Miyah & JaeLynne's Birth Story

Miyah & JaeLynne’s Birth Story

*April 17, 2012*
After weeks of experiencing random days of 8-hour contractions that quit and seemed to be pointless, I really just figured that this was going to be another sleepless night full of work for no reason at all.  We went to bed around 10 and around 1045pm I started to become really uncomfortable. I was able to sleep in between the really bad contractions and right through the small ones, but by 2 am, I was up.

*April 18, 2012*
2am-3am ~ More contractions, mucous plug lost - it didn’t seem like much so I kept waiting for more to come.

3am-7am ~ Contractions are increasingly intense. Walking around is becoming a nuisance so I make my way to our bedroom and “set up camp” at the end of our bed. It was just too much work and too uncomfortable to climb into bed. I’m really feeling like THIS IS IT! But I’ve been so disappointed before that I really try not to get my hopes up. I’m not even “due” for  another week or so and none of my babies have ever come “early”.

700am ~ FINALLY my water breaks. What a relief!!! After gushing for a while and wondering if it would ever stop, a tiny baby girl arrives - I get to catch her because Coby had been taking care of the other kids. He happened to be in the hallway at the time and I look up at him and say, “Isn’t she kind of small??” and lay her down on the towels & mats below me. I’m really wanting to sit and get comfortable so I can hold her and start nursing her before too much time passes but another wave of contractions come on and I realize ---- THERE ARE TWO BABIES!

716am ~ The second baby arrives. Another girl! At this point, I am shocked - there are twins - and a little saddened - Corbyn doesn’t get a brother. It’s funny what your brain thinks is important enough to think about at certain times.

Since we’d anticipated a boy, had a name picked out, bought one car seat - the non-carrier-type, and pulled some (mostly boy) clothes, we were a bit overwhelmed with two girls. The only thing we had for a girl was a name. I kept wondering what we’d name the other one. That for some reason stressed me out a lot! Coby suggested splitting the name, but I didn’t like that idea at first. It grew on me after a few minutes  and after a bit, Faith and Hope seemed to be fitting middle names. 

We now had…
♥Miyah Faith born at 700am. She was 4lb 5oz and 17” long &
♥JaeLynne Hope born at 716am. She was 4lb 1oz and 18” long.

I believe that there’s a bit of God’s grace provided for unknown circumstances. He just seems to take care of us. I’ll never doubt his presence in the entire pregnancy, delivery, and first weeks of the twins lives.

We were immediately blessed by friends, family & our church family with prayer, gifts & food. The outpouring of love and offerings was amazing.

I’ve never had so many trials, feelings of failure, and absolute awareness of God’s presence in my life as I had the first 5 weeks of their lives. But every single second of that has been so worth it! The saying “This, too, shall pass…” has run through my mind more times during all of this than ever before. Right now, life with them is a bit crazier and much more hectic than before, but it’s absolutely perfect. ♥

*July 11, 2012*
They are 12 weeks today. Miyah is 7lb 8.5oz and JaeLynne is 7lb 7.5oz. They are so big and so strong. They’re so precious and such a blessing!

We are quiver-full and ready for another exciting chapter & adventure of parenthood. ♥

•The girls are wearing the same newborn-sized jammies in both pictures. The second picture was taken somewhere within a week of them being born & they were swimming in those jammies.•

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Teething Bling Giveaway

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My *Home* Birth Story

Should have done this a week ago.. anyway, here it is...

My *Home* Birth Story ♥

After passing up all three due dates, our little bundle, Jacklyn, decided to show herself on
July 20, 2010 at 105pm, weighing in at (for me, a whopping) 7lb 2oz and 20" long. We're so excited to have her here!!!

Around 740am minor, irritating contractions started, I'd had one or two around 430am and then around 5 and 6am, but nothing consistent. I figured they would eventually go away, so hubby went to work as usual. From 740 to about 1015 the contractions were minor and I just stood at the dining room table and swayed side to side, consciously relaxing any tense muscles I could relax while I timed them. After about 1020 the contractions started to get intense and around 11am I called hubby to come home.

*Good thing I did*.

Things progressed faster after 11am. By noon I was contracting with my head on the couch on a pillow and my knees on the floor. I had a few in this position when I felt the need to push. It was like all of a sudden I could, with each contraction, see myself opening up for this baby to come. It was an awesome visualization that I hadn't planned on. That is certainly not my "happy place", but I could see it. So I moved myself to the bathroom. I was on the toilet (classic sign that you're about to deliver) and my water broke. :-)

We'd planned on a water birth and at this time, hubby was getting the water ready in our tub. Neither of us were quite sure when exactly to get into the tub - obviously, I should have asked a few more questions and done a little more research. lol I totally did NOT make it into the water.

