Chloe Elizabeth Foster

WOW! It has been a long time since I've posted on here. Sorry about that. Life has been crazy.

I just had a baby!

A baby girl!

Yes, after having four boys, it is possible to have a girl.

Isn't she beautiful?

Introducing...

Chloe Elizabeth Foster
Born 6+7=13 (cute right?)
10 lbs 4.5 oz (I know she is huge!)
22 inches

I was expecting this birth to be very similar to all the others, but it wasn't. Every one of my boys was born within 5-6 hours of labor starting. Not the case with this little big girl.

It all started with a non-stress test at the birthing center. I was 40 weeks and 5 days pregnant, and they had to make sure that everything was still going good. Chloe decided that she wanted to sleep instead of pass the test, so we were sent to the hospital to do the non-stress test and bio physical ultrasound. That took up most of the day on Thursday. Everything was fine with the tests. By the time we were on our way home at around 5 pm, I was having regular contractions, but they weren't very painful. After a couple more hours, I knew labor had started.

I knew that I was going to need to get some rest, but couldn't sleep. I was too excited, and the contractions weren't really easy to sleep through. They were painful, but not bad at all. This continued  all night long. By 6 am, I was still having contractions every 5 minutes, was dilated to about 6 and I was still smiling and laughing with my doula friends.

I decided around 10 am that I was going to go into the birth center and see if there was anything we could do to try to speed things up. When I got in there I was dilated to 7 and we tried many different things to get things moving. I was walking, squatting, going up and down stairs, drinking herbal tea, we tried some homeopathic stuff too. Nothing was working.

I finally reached a point where I was exhausted. I hadn't slept in over 24 hours. I was in tears. I knew that I wouldn't be able to push this baby out if it didn't happen soon. I was done. I was broken. The only thing that worked to lift my spirits, was my dear friend that knew exactly what I needed. My husband and two doula friends laid their hands on me and prayed for the strength from Jesus to get me through this. I didn't have the strength to continue, and what I needed was Jesus to take over. He did. That was my turning point. I opened my eyes after that prayer and felt a new burst of energy. I was ready.

The midwife suggested breaking the water to speed things up, and did this just after 2pm. From that point on, I was in severe pain. If you have ever given birth naturally, you know what I mean.

Everything went really fast. I got into the tub because I wanted to do the water birth thing like I had done with Simon. What you have to realize, is that things don't always go as planned with birth. Things were going so fast, that Chloe kind of got stuck. She didn't turn her shoulders. There isn't really easy access while in the tub, so my hubby lifted me out and laid me on the floor, while I have a head sticking out of me. The midwife turned her shoulders and told me to push once more. I did, and she was born.

Jameson who is 7, was taking pictures this whole time and did great in the midst of the chaos that was going on. He was a little worried, but after things were explained to him, he was fine.

Once Chloe was laid on my chest, I knew exactly why she had been stuck for a minute. She is huge. I am so very blessed to have a chunky healthy girl.

I look back at everything that happened in the 24 plus hours that I was in labor and the thing that was most important to me was having the people around me that would bring me back to what was really important when I was broken. They knew my focus had wandered away from Jesus, and they brought me back to Him.

I remember my doula telling Jameson that he needed to just sit and watch this because this is where you will see just how strong mommy is. I told him that this is actually where he would be able to see just how strong Jesus is and how He works through me.

I think that this was my best birth experience. It was very humbling.

The last thing I have to say is that baby girls cry so much different than baby boys.