41 weeks pregnant with #4 and I NEVER thought I would go that long in a pregnancy. Especially my 4th. All my other babies came early or at their due date. But Arlo had other plans. At 41 wks 2 days I was soooo mentally done. Physically I felt fine. But I was tired of having to keep up with the daily things while being so ginormously pregnant. And keeping up with almost 17 month Isaac was just about impossible. Every day was an eternity. Every time Scott would have to go back to work the next day made me sad.
On Wednesday morning, I woke up to mild contractions. They didn’t hurt and weren’t consistent. But they never went away. I went to the chiropractor and then we hung around the house. Isaac and I took a long nap that afternoon. When Scott got home from work, I had him take everyone to church so I could just chill and rest. I was still having those early labor contractions, but nothing significant. I knew baby would likely be born by morning though. We went to bed fairly late. I just could NOT fall asleep. Then around midnight, I felt my first strong contraction. I had a few more like that and decided I should alert Cathy (midwife) and Brittany (photographer). Cathy had me time ctrx for an hr. They were 5 minutes apart. Some strong, some mild. After that, I tried to sleep. I got some rest, but not really any sleep. This whole time I was letting Scott sleep because I knew I would be waking him soon enough. I had everyone head on over. Cathy lived 2.5 hrs away, and I wanted to make sure she had enough time to get here. Brittany came in and rested on the couch while I was still trying to rest in bed.
Around 3am contractions were getting more painful. I decided to wake Scott so we could get the space ready for when baby was born. It took him a while to come around. He was groggy and got up to make coffee. I had him make me some eggs and put the plastic over the bed. I sat on the birth ball for a little bit chatting with Brittany. I called mom around 3:30a and had her and dad come over so they could be with the kids. I was mostly worried that Isaac would wake up and that Scott would have to be away from me to care for him. But thankfully, he slept through everything.
Laboring on the birth ball felt ok, but not perfect. I was chatting and a bit too distracted. I said to B that I felt a little silly because I was still chatting and didn’t act like I was in active labor yet. Even though I knew I was. Cathy got there and checked our vitals. I decided to get back into the zone.
So I laid on my side on the bed and labored that way until just before baby was born. I felt like he was lying all on my left side. So I laid on my right to hopefully get him to shift down. As each contraction would come, I would get a little stab of nervousness before diving into the flow. I needed Scott to rub my back.
I have never felt like I needed him there as much as I did this time around. I could only focus on his hands as he massaged my back through the pain. I was taking very deep breaths. One thing I remembered from Isaac’s birth was cathy saying that I needed to take longer breaths. To breath in longer and take a longer time letting it out. When I did that during Isaac’s birth, I instantly felt the difference in the power of my crtx. So I made a point to really focus all of my energy on breathing deep and long this time. It worked really well because before I knew it, I was pushing slightly through the crtx. I got up and went pee.
I told Scott to alert everyone and to get the girls up b/c babe was coming soon. This was maybe 30-45 minutes after Cathy had arrived. I got back on the bed on my hands and knees. I know my body, and knew that this would be the most effective labor position for me. But I was scared. Scared of the pain that I remembered so vividly from Isaac’s birth.
Getting on my hands and knees felt like I was finally giving in to my instinct and my body, fining into this birth. But that first cntx that came after was rough. I instantly let the fear take hold and I lost my control. I verbalized this, and was met with so much encouragement.
Scott was my anchor. He kept reminding me that I was in control and that I could do this. It hurt so bad, but I was able to muddle my way through as baby started to descend. I’m not sure how long this phase of labor was. Baby was descending, and I was pushing randomly. I needed to know my progress to help with the fear so I reached up inside to see if I could feel his head. I had to go all the way in with my fingers, but then I felt the hard surface of his head. I could feel hair and also his scrunchy scalp. I knew he would be in my arms soon enough. This is always the worse part for me through each of my home births. It just hurts so dang much. And it’s so different than how the contractions feel just minutes prior. It’s like my body is literally being ripped in half.
So working through that was tough! I was rocking my hips back and forth and essentially freaking out lol. I kept saying that I needed a break. Which I thankfully got for a tiny moment. One thing that is vivid for me during this time was my face to the bed on my knees with my hand underneath my bottom. I was flapping my hand all around trying to escape the pain. And Cathy just grabbed my hand and steadied me. It pulled me back from my spiral and I was able to move forward again. I pushed a few more times screaming through each push. I reached in to feel again and he was way closer. I rocked and rocked my hips. That was one of the things that felt super natural to do. I was doing it really fast though. Another contraction, more pushing, and more screaming and he was finally almost out. I reached down to feel again and guided his head out while pushing/screaming. But his body did not follow quickly behind his head like my other babies did. I instantly thought he was stuck. I still had my hands on his head. Cathy checked for a cord around his neck, and then said with a slight chuckle “oh I know what’s holding him up”. I wasn’t having a ctx, but I was worried that it had been too long since his head was born (it was only a minute between head and body, but it felt like forever). So I pushed with all my might and birthed his body into my arms. Later, Cathy told me he had a nuchal hand. It was over!! Finally.
I just held him and looked at him as he looked up at me. I then called the girls in from the living room so they could meet their new brother. My dad took a video of this part and it is neat to look back on those first moments of the girls seeing everything. Arlo had a fair amount of blood covering him, and neither of the girls were very impressed. Right after he was born, I felt faint and needed some water and to sit. But recovered quickly. Arlo had some fluid we needed to work out, so I turned him upside down to help with that. After delivering the placenta and resting for a bit, I got up to take a shower.
Arlo was passed around between mom, dad, and the girls.
Finally around 7:15a, we decided to wake Isaac to get photos of him meeting his new baby brother. The photos we got are hilarious. He doesn’t look like he knows what to think of brother, but really he was still trying to wake up. A little while later and he was obsessed with “baby”. Arlo Michael Lewis was born at home and caught by his mama at 5:19am. He weighed 10lbs 4oz and was 23 inches long.
Cathy telling me that I just pushed out a 10lb 4 oz baby! I was in shock!
Before Cathy weighed him, we were taking guesses on how much we thought he was. I knew he was bigger than my other babies. I thought he could possibly be 9lbs, but I guessed 8lbs 10oz. When C said 10lbs I was floored! I truly didn’t believe her. I thought the scale was broken!! My other kids were 4.15, 7.8, and 7.4. I don’t make big babies 🤣🤣 I just could not believe that I had just pushed out a 10lb baby. It was unbelievable. But there he was. We had finally done it!
Our postpartum has been slow, chaotic, overwhelming, but good. We’ve been able to take things really slow and just adjust to being a family of 6. My recovery has taken longer than I remember. Which makes things difficult mentally and physically. But I’m allowing myself time to just rest and soak up this last newborn stage. Breastfeeding is going really great! I started supplementing with the SNS at two days old. We have the blessing of breastmilk for donor mamas. He latched on really well and hasn’t had any trouble. I only had mild pain which went away quickly. Arlo sleeps well at night and just latches on for a quick refresh every couple of hours and falls back to sleep. We are slowly settling in to life as a family of 6.
Below is our birth video. There is blood, which is a natural part of birth. But please proceed with caution.
Arlo's birth story. Film by Micah Lynn Birth Stories
all photos and video by Brittany Fisher from Micah Lynn Birth Stories