Ingrid Rose

Our little lady is here! (OK, she's been here for over a month, but per usual, I am tardy in posting.)  She arrived on March 16th (1 week early) at 10:40 AM and weighed in at 7 lbs 5.5 oz and 19 inches long!

As I did with Henry, I want to share her birth story to document the day, since I know the details will leave me at some point!
On the evening of the 15th, a Friday, Jerry got home from work to hang with us before he had to take off for a birthday celebration for a coworker/friend of his. It was a beautiful day--one of our first of the spring after a very snowy February and early March! Henry and I had taken advantage of the day earlier with a good walk and lots of time playing outdoors.  Almost right when Jerry got home, I felt my first uncomfortable contraction of the entire pregnancy.  I had had more Braxton Hicks this time around than my first pregnancy, but as with the first, none of them were uncomfortable until labor arrived.  This immediately made me anxious, since I think my subconscious knew 'this was it', but my brain worked hard to convince me that we were still at least a week away from a baby (apparently denial is alive and well even on the 2nd go round of pregnancy).  You see, my midwife and I had a beautiful plan that went something like, the following Friday I would come in and she would strip my membranes in the afternoon since she was on call that weekend, and I would deliver a beautiful baby girl into her arms some time that evening or the next morning. Doesn't that sound amazing?? Yeah, I agree.  But apparently this child, like my first, is showing me CHILDREN ARE UNABLE TO BE CONTROLLED. CRAZINESS, right??
Where was I? Yes, so I had my first uncomfortable contraction, but like any smart woman in labor would do, I sent my husband away to a delicious Hibachi steakhouse and far away from me.  I kid you not, the moment he walked out the door, I put Henry down for the night, had another 'uncomfortable' contraction, and went into superwoman mode.  I packed the go bag (of course I hadn't already done that-she wasn't coming for another week!), dusted, cleaned, scrubbed the tub, finished sewing some burp cloths, and continued to pay attention to those ever present nagging contractions.  By the time Jerry was leaving dinner, he got a text that read something like 'Grab me a Clif bar and Naked Juice at the gas station, and grab the birth ball from Chris and Amanda's'. You've gotta love marriage, because after that text, Jerry immediately texted back, 'You're in labor, aren't you?'.  The man knows me well.  I believe I texted back something like....'Maybe. I just want to be prepared.'  Ha! My subconscious was laughing in my face.  Jer grabbed the stuff, and by the time he got home I had downloaded the trusty contraction timer app on my phone and we were hangin in the 'every 5 minutes lasting 30 seconds' category.  We decided this was it.  We made our calls and arrangements for Henry, and Jerry immediately cracked a Diet Coke.  Go time.  At this point it was about 9:30-10 at night.  We knew we were in for a long one, so we didn't rush, but just talked through some of our Bradley Birth stuff, got the birth ball set up, and looked at each other with the excited/nervous look couples give each other when they know life is about to change for the better.
We spent the next several hours alternating between walking, resting in bed, relaxing in the tub (just me, thanks), and chatting about how surreal this all was.  I have to admit, the labor/birth I was prepared for this time around was supposed to be fast and furious.  Henry came in about 10 hours start to finish, so I thought certainly this one would come racing out, barely giving us time to get to the hospital.  I was wrong.  Sweet girl took her time.  Our friends arrived to stay with Henry, we called the midwife (my midwife wasn't on call that weekend, so there was some mental adjusting going on for me there) who said she assumed she'd be seeing me shortly given my last labor, and then we just waited.  My contractions stayed 5 to even 6 minutes apart and lasted anywhere from 30 seconds to 1 minute for the next several hours. Jerry ended up actually falling asleep for a good portion of it (and I'm glad he did), and I just asked God for patience, as I could tell the labor I was prepared for was not the labor I was having.  Around 3:30, I woke Jer up and we decided to walk around the neighborhood because I was finally beginning to feel uncomfortable with contractions.  After a quick walk and some nibbles of a Clif bar, we decided we were off to the hospital.  We got there around 4:30 and when they checked me I was 5 cm-woohoo! That was my goal!  They checked me in to L&D quickly and we were doing this for real!  We also called our birth photographer Amy (who was amazing throughout!) so she could capture the process!  God bless her for waking up at 5 on a Saturday!  We met the midwife, Sara, who I immediately liked, and her midwifery student (whose name I cannot remember--terrible!).  I was so at ease once I knew I would be comfortable with them.  They were sweet and brought me towels and just sat with me during times of my labor....which, to me, is why a girl picks a midwife over an OB any day of the week! A healthcare provider serving her patient? Craziness!  Anyways, I won't bore you with the details of the next several hours, since they consisted of a cycle of walking, birth ball, tub, and being monitored (20 minutes out of every hr) in the bed.  Somewhere in there I was checked and was a 7, which sort of comforted me, but also made me wish I was progressing quicker.  The contractions truly never got closer together than about every 3-5 minutes.  They did get increasingly uncomfortable, but I remain surprised at how much time I had in between each contraction. Since it was nearing sunrise, I know it was enough time to fall asleep in between some contractions!:)

