Baby Claire finally makes her entrance

With as much as we did while waiting for baby, this birth story could be very long. But, I'm going to stick to just the day of the birth.

Thursday is my usual day to run the morning carpool to school, but my husband, Chris, took over there. When he got back, we got everyone ready and went to the park. I was having contractions, but that was nothing new. We met a girl in the park that was just one day younger than Clio, so cool! Clio complimented the girl's shoes, and they stared at each other for some time before running off to play. The little girl's cousin was just about Cooper's age, and they played. A mom asked me when I was due, and I told her, "March 1st." She came back with the, "Oh, you poor thing." response that I had heard before. The park got too warm, and we went home for lunch. I pushed Clio in the stroller, and Chris walked with Cooper and his bike. Lunch then naps as usual, I'm sure I slept, too after timing a few contractions that were 8-10 minutes apart.

After school, Chris picked up Calliope, and Erin (one of her at home therapy team) was here for her. I only remember the end of the appointment when Erin was talking with me, and I was trying so hard to pay attention while in labor. I also remember fielding a phone call from my mother in law during a contraction. My thinking got a little fuzzy. Chris and I kept on with the little kids, and I called my parents (staying at a campground nearby) to let them know things were picking up and please be ready.

I wasn't at all hungry for dinner, so I served the family and went to take a bath. After just a few minutes, my water broke in the tub. I texted and yelled for Chris, but he was busy. My concern was the color of the amniotic fluid after going 17 days past the due date. He had seen it before when my water broke in the shower just before Clio was born. Turns out the barely yellow tinge of the fluid was totally okay. I called our midwife to let her know we were ready to roll and contractions were coming about every 7-5 minutes at this point. Around this time, I sent out a mass text to let people know that things were moving.

Chris handled things after dinner as I labored. I did just a bit with the little kids for bedtime and talked to them about how the baby was ready to come out, and I might say 'ow' because it is hard work and sometimes hurts. Our midwife and my parents were here just before the little ones went to bed. Calliope was very excited with all the people and activity. She wanted to help and be praised over and over for the helpful thing she just did. It's more than I can do on a regular day, so my parents took her overnight to the trailer with them. She packed a bag for school the next day and went off with them to have a quiet night full of good sleep.

I was on the bed, mostly on my hands and knees, but I wanted to be higher. Chris and the midwife helped with stacking pillows under my arms to get me higher. There were a few really productive contractions and a few that I had to push with, but it still wasn't right. While it was just Chris and I in the room, I climbed with my hands up the wall to let him to put another pillow under me and had a very pushy contraction. I may have stayed in that position as I pushed and pushed and pushed out baby. Chris answered my question about the baby, and I was surprised we had a girl.

Her cord was still attached to me as I held her and laid back on the stack of pillows to nurse her. More contractions came as my uterus shrank up and the placenta came loose. After a few minutes, our midwife clamped Claire's cord and helped Chris cut it. It ended up messy, and we all laughed. It took an hour, but the placenta finally separated from the uterine wall, and I pushed it out.

After putting Claire in the hammock and weighing her with the fish scale, the midwife and Chris diapered and dressed Claire, and Chris held her while the midwife helped me into the shower. It felt so good to be able to move again, and I shaved my legs in the shower and enjoyed every minute of it. The midwife helped me put on the glamourous postpartum panties with big ol maternity maxi pad in it and helped me dry off and put on my tank top, then she helped me into bed. She cleaned up the bedroom and bathroom, brought me tea, and I held baby Claire as Chris helped her take her gear back to her car. I sent out a text to grandparents and aunts that we had a 9 pound baby girl at 10:14 that night. I may have tweeted it, too. ;)

The babies woke up the next morning and came into bed with us to snuggle with their baby sister. Calliope waited until after school to meet her and kiss her head.