Maggie's Birth Story

I have to get this story down before I forget the details.

I don't even know where to start...
Having a baby is similar to your wedding day, the details slip from your mind before you even have a chance to think about what just happen to you. I didn't write Libby's birth story until months after it happened and I'm sure there were details that I forgot. So I'm writing this before I loose the feeling of complete awe that I experienced in birthing Maggie.

So, I was induced.  This was a hard decision. I had this vision of going into labor naturally like I did with Libs, but b/c of circumstances beyond my control (you know, that funny post I promised to write one day) induction seemed to be my best option.

My midwife started the induction by ripening my cervix, then giving me Pitocin, then breaking my water.
Finally, after 24 hrs of waiting it seemed like my labor had become active. The majority of  laboring was spent standing by the bed.  Our doula, Rachel and midwife, Leslie rubbed my back and legs and Kev stood in front of me and held my hands, and talked me through each pain.

When I became pregnant with Libby I weighed my birth options and we decided together that natural birth was the best options for us.  Now, I did my best with Libby, but in the end I had an epidural.
This time around, I felt a bit defeated to start with, since I was already having medical intervention.  However, as each contraction came, Kev would tell me to drop my shoulders and relax my jaw, and I would repeat the verse "Rejoice in the Lord always...," then I would remind myself that I was working towards a goal, and I would sing with the music playing in the background.  Despite the intensity of thr pain that was quickening, and lengthening, I was making it through.  Looking back now, I could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit so strongly, more than I ever have in my life, comforting me and guiding me through the people in the room I had for support.

At one point, in between contractions, a song that we had at our wedding was playing in the background, and I looked down and realized that Kev was holding my hands and rubbing them the same exact way he did the day we joined ourselves...I cried, that day and this night too.
 

He is so strong, and not just because of his biceps..:) He held me, like all of me, through every pain that was bringing us closer to our baby. It was one of those moments that I don't want to forget. I was overwhelmed with love for him even in the midst of pain that was literally sucking every ounce of energy from my body.

Four hours after active labor started,  the urge push was there, but b/c of my past labor, I was afraid to say it out loud.  When I finally admitted that I was feeling like I could possibly be ready to push Leslie moved me to the bed and told me to try pushing with my legs pulled back.  I actually thought that I was going to die.  Kev said that it took his full body weight and the weight of Rachel to keep me from coming out of the bed.

Leslie  helped move me  forward off the bed and onto a birthing stool, that appeared from no where as far as my memory is concerned.  I sat down and they told me to push.  It was awful.  For two years, I have been telling people that even though I had an epidural with Libby they turned it off so that I could feel pushing.  I now know that there was a lot I couldn't feel, b/c that pain didn't compare with what I felt trying to push Maggie out.  There was a point that my body was so tired, and the pain was so much that I just quit.  Leslie, I think, realized this and took my hands and told me to reach down and touch my baby.

She was coming.   I used my own hands to help guide her out.  I pulled her to my chest, no one handed her to me.  It was the most amazing thing that I have ever been through.  I wish I could remember exactly what I said, Kev and I agreed that it was something like, "Oh Maggie, you're here!"

She didn't cry, she just looked at me and all around at the faces staring down at her. Our Littlest was finally here. Our crinkly, wrinkly, baby girl was sinking into my chest.  Trying to use words to describe these moments is nearly impossible, and perhaps you may find it odd that I would document such a thing...but it was so beautiful, so amazing, such an incredible example of how God designed us.

 

 My entire body shook as they moved us back to the bed. Exhaustion set in, all I could do was stroke her tiny little face.  She looked at us, and we looked  at her, completely smitten by our new little girl.

 

Maggie Bell Jones so seamlessly slipped into our lives January 7, 2011, at 10:34 pm.  She was a surprising 8lbs 6oz and was 20 1/2 in long.  She came out with a full head of dark hair and deep blue eyes that I think are going to lighten up and look just like her big sister's and her Daddy's.

Just a few weeks ago I had gone to my weekly checkup on a snowy day and mentioned to Kev that I thought a snowy day was a good day to be born...Right after Maggie came, someone looked out of the window and the ground was covered with snow that was still quietly coming down. It was beautiful, and so is she.

She has a quiet little personality, I think that we've only heard her really cry when she's had to wait a little bit to long to eat.  I nursed her just moments after she was born, she seemed like she knew exactly what to do.  She stayed camp out in this position for most of her first night, I think it was comforting to her out here in this big new world she found herself in.  Besides when they were examining her, I don't think that I put her down that first night...to be honest, I don't think I've put her down since.

 

With both of my pregnancies I had this vision of what I wanted our births to like.  I learned from Libby's birth that things don't always go the way we plan, and that is okay.  My plans are sometimes different than what God plan is, but He is always in control.

What I learned from Maggie's birth is that, God listens to us when we come before him with our petitions...He was near us the whole time.
He brought us our Littlest safely and in the most beautiful way I could imagine.  Everything was perfect.
She is a little piece of him and a little piece of me...she looks like her big sister, but with her own quiet personality.
She was worth the wait, 40 weeks and 5 days, just like Libby.
"My heart is full.  Full of love for their father, full of love for her sister, and full of love for my Littlest..Maggie Bell..."
-Making Art Again August 2010 

The Lord is good.  He has given us 2 beautiful little girls.

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, 

Ephesians 3:20 

Grace and Peace

My cup runneth over

xoxo 

(a big thanks to my friend Beth for photographing our birth...best decision we made to have a birth photographer, these pictures are priceless to me)