To break or Not to break

That was the question one year ago last night. Well it wasn't quite to break but to strip. We got home from Home Group at 9pm Sunday night to a message on our answering machine from my Midwife, "Brooke I need to talk to you, please give me a call when you can". I was a week overdue with Sarah, which was unusual for me, and after having 1 1/2 hour labor last time made us all on edge. I think we all thought, well as soon as she goes into labor, bam, that baby will be born.

I called Lisa back and found that her son was in Washington desperately needing his mom to come up and spend some time with him. Hmmmmm, well my last labor was quick so we couldn't depend on a midwife from Eugene, her assistant Rachel had never done a delivery and I was a week overdue so it should happen any minute. I got off the phone, John & I prayed and we decided to have Lisa come over, check me and we would go from there. The other dilema in all this is we live in Lebanon and she lives in Corvallis, 1/2 hour away, so we had to weigh the cost of her driving all the way over here for her to just check.

When she got here, she checked and I don't remember exactly what I was dilated at but it wasn't a significant amount. Lisa has never induced anyone and I really didn't want to be induced but we needed to do something, either decide that if she goes to Washington, we might end up in the hospital or she could strip my membranes and see what happens. She stripped! I also took some kind of herb which I don't remember, to see if that would bring on contractions. Our thinking was, well if the baby is ready, this will start things up, if the baby is not, than nothing will happen. Lisa camped out on our couch and we all went to sleep.

I remember waking up at 2:00 and realizing that nothing had happened. I went out and talked to Lisa and was completely frustrated. We decided that nothing was probably going to happen but she would stay there for the night and go to Washington in the morning. After talking with Lisa, I went back to my bed, pleading with God, "Please Lord, make something happen, bring this baby into this world today" and WHOSH................... my water broke. Literally as I was praying, God said, "OK, it's your time". Then the fun began. I will spare you the gory details but 4 1/2 hours later our little Sarah Elyzabeth was born at 9lbs 5oz, my biggest baby yet. The girls were just waking up when she was born and got to see their baby sister about a half hour later. They sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, it was so precious. Oh by the way, while I was pregnant, we didn't know for sure that she was a girl but of course I had my strong suspicions.

So obviously today is my baby's first birthday. We are not planning anything extravagant, just a simple family party with a few presents and some cupcakes. Of course we can't forget the birthday cake just for herself that she will get all over the place, can't wait! I will post pictures tomorrow. She has been taking steps for about 2 weeks but has not decided to start walking yet. She has 6 teeth and eats everything. She has said, but does not always say, Hi, none (done), dada. She definitely has her own little conversation going constantly though. I don't think we have any worries about speech with her.

One more thing about my labor, everytime that it didn't seem like much was happening or we wanted the next phase to start, I would quickly blurted out a desperate cry and God would answer. The song that so ministered to me that night was "Everlasting God" by Lincoln Brewster and if my playlist on my blog was working you would hear it. This is probably one of my favorite songs this past year. I would recommend a home birth to anyone but would give some heads up on some things.

I LOVE YOU BABY!!!!