Hubby grabbed a waterproof pad and I ended up hanging on to the tub, on my knees and feeling like I needed to push.

At one point, I remember a conversation between my wonderful husband and myself....
Me: I need to push.
Hubby: Don't push you'll tear. Just relax.
Me: I really need to push.
Hubby: Don't! I'll be right back with the water.

Poor guy! I wanted a water birth so bad he was going to try to hurry and get the water warming on the stove for me (our garden tub is one one side of the house and our water heater is on the other, so it takes a bit to warm the water, etc.... we were just going to improvise. lol)

Me: Don't leave me, here's her head!

LOL

Seriously...

Anyway, so her head was out, I told hubby to hang out and I would let him know when I was going to push again. I did, and out she came for Daddy to catch her at 105pm. He was so thrilled! So with contractions not being intense until around 10am, it was around a 4 hour labour. :-)

Our other two children were having their quiet time during Jacklyn's delivery. Our 5yo daughter wanted to help me, but when she saw me in a little "distress" during a contraction, she about started crying, so her daddy sent her to her room for her own quiet time. :-) Poor thing. So, after Jacklyn was born, they were brought back to see her. They're so excited to have her here! They just love her. ♥

The entire experience was absolutely AMAZING and I wish I would have had all three of our babies at home! I pray that any more kids we may have we're able to have at home. Maybe next time I'll get that water birth. ;-) (IMO) There's no labour/delivery in the world like a home labour/delivery. You're in your surroundings with your hubby and kids. If you're hungry, you can eat whatever you want. You can clean during your lighter contractions. It's just ideal. A big plus for me was not having to be in a strange place with strangers coming in and out of the room checking on me. Everything was familiar and I really think the labour and delivery were easier this time. My husband was (and IS) absolutely Wonderful and did everything to keep me calm and relaxed and in control. I am a Seriously Blessed wife and mother!

If you're ever able to at least consider a home birth, please do!

*Due* today --- but the baby has NO idea!

Yes, I'm due today. But this baby has no idea. I feel fantastic today - too fantastic! This baby's not coming today...

As much as I know not to rely on the EDD, it IS a little disappointing to know that it won't happen today. I am ready. I'm tired of being tired and in various body pain. I'm tired of not being able to sleep on my back - or comfortably sleep at all - and of rocking to have to get out of the recliner - that I know NOT to sit in when I'm this big! LOL I'm sure that any pregnant woman would agree. As much as I'm tempted to try the wives' tales -- spicy food, bumpy rides, sex -- , I know that they won't do any good. This baby's not budging until it's ready. I'm not sure what to do to keep my mind off of it, it's become an obnoxious obsession. I guess I could re-wash all of the clothes, but that seems so unnecessary for two reasons: this is our 3rd child (I know that they won't be any cleaner with one washing as they would be with five) and we have no idea the sex of the baby! I'd have to wash the girl clothes and then the boy clothes and put them right back where I had them... it just seems like so much work right now. lol Hopefully (*prayerfully*) this weekend will be full of walking and cleaning and activity so as to take my mind off of it and also, by some chance, jiggle something loose to start labour.

C'mon Baby #3 and Homebirth! I'm ready!!!

Weight - May Be an Ongoing post...

I think I'm going to chart my weight on here somehow. Maybe I'll find a cute ticker or something that I can keep up with on blogger, but for now, this will do.

*Recently found my planner where I documented how much I weighed at the beginning of my pregnancy - 132! I've ONLY gained 30lbs this time around! That's encouraging and exciting to me!!

✿ 7/5 ~ A.M. ~ 162 @ 39 wks & 3 days.

6/28 I'm ready.... but my house is not!

I'm ready. I'm ready to have this baby! I'm 38 1/2 weeks. The pregnancy, all in all, has been good. I could have done without the 4 months of incurable "morning (24/7) sickness" but the rest of the pregnancy has been great. I'm in the stage now where no matter what I do, my lower back and hips hurt, but it's WAY more bearable than the nauseousness. :)

The house is not ready. We don't live in a pig-sty. It's not filthy - the vacuuming and dishes are kept up on and my other kids (5 & 3) love to dust, so that's not the problem... It's the windows and little areas of clutter and the yard and garden. It's also deep scrubbing the bathrooms and making sure that the baby clothes/diapers/wipes are in order. I'm not sure why clothes will matter when the baby will just be in a diaper for the first few weeks of their life because it's summer, but it does!

Why does pregnancy bring this overwhelming need to rearrange, reorganize, and reevaluate everything?

So today, I'll be doing everything that I can - probably exhausting myself - to prepare for the upcoming arrival. :-) (Like s/he'll care...) But it's what I need to do - for my own sanity - what's left of it anyway. ;-)

Blessings,
~♥~April~♥~