Jodi’s Birth Story
I know y’all have been waiting so here I am going through great lengths and straining my keyboard fingers in an effort to bring you the latest and greatest stories and details of all that happens here in the Bettendorf household, including the nitty gritty gruesome accounts of the latest birth. I am warning you though. This may be the most boring birth story you’ve ever heard. I’ll try to liven it up a bit when I can. WOO HOO!! Let’s go!
Monday Saturday January 5, 2008 evening:
I am itching and up until 4am just hanging out. I can’t seem to go to sleep so I troll around the house scratching the palms of my hands and cursing the pills that Jeff bought. I make a resolution to drink more of the nasty tea after Jeff runs to Mama Jean’s the next day.
Sunday January 6, 2008 morning:
A normal day. Everyone is up and eating breakfast. I ask Jeff to run to Springfield and he balks. I am not too happy so around noon I decide to take a nap. After all I was up until 4am, I have reason to be tired. I sleep for two hours and am awakened by some contractions that are annoying but not so painful. I join the fam in the living room and catch up with computer stuff while timing contractions. It seems these contractions are coming oh, about every three minutes, but they are not painful so I time them for about 30 minutes. By now I am starting to wonder. I mean, they are not painful but they sure do feel active. I start preparing and tell Jeff to run to Wal-Mart for some last minute items. Jeff proceeds to start taking pictures.
Junie putting shoes on to run to WalMart.
A random Playmobil scene.
Five minutes later I whisper to Jeff “Either you go now or you may not be going at all.â€Â He leaves.
I call the midwife at 2:45pm and say
“Hey, whatcha doin tonight?â€
“Ummm…nothing.â€
“How would you like to attend a birth this evening?â€
“Oh. Really?â€
“Yep.â€
“I had no idea.â€
“Nope. You were just here Friday. We had no clue, huh?â€
“Do you want me to come right now?â€
“No, I think I’m fine. I just wanted to give you a heads up. The contractions don’t hurt. I think we have some time.â€
“Well, let me know if I need to come. If I don’t hear from you I’ll call you back at 4:30.â€
At this point I see a bright light and right there in my livingroom lands a small saucer shaped flying object. Out jump 12 little men who approach Jenna and declare “Take me to your leader.†Jenna tentatively points toward me and the 12 little men jump on my head proceeding to kidnap me. I am taken to what appears to be utopia where the little men feed me bon-bons and scratch my feet while inserting probes into my cranium. I am gone what seems like seconds but by earth time I was gone for 2.5 days and missed the whole birth experience only to be returned after they had harvested my brain matter for their human intelligence studies (Bwa, sorry to make you all look bad!!). I arrived home to a squeaky clean newborn baby and a fully rested post partum body. Aaaahhhh. Ok, not really. Back to reality.
I spend the next 30 minutes throwing the sheets in the washer as the directions are “Wash sheets, blankets and towels in hot water TWICE and then dry on the highest setting. Place all linens in plastic bags and label.†Uh-huh, right. I know we’ll be lucky to get one load done ONCE.
3:15pm I call the midwife. “It is time for you to come.â€
3:20 I’m in the tub.
3:30 Jeff arrives home and I ask for Jenna to come into the bathroom.
Jeff arranges things talking to me intermittently.
“Shall I put my swim suit on too?†:::Does a jig:::
I jump out of the tub, who cares about gut-wrenching contractions? I run to Jeff and clock him right in the jaw. Doesn’t he know this is a serious matter? Ok, nevermind again. I didn’t hit my loving husband. Back to reality and a much more boring story once again.
I ignore this comment. He’s not funny and his dancing does nothing to lighten my mood.
“Where are the sheets?â€
“In the dryer.â€
:::Checks dryer::: “They aren’t dry. How am I supposed to make the bed if the sheets aren’t dry?â€
“You aren’t.â€
“But I have to make the bed.â€
“Put the sheets back in the dryer. Where’s Brenda???â€
“I dunno. The sheets aren’t dry yet. I can’t make the bed.â€
“Relax about the sheets. If they aren’t dry they aren’t dry. We will have a minute between when the baby is born and when I need to get on the bed.â€
Jenna times contractions for me several times until I realize that knowing how long they are is doing nothing but annoy me. Who cares if they are 45 seconds or 2 minutes long. I’m all about the action. Are things moving along?
