Due on Jan 30, our little Rebekah arrived February 10, 2010. Weighing 9 lbs 1 oz and 21 inches long.

I had been having contractions starting at 4:30am the previous morning, lasting about 10 minutes apart. They were strong, but not uncomfortable. I was beginning to get excited until around 4:30 pm, when they stopped. It was such a let down, since she was over a week late and I was really looking forward to meeting my new little one. I was also excited, because, although she was our 6th baby and 3rd home birth, she was our first completely unassisted pregnancy and birth. It was like doing it for the first time all over again.

This being our 6th baby, I thought I knew what the labor would be like. LOL! Like they say, each labor is different. I went to bed around 9pm that night, and was a little down since my contractions had stopped a few hours earlier. Brent came in and I asked if he could rub my back, since it had been hurting some. He began rubbing my lower back, just above my butt, and it felt so good, but gave me one long contraction the entire time he rubbed it. It happened to be hurting in the pressure point to help with labor. 🙂

After that, my contractions started up again slightly. Around 10:30pm the contractions were back to 10 minutes apart and were waking me up. I was able to sleep between them until 11:30, when I decided to get up and listen to my MP3 and rock in the recliner in our room. I spent some time listening to Ashokan Farewell (civil war song) and Scottland the Brave (bagpipes), but ended up listening to Oh Holy Night by Josh Groban for an hour or more. It brought me some peace, thinking of how all of mankind had been going through this, even the mother of Christ.

I started timing the contractions around 1:30am and they were still 10 minutes apart. By 2:30am they had gone to 3-5 minutes apart. My water hadn’t broken on it’s own (like it did with 3 of my others), but I decided to wake up Brent just in case, since my last labor only lasted 4 hours.

He was so wonderful for me. He got me what I needed when I asked. I moved around a lot, and always forgot my robe in a different part of the room. He would bring it to me, get me drinks, hold me, comfort me when needed. He was great.

Brigham, our 3 year old, woke up around 5am and came into our room. He watched me as I labored, and added a little humor to it. He began moaning with me during my contractions, as they were getting stronger and I was beginning to make noise at this point. LOL!

At about 7am he woke the rest of the kids up (their normal wake up time) and told them baby was coming today. They were so excited! They all came into the room, one at a time and gave me a big hug. Throughout my labor Brigham was in the living room, just on the other side of the wall, but continued to make noises like me. What a funny little guy!

Things were really not going how I had thought they would. Each child I had, the labor was shorter, so I was more or less expecting a quick labor and birth. This labor was getting stronger, but felt like it was taking forever. My water hadn’t broken, so I wasn’t sure how far along things were moving. Brent asked if I wanted him to check me. He did, and said he could feel the head and I was about a 7 or 8. I must say that after 10 hours of laboring, I didn’t want to hear that her head wasn’t through the cervix yet. He then asked how it was that he could feel the head if the water hadn’t broken yet. I said something to the effect of it being like a water balloon and you could still feel the head through it.

I must say that through this, it was such a bonding experience for us. It was great to work together and learn the actual birthing process, as just the two of us.

I don’t know what time it was, but maybe and hour and a half or so before Rebekah was born, Brent called in Sadie (our oldest – 11 years old) to help be the nurse. She was to bring Brent what he needed so he wouldn’t have to leave me. She was also advised how to give me the mistletoe tincture after the head was born, but before the body, to help prevent hemorrhage. She was so excited to get to help out and experience the birth of her new little sister (or brother since we didn’t know at the time what we were having).

Labor was really getting hard for me. I was so tired that I was almost falling off the birthing chair asleep between contractions, which were about 3 minutes apart and very strong (to the point of me yelling at times). I moved to where I was kneeling on the floor and laying on the birthing stool. I asked Brent to check me again, and he said she was still not through the cervix (how disappointing), but he asked if I wanted him to break my water. He was so sweet to not do anything without asking my permission first. I said yes.

