A productive journey....

My trip to Ohio was just Flammtastic :)

I arrived on Saturday evening. Melissa was several days "overdue" with her baby, and since no signs of labor were happening, we just hung out. Her mom was there from Florida...and had been there for 10 days! She was flying home on Monday a.m. so we were praying that this baby would arrive before then. Well, after lots of walking and massing of pressure points....nothing. Nada. Zippo. No bebe.
Monday morning arrived, and Lynda (Melissa's mom) departed in sad spirits. She had to be at work on Tuesday a.m. and she had already extended her trip. We were all bummed.
That evening, Melissa and Kambra (a dear neighbor and friend of Melissa's) went to the Cheesecake Factory for desert. Nothing like sugar to heal a wounded heart! It worked like a charm :) Tuesday morning (the day I was flying home!) I awoke to Melissa telling me that it was time. TIME! We flew into action. Jim (her dear hubby) set up the birthing pool and got things ready. Melissa was contracting regularly, but not in any discomfort....yet. We put everyone on alert for "the call" that it was time to come over. Lynda, Melissa's mom, was devastated. Finally she decided to tell her boss that babies and family are more important....and she jumped a flight back to Ohio!!! She had been home less than 24 hours. I do not blame her in the least.
So....labor intensified a bit by the early afternoon. At around 1:30 p.m. we called the midwives to tell them to mosey on over. The contractions were spaced out a bit, but the actual contraction had gotten much longer (over 1 minute in duration) and Melissa was saying they were strong.
The midwives arrived at around 2 p.m.
A bout 2-3 contractions later, we were in business. Melissa was no longer talking to us and being jovial (she had been in great spirits the whole day). Instead she was leaning on Jim and trying hard to relax through the contraction.
3 contractions later, while standing in the kitchen (she had been walking around) she said she felt like pushing.
WHAT?!
Okay! Let's have a baby!!!
We threw her in the birthpool and called in the kids. (Deacon, 5, had been at a neighbors playing and Maddie, 2, had been napping).
17 minutes later, we watched as Melissa expertly gave birth to her 3rd baby!!! Deacon and Maddie were right there in the thick of it, watching the birth. Deacon had a big job...to announce the sex of the baby!!! He was very excited to say, "It's a girl!!!!"
52 minutes after the midwives arrived.
20 minutes before her moms plane landed in Ohio.
1 hour and 15 minutes before I had to be at the airport for my flight.

Praise the Lord, He is so gracious. The birth went so well....the baby was extremely healthy (10-10 APGAR) and Melissa needed no repairs of any kind. The baby, Sophia, was born inside her bag of water! The waters never broke and so she was born still inside. This is a fairly rare occurrence and they baby is considered to be very good luck (and even psychic to some) when this happens. It also eases the birth for the mom....so all around, a good thing. :)

Below are some of the birth pictures. Not to worry....I left the graphic ones out.









Melissa and I (and the baby!) two days before the birth.














Her kids, Deacon and Maddie.










In labor, resting on her bed.













In the birthing tub. One of the midwives was helping until Jim got in the pool.




















I was the vidoeographer and kid-helper. Deac was SO EXCITED but Maddie was just wondering why we awoke her from her slumber. :)

Melissa announced that she felt the baby and was about to give birth. Deacon turned to Maddie and said, "Maddie! Guess what?!....."
(at this point everyone in the room was going, "Aaaawwww" cause he was going to tell his sister what was about to happen....)

Deac "Tomorrow I have baseball!!!"

Even Melissa laughed at that one.







She is here! Welcome little Sophia!










We love you....











The happy family. Well, except Maddie. She looks a tad irritated.









Daddy and his new little girl.

Did I mention she weighed 9.4 pounds?! :)