Well, It's been almost 2 months and I haven't recounted on here the birth of our beautiful new baby, Anca Joy. I've been thinking about doing this for sometime but have just let myself get busy and been doing other things.
Anywho, Jamie had been experiencing contractions for several weeks but they were all pre-labor, as they had obviously not produced a baby and Jamie was able to lay down for a nap or sleep and they would go away. She told me that you know the contractions are real when they wake you up and you can't sleep through them.
At about 4:00 AM on May first things started to change. Jamie was awakened by much stronger contractions than she had before. She woke me around 5:30 so I could call my boss and call off for the day. We had already set up the birthing pool in the kitchen but still had some things to get ready. At some point during the morning I think I took a nap, and when I awoke our friends Berta and Dana were there to help Jamie with whatever she needed. Dana brought a ton of food for us, so we wouldn't have t really have to cook over the next few days. She and Berta also did some house cleaning while they waited for things to "progress."
Our Midwife came in the late morning to check on Jamie. After examining her she said she was progressing slightly but was not yet ready. So she left, promising to come back later and check on her.
Fast forward to about 4:00 PM. Jamie was walking around the backyard with her friends, trying to deal with the contractions. I new they were getting serious when one of her friends called and Jamie waved me off when I brought her the phone! I couldn't believe it! Jamie, not taking a friend's call? This could only mean one thing: she was going through TRANSITION!!!!
Jamie finally got in the birthing tub about 7:00 PM. We had been filling it up the last couple of hours using the hot water line from the washer (Jamie's idea, and a pretty good one). The funny thing is when our midwives walked in a few minutes later they looked at my expression and privately thought to themselves that Jamie wasn't far enough along to deliver, because I was to calm. The reality is that I was calm because I had such great help from our friends. Berta and Dana had been putting cold compresses on Jamie's forehead and hot ones on her lower back and we were all singing praise and worship songs to comfort her and invite the Holy Spirit to be with us and help us all out (which He did, in spades).
Anyway, our midwives kind of took over and helped Jamie deliver Anca, which went very smoothly, her little body slipping right out into the water (wow, I almost made the mistake of saying it went pretty easy, which could be detrimental to my health if any women read this blog!). I cut the cord which was a little bit scary but no turned out to be no big deal. After she delivered the Placenta, Jamie got out of the tub and went to the bed, where she held and nursed Anca for the first time. The midwifes cleaned her up and examined Anca and Jamie, who were both doing fine. Anca weighed in at 8lbs. 5oz. and 21 inches. The only concern the midwives ever had was that it was really hard to get her to cry! She just kept making little noises like she was perturbed but she never really seems to get angry! Here are some of the pictures from that first night:
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