Amelia Rose Lockhart: The Birth

I know I am writing this three and a half years later...and I still have one to write for Simon, but really want to type out all of my birth stories.  Detail may have already been lost and ten years from now even more may be lost.  So, I will try to do it now before I forget more details.

26 weeks with Amelia

Amelia was due October 19th 2010 and October 11th (ish) 2010 began deployment of Chris's unit to Afghanistan.  The kids and I would going to NC to wait out most of the deployment which meant we were also in the process of moving out of our home.  Most of our furniture was either in NC or in storage by the end of September.   Chris and I were sleeping on and air mattress in the living room while Owen was in a pack n play in his room until he figured out how to climb out of it.  All while I was nine months pregnant with baby likely to be over ten pounds.

The boys rubbing my feet. Livin' on an air mattress for a month.

Most of September and October was filled with Braxton Hicks contractions.  Almost every night I would time them, but they were never closer than 10 minutes apart.  Our focus was trying to get this baby out so she could meet her dad before he deployed.  On October 22nd, Chris came home from work saying that his unit was talking about putting him and rear-detachment.  Long story short, he would stay behind until the baby arrived.  As appealing as that sounds, there are lots of reasons why we didn't want him to stay.  One reason being that we had to clear housing October 25th and we wouldn't have a home.  When Chris came home he said I HAVE to have the baby this weekend.  No pressure or anything right?

39 weeks with Amelia

We Googled every wives tale we could find and took a trip to Walmart.  I bought some castor oil and pineapple juice to chase it, and I had already been using evening primrose oil for two weeks.  The castor oil was labeled odorless and tasteless.  Pineapple is another one of those wives tales so I gave it a try. We came home and the bottle sat there.  Eventually I took the castor oil.  Side note: not nearly as terrible as I thought it was going to be, but definitely not something I enjoyed. I took a dose around 7 pm and by 11 pm there and been no changes.  Everything was the same.  Around midnight before going to sleep I took one more dose.

At 3 am I woke up to relieve the bladder and I noticed the air mattress had deflated some.  There was a hole that was leaking slowly.  Around 5 am I woke up again needing to use the bathroom again and this time the mattress was flat.  I woke Chris up, asked him to fill it up because I was sore from sleeping on the floor.  We got ourselves comfortable, I closed my eyes and felt a small gush of liquid.  I nudged Chris saying I think my water broke.  It was about 5:30 am.  I wasn't completely sure because it wasn't tons of fluid, but within a few minutes the contractions began quite strong.

We made all the the calls, dropped Owen at a friend's house, and headed to the hospital.  Chris was not at Owen's birth so he was in a bit of a hurry and I assured him we had time.  I figured we would have the baby around 4 pm.  We don't need to have to run around like a bat out of hell.  The hospital is about 20-30 minutes away and my contractions we a bit intense.  They were coming steady and we weren't timing them.  I would guess about every two minutes.  We parked in the parking deck.  I told Chris I didn't mind walking that will help move the labor along.  The contractions were coming and caused me to stop a few times walking to the hospital.

6:20 am we were checking in and I was rolled up to Labor and Delivery.  As we approach what I assume was the nursing station to sign some papers I stood up, a contraction began, and I had the sudden need to push.   They quickly moved me to a room, got me undressed, and check me.  The clock said 6:45 am so I was starting to guess that maybe the baby would be here between 12 and 3.

Once I was checked they informed me that I was already 9 cm dilated.  I was told I could push if I wanted and I did.   The midwife suggested getting on my hands and knees because Amelia was sunny side up.  She eventually flipped.  I remember being hot and feeling like I might pass out.  They gave me some O2.  It helped but I was still hot.  The midwife was great, pretty much letting me labor however I felt comfortable.  Her only request was for me to straighten out on the bed so Amelia wouldn't hit the floor when she was pushed out.

I probably started pushing around 7:00am and she was here at 7:31 am.  So, all of my estimations were completely wrong.  Amelia did not waste any time.  And after 2 quick hours she was here.

Unlike Owen, I was pretty well rested, but just like Owen I was hyped up on adrenaline. My camera was left at home so all we had were our cell phones.  We did our best.  Amelia was cleaned up and brought back to me very quickly. More quickly that Owen was.  They also left her in the room with me even if I was sleeping, which they did not let me do with Owen.  Both of which I preferred.

October 23rd 2010 at 7:31am 10 lbs 11 oz 22 in

Chris spent a good deal of time working since he was the armor and he had to finish cleaning our house since we were clearing housing in two days.  Actually Chris cleared housing Monday the 25th and then came to the hospital to pick me up.  I had been so focused on the on the pregnancy I had not had the chance to really dwell on the deployment.  Chris left on November 3rd for a year long deployment and the next day we headed to NC to wait it out.  Our lives have been forever changed because of Amelia Rose Lockhart.

Owen's birth story.

Simon's birth story.

Becket's birth story.