I've been meaning to sit down and document Ezra's arrival...mostly for me (and the lack of details that I can retain in this mommy brain of mine) but also because what mom doesn't like to hear a good ol birthin story? ...:)
I called my mom on mother's day (May 8th) on my way home from church and told her that there was no way that I would make it through the end of the week pregnant. I didn't feel bad necessarily, I just felt like labor would surely start at any moment.
So my wonderful mom quickly rearranged her schedule (she's a preschool director, so May is a super-busy time for her) and flew in on Tuesday. And once she arrived we had a great time....waiting....and waiting...and waiting for Broome baby # 4 to take his sweet time to make his appearance.
Joshua was 8 days early. With Anna Bell I was induced 2 weeks early. Caleb came 9 days early. So all along, I thought it was a safe assumption to say that Ezra would come sometime between the 38th and 39th week of pregnancy.
Nope, I was wrong. And let me tell ya, I can't imagine those women who walk around still waiting for labor pains to begin weeks after their due dates have passed, because the anticipation about drove me crazy. Not to mention the constant questions of "do you feel anything?" ..."is today the day?" ..."you still haven't had that baby?"
The most embarrassing and humbling part of waiting was that I even went into the hospital on Friday night (May 13th) with what I thought were the beginning stages of labor. Everyone (including my doctor) told me to come as soon as it began because it would most likely progress very quickly being that it was our fourth and that my body had already been progressing for several weeks.
So I did- with mostly mild contractions about 4-5 minutes apart. But once I arrived, the contractions slowed down and the nurse informed me that only every other contraction was a true contraction. I felt like such a nerd. And at the time, I was pretty stinkin mad that they sent me home. When I walked out the door, I said that this baby would most likely either be born at home or in the car, because there was no way I was being sent home again. Ugh...pregnancy hormones and being stubborn are a dangerous combination.
So I made it to my 39.4 week visit on Tuesday (May 17th) and by this time, we were all pretty amazed. Because of the progression that my body was still making and some other circumstances, my doctor thought that it was best to schedule an induction for Thursday, (May 19th) the day before my due date.
However, that night little Ezra decided he was ready to leave his safe womb-home and labor began around 11pm. We didn't head to the hospital until around 3-4am because I had to make sure that there was no way that it was false labor again. (But when it really came down to it, I didn't want Fred and mom delivering this baby, so fear won out over stubborness.) When we arrived, contractions were still managable, but I'd progressed to a 4-5 already. So we thought that labor would go pretty quickly.
Mom stayed home with the sleeping babes. She planned to come as soon as she dropped them off at school. I thought she'd definitely miss it. We'd decided that we really wanted her in the room with us. It had always been just me and Fred and we wanted her to be a part this time. When she arrived, contractions were really picking up. I was having to breath through them and rest between.
I've always wanted to try to go as far as I can without an epidural, but with the other 3, I got one along the way at some point. (When the pain of contractions outweighs the fear of a massive needle going into my spine!) This didn't happen with Caleb until I was dilated to an 8, (I didn't know that I was that far along until after the anesthesiologist was finished.) so I was disappointed with myself that I didn't push thru (ha!) the pain and make it "naturally."
I don't know exactly what it was about conquering this. I'm very thankful for medicine and have no worries about using help that is available. I guess that it was just something that I wanted to prove to myself. That I could do it.
Welp, on number 4 I finally did, and lemmtellya- wow, that was some seriously intense pain. Women who choose to deliver naturally time and time again are superwomen in my eyes. That is some seriously crazy-kinda-hurt. Ezra was in a posterior position through labor up until he came out, so I guess that that slowed things down quite a bit and made the pain more intense than normal.
{*The entire time, Fred was saying thing like "Why don't you just get the epidural?" and mom has always raved about how wonderful natural childbirth is. Right after Ezra was born I looked at Fred and said "You were right" and then turned to my mom and said "and you're crazy." :)}
Regardless, that one is crossed off the bucket list. I've done it and I can't say now that I would ever choose to volunteer to go throught that pain again if an epidural is available! So... Ezra James Broome arrived at 12:37pm on May 18th. He weighed 5 pounds and 14 ounces...and is absolutely perfect. ...And is so worth every second of epidural-free labor and delivery!!!!
This is at around 3 am before we headed to the hospital. (That must be a shadow in my armpit...I don't think that I was sweating at this point!)
Monday morning, at Anna Bell's field day. I'm willing to try anything to get labor going. (Including looking like a fool in front of my daughter's friends and their parents. Good thing she's 4 and not 14 and still thinks that it's cool that her preggo mom is hulla hooping.)
Sweet first moments.
