Benjamin Michael "Skywalker" :)

I need to write this all down while it is still fresh in my mind. At this moment I am home with my 4 kids and amazing husband. All 4 of my little ones are sleeping, but my little Benito is by my side in the pack and play. I am still so in awe of all that took place. I look back and praise God because I know that He worked everything out. It wasn't anything I did, it truly was Him who chose to answer my prayers.

A couple of weeks ago as I was coming closer to my due date I started keeping track of my baby's movement. I started getting a little nervous because I notice a dramatic change in how he moved and how much he moved. So I went into the antenatal unit and had a stress test done. Basically they hooked me up to a heart monitor for 20 mins and watch baby's heart rate. Something came up on the script that caused them for concern so I stayed there another 3.5 hours. I received a ultra sound which showed that he was healthy and doing fine. But there were still some concern and my midwife wanted me to come in once a week just for a stress test screening. So I did and for the most part he looked great. The following appointment was my prenatal appointment and I was 38 weeks and 5 days. My midwife came in and asked how I was doing. I told her I felt over done. I was already 3 cm and still 75% effaced. She said well I talked to the head OB who has been reviewing your scripts and he doesn't think you should come in for the stress tests anymore but suggested that we should induce you. There can still be something wrong with his heartrate that isn't showing up on ultra sound or the monitors, because you're so close it may be safer to have him sooner than later, what do you think? 
I asked if I were to be induced could I still have a natural water birth in the birthing suite? She said I wouldn't be able to have it in the birthing suite because if something went wrong they weren't equipped to transfer me quick enough. 
This concerned me because even though I wanted to have my baby, I also wanted to have a natural water birth. But after talking things over with her and with my husband I said yes to being induced. I was to come in the following morning to be induced. The great part was that my midwife was the one on shift on saturdays. Well later that evening I received a call from my midwife that said since I wasn't 39 weeks they couldn't induce and I would have to wait one whole day and come in on Sunday instead. I was pretty disappointed because I really loved my midwife and wanted her to be the one to deliver my son. So that meant I had one night to pray and take castor oil to self induce labor. Since I had taken castor oil 5 times already earlier in the week my confidence in this technique wasn't very high, but I did it anyway. At 10 pm I took 2 tablespoons mixed in juice and downed it. After a couple of hours passing nothing was happening and I thought I should take another dose, but decided against it. I went to bed and around 2:30 am I woke up and had to use the bathroom. The castor oil kicked in. I started having mild contractions. I kept praying and praying that my water would just break and I would be able to go into the hospital right away. At 4 am that's exactly what happened. I rolled over in bed and I felt a little pop inside. I thought it was the baby kicking or moving in a weird way but then I felt my water come out. I got up and sure enough I was leaking. I praised God and then told my husband. We packed everything up, the kids were already with my in laws and we set off to the hospital......

The Very Slow Beginning of Labor

When I first got to the hospital I had to go to antenatal for screening. I was in there quite a while. I had some pretty regular contractions, nothing too bad. After a long while they told me I could go walk around. So I did and that's when my contractions stopped. We went to the cafeteria and ate breakfast then headed back up to see if my midwife was on yet. She didn't come on for a little bit so I decided that I should rest. I slept for about an hour. I woke up and my midwife knocked on the door. Since my contractions stopped she suggested putting me on pitocin to get things moving. I agreed. I went to the birthing suite and they hooked me up. The previous day at my prenatal I was already 3 cm, I didn't know if I had progressed at all since then and because my water broke they didn't want to check me. I stayed hooked up to the pitocin for a couple of hours. My contractions weren't too bad. I played candy crush, sang along with my praise music, went on facebook and prayed the whole time. I kept praising God that I was able to be in the birthing suite and not having to stay in a bed hooked up to pitocin. I never labored without pitocin so I don't know any other way, but I do know that pitocin can give you some killer contractions that end up on top of each other. At about 2 pm I asked to be checked. At this point I was having some intense contractions and wanted to get in the water. She checked and I was at about 5.5 cm and almost completely effaced. Benjamin was down very low. They started to fill up the jet tub and I logged off my computer. 

Step into the Water

I put on my bathing suit top and I was able to get into the tub. I was still hooked up to the pitocin and I had the baby monitor on my stomach. They still wanted to watch his heart rate since there was previous concern with it. I didn't mind, I was just relieved to get in the warm bath. At this time Miguel really stepped up as he could see my contractions becoming more intense. He reminded me to breathe, to relax. He encouraged me and made sure I had my raspberry leaf tea and ice to munch on. As soon as I got in the water I could feel the change in my contractions. The water helped so much. The contractions were intense yet seemed to feel a little shorter. I think as the contraction would taper off the water helped me enough to relax and it made it seem shorter. Because the water was warm I needed something cool on my face. We had a little fan brought in and it really helped me to breathe and to not get so hot. The one awkward part about being in the tub was there isn't a lot of comfortable positions to be in. I've seen some women sit on their bottoms like normal, some squat and some were more in a frog position with there upper body hanging on the side of the tub. This is the position I  chose and stayed in.  I liked this position because it took away any lower back pain (which usually I have horrible back labor, this time I had none) Also because this position helps the pelvis area to really open up and baby to descend. As contractions would come on I would rock my hips left to right, again you don't have a lot of movement in the tub but this helped. Miguel put a cold rag on my neck and my head and it felt like heaven. The contractions started to pick up and they were very very strong. I struggled to keep my eyes open, I couldn't answer questions, I was dazed and in my own world. A contraction would come on and I could hear Miguel "just breathe, deep breaths in your nose out your mouth. You're doing it Babe, You're doing great" I remember having Pandora on and I would only hear parts of each song. But every part I heard was about being strong, pressing on, being courageous... I felt like in the midst of everything even God was encouraging me. As things moved along I struggled to breathe and ended up with more of a humming sound. BREATHE in HUM out :) then I started to cry a little bit. Why? Because at one point fear set in. "What if I still have a long ways to go? What if I can't do this? What was I thinking? When do I push? How long have I been in here?" All these thoughts would creep in my mind and the fear started to set in. I didn't know how long I was in the water, I didn't know how far I had progressed. I just knew that it hurt, a lot. My nurse Beverly came in and said "you have about 15 minutes and then we're going to get you out for a little bit" She watched me for a second and asked "do you feel any pressure"? I thought about it... I had no idea what I felt, I just knew it hurt. "I don't know, I don't know" She called my midwife and she came into check on me. She asked me the same question "Esther do you feel pressure, do you feel like pushing"? The questions overwhelmed me and I started crying again. There was no break in between contractions, I didn't know if I needed to push or not and then.....

