Isaac's Birth Story

I've been wanting to write about all my kids birth's so that when they get older they can read about it if they want to. Each of them were so unique as are each of my children.

We found out we were pregnant with Isaac when Nathan was only 5 1/2 months old. Josh and I had been joking about me getting pregnant, but both of us were in complete shock when we found out that we actually were. I first knew I was pregnant because I couldn't sleep one night and I distinctly felt a baby move in my tummy at about 3 a.m. Since he is my fifth one, the feeling was unmistakable. Needless to say, I didn't get anymore sleep the rest of that night.

I wanted the telling of it to be special for Josh because in the past we've always known I was expecting by my emotional state. So, I went to the store and bought a baby gift bag and filled it with a bib that said, "Babies are a gift from heaven", and one that said, "I love my Daddy!", as well as some other baby items. I made reservations at his favorite restaurant, made arrangements with my mom and dad to watch the kids, and called Josh at work and asked him out on an impromptu date. He was surprised about the date, but he didn't suspect a thing.

I told Josh when we got to the restaurant that I had a surprise for him and managed to smuggle the gift bag in without him noticing. I ordered a salad that had a very vinegary dressing on it that instantly made me sick. I knew that would give the surprise away in a hurry so I pulled out the gift bag, and said, "Congratulations!"

He said, "Huh uh, no way." Then he thought about it for a second, and said, "This better not be a joke, because it's not funny. Not funny at all." I assured him it wasn't a joke, and he was unable to say another word for the entire time that we remained in the restaurant! I could see a gamut of emotions going across his face, but he was completely speechless with shock. If it wasn't so serious, it would have been really funny.

The pregnancy itself was relatively uneventful thankfully. I had the usual morning sickness, but it wasn't as bad as the previous pregnancies. I craved sauerkraut and lemons, and ice cream alternately.

We decided to have an ultrasound to confirm his due date. Up to that point, I was just SURE I was going to have a girl. I already had three boys so I thought the odds of having a girl were in my favor. I had barely gotten up on the table went the ultrasound technician asked if we wanted to know baby's gender. I said yes, and the next second she said, "It's a boy." I could hardly believe it, but the evidence was pretty clear.

Amy decided to come out to be here for his birth. Cheyenne and Travis came three weeks before she did so my other kids had a blast playing with them. When she got here, she cooked, cleaned, redecorated the nursery, and put up new wall paper in my kitchen, as well as reading to and generally taking care of ALL of the kids.

12:00 p.m.

Since all my babies came about three weeks early, it seemed that everyday we got up thinking that today might be the day. On Thursday we decided to do something fun to get my mind off of being miserably pregnant. My mom had Jordan, Alia, and Dillon, so we took Cheyenne, Travis, and Nathan to the mall. We were meeting some friends from Cody. When I got there I started to feel "funny". We shopped for a little while and then decided to eat at the food court. I was craving pizza, and Amy wanted Arby's. I got my pizza first, so when I saw Amy coming I got up to help her with the kids. I felt an odd crackling sensation, but didn't think too much about it. I sat down and went on eating for a minute, and then Isaac moved. My water broke big time. Amy knew right away what happened, so she loaded up the kids and all the food and headed out to get the van.

I felt panicked. In the past when my water broke, I immediately had an overwhelming urge to push. I did NOT want to have this baby in the mall. The chance of having your water break before you are pushing is about 15%, and the chance of having it happen in public is less than 10%. I couldn't believe this was happening.

2:00 p.m.
Amy had called my mom earlier to tell her that I might be in labor, and she said that they would head to our house. Amy said not to hurry because it might be another false alarm. When she called my mom back to tell her my water broke, she had just gotten out of the shower. My mom has been to all the kid's births so she was thinking the same thing I was. The race was on.

I called Josh, and he ended up getting home way before we did. He was racing around trying to get things ready. We had thought we were prepared, but baby really did decide to come at the most inconvenient time. Pat, my midwife, was working in Hardin so she was at least an hour away.

Throughout my pregnancy I had a recurring dream that two of us expecting ladies were going to be in labor at the same time. To reassure me, Pat called the other lady and told her to try to not go into labor because I was. I think she did this mostly for my peace of mind. I could tell that labor was progressing steadily, but throughout the afternoon I was able to rest through it. About five o'clock, I heard Pat's cell phone ring. I could hear her talking, but couldn't make out all of what she was saying. Then I heard her mention another midwife's name in our area. I was pretty sure the other lady was now in labor as well. Sure enough.

My dad brought my mom and the kids to my house, but wasn't feeling well so he left to go home and rest. When supper was ready I came upstairs, but wasn't really feeling up to it. Josh was outside working on the kids new playset my dad had made, and everybody else was eating, so I said, "If Josh wants to eat, tell him he'd better get in here and do it NOW because this baby isn't going to wait on him." I was so crabby. I went back downstairs and Josh came in and got his food and brought it down to the bedroom and practically inhaled it, poor guy. Isaac didn't come for another three hours.

Once Pat knew the other lady was in labor she decided to check me to see how I was progressing. We hadn't up to this point because of the risk of infection. I was dilating according to the hour. At 7:00 p.m. I was 7 centimeters, and so on. Everybody was in and out of my room just chatting in between the contractions. It was really fun! Mostly I remember laughing between contractions. At about 9:00 my mom called my dad and said he probably should come back over if he wanted to be here for the birth. He arrived just as Isaac was coming out at 9:45.

His shoulder got stuck so I had to push really hard a couple of times, but even so he was out in less than five pushes, I think. Everybody immediately started exclaiming over his bright orange red hair! That was quite a surprise.

It was a super easy labor. Pat got everything wrapped up here and was able to go to her house and deliver the other baby at 4:00 a.m. It all worked out wonderfully.

I was starved so my sweetheart dad offered to go get me whatever I wanted to eat. Everything good was closed at 10:00 p.m. But he went to Wal-Mart and got me fresh fruit, and some other yummy things, and brought me a beautiful bouquet of flowers too.

Isaac loved Amy instantly. I mentioned in a previous blog that he smiled for her when he was one day old. It was so precious. I struggled with postpartum depression this time, and I would always say I was upset because Isaac just would not smile for me. It was worth waiting for though!

Lord willing, Isaac is our very last baby so Josh and I are enjoying every moment. His name means "laughter", and our hope and prayer is that he has a joyful life serving the Lord.