaceful entrance. You did great, mama! 
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