Mercy's Birth Story

The days and weeks leading up to Mercy being born were stressful. My labors are not textbook so it is hard for me to know when it is time. It was hard with Tricia because she was my first so I didn’t know whether it was the real deal or not. Then came Justus and I didn’t feel the contractions until the last 40 minutes of labor. Thankfully we had gone into the hospital to have my water broken since I was so far progressed; otherwise he would have been born at home. Now onto Mercy’s story. 

In the weeks before she was born I kept progressing at each appointment and so I never thought I would make it to my due date. Having my due date come and go was depressing. Tricia came a week early and Justus came on his due date. Every night for 2 weeks I was getting contractions but then when I would go to bed they would go away. 

Tuesday September 8^th I thought it was finally the night. My contractions were 5ish minutes apart and lasting a minute. This continued for 2 hours so I started to get things lined up. Then certain events happened and I got upset and apparently getting upset can cause contractions to go away. That was a major bummer. 

At my previous appointment my midwife made it sound like I wasn’t going to be able to go past 41 weeks so I got things lined up at work to start my maternity leave on September 10^th since that would be my 41 week appointment. After work on Wednesday September 9^th I went home and felt just awful. I decided to start timing my contractions again and they were mostly 3-5 minutes apart but then some were really far apart. They were also starting to hurt more than usual so I called Chris and my mom to let them know. We decided that my mom would watch the kids so we could go in and see if anything was going on. 

When we got to the hospital it was 8pm and when they checked me I was 4-5 cm and 90% effaced. This meant they were admitting me! We made phone calls so my mom could be there and also so my sister in law could come and take pictures! Since we had time Chris decided to rest since he had been up for a long time. I walked around the room and waited for my mom to arrive. 

Once my mom arrived we decided to walk the halls to help my contractions. They were ranging from 4-5 minutes apart and lasting at least a minute. We only walked for maybe 5 minutes when I got horrible back pain. I started feeling sick and thankfully there was a bathroom right there, otherwise my supper would have been all over the hallway. We decided that is was best to head back to my room once I was feeling better. 

Back in the room I sat on the exercise ball and continued to wait. Just before 11 pm my sister in law and brother arrived. My midwife also showed up at that time and we talked about our plan. We decided to go ahead and break my water since baby was still sitting high up. The hope was that by breaking it baby would drop into position and help me dilate more. At this point I was at 5 cm so not much progress had happened. 

My brother decided this was a good time to go take a nap in his car. We tried convincing him that it was in my birth plan that he was going to deliver the baby but he didn’t fall for our little prank. 

It was around 11 pm when my water was broken and after a few minutes of being monitored I got into the tub. I was in there for maybe 15 minutes before I thought I needed to use the restroom. My mom and Chris kept asking me if it was the baby coming and I kept telling them no. I sent Chris out of the bathroom since I was convinced it wasn’t the baby. 

So I sat there getting contractions and finally after about 10 minutes my mom and Chris asked if I was okay. I started to realize that maybe they were right and that the baby was closer than I thought. Chris got the nurse to check me and I was already to 8 cm. 

Chris came in and I got back into the tub to help ease the pain of the contractions. I was in there for less than 5 minutes before realizing that the baby was coming. Chris and my midwife helped me out of the tub and to the bed. Once I got there I had every intention of getting on my side but I landed on all fours and once I got there I could not move. The great thing about not having any pain medication is that your body just takes over and does what it needs to do, so I just let my body take over and do its job. 

I had about 4 contractions once I got on the bed and that was all it took for our little baby to be born. The official birth time was 12:05 am. So at 11 pm I was 5 cm and just over an hour later our baby arrived! 

I was hoping to help deliver this baby but once I got to the hospital bed I knew I couldn’t move to do that, but because of how I was positioned I was able to grab her much easier than the other two. After a few seconds of soaking her in I looked to see that we had a baby girl! I didn’t want it announced what the gender was. I wanted to look on my own. 

After a few minutes I laid back on the bed and we were able to be skin and skin and within minutes she was nursing. I also wanted to delay cutting the cord so after about 10 minutes it stopped pulsing and Chris was able to cut it. 

As things were getting cleaned up the nurse, Chris, and my mom were talking about how easy my labor was. They may or may not have gotten a glare from me with that remark. I do realize it was super easy and quick but that’s not something you like hearing after having a baby. 

We knew what her name was going to be but we decided to wait longer in announcing since we wanted it to be announced through a video. We like giving names with meaning behind them and also have family ties. For those who didn’t see the video announcement Mercy’s name came to me long before I was pregnant. It was about a month after we lost Peyton I was listening to a song “Blessings” by Laura Story and the song talks about how what if trials in our life are God’s mercies in disguise. It is a song I had heard hundreds times before but this one specific time I heard God tell me that we would get pregnant again and that we would have a little girl and her name would be Mercy. I knew all along we were having a girl but never had it confirmed at my ultrasound because I wanted it to be a surprise, even though I knew it was a girl! Her middle name, Ann, is my middle name and is also my mom’s middle name. So that is how little Mercy Ann got her name! 

So far postpartum has been wonderful this time around. Recovery has been amazing, my energy is not as awful as it was the last two times, and she is an awesome baby! She sleeps pretty great compared to the other two, plus she nurses without any issues! I was nervous how Tricia and Justus would do with a new baby but they have both adjusted better than I thought. They adore her but just need some direction on how to be gentle. 

It’s amazing how much our lives have changed in 4 years. In 4 years we have had 4 pregnancies and 3 healthy earthside babies. Two beautiful daughters and one energetic son!