Fiona’s Birth Story

My due date was May 26^th but all along I had been hoping and praying our baby would come on May 27^th because that would have been Phil’s mom’s birthday. That day came and went and all day on the 28^th I felt like I was living in a time warp. I had no plans for this day. I had expected to have a baby by now. I was officially overdue so I had a midwife appointment in the morning to make sure everything was still fine. They told me I was 4cm dilated and optimistically said maybe they would see me later that night. I hoped so. It was odd having nothing to do and not being able to plan anything. We took the kids out for coffee in Mukilteo, walked around the yard at our new house, and then Josh & Renae came over for pizza. I drank raspberry leaf tea to try to get contractions going and bounced on the exercise ball to bring the baby into position. I went to bed wondering what Sunday would bring.

Around one ‘o’ clock in the morning a strong contraction woke me up. This had been happening for the past few nights so at first I didn’t get too excited. The next few got stronger and stronger so at 1:30 I decided to wake up Phil and ask him to start timing. To my surprise they were happening every 5-7 minutes and starting to feel more real. At 2am I excitedly called the midwife and told her I was still comfortable but they were getting closer. She told me to rest and call back when the were less than 5 minutes or I couldn’t talk through them. Soon I couldn’t stay in bed any longer. I got down on the floor in yoga positions and had Phil bring me the ball to lean and bounce on. I was so excited! This was finally happening! At 3am I got the feeling I wouldn’t be able to walk to the car if we waited much longer. We called the midwife back and started to get ready to leave. Contractions were about 3-5 minutes apart now and in between I was laughing at Phil as he shaved and put on nice pants and a belt. “What are you doing?” I asked him. He said he wanted his face to be smooth so he didn’t scratch the baby when he snuggled her. I was so happy to think that we would be snuggling her soon!

When we were ready to leave we woke up my mom and told her we would call as soon as we got to the birth center to let her know how far along I was before she woke up the kids. By this time I was needing to drop to my knees with every contraction and sway my hips. It was painful but exhilarating, like intense exercise. I could feel myself starting to shiver so I had Phil grab a blanket to cover myself in the car. As we pulled out of our driveway in the cool night air I kissed him and said, “This is happening just like we always wanted!” I always dreamed of the excitement of waking in the middle of the night and driving down the empty freeway in labor. As we drove I had to use the ceiling bar to lift myself with every contraction – now they were just 1-3 minutes apart.

We arrived at the birth center and met midwife Jessica and two birth assistants. The room was dimmed and there were candles lit. After she checked me out and told me I was almost 8 cm, I told Phil to call my mom and wake the kids up. The baby would be here soon! Phil helped me walk to the tub and the midwife said we looked like we knew what we were doing so they left us alone. The contractions were intense but the tub was amazing. Phil put a cold washcloth on my forehead and helped me drink ice water. I was so thrilled that this was happening just how I had hoped. We listened to the birth playlist I had prepared and I prayed silently between contractions.

Soon I could feel the baby’s head descend further and I knew it was almost time. For a brief moment I felt the slight panic I remembered from my past labors – the feeling that maybe I couldn’t do this. I had to tell myself that I had done this before, my body knew what it was doing. Peace washed over me and I felt so present in the moment. I told Phil I was ready to push and the midwife came in. I put myself in the corner of the tub and Phil held my shoulders as a braced myself against the walls of the tub. My exhales came with sound, which surprised me, but it wasn’t so much a sound of pain, just a sound of recognizing my breath. I could feel the baby’s head move through me as my body was becoming two bodies. The midwife quietly announced that her head was out and she had her hand in her mouth. One more push and I felt her whole body pass through me. “Baby!” I cried, and suddenly she was on my chest. I heard one little squeak of a cry and looked down to see my daughter, purple and squishy, laying under my chin just like I always dreamed of. At first I didn’t recognize her. She has so much hair and she was bigger than what she felt like. We guessed almost 8 lbs. Phil kissed me and kissed her and we stared in awe.

 

Moments later mom and the kids walked in. “Come meet your baby sister”, Phil told them. The first thing I noticed was that they were fully dressed – Vivian in her church dress and glittery princess shoes. Mom explained that they were so excited they wanted to get dressed up and pack bags of stuffed animals before they came, which is why it took so long. I had kind of wished they were there for the birth but it was ok because they were here now. They peered in the tub and touched her head. Vivian exclaimed how excited she was that the baby was purple because purple was her favorite color. Soon she opened her eyes and turned pink – Vivian said that was ok because she liked pink too. I was surprised how good I felt in comparison to my past deliveries. I felt strong enough to stand up so Phil held the baby as I got out of the tub and dried off. As I stood I noticed the sky brightening outside. She was born just before dawn at 4:49am.

The kids followed me to the bed and hovered over as I held her and began to breastfeed. Phil asked if they wanted to know her name and as they gathered around he announced, “This is Fiona Louise Blomberg.” We explained that her middle name was for their Grandma Kathy, who was in heaven, because their birthdays were close together. Then we rested and snuggled and everyone took turns holding her. Later, Mom took the kids to watch a show in the family room for a little while and Phil and I sat in the bed holding Fiona. Mom called dad and texted the rest of the family. After a while the midwife came back to weigh and measure her. “9lbs 2oz!?!” that couldn’t be right so they reset the scale and tried again. Sure enough, it was correct. I couldn’t believe she weighed nearly 3lbs more than Liam and 2lbs more than Vivian. And she was 22 ¼ inches long! She went through the checklist and Fiona checked out perfect on all categories. She checked me and I was doing good as well so I got up and dressed and we packed up to go home.

 

Around 7am we pulled out of the parking lot and Phil jokingly asked if I wanted to go to church. By now I was so happy and relaxed that I could hardly keep my eyes open. I was hungry so when we got home I asked mom to make us pancakes and I ate them in bed before falling asleep with Phil by my side. We woke up hours later and it was the best thing ever to realize that today was our daughter’s birthday and we were home with all three of our children. No NICU this time, no nurses telling me when I could feed her and waking us up for blood pressure checks. No plastic pillows. We were home and everything went exactly how we had hoped. What an amazing blessing.

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