Primrose Adaline - First Birthday and Birth Story

Our sweet little Primrose celebrated her first birthday this Sunday and in honor of one whole year together, David took some special pictures of me and the birthday girl. We overcame a lot by God's grace this year - and I wanted some sacred photos to remember that. When I described what I wanted to David, all I really said was that I wanted to be in a field of flowers because she is our Primrose. We found the perfect spot and they couldn't have turned out more magical.

I thought I'd share her birth story here too! Here is an Instagram post from January 16th, 2020:

One week ago we went out to eat at one of our favorite burger joints one last time as a family of 4! While we were there, I got a few uncomfortable contractions but carried on and enjoyed our little family meal. That night, contractions picked up and were very consistent around 5-10 minutes apart round the clock. I let David sleep, thinking that I was going to wait until I was 100% sure before waking him up. They were getting stronger by 3:30, so I finally woke him up and told him (he basically flew out of bed lol he was so excited). We planned to wait a little longer to see if they’d get closer to 4 minutes apart, but apparently my body doesn’t ever really do that! With all three girls my contractions really range between 4-10 minutes. I went to the bathroom at one point and there was a gush of fluid which then had me questioning if my water broke! We decided it was go time and woke the girls up at around 4:30 and drove to my mom’s. On the drive, contractions slowed significantly and I started to second guess myself. But David was concerned that my water had broke so we went to the hospital. We got there and I was 5 cm dilated but still experiencing very irregular contractions. They determined that my water bag was still in tact, and then suggested I take an hour to walk around the hospital. I was glad to do this because waking or standing up through the contractions really seemed to help. I was still unconvinced that it was time, but when we got back an hour later, the nurse checked me and said “oh yeah you’re not going home. You’re 7 or 8 cm!” You’d think that would be enough to convince me but I was still skeptical! I was just handling them SO well, I couldn’t believe this was it.

A few hours later, we were in the labor and delivery room and although contractions were consistent, they weren’t really picking up. The nurses and doctors kept commenting on how comfortable I looked for being 8 cm haha Eventually the doctor came in and gently suggested that we either try pitocin or breaking the water bag to help get things moving. I was really opposed to either one- but remembered with Ryenne that this same thing had happened where my contractions didn’t really pick up until they had broken my water bag. We prayed about it and talked about it for about an hour (I was so so worried), and when the doctor came back we said we wanted him to check one more time and if I had progressed, we’d break the bag. Sure enough, I was at 8 or 9 cm. So he broke my water bag and within an hour things had picked up. It was finally beginning to “feel” more like labor- but even then I had my doubts haha

All this time I had been mostly laboring standing up or walking, but now at the end I found I couldn’t leave the bed. It took everything in me to focus on getting through each contraction. I would hang onto the bed with one arm and then ask David to push against my other hand (counter pressure) as hard as he could. He was afraid of hurting me but it never felt hard enough haha (the next day though my arms were so so sore 🙈). David says this is when I started to get delusional and kept asking for the doctor who was with another mama having a csection. I kept asking and asking for the doctor because I could tell I was so close to needing to push. Finally I felt the urge so strongly that David called the nurse and she and a couple other nurses came in ready to deliver the baby themselves if they had to haha I felt like I couldn’t relax though until the doctor was in the room. As soon as he came in, I was ready to push and could finally relax and let my body do it’s thing. Believe it or not, it still felt surreal and almost pretend. I couldn’t wrap my mind around the fact that the baby was about to be here. I pushed two times after the doctor came in and everyone was excitedly telling me they could see her! That last push I closed my eyes so tight and the resident doctor said “open your eyes! Look at your baby!!!!” And I opened my eyes and there she was- halfway out of me. The doctor told me to reach over and grab her and I scooped her up and pulled her out and onto my chest. It was the best feeling 😭 Reality finally set in like a ton of bricks as I held her wet and wriggly body and heard her cry and then I was sobbing too. She was here❤️

7 lbs 1.6 oz - my smallest babe yet!

That feeling of "We did it. You're safe in my arms."

She was so teeny tiny that she only fit one little bonnet that I had brought. It could be doll size it's so tiny!

Love at first sight from her big sisters.