I like to record this information in the boys baby books. I actually refer back to them as reference and its neat to get all the details down! I tried to remember all the info that I could! I had such a great labor/ birth experience this time around. I did it all natural with no pain medication at all, no cervidel like they did with his brothers, started at home and I stayed at home, and got to labor mostly at home. God answered all my desired prayers for this labor and delivery. He’s awesome!

November 15th at 12:19 AM Spring woke with consistent contractions about 15 mins apart for about an hour or two then they started to go down to 10 mins apart. All able to handle at home. About 3:00 they moved down to 7 mins apart. About 6:30 in the morning they got down to consistent 4-5 mins apart. Some of those got pretty painful but I really had it set in my head to relax and breathe and that worked! It wasn’t easy but it worked! I was able to walk around some at home, took a bath but our hot water heater must not have been working right cause the water wasn’t hot enough! I sat on my exercise ball and labored some there too. Brian was a huge help timing the contractions and being there with me. Adam woke with an earache at about 4 am, and then 5am, and went back to bed. My Mom came down to the house at about 7:40 am. The boys hung around a while and then headed across the street to Aunt Hope and Uncle Viktor’s house to go to church. My contractions were very consistent. Every once in a while I’d have one that was 7 mins apart. I had called the dr. at 6:30 letting her know I was in labor and how far apart they were (thinking she was in her home in Ojai) but she was actually at the hospital already. She wanted me to go ahead and come in. I told her I’d talk with Brian about it but that I would see her at some point this morning. Guess she didn’t understand that because she was waiting for me at the hospital and called Brian at 9:30 (at home) and was a little annoyed because she thought we were coming on in. We decided to go ahead and head out because they were getting kind of painful and were staying consistently 4-5 mins apart. We arrived at the hospital, parked in the emergency parking lot. Had a contraction on the way to the entrance. Then up to labor and delivery. They got me set up in my room. They put the bands around me for a bit to check heart rate & my contractions. The whole time his little heart rate was perfect! No distress at all! At 10:55 I was 6 cm and 80% thinned out. At one point I had to throw up, which was no fun…. Cause I can’t stand that! Almost worse than labor for me! My contractions were still 5 mins apart. Our Dr. was actually so sweet and just made the experience wonderful. We thought she was gonna be snippy because we didn’t come right in earlier in the morning when she thought we were, but she was wonderful. So caring! Much better than my other birth experiences with the other dr.! Also all the nurses were so great!

At 12:10 I was 7 cm and 100% thinned out. Luke Samuel was still pretty high up in there and needed to drop. She broke my water, which was fine with me at this point. The contractions started getting really close together and more painful of course. At 12:40 the contractions 2-4 mins apart. They were getting pretty hard! Wow, its hard not to TENSE up with those kinds of pains!! Dr. Barnes said at this point it would be about a ½ hour until he arrived. She was pretty much right on. At 1:15 I had a huge urge to push and they ran in and set up at 1:20, and out he came at 1:24. Only about 4 mins pushing this big guy out! Brian got to cut the cord and the placenta was easy coming out. He was 9 pounds 4 ounces and 22 inches long! Biggest baby I’ve had! I love how I held him right away and got to nurse him. He latched right on and loved eating! They bathed him in the room, weighed him and everything! Love that. Then we moved up to room 718. Brian even got a bed!! I took a shower at 7pm which was nice! I was hanging on with adrenalin I think, because I was shocked to not be more tired! I honestly think doing this all natural had a big thing to do with how I felt after birthing Luke Samuel. And the fact that I was just so ready to go after I had him! Brian and I both hate staying at the hospital! We got to leave 11-16-09 at 1:00 pm. We had to wait on the Pediatrician to do the circumcision

I have to say my coaches were the best ever! Brian early on wasn’t feeling well at all (in the night at home) but God helped him to feel better so he could help me! Brian was so great with me during labor too, helpful with anything I needed. I especially loved the moments we looked eye to eye and he even got me smiling during some really hard labor moments! He’s amazing! Mom was the greatest too. She was right there with me on the other side with a cool cloth in hand and helped me breathe! I could NOT HAVE done this with out them!!

No pain medication! No stitches! Laboring at home too! I was amazed! God is truly glorified. We prayed soooo much for this little guy and for this labor and delivery. God gets all the credit and I’m sooo thankful for our little Luke Samuel Kraft, a little guy we all prayed for for many years!