BABY SERENITY IS BORN!
I finally had the baby last week. I am sorry that I did not make any sooner announcements. Up until now I just did not feel like I had the time to sit down and write a lengthy post. I wanted to share my birth story with you ladies because I had this one naturally and I know a lot of you have done the same thing.
Serenity was born on Saturday, February 24 at 3:30 am. She was 7 lbs 11 oz, 22 1/2 inches, which is the biggest of all my other babies. She is about an inch to and inch and a half longer than the rest.
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The night I gave birth was really crazy. We have bible study at our house on Fridays so everybody came over as usual. I did not want to cancel it because I was not sure that I was in actual labor until everybody was already at my house. So, here I was trying to make final preperations while trying to not be too distracting to the teaching going on in the living room. Everybody stayed until about 11:00 and I didn't mind because they were helping to keep my mind off of what was going on. But after they left I really started having the hard contractions. So I called Joncia and Cathy. They got there at 12, and that is when my contractions were really turning into something I had to breathe through and concentrate on. They had me lay down on the birthing ball and applied heat to lower back. Wow, that made so much of a difference. I remember Cathy telling me a few times to breathe through the contraction because I was busy talking, but I really didn't need to with the hot compresses. I was so relaxed and in such a good space. My mom, who was there to watch the children, was getting really worried that I was going to have a baby in my living room because quick labor runs in our family. Joncia had told me ahead of time that she would not give me any medical advice and that includes when I should go to the hospital. I didn't move too quickly because everything was going so well. It just didn't seem like it was time yet. Finally, my mom's urgings became more serious and I realized she was right. I am so glad she was there.
When we got to the hospital, as soon as we got into the room I hit transition. That was so hard. Joncia and Cathy still used the compresses and the ball, which helped for a little while, but then the pain got so intense that it didn't seem to matter anymore.
There was a little tension with the doctor that was on call. The way it works at Rennassaince Physicians is that Dr. Martin and another doctor trade off doing the deliveries. So I knew that it would be pretty much a 50/50 chance that I would get my doctor for the birth. I also knew that the other doctor that works with Dr. Martin does not have the same philosophies as she does. Well, this other doctor was not too excited about my birth plan and gave me a hard time about it. In the end though she got on board and ended up actually being really great about it.
I did not quite expect transition to be that hard. I am not sure what I was expecting, but wow. That was hard. I ended up demanding pain meds even though I knew that there was no way I was going to get them. The anesthesiologist was on call so it would have taken 20 minutes for him to get there if he hurried. I knew that Stadol was not what I was looking for either. I just needed to have some hope to focus my mind on. Dealing with the pain in that moment was just too much. The nurse told me afterwards that she was able to determine that the baby was getting ready to come because I was asking for medicine.
Well, I made it through and Serenity was beautiful. Right after the birth I told Cathy that it was a good experience, but I would never, ever do that again. Now that I have had a week to get some perspective I am not so sure about that. It doesn't really matter because I am done having children, but I think I would go natural again given the opportunity. I felt better after the birth because I did not have pitocin which

makes me hemmorage. If I did do it again I would have Joncia and Cathy there. They were so great. I could not have made it through without them. They knew just what to do to help me and they were right there for everything little thing that I needed.
Serenity is doing great now. For the first few days she was so fussy, even after my milk came in. But about Thursday she just seemed to relax and calm down. Now she is sleeping better and seems to be fitting in so well to our family. The girls adore her. Caylee is excited about learning to change her diapers. Natalie is constantly asking when she can hold baby Serenity. Macy calls her Sery because Serenity is an awfully big word for her to be able to say clearly. Bethany is learning to stroke her head nicely instead of digging her fingers into the baby's face. Asher is really great with her too. He and Serenity already have a special daddy/daughter bond. Last night she actually slept through the night. I was not expecting that. At first I was worried that she would not get enough to eat, but my older sister started sleeping through the night when she was just a couple of day old and I did at a couple of weeks old and we never had any problems with weight gain. Of course we have our doctor's appt. coming up real soon so I will be able to keep a close eye on her