Jilliann woke me up Saturday night crying asking to come to our bed. She normally sleeps through the night now, so this was out of the ordinary. We came downstairs and went to the bathroom and I put her back in bed. Jason woke for a moment and kindly complimented me on working my magic as Jilliann continued to ask to sleep with us but I got her back to bed. When I laid down it was 1:30am; she and Jason went back to sleep right away and I felt contractions! I just relaxed, listened to the rain and tried to fall back asleep, which is recommended at the beginning of labor to conserve your energy for later. At 2:06am, I knew I wasn’t going to fall sleep and knew that we had things to get set up and calls to make. So, I woke Jason telling him, “This is it.” He was surprised and kind of sat up for a minute just frozen. Then, as it sunk in he got excited, kissed me and started working on the list of things to do I’d just given him. I called Yolanda to inform her of where I was at and she was going to get ready and check back in unless I called her back first. Jason was back downstairs by 2:30am and I wanted to only sit to get through my contractions. In beginning labor with Jilliann, I walked and moved around a lot to help her descend. I pictured getting everything set up, then going on a walk with Jason before others arrived. Well, it was only about 15 minutes after we called Yolanda the first time when I told Jason to call her again because I feel like I have to push! We were both surprised and Yolanda also said, “Oh, that wasn’t what I expected. Okay, I’m not going to take a shower after all and will be right there.” I called Deb and my mom and Fred to come over while Jason started blowing up the pool for the water birth. Pop!! The pool busted and we went to plan B. Jason freaked out a little; probably imagining I would flip my lid. I didn’t worry and got in the bathtub with the hot shower running over my head. Deb arrived and rubbed my back as Jason tried to salvage the pool with duck tape. I was leaning on the yoga ball in the tub and focusing on spots on the wall when a contraction came. I asked Deb to tell me about her day and I told her about the Wire episode we’d watched that evening. I was still feeling some pushing sensations during contractions and they made me grunt as I tried to hold them back. I wasn’t afraid that Yolanda would miss the birth, but I was surprised to feel the need to push so soon and before she got there. It all came on so fast! The plastic tub was a lost cause and then Yolanda walked in and confirmed we were going to leave the other tub alone and I could stay in my bathtub. This was very exciting for me because in order to have a water birth, you must be submerged a certain amount and I wasn’t sure if my tub was big enough. If you come up out of the water at all during birthing, you need to get out immediately because the air triggers the baby’s response to breathe. I think this is the case even if the scalp feels air. Yolanda positioned me so that I could fit in the tub and checked baby’s heartbeat, which was fine. I was sucking down Gatorade non-stop until Yolanda told me to stop guzzling because we didn’t want the bladder taking up too much space. I was at the pushing stage before I knew it and was surprised at how manageable the contractions were, which I attribute to being in water. I was told later that also, it was like 100 degrees in that little bathroom with the space heater going and with six people crammed into a small space. I didn’t notice that at all. Mom and Fred were in the back, then Deb in front of them and Jason was helping support me at my side and Yolanda was on the side of the tub by my feet. Mom was taking pictures and video and Yolanda was making sure people were not going in and out of the door so the heat would stay in. This is how Fred stayed in the bathroom as he had just brought some towels or something in and this turned out to be great since he could then see Miles be born. When I looked out at that group of people, I saw excitement, encouragement, and love in their eyes. No negative emotions were present and that meant a lot to me. The water relaxed my body and mind. Yolanda helped guide me through pushing and I was making progress with each push except one (I asked each time and she showed me on her hand how far down I moved baby) and pushed about seven times. When I had pushed him down far enough to feel with my hand, Yolanda had me touch the skin of his scalp. It was soft and silky and we could feel his hair. On the next couple contractions he crowned and I was in an awkward position from kind of clenching up against the pain and Yolanda straightened out my body to help baby’s descent. With the next contraction, I pushed and Yolanda had me slow down and gently push which was welcome to me as this didn’t hurt near as bad as pushing. She was steadying the pace at which he came out to prevent tearing. He came out and Yolanda said, “Reach down and pick him up.” I felt relief and grabbed my baby from under the armpits and pulled him up on my chest. I have a great memory and visual of bringing him towards me with his mouth open wide as he cried right away. He had some mucus that I wiped out of this mouth and Jason said, “Oh, it’s a……” “Wait! I haven’t seen!” I lifted him up, moved his umbilical cord out of the