Birth Stories...

Hello friends! Greetings from the land of long lost internet service...it's been a crazy week with intermittent dsl connection - a bit frustrating when your business is online!  Finally had the bright idea to pirate from my neighbor (shhh...) until the repair man arrives tomorrow...whew!  It's probably a good thing as I have been mentally composing nothing but whiny, complaining blog posts in my head and they weren't really thoughts that I should share with the entire interweb!  humph! 

But after reading Jora's genius guest post here I felt inspired to finally talk about something life changing & magical (if possibly a wee bit painful) - my birth stories!  Don't worry  - I'm not going to get too gushy, touchy feely (well, maybe a little) but I thought that I have been so lucky to have had such amazing, uncomplicated experiences and you hear so many dramatic, crazy stories that it might be nice to put a couple of happy ones out in the world...

Lila, like the little Virgo she is, was almost right on time...the night she was due I went to bed feeling somewhat crampy and awoke at 4am with the first hints of contractions...unable to sleep, I got up and texted my doula Sarah...we chatted for a bit and agreed she'd check in a bit later in the morning...I wanted to stay at home for as long as possible to avoid having any unnecessary medical interventions so we hung out at the house doing a little stretching, some light yoga (hahaha - I mean I laid on my yoga mat in child's pose whimpering...) and to cope with the increasingly painful contractions I took some ridiculously long, hot showers (eco friendliness be damned, I was in labor people)...Chris nervously packed - hmmm, when were we planning on using the portable dvd player we brought to the hospital?? and when Sarah arrived at 10am I was pretty much in the thick of transition...(I ain't gonna lie - if I had been at the hospital I would have been sorely tempted to have a boat load of drugs)  It was a stormy morning but we decided to walk outside and my water promptly broke so it was decided that we might be ready for that trip to the hospital...(humorously the phone rang at that point calling to confirm my hair appt for the next day) Somehow, I managed to climb in the back seat and Chris delicately drove us while Sarah massaged and held warm lavender compresses on my lower back...in triage I sat to some lovely girls in very early labor who were visibly frightened by my loud groans...the nurses informed me that I was already fully dilated (whohoo!) and they rushed to get me into a room so I could start pushing...which is where things sloooooowed down...and for the next 3 hours I pushed in every possible position known to the birthing community...friends it was not the most fun I've ever had...but I dug deep, and with the help of my lovely husband and my amazing doula I finally pushed that little light of my life out...they laid sweet Lila on my chest and I have been madly in love ever since....

Three days before Louisa was due I woke up with lower back cramping and knew that baby number two was soon to arrive...I had an acupuncture appointment that morning and spent a relaxing hour there resting up for what was ahead...and then the rest of the day trying to tie up loose ends and spend some one on one with Lila in between mild contractions (hmmm mild contractions is kind of an oxymoron if you've ever experienced them, no?)...Chris and I decided to take Lila to spend the night with her cousins and then climbed into bed to get some rest but I ended up tossing and turning til midnight and called my doula Sarah to get her on board...since I still seemed to be clear headed she advised us to stay home a bit longer and we all finally met up at the hospital at 3am...the midwife on duty checked me in and since I was only 4cm dilated we decided to walk the halls stopping along the way to enjoy a contraction or two (ha!)...while they were pretty high on the pain scale they were still far apart so I snuggled into bed for a some between contraction catnaps...I woke up around 5:45 and we discussed the possibility of going home for the day (in my head..."are you &^%&% kidding me?") but the midwife checked again and since I had progressed to 6 cm we stayed put...I climbed into the shower and spent a solid hour sitting under the hot water...it wasn't pretty ladies...I knew I was stuck because I was holding on to my first born - scared that the bond I had with her would somehow suffer with this new little one entering our lives...we had been such peas in a pod and the sun had risen and set with Lila for so long...but in the middle of the crazy contractions and shower I had a total zen moment...my mind cleared and I had this perfect vision of Lila and a sweet babe sitting in a field of dandelions and Lila was teaching her little sister how to blow the seeds into the wind...that picture somehow pulled me through and when I climbed out of the shower I was almost fully dilated...Chris, in the meantime, had left to go park the car in the garage and grab some breakfast thinking that we would be there all day and when he walked into the room they were getting ready to help me into the birthing tub to push!  While he poured water over my back, Sarah & Karen, my midwife, coached me through the pushing, I focused on my little dandelion sisters and 30 minutes later Louisa was born in the water, laid on my chest and that intense love I felt for her sister flooded through me...head over heels once again...my lovely little Pearl...

So that's it...well, the warm fuzzy version at least...I feel incredibly blessed and lucky to have had two beautiful, amazing births...it's pretty awesome to be a woman - to be able to grow and nurture these tiny lovely babies and bring them into the world...

and if you are ever considering natural childbirth I highly recommend a water birth! (without drugs may not be for everyone but I have to say it is pretty magical and makes you feel like a total rockstar - I dig it)
xoxo, m