It's Time

All of sudden I felt my next contraction and it was like my body just kicked in. It knew what to do. I didn't have to think about it. I took a deep breath and instead of breathing out I bared down. I heard my midwife say "yup there she goes, lets prep" I still had my eyes closed. I barely could hold my head up in between contractions. All I know is that when my contractions hit, the only relief was to push. It was all so strange to me. I would think back to my other deliveries. I had epidurals with them but with my last two, the epi didn't work towards the end and when it came to pushing. But now that I have had a all natural labor and delivery, I would have to say that the epi definitely took the edge off because this was a whole different ball game. 

As I pushed I could feel my baby's head descending. I would start to feel a little bit of burning. Oblivious to what other were saying to me, focusing on one thing, get this baby out!!! At first when I started pushing I would kind of grunt and push.... This worked being that I was able to get him to descend BUT when I chose to hold my breath, hold my voice and really push, that's when I could really feel him moving. His head came down and I felt that ring of fire. My body continued to push without me giving it much thought. Finally his head was out. I reached down and told my midwife the head was out. That's when I realized that they were concerned about his heart rate. "Esther you need to change positions, we need to adjust the monitor" I only had a few seconds between contractions to do this. I carefully sat into a squat position, they adjusted the monitor and my midwife began to assist me. I went to push and he wasn't budging. There must have been concern with his heart rate because my midwife seemed to be in a state of urgency to get him out. But my baby's shoulders were stuck. "Esther we're going to start to drain the water and I need you to stand and not sit back down" in my head I thought "She's crazy, she wants me to stand???" But I did it any how. I could sense her urgency and I also wanted this baby out, I stood in a squatted position.( I was so glad for staying condition through out my pregnancy for this moment ) I thought my legs would give but once I was in that familiar stance my legs stood strong. I held on to the side bars while my midwife told me to push and she attempted to pull and twist my son out. He wasn't moving, his shoulders were stuck I could feel the awkward angle. Next thing I knew my midwife took off her shoes and stepped right into the tub with me LOL I couldn't believe it. I pushed again and she pulled and finally I felt my baby turn and come out. I slowly sat back down in the water that didn't have time to drain. The immediate relief and emptiness left me crying. I had my son in my arms. He was still covered in vernix, as I rubbed his back with warm water, I remember thinking he felt so waxy. He's my only one that has been covered in it when born. Right at this moment my kids walked in with my MIL. They came just in time to meet their new little brother. 

The After Birth

As my kids rushed to the side of the table where Baby Benjamin was, one of my little ones stayed at the door watching me. It was my Josiah. He was excited that his baby brother was born but I saw the concern for his mommy on his face. I was about to get out of the tub to delivery the placenta and I didn't want Joe to get scared of the blood so I asked the doors to be closed. Once I delivered the placenta, I really had a feeling of emptiness. My abs were so weak. I couldn't even stand up straight. As the nurse went out the door my son turned and saw the blood. I made my way to the bed. There was my Joey, following me to check on me. "Mom, are you okay? I saw all that blood, are you okay?" I assured him I was and he said "good because I was praying for you" He examined my arm and saw the hospital bracelets, he saw the iv and the bruises from where I had been poked. He asked about each thing and again I assured him I was fine. He would lay his hand on me and rest his head be careful not to hurt me. My girls were still adoring their little brother. Abby kept saying over and over "He is so cute. I just love him. " Ellie was asking questions about the umbilical cord and when Joey first saw him, his comment was "Ha! look at his pecks" LOL

I looked over at my four children and I was so thankful for each one. 

Long Story Short

I found out later that I labored in the tub from 2:40 pm to 3:40 pm. He was born at 3:56 pm. This was my quickest labor and delivery ever. Yes this was my fourth delivery but I really don't think that had much to do with how my labor went. I was already dilated to 3 cm and 75% effaced. My cervix was extremely soft. I contribute this to taking Evening primrose oil both orally and vaginally. I also drank Raspberry Leaf Tea, which made my uterine muscles stronger which made each contraction do exactly what its suppose to and help move the baby down. I'm also 2 days postpartum and my bleeding is so minimal. This is so unusual for me, I also contribute this to the RRL tea. Overall it was God that allowed everything to work out the way it did. Instead He heard my prayers, my cries, He encouraged me during my labor and now I am home with my healthy 21 inch es, 8 lb 10 oz Son. We call him Baby Skywalker <3 nbsp="" p="">