Josiah William’s Birth Story
Josiah’s conception was a unexpected but delightful surprise. When I took the pg test and saw two lines I was so surprised that I didn’t have any idea how to tell dh so I just left the test in the bathroom for him to find, and he did. It was my hardest first trimester with continuous nausea and some vomiting for the first 14 weeks and moving during that time. While pregnant a few of our close friends had very sad things happen with their newborns…toxoplasmosis causing blindness and other complications, a stillbirth I attended as the midwife, etc. We live overseas in a developing nation and I fought fear the whole pregnancy and found myself turning more to God out of desperation. It was very challenging for me to be pregnant here as I couldn’t stomach the food, a Hepatitis epidemic spread in our area, and just the challenges of life with uncertain circumstances.
I was so relieved when Rebecca our midwife arrived and I had made it to 36 weeks. Another wave of relief came when my parents arrived and I made it to 37 weeks. I had lots of good practice contractions but wasn’t really sure I’d have the baby soon, not within the 8 days my dad would be here. On March 13 I was curious about my cervix so Rebecca checked me and I was 3cm dilated and 50% effaced. Daily I was having good practice contractions and cramping that would come and go but I couldn’t sense how soon or far off real labor would be.
On March 20, 2007 dh and I went to stay at a hotel in town for one last getaway while my parents watched the kids. I napped much of the afternoon and took a long bath, a real luxury. We walked to the coffee shop around 5pm and I noticed it was more uncomfortable than usual as I was having some cramping and the usual practice contractions, but I didn’t think much of it. I did feel like I needed to sit down more often and dh asked if I was in labor. I told him I wasn’t sure…that it could be more start and stop contractions like I’ve had for weeks or the very beginning of the real thing. It was kind of fun to be out just the two of us, wondering if this was the start or not. We got pizza to take back to our hotel room.
When we got back to the hotel I took another warm bath and had half a glass of wine to see if the contractions would slow down. Then we watched a movie and ate our pizza. The contractions were irregular, every 5-20 minutes and not uncomfortable. We watched another movie and the contractions seemed a little more frequent, averaging 7-10 mins apart. We packed up during the movie just in case we had to make a run for it in the night to go home to have the baby, and laughed about how we had worried about the same thing in the same hotel 5 years earlier, a week before our Sara was born.
After the movie at 11pm I took another bath and had another half glass of wine, and was planning to try and go to bed after my bath and give it till 12am to see if they were more or less than before and if we ought to head home or not. We timed the contractions and they were 3-7 minutes apart, lasting 45-60 seconds and a little uncomfortable. We prayed.for wisdom and felt like we ought to head home even if we just ended up sleeping all night.
We packed up, called mom and dad and Rebecca, and headed home. On the way the contractions got a little stronger and I was glad we were going home. We got home and my parents had blown up the birth pool and were setting up things for the birth. Rebecca met us and at 1:15am I was 5cm dilated and 75% effaced. Dh, my parents, and Rebecca got busy setting up the birth pool and other stuff. I labored on the birth ball, breathing through contractions that still weren’t that uncomfortable. I started wanting the pool to be filled as I felt more uncomfortable.
At 1:40am I got in the birth pool. I wanted to be checked and at 2:30am I was 6cm. The water felt good, but the contractions were hard and frequent. Shortly I was in transition, feeling nauseous and shaky. I got out to pee and poop and had almost non-stop contractions while in the bathroom with dh. Everyone was like, “are you sure it’s poop?!?!?!” and it was, but being out of the water was even harder than labor in the water so I went back to the pool. At 3:30am I was 9cm, so relieved just one more cm to go because labor felt so intense that I wasn’t sure how much longer I could handle it.
At 4:15am I felt like pushing and Rebecca checked and I had an anterior lip. I tried to breathe through a couple contractions and then she held back the lip for one so I could push. I tried breaking my water but couldn’t get it. A couple contractions later she offered to break it and I wanted that. Then the baby moved down better and I was pushing. His head was born at 4:28am, and Rebecca found a nuchal hand that baby then pulled back down. I didn’t have another contraction but time was passing (it had been about 2 minutes) so I just pushed him out at 4:30am. He was quite blue and covered with vernix. Sara came close and checked and discovered that he was a boy. Rebecca gave him a couple breaths with the bag. We were rubbing him and he responded some. His Apgars were 6-7-9.
Dd and dh cut the cord together, and I got out of the pool to sit on the birth stool for the placenta. I put Josiah to the breast and he latched on immediately. The placenta came quickly once I was on the stool, at 5:00am, and I didn’t have hardly any bleeding. It was my easiest 3rd stage.
I loved how clean Josiah and I were from birthing in the water, and I put on a clean nightgown and got into my clean bed with him. I took herbs and Ibuprofen to help prevent the horrible afterpains I had with ds, but I was still in agony for about 4-5 hrs. It felt like labor all over again except I was lying in bed, not laboring in nice water with support. I continued to have them for the next few days, but they were more manageable with herbs and Ibuprofen after that initial bout.
Today Josiah is 2 weeks old and he is thriving. He is working on a double chin, and has good sleeping and waking stretches. So far he is very peaceful, doesn’t cry much just makes noises when he wants to nurse or needs to burp. We are so thankful for this little blessing!