Around 4pm…I was not watching the clock for reasons you might derive on your own. I’m sick of waiting so I check myself because I’m a take charge kinda gal like that. Jodi’s head is a mere 1.5 inches from exiting my body. Yowzers!
Around 4:10pm I have a strong push…I had been trying not to push but some extra earthly urge took over my body and there I was pushing anyway. Perhaps the aliens return? The bag of water breaks and out gushes some mucky brown stuff. I think to myself “How’d that happen? She’s not overdue.â€
I call out to Jeff “Help! Help! Help!â€
He rushes in and says “What do you want me to do?†As if I know.
“The next push will be the head I think.â€
Jeff gets in catching position and sure enough out with the head.
“The next push will be the body. Do me a favor and pull a bit. When she comes out pick her up out of the water.â€
“Out of the water?â€
“Out of the water.â€
This is the best we’ve communicated in a long time. All clear? 10-4.
And at 4:14 (Jenna checked the clock) Jodi entered the world into her daddy’s loving hands and was immediately placed in her mommy’s arms. She was sluggish to breath. Who wouldn’t be after all that work and now being all comfy? The cord was not pulsing so I was a bit worried and I began to rub her back to get her to breath. Jeff retrieved the bulb syringe and sucked the muck out of her mouth making her cry. But it was intermittent and as soon as we stopped bugging she lay back, look around and refused to breath.
Finally I said “Let’s cut this cord. It’s not doing anything for her and you need to rub her down.†Jeff, being the pro he is, clamped the cord and offered Jenna could cut the cord. Her look of terror and shaking head was enough for us to know she was not at all interested in the hands-on approach. She is so much like her mother. Jeff cleaned Jodi up and she took to breathing like a champ, pinking up and looking cute as can be.
At 4:30 the midwife waltzes in and is welcomed by the site of Jeff holding a very cute Jodi. She joins me in the bathroom and says
“You didn’t call me.â€
“Would it have made you drive faster?â€
“I was already going 90.â€
“There was no need to call, huh?â€
From there the nurse arrived and all the midwife/nursing stuff took place. I did get woozy for awhile, but Brenda was there to take care of me and that is why I will always have some sort of birth assistant at my births. There is nothing better than woman to woman care for child birth. That is the way God designed it and it works beautifully.
Brenda, Jodi and Anita
Later that night the kids were introduced to Jodi. Jillian said “Jodi is so cute I could spend time with her all day.â€
Brenda forgot her scale so Jodi was not weighed until last night. 7lbs, 6oz.
Sorry it was a bit anti-climatic. I tried to include all the minutia, but there really wasn’t much to say.
Related posts:
YAY! I love those birth stories…sure beats the “nurse checked me…after 5 hours I was a 5 cm…going to up the pitocin…UGH the epidural didn’t take…etc” stories. Nothing AGAINST those stories when they end in a sweet nugget of child…but I like the…”whoops, fell out on the floor stories” myself.
So…brown stuff??? Meconium??? Something else you’d rather not talk about??? I take it Miss Jodi had the decency to NOT breath whatever it was, intelligent girl.
The bit about the space men…umm…I think perhaps you ARE NOT a science fiction writer and had best remove THAT dream from your list.
Praying still…Love, Stack
It may not seem real interesting to some, but for someone who has to have all c-sections, this birth story would be a dream come true: birthing at home, in a pool, Daddy delivering, baby and mama healthy! Awesome!! I’m coveting (I’ll go confess and repent after I post this)!! Congrats on a wonderful and safe delivery of a beautiful baby girl. I also love her name.
blessings galore!
What a great birth! Nearly painless till the very end, a healthy baby born into her Daddy’s hands, a surprised midwife…WOW! Thanks for sharing all the not-so-gory details! Our God is an awesome God!
Blessings
Momma
Oh that’s incredible and wonderful and joyous! Our Isaac beat the midwife too ;-)
I love your story and I think it’s very exciting! -woohoo-!
