The Birth Story of Finnegan

The first moment we held our son after 10 years of infertility.

The Birth Story of Finnegan Michael.

October 12, 2016; 7:03 pm; 6 lbs; 19" long

On Saturday, October 8, we went to Post Family Farms with my family. I was determined to walk this baby out sooner rather than later, so we walked everywhere. You could also find me running, yes, running, to the bathroom, and heading out on bumpy hayrides. The next morning the baby had dropped. Score one for momma!

The next day, October 9, I experienced next-level Braxton Hicks that seemed to get more regular as the day went on. I started getting excited and thinking maybe we'd actually go into labor soon, but I was wrong. A good night of sleep stopped them in their tracks.

Monday was uneventful.

Tuesday, October 11, I woke up feeling... different. There is literally no other way to describe it, not bad not good, just different. I noticed my sense of smell was outrageous, I could even smell the ink in the pens! I arrived to work at 9 am and as I was taking off my coat I had a contraction that, while it wasn't strong, was not a Braxton Hicks. I can't explain that either, it was just... different, and I knew it.

All day, I was off and I knew it wouldn't be long deep down but I didn't want to get my hopes up. At lunch, my mom asked if I wanted to go out for lunch and I was all over it. Mexican, yeah!! Bring on the spicy food! I added jalapeños and the spiciest salsa. I ate for an army, too! The rest of the day I had contractions that were irregular and not strong. The more the day wore on, the more I knew we'd be having a baby in the next day or two.

When I got home we had a meeting with the lady from Mom's Bloom about having a volunteer come after the baby was born to help around the house. We made dinner, cleaned up the house a little, and relaxed on the sofa watching one of our favorite shows, Dr. Who. Jason says he was mentally preparing for what might happen soon.

We had gone to bed relatively early, probably 9 pm because we were both tired. At 11:27 pm I woke up to a contraction that was way more intense than earlier, I mean, it woke me up. I tried not to get my hopes up, but gosh, how do you not?!

An hour later I got up because I'd had two more contractions. I decided to walk around and just see what would happen. The contractions didn't stop but I told myself I needed to rest while I could so I went back to bed.

At 4 am I couldn't stay in bed anymore, it was just uncomfortable. So we got up and I decided to time the contractions. They were about 7 minutes apart. By 5 am they were 5 minutes apart. At that point, we timed for a bit before calling Yolanda to let her know it was baby day! We also called my mom and Jewels (our good friend and photographer).

It was Wednesday, October 12. The sun came up and it was a gorgeous morning. A little windy but beautiful nonetheless. A perfect day to have a baby. By 8 am Jewels arrived and about a half-hour - 45 minutes later my mom arrived. Contractions stayed regular. I had taken a shower and we were just walking around and I was trying to continue eating and drinking.

The contractions were pretty bearable at this point. I went through almost every contraction hugging on Jason and swaying my hips. We decided to go for a walk around the neighborhood. What a sight, I'm sure! We even brought the dog. This sped up the contractions too.

Yolanda came to check on me at about noon. At that point I was 100% effaced and dilated to a 3, the baby was -2. The contractions were still mild/medium about 5 minutes apart unless I sat down, then they were 6-7 minutes. We agreed to check in with Yolanda by phone and she instructed us to get some rest while we could. So my mom and Jewels left to get lunch and we sat down on the sofa for a nap and watched our show.

We had fallen asleep and about an hour later I was woken by a strong contraction. I heard a pop, jumped up, and my water broke at 1:36 pm! Game changer.

It was kind of funny... I looked at Jason and I was like, "Honey! My water just broke!" He just looked at me like, "Yeah, I know." I ran to the bathroom to clean up and we called Yolanda.

Yolanda instructed me to sit on the toilet for 10 contractions and then to shower. I did what she asked and it sucked. Contractions on the toilet were so uncomfortable for me, but the shower was nice. By the time I came out from the bathroom, my mom and Jewels were back to the house. At this point, the intensity from the contractions began to build. I no longer wanted food. I couldn't talk through the contractions anymore either, I needed to concentrate.

At 4:00 pm they reached an intensity that I told (read: yelled?) to call Yolanda and have her come. This was getting real and I needed her here. She apparently laughed when she answered and for the first time, it wasn't me on the line. She said that's how she knew it really was time. She said she would be there in about 30 minutes.

At this point, it was raining, but I was unaware of this until afterward.

When she arrived I had hit transition and it was all I could do to get through it. It felt like chaos. What did get me through was kneeling, leaning on the sofa, Jason putting pressure on my low back, and my mom or Jewels holding my hand and telling me to breathe. I needed to be told to breathe.

When Yolanda arrived she told me to sit on the toilet again for as long as I could. I didn't understand why until after the baby was born but apparently, he wasn't moving down. We now know why, but we were trying to get him to move down so pushing wouldn't take long.

At 5:30 I felt the need to push and I literally couldn't sit on the toilet anymore. I was dilated to 10 and the baby was still -2. I started pushing.

This is where everything came to a head for me. If you don't know me, and even if you do, you may not know that I used to have seizures from pain. I've been in an ambulance twice because of it. I was scared to have a baby, but we had peace about it so we chose to birth at home. Nonetheless, I had to face my fears. Pushing a human out of your body will do that. It'll make you feel like a warrior. But first I had to deal with fear. Pushing hurt for me. Probably because the baby had his hand by his face. I also had more pushing to do because he stayed -2. There were several times during pushing that I didn't breathe and thought I'd pass out, which exasperated my fears of a seizure. It wasn't until I looked my mom in the eye and voiced my fear, "This is what I was afraid of", that she understood. She looked at me and with a fierceness, only a mother can have, she said, "You will NOT have a seizure, Jenny." Something let loose in me and I was able to push our little man out.

Jason was amazing. He was solid and never left me. He encouraged me through it all and held my hand. He was exactly what I needed.

At 7:03 pm our baby was born. The moment he was earthside, I heard his name in my head. Finnegan. They put him on my chest immediately and we cried. I cried because I was done, I cried because our miracle was here, I cried because he was healthy and perfect and tiny and amazing. I cried because, at long last, we were parents.

At that point, Jason checked and announced we had a son! I already knew. I knew in my heart. We looked at each other and knew he was our warrior. We knew he deserved a warrior's name and we named him Finnegan.

He's our perfect miracle, sent here for such a time as this. He spent extra time in heaven because God knew exactly when he needed to be on this earth. I couldn't imagine my life without him and I'm so excited to continue watching him grow.