A new baby and a break…

 

We have a new member of our family! 

Isaiah Francis Toups was born March 31 after a super quick labor, comfortably and peacefully in our home.

And yes, you read that right, we had him at home. No, it wasn’t accidental. We had a wonderful planned home birth with a wonderful midwife.

Isaiah’s Birth Story

So let’s back up to the day before. I was just past the 40 week mark and feeling really huge. By this point I had already handed over every farm chore including milking Belle to the hubs.

Trent was cutting our back pasture with the zero-turn lawn mower and I even jumped on that and took it a round or two. (Hey maybe all this jiggling will get the baby to come down?)

That night I went to bed feeling so discouraged. There was nar a hint of contractions. 

Welcome 1 am. A hard contraction woke me up, but hey I had been experiencing these for near two weeks now. Still, I got up to take a shower and wash my hair since I had been on the lawn mower that evening and was too tired to wash my hair before I went to bed. A few more contractions passed before I got out of the shower, but really I just thought they were Braxton Hicks. I went on to blowdry my hair then head back to bed.

“Darling, call the midwife”

I called to Trent just as I was done blow drying my hair. “Darling, call the midwife.” He was like…”really? Are we going to have a baby tonight?” I was only about  70ish% sure at that point but the next contraction made me realize this was go time. “Yep, call Colleen.”

It was around 2 pm that we called her and because she lived just over an hour away I knew she needed to come right away. She could sense the urgency in my voice and drove up just about an hour later.

Before she got there I spent my time in the warm tub trying to relax through each contraction. Trent set up our birth pool and started filling it up. ( It took 3 empties of the hot water heater to get it filled and warm. ) I spent the next two hours in the birth pool which helped immensely with the pressure. Somewhere in the middle of that, our midwife, Colleen asked me to get out so she could check me. After 1 contraction out of the water, I immediately wanted to jump back in!

The two hours from the time Colleen arrived to the time I started pushing were like a blur. Have a contraction, take a break, have a contraction, take a break. I started to get nauseous and was dry heaving after some of them. But the thought of food….blahh.

All the snacks, labor-aid and goodies I had prepared because I just knew I was going to want them, stayed in the kitchen. Birth for me was fast and furious.

Around 5 AM I found myself pushing, I didn’t even realize I was already pushing. It felt better to do it and my body instinctively took over.

When I realized I was pushing, I asked Colleen, “Is it OK?” She said yes. (She already knew I was) Then I’m pretty sure I asked if it was OK again, just to make sure. 

“My water just broke!”

After a few pushes, I felt my water break! I was in the pool so I just felt the gush of water. I was reassured that it was getting close. I was almost done. Another couple of pushes and his head came out. Just a few more pushes and a little help from Colleen to turn him and he was born! I did it, he’s finally here! I heard his cry and I breathed a huge sigh of relief. 4.5 hours of labor and our beautiful 9 pound 8 ounce Isaiah Francis was here.

He was handed to me and placed on my chest, his eyes wide open, calm and so beautiful. Trent and I just soaked up the moment. Ahhh, I did it!

I am so thankful for my husband, who knew just what to say and when to hold my hand AND when not to. And to our midwife team. Colleen and Patricia both were so wonderful. And to the Lord who guided me and gave the strength and peace. 

 

The end of pregnancy and the first month post-baby was a wonderful long break from farm chores and from blogging. 

Summer is here and we are already back in full swing with new baby chickens, a growing calf and a veggie garden. Hope you continue to follow along with us.