When I think of Rudy’s birth story, all I can think about are the weeks leading up to his birth. The whole month of August, we were anticipating his birth! He was initially due on the 7th, yet he didn’t join us until the 31st.
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Starting in July, I started to experience prodromal labor, and at the beginning of August, I was dilated and effaced, making me think that maybe this baby will come sooner than my others. But my due date came and went.
After being a week overdue from his initial due date, I tried even more things to get labor started. One of which was castor oil, which I had taken before in previous births. It never worked for my oldest daughter, Harmony, who went to 42 weeks before being induced at the hospital. But it did work for my next daughter, Floralee, who was my VBAC at home at almost 41 weeks. My third, Chet, came on his own at almost 41 weeks.
I took the castor oil in the morning, and by the evening, I started to feel some minor contractions. I began timing them, and they were close together and somewhat consistent. My midwife decided to start heading my way, and we got the kids ready to sleep at a friend’s house.
After I started moving around more and the midwife arrived, the contractions completely fizzled out. I slept that night and woke up in the morning with no contractions, and was pretty discouraged. My midwife suggested castor oil one more time that next morning, and still no contractions resulted from that. I tried other herbal remedies as well throughout the next week, but the baby had no desire to come out yet.
A week after the initial castor oil, I took it again, but puked it all up. I tried it one last time, a fourth time, the next day, and still no contractions. We were trying to remain hopeful.
As we approached my 43-week checkup, we reviewed the due date and pushed it back a few days to the 12th. We also went to get an ultrasound per my midwife’s recommendation, just to make sure the baby was still doing well. The ultrasound went great, and a few days later we also did a non-stress test, which went very good as well.
However, if the baby didn’t come soon, we knew we would have to go to the hospital and get induced, which was not our desire at all. We were praying fervently, and many others were praying for us as well. The Lord answered our prayers, and starting around 9 pm on the 31st, contractions finally began!
When they started to become painful, and when I started to clean the house ferociously, I could tell that this was the real thing. My midwife and her assistant arrived around midnight, and we all rested for a few hours while I focused on relaxing through the contractions.
Around 3:30 am, I was nearing transition, and my midwife was getting everything ready. He came flying out of me at 4:06 am, and we saw that he was a boy! Our Rudy had finally arrived! Everyone felt relieved and so joyous. He was healthy and big, weighing 9 pounds and 11 ounces. He was 22 inches long and 42 weeks and 5 days of gestation.
I had no tearing and very little bleeding. It has been my best postpartum recovery yet. Rudy is breastfeeding great, and the whole family is enjoying having him here! Overall, it was about a 7-hour labor, at home, and a wonderful birth, all things considered. Glory to God for this amazing, sweet blessing that has been added to our family! Praise God from whom all blessings flow!
Kelsey at GoodPointGrandma
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