Tilly

July 5th, 2023 Wednesday morning I woke up still pregnant. Feeling frustrated bring 13 days past my “due date.”

After having prodromal labor for a week I was more than ready to meet our daughter. I was doing everything I could to have her earlier than later. Everything that worked with previous labors was not working this time.

I then realized I needed to let go and trust God that his timing is better than my own. I did try one last thing that day and that was castor oil. My midwife told me to try 2oz and if nothing happened in 2 hours to let her know. At 1:00pm I did 1oz of castor oil to start out with and messaged her 2 hours later saying nothing was happening. She told me to wait another hour. Another hour went by and I began to have stomach cramps and ended up going to the bathroom around 5:30pm.

The thought behind taking castor oil is to cause spasms to the intestines causing stimulation to have a bowel movement which the spasm and stimulation may cause the uterus to begin contracting. I took a shower while my husband went to his chiropractor appointment and our three boys played inside while I stepped away to have a few moments alone. I began to notice contractions but not consistent. To me, I thought it was the nightly prodromal labor I was experiencing the past week.

Around 6:00pm I began to count the contractions and to my surprise, they were anywhere from 2-6 minutes apart, 20-30 seconds in length. I contacted my midwife at 6:22pm to tell her what was going on and that I would keep her posted when I was ready for her to come. My husband walked in the door and I told him, “I think it’s time to blow the birth pool up.” I knew in that moment we would meet our baby girl soon.

It was 7:22pm and I notified my midwife I thought it was time for her to come. She asked me if I wanted her to get ahold of the other midwife to come now as well since she’s closer to my house. I told her she could wait about 30 minutes to alert her to come so they would get here around the same time. Not long after I told her to wait, a strong contraction overwhelmed me and I quickly texted her, “maybe sooner actually.”

Our boys were still home and I told Ross that “I think it’s time we take the boys to Aunt Cindy’s.” He left for 15 minutes and I was getting anxious being alone as the contractions picked up.

In the meantime, I contacted Hanna to let her know I had the midwives on the way and that she should come now too. Ross had just got back from dropping the boys off and Hanna had quickly got to our home around 7:40pm. I’m glad she did as there was a sense of peace knowing there was more support there for us before the midwives arrived. I felt like I needed to use the bathroom so I straddled the toilet and read my affirmation cards over and over while riding the waves of each contraction that passed. “My baby’s size is perfect for my body.” This affirmation was read over and over as the fear of another large baby was taking over me the whole pregnancy.

I sat there for a few contractions and then yelled for my husband to be near me. He said he was here he was just praying for me from the living room.

I soon got off the toilet and came to the living room to labor on my hands and knees while my husband did counter pressure on my hips through contractions. It was around 8:00pm my midwives both showed up at the same time and came in with warm smiles and such positivity you could feel it when they entered the room. Celeste came in and rubbed my back as I worked through the contractions as they got stronger and stronger. I sat with my husband on the edge of our couch to lean into him for comfort. He rubbed my back, my hand, and encouraged me over and over that I was doing great. I remember feeling the need to move to the floor on my hands and knees while my husband continued those affirmations and support. I looked around the room to find Celeste and asked if she could come to the front of me as I felt I needed more support.

I heard Hanna tell me, “relax your shoulders, deep breath in and release.” I did just that the best that I could while riding each wave and onto the next one. I leaned into Celeste holding her hands telling her the contractions were so strong having the feeling of just being done. She told me, “you’re strong and you’re doing it and you’re doing great.”

Moments later without even noticing or actively pushing, my body expelled my baby out with one contraction. I didn’t even have time to process what was happening to catch my baby like I had wanted to and thankfully Celeste was there to notice she was crowning. She told me she was coming, I knew she was coming but it was as if I had no control of pushing as my body was doing it all for me. If you’ve ever been in labor, you sometimes enter this “labor land” where there’s a mental shift moving away from your thinking mind and more into your body and soul. I had entered this state in this moment of labor and returned back as I heard my baby girl cry for the first time.

I then swiftly and gently grabbed her from Celeste after she was born en caul! We didn’t know this until after seeing a photo Hanna took. Tilly Sue Withrow, our first baby girl was born at 8:31pm and she is so perfect.

I was not able to make it into the birthing pool in time to birth there, so my other sweet midwife, Patricia, made me an herbal soak in the pool. She went out to our landscaping and picked some flowers from there and our hanging baskets and added them with the herbs into the pool.

It was the most beautiful thing and so peaceful to be able to transition her outside of my body and to bond with her in the water. Our sweet Tilly girl was worth the long wait!

She was a perfect 8lb, 21in born at 8:31pm on July 5th, 2023. The whole birth team made it just in time as she quickly made her appearance earth side. My body did exactly what it was designed to do and I thank God for that. My baby was the perfect size for my body and I trusted that my baby would arrive in God’s timing. He chose this day for my baby’s birth day and for that, we are blessed to now love our sweet Tilly girl.