Kristin Fields Chadwick

In the greatest moment of darkness, God heard my prayer and truly gave me strength. After writing my last blog, I had a renewed mind and strength. I literally was mentally letting myself be okay with Hoops and Yoyo not coming for another week or two. Little did I know, I only had two more days. Thursday morning I went to my lovely MOPS group, uncomfortable and still pregnant. That afternoon, I had a checkup for the twins. The first thing my midwife said was “Wow! You look like you’ve dropped!” I thought nothing of it since people have been telling me that for weeks now. The appointment was the same ol’ same ol’ check up. How is the rash? How are you feeling? Anything new? And then she checked me and she said basically all signs were pointing to labor quickly approaching or I was in labor. CRAZY! With the recommendation of some evening primrose oil, I headed straight away to Whole Foods and stocked up and did the duty. Not kidding thirty minutes later, I started having some great contractions. That afternoon they continued on and stayed pretty consistent. I was hesitant that this would be yet another false labor. So, we made plans for a dinner outing to Red Robin. Ha. We got to Red Robin and I was already grouchy and frustrated that I had two other children to take care of in the midst of feeling pretty crummy. Thankfully, Josh was turbo Dad and Grandmommy and her friend, Doc, were helpful with the kids. After we sat down and started eating, I said to Josh, “I can’t believe I am at Red Robin right now! I feel miserable!” We quickly ate our food- by the way, I managed to down a nice burger in the mean time and headed straight home to put kids to bed and get this thing started. I finally was getting more and more confident that this was the real deal. We called the midwife and she told me as soon as I thought we were ready to have her come, she would be here. So around 9ish we transferred over to the cottage (my mom’s house in the back) and started the real deal of labor. The water tub was filled after a few minor hiccups and into the water I labored. I soon fell sleepy so Josh and I went and laid down on the bed for a nap of 45 minutes. I remember people saying that you could nap while in early labor, but I never fully believed them…and I proved myself wrong! ha. After our power nap, I made the choice it was time to kick this thing! So for about an hour or so I did some squats and standing trying to relieve some pain and to open myself up. My mom and Josh were so sweet trying to get me to visualize the babies. I just kept focusing on Emerson…to think of both of them was a little overwhelming. So, I dug in deep to what I had learned through practicing yoga and used that. I prayed and listen to my mom quoting Scripture. I clung to my husband’s full belief in me to do this. After awhile of doing that, my midwife checked me again and she was puzzled by my cervix not fully opening and my urge to push through contractions. I was only 6 cm dialated. Half of my cervix was not cooperating, so she tried to help it along while I was contracting but my body was going into protection mode and pulling Emerson back up. So, my midwife left us alone to go get a drink of water. In that short period of time (about 10 mintues), I started demanding where my midwife had disappeared to. I needed to push and NOW! My mom went and got her and she came in and checked me and BAM! my first bag of waters burst everywhere and I was 10 cm. It was 3 a.m. ish…Then Johnny Cash’s song, “Ring of Fire” came into my head (seriously, it did and I laughed to myself). About four pushes later at 3:14 a.m., out came Emerson Jack with the cord wrapped around him but quickly relieved of that and placed on my tummy. He immediately started peeing, which was quite humorous. He was so precious and pink! And it was so relieving. But I knew there was more to do so I couldn’t really focus on Emerson too much. I held onto him with a gentle squeeze as I mentally was preparing for another birth. Sawyer’s heart rate dropped so low that my midwife knew we needed him out immediately. With the next contraction, she reached up broke the bag of waters, pushed the cord behind Sawyer’s head, and down came Sawyer. At 3:17 a.m, Sawyer Luke made his debut into this world. I cannot tell you how amazing it was to have those two boys lay on my chest all cheesy and bloody and healthy and beautiful. It was so surreal. Still is. But wow, they are miraculous and just precious. The love that I feel for them, my husband, my mom, and my other kidlets was/is so strong because of that moment. After awhile of embracing them and getting used to the idea that they were indeed out, we measured them. Emerson was 5lbs. 8oz. and Sawyer 5lbs. 9 oz. Healthy boys! Morning quickly approached as we continued to get to know our uniquely made little boys and we all went to sleep. I wouldn’t have changed one single thing! And I am so thankful for the protection and ease and peace of the homebirth and introduction into this world the boys had.