The Story of Maggie's Birth

The past 3 weeks have flown by over here. I can't believe that my sweet Maggie is over 3 weeks old already! Although I'm extremely tired from the middle of the night feedings and taking care of the other 5 kids during the day, the past 3 weeks have been amazing. I absolutely love having a newborn in the house. Squishy babies just make everything so much better!

I've been asked numerous times to post Maggie's birth story. I can't believe it has taken me so long to sit down and write it out....but I guess that's life with 6 kids! So here it goes, the story of Margaret's arrival.

I have always dreamed of having a home birth. The thought of being able to labor at home, not have to endure contractions on a car ride to the hospital and being able to sleep in my own bed sounded like heaven to me. After Henry's exciting, unplanned home birth and the fact that we moved out into the middle of nowhere, with no hospital nearby, Remie and I decided that a home birth was the best option for us. People called us crazy, asked if I was trying to kill myself or my baby and even tried to talk me out of our plans to birth at home but it was the best decision we ever made.

We were in the middle of a huge construction project of finishing our basement and my contractor promised me that it would be complete before the baby arrived. I had plans of turning the basement into a beautiful birthing suite with a pool, soft music and candles flickering around me. I envisioned the most peaceful environment to birth my baby. But one thing led to another, there were hold ups due to inspections and other minor things that made the project go on longer than expected. Finally we were scheduled to get our basement carpeting installed on December 28th and I would be able to start putting together everything I needed for the birth. I really thought I had plenty of time before my due date of January 17th.

Right before Christmas my kids started dropping like flies from an awful stomach bug. It was barf central at our house! I was constantly washing my hands, taking elderberry syrup, lathering myself with essential oils and doing every other natural remedy to keep me from getting the dreaded stomach bug. I managed to hold it off until December 27th. I woke up that morning and just didn't feel right. My stomach hurt and I was desperately hoping that I wasn't sick. I was dead wrong. I'll leave out the gory details but it was bad. I was finally able to keep down fluids by mid afternoon right in time for my husband Remie to start upchucking right next to me. We both struggled together trying to take care of the kids while grossly sick. We finally got all the kids tucked in bed that night and collapsed in bed around 10:00 pm. No sooner did our heads hit the pillow and Isaac vomited all over his bed. It was the biggest mess I've seen. I collected all the dirty bedding and ran it to the laundry room. That's when my first contraction hit me! I remember thinking "Oh no, God wouldn't put me into labor in the middle of this barf fest!". The contraction was so intense that I had to bend over and hold onto the washing machine. I knew that it had to be labor but there was no way I had the nerve to tell my very sick husband that I thought the baby was coming!!!! On the way back to our bedroom I had another contraction that stopped me in my tracks.

This is when some of the details get a bit fuzzy for me so I'm hoping that my version is accurate! (I may have to have Remie tell his version too lol)

Remie and I got Isaac cleaned up and in bed and we headed back to bed. As I was laying in bed the contractions continued. Remie noticed that I was uncomfortable and asked what was going on. I told him that I was having contractions but I was hoping that they were just from being dehydrated. Remie insisted that I keep drinking water to see if they'd stop. They didn't. Remie then began timing the contractions and they were 1-3 minutes apart. After some discussion (because I'm always in denial that I'm actually in labor) we decided to contact my midwife, Heather. Remie texted Heather and told her what was going on. She told Remie to have me drink pedialyte rather than water to see if it was dehydration causing the contractions. I chugged the most awful punch flavored pedialyte and the contractions kept coming. Heather decided that she was going to come out and check on me. While she was driving to our house my contractions intensified and I knew it was the real thing. I remember laying in bed having to pee but I refused to get up because I knew that an empty bladder gives the baby more room to descend down the birth canal and I was NOT having another unassisted birth!

Laying in bed, refusing to get up

Heather finally arrived and agreed that I was in labor. She asked if I wanted to be checked and I said yes. I was 6cm dilated. By that time I had been in labor for one whole hour and I looked at Remie and said "What the hell is taking so long?!" (Henry was born in only 58 minutes so I assumed this baby was just going to fall out).

Lily always acts as my support "dog" during labor!

I decided to labor in the shower because my plans for a water birth in the basement were not going to happen. I sat in the shower and labored for what seemed like an eternity. I breathed (and cursed) through each contraction until the water ran cold. I finally shut off the shower and sat in there laboring a bit longer. Someone asked me if I wanted to get out of the shower to keep warm but I was in my groove and didn't want to move. My second midwife arrived and began asking me if I wanted to deliver in the shower or on the bed. I remember thinking that she was crazy for asking me because I wasn't even close to delivering. I was extremely tired and said that I wanted to take a nap between contractions. I got out of the shower and made my way to the bed. I laid down on the bed and immediately felt the urge to push! I gave one good push and my water broke. With the next push the baby's head was crowning and before I knew it, my baby girl was born at 1:24am on December 28, 2016! She struggled breathing at first so Heather got right to work and gave Maggie rescue breaths. Within a few moments, Maggie was breathing on her own and turning pink.

Meeting Margaret

Heather left Maggie and I alone for the most wonderful, peaceful hour of skin to skin contact as we bonded. Heather then weighed and measured Maggie. She is our smallest baby at only 7lbs 4oz and 19 1/2 inches long. She seems so teeny tiny!! Heather left after a few hours and we spent the rest of the night snuggling our new little blessing.

Getting Measured

Many people are asking where we got Maggie's name. Margaret is a family name on both Remie and my side of the family. Remie adored his maternal grandmother who he affectionately called "Little Grandma". Little Grandma's name was Mary Margaret so we knew that we wanted to somehow honor her by using part of her name for our baby.

When my mom was growing up her grandmother lived with her. Since birth I have been hearing wonderful stories about my mom's grandma who she called "Mimi". I recently found out that Mimi's middle name was Margaret. When I found this out, Remie and I both agreed that Margaret was the perfect name for our little one.

We struggled with a middle name for Maggie. We like using family names and we also love giving our children middle names that mean something special to us. We searched and searched for the perfect middle name. Finally when looking through our family tree I found that Mimi's mother's name was Isabelle. Remie and I have always loved the name Isabelle and have considered it as a name for all of our children. I decided to look up the meaning of Isabelle. The Hebrew meaning is "Devoted to God". As soon as we read that, we were sold!