Happy Birthday Dear Melia

Wow. Two years already? I felt like taking a trip down memory lane today.
I realize it's long, but indulge me.

It was a Sunday night. I was due the next day, although I use the term “due” very loosely. When I was first pregnant, and I went in for my first appointment with my midwife, I informed her that I had been late with my previous two, and I was pretty sure I ovulated close to a week later than the average woman. So we changed my due date from the 2nd of June, to the 7th. No real reason to say the 7th, it was just later and sounded like a good date.

So I was “due” the next day. I had a final scheduled for Tuesday in my online college course I was taking. The instructor emailed us Sunday afternoon informing us we could take it anytime we wanted. I hadn’t studied, but not wanting to push my luck on the baby front, I decided to sit down and just take it and get it over with. I started the test around 10:30 that night. About half way through the test, I was just really uncomfortable sitting there. You know how it is when you’re 9 months pregnant. Is there really a comfortable way to sit? Then I began to notice that the insane urge to stand up seemed to be happening every 5 minutes or so. Hmmmmmm….

By the time I was near the end of the test I could hardly concentrate. I just wanted to be done and to walk around. I quickly finished the last question (I got at A by the way!) and began to walk around the house.

Nothing.

Worried that I would be calling my birth team to my home in the middle of the night, I did what any sane pregnant woman about to go in labor would do at midnight. I did the dishes so they wouldn’t think I was a slob! While doing the dishes I definitely felt a little bit crampy, but I couldn’t classify anything as a contraction really, since I couldn’t really feel a beginning and an end. I could just feel a little bit of a peak now and then. I decided I really should go try to get some sleep in case I was going to be getting up in a few hours. I laid my head down on the pillow and boy, it felt nice. I was tired so I instantly began to drift.


YEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWW! A contraction came and it did NOT feel good. My body screamed to get up, but I really just wanted to sleep. Knowing that often times when you change a position, the next one is stronger, I kept laying there thinking they would alleviate. YEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOW. Ok, Ok….they’ll settle down.
YEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOW! I literally jumped out of bed because basically every cell in my body told me that that was not ok to be laying like that! I got back up and walked out into the living room.

Nothing.

Well, not nothing, but certainly not much. A light bit of cramping every 5 minutes or so and that was it. I remember feeling silly just walking around, at 1am, with hardly any labor going. But I knew I couldn’t lay down. For some reason, when I laid down they hurt like crazy! So I walked around for a little bit and they slowly became stronger and more defined.
Around 2:30 I woke my husband and asked him if we should start filling the birth pool. With my last birth, once things got cooking, they really sped along. So I was in this weird in between stage, where I wasn’t positive this labor was going to stick, but I couldn’t wait too long or things would get rolling to fast to do the things I wanted. We decided to start filling. At 3am I called my midwife and told her I didn’t know if she should come, I didn’t want her to waste her time….but it might be it, etc, etc. She decided to come.

Meanwhile we ran out of hot water with the tub half filled. By now I was really starting to feel uncomfortable and I was tired (because it was 3:30am!) and really wanted to relax in the water. My mother arrived and we suddenly had a brilliant plan! The next door apartment was unrented at the moment and when no one lived there, the managers always left it unlocked! My mom and my husband took pots and pans and went over and stole their hot water, one pan at a time, and brought it back to my tub! They single handedly filled the rest of my huge birth tub that way. Aren’t they great!?!

My midwife and her assistant showed up around 4am. I told her I did not want to be checked because if I wasn’t very far along I was going to be discouraged. So I spent the next 15 minutes or so leaning against a wall and saying, “Freak Freak Freak Freak Freak Freak Freak Freak” during the entire surge. I don’t know why. It certainly wasn’t planned and not something I did with my other two, but it sure felt good! The rhythm and the noise really helped to relieve any tension I had. I was having a lot of discomfort in my back, so I was really using anything I could to keep myself loose.

