Introducing…

Please understand before reading this that my opinion of homebirth (especially in Maryland) has greatly changed since the loss of Miranda, when my eyes were opened to the great danger that we faced by being out of the hospital. Our nearest hospital is 5 miles from our house, but it was not close enough when Miranda was in respiratory distress. Even with my three “successful” homebirths (2 of those being unintentionally unassisted) I would not willingly choose homebirth again, and would not recommend it to my closest friends and sisters. While the risk of death in an uncomplicated pregnancy may be small, I learned that the cost was more than I could bear.

Mikaela Rose.  We have a beautiful baby girl (whew, glad all these girly diapers don’t have to go away).

I’ll give you her stats before I get into the details about the birth (in case you really don’t want all the details, LOL).  She was born at 12:04 AM, February 2nd.  She weighed 7 pounds and 10 ounces, measured 19 7/8 inches and received her name this afternoon (Mikaela for her Great-Grandpa Michael, whose birthday she shares and her Uncle Michael whom she will wait to meet in Heaven, and Rose for her Grandma Karen’s middle name).  She’s doing well and seems to fit in to our family perfectly.

Now, on to the details…  I saw my midwife on Wednesday, Jan. 31, and found out I was dilated 3cms and went to 4cms after my exam.  We knew we were down to a matter of days.  Beth and Jenn had taken our kids for the day so Vince and I enjoyed a lunch date together and went walking through the mall and Target hoping to coax the little bean to make an appearance.  I was having some pretty good crampy contractions and by 1AM they were enough to keep me from sleeping.  I thought for sure I’d be calling everyone in the next few hours.  At 6AM the contractions STOPPED.  Augh…  I thought for sure this kid had changed it’s mind and decided to stay inside FOREVER.  By the afternoon Vince encouraged me to get out and go shopping with him (I blew up the vacuum that morning and we needed to replace it) he figured the walking would do me good.  Well, my husband knows what he’s doing. Sure enough the contractions started to come back by that evening.  Francesca fell asleep on our way home, so I put her to bed and went to lay down myself.  Vince took the boys out to pick up pizza and when he got home I was bringing all the birth supplies into our room.  Between 8:30 and 9:00 things started getting serious, I called my Mom to give her a heads up and then called Evelyn, my midwife, to let her know we were having a baby tonight!  Vince called my sister Laurie and my friends Beth and Jenn to let them know it was show-time.  Everyone was on their way.  Jenn got here first and sat with the kids, who decided they were going to wait up to meet their new sibling.  Beth got here next and then Evelyn.  They all finished getting the rest of the supplies together while I labored in the shower. Lora, my other midwife arrived and within the next few minutes things got intense.  I was having really strong contractions (I was in transition) and feeling a lot of pressure too.  We called Beth and Jenn to the room with the kids, Andrew had fallen asleep waiting but Evan and Francesca were wide-eyed and waiting.  Everyone explained to them that I was working really hard to bring the baby out and that even though it hurt they were there to make sure I was okay and safe.  to me it seemed to be lasting forever (I would later find out that it really didn’t).  After some pretty uncomfortable contractions and just feeling like it was taking too long Evelyn encouraged me to get back into the shower.  The water felt great!  Francesca and Evan nodded off so Vince and Beth got them all into their beds while I was showering, poor little things, they tried so hard to stay up.  I knew the baby was moving down and that the birth was really close.  Just as I was getting ready to step out of the shower I had a contraction that broke my water.  Good timing, no big puddle on the bed this time!!  I got dried off and put on a nightgown and made my way back to the bed.  After A LOT of pushing and crying (yup, I’m a crier during labor) and thinking the baby would stay stuck or something, I felt that unmistakable feeling of the head being born and soon the body, ahhh relief.  She was born into her Daddy’s arms with Evelyn by his side.  They wrapped her up and passed her to me so I could sit down.  Love at first sight yet again.  So tiny and yet so perfect.  I am truly amazed that God gives us this opportunity to be a part of creation when he blesses us with a child.  I don’t understand how He possibly sees me worthy of the responsibility for this little life, I am just thankful that He entrusted each of these children to Vince and I.

So here we are.  After 3 hours and 58 minutes of labor, we are the Walters family of six, proudly announcing our newest addition, Mikaela Rose.  This morning she met all her brothers and sister and they’re all in love!  Evan is enamored by her smallness, looking at every little feature and checking on her very often.  Andrew was excited when we said she had lots of hair like he did when he was born.  And Francesca is thrilled to help take care of the baby, telling me when to change her diaper and pick her up.  I’m doing well, resting a lot (posting this from Vince’s laptop in bed) and enjoying my babymoon while some of my family is here to help us out.  I’ll be sure to post pictures as soon as I can get them from my camera to the laptop.