The Wendorff's: Irelyn's Birth...

Where do I start?.... Well, on Thursday, July 7th, I had an appointment with my midwife, and she checked me to see if I was dilating. We were excited to find out that I was already dilated to 4cm! She told me that I could try taking castor oil to try and get things started, so on Saturday afternoon that's what I did. I took the first dose around 2:30pm, and it didn't have any affect on me. So around 6:00pm, I took another dose in hopes of getting my contractions going. By 6:30-6:45, I started getting contractions that were 3-4 minutes apart. We happened to be out at our friends house to celebrate their little boy turning one, so we decided to head home to put the boys to bed. By the time we got home, the castor oil finally kicked in, so I called my midwife to let her know what was going on. After we put the boys to bed, my contractions continued coming 3-4 minutes apart and started to slowly increase in intensity.

At 10:00pm, I called my midwife again to let her know that this was "it" and she should start heading my way. The birth assistant and my doula friend, Claire, we also called, and they were on their way too. They both arrived by 11:00pm, and by then, I was needing to concentrate and breathe through my contractions that were coming every 2-3 minutes. We all just hung out in my living room, watching the Hangover and Saturday Night Live. It was a very relaxed atmosphere. At midnight, when my midwife finally arrived she checked me, and I was dilated to 7cm. I was so relieved that I was making good progress. Very soon after that, I started getting the chills during my contractions and having a small urge to push. Everyone could tell by the signs I was giving that I was getting close. Around 12:45am they suggested I head downstairs because they knew my goal was too give birth in the water.

Once we got down there, Paul finished filling the tub, and I got in. The urge to push became stronger and stronger. After checking me a few times, my midwife discovered that my bag of water was bulging, so she suggested we break it to help the baby come down more. Before I decided what I wanted to do, my bag of water broke during the next contraction. After that, everything seemed to happen very fast. While sitting on my knees and holding on to the edge of the tub, I continued to push and felt every inch of her head and body come out of me. It was painful and amazing all at the same time. Once she was out, I scooped her up from the water, doubled checked that she was a girl, and held her in my arms to keep her warm. I couldn't have imagined everything going more perfectly if I tried.

Please enjoy some pictures from her birth, and I hope none of them gross you out.

*Pushing in the tub.*