On January 17, 2025, we welcomed our third baby Theodore Jason! His birth was a WILD one and honestly kinda fun (if you can say that about childbirth)!
Everything about this little guy’s presence in the world has already been such a gift from the Lord.
Backing up…
Two years ago, my prayer for Lucy’s birth was that it would be redemptive. My birth with Eloise was really traumatic in a lot of ways and I knew if God didn’t redeem the experience of birth for me, I might be done having kids.
Long story short, Lucy’s labor was hard and long, but so beautiful and so redeeming. This time around, we were hoping for something even more beautiful: a peaceful home birth.
We had been told that insurance would cover about half of the home birth expenses, and at 39 weeks we called them just to double check.
The answer was no. I was devastated. I hate hospitals with their lights and their poking and tests and needles.
I had been so looking forward to a water birth, surrounded by twinkle lights and candles and music. But I suddenly had to re-adjust all of my expectations and mentally prepare for another difficult hospital birth, with all the pokes and all the needles and the lights and the way that labor always stalled when I walked into triage.
The days past my due date dragged on, but we were cranking out lots of home projects, making lots of freezer meals, and I honestly wasn’t too upset about it. The only aggravating thing was that I kept having prodromal labor contractions that would start and stop and I’d get my hopes up every time.
41 weeks and 4 days along, I had more minor contractions in the morning, but the girls were cranky and I was cleaning the house, so I was able to keep myself distracted.
By the time we got the girls down for naps I started really noticing my contractions but they weren’t bad. Then at like 4:00 I had to start breathing through them. So far, this timing was identical to Lucy’s birth and I thought “oh boy it’s going to be a long night.” I was managing fine but starting to get really fearful about transition and pushing (because with the girls those both lasted for HOURS).
So I started praying for mercy for that phase of labor, and I got in our beautiful new bathtub that Caleb had finished a week before.
Our doula arrived at 6:15 and we talked through when to go to the hospital. I said ideally before transition labor started because transition in the car sounded horrible. Then around 8:00 I started getting the shakes and I knew I’d suddenly hit transition. I said, “if we don’t head to the hospital NOW, we’re going to have this baby in the car.” My doula and Caleb weren’t so sure. But then I got up to use the bathroom and had 3 really intense contractions right on top of the other, and everyone realized it was definitely time to go.
The next part was a little bit of a blur. Our ring camera shows us walking out our front door at 8:28. I got on my hands and knees in the middle seat and held on for dear life. Caleb took a wrong turn. I felt the need to push while we were still in the car. We pulled up to the hospital doors. They were locked. We had to ring the after hours doorbell. The security guard said, “how can I help you?” Caleb froze. In the middle of a contraction, I screamed, “I’M IN LABOR!”
They asked me to sit in the triage chair. I said “no way.” I sat on my knees, backwards on a wheelchair. Someone said, “Do you think you could push, hun?” I gave an emphatic YES. They pushed me to a room, got me onto a bed, got my pants off, checked me, said “you’re complete!” and I was so unsurprised yet so relieved.
And he was out in three pushes, 8 minutes after we rang that doorbell.
And the car was still running out front. 😉
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