What a Wonderful Day!

Today I had the wonderful experience of taking part in the birth of my new niece, Ally! A while ago my sister-in-law, Beverly, asked me if I would accompany her to her birth classes since her husband Robert was working during the times. I was really excited when she asked me! She chose to do hypnobirthing because she wanted to do it all natural this time. I highly recommend this method and I plan on using this method with my next kid. I won't go into all of the details of this method, but you can google it if you're really interested. Basically you are taught (from the classes, the book, and by practicing) how to get your body into total relaxation during labor so that you are not feeling the "pains." Of course there is a lot of discomfort and pressure, but when you are totally relaxed and focused, there is no pain. You also let your body do the work. The classes and the book were so educational to me. So much in fact that it has changed my philosophy on child birth. But anyway, Bev also asked me if I would act as her birthing coach when the time came. I was super excited for this because I have never witnessed a live birth.

On Friday night, Rob and Bev dropped the kids off at our house because we were going to keep them overnight so that they could go to the Temple in San Antonio. Well, Bev text me at 7:15 the next morning to tell me that she was in labor! Her contractions were 10 minutes apart, but she felt that she had a lot of time ahead of her (which she did!). They made it back to Austin in the afternoon and Rob went to work (he has a radio show). I took Bev, Cannon, and the kids to run some errands for Bev and then we went back to their house. And Ryan went to pick up Rob from work and record an interview for the next show. Bev wasn't due until March 9th, and we were planning on getting everything ready this coming week. So we were trying to put things together at the last minute. Linda (Bev's mom) came and picked up the kids and Ryan came back with Rob and took Cannon home. By this point her contractions were three minutes apart and getting stronger. I thought for sure that we would be going to the hospital that night, so I decided to spend the night. Bev really wanted to labor as much as possible at home because she thought she would be more comfortable. Also, Kylene and Jeff came over too, to bring some stuff we had them pick up at the store. So Bev decided to lay down in bed around 11pm. Her contractions actually stopped and she was able to sleep until about 4am. I got up around 7:30 and she was starting to have irregular contractions again. Ryan brought Cannon over so I could feed him. The Ryan left to go put Cannon down for his nap at our house. Well, about 45 minutes later, Bev announced that she thought it was time to go to the hospital. I had been timing her contractions and they were about five minutes apart, but then all of a sudden they sped up really fast. We got to the hospital at about 11:20 am. They had us go to triage first because they didn't believe she was in labor (she was staying relaxed). By this point her water was already broken, but they always have to check to make sure. And, although she was having lots of contractions, they had a hard time finding them on the monitor. After 30 minutes later they decided that she truly was in labor (she was at a 5), so they got her into a room. While in the triage room, she was really uncomfortable and was threatening to get an epidural. I knew that once we got her settled in her real room that she would be able to focus again. And that's just what happened. She got focused again and was able to get really relaxed. About an hour later, the doctor checked her and she was at a 9! The doctor said she would be back in about 10 minutes, because it could be that fast. And it was! I ran to get the nurses because Bev said it was time. The doctor told her to push, but as part of hypnobirthing, Bev really wanted to let the baby come out herself without pushing (yes, you can do it that way). The baby's heart rate was getting really low and the doctor said that she had to push. So with a few pushes later, baby Ally was born at 2:14 pm! It was so neat to be in the room and experience this! I was so proud of Beverly to do it all natural! And she had been in labor for 40 hours! With her other two children, she had pitocin and an epidural, but she said this experience was so completely worth it! She said she felt so good afterward and baby Ally was so alert and healthy. Oh, so Ally weighed 8lbs 9oz and was 20.5 inches. She is a content baby, unless you mess with her and then she shows her set of lungs! We also discovered that she has red hair! It's a darker red, like the color of Kylene's.


Here's Cannon just relaxing in Jade and T's little chair. And he is such a poser for the camera!


Here's T and grandpa. T is so excited to be a big brother! He wanted to hold her right away.


T, Cole, Cannon, and Ally were all born at the same hospital.


Look at those cheeks!










I didn't get any pictures of Jade yet, because she wasn't ready to hold Ally yet.




I told Cannon to give Ally a kiss and he tried to eat her. We thought it was so cute and we tried to get a picture, but every time we get the camera out he has to smile and pose!