Let's take a minute to talk about my husband.  #1.  He loves his sleep.  I have had 2 children. Both have included laboring all night, which means he's laboring all night with me.  #2.  He is my 1 and only birth coach, so there is no second string to fall back on.  I needed him, and he knew it.  #3.  We hadn't prepared for this birth like we did our first, so we both knew it could be shaky this time around.  But y'all, he was amazing.  He was pushy with the hospital staff when he needed to be, he was confident when I was unsure, he was awake all night, he spoke softly to me, played music for me, and squeezed my hips together during contractions until his arms were shot. I'd put us up against any husband/wife labor team and be confident we would waste them with all our one-ness and unity!!:)  One of the best takeaways I have from this labor is that I picked a pretty great guy.  When the chips are down, he's my man.
Back to Miss Lady.  Around 10 AM is when I asked the midwife to check me again.  At this point I was pretty mentally shot.  I know I sound like a huge wuss for saying so, since it had been just about 12 hrs of labor, but I really thought I would have a baby in my arms at this point.  I was 9 cm and completely thinned out.  I asked her to break my water to jump start some serious labor business, and she kindly obliged.  The next stage of labor was what scared me.  With Henry I had never truly felt the urge to push, and ended up with bloodshot eyes that would make a crack addict sob. I talked with Sara and..... let's call her Africa (she was in the Peace Corps and spent time there...as she told me when I begged her to distract me during some nasty contractions) that pushing was my nemesis and I would need lots of tips and encouragement.  They really were great in helping me choose positions and take my time to really feel the urge to push before even mentioning the idea.  Only about 20-30 minutes after breaking my water, I was really feeling like I needed to push and so I ended up deciding to try and do that facing backwards on the bed while on my knees--totally crazy because I thought that idea would mortify me!  It ended up being genius, because 2 pushes later, Ingrid Rose Smith joined the world.  I think I said something like 'I can't believe we did it, sweet girl!', because I honestly didn't believe she would ever come at a couple points during labor!  The first thing I noticed was that she had (and still has) the most adorable pucker right before she cries.  She looks a little like her brother, but has her own little quirks and features that are completely her own.
We were left for at least an hour or more to just bond with our sweet girl, nurse, and rest our weary heads in the room before they checked her over and moved us up to postpartum, where we relaxed and waited for family to arrive.  My parents and brother and his fiance came all the way down to meet Ingrid on her first day of life!  Jerry's mom had driven down at the crack of dawn to take over with Henry when our friends left, and she brought him to the hospital that afternoon to meet his baby sister!  He immediately gave us the stink eye and kept his distance, but quickly warmed up to Ingrid (with the help of some chocolate pudding) and was sad to leave her later that evening.

Though I could go on and on, I'll just say this.  Another great pregnancy and healthy delivery just flat out makes me grateful for God's willingness to bless Jerry and I with children.  I truly am grateful that He has allowed for this process to be somewhat seamless for us when I know that is not the case for so many.  We definitely have our eyes wide open with our second child, and know that parenting is a challenge and not always rosy, but that it's so worth it because of how it teaches us to look past ourselves and invest in the tiny humans who we would give anything for.
Ingrid is sweet and spicy and a great sleeper.  She is loved by her mama, daddy and super affectionate big brother.  She is a daughter of Jesus and I pray she will know and love Him one day and give her life to Him.  Praises be!