Unintentional Home Birth

Did you know that there's a spot on the birth certificate form

for an "unintentional home birth?"

Neither did I until a few days ago.

So, if you're curious to see how our 4th little Carter 

made her way into this world, read on.

Some background information:

Original due date: June 16th

Due date according to 20 week ultrasound: June 10th

Previous baby births:

Macy-induced, 5 days before due date

Coleman-water broke at home, contractions at the hospital started 1 1/2 hours later

Quincy-water broke at home, contractions started at the hospital 2 hours later

I started having contractions around 3pm on Saturday afternoon while Brett and I were at the park with the kids.  I use the term contractions lightly though, because they weren't super consistent and weren't painful.  When got home around 4:30, the kids went outside to play while Brett and I worked on our church lessons for the following day.  Around 5:30, I noticed that my contractions were becoming a little more consistent (about 5 minutes apart), but they were still very short (20 seconds or less each).  I decided to call the hospital to see if they thought I should come in.  (Remember, the whole "wait our your contractions at home" thing is new to me.)  The nurse told me that I didn't need to come in yet, and that I should just take a bath, put my feet up and see if anything changed.

Oh. It. Did.

Around 6pm I started getting a little nervous about waiting around and decided to call my mom (she was going to be the one watching the kids) and ask her to come up.  At this point, Brett and I figured we'd rather go to the hospital and get sent back home than get stuck at home delivering a baby.

Little did we know!

At this point, my contractions were still 5 minutes apart, about 20 seconds long, but were getting a little more painful.  Brett left to go drop off our various lesson stuff with the people who would be covering for us the next day "just in case," while I sat on the couch to wait.

At about 6:15, my contractions suddenly got really intense and by 6:21 my water broke.  Brett got home right about the time I made it to the bathroom to try and clean myself up before we left for the hospital.  We were trying to figure out who to call to come sit with our kids until my mom got there, when I had my first post-water-breaking contraction.  I remember saying something to the effect of "call 9-1-1 RIGHT NOW!"  Brett skeptically looked at me and said "9-1-1?  Are you sure?" (I can't say that I blame him, up to this point I was still sure we were going to go the hospital.)
What followed were probably a string of random cuss words out of my mouth....can't say I really remember anything except being completely terrified of the thought of giving birth at home.
  

Brett calls 9-1-1 and the dispatcher ends up walking Brett through the steps of delivering our baby (I think I had one contraction between telling Brett to call and the contraction that pushed the baby out.

About 3 minutes after Delaney was born, the fire department and paramedics arrived.  They were all fantastic.  After making sure Delaney and I were okay, they let Brett cut the umbilical cord, then loaded us up in the ambulance and took us to the hospital.

Our first picture of Delaney (in the ambulance!)

I love this picture...Brett and I laughing at how

ridiculous we must have sounded to the 9-1-1 dispatcher.

So...would I ever do it again?

1,000 times no.

But, I do feel the need to mention how extremely grateful I am for how everything went down,

considering the circumstances.

I'm grateful for Brett, and his ability to be calm under pressure.

Grateful for the neighbors who came running when they saw the fire truck

and ambulances in front of our house.

Grateful for the competent, caring firemen and paramedics who made sure

that both Delaney and I were okay.

And grateful for all the family and friends who have reached out to us, 

offered help and congratulations, and laughed with us about how 

completely insane this whole thing was.

What We Did {May}

May kept us busy with lots of 

end of the school year stuff.

Macy finishing up her last bit of homework for the year.

This is how most afternoons look when she's on the computer working on homework.

The other kids love watching her and she is always super patient with them.

Coleman had his end of the year kindergarten program.

First grade, here he comes!

Macy's second grade program was the following week.

Here she is singing "Firework" by Katy Perry.

We celebrated Mother's Day.

This is the bag Macy decorated for my gift with my favorites things:

a sloth, a cactus, a turtle and the sun.

She knows me pretty well!

Quincy has become obsessed with bubbles since going to nursery,

and the rainy weather hasn't allowed for much outside time,

so we've taken to blowing them in the house.

(Good motivation for me to mop the floors afterwards.)

When the weather was nice,

the kids always gravitate towards the trampoline.

They LOVE when Brett jumps with them.

My two handsome boys heading off for 

the Father Son breakfast.

(Little did we know, Miss Delaney would be coming that evening!)

At the Hospital

Soccer Stars

This was a fun soccer season for our family.

This is the first time Macy has ever played,

and it was really neat to watch how much she improved over the season.

The Whiskers

Melanie, Macy, Kate, Nora, Lily

Chole, Carrerra, Sam, Laina and Aleaha.

We missed the first half of Coleman's season

(his age group was full by the time we tried to sign up)

but got him on a team for the spring.

The Transformers

Coleman, Gabe, Kyden, Coach Sarah

Judah, Ezra and Zack

Easter Morning