Everyone told me third babies do their own thing but I didn’t really believe them. Most of my pregnancy was uneventful – I went to the chiropractor more regularly than with either of my other two pregnancies and it seemed that baby was doing cartwheels in-utero but I was very healthy and so were they.
A few things you should know for this story:
- We waited to find out whether the baby was a girl or boy until birth which is my new favorite thing to do. This was our second time and I just LOVE finding out and then getting to hold them immediately.
- At the end of my pregnancy we were in the middle of moving. Originally we planned to wait until after baby was born and then move from our apartment but plans changed (as they often do on our adventure called life) and we were moving into a big fixer upper the week before baby arrived.
- My previous labors were pretty fast and both at 39 weeks without any induction.
- We were planning a home birth with a local midwife.
We moved into our big new (to us) house, my mom and sister came to help get the kitchen and basic things in order and then went back home and all seemed well. At 39 weeks I started having contractions that became close together (about 2 minutes apart) but not super intense. I called my mom and she started driving to Lubbock and then I called my midwife who was at another birth. Thinking things were going to move quickly as with my other labors she said not to do anything to encourage things too much because she didn’t want to miss it but was prepared with a back up if needed. This makes me laugh now…if only we had known how things would play out we wouldn’t have worried about this at all.
I went for a walk around our new neighborhood and the contractions stayed strong. Got home and they fizzled out. I thought…”hmm that is weird but probably a good thing since the midwife is busy”. The next evening the same thing happened. And again the next day and for 6 more days!! My mom was there for the whole thing and was such a champ. I was feeling bad for calling her for what turned out to be nothing but she just helped around the house, walked with me and had fun with the kids. Never once did she or my Dad (who was back at their house) complain or even mention her going home. I love my mom.
I on the other hand was super over the whole prodromal labor thing. I am a birth instructor and a doula. I should have been such a great laboring mom! I know all the stuff! NOPE. I was impatient and a little whiny too, I admit it. It was just so frustrating to have contractions start and then just fizzle out over and over again. And then people start saying things like “oh, its just Braxton Hicks. You probably didn’t recognize it.” Which made me want to hit them because I KNOW WHAT CONTRACTIONS FEEL LIKE! Real ones and BH. This was my third baby, I knew it was real…and then I didn’t. I started to question myself every time. It was a good learning experience for me. I gained new empathy for moms who have prodromal labor or go way past their due date. I had to give up and just trust the Lord. It was good for me. Not easy but good.
One evening I decided to take some homeopathy to help with malposition since I really felt like that was the problem. I had done the research etc and knew it was safe. That night I woke up with extremely painful contractions that were really far apart. I took a shower and they went away but I was exhausted. My sister was supposed to come into town that day so Dax and my Mom took the kids to church and then went to pick her up. I stayed home and slept. I started having some contractions again but they weren’t very painful and were very irregular so I decided to ignore them. I figured they would go away just like all the other ones had. I got up, showered, got dressed, fixed my hair, did my makeup and was ready for the day. We decided to go to lunch after they picked up my sister B. I didn’t tell anyone I was having contractions until we were almost to the restaurant. I casually mentioned it to Dax and that was it. We had to wait for a table at the restaurant and during the wait the contractions got more intense. I continued to ignore them until it wasn’t comfortable to be sitting anymore and then I went outside and walked. My Mom mentioned that maybe we should go back to the house but I said no. I was sure they would go away just like all the other times before and I didn’t want to ruin our lunch. Eventually, I was having to stop and concentrate during each contraction so I went and told them that we probably should go home even though it would probably go away. Dax called our midwife on the way home and asked her to meet us at the house. The contractions had gotten to intense for me to call her! I was hopeful but still not convinced they would stay. A week of this kind of thing had made me skeptical.
We got home and I changed into my labor gown and continued to have contractions. Midwife checked me and I had actually progressed! She had checked previous times and I had been stuck at 3 cm. I had even asked her to swipe my membranes with no change. This was progress and she assured me that it wouldn’t fizzle out. Baby was a little bit cock-eyed though so I did some lunges on the stairs to help see if I could get her to move. The other kids went to a friends house to play which was a huge relief for me. It is hard to turn your “mom radar” off even in labor. Things continued to progress and labor went really well. I got to 10 cm and I knew I intuitively knew that something was different because I didn’t have a string urge to push. With my other two the urge was overwhelming but not now. I asked our midwife to check me and she decided to check during a contraction to better “see” what was happening. I was right! Baby’s head was pulling down some cervix which was causing my body not to want to push (good job body! I want that cervix to stay in place 🙂 She gave me some options and I chose the fastest because…duh…and after one contraction baby’s head was out of the way and my body was rockin’ the pushing stage. My Mom was going to catch baby this time since Dax was helping me. She got the gloves on and was ready to go…baby crowned and then tried to do another cartwheel again so the midwife had to catch. Maybe next time Mom.
Its a girl!! I knew it!! Hadassah Lee Reinitz was born. Hadassah is from the Old Testament. It was Esther’s Hebrew name. The whole pregnancy I kept thinking about the verse that says “perhaps you were put here for such a time as this…” The world seemed crazy and I admit I was stressed at times about what kind of world my baby would grow up in but that verse was such a comfort. I knew this baby was born at this time for a reason. God had a plan and they would need to have the courage to follow Him. That has been my prayer for all my children but for some reason it was especially so this time.
Haddie got her first chiropractic adjustment just minutes after birth thanks to our amazing chiropractor who attended the birth. She needed it the little gymnast!
Simeon and Felicity were thrilled to meet their new sister. Felicity just knew it was a girl the whole time and had told us so many times. I had tried to prepare her by saying things like “we will be happy and love them either way, Even if its not a sister, right.” to which she would reply “yes, but its a sister.” Good grief!
I learned a lot during Haddie’s labor. Patience, empathy, trust in the Lord, every natural induction method known to man, and just how little I can control any of it. Good and necessary lessons especially for me. God is good.
