The arrival of Cecily Frances

Our newest beautiful girl has joined our family. Cecily Frances Braun was born January 2, 2011 at 11:27 a.m. weighing 8 lbs. 3 oz. and 20" long. She couldn't be more perfect, or look more like her big sister. It is crazy how much she resembles Evangeline as a newborn. We'll see how her looks evolve but I could see myself years from now getting their newborn photos confused. She does have a good bit more hair than Evangeline did, particularly in the back, but the nose is identical, mouth shape is extremely similar, and eyes too but more so when closed than open.

I'll share a bit of the birth story. Saturday night was Jayme's mom and step-dad's last night here after a Christmas visit and they had plans to head home in the morning. While we hoped that Cecily would come when they were here, we just decided that we would fly them back the weekend following her birth. So Saturday night Jayme made us some great steaks on the grill, we enjoyed dinner, Evangeline got some last playtime in with Nana and Grandpa, we watched some t.v., and headed to bed. I had been feeling contractions most of that evening but they were very inconsistent so I was trying not to pay too much attention to them. But something did tell me to spend extra time cuddling Evangeline that night, rocking her, and reading books. And it was my last time to put her to bed as my only baby. I also started to throw some things in the suitcase, just in case.

At 10:30 Jayme and I were going to bed and contractions grew slightly more painful and consistently 5 minutes apart. I layed down and did sleep for a while. I can't remember when I woke back up but at 1:00 a.m. the contractions moved to 3 minutes apart consistently and growing more painful. I woke Jayme up around 2 a.m. and told him that I thought we needed to consider leaving soon. Around this time, the pain of the contractions was beginning to stop me in my tracks...we were getting serious.

We left the house around 3:30 a.m. and headed to Vanderbilt. Laurel met us there. They got us situated and when the midwife checked me at 4:30 a.m. I was dilated to 6 cm and I think 80% effaced and contracting every 2 minutes. I was so glad to hear that as I fully anticipated still being somewhere around a 2 at that point. After the initial monitoring, I did have to stay in the bed for a while since my blood pressure was reading a bit high and they sent some labs to be read to make sure I didn't have to be treated with a magnesium IV. Thank God I didn't. Truthfully I think half the reason it was reading high was because nearly every time it read my blood pressure was in the midst of a contraction. So after some waiting, a blown vein, an IV treatment of antibiotics because I was GBS positive, and my first encounter with a catheter to collect urine that was not mixed with blood, (have I mentioned how much I hate medical intervention!?) I was able to be unhooked from the fetal monitor and able to labor in the hydrotherapy tub that Vanderbilt has. I love that thing!! I want one at home.

Labor progressed well, and I have to say that after experiencing both, laboring with your water intact as opposed to broken water is considerably less painful. Definitely still hurt but less sharpness to the pain. Jayme was incredible and helped alleviate much of the pain by rubbing my back and pushing my hips together during a contraction. As the contractions began to grow closer, the midwife decided to move me from the tub and check me to see about progress. Mavis the midwife, by the way, was incredible. I didn't get Lauren who I love and who I saw throughout my entire pregnancy but Mavis was simply amazing. She was there for full labor support, which I know isn't always possible but she didn't have anyone else laboring at the time which was such a gift to me. Thank you Lord. She had a peace and patience about her that just made the whole process so fluid. The difference between laboring with doctors as opposed to the midwives was huge in that I didn't feel rushed or timed, or pressured to make it happen.

At the time that she checked me I was at a 9 so maybe a bit longer before I began pushing. We tried many different positions for comfort and effectiveness, and after a couple more hours of that I was starting to get tired and truthfully discouraged and frustrated that we could not push past that 9. that little bit of cervix left just didn't want to move. Mavis, after sensing my obvious discouragement suggested that we try to push while she manually moved that piece of cervix over. I was game! Anything that offered potential progress sounded good to me. Ohhhhhhhhh the pushing. For some reason, possibly the curvature of my spine my children like to get kind of stuck at a point and it's very difficult to push them past it. Mavis said that after having 2 experiences like that, it may just be something I deal with in labor because of the way my body is shaped. At least though, Cecily didn't turn posterior at that point like Evangeline did. That's what caused me such horrific back labor with Bean. But with Evangeline that was the point of the epidural and the bit of pitocin to avoid a C-section so it helped her to get past it.

With Cecily, it was about 2 hours of pushing, trying to move her down. And that was when I was especially thankful for Mavis. She assured me that we were in no rush. And while that was assuring to be honest I was turning into a bigger baby by the moment. I just started to believe that she was not going to come out. To exert that much energy with every push and trying to use the pain to aid in pushing which went against my every instinct to retract from and try to ease pain, with little progress was frustrating me. Many "I can't do it"s came out of me. Finally, we got that last bit of cervix dilated and out of the way and Cecily began to move down.

Now came the pushing out part. And from this point, I suggest reading no further if you don't enjoy gory birth details. I laugh now because with Evangeline I did have the epidural but I never pushed the button for more than the original dose, I never lost feeling in my legs, it was just enough to take the edge off. I still felt pain when I pushed, but now I know. It definitely did do more than I thought! That pain vs. this pain...no contest!! I did actually yell out at a point, "seriously, who designed this!?" At this point, my water was still intact and Mavis said that while it is extremely rare, if it stays intact they would let her be born in it. Jayme and Laurel said that at one push when she was crowning, they could actually see her head moving inside the amniotic sac. Laurel said that was the craziest thing she'd ever seen. However not too long after on a push, I could hear the pop and thar she blows! Jayme got a kick out of this part and likes to tell me about how it shot across the room and everyone dove out of the way, hahaha.

At least now with every push I could feel her moving down and making her way out. And in an attempt to prevent less tearing, Mavis let her move down naturally, had me stop pushing in between contractions, while Cecily's head remained there slowly stretching me. OUCH! does not begin to describe it. I have no idea how much time passed doing this but eventually the cheers and excitement grew in everyone's voice and I knew she was nearly out. After some screaming and bearing down, I felt her head come out and she was crying before she'd even exited. She had me reach down and grab her out and pull her toward me, and the rest of her just followed. I pulled her onto my belly and just said "oh thank you my love for coming out!"

Cecily Frances Braun was born on January 2, 2011 at 11:27 a.m. weighing 8 lbs. 3 oz. 20" long.

She was pretty feisty in those first moments. She cried, she was lifting her head, and grabbing at my gown and when Jayme went to take the scissors from Mavis to cut the cord, she grabbed the scissors! Haha they couldn't believe it. I wondered if any of this was insight into her personality but not so far. She is a very laid-back and mostly quiet girl. But I guess when push comes to shove, she is not to be messed with. :)