I was beginning to think this baby would never come. 39 weeks 1 day was the longest I had ever been pregnant up until this time…and here I was 39 weeks 2 days and the little one still seemed content to be staying put.

Then, at about 10:00 on Tuesday night mild contractions began to ache my abdomen. By 11:00 they were 5 minutes apart and quite uncomfortable. At about 11:30 I decided to get into the tub, labor there awhile, and see if they would continue or subside. So, with a tall glass of lemonade, a good book, and a clock, I sat in the bathtub for the next 3 hours, doing a lot more concentrated breathing than reading or sipping lemonade. When the contractions were about 2.5 minutes apart, I called Justin in to start timing them for me, as I could no longer pay attention to both the clock and the pain that was gripping my midsection with painful regularity. About 30 minutes later my mom came in to do the timing so Justin could prepare to leave for the hospital. When they were 2 minutes apart and lasting about a minute each, we went ahead and put a call in to Lisa, my midwife. I was still feeling like I could labor at home for awhile longer but Lisa thought it was better for me to go on in, since the contractions had been so close together for so long by that time and there was a good chance that the baby was getting close to coming.

When we got to the hospital at around 3am, I asked Lisa to check my dilation, just because I was curious. I was only 6-7 cm so I got into the tub and worked some more. I had not slept at all so far that night and actually found myself falling asleep between contractions when I laid my head on the edge of the tub. Lisa suggested that I lie down on the bed to see if I could get a little rest before the harder work ahead. I was able to doze between contractions but when they became so intense that I could not lie there any longer, I just gave up on resting. Lisa checked again and I was 9cm, but my water had not broken yet and the baby was still floating around up high, not yet engaged. In hopes of using gravity as my ally, I walked around, got into the shower, sat on the birthing ball, did some squats, even pushed some, trying to get the baby to start moving down. After some time of this and seemingly little progress, Lisa suggested poking a small hole in the sac so that the water would begin to slowly leak out and make room for the baby to drop further into my pelvis. So, at 8:30 am, she poked the hole and Cindy (another midwife) pushed on my belly, prodding the baby to move down and over. When I finally got back into the tub after some more walking, the contractions were becoming fierce. The baby descended pretty quickly and by 9:00 or so I was in the throes of the “I can’t do this/I’m going to die” stage. After about 4 screaming pushing contractions the head emerged and on the next push, the rest of the body entered the water. Lisa quickly unwrapped the cord from around the baby’s neck and pulled the little purple body up out of the water and into my arms. I patted and talked, willing the little one to make a noise. When that first bold cry finally erupted, someone asked , “So, what is it?!?” I had forgotten to even look! I pulled the slippery body away from me and announced with surprise, “a boy!”

It took us almost 2 full days to name him. I wanted Jasper, Justin and Ethan wanted Caspian. In the end, we compromised on a name we had discussed but not even seriously considered until that point.

We are proud to introduce you to our 5th child and 3rd son:

Ezra Jude Allen
April 23, 2008, 9:26am
7 lbs 12 oz
20 inches
Beautiful

We are so blessed.