Elijah's Birth Story

It's hard to believe that Elijah was 3 weeks old yesterday! And that it's taken me 3 weeks to write his birth story!!!


If you're not into birth stories....you will want to skip this post :)


As most of you know our daughter and son-in-law got married on Mar. 3rd. I know a lot of people were praying that baby would hold off being born until after the wedding. I have never, ever been early (without being induced) and so we weren't too concerned when we set the wedding date 2 full weeks before the baby's due date. But as we went to app't after app't and my measurements were consistently 2-4 weeks ahead of time....we started to wonder how this was all going to work out! I have always been very close in my measurements on other pregnancies....so this was something we weren't sure how to take! But we knew that God's timing was perfect and began to go through the "what ifs". Really there was not a thing we could do but wait and see how it all worked out.


The morning of the wedding came and I was relieved to know that I was not in labor and I would indeed be able to see my daughter married off! My labors are quite long so I knew that I had at least 24 hours.....plenty of time to enjoy the wonderful day!


And enjoy the wedding I did! It was a really great day and.....they got married (the goal of the day:) By the end of the day I was feeling very exhausted....we were all exhausted!!!! But still no labor.


Sunday, Monday and Tuesday came and went. These days were spent cleaning up the wedding stuff, getting the house back in order and getting ready for baby to arrive. I hadn't done a single thing to get ready for the baby before the wedding because I felt all my energy and concentration needed to be for wedding plans! After all, how long does it take to wash a few clothes and buy diapers?


Usually by this time in other pregnancies I was driving my family crazy in my "nesting" stage! But not this time....I was enjoying getting back to normal....our "new" normal.


Tuesday was a great day. We had our whole family together for supper and we had a nice time visiting. I felt pretty tired...and pregnant...but happy :) and not even thinking that I was only a couple of days away from meeting this little bundle!


At 1:30 Wednesday morning I woke up and realized that my water had broke. It took me awhile to wrap my brain around this because in every other pregnancy I have been in very active labor before my water breaks so I really didn't know what to expect. I was up and down all night knowing I should try to get some sleep yet anxious about how this labor was going to progress. If I would have known the lack of sleep we would have had over the next couple of days I might have tried harder to sleep :)


I waited until morning to tell Mark that my water had broke (no use both of us being tired!). I still was having no contractions to speak of so I dug out the baby clothes and car seat cover and started washing  them. In between washing I crocheted a couple of hats....a boy one and a girl one. By lunch time there was still no progression so I called my midwife and gave her a heads up as to what was going on. We asked her a few questions about what happens when water breaks before actual labor and how much time we had to get into active labor and if a water birth would still be possible. Then we told her we would keep her updated.


After lunch I busied myself folding clothes and packing my bags (yup, hadn't done that either :). Around 2:00 we decided to head to our midwife so she could listen to the baby and make sure things were OK. After that we then headed to the place where we planned to have the baby and played the waiting game. Oh yeah, and I bought diapers :) and a few other things we needed.


Our midwife had told us that if i wasn't in active labor by 1:30 am Thursday that she was required to consult a Dr. because apparently the risk of infection increased the longer my water was broke. So we followed her suggestions trying to get things moving but.....to no avail! We went out for supper and still nothing. Our midwife checked me a couple more times in between but by the time 11:30 rolled around there was still no labor to speak of. So she consulted a Dr. and came to tell us what he said. Because of previous c-section and this being #13, he basically didn't want to deal with me at the local hospital and said I needed to go into Winnipeg. It was then that my heart dropped.....this was so not the way I wanted this labor and delivery to go. If I had to be in the hospital, I sure didn't want to be in a city one. But my wonderful hubby calmed me down and assured me that all would be fine, and after a quick nap we packed up our things and followed our midwife to Winnipeg.


On the way I thought of the email I had written my dear friend Laura in the morning letting her know my water had broke. In it I said, "I feel at peace knowing God is in control and not focusing on my "perfect" idea of a birth! I pray God will be glorified in this birth." And so this is what I focused on.....letting go of my perfect ideas and instead focusing on glorifying God in whatever lay ahead." 


We got to Winnipeg around 3:00 and then got checked in and hooked up to a monitor. There were ladies in labor everywhere...it was crazy!!!! And of course because I wasn't in labor I wasn't top priority so there we sat. Eventually I got escorted out of my temporary bed into the waiting room and it was there we spent the remainder of the night. My wonderful midwife sacrificed a good nights sleep and sat with us in the waiting room. We drifted off every now and then only to be awakened by the constant trickle of ladies in labor. Every once in awhile we would just look at each other in disbelief and we just had to laugh cause we knew crying wasn't going to do us any good :) The thing that really got us was the fact that we had to come right away into the hospital because of risk of infection after 24 hrs.....yet there I sat and no one attended to me!!!! Finally, finally, finally at around 9:00 am Thursday morning I got a room...we were making progress!!!


Around 10:30 they finally started the meds for induction. They started things off very slowly and so it took awhile for things to progress. In the meantime the sweet nurse felt sorry for me and got me some toast for breakfast. Because of my c-section with Josiah they are pretty picky about me eating when I am in labor. Thank the Lord for nurses who have some sense :) I think it's just cruel to let a lady labor on a liquid only diet. That was the best piece of toast I have eaten in a long time!!!! 


The rest of the afternoon is a bit of a blur. I do remember lots of laughs with our midwife as we visited and waited for things to pick up. I tried to get a nap in but it seemed every time I would drift off someone would be there to wake me up and ask me questions (nurses, doctors....), and it was always the same questions! I wonder why they can't get one person to ask the questions and then relay it to the rest of them????? So needless to say, rest eluded me! 


Finally around mid afternoon things started to really pick up and we were no longer able to visit ....it was time to get down to some serious business!!!! When things started to get really tough I asked for an epidural. I think it took about an hour for the anesthesiologist to show up and by the time he did I was in real serious labor!!! I have only ever had an epidural once before....that was with our last one, Jaden, and I remember the pure relief that came when it kicked in. So I was looking forward to the same experience this time.....but it was not to be so. For after the epidural was in and I waited for the relief to come, things just got more painful. We really are still not sure why or what happened, but I just know that it didn't take the pain away!!!!! The jury is still out on whether it helped at all.....


But it was all good because by 5:55 we said hello to our precious little boy.....Elijah Hudson. 


And so once again, a very different birth than what I had hoped for....this seems to be the theme for us lately. The last 3 births were very different and not at all what we had planned. But this is the way it happened and so instead of choosing to grumble and complain...we choose to enjoy the little blessings that we got from it all!!!!! 


God's ways are not our ways......and when we choose to rest in Him and in His plan, things will be alright! I refuse to let my mind dwell on the negative of this birth....yes, I will tell the story...the whole story.....but as I look at this precious little bundle in my arms I will just be thankful! How could I not be?