Rylie Esther Versey was born Saturday, August 30, 2014 (4 days early) at 4:32 a.m. weighing 8 lbs. 2 oz. and 20 in. long. Everything was perfect and beautiful. I had chosen to have a home water birth this time honestly just because I wanted to experience being in the comfort of my own home. I also have always felt like having a baby is this eternal heavenly event and it never seems right to have the rest of your children somewhere else while you are welcoming a new member of your family. Every time I'm in the hospital I want my children right there with me. Then, when they do come it's overwhelming because hospitals are not exactly children friendly. I wanted to try a water birth because I have heard they are nice and it truly was awesome...didn't take the pain away, but definitely made it more comfortable. The midwife came to my house for every check up which was also extremely nice because I didn't have to find a sitter for my kids. She never had to check me and I felt like it was all about me, how I wanted things, and how I was most comfortable.
Friday afternoon about 3:30 I took castor oil nothing really happened. We ate dinner about 6 and put the kids to bed at 8. About 8:30/9pm I started to have contractions. Definitely should have taken it earlier that day because I labored all night. I wasn't sure how to time the contractions because I was having contractions with mini contractions in between. Finally about 1:30am I had Josh call the midwife. While we were waiting I asked Josh to start filling the birthing tub in the laundry room. It took longer than I would have liked because he was having difficulty getting hot water. So when the midwife got there they started boiling pots and putting the hot water in the tub. The midwife got here about 2am came in quietly with her assistant, got set up, then helped Josh. About 4am I got in the tub and it really helped to be able to float and move around so easily. I just kind of rested on my side with my head resting on the side of the inflated tub. It was a cool sensation to feel my water break with a contraction on its own. I was so tired when it felt like it was time to push, I didn't want to but of course wanted to get it over with so I pushed through about 3 contractions and her head popped out, I was exhausted and didn't want to push anymore. I asked Josh if he could just pull her out but with the next contraction pushing he body out was a lot easier than her head. It is the best feeling in the world after delivering a baby. Your body is so fatigued but it's like I can finally relax better than I have for the past several months. I sat in the tub for a while while they checked vitals. She came out breathing but then started to have difficulty so the midwife had to use the am bu bag to give her oxygen to get her to start breathing again. After about 3 tries she was good. I never felt panicked. The whole time I was calm (even throughout the pregnancy) and knew that everything would work out the way it was supposed to. Josh was able to pull her out of the water and put her in my arms. She was covered in vernex but it quickly soaked in. I later learned from the midwife that the nurses in the hospital are always eager to bath babies quickly after they're born because until they do they are still "contaminated" and have to wear gloves when they hold them.
About 5am, before I was out of the tub, Benson and Grant came up the stairs. They had their alarm set to wake up and eat breakfast with Josh, having forgotten to turn it off because it was a Saturday. But it was perfect. I wanted them to be apart of it but not there for the whole thing. But when they came up the placenta was sitting on the kitchen counter so they were able to see it. They thought it was really cool. Their timing was perfect. They were quiet and smiling ear to ear.
Josh and the assistant help me out of the tub. It was a really awesome experience for me to have Josh there taking care of me instead of a nurse. He was so helpful. We brought in our futon from the trailer and put it in the living room and made it into a little bed. I laid in the bed and rested. They took vitals and just let us rest. Later that day my wonderful friend Holly Carlson took the kids and brought us dinner so that we could get some good rest. She took them the next day as well and the ward was right on top bringing in meals. Everything was so delicious.
I had Josh for a whole week. He entertained the boys so I could rest and take it easy. The next week my mom came and made meals helped can peaches and pears, and clean. This was the most enjoyable postpartum yet. With every other baby Josh was a student and you don't exactly get vacation time when your a student trying to get good grades. The midwife came and did all the visits needed for the first 6 weeks. It was nice to not have to load up my kids either to take Rylie to check ups. It seriously was a beautiful experience for my whole family and we had so many good friends to help as well.
