Continued…

I now knew it would be mere moments until I got to meet this sweet baby!!! I remember talking to baby saying “okay we’ve got this! I can’t wait to meet you! Oh Jesus I need strength, it’s you and me baby I can’t wait to meet you!” I remember there being a long pause between these contractions and TONS of pressure, I knew he was crowning but honestly didn’t feel the “ring of fire” as some describe it. Just a lot of... stretching really. I could visualize the area and knew that the longer I could hold him there the better it was for me and my future healing.

And on the next contraction I grabbed Michael’s hand and bared down with all I had and pop! I felt his head emerge!!! By this point I knew the hardest part was over and what a RELIEF that gave me! Aimee announced “we have a head! The head is out!” To which my mom replied “THE HEAD IS OUT?!?” Haha I think she was in disbelief that it went that quickly, especially compared to my 3.5 hours of pushing with David.

Aimee then told me once the baby was born they would pass him or her under my legs to me. This little dance is always what confused me about giving birth on all fours or kneeling (which is how I was currently positioned leaning on the side of the birthing tub) How do they get the baby to you without you getting all tangled with the umbilical cord and everything? But one more big push and I felt him slip on out and as I turned over to sit on my bottom they somehow handled him like a little football and passed him up to me so I grabbed him, pulled him out of the water and put him on my chest! I could not believe he was HERE!!

Then I kept saying “what is it?! what is it?!” Did we have a boy or a girl?? “It’s a boy! It’s Andrew James!” And I could not believe it. I felt like it was a boy, I really did. But the realization that I had yet ANOTHER precious boy... TWO BOYS just felt wild! I never pictured myself a “boy mom” but have complete trust in the Lords desire to give us exactly what we NEED, and not always exactly what we think we want. I cannot imagine it any other way.

I laid there in the water just taking him all in. He cried immediately and was so big and healthy! They covered him in warm blankets and I just held his little fingers and kissed his perfect head. I couldn’t quite sit down because the water was so deep he would have been fully submerged! So I was kind of hovering with one foot down supporting us and wasn’t all that comfortable. Then you start to realize what all you are floating in and it’s not very pleasant 😅 so I asked if I needed to deliver the placenta here or if I could get out. Of course they said I could do whatever I wanted! (Did I mention how much I loved this birth center birth??) so I asked to get out and onto the bed where we could really relax and snuggle. They said that was totally fine. My job was to hold onto the baby and they would do everything else. They also warned me the placenta may be delivered on the way- but mine did not. We made it to the bed and got dried off and warm, snuggled under the covers. A few minutes later I felt a light contraction and asked if I could push out the placenta so they helped me deliver the after birth. They put it in a little dish and sat it next to us so Andy could keep his cord attached a little while longer. I thought this was just beautiful. Again it wasn’t even asked- just standard procedure there. Eventually Michael was able to cut the cord, just like he did for David.

Once that was taken care of I could really relax. Andy nursed. Michael (bless him) ordered that Chick fil A I had been dreaming about. And we got to relax and snuggle for the next few hours! They came in to do checks periodically. I managed to get up and walk myself right on over to the bathroom to pee NO PROBLEM which blew my mind (this was a Herculean task after my birth with David) and after my check with the midwife I found out I only had a tiny tear that required no stitches!! Yet another answer YES to one of my birth prayers.

We enjoyed our Chick fil A, Michael got his skin to skin time, Gram got to hold Andy. And finally they came back to measure and weigh him. We all put in our guesses, all somewhere in the 7 lb range- he just looked so tiny to what I remember of David! But the midwife guessed high 8 lbs... and turns out that chunker was 9 lbs 3 oz!!!! I couldn’t believe it! Same length as his brother: 21 inches.

We stayed another few hours and after a small discharge briefing with a nurse we just gathered our things and walked right outta there! I could not believe it! We got there at 7:15am, he was born at 8:32am, and at 2:30pm we walked out of the doors into a stunningly sunny and brisk winter day. Loaded the car with our precious bundle, and waved goodbye to the birth center! A quick stop at Whole Foods to pick up the grocery order I put in on the way home and we were homeward bound.

Dad and Emily came right over to meet Andy. An hour or so later James and Dianna got there with David. I was SO excited to introduce him to his little brother and he did not disappoint. He was so gentle and also very excited. I was thrilled he wasn’t super jealous or indifferent- you just never know how those firstborns will respond. He loved his brother from the start.

Michael and I kept pinching ourselves. We had a baby this morning? And we are HOME in time for dinner?! How did this happen? Our only answer: the Lord. He heard our prayers and decided to answer them YES and AMEN! We praise Him for this and are overjoyed to shout his goodness from the rooftops!! My birth with David was beautiful, but like all births, different. I had absolutely no idea what God had in store for us this time around but am still to this day blown away by how it went. Our birth team (midwife, nurses, doula/photographer, Mom, Michael…) all supported me as completely as they could, down to the last detail. We feel so blessed to have this story to share.