Natalie's Birth Story

I wanted to record the events that happened during the labor and delivery of our fifth baby, Natalie Joy Clifton.

My due date was December 15th. I had a prenatal check up on Friday, December 9th, and learned that I was dilated to 5-6 cm. I was really hoping for a baby that weekend while Trent was home from work and Beth was flying in the following Tuesday. My midwife, Melissa Courtney, offered to strip my membranes but we mutually decided it would probably be a good idea to hold off until a time when Trent was around, just in case things went really fast. She agreed to meet me at her office on Saturday mid-morning to strip my membranes. That week was Trent's interviews for his interns the following year. Trent went with me so my friend Simone agreed to come hang out with the kids while we went.

Melissa stripped my membranes and said that I was so dilated that if we went across the street to the hospital they would admit me and break my water. I was hesitant to go that route before I was actually in active labor. After she stripped my membranes we decided to stay on that end of town for a bit, just in case. After Thomas' extremely fast labor we were both a little nervous to be too far from the hospital. We hung around, talked, went to Wal-Mart, got some lunch at Wendy's and then decided to check in to the hospital and be monitored for awhile. I was contracting but not super regularly and not at all painfully. I became pretty agitated because I felt like I'd really rather be at home with the kids. We stayed for a couple hours, sure not positive that we didn't want her to break my water. Eventually I decided I'd rather let things progress naturally so we checked out and went and picked up the kids who were then staying at the Ellingson's house. Both Trent and I felt pretty let down to be leaving the hospital without a baby. Weird little false alarm type feeling! 

Trent put kids to bed at home and I went to Kroger around 9:00 pm.  I knew there was a pretty good chance we'd be having a baby that night and I wanted to leave a well-stocked refrigerator. Plus, after a weird day, I was ready to move around and have a sense of normalcy. About half way through my Kroger run I started contracting regularly and pretty strongly. A few contractions were strong enough that I had to stop and hold on to the shopping cart. By the time I was at the self checkout lane they were strong and steady and I knew it was time to get home. 

I got home, put away groceries, showered and just puttered around the house for a bit. A little after midnight I told Trent that this felt like real labor and we should get to the hospital to avoid an urgent situation :) We called up our neighbor, Jill, who came up to spend the night with the kids. 

It was a very calm ride to the hospital and I really liked not feeling like I needed to push after the crazy ride we had for Thomas' birth. We got all checked in and I settled into bed. The contractions were coming strong and steady but nothing unmanageable. Trent got my music set up and we were ready to do this thing! My nurse kept a really close eye on the fetal monitoring and I think made me wear the monitor more than I've had for previous births which I didn't love. At a couple points the baby's heart rate dipped and she had me lay on my side for awhile to make sure baby's heart responded well. Her rate would normalize when I'd lie down but I sure didn't like laboring on my side during those points. 

After about a 1 hr and 45 minutes I suddenly felt the need to push. The nurse hadn't checked my dilation after my initial check in at the hospital so I think she was a little surprised when I asked her to check me and told her I felt the urge to push. She checked and reported that I was complete and that as soon as my water broke we'd have a baby. I knew at this point that the midwife would likely not make the delivery as the nurse was just now letting her know we were ready. 

I got on my knees and just as had happened with my previous births my water broke and I felt an immediate need to PUSH! It was just Trent and the nurse in the room at this point and all three of us were very calm and quiet. After 2 pushes we had a beautiful baby girl earthside! Oh what a wonderful relief and complete JOY! Trent caught her and she didn't immediately cried so he massaged her and they suctioned her and she began to cry. I was still a little amazed that she was a baby girl. I had been so sure earlier in the pregnancy that she was a boy that I couldn't fully believe it until I held her in my arms. The midwife finally arrived and checked me and gave me a couple stitches for a small tear. I felt really quite good and was able to get up on my own shortly afterwards.

Natalie weighed in at 8 lbs 3 oz. She definitely looked so much smaller than some of her brother's had. I couldn't believe that I was snuggling a sweet and beautiful baby girl.