by: Jennifer Leonard

 I was 39 weeks and I had contractions off and on for a few days. I had been walking in the evening to help ease things along, as I didn’t want to shoot for a *third* 42-week pregnancy. The night of November 2nd I was up yet again with contractions that were going from 2-3 minutes apart, to 3-5 minutes apart, and just got further and further apart until they were gone about two hours after they started. I went to bed frustrated. I had many nights like this over the past week, and it was tiring me. During the day I was pretty low-function due to the lack of
sleep, and it was tough to keep up with the seven other kiddos I had at home. I was pretty ready to meet our #8!





 After waking up November 3rd, I made breakfast for everyone, and started our nice lunch of Lasagna. My parents, sister, and nephew came over to eat with us and have a visit. During lunch I noticed that I was cramping and just feeling “off”. Then I started getting lower back pain, and lower belly pain, along with some serious tightening in my belly. This raised the alarm for me. I knew that if this was the real thing it could potentially progress quickly. My labors had been getting closer and closer together the more kiddos we had.

 I started timing things, and they were 2-3 minutes apart. Having already experienced this at night, I was really hoping to feel things get stronger before we headed in to the birth center. Things got a bit more serious; I had to pause during contractions now and was doing some good labor-breathing through my nose. I told my hubby we needed to call the midwife. She told us since they were so close together that we should definitely head in. My sister took over care of my kiddos, and my mom planned to stay the night with them for us. They are amazing women!!

 On the drive towards the birth center hubby and I laughed between contractions (typical for us), and he guessed I’d be a 4/5, while I was thinking the worst– I’d be told I was only at about a 2. ::snort:: Things got more intense, and I started to feel a bit more pelvic discomfort as we came up to the front of the birth center. We pulled into the parking lot, and I paused a few times on the way in, breathing through some tough ones. We walk into The Green Room and I don’t look like I’m even in labor. Things slow down for a moment. It’s a full three minutes before I have a contraction, and that one is pretty mild compared to the ones I had on the way over! Carey checked me and informed me that I was definitely a 4/5 and that baby’s head was nice and low, with the bag of waters “rightvthere”. Whew! Hubby is goooood! I guess he would be after 7 children, huh?!

 I labored for a little while, sitting on the ball, and walking aroundbour room– then I got into the tub and things got more interesting and *fast*. I told everyone I was starting to feel pushy, but somehow it didn’t feel like this was going to be as easy a delivery as my last. His head felt huge to me somehow. I told them I wanted out of the tub— so Carey and hubby helped me onto the bed where I pushed while on my hands and knees. Ohhh yes. This was *much* different! I would push, and his head would come down, and then slide back up after I stopped pushing. Any woman in labor will tell you that this feeling is such a defeating feeling. You feel like you did all that
work…… for nothing. Ugh.

 Carey suggested I get into a different position, so I managed to get on
my left side and I tried that way. I am *so* glad I listened to her wisdom! I pushed another time and a half and his head was coming out now! Whew! With the next push, his head was out, but so were his hands, and the cord was wrapped all around him like a ribbon on a present, and he was born *in* the bag! Ack! I can’t see what’s going on but Carey, the nurse, and my hubby are all acting excited about what’s happening. Carey got to un-wrap my son, like a present, and remove the bag from his
face so he could breathe. She placed him on my belly, and he immediately started to cry. We captured his precious first cry on video, and I have listened to it over, and over, and over.




 What a miracle he is! Our 8th child, our 2nd son!
Thomas Eugene LeonardIII 
was born on November 3rd.





 We got to the birth center just before 4 pm,
and he was born at 6:23 pm! He was my fastest, but most difficult labor, and is our precious little gift. Having a baby born with his hands on his face, the cord all in the mix, and *in* the bag like that was so very intense. I’ve never experienced anything like it. I am so thankful for WBWC! This is our 3rd baby born there, and if we have a 9th, we will definitely choose to have him/her at WBWC! I love this group of wonderful women and feel blessed to have been able to share my births
with them.