As my due date got closer (and I became more impatient) I decided to pray the surrender novena which takes 9 days to complete. I was hesitant to start it and told Luke that I probably would stay pregnant until I finished it and he laughed and said God doesn’t work that way…..fast forward 9 days later and I’m still pregnant. Haha! We prayed all the novena prayers together that morning and when we finished I had a huge contraction! Which was unusual, I had been having contractions for about a month but not until afternoon and evening. I went about my day and at 4:30pm I started having contractions fairly regularly but I had kind of gotten used to them and wasn’t sure it was anything. At 5pm we called the midwife and I was worried she would make the trip over for nothing. Because I was pretty sure at 4 days over my due date I was just going to be pregnant forever, haha!
I got dressed in my swimsuit cover, because I planned to have a waterbirth, and the midwife arrived at 5:30. She began the process of bringing all of her things in and listened to John’s heartbeat. I was standing as she checked him and I started to shake as I tried to stand still. That was the first moment I was “pretty sure'“ this baby “might” actually come. I asked if we should get the tub set up and the midwife gave me an “oh sweetie” smile and said we wouldn’t have time. As the midwife bustled around and my 3 big girls bounced around with chicken strips in their hands and asked if the baby was really, REALLY coming I said that I was starting to feel pressure. I began to lean my forearms on the side of the bed during contractions (which almost didn’t stop in between) and make my “humming moan” sound which makes Luke like to declare, “I know what THAT means!”. I started to feel like I couldn’t stand anymore and climbed on the bed and began pushing. The “humming moan” evolved into screaming and the midwife exclaimed “My goodness! He has SO much hair!” and later told me she wanted to say, “Holy smokes his head is huge!” but didn’t want to discourage me, haha!
So 6 minutes after I started feeling pressure and at exactly 6pm (6pm and 40 seconds according to Hannah with the super official clock) our sweet baby boy was born! June 3rd, 9lbs 3oz and 21 1/2” long with a 15” head (that’s as big as they come!). We named him John Basil and he was our first baby born at home, our first to go over due date and definitely our biggest baby! Luke got to catch him and Hannah cut the cord and it was the best birthing experience I’ve ever had!.
So for that big head to squeeze through his face got a little smooshed and he ended up having some swelling that made his jaw tight. It turned into a really hard start to nursing with even his biggest and best latch giving me scabs that felt like being stabbed with needles as he nursed. I am so grateful my midwife continued to check us at the house daily and had her lactation consultant come see me and help me with exercises to loosen his jaw and positions that would be the least painful as I healed. As this was all happening we were preparing to move cross-country! Luckily I didn’t get sick with mastitis, though I felt I was off and on battling to not get it even after we moved to Wisconsin. Now 2 months later I think we’re finally out of the woods (though literally much more in the woods, ha!) and happily breastfeeding.
So as crazy busy as this has all been we are enjoying Wisconsin so much! Everything is SO green, the trees sparkle with fireflies at night, the people are so friendly. And the moisture has been great for my skin! Our house and property are still kind of a mess but our friends sent their 2 teenage sons to help us for almost a month which made a HUGE difference! We have our animals all situated now. We brought cows, sheep and goats with us and got pigs, chickens, turkeys and 2 barn cats here in Wisconsin. Here’s a few pictures of our new place:
We started this post with baby pictures and now we’ll finish with them….Dutch baby pictures! Our family loves to make these. They are very quick to make and cook in the oven while you make other things on the stove and make it feel like a holiday. Throw in berries or softened apples if you want. Make sure that everyone is assembled when you are ready to take it out of the oven because it will be SUPER poufy and everyone will cheer and it will fairly quickly deflate so don’t miss it! We make it in a cast iron skillet and cut it like pie pieces but you can make this in a pan too. Size isn’t too important as long as you are ok with it puffing bigger or smaller. We double this recipe for a 14 inch skillet (and it kind of puffs more than it’s supposed to) but it should be about perfect for a 10 inch.
Dutch Baby Pancake
Makes one 10” skillet
Ingredients:
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole milk
2 large eggs
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter
Berries or softened apples (optional)
Powdered sugar and maple syrup to top
Method:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees
Warm the skillet in the oven for about 10 minutes
Mix all ingredients together except the butter.
Remove the skillet from the oven and melt the butter in it. (Add apples now if desired)
Pour the batter into the skillet (add berries now if desired) and put in the oven.
Bake until puffed and lightly browned, about 15-20 minutes. With our bigger skillet it takes closer to 30 minutes.
Remove from oven (with mandatory clapping and cheering) and dust with powdered sugar. Serve with maple syrup, jam or fresh berries. Pairs wonderfully with bacon (but doesn’t everything?).