Owen’s birth came much differently than Jude’s- although both babies were birthed naturally with the help of Andrew and a midwife. Jude was born in a small rural hospital in California, I felt great up until his birth- woke up on his due date with cramping and contractions and he was born that afternoon. Things were much different this time around, and as my due date approached I thought for sure I’d be having him a bit early or on time because I started experiencing several rounds of regular contractions and cramping, only to be false alarms. His due date came and went, I felt fine but wanted him to come so I walked and raked and cleaned and moved around until it seemed like nothing would help him out!
Nine days after his due date I woke up with early labor like contractions and had them throughout the day. I was trying not to count on it being the real thing so as Andrew left for work I told him to keep his phone handy but was sure this would be another false alarm.
About 5 pm I realized the contractions were a steady 10 minutes apart so I started paying more attention to them, and they got closer together and more intense as the evening went on. I laugh now that I was in labor with Jude, (Andrew was going to be gone until after leading youth group that night) by bed time as we read books together I had to stop and breathe through a few contractions and was so thankful when I could get him to sleep and go downstairs to call Andrew and let him know he better come home as soon after youth group as he could! I also called my midwife to give her the heads up and was to call back when contractions were three minutes apart. That was about 7pm.
An hour later I was so relieved when Andrew came home because my contractions were becoming intense and I was ready to have him encourage me through them. He realized when he saw me that we needed to call the midwife right away, and by 8:45ish she was at our house, setting up her supplies. She had been there about 20 minutes and had just barely gotten set up and changed when I felt the need to push. I was surprised at how fast everything was happening and remember feeling so thankful that this was finally the real thing- Baby would soon be in our arms! Andrew was a huge strength to me as he was during Jude’s birth- encouraging me to keep going, that baby was almost here, telling me I was doing great. His words and his presence were essential to both births and I love that about the memories from both.
I pushed for 17 minutes on my knees, leaning on the bed and Andrew. My water broke and then came the intense feeling of baby’s head crowning and finally out he came, upside down into the midwife’s hands. He started crying immediately after she turned him over and handed him to me, a loud protesting cry that made me laugh with joy that he was finally here- our Owen Peter. (Peter is my Papa’s name) We also laughed when our midwife, Linda, weighed him and told us he was 9 pounds 9oz! We never would have guessed how big he was going to be and I am still amazed at how he fit inside me! He nursed within the first 20 minutes he was born, calmed down and opened his eyes, looking at Andrew as he lay on the bed getting cleaned up and dressed. Jude slept upstairs through the entire birth and met his baby brother the next morning- not too sure of him at first but warming up to him ever since. We are forever grateful that God has blessed us with two amazing sons and grateful for the beautiful home birth we got to experience with Owen- we wouldn’t have had it any other way. Welcome to our world, Owen Peter- we love you more than words can express.