Nora Marie Brown was born on August 15, 2020 at 4:56pm. Her weight was 9lbs 10.5oz Head 37cm, Chest 36 cm, length 21inches and no stitches needed.
This is her birth story. The week before Nora was born Jaron put our three oldest kids on a plane to Utah to go to Lake Powell with the my parents and some of their Hoopes cousins. We knew it was very possible that the baby could be born while they were gone, but they decided to go and create memories with their cousins since they will get to see Nora for the rest of their life. I kept Ruby behind, and when she felt a little sad at first, I promised her that she could have a play date every single day with a friend and then she was excited to stay.
Earlier in my pregnancy I had had a 10 week ultra sound where I had been given the due date of August 18th, but at my 20 week ultra sound the baby was measuring so big that the radiologist said "Well, either you are going to have a 10 lb baby or your dates are off". He wanted to change my due date to August 7th. My midwife did not like that idea, and insisted it was still a due date of August 18th. Mentally I just cleared space for the possibility that I would have the baby sometime in between the 7th and the 18th, all the while fully believing that I still might have a ten pound baby, because I felt so big!
A few days before Nora was born I had a full night of regular contractions that turned out to amount to nothing, so on the day she was born I still thought I might be having false labor. I'm getting ahead of myself though. The weekend Nora was born we were supposed to have a huge heat wave, and I did not want to be pregnant through it! So on the day she was born I woke up and thought to myself "Today would be a good day to have a baby". We decided to pull out all the stops to get things moving. We looked up some acupressure techniques and Jaron pushed all the buttons it told him to. Afterwards we went walking on the soos creek trail. After that we walked some more at home depot picking up things for our bathroom floor project. I started to feel really crummy when things took longer then expected at home depot and decided to finally just go put my feet up and wait in the van while Jaron gathered the supplies he needed.
We got home from home depot around 2:00 and Jaron immediately realized he had bought the wrong saw blade and had to go back to home depot, isn't that the nature of home projects?! Haha. Ruby decided to go with him, and I had big plans to deep clean my bathrooms while he was gone. It was the last thing on my to-list before I had this baby. But I was feeling pretty crummy and tired and just wanted to lay down and put my feet up, so put my feet up I did, and I began watching natural birth videos to get me in the right mind set. I swear as soon as I laid down, the contractions started coming. They were coming pretty much every five minutes and were hard enough to notice, but again, I thought I had already been here a few nights ago and it had gone no where so I wasn't going to cry wolf until the wolf was there. Jaron got home around 3:00 and joined me with Ruby as we watched one last natural positive birth video. As we were watching I casually mentioned to him that I had been having contractions regularly for an hour and thought this might be the day that I have the baby. I had originally invited Ruby to come to the birth, and she had said she wanted to come, but then looked at me and said "Wait, will you be naked?!" When I answered affirmative to her question she had then decided she didn't want to come. After watching this birth video however and being some what more aquainted with birth, I strongly suggested she should come with us, and was able to convince her. I told Jaron that I was feeling these contractions more strongly now, and would he help Ruby pack a little bag and come check on me in the bath in a little while. It was the first time he realized that this really was it, and he seemed really excited and said "Ok then. Yes. Lets do this!". As I stood up a really hard contraction hit that bent me over in pain. I really wanted to get in a soothing bath, because things were starting to hurt. As I filled the bath up, I thought I better call the midwife and let her know things were moving and I would probably be in sooner rather then later. During the phone call I had few contractions that made me stop talking for a minute. The midwife didn't seem rushed with me coming in so I said I would just be in touch. As I hung up the phone and looked at the bath, the thought hit me that if I got in there I would not be getting back out until the baby was born, and I had the strongest feeling to call her immediately back and tell her I was coming right in. I made the phone call. "Chris- I think I better just come in". "Ok- I'll meet you there in 25 minutes".
