Samuel's birth story

Dear Family & Friends,

We have received so many wonderful notes of encouragement and congratulations regarding Samuel’s recent arrival and with that have come a lot of questions about his birth and the week after. As one can imagine, my time on the computer is limited, so I compiled a note to fill you all in at once. Thanks for all of your prayers, your visits, and the wonderful meals. We’ve been blessed by your love and support. ---LAUREN

Samuel Quinn Davis Greenlee was born January 28, 2010 at 4:50 AM, weighing in at a healthy 9lbs. 1oz. and measuring 19in. in length. Although Samuel’s due date was not until Valentines Day, we had plenty of indicators that he would come early. At 36 weeks I started exhibiting pre-labor symptoms that required me to be on bed rest for a week. Once we made it to 37 weeks, it seemed almost every day (or rather, night) I would go into labor. Around midnight, contractions would start at 4-5 minutes apart, then go to every 2-3 minutes apart each lasting over a minute in length… only to completely come to a halt as the sun would begin to rise that morning. It was painful, tiring, and altogether frustrating since I was not making much progress dilating throughout the whole process. I felt like the “boy who cried wolf” as three nights in a row we called in our midwives, thinking we were in for the real deal only to find out it was just pre-labor. The day before Sam was born we had a sonogram performed to make sure everything was okay. Everything about this kiddo was measuring large and our midwives wanted to make sure everything was alright. One concern was that I might have poly (excess fluid around the baby), which thankfully the sonogram confirmed was not an issue. It did, however, show that Sam had a layer of fat around his tummy that could be associated with gestational diabetes (something that testing had confirmed negative throughout the whole pregnancy). So, it seemed if it was not one thing it was another! While our primary goal with the sonogram was making sure Samuel was alright, it was also a wonderful opportunity to see what our little bundle looked like. The imaging center we went to was amazing and performed several 3-D and 4-D images… we received many pictures of our beautiful little guy, one of my favorites being one where he was smiling at us in utero!

The night of Samuel’s birth our primary midwife decided to spend the night at our house as she had a gut feeling that he was coming soon. The night before we had tried natural induction- castor oil/clary sage massage as well as taking caullophyllum throughout the night- which got things going but did not result in a baby in our arms by the end of the night. Wednesday night we tried the same thing, only my midwife gave me a sedative to help me sleep for a few hours so I could get some rest before contractions got too unpleasant. Around one in the morning, I got up and paced the halls of our house determined to do whatever it took to have a baby that morning! Nick & our midwife got some sleep while I walked around our house for a few hours (remember, we’d been going through this every night for days so they were exhausted!). Around 4:20 in the morning I went into the boys’ nursery and leaned over Luke’s crib in exhaustion; when I stood upright I heard a loud POP which took me completely off guard. Even though it didn’t hurt, it sounded like a bone breaking or ligaments tearing, which concerned me. I woke our midwife to explain what had happened but from that point on everything was a blur. The noise was, in fact, my water breaking- a sensation that was new to me because my doctor broke my water when I was in labor with Luke so I didn’t know there was a sound associated with it (plus, I didn’t actually lose any fluid when the sound occurred). When my midwife checked me I was still only 4cm dilated so I’m sure she thought I had a low pain tolerance when I started yelling at the top of my lungs! What none of us could for-see was that I was on the fast track to having a baby from that point on, going from 4cm dilated to having a 9 pound baby in my arms all within 20 minutes time! Talk about a wake up call for poor Nick who was in a deep sleep when I started going into active labor! We had prepared for a water birth, with a hospital grade birthing tub set up in our kitchen just waiting to be filled with warm water when the time was right. Nick immediately started filling it with a hose, but also ran back and forth from the bathroom filling stockpots with warm water from the tub! With how fast everything progressed, we were fortunate to even be able to follow through on a water birth. The tub was only half-full but it did the job… after hopping in and giving three pushes, Samuel was born!

I could tell even when pregnant the differences in Luke and Sam’s personalities. Luke was a live-wire at night, moving around the most when I was laying in bed, where as Sam reminded me of his presence most during the day. While we’ve continued to have our fair share of sleepless nights (what parents of newborns don’t?) there is a definite difference in the boys’ demeanor towards bedtime and pretty much everything else! Samuel is very laid back and calm where as Luke had colic and cried all the time (don‘t worry, we don‘t hold that against him now). It has almost been necessity that Samuel’s personality be that way as it’s been a huge transition taking care of two under 20 months! It has truly been God’s goodness to us that Nick has two more weeks at home with us before starting his new job, because I have relied heavily on his help during this time. He has been such a servant, taking care of domestic responsibilities, Luke, and myself during the first few days.

As some of you know, we had a scare five days after Sam was born. We had his bilirubin levels checked on Tuesday and they were so high, he was admitted to Children’s Mercy for two days (during that time he was in a phototherapy incubator and on an IV). It was very hard for me to watch him in there, especially with the IV in his forehead and with how many times they had to draw blood for testing (he had around 12 heel pricks performed over three days), but it was for the greater good and he recovered quickly.

We are now at home, trying to establish our new sense of normalcy. I can’t tell you how much we have appreciated all your prayers over the pregnancy, delivery, and Sam’s recent visit to the hospital. We have been blessed by your friendship and support and if you haven’t already seen him, we look forward to introducing you to our newest addition soon!