the dernier family: Labor and Delivery

Many of you know that when Dane and I found out we were pregnant we decided that we wanted to have a natural birth. After some research I decided that the odds of that happening were much higher if we did it at home, with a midwife. (http://www.chrysalismidwifery.com/) We had all of our prenatal appoinment at our house each lasting from 1 to 2 hours. It was wonderful, I didn't have to drive to the doctors office and wait. I was wlso able to ask all the questions I wanted. Christine (my midwife) was great, we got along great.
After 40 weeks and 5 days of pregnancy Penelope Violet Decided to make her appearance. Friday evening, the 17th of April, I was sewing so pants for my friend Joy (who had a baby the 13th of April). When I finished it was about 9:30 pm and my back was really sore, not strange when I've been hunched over a sewing machine for an hour. I didn't really think anything of it. We went to Joy and David's house to take the pants. At this time I was having contractions and they were definitly not just Braxton Hicks. They were about 15 minuteds apart lasting about 30 seconds each.
We got home from Joy and David's house and decided to go to bed. Well after laying in bed stairing at the clock from 11 to midnight not sleeping becasue my contraction were gettign stronger and closer together. At this time they were ranging from 2 to 4 minutes apart lasting 30-45 seconds. I woke Dane up and we decided we should call Christine and let her know what was going on.
Christine arrived at our house at about 1:00am, and when she checked me I was about 3-4cm dialated and 70% effaced. Awesome becasue that morning at our appointment I was only 2cm and 50%. Basically for the next couple hours I walked around the house trying to find a way to be comfortable during contractions.

At about 3:30 We had the birth tub filled and ready for me to labor in. It was amazing. The water helpedwit the contractions so much, I was very glad to have the tub. Penelope's heart rate kept dropping depending on what position I was in, so Christine was monitoring her about every 10 minutes. It was lower than Christine likes to see, (but not so low that I needed to transfer) but Penelope was fine during the contractions so Christine just kept an eye on her.

At about 8:00am Christine checked me and I was ready to go, time to push! My parents had just arrived. My dad's job was to keep cooper occupied while my mom helped Dane and me. I was still in the tub when I first started "pushing". I didn't really understand what that meant and I was having trouble so Christine recommended that I get out of the tub and move to the bed. By this time I was pretty much exhausted. I had been up since the day before and all I wanted to do was go to sleep.

At this point my water still had not broke. We were thinking we might deliver her "in the call" (in the bag of water, not ruptured) It ended up breaking while I was pushing about 15 minuted before Poppy was born.

After about 45 minutes of real pushing (when I finally got the hang of it) Penelope's head was born. The cord was around her neck so Christine and her assistant Kelly quickly unwrapped it and about 2 seconds later Penelope's body was born at 9:53 am. The cord being around her neck explains why her heart rate was going up and down.

It was an awesome experience and I can not wait to have our second baby at home. It really is the best way to go if you are a low risk healthy woman. I was so glad to be at home with the people I wanted. God truly is amazing in the way that he designed our bodies for such an amazing thing.

I should also say how wonderful Dane was. I could not have done it with out him. He was there with me every contraction. praying and talking me through each one. He did such an awesome job, I couldn't have been more blessed with such an awesome husband.

April 18, minutes after birth- not too "cheesy"