She looks bigger than 7 pounds to me. I thought she was at least eight and a half pounds!!
She’s beautiful! You are beautiful!! Jeff is … well… beautiful in a manly kinda way ;-)
Love this line: “This is the best we’ve communicated in a long time. All clear? 10-4.” I’m cracking up. I am very concerned about the message you are sending children – that childbirth is a dream and one day you wake up to a beautiful baby by your side. LOL You know I’m kidding. I’m thrilled for you that it was so wonderful. She is so precious that I have to keep looking at her!
I started to get into the space man story…
Thank you for sharing your beautiful birth story! You made it sound so easy..then I began cramping as I thought of my last alien emerging from my body from 0-12 minutes.
I love the picture of your midwifes too..as a former midwife, it is nice to be sparkle clean for pics. HAHA
Congratulations to you all! Blessings, laura
You did good, mama!
When I was in labor with my last (number 6) the midwife was called, she came, looked things over, called the birth assistant and said, “It’s early. It will be awhile.”
About 10 minutes later we had a little boy! The birth assistant arrived later in time for the clean-up. Hehe
How did Sunday happen to follow Monday?
Too funny. You know, I saw that at one point and meant to fix it. How did I forget? LOL Editing, editing.
My Word… aliens?? Really??
Oh – how nice… a lovely anti-climatic home birth! Those are the best kind to have. °Ü°
THANKS for sharing… I love to read birth stories.
You are amazing!
thanks for sharing – no birth is boring!
How special that her daddy got to catch her.
Awesome! I would love a birth like that!
Wow, that’s the way to do it! I thought she’d weigh more too, she’s such a cutie! Wanna pinch those cheeks! :)
Congratulations!
Katie, may seem anti climatic to you of a story but it was quite beautiful to me! Thank you for sharing! It doesn’t surprise me that you and Jodi went on with things before the midwife. ;-)
Btw, may I request (or politely pester) for a pic of Jillie and Jodi together?
Congrats again!
Love, Jennifer
Being someone who has difficult pregnancies, the second of which resulted in a section, this birth story sounds absolutely exciting and pretty close to ideal! Thank you so very much for sharing. I know she has brought so much joy already. :)
How wonderful!!
Blessings!
Ok, now that I’ve gotten over my typo-editting self, I read your wonderful story. I like how you make a 30 min. labor into a long story. She is absolutely beautiful. You are so blessed!
Ginger, It was 2 HOURS!! Can’t I at least get credit for 2 hours? Ore doo I neede too start missppelling things to get yoo to acquiesce? Two hours?
Awesome! Totally awesome! Good job Mom, Dad and Jenna! Lovely story…no birth is boring…babies are so precious, enjoy her! Katie…I sure hope that the itching has mitigated somewhat and that you get some much needed sleep. I’m a bit concerned about your lapses into the science fiction genre. lol I’ll be reading your posts for more exciting adventures of your family.
Delivering at home without a midwife or any medical assistance? I think that is quite exciting enough!!! What a great birth/delivery!! I’m glad it all went so well. Great job Mom!! Great catching job Dad!!
Ok fine, if you must be technical about it, 2 hours. Although I could have a real hayday with all those misspellings. My third homebirth, first waterbirth was 6 hours – I was THRILLED with that short labor. Anything less might as well be half an hour.
Lydia (3rd born) was also sluggish to breathe, due to the cord being wrapped around her waist, but I was in blissful baby land and totally unaware. The midwife took care of it, while I just smiled dumbly. I had my beautiful baby in my arms, did I need to think about anything else???
So impressed that you had your wits about you!
What a great story! Thank you for sharing…sounds wonderful!
Check this out-
http://youtube.com/watch?v=xaD8xat6VDw
What a beautiful little girl! Congratulations!
Congratulations Katie! I’m very happy for you and your family. Jodi is precious. Go Jeff, my hubby woulda passed out, lol.
Congratulations Katie!!!!!