My doulas arrived around 4:30 when I was getting into the tub. Boy, that tub felt good. It was pretty hot though, so one of my doulas spent almost the rest of my labor bringing cold washcloths and putting them on my face, my back and my neck. My dear wonderful husband spent the entire time pushing on my aching back to relieve some of the pressure I felt. My other doula sat in front of me with a pillow on her lap, and I leaned over the edge of the tub and laid on her lap while she played with my hair.

Around 5:30, I asked to be checked. I was ready to hear the news. 6cm! Not too bad, I had hoped for more, but wasn’t too disappointed with that. I went back to work at relaxing and moaning through my birthing. My oldest daughter (who was 4 ½ at the time) woke up around this time. She was a little anxious since she woke up early to all of these people in her house and didn’t get the build up of early labor to adjust to. Grandma took her out in the living room and put the Lion King and watched the movie with her. They would come in and peak in the room ever so often.

Around 6:00 I told everyone that I felt complete and could probably start pushing. However, I remembered the pushing as very overwhelming with my second. The urge had been so strong that I hadn’t felt very in control and I was really nervous about starting that again. So I continued to labor for a bit longer (probably 15-20 minutes) until I realized I really wasn’t going to get anywhere just doing that. So I started pushing. I told the midwife something didn’t feel right and she checked my cervix and found a little lip left. During the next surge she simply popped the lip up over the babies head and then things felt much better to push. Shortly after I started pushing, I felt a pop and knew that my water had finally broken. Pushing in the water felt so much better than it had pushing on my back in bed with my second! I could “feel” more, as in I could tell what my body was doing and where the baby was, but it didn’t feel nearly as overwhelming. I could feel my body doing it’s thing, but I didn’t feel like I was on a runaway train like last time. I had the oddest sensation when I felt the baby’s head slip into the birth canal. It didn’t hurt a bit, but I felt so full. I could feel my body stretch and I knew when to back off so I didn’t tear. At one point when I was pushing, I could hear the Lion King in the background. It was playing that scene when Scar is singing all evil like, and I heard him sing, "Powers of Contention!". I remember yelling at someone to turn it off because my baby was NOT going to be born to a song about contention!

I was pushing on my hands and knees and when she was born, and the midwife just somersaulted her between my legs and she floated in front of my. I picked her up and out of the water, held her to my chest and just became overwhelmed with so many emotions. She was finally here! She didn’t breathe at first, but she was pink and healthy looking. She held her head up on her own and looked at me, and at a few other people in the room. Then she laid back on my chest and the midwife tickled her feet and she slowly started to breathe….a little bit at a time with just a little meow here or there. It was so wonderful.
Later, Emilee helped Daddy to cut the cord. Megan came in about an hour later and met her new little sister and we gave the girls their Big Sister gifts becasue it is so special to become a big sister and we knew they would be wonderful big sisters.

It took us two days to name her Melia (Muh – Leah). We had picked out Olivia, Alyssa, and Allison, but none of them seemed right! On day two, Emilee said she thought she looked like a Melia. It fit immediately. Even Daddy agreed (and Daddy does NOT like unique names) so we knew it was meant to be.

My little Melia is such a personality. She has this insane screech/giggle she lets out every time she sees a balloon. And I mean EVERY time. We hear it several times a day. She notices them in the horizon when they are miles away at a car dealership, or in a grocery store 6 aisles over. I hear the screech, and I immediately begin looking for balloons. She has the curliest little hair. She is slow to give people a smile sometimes (you can always see the wheels turning behind those eyes and she’s figuring people out) but when she does, it’s magic. She’s a Daddy’s girl too and if she hears his car after work will run out the door giving him the “balloon” screech!

She’s my little Melia and she’s Two!



Surrounded by my husband and my two doula's support



Pictures of me holding my baby for the first time (as well as the people who held my hands the entire time)



And here she is today, trying to be big like Daddy and eat her dinner while leaning against the kitchen counter.

How cute is that?