Birth Story

Baby #5

     Tuesday November 3rd, our baby is eighteen days past the due date according to my last period, ten days past the ultrasound due date and only a week past the conception due date.
     Tonight Shane took the older two kids an hour early to the church to get some ward clerk things done before working with his Webelos class. Nephi had mutual and EmmaLily had an Activity Day Girls talent show! My mom and I were just going to watch a movie with Elijah and Willow until they came home, when around 5:50pm my first contraction hit. It was soft but deep. I knew it could be starting for real so I began timing them. 10-20 minute intervals. Since they weren't strong or regular I warned Shane but didn't have him rush home.
     Shane and the kids came home around 9:30pm. I was talking to Shane, who was still in his Scout leader uniform, when the first REAL contraction hit. We had a family prayer and sent the kids to bed, promising to wake the girls, who wanted to watch the baby come, when I was close to giving birth.
     My mom and Shane set up the bedroom for our home birth. Dollar Tree shower curtains lined the bed above our nice sheets. I made sure to get the red ones so the gore wouldn't be too noticeable! We laid an old fitted sheet above them and lined the head of the bed with all the pillows. The tub was running with warm water. My mother grabbed the DSLR and began snapping photos of the labor process.
     My contractions were still between 6 and 20 minutes apart and very inconsistent. I called the midwife and let her know it would be tonight, but not to rush over yet because I thought it could take at least a few hours and she was attending to another birth at the center.
     I got into the shower to labor since my contractions were getting more painful. The shower wasn't much help so I climbed into the tub to labor. It felt great in comparison! The constant warmth of the water lifting my belly was great, I laid on my side to make sure most of my body was in the water.
     Now this part may be a little too much information so if you get queasy easily when it comes to bodily fluids, just skim passed it!
    A contraction would hit and I had to go to the toilet. At first it was just gas, then each time I had a contraction it would be worse gas and eventually diarrhea. After about an hour of laboring in the tub and getting in and out to use the toilet, my contractions went from inconsistent to 6 minutes, contraction, 6 minutes, contraction, 2 minutes, contraction, 2 minutes, contraction, "Uh Oh, Shane! Call the midwife NOW!" He called, then helped me out of the tub.
     I sat down on the toilet and felt solid pressure on my cervix instead of in my colon.
     "Woah! THATS NOT POOP!" I exclaimed to Shane, who had been helping me to and from the bathroom. And we rushed to the bed.
     I lay down on my left side, my choice of birthing position, and requested for Shane to begin recording on his phone.
     Shane and my mom attempted to wake the kids, who got up only to fall back to sleep immediately. Oh well, they can watch the video!
     A contraction hit and I knew the familiar feel of a solid being moving with the shape of my body into the birthing canal.
     "The baby's coming!" I exclaimed.
      My mom and Shane tried to get me to open my legs to allow the baby room to pass through. I panicked, snapped my legs shut and told them to wait, that the midwife isn't here and we should wait for her. I briefly saw panic and empathy in Shanes face and I knew he felt the same way I did. Then a sense of impending doom befell me and I knew it was just transition.
     I was able to calm myself enough to realize this was all part of the process and my body knew what to do. I saw that Shane and I were on the same page, he looked around, thinking, as we waited for the next contraction to hit. It was mere seconds away but felt an overwhelming amount of time.
     I felt her body move deeper down into the birthing canal and knew for sure that we were doing this alone. I felt a sense of peace and love overcome me and knew everything was going to be perfectly fine. I was able to muster up the energy to open my legs and allow this child passage into the world.
     Shane, looking peaceful, and beautiful, with a sense of purpose and intent, knelt near my lower body as the third and final contraction hit at 11:52pm. I felt babys head finish coming down and out. The water breaking slowly and leaking very little at a time onto the towels around me, her soft small body sliding gracefully and gently out of my own. Shane only needing to guide her into the world and place her on my body as I cried out of joy at the relief of pressure and the sight of my beautiful baby on my body.
     Her birth was quick but not too fast, and fairly gentle on my body. Everything I had been praying for. This was my easiest birth yet. I am so grateful to have been able to have a home birth in the first place, but to have the baby in my bed with only my loving husband helping to bring her into the world as my mother took beautiful photos of it all was the biggest and best blessing I could have had.
     The midwife and nurse arrived about five minutes later, they were ecstatic that everything went smoothly, declared Shane an "official" midwife, checked the baby, checked me (no tearing at all!!!), helped birth the placenta, did other medical stuff and cleaned up everything <3 p="">

The birth story in photos:

Winter, Spring, Summer of 2015

   Winter

   January was fairly uneventful, my family got back home to California safely, the kids started school again, and I started a few exercise classes to get the winter weight off before trying for another baby.
   I had a TON of fun with the Sister missionaries going on team ups with them for the last few months and I was sad to say goodbye to Sisters in the ward after having them for so long! I am glad we are still in touch, and hopefully we will see them all again soon!
   I took a kickboxing class and a core strengthening class and ended up gaining ten pounds instead of losing any weight, apparently I never had muscle before! At least I know I have a sweet left hook going for me, and I can defend myself out of a literal corner now.
   By early February I began taking pregnancy test after pregnancy test, they were all negative until I left one out for a day and the second line showed up and I freaked out a little bit. It turned out those tests were expired! DUH. So I went and bought a couple of new ones. On February 12th that little screen popped up the word "Pregnant" and the next year of my life was going to be scary and complicated and beautiful all over again. I had something to take up my time while the kids were at school, I had a new precious human that I have been asked by Heavenly Father to care for on this earth. I do not know what gave us the honor to have this little one in our family, but I am excited and scared and happy and nervous all at the same time! You'd think we didn't already have four kids!
   Baby Ryerson due October 24th 2015! A Halloween baby! I always wanted an October baby :-)

