Pansy and Peony

On Wednesday, Dec. 6, it was my birthday. Although my dh asked where I wanted to go for dinner, and I picked an Italian place, when I got there, I really was not very hungry. I had also been finding it progressively harder and harder to walk. My hip joints were very relaxed and causing me a great, deal of pain as was my sciatica. I had to lean on furniture or whatever to get from Point A to Point B. I decided this pregnancy to not invest too much energy it “labor markers� because once you are 38 weeks, everything is an indication that labor will start soon. You can only possibly be pregnant for another week or two, and obsessing on that will make you crazy.

Thursday came and went, just with the added difficulty of walking and appetite loss. I feel asleep at the beginning of CSI. At around 11 PM, I woke up to a contraction. I had been feeling some Braxton-Hicks in my sleep, but even in my sleep, I knew these felt a bit different, more pushing downwards than outwards. At 11, I decided to get up, take a shower to see if that made the contractions change a bit and busy myself a bit. I would get one contraction here, one there, but they were definitely sporadic although they felt real.

I called Jennifer, my midwife and told her this was it. She asked if she should come over and I told her that the contractions were not coming regularly, but it was normal for my labors to have one contraction, be dilated 2 cm, and 1 hour later be nearly, fully dilated. She said she would call Heidi (my other midwife) and they would head on over.

In the meantime, Josh asked if we should pack the kids up and take them to my parents’ house. My daughter had already announced that if we had a homebirth, she would sleep in the car rather that be in the house. So Josh looked out the window and there was a ton of horizontal snow. Um, nevermind.

The midwives arrived and we chatted. My contractions were still irregular, so the midwives told me to get some rest. Josh stayed with the boys and I went to my room. I snuggled up with Dominic and went to sleep. It was hard to sleep because I was so excited. However, being home in the dark all warm and cozy in my own bed made the contractions so much more bearable Around 5 am, they started to become more regular, painful, but not unbearable.

I figured since they were regular, maybe things would move along, so my husband filled up the tub. To our surprise, there was not much to filling it, and the hot water did not run out. Then everything stopped for a while.

We waited I guess about an hour, and Heidi said that from my labor pattern, it looked like there was a baby’s hand or arm in the way and perhaps I should rock, or stand to get things moving. I kind of knew instinctively I should do that, but I was so comfortable and cozy doing what I was doing. They checked me and I was only dilated 3-4 cm. So they said they would go to breakfast, be back in an hour or two, and see how things advanced. Josh said maybe he would bring the kids to my parents’ house.

I stood up as they were leaving and a strong contraction. Then they left, another strong contraction that Josh had to rub my back through. Josh started getting the kids ready to go and I went to the bathroom, As I was sitting there “WHOOMP� a very strong contraction. I jumped put of the bathroom onto the floor whining “Joooossshhhh, you can’t leave me-you need to rub my back!� Then I felt the contractions start to change from just painful to needing to push. I told him to forget the kids, call the midwives back, and fill the tub back up.

I got into the tub and felt like I regained some composure and a bit of control. The midwives walked in and saw me in the tub. I felt so bad they didn't get to eat. One went to call home and the other was setting up her midwife stuff. From their perspective, I am not sure what happened next from their perspective, but from mine, I felt the contractions change, I pushed her head out and the midwife said “baby’s crowning� and I pushed the rest of her out. I think the midwife pushed her under the water (I was on my hands and knees). I grabbed her from the water and she opened her eyes right up and looked at me. I couldn’t believe how alert and calm she was. She looked so familiar!

She scored 9 and then 10 on her Apgar.

About the name Felicity: On Thanksgiving morning when I was just waking up, but not quite awake, the name Felicity popped into my head. I remember when I was a girl thinking I liked the name. I figured I would look up St. Felicity and it turned out Nov 23 (that day) is her feast day. I took it as a sign and kept the name. We added, “Rose� for the Blessed Mother (I needed something with one syllable).