Miriam Jane: A Birth Story

It feels like we waited a long time for this little girl to make her appearance but now she's here and I'm finally on the other side.  

And Miriam Jane was worth the wait...  

So for those who are interested in the details, here is the play-by-play of my drug-free induction...

First of all, going overdue isn't something I would wish on anyone.  The first few days aren't so bad but when you hit 41 weeks and Babycenter sends you your weekly email with facts about your "1 week old" and you are still huge and hot and NOT in labour...  It gets old pretty quick.

I had been having increasingly frequent and strong Braxton Hicks and my brain was in overdrive, constantly analyzing each one, thinking in vain that "that last one might've been a little stronger" and foolishly timing them on my iphone contraction timer...  Then Saturday morning I woke up with some crampy contractions and signs of early labour and I thought 'this is the day!'  But dinner time rolled around and nothing more had happened all day.  I was emotionally spent and very much over my high hopes of going into labour on my own like I did with Silas.  So, I called the midwife and confirmed that we were on the induction schedule for the next morning - which was 10 days past my due date.

We got to the hospital around 9 am on Sunday and spent the next couple of hours hooked up to the monitors in triage, getting an IV (I was GBS+ and needed antibiotics), and getting settled into our room.  Here I am at 41 weeks, 3 days.  The size of my belly (which measured 43 weeks by the end) made sense afterwards - I was still swollen with my 9 lb baby, a giant placenta and extra fluids...

We opted to just go ahead and break my water since I was 2 cm dilated and my cervix was favourable.  When I was 9 days overdue with Keziah we did the same thing - I was 2 cm dilated with a soft cervix - and she was born just over an hour after my membranes were ruptured.  Yes, it was fast and intense... but it was also effective!  With Silas, after my membranes fully ruptured he was also born in about an hour (though I was already having contractions beforehand).  So, when the midwife broke my water at 11:15, I fully expected we would have a baby by early afternoon.  

But an hour passed by... we did some laps around the maternity ward (listening to other women in obvious labour), bounced on the birthing ball aaaand... nothing was happening.  A few contractions here and there but definitely nothing to write home about.  I was pretty surprised that I wasn't in full-blown labour considering my past experiences.  Our midwife told us that oxytocin was an option but we would need a nurse in the room to monitor it, and at that moment there wasn't a nurse to spare.  So, in its place she suggested I try using the electric breast pump - which is a natural way to get your body to produce oxytocin.  I was just sitting around anyway, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to try.  She had me pump for 15 minutes and then take a 1/2 hour break before pumping again.  Every time I pumped I would start getting contractions, but when the 1/2 break was up they fizzled out a little bit.  So, I kept at it; 15 minutes on, 30-45 minutes off for about 4 cycles.  Around 3 pm I started getting regular and increasingly painful contractions every 3-5 minutes.  And as I was pumping the 4th time, I didn't even make it through the 15 minutes before quitting because the contractions were getting so intense and I was ready to be in a more comfortable position.  Throughout this process the midwife was also giving me blue cohosh pills - a homeopathic remedy that is also supposed to help labour along.  So this may have helped, though I'm certain it was the pumping more than anything that finally put me into full-blown labour.  

At about 6 pm, after I had been in active labour for 3 hours, the midwife decided to check me and I was about 5 cm dilated, stretching to 7.  I figured we were in the homestretch - as I remembered with both Keziah and Silas, once I hit 5-7 cm they were born within the next 20 minutes or so and with just a few pushes.  I figured with this being baby #4, she should literally fall right out of me.  Right?  

Wrong.  I spent the next hour and a half in the most painful labour that I can ever remember having.  Micah's labour was a little longer but I'd had some pain meds in my IV to take the edge off.  And the hard part of labour went quite fast with both Keziah and Silas, so this time the transition phase felt like it lasted FOREVER.   It seemed like the pushing wasn't productive and she just wasn't coming down.  At one point they could see the head and then I could literally feel her crawling right back in.  The midwife commented that she really didn't seem to want to come out!  Finally after several more contractions her head was out and that's when they saw the cord wrapped around her neck.  Tight.  This was all unbeknownst to me as I had my eyes closed and was in my own world of pain, but Erik said they pressed the code alarm button.  Once the rest of her was body was out, they saw that her uber-long cord was wrapped around her neck once, under her armpit, around her back and through her legs.  They placed her on my tummy but she was blue and unresponsive and was quickly whisked away to the warming table where they worked on her for a very silent minute and a half before we finally heard her start to cry.  

