Eliza is here!

(One of Eliza's first pictures, with Grandma's hand and in my arms)
So, I am slow at this blogging thing. Eliza Lida Robinson was born on August 2, 2010 at 6:41 a.m. She weighed 8 pounds 3 ounces and was 21 inches long. She is bigger now!!
(WARNING: Birth story follows. Pictures are all decent, though, if you want to scroll through them and not read. More pictures under the story.)
We planned to have Eliza at home with a midwife because I have always been interested in that and I got a bit frustrated with who I was going to have deliver at the hospital. The midwives were not worried about my past history of having my water break with no contractions immediately following, so that eased my bit of concerns. We were prepared for my labor to be pretty long because that is what often happens when someone has had pitocin in a previous labor.
I was sure I would go into labor as soon as I had gotten everything done I wanted to do that was family related: two family reunions and a bridal shower. The bridal shower was Saturday, July 31. I was feeling really pregnant and wondering how long I could go feeling that way. Sunday, at choir practice, I felt great and even joked that I would probably go late just because I wanted to be at Brad and Lisa's wedding days after my due date.
Early Monday morning, at about 2:30 a.m., I woke feeling kinda labor-y. I don't know how else to explain it. I knew than that I would have her that day. I called Cathy, the midwife, and told her how I was feeling. She told me to try to get some sleep and call when I started contractions. Well, I went back up to bed but couldn't really get back to sleep because I knew it would be that day. I told Steve not to go to work that day because I knew she would be born that day and I didn't think I could get to Steve where he is working. (They have no cell service there and I would have to send someone to get him back, and he was working about an hour from home.) I started having contractions probably between 3:15 a.m. and 3:30 a.m., but I tried to ignore them.
After about 5 contractions, I decided I should time them because I wasn't even dozing between them! I timed two contractions, and that is when they went from 7 minutes apart to 5 minutes apart! I had been told to call when they were 7 minutes apart and not stopping. I called Cathy back, and she told me that she would just take a shower and be on her way. I was sure that would be fine, since I was prepared for a long labor. These contractions were strong from the beginning. Not long after I talked to Cathy, I remember thinking, "If I was in the hospital and this labor was very long, I would probably get an epidural." They felt like the transition contractions felt with my other labors. And it was a lot of back labor, like it was with Zach. Not too fun!
Well, at about 5 I told Steve I wanted him awake. He got up and going and did a few last minute things I wanted done before the baby was born. Then I sent him down to make us breakfast because I had been told that I should eat during labor. I was getting hungry, which should have been a sign that I was getting close because I have never been hungry till nearly transition. During this whole time, I had been timing contractions on the cell phone. It helped me to get through them with a lot of control to know how far apart they were and how long they were. When I saw that they were 2-3 minutes apart before Steve got breakfast done, I threw the phone across the room to our bed. I didn't want them to be so close and the timing was not helping anymore. I didn't want to be alone anymore, so I headed down to be with Steve and wait for breakfast to be done.
About then, at 5:45 a.m., Cathy called and told me she was just past Idaho Falls on her way. I knew that meant more than an hour drive, but I still thought that my labor would be long. Cathy was slightly concerned because my contractions were so close, but I was about to eat so she thought we had a bit of time left.
As soon as we got off the phone, Steve finished the eggs he was cooking for us. I took a bite and the contractions changed. I still thought I just needed the bathroom since I had been in it about every 5 minutes since contractions had started. I told Steve to bring the food up to the room and headed up to the bathroom I was most comfortable with. I knew as soon as I was there that it wasn't a bathroom I needed, but the contractions were getting pushy. When Steve came up, I was sitting on the bed freaking out a bit. I knew there was no way the midwife was going to get there in time! I told Steve I felt pushy, and told him to go get his mother! This was between 6 and 6:10 a.m. I screamed-yelled, but pretty quietly while Steve went to get his mother. During this time, I calmed myself down telling myself that I had done this before twice and that women have done this for centuries with or without assistance. I also reminded myself that Steve's mother had 7 of 9 of her children at home, many without a midwife present.
My mother-in-law came up and told me that everything would be fine. About then, my water broke! That freaked me out again because I have been told that things go faster after the water breaks. That was not the case with me. Contractions completely stopped for 5 or 10 minutes. I told Steve to call Cathy and let her know what was going on. He did and she gave him a bunch of instructions in case she was not there when Eliza was born because the phone is corded and would not reach where we were. He came back upstairs and I had him put the batteries in the camera. Then I remembered his brother has a cell phone that will work in the house (ours won't). He got it and called Cathy, who was quite relieved to be able to talk me through things. She told me not to hold back and that everything would be fine. My mother-in-law told me that I didn't have to push. By this point we were past that choice!
I got a bit worried at one point and asked Cathy where she was, and she said nearly American Falls. I felt better knowing she was on her way and could hear us. I didn't actually try to push, I just let my body do what it was supposed to do. When I felt Eliza crowning, I told Steve, "She is right there, LOOK!" He did, just in time to help guide her out. She was born in less than a contraction from crowning to entire body.
Steve handed her to me, and I was so happy to be holding her! Steve and his mother were a bit worried about her breathing, but she was breathing fine right from birth! After a few seconds she cried, which is more than my other two had done. Cathy told us that she was born at 6:41 a.m. according to her clock. I put Eliza to the breast because she was rooting and demanding to be fed right then! Cathy got there 20 minutes later, and I was just laying there feeding my baby and had delivered the placenta. An hour after that, the student midwife that was to assist got there.
People have said that should be traumatic to me, but it was a wonderful birth. We have a plan to get the midwife there in time if we decide to have another baby at home, and everything went well. My plan if we had been going to have her in the hospital was to get there at the last possible second, so I would have probably had her in the car. I would much rather do it at home than in the car.
Enjoy the pictures that follow. I would label them, but Eliza is wanting me again! I will post more soon, I hope.