He pinched the bag of waters under the baby’s head. He said for a moment he didn’t think he had done anything. Then the water shot out and covered him. LOL! He got it in the face and all over his clothes! Sadie said she got a little on her hand, as she was standing off to the side holding a flashlight for dad, but he got covered. I felt it come out, and I heard him react. I slowly turned around to sit on the birthing stool and told him that I know wish we had been video taping the birth so I could have seen that. LOL!

I was hurting pretty bad, but the water breaking helped a lot. Things began to really move at that point. I began pushing a little during contractions. She was slowly moving her way down the birth canal. I asked Brent where the head was, if it was coming out yet (as if I didn’t know). He said she was almost there and he and Sadie could see her hair. I reached and felt her head, but she was still about 3 inches in. I told Brent later that it may as well have been a mile at that point. 🙂 A few contractions later, pushing during them, she was crowning.

WOW! I’ve been through natural birth 2 times before. I never seem to remember how big a baby’s head is. I kept pushing, and it took about 3 contractions before I got her out. The entire time as she kept coming and coming and coming, I could just picture myself tearing. The only thing keeping me going at that point was knowing that once the head was out, it was basically over. As her head was coming, I began yelling for Sadie to get the tincture for me. Brent kept saying the head was not out yet, but I knew that she needed to get it, because I wasn’t going to wait around to long to deliver her body.

Finally, her head was out (and I didn’t tear). Brent said that there was a beautiful head of hair. So sweet and wonderful, he teared up and began to choke up when talking. He was so overcome with emotion. Oh, how I love him.

My little Sadie, big sister to all our children, gave me the mistletoe tincture and on the next contraction I pushed our little girl into the world. I thought as soon as she was out, I should have warned Brent that I was pushing, but I think he knew what I was going to do. He caught our little Rebekah, and she was perfect. Sadie quickly fetched a towel to put her in and clean her up with. As soon as she was in the towel I asked for the time. 11:15am. Brent held our new little baby for a minute, looking at her and absorbing her into his memory, and then quickly passed her to me.

I sat on the birthing stool for a moment, then asked Sadie to get a chux pad to put on the recliner. Brent went to take our baby, when he found she had pooped on me. 🙂 We cleaned us both up. I then moved over to the recliner and held the baby, while helping Brent tie off the cord after it had stopped pulsating. We cut it, and I got a little blood spatter on my shoulder. 🙂 Then he got some thick cloth diapers wet, and one with a ginger tea compress, to clean me off with and to hold onto myself for helping to heal.

I sat in the chair for about an hour, trying to feed her, but she wasn’t interested. She was just angry. 🙂 Then I began cramping pretty hard and having a little blood pass. I took the umbilical cord and gently put pressure on it (not pulling, but making it taunt) and pushed a little. The cord began to go slack. I asked Sadie to get me the bowl I had reserved, and I slowly pushed the placenta out and put it into the bowl, reserving it for later, to encapsulate it.

We were preparing to weigh her, but found she had pooped on me, again. LOL! My little stinker! We both cleaned off, again, and then I helped Brent put her in the baby sling with a digital scale attached (after zeroing it out of course). 9 lbs 1 oz! No wonder! She beat out my biggest baby by an ounce! LOL! She loved the sling, and we let her stay in it for about 15 minutes while we got things cleaned up. Sadie went and got some clothes for Rebekah, and when I went to get her out of the sling, I found, yet again, she had pooped in the sling! 🙂 I must say that through the night she proved that her bowels worked great. LOL!

She is perfect, though. Her big, little head with great big squishy cheeks. I love her more than I can say! The kids can’t get enough of her. The boys love her and want to hold her all the time. Even though Moses can’t talk, he still tells me he wants to hold her. He sits next to me and reaches for her. Oh, how he and Brigham love to share their new little baby! 🙂 What good big brothers they are. The big sisters are all so great with her and were so excited to hold and love on her finally. 😉

Editor Note: You can visit the author’s blog at Our Birth Journeys.