Paisley's Birth Story
Paisley was due May 5th of 2017. She was eleven days LATE! I was eight days late with Madelyn and I thought that was bad, I was wrong, eleven days late was the worst.
The morning before birth I had an ultrasound scheduled to do a full checkup on baby and my placenta. A good report allowed me to wait longer for Paisley to be born. A bad report would have meant we needed baby born a.s.a.p., which wasn’t the case. YAY! “Let the waiting continue” was my thought while leaving the appointment.
On the way to the ultrasound I had good contractions. I continued to have throughout the day yet they were never consistent or close together. My mom helped feed the kids and put them to bed that night. I laid down and slept for awhile. At about 1:30am I began to have contractions that woke me up. I got out of bed at 2am. I used the restroom and then went to the couch to sleep for the rest of the night. I thought it was false labor like the three other times before. I noticed the intensity of the contractions were not easing up and that they were coming every 10 minutes. I timed them until about 3:30am. Both of my kids woke up. I tried to get them back to sleep. At 4am contractions changed becoming more intense. I woke my mom to help get the kids back to sleep because they were not all the back to sleep. Caleb worked all night, 5pm-5am was his scheduled time. I cleaned my closet while I waiting for my mom to get the girls down again. At 4:30am I knew it was real, contractions were coming every 5 minutes since 4am. I tried my hardest to wait until Caleb was off work but I could not wait. I called his work and my mom went to get him.
The entire time I was counting contractions and thought I was in real labor, I realized my mother would have to go get Caleb from work, which meant using the car. The car was on EMPTY. Caleb’s work is literally across the street, about 5 minutes away. My mom didn’t realize it was empty until she was AT his work. There was a gas station on her way to and from his work. The entire time she was gone I kept thinking about the car running out of gas. I knew she’d freak out when she noticed how low the tank was. I was secretly laughing at her. Thankfully she did make it back to the gas station and home before I had the baby. They got back around 5am.
Soon after Caleb got home my amazing midwife Stephanie arrived. I had already called our birth photographer and she was also on her way (She lives 1 hour away in San Antonio.) Stephanie had called another midwife Galyn to come assist her during birth. My mom made me toast but I could not eat much of it, as my contractions were so intense.
I labored for maybe 45 minutes to an hour in my room. Caleb was right there with me the entire time. I remember hearing my mom talking to Stephanie and her laughing at whatever my mom had said. Somewhere in here Cassia, our birth photographer, showed up ever so quietly and started snapping pictures. I had already turned down being checked for dilation but I began to wonder how much longer I had to go through these contractions as they were almost none stop. Finally, I asked Stephanie to check me. She told me I was 80% effaced and that the baby needed to come down. I asked if I was dilated at all and that’s when her face lit up and she said I was a 6-7cm! I could not believe it. I must have got in the tub around 5:45am-6am. I labored in there until I got the urgency to push. I pushed for a while in the tub but didn’t feel as comfortable as I wanted. Mid-pushing, we moved to the bed. I was pushing but I felt like she was never going to come out. My back was cramping and I was weak from not eating since dinnertime. I knew that with each push she was getting closer and closer although I didn’t feel like this. Finally I heard my midwife say that my bag was bulging and asked if she could break it. One push my bag was out and the next came the head, which caused the water to burst open, then out came Paisley! She was finally here! She was born at 6:49am at 7 lbs and 4 oz’s and 19 and 3/4th inches long. I would say I was in ACTIVE labor for 3 1/2 hours all-in-all.
I had Caleb go get Madelyn and Emily. They were able to see paisley right away, exactly what I wanted. Madelyn was still half asleep but Emily was awestruck. They have both blown me away with their gentleness and love for Paisley. Emily loves to hold her. Madelyn giggles at her mostly and loves her feet.
I could never thank my mom enough for being here while we were waiting for Paisley, her being here for the birth and days after. She was such a huge help to our little family. Stephanie, sweet spirited, down to earth, inspirational lady that she is was MY midwife! This pregnancy was rough on me mentally and physically. Stephanie was there every step of the way assuring me and comforting me. Many times she reminded me of God’s promises. Caleb, my firm foundation, my cornerstone, he’s such a good man. Without Caleb I literally could not have done any of this. I love you, Caleb Ephraim.
God, he formed all of my babies inside of my womb. He knew/knows how different they each are from one another. Although pregnancy was rough this time and last time I truly believe that God allowed me to have, in my opinion, easy labors. God’s timing is perfect. Many many times we want to rush. When God says wait, you wait. God allowed my birthing dreams to come true. I serve an awesome God
