Levi James Stovall was born March 11, 2010 at 6:40 in the morning.  He weighed a surprising 7lbs 15oz and was 21 inches long.

How different can two births be?  I now know, every baby joins us in a unique way.  This is Levi’s story…

On Sunday March 7^th I was very sure he was going to be born at any moment.  The menstrual pains I felt before having Piper was happening again.  I was having contractions that I could time for a little while and then they seemed to fade away for a few hours.  By Monday night, I had my mom move in with us.  Richard was so busy at work so our plan was for Mom to stay and help with Piper.  I was walking around and doing housework and cooking dinner.  All the while, having contractions.  I could time them to be about 12 minutes apart for hours.  My lower back was aching and I still had the cramping feeling.  Tuesday was my regular midwife appointment.  I told them I thought I was in labor.  I was hoping they would keep me there.  They hooked me up to monitors and confirmed that I was having contractions.  When they did an exam, they determined I was only 1 cm dilated.  Not near enough to stay at the birthing center.  I told them I was having fears of the pain.  I was scared I would go into labor and scare Piper.  The midwife told me to take Tylenol PM to help with the pain and try to sleep as much as possible.  If I could make myself go to sleep then my mental fear wouldn’t interfere with what my body needed to do.  So, that is what we did.  I slept most of Tuesday night and Wednesday during the day.  My mom went home for a change of clothes when Richard got home Wednesday night.  I was finally having contractions closer to 8 minutes apart.  I was so tired of waiting for this baby!  Finally, I felt like I had leaked a tiny bit of water.  Could it be that my water broke slightly?  We called the midwife and she asked us to come in so she could check me out.  Mom got back to my house around 11pm Wednesday night.  Off Richard and I go to the Birthing Center.  I rode in the back of the van with blankets and pillows.  Having regular contractions but nothing like the pain of driving to the birthing center when I had Piper!

Roswitha met us at the center.  We went to the Windsor room.  The Santa Fe room, where we had Piper, was taken by another family.  Roswitha checked me and said I was only at 2 cm!  I couldn’t believe it!  I had been having contractions for days with no movement.  Because we live over 30 minutes away, she said we could stay at the center as she was there anyways with the other mom in labor.  So, there we sit…waiting….

My friend Carrie went to my house to watch Piper.  My mom came to the Birthing Center to be with us.

I felt better just being there and knowing Piper was in bed and the drive to the center was behind me.  Several hours later, the contractions got to be painful enough so that I needed to concentrate on my breathing to get through them.  Still, not the kind of pain I remembered with having Piper, I just felt so tired of the ongoing discomfort.  And still my water has not broken. It was determined the water I thought had leaked out was not my water breaking.  Roswitha let me get into the tub around 2am.  It is always such a great place to be.  Then the water went cold.  And we are still waiting for something to change.  I am now really having painful contractions like I remember them being the first time.

It has been so many days of deep breathing and waiting that I feel an urge to give up, pass out.  I remember mom calling for Roswitha.  My eyes rolled back and they took my blood pressure.  I was ok, just so weak from the long hours.  They decided to give me a magical herbal concoction that helped me relax.  We all half slept for about 30 minutes.  That was SO nice!  My wonderful mother stayed awake to make sure I didn’t fall asleep in the tub and drown!  Richard napped at my head.  All of us wrapped around this big bathtub!

After our nap, Roswitha checked dilation again.  I was a 7 or 8!  Progress!!  She said that if my water hadn’t broken within the next hour, she would break it.  Back to breathing and yelling through contractions that were about 2 minutes apart now.  After about 45 minutes of this, Roswitha came into the room.  She had looked at my chart from when I had Piper.  Piper’s birth went so fast after my water broke.  She decided to break my water and see what happens.

It is about 6am.  We got out of the tub and onto the bed.  I laid on my back and made Richard lay with me and hold me tight.  I was afraid it was going to hurt.  She pulls out what looks like a crochet hook and in no time at all, there is water everywhere.  The birthing team wants me to use the restroom.  I did with out any problems.  I was surprised at how little pain I was in at this moment.  They told me that losing the water pressure would relieve some of the contraction pain.  Back into the now warm water.  Someone changed out the tub water while I was away.  In no time at all I am back in pain.  It feels lower and slightly different but I thought this is what contractions are going to feel like without the water sac.  I am crying, mad that this labor is still happening.  There are 2 midwives, two assistance, mom and Richard all around the tub.  The pain isn’t stopping and I am trying to climb away from Roswitha and up towards my mom.  Then, Roswitha says to me “Leanne, there is nothing stopping this baby from coming out now except for you.  You must calm down and do this.”  I didn’t realize that this was “IT”.  I got back down into the water and was saying out loud “OK just let me calm down, I need to calm down, calm down…”

Time to push and I am SO tired.  She says push harder and I’m thinking this is all I have!  There is no strength left in me.  I ask her if I can get up into squatting position because it worked so well with Piper.  She warned me that she wouldn’t be able to control tearing if he dropped too quickly.  She really didn’t want me to do this but I wanted to and so I did.  In a deep squat with Richard holding my arms, I am able to push deeper than before.  I am only in this position for one contraction but it worked.  Levi has moved lower.  Home stretch now…the burning pain.  As much as this hurts, I was so happy because I new this labor was almost over!  As Roswitha is slowly helping the head out, she is saying how much bigger a head this is than we thought it would be.  It is strange in a water birth because the baby can stay under water since he hasn’t put any air in his lungs yet.  So, now the head is out, Richard is getting into position to do the rest of the birth.  We are waiting for the next contraction that arrives quickly.  While we are waiting, we are looking at this amazing little boys head with the body still hidden.  It lasted just long enough for me to think, “Should he really be under water this long?”  Time to push one last time!  Richard pulls out his little boy and moves to put him on my chest but…the cord is too short!  He couldn’t lay any higher than my belly button. It is 6:40am and my baby is finally here.  We are told we will need to move to the bed again to do the blood cord banking.  Levi is so low down, we don’t know how to get me out of the tub and hold Levi at the same time.  Richard decides to pick me and the baby up and some how manages to step out of the tub holding both of us.  We are surrounded by people, ensuring Richard doesn’t drop anyone onto the floor.

The cord is so thick Richard has to struggle to cut it!  Short and thick, Roswitha explains to us, this is why labor took so long.  With all the contractions I was having, Levi should have been getting pushed lower and lower so his head could put pressure on the cervix to dilate it.  He was held up high with the cord, so no pressure was applied.  When we broke the water, he dropped and everything happened in 40 minutes.  They drained the cord blood into the banking kit and then I had to push out the placenta.

Finally, rest with my baby.  It was a long road, but here we were together on the bed, in awe of this amazing little boy.  He was so alert and strong!  Moving his head from side to side, checking it all out.  Recovery happened with no problems.  They let us stay as long we wanted and we decided to try and sleep a little before going home to Piper.  We knew once we got home to her it was going to be several hours of introduction and pictures.  We were home by 3:15pm.  Levi meeting Piper is one of the most special moments of our lives.  We are so lucky to have two healthy children.