All in a First Day! Being Born and Being Loved on!

Oh, what a night!  Every single emotion being experienced on every level, some all at once and others just moments apart.  It is by far one of the most amazing miracles that we will ever experience.  I still have never been able to wrap my head around being in the most excruciating pain that you can experience one moment and it all being taken away in an instant and replaced with joy, love, and thankfulness.  What a blessing!  On a much larger scale than giving birth it reminds me of Jesus dying on the cross for us.  One moment, feeling the sin of all of us in the world and the next rising again!  I definitely felt like I could move mountains after this little one was born!  

So, late Tuesday evening I definitely had a few contractions that caught my attention,  but nothing crazy, and nothing timeable.  I talked to my Mom on the phone, watched a Murder She Wrote, did some laundry, you know, normal stuff.  But when I laid down at midnight they started coming every 10 minutes apart.  But these were not normal 10 minute apart contractions.  They were super intense with the very first one.  I mean Evie Kaye's contractions started at 5 minutes apart and they had nothing on these.  So, to be honest, I got really worried and after about the third contraction, I told Robert that I didn't think that I could do this and seriously considered going into the hospital.  I decided to get up and get in the tub and sure enough, it was just what I needed.  I used some Lavender and Balance oils in the tub and within a few minutes my contractions were 7 minutes and then quickly on to 5 minutes apart.  Yeah, progress!  But those 5 minute apart contractions were extremely intense and I had started droning.  Don't know why I do this in labor but all I will say is that it is much better than screaming! But I knew that I needed to get this labor over with and I did what I did when I was in labor with Emma Ann.  I started squatting in the tub with each contraction.  It allows your pelvis to open wider and the baby to move further down the birth canal.  Sure enough, just as with Emma Ann my contractions moved from 5 minutes to 2 1/2 minutes apart.  I was not able to stay in the tub any longer and decided to go to my next favorite "speeding labor up" position and sit on the toilet.  I know all too much information, but who doesn't want to know this.  At this point Robert is still in bed and I'm yelling in and he is timing the contractions and we still have not called the mid-wife.  So sitting on the toilet made my contractions go to 2 minutes apart and Robert called the hospital to notify the mid-wife and while he was on the phone with them the contractions moved to 1 min 45 sec. apart.  At this point in time I became a little worried.  All the signs signaled that delivery was near.  The mid-wife actually lived locally and got here not long after, around 2:50.  Her first entry into my journal was at 2:55.  It was amazing.  She was so calm and under control.  She had our bathroom spread with cloths and all of her instruments and gear within minutes and started monitoring the baby with her doppler every few minutes.  She notated everything that happened in the journal and was helpful and relaxed throughout it all.  The funniest thing as with all my deliveries, is that I had never even meet her before.  I just find that so odd, but I must tell you, no one cares at this point!  Robert was amazing and kept rubbing my White Fir essential oil on my back for pain through each contraction.  She kept saying, it sounds like your starting to push, and you can not delivery the baby on the toilet.  So after a few contractions I stood up and actually held on to our pedestal sink for support and within just a few minutes sweet little one entered this world!  The other mid-wife literally walked in the door 1 minute before he was born!  They like to have two mid-wife's at births, one for mom and one for baby and it was entered in that she arrived at 3:27 and he was born at 3:28!  I honestly could not believe that it happened all so quickly and  was in amazement.  I sat back down on the toilet and the midwife handed me sweet little one in a towel and I was able to have him skin to skin and nurse him while the cord continued to pump blood and until I delivered the placenta.  Afterwards (just 6 minutes later) Robert came in to cut the cord and hold him while I stepped back into the bath to wash off.  (Poor Evie Kaye had woken up, which she sometimes does in the middle of the night and was quite upset that she was not allowed into the room to come get in her favorite spot right in-between Robert and I in our bed!  So he walked down to her room with her and then was back to cut the cord!)  

Here is sweet little guy just 1 minute after he is born!

Afterwards I went and got into bed and nursed sweet little one again (notice he still doesn't have a name at this point!) and the midwife's announced that it was tradition to have a cup of tea!  Robert went and brewed them a cup of tea and they sat on the bed with me and had tea and some of my homemade granola bars while we chatted and they filled out paperwork!  Amazing!  After awhile, they checked little one's temperature, heart beat and gave him his Vitamin K shot all while I was holding and nursing him!  They then checked me over and took him for about 30 seconds to weigh him at the foot of our bed.  They gathered up their materials and asked if we had any other questions and they were off!  What an amazing experience!  I got to snuggle up with my new little man and just relax in bed.  I felt great and he was just as content as could be.  I ended up skyping with my Mom and the baby was wide awake for the whole thing and then we took a nap. 

