Hello! Baby girl is here & sweeter than I could have imagined. She’s now a few days old, and I wanted to write out her birth story while it is still fresh in my mind.

Esmae Noelle Klassen was born Febuarary 28th, 2023 at 5:13 pm. Two days after her due date! Which didn’t feel like a long wait considering my others where born at 42 weeks, 40+4, and 41+2.

I would say things started happening the night before with loosing the mucus plug and bloody show (hopefully its just Mama’s reading this😳) That has always been my sign that labor is near. I was up that same night with some strong but very irregular contractions. I knew it wouldn’t be true labor until they picked up some patterns of consistency. Luckily had a prenatal appointment scheduled that next morning. Because I’m a VBAC Mama I have to drive an hour away to see a provider and a hospital that allows VBACS. So I made sure our bags were packed and the carseat was loaded up just in case we needed to stay after the appointment!

Arnie had his Mom come and watch the kiddos so that just the two of us could go. It felt special since with our busy lives and schedules we haven’t been able to do a lot just the two of us. We made the drive and I was having a contraction every 15 or 20 min. But I would sometimes miss one all together. I felt confused if this meant imminent labor or if it could be another day or two.

We arrived to the clinic a little early, so we curb walked outside and grabbed some fresh juices from a juice shop near by. I ordered this pineapple, ginger, cayenne juice that was truly amazing! 😋 I also thought the combo seemed oddly labor inducing? Also I feel like I need to mention I was wearing a full on lounge/pajama set because I needed to be comfy! I forgot my shoes, and was literally walking around with slippers on. Haha. I got so many looks. But also a lot of sweet comments of congratulations.

10:30 we head into my appointment. The doctor checked for dilation and said I was at 2cm. Which was more than the 1cm I was at last week, yet still didn’t really tell us how soon it could be. He told us to get some rest and to wait until contractions were coming closer and more consistent for an hour or two. We left a little unsure if we should drive back home or wait it out here closer to the hospital. We decided to do a little shopping/walking to test the waters so to speak. We walked around Ranch and Home and I started having more contractions. I would say 5-7 min apart. Afterwards we decided to get lunch at a taco stand. I said I only wanted two but he ordered me four and I devoured them. 😂 My contractions slowed down in the car, so I was still debating what to do. We knew the kids were well taken care of, so we decided to go to the Mall and walk around for an hour.

The Mall. At this point it just felt like we were on a date which was really fun with no kiddos. We shopped a little, looked at baby clothes and WALKED. It wasn’t long until my contractions picked up. Arnie started timing them and they were 3 minutes apart and lasting 45ish seconds each. But in-between I felt great so we just kept walking. I got a Starbucks and we meandered more. It started to get comical as we stopped every 3 minutes to breathe through a contraction. Remeber I am in pjs and slippers too.😂 We made our way back to the car, it was coming up on an hour. At this point I knew we were staying and heading to the hospital soon!

Since we driving the Tesla we decided to stop and charge it up real quick. Well contractions got strong during that point, and I was starting to feel ready to get checked in. I called the clinic and they said to head there and my Dr. was In a surgery so would already be at the hospital. We decided to stop at a grocery store to pick up a few snacks/drinks for the hospital. I told Arnie there was no way I was gonna walk more and stayed back in the car. I was contracting every 2 minutes. Luckily the hospital was only a mile away!

Hospital. We parked at the hospital which was a different building than last time and had a brand new birthing suite. I got out of the car stooped for a contraction, walked to the sidewalk, had another contraction, walked to the entrance and had another contraction. I could barely get checked in between contractions. I would say they were 1 min apart. We went up an elevator to the birthing suite and I was feeling it!!

They got us situated asap in our room. I had the sweetest nurse who was a peppy blonde who was 26 weeks pregnant herself. She had to move FAST to get me an IV, paper work, and finally the epidural!🙏I was 6cm at 3pm.

I was breathing through some really strong contractions-so they gave me the drug that takes the edge off while the epidural is kicking in. I suddenly felt all warm and fuzzy and like someone just gave me 20 sleeping pills. I told Arnie I was so thankful for modern medicine. Hehe. It seemed like after this things happened so quickly. They were waiting for the epidural to take full effect before they put the catheter in. But the Doctor came in to check me first. He said I was already at 10cm. I had two options- I could rest a little or push now. I chose to push now and meet my baby as soon as I could! There was no time for a catheter, and my water had broke on its own. I pushed for maybe 2 minutes and then they had me feel her head. I pushed once more than the Dr. told me to reach down and pull her out.😳That was a first for me, but truly such an amazing and surreal feeling. She was perfect. Tiny, pink, and crying.

She was born at 5:13 around two hours after we made it to the hospital. Fourth babies do not play around. Obviously the not as beautiful things happened next, the placenta, and getting some tears stitched up.

We did skin to skin and she wanted to nurse right away. It was amazing.🤍

The nurses measured her in at 7lbs 4oz and 19.5 inches long. A little smaller (but not much) than my others. A truly tiny princess.

We were able to go home after 24hrs, which was so nice because I go stir crazy in a hospital room.

Now we are home. Settling in, and adjusting to all the things! She is so snuggly and sweet. Scarlet ADORES her & the boys are mildly interested in her.😂

Thank you for reading. And I am thankful I have this all written out and saved.

Sending all the love to pregnant & postpartum Mama’s.