Samuel Mitchell Palmquist was born at approximately 10:40 pm on Thursday, January 25, 2001.
He weighed 9 pounds 8 ounces, his length was 22", and his head measured 15". He
definitely fits in with the family, as he looks like Andrew and Micah (except
that he has dark brown hair). His seven brothers and one sister were all
thrilled to see him (along with of course his parents). His oldest brother
Andrew cut the umbilical cord. His youngest brother Christian seemed curious
as he looked at Samuel for the first time, reaching over and touching Samuel
several times.
Midwife Brenda Capps assisted at Samuel's birth, having arrived at about 8
pm to relieve Terri's doulas (pregnancy assistants) Marcie Rowland and Suzanne Shepard, who needed to go
home to rest. (Both Marcie and Suzanne had been attending to Terri's needs
for over 24 hours, and both of them are pregnant, so they really needed to
rest.)
Terri's labor had begun Wednesday morning, and by Wednesday afternoon
we could see that it wasn't going to stop, so we began making preparations.
At the same time, however, it began to snow outside, and we could see that
the weather could make it difficult for Marcie and Suzanne to get to us up in
Tehachapi (and would make the situation very problematic if we had a sudden
need to go to the hospital). So we packed up all of the kids and headed down
the hill. We had to drive very slowly due to the road conditions, and at one
point a couple of miles from our house the van slid off the road into the
embankment on the opposite side. We briefly envisioned having the baby with
the van stuck in the snow, but thankfully we were able to get it
unstuck. The rest of the trip down to Bakersfield continued to be
difficult. For several miles on the freeway, we really couldn't see the
road, but just had to rely on the bump-bump sound when the tires went on
the shoulder. (Nevertheless, throughout this ordeal as Terri's
contractions continued, she never wanted to stop being the driver!)
When we finally arrived in Bakersfield at the LifeHouse Wednesday evening,
doulas Marcie and Suzanne said Terri was 3 centimeters dilated. By about
2 am, Terri was fully dilated. For the next 20 hours (from 2 am to 10:15 pm),
while Terri experienced countless contractions, she didn't make any
detectable progress. This was probably partly because the baby was posterior
(face-up) and the bag of waters hadn't ruptured yet, so the baby's head was
high above Terri's cervix. Throughout these hours, Marcie and Suzanne prayed and
sang praise songs, asking the Lord to protect and comfort Terri and the baby.
Terri was also able to get some brief moments of rest between contractions,
saving her strength for the pushing stage (which has typically lasted for
hours in most of Terri's labors). Even while Terri failed to progress for
hours on end, Marcie and Suzanne remained confident in the Lord and in Terri's and
the baby's health, as they continued to carefully monitor Terri's and the
baby's vital signs.
The bag of waters finally broke at 10:15 pm, which undoubtedly helped to
expedite the birth process. (Like so many of Terri's other births, if this
had been a hospital birth, it likely would have resulted in a cesarean, as
did Terri's first birth in the hospital, where she was told that her "pelvis
was too small" to deliver our 7 pound 3 ounce son Andrew.)
We all thanked the Lord for another blessing from God. (Even Amy, who
probably by now has given up on the concept of ever having a sister!)