Spring

   Unfortunately a few weeks later we heard the bad news that, Shane's dad, Kevin's cancer had taken a turn for the worse. We, last minute, decided to take the kids two week spring break that March to drive out to LA and visit with him. It was the best thing we could have done! We got to tell him about his new grandchild in person. He laughed, he was so happy (I think!) We spent pretty much the whole time with him, ate out at his favorite places, took him to the beach and let the kids talk his ears off. The Ryerson cousins got to hang out a lot, it was beautiful and sad reunion. (Photos on Facebook) That was the last time the kids saw Grandpa Kevin. He passed away with his sons at his side on the morning of May 4th 2015.
   On May 2nd Nephi was having a little birthday get together with a few friends and Skyped with his Majdali grandparents to open gifts when Shane got the call that his father was doing worse. He got his plane ticket that day and I had to leave Nephi and his friends with the parents of one of the kids at the party to take Shane to the airport that evening. I was having a hard time emotionally, being pregnant and not being able to be there for my husband during this hard time in his life. I called my own dad and told him how much I loved him. It was a hard time for all of us. I was very grateful for the strong spirit I felt over those few days while Shane was still out of town and after Kevin's passing. I really felt the prayers of those family and friends who knew what was happening, I didn't know how it would feel or if the prayers would even work. But they did, they were calming and peaceful and I literally felt Heaven here on earth that next morning and knew everything was going to be okay. I was able to have the spirit with me as I told the kids that their Grandpa was now living in Heaven, it was a beautiful conversation about death and the importance of Temple work and being a family in eternity. Thank you to those of you who prayed for us!
   There were many family and friends we were praying for also, including my sweet Aunt Laurie who was dealing with ovarian cancer for the last couple of years. She had been doing really great for a while, but had also taken a turn for the worse. We lost her about a month later on June 15th. I was so glad I was able to have a conversation on the phone with her not too long before her condition had worsened, but I wish I could have been there, again I wasn't there. I hate living so far away. I wanted to come out for her funeral, but they scheduled it for the week I was to be at girls camp, knowing my devoted aunt, I was pretty sure she would want me to fulfill my calling instead of blowing it off at the last minute, so I decided to stay home and prayed for her beautiful daughters to have peace and love at this difficult time.

Summer

   The spring ended pretty rough, emotionally, but the kids were back in swim team and having a great time with that. The girls enjoyed being in girl scouts and the boys in boy scouts, it kept us busy, which is good. We went on a super fun float trip at the Current River with some friends from the ward! The Current River is a spring fed river that is super cold and beautiful! We got to see the springs and float down together in a raft, sometimes switching off with a borrowed kayak. We all loved the kayak so I'm thinking next time we will borrow a few of them so maybe half of us will go in the kayaks! It was really nice to have a real family trip this year, even though it was kind of stressful and only lasted two days. We will definitely be going back there! Come with us!
   My sister gave birth in early June to our very first nephew Jack Phoenix Coffin! We were super lucky to see them when they visited at the end of September on their way to Connors new job in New Hampshire!! They will probably have some great adventures there, excited to hear about it!
   This year I was super sad to put my kids back in school, I've never been this reluctant to do that! I wish I had the energy to homeschool them alone, but I just cant do it without Shane there at least half the time. Let alone with a baby coming soon. I need my rest if I am going to be able to handle this!
   This summer we lost about ten to fifteen families from our ward, either moving somewhere else close by or completely out of the state! A few of them were very close friends and we were sad to see them go, but hopeful of being reunited again one day for a visit! We did get a handful of new families, who I am looking forward to getting to know better :-)
   Girls camp was super fun, but I had a sinking feeling that I wouldn't be going again next year the whole time. That feeling was confirmed when they released me a month later from both my ward YW callings (assistant camp director and assistant basketball coach) to put me in Primary. I'm the co teacher for the class Elijah will be in next year, so that's pretty cool! But, alas, my sweet young women weren't very happy about it :-(  and honestly neither was I, but I have a feeling that it wont be my last YW calling in this ward ;-). Speaking of callings, Shane was called to be Webelos den leader last year, and he still is! Nephi was called as the first counselor for the Deacons and is learning a lot about church responsibilities. I'm super proud of that kid!
   The pool closing thing is still so weird to me, pools don't close in southern California! We don't switch our wardrobes out for winter stuff! The weather doesn't drop 50 degrees overnight! BUT we also don't have apple picking and corn fields and real pumpkin farms around every corner. And the leaves don't change until January (if ever) Looking forward to sharing more about Fall here and our new baby coming the end of October!


Ive said it a few times already, but I didn't post photos because they are all on Facebook in albums or Instagrams. So check them out there! I will be posting photos with my new updates, however. Stay tuned for slightly more consistent posts about our adventures in the Midwest!