With the next few contractions I pushed with all my might. I could finally feel the baby moving down. Though the weird thing is, I also knew I was holding back at the same time. It was an odd feeling.
I vaguely heard the midwife ask me to slow down, but it was too late. Kevin and the midwife caught the flying baby! The cord had been wrapped around her neck, but I didn’t give her anytime to unwrap the cord. The baby had also gone from being transverse to going back to posterior, so the baby was born star gazing or sunny side up. OUCH!
It was 1:01 p.m. About 45 minutes after we had walked in the door. I was floored.
I saw Kevin clamoring to see if the baby was a girl or a boy. I remember trying to ask him to not call it out. Lilah really wanted to do that job. I heard him say, “It’s a girl!” He was laughing. Then I heard Isaac say, “Darn, another girl!” I had to laugh.
There was a gush of blood about three minutes after she was born and we assumed it was the placenta releasing. I pushed to give birth to the placenta and sprayed blood everywhere. (Let’s just say people had to change clothes!) Thankfully the placenta did follow quickly, but due to our concerns over the bleeding I had a shot of Pitocin in the thigh to ensure that I didn’t bleed too much.
Lilah’s other job was to be the cutting of the umbilical cord. With the help and encouragement of Kevin, she wielded the scissors and cut the cord. She was so proud of herself.
I quickly got up in my bed and tried to snuggle up with my new daughter. The other kids really didn’t want any of that – they wanted her! I have a ton of pictures of everyone with the baby but me. Owen did walk over and say, “I don’t like it.” But she came back later and was happy with her new baby. Lilah held the baby and was singing Twinkle, Twinkle to her sweetly. The baby quieted right down and went to sleep.
Her newborn exam was unremarkable. She was perfect in everyway. She weighed in at 8 pounds 9 ounces. Thankfully she wasn’t any bigger, given how she came into the world. She was 20 inches long, also shorter than I thought too.
I faired okay in the healing department, given the birth. I did have a first degree tear, my first tear since my episiotomy with baby number one. It hasn’t been as bad as I was worried about.
One of the more hilarious stories from my labor was that the air condition repair man showed up about 10 minutes before our baby was born. Talk about being freaked out. He kept politely and quietly telling other people he needed Kevin. Though the AC has turned into a nightmare and it’s been over a week and its still not fixed. We’ll live.
The baby is still unnamed. She’s a content child and very cute. Finally we have a dark haired child to go with our blonds and red heads. She’s not a great nurser, but we’ve been pumping for her and she’s learning. Hopefully she’ll catch on faster than the twins who didn’t nurse until they were three months old.
Wow, seven kids. I’m thrilled. I’m floored. I’m blessed to be the mother of many…
