We are so excited to announce the arrival of our baby girl!  Being baby #7, I expected a quick labor, and in true Baby Brown fashion, she wasn’t having it!  It ended up being one of my longest labors!

My water began to break at 3:35am Tuesday morning, May 24.  Silly me! I figured she’d be born before breakfast.  We called the midwife, filled the birth pool, got the bed made up… we were ready! It turned out to be a much longer process.  Baby girl was still very high up… not even in the birth canal. My contractions were coming about every 2.5 minutes.

Then, my water began to really gush- 4 different times, in huge amounts. My midwife was concerned about cord prolapse.  Because the baby was still riding high, she was worried the gushes of water would bring the cord out before the baby.  She monitored both the baby and I to make sure everything was good.

Meridian was by my side the whole day, refilling my water bottle, laying her hand on my shoulder just to let me know she was there.

Fisher would pop his head in the room, peer into the birth pool, and ask if the baby was there yet.

I got very discouraged when the hours ticked away and I felt like no progress had been made.  Jonathan was a rockstar.  He was so good to me.  I am so thankful he was there, encouraging me every step of the way.  

Finally, it was time! Baby girl was born posterior, meaning the back of her head was against my spine.  This was the reason I couldn’t feel any progression… and it makes the whole process hard on my back.

Most of my children were there to witness her birth.  She had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck and body several times, which ended up being such a blessing.  My midwife believes this is the reason her cord didn’t prolapse.

She was born on the same day, just before 1pm, weighing in at 9 pounds even, tying Benton for the heaviest of the Brown babies.  She was 21 inches long with dark hair.  Meridian was thrilled to cut her umbilical cord.

Jonathan and I don’t share the baby’s name until birth so the rest of the crew was so excited to learn her name.  Sonora Vale.  We plan to call her Nora.

Many of my friends think Sonora looks like Jubilee (who was also born posterior), but side-by-side, I just don’t see it. Who do you think she looks like?

To see my last preggo pic and photos of her first few hours, I made a short video clip.  Click the link to see it– and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel while you’re there!

— https://www.youtube.com/c/BunchofBrowns —