Eliana Grace

Eliana's Story -

     Soon after we moved our family from the city to the country, we found out we were pregnant with our Eliana. They DO say, "New house, new baby." and in this case, "they" were right. Our family was very excited to welcome a new addition! This pregnancy proved easier than my pregnancy with Eisley, both physically and emotionally. Staying on top of my health was a BIG job as we learned of some health issues I had. I worked hard to take care of myself and my baby, and it was obviously helping. I felt better during her pregnancy than I had felt since my second pregnancy! We began planning a home birth. We wanted to be able to home birth again so badly and prayed for this throughout my pregnancy. I had missed out on the last weeks of pregnancy with both Johnny and Eisley. This time I was determined to make it full-term and prayed for a well-baked baby daily. As time during my pregnancy went, both me and baby looking healthy, we decided that we wanted to plan a "free" or unassisted birth. (Remember, I am a doula and know a good amount about birth.) We began planning and preparing for our free birth and I began preparing for the waterbirth I had never had. A few close friends blessed me with a Blessing Way and a Baby Sprinkle. Thy prayed for me, for our baby, for Kris. They encouraged me and helped my mind rid itself of any remaining fear. I finally was at a place where I was pregnant after loss and after a very complicated pregnancy and I was fully trusting in God to answer our prayers and to bless my pregnancy and my birth experience.

40 weeks! God is good!

     We reached 40 weeks, actually, we reached beyond 40 weeks and then our birth journey began!

            Labor began with mild cramps - the kind I wasn't sure would stick. It was a Saturday morning and I decided to let my husband, Kristopher rest for a while longer before waking and telling him. I did some cleaning around the house and it seemed that my contractions were lasting and growing in strength. I finally ended up waking him around 11:30. (We try to sleep in and rest on Saturdays as much as possible.) "Things are starting!" I exclaimed! I was over 42 weeks in my pregnancy now (Or so we thought. My dates were a bit off I am sure.) Either way we were READY! He began cleaning with me a little and started getting the birth pool set up for our planned home waterbirth. I TRIED to wash the dishes, but it would prove to quickly become hard for me to do anything other than focus on the task at hand and concentrate on relaxing through each contraction. We decided then to call our "birth team" since it would take everyone about an hour and a half to get to our home. He began making the calls and I found myself in and out of a hot shower and then on the birth ball in our living room, struggling to find my "zone". Kris came back inside after making calls and read some of my birth affirmations to me and layed them on the couch in front of me so I could have them near as he tried to continue with the birth pool. He wasn't really able to get anything done though since I kept needing his help with counter pressure on my back.

     Our older children cleaned up their bedroom and checked in on me from time to time. Our Evelyn offered counter pressure here and there and our Eisley went down for her afternoon nap in perfect timing for me to work harder. Relaxation was proving very difficult this time and I couldn't understand why! I was getting flustered with myself and kept trying to mentally remind myself to surrender, to breathe deep, to un-clench my fists, wiggle my toes.... I began acting like a doula to myself. Kris encouraged me and let me know that everyone would be arriving SOON. "Good!", I thought.

    A HUGE wave of "tired" swept over me and I left my spot on the ball to lay on my side over on our couch. Kris helped me try to get as comfortable as possible, using pillows. Then, just as soon as I had just a tiny moment to rest, I felt overwhelmingly nauseous. He or my daughter, Evelyn went and got a bowl for me. I gagged a little but didn't throw up and immediately, my water burst all over our couch. THAT is when I realized that relaxing was proving so difficult because I was a lot further along than I thought. I was in transition and our baby was coming SOON! Kris helped me to my feet and my energy seemed restored. I took my panties off, he cleaned up a bit and put chux pads on our carpet under my feet. Next thing I knew, my birth support was arriving (PERFECT timing!) and Evelyn and Ezra were excitedly greeting them with, "Mommy's water broke!"

            I returned onto the birth ball and labored a bit more before one of my team suggested I move to a different position where my hips could move and open more freely. Kris was again, trying to finish the task of getting the birth pool ready since I had other helpers and he could get away longer than 30 seconds. I knew moving would bring labor on further and I was reluctant, but I moved to a kneel beside our couch. Next contraction, she put her hand on my lower back and said, "Oh wow! Your baby is right there!" To which my mind responded, "I KNOW!" I was MAD that the pool wasn't ready. I wanted to be IN THE WATER NOW! And with the next contraction, I announced, "Tell Kris the baby is coming!" (So much for our planned waterbirth!) He came running into our living room and by this time, all 3 of our other children were sitting by the mantle watching, waiting for their new baby sibling. She was coming FAST. I couldn't relax or breathe. There would be no "gentle pushing" this time and there was nothing my mind or body could do to slow things down. I just had to accept that this time would be intense and pushing was different than the previous birth experiences I have had. I groaned and growled through her head being delivered. I heard the older children excitedly say they could see the baby and my husband asked if I wanted to tough her head. I shook my head "No." in response. Problem was, I couldn't gather my strength. Her head was only halfway delivered when my contraction stopped and I was praying for the next one to hurry up and trying to hang in there until it did! I reached down and touched my baby's head and my husband's hand all at once. ("Come ON contraction!")

     With one more contraction, the rest of her head and her body was born! Kris caught his daughter and my son announced, "It's a boy!" then quickly, the remark was corrected with multiple voices saying, "It's a girl!" I turned around to meet my baby. Kris placed her in my arms. She was beautiful. Different looking than my other newborns. I couldn't call her by name yet. We didn't have a girl name chosen! Oh no!

Seeing their new baby sister for the first time!

Eisley was a little less impressed, having been woken up from her nap and all.

Our Double Rainbow!

     I nursed our little girl almost immediately. She was READY with a strong latch. I sat on the floor of our living room, leaning against the couch with my baby and the whole room admired her with me. After the placenta came, I felt like I could relax. It was a short labor, but goodness, was I tired! The children played, my birth support cleaned and helped me get situated with my new baby girl in bed. We had to choose a name for her. We had our girl name down between 2 different names. So, we had a family meeting in the bedroom. Kris and I asked the children which they liked best and it was still split between us. So, we decided to let God name her. We prayed and flipped the rock from Eisley's journey and our girl was named Eliana (God has answered) Grace (Remember, John means 'God is gracious'.) It is PERFECT for her, for through her, God answered MANY of our prayers! 

    We are all thankful now that hers was NOT a waterbirth. Looking back, the Lord knew just what we all needed for healing. Her delivery was specifically healing for Kris. And her placenta was specifically healing for me. I had not seen Johnny's, I didn't see Eisley's. I knew that some of my health conditions directly affected placental development. Seeing hers, seeing how healthy it looked made me know all my hard work with diet, nutrition, and health was VERY worth it! That my body did a good job for our little one! It reminded me that God is FAITHFUL! 

Eliana's 'Tree of Life'

 Her birth was perfect and was very much an answer to our prayers, just like she is! She is our Homebirth rainbow, our double rainbow and she blesses us every day!

Eliana Grace - 1 Day Old!