What a relief...  To hear her crying and to know that the hard work was over.  Erik told me later that this was the most intense birth experience for him as well.  He hadn't remembered seeing me in so much pain in my other labours (which confirmed to me how bad it really was!) and the long moments of waiting for her to cry filled him with dread.  We're both sooo glad that part is over!

The midwife commented right away about her size and guessed that she might be over 10 lbs!  When the scale said 9 lbs 4 oz she actually re-weighed her just to double-check :)  

So the fact that she was my biggest baby and the fact that the cord had her so entangled may have been the reasons why it took me so long to push her out.  The midwife commented that, had this been my first delivery, it may have even ended in a c-section.  Not only was the baby big and the cord super long, but the midwife said my placenta was also unusually large.  So big that she also weighed it (almost a 3 pounder!).

Miriam Jane was born at 7:30 pm, and shortly after we called and texted the family to let them know the good news and invite them to come meet our newest member!  I had a chance to give her a nice long feed first which was important because of my gestational diabetes.  We wanted to avoid her having a blood sugar crash so she was able to get a few calories into her before the midwife tested her sugars (which she passed).

The family showed up around 9 pm and the kids got to meet their brand new baby sister.
(We took pictures mostly with our iphones that evening so the quality isn't fantastic.)

Oldest and youngest:

Sisters :)

Big brother for the first time!

Can you believe I have FOUR kids??

Erik stayed with me the first night in the hospital and it was NOT restful.  First it was hard to settle down to sleep because of the excitement of the evening, and when we finally got tired enough, Miriam decided it was time to be awake.  I don't know how many times I fed her that first night but it was a lot.  Erik took a turn trying to settle her but we both lost a lot of sleep and were pretty exhausted the next day.

Monday morning it was time to give Miriam her first bath.  I loved how she watched Erik so intently the whole time.

The midwife checked up on us and told us that we could feel free to leave the hospital at any time, but we ended up staying most of the day so that several friends could come and visit.  Miriam was spoiled with lots of presents and I was spoiled with lots of candy and chocolate - from all those who celebrated with me that my gestational diabetes was no more!

 Finally at around 4 pm we were all packed up and ready to head home.

The kids had been anxiously awaiting our return and proceeded to fight over who would get to hold their baby sister.

He's one excited big brother!

After our first night in the hospital, I was nervous for how night 2 would go at home.  But Miriam has done amazingly well each night - sleeping a 4-5 hour stretch, eating and then going back down for another few hours until morning.  I couldn't ask for anything more.  Though I hesitate to get too excited as I know babies are notorious for turning the tables on their mamas.

The experience of having a midwife versus a doctor was a really positive one.  She was with us throughout most of the labour (partly because it was an induction) and Erik and I both felt the sense of connection you feel with anyone who goes through a major life event with you.  She has also done regular home visits since Miriam was born.  Miriam has hovered around the 9 lb mark since coming home from the hospital and will get weighed again on Monday.  She's a little bit jaundiced but is feeding really well and all of her bodily functions are working as they should!

My mom's plane flew in the same day we got home from the hospital and I've been enjoying the cooking and cleaning that has been happening while I tend to my newborn - not to mention the meals that have been coming from friends.  What a blessing!

I feel quite in love with this little pink bundle and am soaking in every newborn moment...

How am I going to keep myself from spoiling her rotten??

Silas' Birth Story

It's hard to believe that Silas is only 5 days old and that one week ago I was still pregnant and wondering when the little dude was going to make an appearance!

The 41st week of my pregnancy was a LO-O-ONG week; false labour, kids with colds & fevers, Keziah's trip to the ER with croup and Erik's ongoing sickness. My mom arrived in the midst of it all and I felt caught between wanting the baby out and wanting us all to just feel better first! By Thursday the kids were incredibly whiny, I was starting to feel sick myself and Erik was feeling discouraged by the fact that he hadn't been able to work all week due to his sickness. On Friday my head cold was as its peak. My braxton hicks came steadily all day and were really strong - not painful like "real" contractions but lots of tightness and pressure in my belly. I felt like I had been in this pre-labour phase for days and even weeks!

