Long Awaited Lizzie!

Well, our peaceful little daughter is snoozing in her crib. Praise the Lord! She has just learned how to really sleep in her crib! This is a huge blessing for me as my mom just left and Danny is headed back in to work part time this week. How wonderful to have time to catch up on the bazillion emails in my inbox, post on this long neglected blog, throw in a load of laundry...or just take a nap (I should take lessons from Mishka, I think...he prefers the later).

So...I think I owe the scoop from beginning to end. If you make it to the end, there will be pictures! :) Here goes...

Tuesday, October 21st, 6:30 am: I woke up with what I though were some Braxton Hicks contractions. they were consistent, but not really anything to rock my world (although, I have to add that I really felt no contractions at all until that point). As my appointment with my midwife the night before had not revealed any additional dilation, I really didn't think anything of it. I sent Danny on his usual run and started my day as usual. I also woke my sister, who was visiting but needed to catch a flight back to Nashville. (Sweet thing...she had stayed up all night dusting my house and rearranging my pantry area...two things that were really important to me for some reason and that I had just not gotten to.)

Tuesday, October 21st, 7:30 am: Danny got home from his run and I was actually feeling like we should maybe time the contractions as they were still pretty persistent. This is where my husband shines (one of many areas). He got down to business with an online stopwatch and an excel spreadsheet. Before I knew it, he had a plot of all the contractions over an hour. Amazing! (All this time, Mishka sat right next to me. He was quite the good labor distraction. His fur became part of my rhythm.)
Tuesday, October 21st, 8:30 am: The contractions were about 5 minutes apart and 45 seconds long. Even so, I did not think I was anywhere near having a baby. We called our midwife (Cindie) anyway, and after asking some questions, she told us she would get her things together and call us back in about an hour. She called back a bit later and said she thought we should probably order our labor tub as it sometimes took a while to get set up. (Somewhere in here, my sister Jeana painted my toenails a sassy pink color with some little red flowers!)

Tuesday, October 21st, 9:30 am: Cindie called back and asked to talk to me...I wasn't talking. :) She told Danny to get our labor tub ordered and she would call her assistant, finish up a few essentials and be on her way. Danny and I began moving the dining room table and chairs, doing some last minute vacuuming, getting our supply tubs out and getting things set up.

Tuesday, October 21st, 10:30 am:Jeana left for the airport. The labor tub arrived. I went into the nursery and worked on punching the online stopwatch. According to Danny's spreadsheet, we were now at about 3 minutes apart and a minute long.

Tuesday, October 21st, 11:30 am: Cindie arrived, the labor tub lady left (with the tub only half full as I had so many people had taken a shower already that morning...we never did get the thing filled up...things moved too quickly) and I moved out to the labor suite we had created in the dining room area. (We have a large open area, and once we moved the table, it was a perfect space. The picture on the wall facing me was the man at table with his head bowed in prayer. I loved it! ) Cindie checked me and I was 9 cm dilated! It surprised us all and I think Cindie's words to Danny were "She's really cooking." I think it was at that point that I realized I really was in labor. I know this sounds silly, but it came so quickly and with so little excruciating pain that I was taken off guard. It all felt very natural and I was confident in the Lord that I could do this.

Tuesday, October 21st, 12:30 pm: By this time, things had slowed a bit and I was having a bit of trouble moving things along. We were trying tons of different positions and nothing seemed to be working. (Danny was the bulwark I needed at all times. He never left me, always encouraged me, anticipated what I needed...what a picture of marriage, truly. I am so very grateful for the gift of his love!) I had lost most of my breakfast (amazing that your body clears all systems to focus on the biggest task at hand!), so was super low on energy. I couldn't seem to keep down anything, even the Recharge we had for such an occasion. Cindie asked me if I wanted an IV, and I asked her to make the decision. She was pro IV at this point to get some fluids and sugar into my system. It was at this point that I had a melodramatic moment and really thought for about 10 minutes that I could not do this birth thing. Cindie prayed over me and I was able to refocus certain that I was not the one "doing" this birth thing. At that point we moved out into the birth suite again so I could lie down and keep my arm stable for the IV

Tuesday, October 21st, 1:00 pm: Cindie barely got the IV in me when I felt things change dramatically in my body. Lizzie was ready. Cindie checked me and Lizzie was crowning. I think her words were, "Never mind this IV. We're having a baby...now!" She removed the IV and I pushed for maybe 30 or 45 minutes. It was the most amazing thing to be a part of. I cannot even describe the wonder when I felt her head be born. How great is our God that He would design our bodies to do this?!

Tuesday, October 21st, 1:52 pm: Lizzie was born into this world! She was beautiful as she lay there on my chest...my little blue baby. She was so calm and peaceful, giving just a few little cries...enough to clear her lungs. (Amazingly, early in her development, she had tied a knot in her cord. Did you know the cord is designed to take a knot? It is made to facilitate flow of nutrients even though there is a knot!) Danny and I just couldn't take out eyes off her. She turned pink right as we watched and truly was absolutely beautiful! Danny cut the cord when it stopped pulsing...and she was official! :)

At this point, time became irrelevant. At some point we both got in the labor tub as our temperatures were super low. I washed her off, and she just loved it...so relaxed. She definitely has Danny's laid back personality! She learned to breastfeed very quickly, and although our midwife was concerned about her latch, she caught on. Our precious friends Jessica and Stephen arrived. Jessica helped our midwives finish up a few things while Stephen finshed work down at a coffee shop. Mostly, Jessica joined us in falling love with our little girl. I showered and got into my own bed (what a joy homebirth is if only that you are in your own bed!) with our sweet daughter. Danny started sending emails and finally got a shower at some point and joined us in the bed. Our friends brought us dinner. Our upstairs friends stopped by. Our neighbor stopped by. My mom arrived!

The day is forever etched into my memory. What a joy, what a blessing to give birth at home with gentle midwives who never rushed, always encouraged, were ever mindful of the medical issues. What a treasure and a gift is our precious Lizzie. Praise the name of the Lord! He has, indeed, besto wed a good a nd perfect gift. May we ever be grateful and may He teach us to be parents after His own heart. Amen.

With all our love!

The Knorr Family! The parents are already enthralled!


Our beautiful midwife...for whom we are so grateful!