Dakota's Birth

So I think I am actually going to post the whole birth story. I have never done that before because, well even though I enjoy reading other people's birth stories I don't like writing about myself all that much. That's why I post pictures and say so little. So if you are opposed to reading about waters breaking and cervix's and such, you may want to skip this post. :) Just fair warning.



Sitting by the stove enjoying the sunrise.

 So this story would not be complete if I didn't tell you that on the evening of November 10th I got my first deer of the year. Sorry we didn't get any pictures of big ol' pregnant me with the deer. Stephen did most of the gutting of it for me, and then we let it hang all night since it was a cold night. Since I was in labor the next morning my brothers in law skinned it and put it in the fridge for us to process later.


Daddy fixing breakfast

 So I pretty much 'knew' I would have the baby on the 11th. (but I don't put a whole lot of store in what I 'know' about my pregnancies anymore. Because I KNEW I was going to have a boy. Really. I was very surprised (and certainly happy. Yay, my girls with both have a sister.) that Miss Dakota was a girl. But the reason I was so sure of the 11th is because God seems to answer even silly prayers sometimes. See I keep hoping that  one of these years I will get to go with the folks at our church who go on Trek each summer. Where they go backpacking in the mountains for a week. So at the beginning of the year I more just said than 'prayed' that if I was going to get pregnant this year and miss Trek that I hoped the baby would at least have a 'cool' birthday like 11-11-11 or maybe 9-10-11.  So when I found out I was pregnant and the baby would be due Novemberish, I kinda thought it would be then.

So yes. On with the story. I woke up about 2 AM pretty sure that I was in labor. I knew it could be a long day so I laid back down and tried to get some sleep. I couldn't sleep through the contractions, but I slept between them pretty well. When one would start I would look at the clock to see how close together they were. They were between 2 and 5 minutes apart for quite a while. Once when Stephen kinda woke up, I let him know that things had started. Then I texted my Mom to let her know when she woke up. At exactly 4 AM I called my midwife to let her know things were happening. She sounded wide awake. I figured she was just good at sounding awake so people wouldn't feel they were bothering her. Yeah. She had walked in her door and sat on her bed at 3:55 from another birth I found out later. She lives an hour and a half from us, so she said she'd get her stuff together and see us about 6.

When she got there I had given up on trying to get any sleep and was sitting by the wood burning stove in the rocking chair. The contractions were closer together, but still very tolerable. Soon after she got there the kids and Stephen came out and Stephen fixed them some breakfast. I didn't feel like eating so I set about making beds and getting the kids clothes out for the day. After that we just kind of hung out for a while with the kids bouncing around and being excited because someone was at our house. We told them why Miss Carol was there but I don't think they really understood that the baby would be there that day. For them to see. Since we seemed to be doing fine, Carol asked if we would mind if she went to take a nap. This was when she told us that she'd been up all night at another birth.  We called my MIL next door and she came and got the kids so the house would be quiet enough for Carol to sleep.

While Carol napped Stephen and I stood in the living room and watched birds fly around in the wheat field. We joked alot, and I kept saying this was the most tolerable labor I'd had so far. Not fun by any means, but certainly not hard. About 10:45 after Carol got up, she said she wanted to 'check' me. I was not as far along as we had expected. I was dilated to a 5 and the baby was 'right there'. The problem was that my cervix was tilted way to the back and was no longer dilating because the baby wasn't 'on' it. Sooo. Carol had to pull it forward, which wasn't pleasant. The very next contraction...wow. It was no longer the most tolerable labor ever. It may have been my hardest one from that point. All day Stephen and I had been texting back and forth with my brothers, my mom and some friends. Not long after this I sent out a text asking them to pray for me because it was getting HARD. Like, if I had been in a hospital I probably would have asked for drugs.


First family picture with Dakota

 So yeah, it stayed like that...and got more intense up until a little before 1:20 when I was finally complete and could push. With Tyrel and Kimber the pushing was a relief and didn't seem all that bad compared to right beforehand. This time it was just as bad as the contractions. Dakota was not in the most optimal position to come out. She was turned funny. She shoulders were actually harder to get out than the head because she wouldn't turn like she was supposed to. So then she was born and all was well. Only we didn't have a girl name picked out. We had narrowed it down to 'my pick' and Stephen's pick. I told Stephen I liked 'his' name and wrote out several middle names and asked him which he liked. He barely glanced at it and said 'Dakota Rose'. So then we had a name (this was a few hours later). Tyrel and Kimber adore her.


Fresh Baby!



Oh and Stephen has been 'Super-Dad and Husband' ever since then. With Tyrel and Kimber my Mom was here and so afterwards there wasn't a whole lot for him to have to do. This time he has been dressing, feeding, bathing kids. A lot of times with Dakota on his arm or in the sling. He has been doing dishes and laundry and general clean up like a pro. I am glad I am getting to where I can help out SOME and will soon be able to take back over MY work. I feel bad with him going to work and doing all the house stuff, but he keeps telling me he doesn't mind and to just get better and not to push it getting back into the swing of things.

*Carol took all the pictures except for the family picture, which my MIL took.