It's A...... {Baby D 4.0 birth story part 2}

(Part 1) [warning, there are some tasteful, but could be considered graphic, birth pictures to follow]

So! The whole room was prettty unprepared when I said the baby was coming - including Mike and my mom!

Our midwife said "are you sure?" checked and said some version of "yep, you're sure - that baby is coming!" Nothing was ready in the room - in fact, I was still wearing those awesome mesh underwear and a pad - that was super fun to try to get off in a hurry!

Once we took the 90 seconds or so to get as situated as possible I could push when I wanted to. I stayed on my left side the whole time because that was most comfortable. I remember thinking "there is NO WAY I can lay on my back right now" I held up my right leg and honestly, the contractions did all the work.

I remember hearing about these "pushing contractions" in our Bradley classes years ago and let me tell you something, the body does such awesome work. I was really deep in my own head at this point and so laser focused on the end game - I let the contractions do the majority of the work and just waited it out.

My midwife let me dictate all of the parts of delivery - I pushed when I needed to and listened as best I could. She reminded me that my water hadn't broken yet so she might ask me to stop pushing to avoid getting sprayed in the face! Honestly I don't remember a lot of what anyone might have said to me or what I might have said, but I think I was pretty quiet and again, focused.

There weren't many contractions that happened and I passed right by the ring of fire. Maybe because the sac was still intact, delivery didn't hurt at all - in fact, it was the least amount of discomfort, kind of like birthing a water balloon paired with relief.

I couldn't believe how easy this delivery was, I didn't even break a sweat! I had a single, brief moment of thinking "come out now baby" but then I felt that squirmy little bottle wiggle on out!

One of the things we (I) really wanted was for Mike to announce the sex of the baby. He probably said "it's a boy" three or four times before I really "heard" him.

And then Sara said "reach down and grab your son"

And then it hit me. A BOY BABY!

I looked into HIS eyes, stared at his sweet face and instantly declared "He looks like Vivian" and thought a million times, I can't believe it's a he!

As of 4:01 am on April 9, 2017 this boy was in our world now.

And he needed a name. We had a few ideas for names but Mike was in charge of picking. A few names sort of immediately didn't fit and we were between two. We stared at him and said the names a few times until one fit the best. It was something we agonized over for months and suddenly it was the easiest choice in the world.

I grew this child - a child I really, truly wasn't sure would come to be after the journey to get pregnant this time.

But here HE was. In my arms, safe and sound.

We prayed so hard for this - for the safe passage of another tiny human into our family. And that prayer was answered so abundantly and in ways we couldn't have imagined.

Samuel Michael - what did we ever do without you in our lives? 

Gianna's birth story
Aleesia's birth story
Vivian's birth story

*all photos by the awesome Christine at Bella Rose Photography