The most special thing was having each one of the children come in as they woke up to discover their brand new baby brother!

Ethan Jay has most notably waited on this day and told me on a regular basis how they will share a room and all of the things he will teach him!  He was in love!

Emma Ann woke up in some kind of mood and Grandma kept trying to get her to come into our room.  It wasn't until I said, don't you want to come see your baby brother that she jumped around the corner and said, "He came out!"  She was definitely beside herself with joy!

He is the spitting image of Ethan Jay!

She went and got dressed and came back and physically could not leave his side!  No cartoons could pry her away from this guy!

And then to steal my heart away even more was my sweet soul of a little girl, Evie Kaye.  She came in crawled up on our bed, took one look at him and gasped!  She had to hold him immediately and did not want to let him go.  

She did decide after just a few minutes that he needed a toy and went and got a lovely music maker for him!  Then the sweetest thing, she went, all on her own accord and got him this pink teddy bear.  This was the teddy bear that Ethan Jay and Emma Ann brought to the hospital for her on the day that she was born!  Oh how they can melt you instantly!

Probably the most unusual thing was that we had a guy scheduled to come around and look at our tub and the fireplace in our room that morning at 8:30.  So sure enough, he showed up and there I am with a few hour old baby as he worked around us!  We also, oddly enough had someone come out and take a look at our oven later on that afternoon!  He thought I was joking when I told him that I had just delivered a baby that morning at home while I was on the phone with him!  He was really shocked when he showed up and there really was a tiny new little one.  

Around 10:30 after the first guy left the baby and I got into the tub and I gave him a little scrub.  It was definitely not his favorite and he was more than happy to be out and all bundled up again!

Much better!

So up until this point, poor little fella still doesn't have a name.

And then in walks Ethan Jay.  He has announced for sometime that his vote for the babies name is Easton.  The girls vote fluctuate from day to day but mostly it is for "baby brother!"  All on his own, he got a piece of paper (pictured beside him and then a close up below) and drew a picture of his new baby brother and even with a star on his blanket like he has on.  On the right side of the picture he has a zero because he is zero years old and on the left side of the paper he said he sounded out his name.  It is Esn for Easton.  Yep, that definitely sealed the deal!  Easton it would have to be!  We decided to name him Easton James, James for my Daddies brother, "Jimmy" or James Dennis Tanner.  

I have loved using my oils on him and let me tell you, he has enjoyed getting his little rub downs!

He loves to have his foot kicked up like that, it is hilarious!

Evie Kaye is in the background because she needed some oils rubbed on her feet as well!

Grandma and Evie Kaye getting some sweet snuggles!

And Granny Jeanine and her grand, Bella stopped by for a visit.  Granny Jeanine has already claimed him as hers!

Another mid-wife stopped by for his new born check and she was so excited to see us.  She had come around for one of my visits when we first arrived here and she was excited to be back to see us.  Just a side note, she was the one that drew my blood at my kitchen table after we had a cup of tea together and filled out some paperwork!  Oh, I love that about this country!

I love this here.  It is checking their reflexes and his hips.  He was actually walking his feet all on his own.  I had forgotten that newborns do this!

And then she flipped him over to check his spine and his breathing and his body went completely still.  He didn't move a muscle!  For minutes he just laid there just as calm as could be with his eyes wide open!

That evening all the kids piled into bed with a book that they had chosen and we had story time with baby brother!  It's not like they had left the bed much that day anyways!

Then they each decided to take turns and sing him a song!

Here's Emma Ann's "Twinkle Twinkle" with a few made up lines about baby coming out of Mommy's bottom to see us!

Then Evie Kaye sang him "Old MacDonald"

Ethan Jay also sang him a song but I didn't get a good picture of it.

Evie Kaye did not want to leave baby brother to go get into her bed, but Dada convinced her with a special snuggle and rock!

Late that evening we had a great visit from our neighbors Andy and Amber.

It was so nice to sit and chat with them with a quiet house and sweet love from our new little one!

What an amazing whirl-wind of a day!  This little one has already brought such sweet joy and love into our home and in less than 24 hours!  God is oh so good!