By that point I had pretty much given up on going into labour on my own and had come to terms with the idea of being induced. My doctor had put me on the induction schedule for Saturday morning, so we expected to have a baby by the end of the weekend. But, on Friday my mom still prayed that my water would just break so that I wouldn't have to be induced!

I woke up at 2 am on Saturday morning with a contraction that actually felt a little like "real" labour. The next couple of hours were full of restless sleep. Between my mildly painful contractions and my incredibly stuffy nose (which caused me to snore and wake myself up!) I couldn't really sleep. At 4 am I decided to turn on the bathroom fan in an attempt to drown out my own snoring :) and as I rolled out of bed there was a small gush of fluid. It was the same sensation that I'd had when my water "sprung a leak" with Micah so I was feeling hopeful that it was the same thing. I decided to wait it out a bit and let Erik sleep. By 5 am I was still feeling "leaky" and my contractions were getting a bit stronger so I had a shower, woke Erik up and called the hospital. Then we told my mom that we were going in and she was pretty excited!

We got to the hospital at around 6 am where they confirmed that I was leaking amniotic fluid. They monitored me for awhile and then decided to send me home since my contractions were still pretty mild and I was only 2 cm dilated. I didn't expect they would send me home, but I figured labour could still take awhile since my water hadn't completely broken, so we complied :) We got home shortly after 7 and found Micah watching Bambi and Keziah sleeping on the couch (she had heard us leave at 5:30 and decided it was time to get up only to fall asleep on the couch again shortly after!). It was kind of fun to hang out a bit with them and explain to Micah what was happening. My mom was also excited to get in a little bit on the labour process :) We were home about an hour and a half and my contractions were coming every 3-5 minutes and I had to start concentrating through them. So, Erik and my mom decided that I should head back in.


We went back to triage and back on the monitor. At around 9:45 my doctor came in to check me. I had dilated to 4 cm and he could feel a bulging bag of water. He could tell that baby's head was turned a little bit, so he tried to turn it and with that there was a BIG gush of fluid. From that point I knew that things would go quickly! Unfortunately there was quite a bit of meconium in the fluid which meant we had to keep a closer eye on baby during the labour. The nurse brought me to my (huge) hospital room. After delivering 2 babies in the old run-down MSA hospital, the new hospital felt like luxury!!

Contractions got increasingly stronger and I held onto the railing for dear life every time I felt one coming on (see above picture of me between contractions!) and I started thinking about pain medication. I should've known that I was in transition at this point, and sure enough when they checked me I was at 7 cm. Within a few minutes I was feeling the urge to push. This was the first delivery where I didn't have any IV or pain meds of any kind and I admit that it was the most painful pushing experience of the 3. I felt like I didn't get a break between contractions and I was SO ready to get that baby out! I was vaguely aware that baby's heartrate was going down towards the end and that they had called in the pediatrician to check him over as soon as he was born.

At 10:51 am, he was finally out and the pain was gone, but replaced with a few scary moments while we waited for him to cry. Finally we heard his gusty, gurgly cry and he was whisked over to the pediatrician for suction and oxygen. And even though we hadn't known his gender, I wasn't one bit surprised that he was a boy!


My doctor guessed his weight before they put him on the scale and got it right on! This is our biggest baby yet...


This was the first time I wasn't able to hold baby right after delivery, and he was quite worked up by the time I got my hands on him.


We named him Silas Paul. Silas was a name we had picked out for a boy when I was pregnant with Keziah, and even though we waivered on it quite a bit during this pregnancy, we always seemed to come back to it. It's continuing to grow on us as we get to know the little guy. We chose Paul because it was his Uncle Nathan's middle name.

It was nice to deliver so early in the day. I had a chance to breastfeed and shower and get my room cleaned before family started to arrive. Erik's family came around 2 pm and my mom came with the kids a little bit later after Keziah's nap. Micah and Keziah have both been thoroughly infatuated with Silas from their first meeting:


I could've gone home on Sunday already, but my doctor and I decided that I would stay until Monday. The nurses understood why when I told them I had 2 preschoolers waiting for me at home :)








I love wrinkly little newborn heads :)


Silas came out with LONG finger nails and proceeded to scratch up his face over the next couple of days...


Erik and I agree that Silas looks a bit more like Keziah as a newborn, but I definitely see resemblances to both kids. When I look at his face I feel like it's familiar to me; like I already know him. He definitely looks like he's part of the family!