way and saw his swollen red scrotum. Jason finished, “It’s a boy!” “Oh, I have a boy,” I said. He was born at 4:32am on Sunday, March 29th. He had a head of hair and we dried and covered him right away to keep him warm. Yolanda was checking the cord for pulsating and showed Jason and I how you could feel the pulse and explained that this was baby’s oxygen going to him. When the cord was no longer pulsing, it was clamped and Jason cut it. Miles started to suck his thumb and was so very cute! Yolanda explained that we would not suction him because he was breathing fine and leaving him to work through getting rid of any fluid helped to develop his reflexes. If you remove the mucus for them, next time they won’t know as well how to clear it. Yolanda asked Jason to hold him while I delivered the placenta but I couldn’t give him up yet! He stayed right there and Yolanda continued to guide me through the full birthing process and Miles started to root and I helped him latch on. I got to bed and around 5:30am, we took a group photo of the awesome birthing team and then Yolanda did the newborn exam. This was done on our bed, with the lights dimmed and Yolanda slowly and gently explained everything she was looking for. She went from top to bottom, checking Miles’ scalp, color, nail beds, reflexes, nipples, hip rotation, feet. He was looking around and mellow as can be. Then, Yolanda put him in a cloth and picked it up by her scale to see how much he weighed. Jason and I guessed 9 lbs as he looked chunkier than Jilliann. She called out 9 lbs 11 oz and we were all surprised! The week before, when Yolanda felt my belly she estimated baby was around 7 lbs. We took more pictures, celebrated, ate and sent out an email. Then, people started leaving and Yolanda had everything cleaned up already and was doing laundry. She was very efficient about getting things put in their right place right away. She would call that night and come tomorrow for another check up. She told me Miles is the cutest baby she has delivered recently, hugged me and was on her way. I tried to rest before Jilliann woke up and laid in bed with Miles for a couple hours. I was so excited and probably had adrenaline running through my body which kept me from sleeping but it was nice to rest. When Jilliann woke up, she came in and we told her she has a new baby brother. She had a look of wow on her face with her mouth open wide and inhaled really big. Jason set her down between us and she cuddled up to Miles right away, giving him a kiss then a hug and picked up his fingers to look at them. “It’s my baby, baby Miles. I have a baby brother. He can’t talk.” “No, he can’t talk,” we said. “But, he can drink milk.” “Yes, he can drink milk,” we assured. I realized later these were words from her Big Sister book we’ve been reading to help prepare her. “Out of a cup.” “No, not out of a cup,” we said. Oh, she was so sweet and so excited and gentle with him.
The transition was so smooth for her, waking up and having Miles there in our life right away. She didn’t have to wake up to her parents being gone, then go to a big hospital building where strange nurses are in and out. We were all together all the time and Miles had only our eyes to look at, our voices to hear, our dim lighting to help calm him, our smells to help familiarize him, our love to pour all over him. Our friends came over and we shared food and drink, their kids played with Jilliann and her toys. She touted her new brother to everyone she saw. She went to church on Sunday morning with a pictures of Miles and was the rock star, showing everyone her new brother. Deb kept Jilliann at her house for lunch and games afterwards so Jason and I could rest and enjoy our new son. It was so relaxing and wonderful to be in my own place with my own things, so comfortable and easy. Jason and my loved ones took on the role of nurse and brought me anything I asked for while I rested in bed. I have loved this home birth experience so much and feel so blessed with a precious healthy son. I’m healing well and trying to get rid of this cold I’ve had. I’ve been sick for a few days and my body seemed to forget all about that during labor and I felt great during that time. Then, my cough came back and I’m once again fighting a cold, but what a lovely thing to not be all run down and sick while in labor. The body is an amazing thing and mine has served me well. God has blessed us and I know Yolanda’s prenatal care of vitamins, supplements, herbs and my yoga and chiropractic care all helped with a successful delivery. What an honor it is to carry a child and bring a life into this wonderful world.
Miles is doing great and is a good nurser. We rub him with olive oil and won’t bathe him until next week because the fatty cells of breast milk that produce skin oils doesn’t come in until then. He’s soft and sweet and sleeps all the time.
Jilliann and Jason have had a lot of time together, going to parks, Spanish class, shopping, etc. Jilliann is speaking in complete sentences more and more everyday. She loves to help me and touch the baby. Jason is taking a few days off work to be with our family of four and loves having a son.
We have loved celebrating this with our beloved family and friends. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.
Love,
Adriann, Jason, Jilliann, Miles
