New Possibilities...

meet Allison Rose

...in a package smaller than a cat.

Allison Rose arrived on a Sat. at 12:40 am, 11 days overdue. 9lb.2oz, 21" & w/ so much black hair. She was my biggest, fastest & easiest delivery yet & this was the first placenta that's ever birthed itself w/out varying degrees of assistance. I am SOLD on Red Raspberry Leaf tea. The Fri. before I was freaking out over my size & weight & we agreed to go to the hospital Tues. for an induction if nothing happened.
Sat. morning the painless contractions that had been pretty frequent all week got longer & stronger though not really closer together. By suppertime I was getting uncomfortable & trying to decide if this was it & if the children should go to grandmas or not. Husband had just returned from his first Black Fri. ever, we've made a point to avoid them but you can't do that working retail. He came home, took them over to his moms & laid down for a nap. I tried timing but didn't want to be tethered to the computer, so I laid the shower curtain liner under the sheet, prepped the room w/ drop cloths, chux, towels & a crockpot w/ warm water & called the doula to tell her I'd be resting but I'd be calling her when/ if I was wanting her.
I laid down for 2 hours to try to rest & nodded off in between but there was no sleeping through them. After 2 hours I went to the bathroom & knew we were in business. I had thought of receiving blankets while resting & couldn't find them so I ended up re-aranging the diaper drawer & dusting the room in between contractions. They were demanding my focused relaxed attention now. Husband woke up around 10:30ish, laid out his OB kit, doppled the baby & took my blood pressure. 11:30 I called my friend as I knew I was in labor & she was the call point for our churches prayer line. I then called Husband to call the doula, I was done w/ the phone.
I was laying down again when she came & she just went to rub my back. After 2 very painful contractions of that, she helped me to the toilet so I could pee but rubbed my back through an endless contraction where I went from shivering to a hot flash & my water broke. I was making pushing noises & wondered why Husband wasn't paying attention to them from the living room so I called out "Baby." & he & the doula helped me to a pillow I had laid on the floor & covered. I dropped to my knees, pushed for 15 min. & she was here! They helped me clean up, Husband got her to cry & they passed her to me so we could try out nursing. She excels! An hour later my placenta came sliding out on it's own. The doula helped me to the shower, made my PP smoothie, cleaned the room & left around 3am.
I'm making a conscience effort to keep this story shorter than Leora's, it's not too difficult as her birth was so much quicker & smoother. We spent a wonderful week staying home & cuddling. She is a dead ringer for Miranda, only darker. Our wonderful church body has meals lined up for us until New Years. My mother keeps sending packages in the mail. I am acutely aware that most people don't see the blessings of a 5th baby & I'm thankful to live in a community that does.

Leora is behind Victor, she'd had enough.

 

 



Recognizing Leora's voice