I got pregnant with Grace just 7 months after Abby was born.  We were elated and so excited at the possibility for another home birth.  Around 7 weeks into my pregnancy, I began with horrible morning sickness.  It was so odd because in 6 pregnancies prior I had never been sick (other than some nausea brought on by odd smells).  My sickness quickly turned into hyper emesis gravidarium where I could not keep any food or liquids down except one particular soda.  It was hard, especially since I was studying midwifery and working a midwifery apprenticeship at the same time.  God again was merciful and I did not need any IV fluids and was able to maintain some normalcy.  It helped that I was very overweight and although I lost 57 pounds, the baby appeared to be growing well. 

Around 31 weeks, my midwives put me on bed rest to try and increase Gracie's size (she was quite tiny even though she was growing steadily) since I had been so sick through the entire pregnancy.  The hope was that if I nibbled constantly in small amounts all day long while being completely sedentary, I might keep the food down.  It worked and I spent a week in bed and gained 11 pounds back.  At 32 weeks I was allowed back up and was still keeping food down in small quantities and with rest while eating.  I took a much needed trip at 33 weeks. 

My baby shower for Grace was planned on the day I turned 34 weeks and we were having guests over for dinner the night before.  It was about 5:30 pm and I was finishing the final preparations for our meal when I noticed a slight tightening around my back.  I ignored it thinking it was just from being on my feet all day.  We enjoyed our dinner all the while I was having these twinges throughout.  Around 8 pm while we were sitting in our front room with our guests chatting, the twinges distinguished themselves more clearly and started moving around the front of my abdomen.  I recognized them as contractions but still waited thinking they were so mild and some good relaxation with cal/mags and water would take care of it.

Our friends left around 10pm and by now the contractions were about 5 minutes apart lasting 45 seconds.  We decided we had better call our midwife (same one from Abby) and ask her to just come and check on us.  She arrived around 10:30p and I was dilated to 4 cm.  We called the head midwife and she asked our feelings about being so early.  My husband and I prayed about it and told her we would call her back.  We prayed and prayed and prayed some more.  The one midwife with us shared the concerns or potential dangers with a baby born at 34 weeks.  My husband looked at me and asked me if we believed God knew what He was doing or not.  I did, so we had a peace about staying at home.

At 1 am, the contractions were getting more intense and the midwife checked me and I had finally hit 7cm.  We called the other midwife to come and I settled in my natural plateau.  We spent a lot of time in the shower.  The pains were sharper with Gracie, I always say it was because she knew she was early and was holding on for dear life not to come yet.  ?  After my 3 hours at 7cm, I was begging to have my water broken again, however because Gracie was so early, the midwife felt it best not to break it.  She wanted to give Grace all the protection that water would afford.  So I struggled to relax and made it another hour to 5am when I hit 8 cm and my water broke on its own.  Within two contractions, I was at 10 cm and begging to push.  She ok'd my pushing at 5:25 am and our Gracie was born at 5:30 am.  Our other children woke up to hear their tiny little sister take her first breath.  Grace weighed just over 4 pounds and was 19 inches long.  She was so tiny but she was strong and she nursed immediately which showed us how strong her little lungs were.  Although she had some slight retractions we gave her a little room air and blow-by oxygen while I nursed her.  She was perfect and we were so happy we had chosen to trust the Lord and stay at home!   We have neat pictures of Gracie whose head was smaller than a Granny Smith apple; whose body was smaller than a typical water bottle; and who required Bitty Baby doll clothes because that was all that would fit her properly.

Gracie is still our little peanut at 5 ½ years old-much smaller in features and size than all of our children, but she is also the most stubborn and persistent-just like she was at birth.