One week old.

Claire at 5 days old.

I was working on this post yesterday when Claire turned exactly one week old.

Since time is moving so quickly, I'm going to share Claire's birth story.

I wasn't surprised when I was still pregnant on my due date since Ezra and Audrey were both born four days after their due dates. My midwife checked me Monday when I was 8 days overdue and said I was dilated to 4 cm and 70-80% effaced. I was really excited and had about 8 hours of backache and very light contractions. We tried doing some things to start labor naturally, and I was disappointed when the acupressure that started Audrey's labor didn't give me contractions. On Wednesday July 13, I had another appointment and by that time I was tired of waiting. By this time, emotionally I was at the end of my rope, just waiting for something to happen that I had no control over. This time I was at a 5 with my bag of waters bulging, completely ready and ripe for labor. She felt confident that if she broke my water, I would go into active labor and have a baby by the end of the day. Otherwise, I would go to the hospital the next morning and we would try since I was 10 days over and had difficulty in pushing my other babies out. I called Corey and although I had wanted things to start on their own, we decided to get the party started. I checked in at the hospital a little after 1:00 pm. Corey hadn't arrived yet when the midwife came over and broke my water at 2:30. I had been having very mild contractions for the past day and a half, but within 5 minutes, they became stronger. I called home to check to see when Corey had left, but he answered the phone! By the time he arrived, the contractions were very strong and I couldn't talk or move during them. They took me off the monitoring and Corey started a bath for me. It helped a great deal and soon the contractions were a minute and a half long and starting to double up. The doctor that Tonia, my midwife, works with, came in and wanted to check me. While I was in the tub, I felt a light urge to push and knew I needed to get out since that hospital doesn't do waterbirths. It was around this time I told Corey that I wasn't sure I wanted to do this without any drugs. I knew I was in transition and things were going very quickly, but this labor was more intense than any I had experienced with the other two.

I was at an 8 when he checked me, and a little after that, Tonia came in. The room was set up for the birth and I had terrible back pain. I found out that Claire had turned and was posterior, and the pain was a lot stronger than before. We tried some different positions which helped, and I was so surprised when I felt like I wanted to push. I never experienced that with Ezra and only slightly after they gave me Pitocin for Audrey's birth. I started pushing a little and then we changed positions again. I began pushing and was so amazed at the progress we were making. About 20 minutes later, Claire was born. From start to finish, my active labor was 2 1/2 hours. It went fast but it was an intense ride! I am so grateful that Claire is safely here and well. This has been the fastest recovery and I'm feeling pretty good now.

After she was born, Claire made a lot of noise and I began worrying. We already have one little girl who likes the spotlight! We have really enjoyed Claire, she is a very sweet baby and easily soothed. It amazes me how she has captured our hearts so completely in such a short time.

the end.