Immediately after hanging up the phone I felt like I had to go to the bathroom and my water broke in the toilet. Things started moving quickly after that. I threw on some basketball shorts and a sports bra and t-shirt, stuck a towel in between my legs and went to the top of the stairs and yelled down to Jaron that it was time to go. He had no idea at all the happenings upstairs and was expecting a few more hours at least. This news shocked him greatly and caused him to run a circle around the inside of our house and not actually accomplish anything. This was hilarious later as we thought about it. I told him to just get in the car. Ruby jumped in the car and we were off for an uncomfortable car ride, where every bump had me squirming in pain. Jaron called the midwife on the way and let her know my water had broke and could she have the tub ready.
Upon arrival I walked in to the birth sweet, said hi quickly, went pee, and stripped as fast as I could to get in the tub. The midwife was talking to me quite casually, and I was having contractions that were making me breathe real deep and wince. I arrived at the birth center at 4:28pm and at about 4:50 I said to everyone's surprise "She's coming!" I then got on all fours and the midwife said said ok I'm coming. She was wearing white shorts and a blue blouse, and had intended on changing after gathering my information, but their was no time. Nora's head came out like a wrecking ball, it hurt like crazy. That ring of fire talk is real business. I cried/screamed. The midwife told me to wait until the next contraction to push her body and it took everything in me to wait, but wait I did, and then come sweet Nora did. I felt relief immediately after pushing her out and the first thing I said was "You know, that was doable". Chris, my midwife told me to reach down and grab my baby, and when I did the bath started to fill with blood. The chord had broken. This wasn't a danger, because the midwife quickly clamped the chord and the baby was just fine, but I realize now, that if I had waited any longer to go into the birth center, and had the baby in my own tub, that I wouldn't have even known what to do if the chord had broken and it could have been a very scary situation. Looking back now I realize for sure that feeling to call the midwife back and tell her I was coming in was definitely a prompting from the Lord, and I'm so grateful for it.
Sweet Nora was here. I looked up at Jaron. He told me I was amazing and kissed me. I looked for Ruby and she was nowhere. I said "Where's Ruby?" He said "Ruby, come here". Ruby came and looked at the baby, who was sputtering and trying to breathe for the first time. They got the baby out of the tub, and the next step was to get me out, but when I went to stand I immediately got light headed and sort of fell back down and rested my head on the edge of the tub. The midwife wanted to get me out of the tub, because the tub water was growing a dark red. I had apparently lost some blood which is why I was feeling light headed. The midwives got me out of the tub and onto the floor on a bed of towels. They took my blood pressure and it was low. Really low. They had me drink water and eat some sugar and checked again and it had dropped again so they got an IV with some fluids in me and it immediately worked to bring my blood pressure up. I was so ready to be done with any pain and just lay in that big king sized bed at the birth center with my baby. I was able to stand up without fainting but felt a bit nauseous still.
I went to the bed where Jaron and Ruby were doting on baby Nora. How sweet she was. The next few hours went by in a blur of heaven. Their was such a peaceful feeling in the birth center. It felt like sacred ground. I thanked the midwives for the peace I felt, and for the kindness they showed me. They were so relaxed and hushed with their voices. They let us have our time together as a family and came over to check on me and send us on our way to rest in my own bed at home. We got chipotle on the way home and I felt so tired. On the car ride home I asked Ruby what she thought of being their and if she was glad she came. She said she was, but she said "Mom, you know I cried?" I said "No I didn't know you cried Ruby, when did you cry, and was it a happy cry, or a scared cry, or a sad cry"? She said "It was a scared cry, because you were crying, and that made me scared". I realized now, that was why I couldn't see her right after Nora was born, she had walked away and must have been crying. Poor girl, but she was prepared and knew this was part of the process.
I'm so grateful. Full of love, and in awe at God and all his goodness. The human body is so amazing! It really feels like a privilege to get to be a part of a birth and delivery, almost an out of body experience where you get to witness what the human body is capable of and made to do. So from start to finish this labor lasted about 3 hours, which is pretty stinking ideal.
The next four days with just Jaron, Ruby, Nora and felt like the celestial kingdom. Time seemed to stand still. Literally. This baby just feels so sweet and special, and I feel so happy to have her here with our family. Nora Marie Brown. Marie is after Grandmother Lola. That was her middle name. So she is named after a special lady. Nora is just a name we think is beautiful, just like this beautiful soul that God has blessed us with.
