Ezra’s Birth Story

Ezra's Birth Story

Ezra Moon Tyler…

our beautiful sweet 3rd baby and only boy was born on November 29th at 8:25am

Happy First Birthday to my baby boy!

This has taken me a whole year to sit down and write. I didn’t feel ready to share not because of anything traumatic or crazy just simply felt like it was mine and in my own time, I would share the ins and outs of the birth I felt grew me the most.

So here we go, I’m actually not sure how to write this, how many details do I give, or do I share everything leading up to the birth?

All of my births have been so different; each with their own kind of magic and excitement. With Leighton’s birth, the nurses didn’t believe I was even in labor so they made me wait to see my doctor for two hours. Once I finally did, I was almost fully dilated. She just came right out! Aurora’s birth, however, had three false alarm trips to the hospital with some rude and rough nurses completely annoyed with me… She took a little longer and labor was totally great but once the on-call doctor came in and wanted to break my water…LONG story short I didn’t let her. Once I set my mind to it, my water broke and she was out within 20 minutes. All natural unmedicated births. Now, Ezra Moon was something very special… my first and only (because we are done) home birth.

This little dude had not one, not two, but three guess dates. yep, this kid is a wildcard and everyone says the 3rd is always a little wild but wow this little moon baby has given us a run from the very beginning. He didn’t come near any of those three dates, by the way! Nope, this little man decided to come on week 42 the very day I was told I would have to go to the hospital because in Tennessee you’re not allowed to go past 42 weeks.

I went into labor on November 5th (first guess date) after 4 hours of walking and strong contractions. I waited for them to get 3 minutes apart for over an hour before I contacted my midwife. When she came to check on me my body shut it off. I completely stopped (this shows how much power your mind has over you) because of my fear of having to go to the hospital. My body just kept shutting down. I actually did this two more times and every time I would stop. I kept letting the fear creep in. The night before my 42-week mark, on November 28^th, my mom came in town. So she, Jason, and I all sat on the couch watching movies waiting for labor, praying for it to start, but every time I even thought about the hospital my body would halt. I texted my sister late that night to tell her what was happening, and she told me… “breathe your trauma is in the past and you don’t have to relive it.” She told me to tell my body “I am safe, I am loved, and I have time.” See, my birth with Rori was holding me back. My body was holding in the trauma that I went through with the doctor and nurses preventing me from fully going into active labor. But as soon as I sat back on the couch and prayed those words my body relaxed and I felt his head drop.

So, side note… two weeks before at my 40-week ultrasound they literally couldn’t take his measurements and had to send it to another location because this little dude’s head was so large! so we had worries that he might have trouble engaging. I did do some belly binding to help him a little.

I felt my body release all my trauma and worry. I felt safe and free so I told my mom to go get some rest. I was determined to have this baby so I kept speaking those words “I am safe, I am loved, I have time” and each time my contractions would get a little stronger so at 3:30 am I told Jason to contact my midwife and let her know they are 2 to 3 minutes apart and have been for 2 hours. She arrived here at 4 am. I was pacing the floor of our bedroom, doing my breath work, and trying to constantly focus on the words that were helping me. Kissing Jason, holding him, letting the oxytocin out, listening to whatever my body might need to help my baby. I hit 6cm when the midwife arrived. I felt like I was in a good groove, a good head space walking the room swinging my hips, rocking back and forth on all fours, with praise and worship music going, the diffuser pumping out valor to keep my anxiousness down and my strength up.

I was starting to feel the exhaustion kick in. I wanted to sleep so badly! I laid down on the bed to rest for just a few minutes but as soon as my body started to drift off and relax I felt a strong contraction. I went to get on all fours but I felt like I couldn’t move and right when I tried to roll over my water broke. The biggest relief came off my belly (I was holding almost too much fluid) but after closer examination, we realized the water had meconium. So we had a choice to make… be transfer to the hospital, or go through with my birth at home just hoping he hasn’t inhaled any of it. so we prayed, we woke my mom and had her pray, and Jason said, “I have peace.” I felt it too so we stayed.

Now that my water has broken I’m at 9cm, the contractions are more intense and really only in my back. So I walk, stop, and squat. Jase pushes my hips to relieve some of the pressure. I would get on all fours on the bed to let my belly hang and pull the pressure off my back during a contraction. My back was the only pain I was having. I wish so badly I could be in the pool but with the risk of meconium and him being fairly large that wasn’t really an option…so I got in the shower and let the hot water relax me. I would put my hands on the wall and squat letting my belling hang to relieve any pressure during contractions. At this point, I could feel Ezra engaged and I knew it was time so I got out of the shower where the midwife could monitor his heart rate easier. I wasn’t comfortable on all fours anymore so I found squatting against the end of the bed was taking away 80% of the pain in my back. I wanted to push but Ezra’s heart rate started to go down slightly so I moved to the floor with a pillow under my back and head I was on my left side with the doula holding my leg and hand and Jason and the midwife ready to guide Ezra out. My pelvis wasn’t moved enough and I felt nothing down there. The pain was only in my lower back. I felt the urge to push and as I took a deep breath and pushed I could literally feel my pelvis shift and his head was crowning, still feeling nothing down there. My midwife put some pressure so that I would be able to feel while pushing once she did that I felt his head come out and heard Jason start praying because his little hand and cord were by his face (the reason my back was in pain). His heart rate started to lower so the midwife acted quickly and put me on oxygen to better help him. I felt a contraction coming and my body pushing him out so I let out one more push with all the strength I had left and felt my entire body let go and my baby was now laying on my belly. The midwife started suctioning him to ensure no meconium was causing any damage. I felt my body start uncontrollably shaking as my bleeding was very heavy (from the low iron). I didn’t care as my focus was on my baby and wanting to hear him cry I pulled him up on me and rubbed his back and he let out the sweetest sound a mother could hear! and we all cried and praised God for his faithfulness. My bleeding, however, wasn’t slowing down. so my midwife gave me something to help. Once it slowed down, the trembling stopped and Ezra found his own way to my breast to nurse for the first time.

As they cleaned me up I heard the girls at the door asking to come in! I couldn’t wait for them to meet their precious new brother! They couldn’t wait to hold him and love him. The midwife let them help with so much. They got to see and learn about the placenta and even help weigh him. While we all took guesses about the weight, we were all shook when Rori came the closest with her 13lbs guess while bottoming out the sling scale at 12 pounds

It was a beautiful, emotional experience with lots of laughs, chaos, cuss words and a bit of magic, our handsome boy was born.