Erik stayed over with me both nights. This hospital experience was much more comfortable and quiet all around!


Here is Silas ready to head home on Monday morning, looking SO tiny in his car seat. This was the same outfit that Micah wore when he came home from the hospital.


Today is my first day without Mom or Erik around and things are going pretty well - they must be or I wouldn't have time to blog! Right now Keziah and Silas are napping and Micah is watching some TV. Nights are going fairly decent. We had one really bad night when we first came home from the hospital, but the last 2 nights have been quite manageable and I'm feeling rested enough today to skip my afternoon nap :)

I have many more pictures on my camera that I've taken since we've been home so I'll try to post those in the next few days...

Keziah's Birth Story

Wow, I still can't believe our baby is finally here. And I'm still trying to get accustomed to the idea of having a daughter! I thought I'd take the chance to let you know how Keziah made her way into the world!

We went into the hospital on Wednesday morning for the induction. By the time they inserted the cervadil it was about 10:45 am. I slowly started getting more frequent contractions but they were very mild. I did a LOT of walking, sitting on the birthing ball and hanging out in the shower - Erik left a couple of times to run errands or pick up something to eat. It was a bit of a boring afternoon and I kept waiting for the pain to increase. Around supper-time, the contractions started to pick up. They still weren't really that painful, but they came right on top of each other. The nurses decided to hook me up to the monitors and discovered very quickly that my uterus was hardly resting at all and that baby's heartrate was dipping really low. It was a bit scary for a minute - they pulled out the cervadil, hooked me up to oxygen and IV and rolled me into different positions until the heartrate started to pick up. At this point thoughts of emergency c-sections were going through my head, but they were able to stabilize the heartrate and with the cervadil out, my contractions spaced out quite a bit. They checked my cervix and I was still only 1-2 cm dilated! So the whole day of contractions had been pretty much useless! I was pretty discouraged and thought we were in for a much longer haul yet. They decided to call in the doctor to check me out since baby's heartrate was still fluctuating a bit. She came in shortly after and decided to break my water. That was about 8:00 pm and I noticed my contractions were a little more painful right away. The doctor told the nurse she planned to stay which surprised me because I figured we had several hours to go yet. But within half an hour I had to close my eyes and breathe through the contractions and after another 15 minutes or so the contractions became quite unbearable and I started feeling the urge to push. The doctor checked me and I was about 5 cm. I didn't know how I was going to resist the pushing urge when I was only half-way there. But a few more contractions and I was fully dilated! I started pushing shortly after 9:00 pm. Apparently Keziah's heartrate was dipping again at this point and they told me I needed to push really hard - talk about incentive to get that baby out! Erik said once the head came out, the doctor grabbed her by the neck with both hands, put one foot on the edge of the bed and twisted her out like a corkscrew! All together, the pushing was about 8 minutes. The whole thing was pretty fast and furious if you ask me! When she came out, nobody announced whether it was a boy or a girl, so I was trying to peer through all the hands as she was being passed around and dried off and when I got a peek I said, incredulously, "Is it a girl?!?" And she was!

Erik was able to call my parents in Manitoba shortly after, as well as his whole family who came to visit yet that night. Even Micah got to wake up and come to the hospital in his pyjamas.  Here's a few pictures from our first couple of days with Keziah:

Micah gets introduced to his baby sister at the hospital.

Our family of 4!

Proud Aunties, Uncles, Grandpa, Grandma & Big Brother...











Micah's first time holding Keziah all on his own - he liked counting her fingers!

I am LOVING all this pink!

Wet smooches from Micah.

Brother-Sister bonding time.

Our little princess...

Some of you have asked about where we came up with her name. The middle name, Katherine, is after my mom (and was also her mom's name) and the name Keziah comes from the Bible. In the last chapter of Job, when Job's wealth is restored to him, the Lord blesses him with three beautiful daughters - one of which is named Keziah. Erik's dad also looked up the name yesterday and found it to mean "cinnamon". So, I guess our little girl really is made of 'sugar and spice'!

Thanks again for all of your thoughts and prayers along the way. All four of us will be together for the next few days and then Erik will head back to work on Monday - the thought scares me a little bit, but we'll take it one day at a time and hopefully we'll be OK!