Noah's Birth Story

Noah's birth was miraculous.   I experienced a strength that only God can give.  Labor began April 8th around 6 pm with mild contractions.  I was shopping and stopping in the middle of the isle for a contraction.  I was knocking things down from the bulk section but no one would of guess, "this lady is in labor!"

We hurried home to make dinner, put the girls to bed, put groceries away, do last  minute cleaning, laundry and bake a birthday cake!  Quickly labor progressed with more painful contractions and more back to back.  I never time them, I really haven't gotten the rythm of time.  I'll try next time.  At first I was worried that I was having back labor again.  My last two births were also back labor and both babies were born posterior.  I had done everything you can think of to try to turn the baby this time and try to avoid back labor again.  But God knows best.  This time I was able to manage and control this stage much better through relaxation.  My husband and Tricia, our good friend midwife, were with me all night.  We had great conversations all night about having a self-sustaining community.  I was not tired or sleepy  but I'm sure they were.   I was in the birth pool most of the time.  This is my second time having a water tub for labor and delivery and it is just great, especially when you're having back labor.  Well morning came and nothing.  I starting pushing contractions about 7 am April 9th, but nothing progressed.  I could feel baby's head but that was it.  After 6 hours of pushing, I prayed to the Lord not to let me end up in the hospital.  I admit the second stage of labor was hard because no matter what we tried, there was no progress.  Again, as with my two prior births, the bag of waters  was bulging.  It wouldn't let the baby's head come down.  It would go in and out, in and out.  I wanted Tricia to rupture the bag but she had hoped for no intervention.  Well, this is one of the reasons we didn't have unassisted birth because of our past experience.  Finally she did break the bag.  By this time I was and looked awfully drained.  My husband worried that I had no strength left to push this baby out.  Mostly, Tricia worried of the state of the baby, being in the birth canal for such a long time.  But baby kept strong.

Immediately after she ruptured the bag, I jumped into the pool because a huge contraction was coming.  Something got into me or came out of me that nothing would stop me in pushing so hard.  Tricia's and Jose's faces just expressed what they didn't want to happen at this point, for me to burst open, but PRAISE THE LORD! baby's head was born.  I rested for about 1 or 2 minutes and another huge contraction came and I pushed the rest of the baby out.  Wow!  I've never felt so relieved in my life, everyone else too.  I just held baby in the water and laughed of joy.  He was born five minutes after the water bag was broken at 1:22 pm.

Once again, how blessed we were for another healthy and very special birth.