@Kelly: congratulations on your little man!!! Sounds like a great delivery!!!

Re: Appetite: I lost mine a few weeks before I delivered, mostly due to no room. Too bad it came right back lol!

Hope you are all doing well! Looking forward to more deliveries!!

That makes me feel better, I've been feeling guilty for not eating enough and/or right, just kind of crappy food and in small amounts lol! I hate the waiting to go into labor. I hope it happened to you since yesterday freckledLeann

Got cervidil put in this morning. Cramps and contractions now. Not fun.

Wow, it's going to be any minute now! How exciting! I hope you have a good delivery!!! God bless

Hey guys! I just had my baby yesterday at 3:08pm! He was another big one, 9.05lb! We still don't have a name picked out yet. He is such a little sweetie.. Here is the birth story (I was telling my sister and just copied pasted the convo because I'm a bit tired to start over)

Sister: How was the birth?

Me: yeah it was kind of hard.. the baby was not in the right position. he was supposed to turn 1/4 turn and started turning the other way so he was transverse. the worst part of labor was actually the longest part the the midwives kept telling me not to push because we were waiting for the baby to turn. (2 hours in the last phase which is supposed to be the shortest/most intense)
they said i should get an epidural so that i don't have the urge to push and so that baby will turn. then i got an iv put in and she (one of the two midwives) went over to fill out some paperwork for the epidural (while the other went to fetch the epi guy outside).. and i just pushed without them looking lol.. then i yelled he's coming!

Sister: Ouch! I am sure you're glad he is out

Me: and they all ran over and could barely make it.. the head was born pretty easily but the rest of his body was kind of stuck
she had to help pull him out because he was so big and in the wrong position

Sister: Yikes ouch!

Me: yeah but it was ok, i didn't tear... i'm just really glad i didn't have to prolong the labor with an epi! Then the epi guy came in and I was already holding the baby

Sister: That's trundling. They tend to not let the body do its work sometimes

Me: we were shocked at how big he was.. me and john both guessed he was 8lb but he was 9.05lb

Sister: That's funny. I'm glad you didn't have to get the epi.

Me: yeah i'm actually really glad the midwife went across to room and turned her back to me and the other one left.. then i just did what i wanted to do for a long time

Sister: Your sneaky

Me: she kept telling me to look in her eyes during contractions and when i started to push she stopped me.. I'm just glad I didn't have to be in the labor any longer And I didn't tear so it was ok. I feel great now

So that's my story Here is a picture of my little baby guy!

Haha, @dawn, I wish! #stillpregnant

Baby Eric Bennett Stroh was born at 5:57 a.m. on July 25. Water broke at 1 a.m., was 3 cm dilated. At nearly 4 a.m., I was almost 7 cm dilated, but his heart rate kept dropping with every contraction. It had done this all along, but at around 4 it stopped bouncing back up. The obstetrician on call came in to do a c-section, though he was awesome and I'm confident he did everything he could to avoid the section. He put it off for as long as possible. Everything went well, and baby is healthy and chill. We're pretty smitten with him.

Aww, I'm so happy for you freckledLeann! I'm so glad your baby arrived safely with you. I'm sorry to hear you had to have a c-section though, I hope you heal well and quickly from it. Our babies have the same birthday!!

She is here! Here is the story for anyone who has like an hour to read it (sorry it's long!) Rebekah was born Saturday July 27, 2013 at 9:30am. She weighed 7lbs 6oz and was 20 1/4in long. This is her home birth/VBAC story.

I guess I should start by saying something about why we chose a home birth. I could/should write an entire post on it, but for now I will just say that after our experience with Elizabeth (who was born via a c-section, after many hospital interventions) we were desperate for another option. For God to deliver me from my fear of trying a natural birth is truly a miracle. Rebekah means "secured" and I know it is only The Lord that could have completely changed my heart to feel secure in going through labor again. He took me from being so scared of labor that I had scheduled a repeat c-section to being so confident that if the fear and restrictions of the hospital were removed, Rebekah could be born gently and easily. Complete 180. Amazing.

So on with the story!

