Amelia's Birth Story: Part 6 (The Final Installment)

(Catch up with Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.)

After a few contractions while half reclining on the bed, I noticed that though I seemed to be progressing my contractions were coming further apart. After a 6 minute span between two contractions, Tim and I decided that I should probably stand up to see if the contractions would speed up again.

As soon as I was on my feet they started coming every other minute. At this point I knew I was fully dilated and felt as though each next contraction could push the baby out if the bag of water was not in the way. After a few of these contractions I managed to tell Tim I'd like for my water to be broken.

Tim turned to Dana and asked if there was any reason not to break my water at this point. She said that she would do it if I wanted her to or I could simply wait for it to break on its own.

At this point I knew that the baby would be born as soon as my water was broken so I told Dana I'd like for her to go ahead and break it.

After the next contraction, Tim helped me back into the bed while Dana prepared for the immanent flow of bodily fluids. She then instructed me to let her know when I was ready. During the next contraction I told her to go ahead. It was now 2:48 PM.

For a split second I felt an tremendous sense of relief. Then the next contraction was on top of me and I was rushed back to the reality of labor. At this point I told Tim that he needed to get ready to deliver Amelia and he put on his gloves. Unlike our other births, Tim was instructed to keep the gloves sterile by not touching anything after they were on. This meant that he could no longer touch me which I was not very thrilled about. I  really wanted to hold his hand at this point, but there was nothing I could do about that.

The next contraction hit and finally the urge to push accompanied it. The nurse offered me her hand to hold and I gladly accepted it. With my first push I could feel Amelia's foot pushing against my ribs and boy did it hurt! I told the nurse it felt like she wasn't too happy with me. With the next push, the nurse felt my stomach and said that it was indeed her little foot that was causing me so much discomfort. I'm not quite sure why a little foot in the rib hurt so much compared to actually pushing out a baby, but it did.

On the next contraction, Amelia's head emerged. Tim held her little face while Dana used her finger to check and make sure the cord wasn't around the baby's neck. I pushed one more time during that contraction and nothing happened. At this point I knew Amelia was bigger than our other babies. All of the other kids have been so small that after the head emerged the rest of them basically fell out, but not this time.

Amelia was completely quiet and I actually started to worry and kept asking if the baby was okay. Dana assured me she was but that I would just need to get the rest of her out before she would cry. Because of my position on the bed, my contraction had once again slowed down a little and as much as I wanted to push her out it was as though my body was incapable of pushing until the next contraction hit.

As soon as it did I pushed twice as Tim carefully maneuvered Amelia's shoulders out and our beautiful baby girl slid into her Daddy's hands. It was 2:56 PM, barely 5 hours after my first mild contraction.

After admiring his newest little girl for a few seconds, Tim handed her to me.

She was absolutely beautiful and was covered in vernix (a lot more than I would have thought for a 40+ weeker), definitely another little cheese ball like Eliya.

And definitely our biggest baby so far weighing in at 8 pounds 12 ounces. That's almost 2 pounds more than Emahry who was our previous biggest baby and almost 4 pounds bigger than Jonathan who is our smallest baby so far.

She couldn't be more perfect!

Amelia Beth

Amelia = "to strive" ~ my mom's first name (she goes by Amy)

Beth = "God is my oath" ~ my middle name

August 25th, 2011

2:56 PM

8 pounds 12 ounces

21 1/2 inches

Here are some pictures of Amelia at 2 weeks old. I might be a little bias, but I think she is absolutely the definition of cuteness!

...you may also want to read Emahry's, Jonathan's, and Eliya's birth stories. They are all so different, proving that each pregnancy, labor and delivery is completely unique...just like each child.

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