Josiah’s conception was a unexpected but delightful surprise. When I took the pg test and saw two lines I was so surprised that I didn’t have any idea how to tell dh so I just left the test in the bathroom for him to find, and he did. It was my hardest first trimester with continuous nausea and some vomiting for the first 14 weeks and moving during that time. While pregnant a few of our close friends had very sad things happen with their newborns…toxoplasmosis causing blindness and other complications, a stillbirth I attended as the midwife, etc. We live overseas in a developing nation and I fought fear the whole pregnancy and found myself turning more to God out of desperation. It was very challenging for me to be pregnant here as I couldn’t stomach the food, a Hepatitis epidemic spread in our area, and just the challenges of life with uncertain circumstances.
I was so relieved when Rebecca our midwife arrived and I had made it to 36 weeks. Another wave of relief came when my parents arrived and I made it to 37 weeks. I had lots of good practice contractions but wasn’t really sure I’d have the baby soon, not within the 8 days my dad would be here. On March 13 I was curious about my cervix so Rebecca checked me and I was 3cm dilated and 50% effaced. Daily I was having good practice contractions and cramping that would come and go but I couldn’t sense how soon or far off real labor would be.
On March 20, 2007 dh and I went to stay at a hotel in town for one last getaway while my parents watched the kids. I napped much of the afternoon and took a long bath, a real luxury. We walked to the coffee shop around 5pm and I noticed it was more uncomfortable than usual as I was having some cramping and the usual practice contractions, but I didn’t think much of it. I did feel like I needed to sit down more often and dh asked if I was in labor. I told him I wasn’t sure…that it could be more start and stop contractions like I’ve had for weeks or the very beginning of the real thing. It was kind of fun to be out just the two of us, wondering if this was the start or not. We got pizza to take back to our hotel room.
When we got back to the hotel I took another warm bath and had half a glass of wine to see if the contractions would slow down. Then we watched a movie and ate our pizza. The contractions were irregular, every 5-20 minutes and not uncomfortable. We watched another movie and the contractions seemed a little more frequent, averaging 7-10 mins apart. We packed up during the movie just in case we had to make a run for it in the night to go home to have the baby, and laughed about how we had worried about the same thing in the same hotel 5 years earlier, a week before our Sara was born.
After the movie at 11pm I took another bath and had another half glass of wine, and was planning to try and go to bed after my bath and give it till 12am to see if they were more or less than before and if we ought to head home or not. We timed the contractions and they were 3-7 minutes apart, lasting 45-60 seconds and a little uncomfortable. We prayed.for wisdom and felt like we ought to head home even if we just ended up sleeping all night.
We packed up, called mom and dad and Rebecca, and headed home. On the way the contractions got a little stronger and I was glad we were going home. We got home and my parents had blown up the birth pool and were setting up things for the birth. Rebecca met us and at 1:15am I was 5cm dilated and 75% effaced. Dh, my parents, and Rebecca got busy setting up the birth pool and other stuff. I labored on the birth ball, breathing through contractions that still weren’t that uncomfortable. I started wanting the pool to be filled as I felt more uncomfortable.
At 1:40am I got in the birth pool. I wanted to be checked and at 2:30am I was 6cm. The water felt good, but the contractions were hard and frequent. Shortly I was in transition, feeling nauseous and shaky. I got out to pee and poop and had almost non-stop contractions while in the bathroom with dh. Everyone was like, “are you sure it’s poop?!?!?!” and it was, but being out of the water was even harder than labor in the water so I went back to the pool. At 3:30am I was 9cm, so relieved just one more cm to go because labor felt so intense that I wasn’t sure how much longer I could handle it.
At 4:15am I felt like pushing and Rebecca checked and I had an anterior lip. I tried to breathe through a couple contractions and then she held back the lip for one so I could push. I tried breaking my water but couldn’t get it. A couple contractions later she offered to break it and I wanted that. Then the baby moved down better and I was pushing. His head was born at 4:28am, and Rebecca found a nuchal hand that baby then pulled back down. I didn’t have another contraction but time was passing (it had been about 2 minutes) so I just pushed him out at 4:30am. He was quite blue and covered with vernix. Sara came close and checked and discovered that he was a boy. Rebecca gave him a couple breaths with the bag. We were rubbing him and he responded some. His Apgars were 6-7-9.
Dd and dh cut the cord together, and I got out of the pool to sit on the birth stool for the placenta. I put Josiah to the breast and he latched on immediately. The placenta came quickly once I was on the stool, at 5:00am, and I didn’t have hardly any bleeding. It was my easiest 3rd stage.
I loved how clean Josiah and I were from birthing in the water, and I put on a clean nightgown and got into my clean bed with him. I took herbs and Ibuprofen to help prevent the horrible afterpains I had with ds, but I was still in agony for about 4-5 hrs. It felt like labor all over again except I was lying in bed, not laboring in nice water with support. I continued to have them for the next few days, but they were more manageable with herbs and Ibuprofen after that initial bout.
Today Josiah is 2 weeks old and he is thriving. He is working on a double chin, and has good sleeping and waking stretches. So far he is very peaceful, doesn’t cry much just makes noises when he wants to nurse or needs to burp. We are so thankful for this little blessing!