Only you could make having a baby sound like it was something you just happened to do that day. Let’s see….Took a nap, called a few friends, threw in a load of laundry, then took a bath while hubby makes up a frsh bed with clean , warm sheets, oh yeah, had a baby while in the bath, them laoid back down with the most dorgeous baby girl. Right? LOL I guess labor was doing the load of clothes. LOL
You are too cute. Wishing you wonderful times with your your new blessing to an alreay great family. Leena
The fact that it was so uneventful IS what makes it exciting to me!
At the risk of sounding condescending, I am SO proud of you, Katie!
Good job, Mom! You do good work.
Katie, I’m so happy for you, it sounds wonderful. I am thinking I will be delivering my own baby in two more months. My last two labors have been thirty minutes start to finish, and now the midwife lives 45 minutes away. My husband also works 45 minutes away, so he may not be there either!
I am wondering where the other children were during all of this. You said Jenna was nearby, but were the others looking over Jeff’s shoulder or off playing somewhere completely unaware? This is the only thing I am a bit worried about when thinking about delivering my own baby, what am I going to do with my boys? They are 5, 3, and 1. The older two hate seeing me in pain, if I groan they are right there asking what’s wrong and how they can help, so I don’t think they will just go play while I take care of business.
Thanks so much for sharing your story, I thought it was very exciting, with or without martians.
Ashley
Wow, you may think unexciting birth story….but I was hyperventilating just thinking about being in a tub at home with no midwife yet and a sluggishly breathing baby and “brown stuff”!! ‘whew’ I’m with Jenna! (’look of terror and shaking head’)
Congratulations to Team Bettendorf! Jodi is adorable. Is it me, or does she already look like Jeff? I can’t believe only 7lbs. I was sure she was 9 at least.
congrats katie! she’s BEAUTIFUL!!!
Oh, how wonderful things went so well! You are too funny. I loved the alien bit.
Tarah, 9 lbs!? Seriously?? Katie can’t fit a 9 lb. baby in her skinny minnie body! HA! You’re funny!
I love birth stories. Sounds like the perfect homebirth story. Sorry the midwife missed the birth. ;) Can’t wait to see her…
Congratulations Team Bettendorf on another member! God is good!
Katie! Congratulations! What a great birth story! Sounds like all went very smoothly. Boring peaceful birth stories are the BEST. :-) I love the paragraph from space.
Enjoy your new snuggle pie…
Daisey (Kirstin)
Oh Katie… what I would give to have a birth story like that!!!
All mine have been c-section babies :(
Praise the Lord for such a wonderful birth!
Love,
Chas
Geez, where do I sign up for THAT story? Love it, makes me want to get prego so I can try to emulate that.
Love the space man dream….haven’t we all had that dream during labor? Well, I know I have, so maybe just the really, really smart ones among us? :-)
Enjoy!
That was a wonderful and exciting birth story, even without the aliens and bathroom boxing! Congratulations!
This was the first post I’d read since Jodi was born, so when she wasn’t breathing, I wasn’t exactly sure how the story would end. :( Had me on my toes!! :) And I’m so thankful she is pink and healthy. Way to go!
Congratulations Katie!
Have you all seen this?
A documentary is being released in January called “The Business of Being Born.” It’s produced by Ricki Lake and directed by Abby Epstein
http://www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com/index.htm
Great story telling! I enjoyed your birth story!! Lovely baby and that pic with the midwives is gorgeous!
Wow! What an amazing birth story. You say boring, but it’s not. I love to hear about quick, easy, and uncomplicated births. they are the best!!!
Enjoy sweet Jodi, as you know they grow so quickly.
Congratulations!!!
Bree-Anne
Sounds wonderful!
What a blessing, I’m so glad you had such a good experience.
She’s just beautiful- but you knew that…
Enjoy them all,
ali
Now THAT is one SERIOUSLY gorgeous baby!
Congratulations!
(We once had a do-it-yourself water birth, and it was one of the great highlights of our life!)
Okay, now I should get a prize for sharing a birthday with such a sweet child! Congrats and well done! Esp to all the family members for chipping in and to you, Katie, of course for being so brave! What fun! Being exactly 31 years older than Jodi, I’m unlikely to forget her bday!!!! :)
LOVELY! Happy belated congratulations. Absolutely LOVELY!
This was fun to read! I can picture the whole thing! good job Jeff! Wish I could of been there!