I started timing the contractions while I read your brother his bedtime stories and rocked him to sleep. As I was rocking Mikey, my sciatic nerve was going crazy and I felt lots of downward pressure!! I knew you were for sure coming that night and I was so excited!!! As soon as I laid Mikey down, I told your daddy, who was putting Annabelle to bed, that I was having contractions and that I was pretty sure this was it! He got an excited but nervous look on his face :) Grammy hadn't come into town, yet, so he would be helping me by himself this time!
It was 10:30 when I texted Dawn to let her know I was in labor and she made her way over right away. She had a feeling you were going to come fast, so she wanted to make sure she arrived as soon as she could!! I offered a silent prayer, asking our Heavenly Father to be with us during your labor and that you would come gently and easily. I immediately felt peaceful and calm :)
Daddy came and joined me on the couch after Annabelle fell asleep and we decided to pop in the movie The Hobbit, since we had about an hour left to finish from the night before. My contractions were coming about 2 minutes apart, lasting between 30 seconds and a minute. The movie was a good distraction, but by about 11:00 I had your dad go fill up the tub! I wanted that warm water to be ready when I was! Dawn arrived at about that time and checked your heart beat and set up all her supplies. Her presence was very calming and reassuring :)
By 11:20 the contractions were coming hard and fast and I gladly slipped into the tub right as another one was starting. The warm water immediately felt like a thick blanket being wrapped around me, easing the pain and giving me a wave of comfort! Yay! It wasn't but 2 or 3 contractions later that my water broke and then another 2 or 3 contractions later that I felt the need to push! Everything was happening so quickly!! They always say that labor time decreases with each child, but I didn't want to go into labor with that expectation, only to have a 20 hour labor! That wouldn't be fun, so the fact that it was all happening so quickly, made me really happy :) Thanks for making your mama so happy!!
Pushing was the part of labor that I had been mentally preparing for while pregnant. With both Annabelle and Michael I had torn and had needed stitches. I really didn't want to have to go through that again! To me, the stitches were the worst part of the whole experience! Labor was the easy part! So, I had been taking Evening Primrose Oil every day since 38 weeks, reading articles on no-tear births, and mentally repeating positive affirmations. I knew I needed to slow down the force of my pushes and just "breath" you out, so that's what I tried to do. I relaxed my jaw muscles as much as possible and focused on opening, opening, opening :) I could feel you moving down the birth canal and I knew I would soon get to hold you in my arms! This thought filled me with joy and love and is what gave me the strength to do what I needed to do next.
I was laying on my side in the tub with my head propped up on a towel, holding your daddy's hand. He was seated on a chair next to the tub encouraging me and helping me whenever a contraction came. After one of the contractions, Dawn listened to your heat beat and it was a little slow so she had me flip over to my other side to see if that helped, which it did. The next contraction brought you all the way down and as Dawn reached down to feel where you were, she said, very calmly, "We have a face-presentation. Honey, I need you to get on all-fours, right now." I wasn't sure if this was a dangerous thing or not, to come out face-first, but I fed off of Dawn's calm disposition and just followed what she told me to do. It felt like a long time before I had the next contraction, but when it finally came I tried my best to push you out calmly and slowly so that I didn't tear. Your head came out and the rest of your body came out nice and easily. You slid right into Dawn and her assistant, Hannah's, hands. They caught you above the water and brought you up and through my legs so you were right underneath my belly. I had my eyes shut the whole time and when I finally opened them to see you, you were a bright purple ball that I immediately reached down to hold :) I was kneeling down in the tub at that time, holding you against me and Dawn had to suction out your throat before you let out your little cry and took your first breath. Somewhere in there, I heard, "You have a little boy!" and my heart sang :)
Everyone helped me step out of the tub, while I still held you tight against my tummy. Your cord was still attached, so I couldn't lift you up too far. We made our way over to our bed where I climbed in and Dawn checked me to see if I had torn at all. Only a small tear and she wasn't going to have to do any stitching!!! It was a miracle! I was overjoyed! You had arrived at 12:01 am, just in time to be the first one to wish me Happy Mother's Day :) I couldn't have asked for a better, more perfect gift!
As we waited for more contractions to come, I couldn't take my eyes off you! You were quietly snuggling against me with your eyes squeezed shut. Such a little bundle of cuteness :) I encouraged you to start nursing and you took to it right away! This helped the contractions come and I was able to birth the placenta about 30 minutes after you were born. Daddy cut your cord, then Dawn left you, me and your daddy to snuggle in bed together while she took care of some paperwork in the other room. This was such a precious time to spend with you, especially since you still smelled of heaven :)
When she came back in about 45 minutes later, we weighed and measured you. You weighed 8 lb 9 oz and were 21 inches long!!! This surprised us all, because Dawn and the OB/GYN both guessed you weighed a little over 7 lbs but not much more. What a good sized boy!!!
Uncle Drew and Kim came home soon after and were so excited that you were here! They were both impressed that it was only a 2 hr labor and that we were all healthy and strong!!! A little bit of bruising started showing on your face, which Dawn said to expect given your entrance into the world, but it wasn't bad at all and went away within a couple hours. We spent the early morning hours dozing in and out of sleep as we cuddled together, nursed, and gazed at each other. My sweet baby Landen was finally safe in my arms and securely in my heart to be held for all eternity.
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