David's Birth Story
Well, it’s taken me much longer this time around to sit down and write my third child’s birth story. I wonder why? Haha... These past almost-15-weeks have been filled to the brim with the antics of certain 4 and 2 year olds, changing lots and lots and lots (and lots) of dirty diapers, not very much sleep until recently, and so many sweet baby snuggles. It’s been both a challenge and a blessing to “go backwards”, as it were. We had kind of gotten past the baby stage and had enjoyed two whole years of both of our kids sleeping through the night in their own rooms (!!). So this transition has been sweet, fun, hard, exhausting, crazy, and all kinds of other adjectives my brain can’t think of right now. :)
Sunday, October 15 was David’s due date. We went to church that morning and I started having contractions during the service...not painful ones, but enough to get my attention. They continued through lunch, so Dan and I decided we should go get checked out before leaving Cookeville. We met up with our sweet friend and midwife, Ashli, at the birth center. I was still 3cm and 80% effaced (I think?) but she hooked me up for a NST and drew some blood and checked my vitals. Baby checked out great but my H&H was low, which brought on a conversation about delivery and my past history of postpartum hemorrhage after a big baby (Josiah was 10lb10oz). David had been estimated at 9lbs12oz on Friday, so we were expecting him to be large. IF I hemorrhaged after the delivery, I would have to be transferred to the hospital and baby couldn’t come with me - Dan would have to take him home alone and someone would have to be with me. The thought of this broke my heart, so with my numbers already being low, we decided to change our plans and head to the hospital whenever labor actually began. So, for the third time, our birth plan changed at the very last minute.
The next morning, October 16, I woke up with so much peace about the birth of this baby. We had had a great natural hospital experience with Josiah, so I wasn’t heartbroken at the change of plans. And somehow I felt like labor might begin really soon. For whatever reason that morning I felt like I needed to re-pack our bags to include things we would need in the hospital (you don’t typically stay overnight at the birth center), and get the older boys bags all ready to go to Mom and Dad’s. I wasn’t having any contractions, but just felt a sense of “today is a day”. It was really strange, and I didn't have that with the other boys' births.
Our day was pretty typical. Dan was home in the morning, we had pancakes for breakfast, and he went to work planning to work until 10pm. The boys and I were at home, had lunch, they went down for naps. I laid down to rest during their nap time, and when I got up around 4:00 I felt what I first thought were more Braxton Hicks...but they kept coming every 5 minutes and after the first few they became crampy. They never spaced out to being more than 5 minutes apart, and by 4:30 or so I texted Dan and said, “Hypothetically...if you needed to come home in a little bit, would you have coverage at work for tonight?” Haha. He texted back that yes he would, and so I started making cookies to distract myself and started timing contractions. The boys woke up and I called Mom to find out when they would be home and available if we needed to drop them off.
Around 5:30 I went to the bathroom and saw bloody show...I knew these contractions meant business. I texted Dan the “You need to come home” text, and started getting ready to leave. I put the leftover cookie dough in the fridge. He got home by 6:15, we took the boys to my parents’, and arrived at the hospital by 7:30. At this point I was still talking through the contractions, but I wanted to be moving. Sitting in the car was not fun.
We were met at the hospital by another midwife, Jessica. Now, I have to be transparent and say that I really wanted Ashli at this birth. But Jessica ended up being exactly what I needed during labor...it's amazing how the Lord knows who needs to be there. Jessica checked me upon admission, and I was at 5cm and still about 80% effaced.
I was a little disappointed to be honest, because with Josiah we checked in at 8cm and fully effaced and he was born about 2 hours later. But...we knew what to do. It was time to buckle down and labor. Jessica so awesomely told the nurses, "They've got this...they like to labor on their own..." and we were left blissfully alone besides intermittent monitoring every little bit. We walked and labor-danced through contractions and listened to worship music and talked and laughed a lot. (Side note: Labor with Dan Kistler by your side is pretty great. He knows what's going on thanks to Bradley classes, and he's just so good at going with the flow and helping me feel relaxed. I love him.)
After that was over I hadn't made much progress, but I knew the end was getting closer because the contractions were getting intense. Jessica says, "You reach a point where you lose your head, 'cause your mind is all in your bottom." This is so true. So much downward pressure and I wanted that baby out.
Around 2:30am (I'm guessing...I lost all track of time) I asked to be checked again, because contractions were one-on-top-of-the-other and I was starting to feel like pushing. Jessica checked me and told me I was completely effaced but still 9cm with a lip of cervix...meaning I couldn't push until that lip cleared. That was beyond frustrating, laying on my back feeling like I was having to hold my body back from pushing. However, my water had not broken yet (it never has until time to push) and she told me that she believed breaking my water would push the lip back and I would be complete. I was ready and told her to break it.
As with Timothy and Josiah, breaking my water was no easy task. I apparently grow very strong bags. After a few tries between multiple hard contractions, Jessica got it broken. We waited through a few more contractions and she told me I could push. I entered that overwhelmed place of being really unsure I could do it...and heard Dan tell me, "Babe, you are doing it!"
I'm pretty sure one of the best feelings in the world is the one you get seeing the nurses break the end of the bed down and the extra hospital personnel enter the room cause the baby is actually coming out.
I pushed for the first time at 3:00am, and I could immediately feel progress as David came down. I've never noticed that before, but I could feel where he was in my pelvis during pushing. It was so helpful and encouraging to be attentive to that. Jessica was also so wonderful during this stage, and I can still remember her voice during every push saying, "Beautiful, Hannah! That's perfect...you're doing so good!"
I'm not sure how many times I pushed total, but the next thing I knew he was crowning and I felt him come out all in one quick push at 3:15am - just 15 minutes of pushing. One of the sweetest memories I have is Jessica holding up my baby boy and saying, "Look, Hannah!"
I had never before felt the instant bond I felt with David. You hear stories about that in natural childbirth class...the oxytocin rush, the love hormone. For me personally, this was the first time I felt that after labor. The minute I saw him and Jessica laid him on my chest, I adored him. So many people had asked if we had been trying for a girl, but as far as I was concerned, in that moment David might as well have been my first boy. He was perfect and I kept saying, "He's so little!" We had been expecting him to be closer to Josiah's birthweight, but it was easy to tell he was more of an average sized baby. I was in love.
David Bennie Kistler weighed 8lbs12oz (much to everyone's surprise since he had been estimated at 9lbs12oz on ultrasound 4 days before). He was 19 inches long and just perfect. He nursed well right away, and we were able to spend a beautiful hour or longer alone with him before leaving the labor and delivery room. My in-hospital recovery went well - no stomach virus this time and no hemorrhage, praise the Lord - and he was a peaceful baby from the get-go. Big brothers met him later that morning, and we came home the morning of the 19th (one drawback to having a middle-of-the-night birth is having to stay two nights).
I've said to anyone I've shared this birth story with that, out of the three natural births I've experienced, this was my favorite. Although longer than Josiah's labor (my shortest - 5 hours from first contraction to holding baby), it was just the right length...7-8 hours of what I could consider active labor. I felt like I had time to embrace the emotional side of meeting a third child and more fully experience the way my body was working. But on the flip side, it was not as long as Timothy's (12-13 hours active labor) so I wasn't nearly as tired afterwards and had more energy to enjoy those first hours with David.
Over 3 months later he is still a peaceful, easy baby and we are loving being a family of 5. His life is such a gift, and we could not be more grateful for our beloved David.
-HK-
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