Home Brewed Smittle: Week 40. 0 to go.

As I write the title of this blog I find it somewhat unreal. I can't believe that after 6 pregnancies I actually made it to my due date for the first time. There was a time, right after KK was born, when the NICU doctor(who probably had no idea what he was actually saying) told me that if I were to choose to have any more children there was NO way that they would be carried full-term. He said they'd likely be born earlier and in worse shape than KK was at an early 36 weeks.

Poor KK on her worst day in the NICU. She was so strong!

This was after Olivia was born with underdeveloped lungs at 38 weeks. She only spent minimal time away from us with oxygen, but the two births together was enough for us to believe what he said and take heed.(By the way, there are no pics of Olivia as a baby because she was born before we had digital camera's and I'm not going to find the pics I want, scan them in, and load them up today. Just know she was BEAUTIFUL!)
After that our thoughts of having a large family were shattered. I decided we'd just have our two girls and that would have to be enough. I got rid of all of KK's baby things(other than some clothes) as she outgrew them. I never lost that desire of having a large family, and started to pray for obvious direction and guidance. As KK neared her first birthday I decided to go to a new doctor who told me about fFN testing that she could do if we decided we wanted to have another baby. These tests would be done each time we came in for a visit and wouldn't tell us if I WAS in labor, but it would tell us if I wasn't, which would make it possible to know if there was anything that might need to be done to prepare for a pre-term delivery. After that knowledge Scotty and I started to pray about our choices, and quickly agreed(with confirmation from the Lord) that we would go back to allowing the Lord to plan our family. I found out I was pregnant with Addi one week shy of KK's first birthday(it was actually Manly's Birthday!).

This is a picture of Scotty with his  "birthday gift."

I had a fantastic pregnancy with Addi. I was hardly sick in the beginning, and felt great right up until the day she was born. She rocketed into the world on the fourth of July just a few days shy of her due date. She was plump, healthy and oh so beautiful. We couldn't get over all the ways that God blessed us with a perfectly healthy baby. We'd prayed from day one that God would hold her in his hands and bless us with a healthy baby, and he did! You can read Addi's birth story on our old blog here if you have a Xanga account.

Addi on the day she was born! She had the most beautiful hair and such a sweet little face!

After her birth God showed us that HE is in charge and to trust in HIM. Because of that we continued to truck along and trust that he wouldn't give us more than we could handle. When our Addi was 11 months old we found out that Bubby was on the way. His pregnancy was hard, but not terrible. I was sick off and on, but overall it was pretty good. When I started having contractions at 36 weeks I was so scared of a repeat of what happened with KK. I was in complete turmoil over the fact that he may be born too early and be unhealthy. Then, I realized I'd tried to take back control from the only one who was actually IN control. When Isaiah was born at 37 weeks, and had slightly underdeveloped lungs I'll admit it, I was a wreck, but God kept reminding me HE was in control and he wouldn't take me through anywhere I couldn't handle without his help. The nurse staff at the hospital was so wonderful. They let me stay until he was ready to come home so that I didn't have to be without my baby. It was such an amazing blessing. The doctor, on the other hand didn't care to know anything about my body or the way I delivered quickly. He ended up leaving the hospital thinking that I didn't know what I was talking about when I said he was coming soon, and he wasn't there when Isaiah was born. In fact, the nurse hardly made it into the room before I delivered him!

Me holding TINY Bubby for the first time in the NICU.

 

My sweet sweet beautiful boy home and healthy!

[Lulu Photography]

After Isaiah I felt like I needed something different to happen if we were going to have any more children. I felt like I'd dealt with some great doctors in my actual pregnancies, but only one of my kids had actually been delivered by the doctor I'd seen throughout my pregnancies. Because of this I feared going into labor and not knowing what kind of person would be there to welcome our baby and help me through labor and delivery. I had NEVER thought about having a home birth, but I started looking into it and thinking about it for the first time not long after Bubby was born. I wanted to be prepared with options, so I started to research. I watched this movie, which I highly recommend to anyone in baby season. I don't recommend it because I think that homebirth is for everyone, because obviously, it isn't, but I recommend it because there are things that I learned from watching it about how things go these days.
The more and more I thought about doing a homebirth the more and more I wanted to do it. It seemed a little crazy since 3 out of 4 of our babies had been born with underdeveloped lungs, and a little early, but we felt like we needed to at least explore it as an option. Once I found out I was pregnant with Mia(Bubby was almost 6 months old! YIKES!) we called up Mary, who ended up being our midwife. She sat down with us and took a complete oral medical history. She asked lots of important questions that I'd never been asked. She made me feel welcome and smart(not rushed or stupid as many doctors today do). After she finished with her questions she looked me straight in the eyes and said, "I believe you can do this, Leslie. I believe you can carry a baby to term and deliver at home. I think we can have a happy healthy baby!" So, I went with that! We started seeing her for regular visits, and the rest is history! I carried Mia until ONE day shy of my due date!! I couldn't believe what a fantastic experience it was.

Us with Mia resting COMFY in my own bed!

I knew Mia wasn't our last, but Manly took a little convincing. We decided to have one more, but to wait a while. Having two so close together was hard on my body and I needed a while to recover. Once she was a year old we decided we were ready, and we got pregnant really quickly(like two weeks later). I knew I'd never go back to a hospital birth, so there was no discussion among us about if we wanted to do another homebirth or not. We did decide to use Mary's partner Kim this time because she lives closer to us and I wouldn't have to go to Little Rock for prenatal visits. I trust both Kim and Mary 100% with my pregnancy. I know that they give not only their time and energy, but their hearts to delivering happy healthy babies to happy healthy mommas.  I can't wait for Eli to be born! Not just because I want to hold him in my arms and have him complete our family, but because I'm EXCITED about the opportunity to be able to deliver at home again and go through the whole process. Is it tough? Uhh, YES! But it is so worth it to have the peace of mind that I KNOW who's going to be here when I go into labor and I know that my care and the care of my baby will be TOP NOTCH. I'll have not just ONE midwife, but TWO, along with the BEST apprentice ever!
SO, Eli is 40 weeks today. When will he decide to make his appearance, I don't know, but I'm not rushing! Remember that babies aren't like an extra value meal. They aren't made to order in 60 seconds or less. They should come when they're ready! Babycenter says that he's likely around 7.5 pounds(about the size of a small pumpkin) and about 20 inches long. I'd beg to differ with that guess, but I guess we'll see! So, little pumpkin, we'll see you soon!!