Around 3:30am Saturday morning I started to have a few contractions. I went back to sleep and was able to sleep on and off for about an hour. Around 4:45 I texted Laura, my doula, to give her a heads up I was pretty sure today was the day. But I hadn't even woken Jameson up yet, I figured I still had a long way to go. I told Laura to hang tight, and I would keep her posted. I was just listening to my Hypnobirthing tapes and trying to rest. Around 5:30am the surges were happening about 5-6 minutes apart so I decided to wake up Jameson and I called Laura back. Again I told her "no rush, but if you could get here by the time Elizabeth needs to wake up, that would be great." Jamie got up and made coffee. We were excited. Today was the day.
I was doing well just relaxing and breathing through the surges, but I quickly began to feel like I needed support. I wanted Jamie to hold my hand. He did, and that was good. By the time Elizabeth woke up though, around 6:30 I was pretty intense into things. I hadn't expected that at all! I tried to get up to say good morning and do our usual morning routine; ya, no way. I puked in the sink and had one of the worst contractions. Um, back to laying down please! I was being kind of vocal during surges and was worried it would scare Elizabeth (my friend Melissa was on her way to pick her up, I knew it wouldn't be a problem for long) so I was trying to make "happy sounds" like "ah!" with a smile so she didn't think I was dying or something. I was very glad when Melissa came and scooped her up because I couldn't keep it together for long!
Now I am thinking "where the heck is Laura, I need her here NOW!" Of course I had told her to take her time, and she got there soon after but I started to panic. I tried to lean over the birthing ball, nope. Tried getting in the bath. Helped for minute then I felt like I was drowning. Laura arrived at that point and I just said "help!" I felt like I didn't know how to stay calm. She immediately started giving me directions like, "melt into the ground" or "release that last contraction with a big breath" and it really helped. I told her and Jamie i wanted to go back to the bed.
At some point before this Jamie realized my contractions were less than three minutes apart and over minute long. He called Tiffany, our midwife back and she said she would be right there. I think Laura also touched base with her when they realized I had gone from early to active labor to basically transition super fast!

When I got back to the bed, I felt like I was ready to push. Tiffany wasn't even there yet! I had zero idea how dialated I was, I had the thought "am I allowed to push?" I didn't know or care I just felt like it was the only thing to get me through those surges. Tiffany arrived and checked me. I asked "how dialated am I?" And she says "oh sweetie, we are way past the cervix, there is your baby's head!" What?? I was floored. Compared to Elizabeth's 30+ hour labor, I could not believe we were already at this point.

"This point" though, happened to be where I got stuck with Elizabeth. I tried to push her out for 4 hours but then couldn't and had to have the c-section. I had heard from some other VBAC moms it can be a very mentally scary part, because you don't know if you will get through it this time and that was true for me.

Jameson, Laura and Tiffany were great. I told them "I'm scared" and they were just like "you totally have this". My water broke naturally and I was able to reach down and feel Rebekah's squishy molded head. I still didn't believe I was going to be able to do it, but they had faith in me.

Pushing took a while, about an hour, but I did it. I pushed a baby out! I know that is something many women do all the time, but I hadn't been able to do it before and now I could. I couldn't believe it. Rebekah even had the cord wrapped all around her (I had to stop pushing for a moment so Tiffany could slip the cord around her body, worried it could otherwise yank the placenta out too) but it was fine. In fact, once her head was out, but they were trying to get the cord unwrapped she let out a cry! The rest of her body wasn't even delivered yet! That was amazing. Once she was on my abdomen (cord was too short to get her all the way to my chest) I was in total shock. I keep saying it, but i couldn't believe I had been able to do it.

Everything after that was great. Placenta delivered fine, nothing at all wrong with my c-section scar or anything. I did need stitches for a tear which was a bummer but I guess it happens.

Tiffany did the newborn check, Laura made us scrambled eggs for breakfast and I just couldn't believe I was laying in my own bed, in my own house with a perfect new baby.

Elizabeth came back around 11:30am. She had gotten to go to Avila Valley Barn and ride a pony. Not sure which event, the pony or baby sister tops her day in her mind, lol! Her reaction to Rebekah was of course priceless

So that was it. From when I woke my husband up to say I was in labor to Rebekah being born was only 4 hours. It was crazy fast and intense and amazing.

Wow Heather, I'm so glad you had your baby! I'm glad your due date wasn't all wrong like they though.. I knew the early ultrasound date was the most accurate I'm so happy for you that the labor didn't last that long and that you were able to push your baby out with no problems! Hopefully you will heal soon from that rip and I hope you don't have much pain. God bless you guys!

I had my little boy on July 24. His name is Parley and he is a doll! And such a good baby! Love him!