For those of you who already think a I am a little weird might think so even more after reading this post. Just to prepare you, it will be kind of long. If you only want to see pictures then scroll to the bottom.
Here is the birth story.
As some of you know, Jane's birth was long and hard. It was about 17 hrs, 2 of those hours were pushing. I sat at an 8 for probably half that time. She crowned for 45 minutes and I had quite a bad tear. So in light of this, I really wanted to make and effort to make this birth different. I had done some preparation for Jane's birth but I needed to do more. I prepared myself in three ways. Physically: I worked out until about 39 weeks. I went to the chiropractor as well as getting regular massages (from my midwifes husband, best massages ever, seriously). I Emotionally: getting massages and going to the chiro also helped to release emotional stuff. I really worked on not being afraid and getting past some of the issues I was having that would block me emotionally. I also listened to Hypnobabies again to help me to relax and stay calm during the birthing process. Spiritually: I didn't realize with Jane's birth how much birth is a spiritual experience. I tried to draw closer to God by reading scripture, words of the prophets, going to the temple and praying. This was probably the most important preparation that I did and was the most valuable in the birth process. All of these things made my birth a really incredible experience. It was such a 180 from my last birth and so much better than I ever thought it would be. It was such a blessing. Here is what happened.
I realized that i just might be one of women who gestate for a little longer than most as he finally came a week late. I woke up on Saturday morning feeling a few contractions but they were sporadic. After being up for a little while, I started leaking fluid. It wasn't a ton but enough that I put on a pad. It was a semi-steady flow of fluid and it looked like my mucus plug was coming out. My contractions started getting a little more regular but were still 10 minutes apart. I knew it was happening and and so around 10 I texted my midwife to let her know. I made a few calls and had Jeff give me a blessing. We decided to just have Jane go to our friends house now since the snow was not letting up and the roads were getting worse. She was more than happy to go but I was sad to see her leave. We told her that she might have to sleep there but when she came home again baby Grant would be here. And after this I just wasted time for the next 3 or so hours. Around 1 or so the contractions started to become more intense and so I sat on the ball and put a heating pad on my back. Doing circles with my hips with the heat helped for a while. Rachel (my sister), Jeff and I sat around in the living room and talked and laughed. My friend sent me a really funny picture of Jane. As time wore on and the contractions startied to get more intense, I decided around probably 2:30 or so to start doing the hypnobabies. I text my midwife again around this time and said that they were about 5 minutes apart but I could still mostly talk through them. I sat on the couch with my headphones in just trying to focus on staying relaxed. The hypnobabies didn't really help with the pain but it helped to stay relaxed in between and during the contractions. Jeff had started to fill the birth tub while I was listening to hypnobabies. Rachel and Jeff just kind of sat there watching me talking about my progress. I wasn't paying attention to them. I was really trying to stay focused. I think that it was just before 4 pm when Rachel suggested that Jeff call my midwife. We knew it might take them a bit to get there because of the snow. At this point I am thinking that I still have a couple more hours, at least, before he comes. So around this time I decided to get into the tub. This is when it really got hard. I kept listening to hypnobabies and it helped some with the contractions as they got much harder. It was all kind of a blur for the next hour. I was trying hard just to focus. I started to talking to Grant while I was in the tub. This really helped me focus and stay connected to him and what I was doing. I kept telling him how excited I was to see him, that we were ok and doing good with the birth and how much I loved him. My water completely broke while in the tub. My midwifes showed up and started to get things ready. Shortly after they arrived, about 20 min, I was in the middle of a contraction when I felt the need to push. I told them I was going to push and told Jeff to get closer if he wanted to catch the baby. I suddenly felt this urgency just to get him out. I told him that we were so close and that I was going to see him soon. I pushed once really hard and felt his head coming out as I did. His head came out completely with this push. I rested for what seemed only a second when the next push came on. I was holding Grant's head and helped pull him out as I pushed. I felt Jeff's hands come under mine and he pulled him out of the water and put him on my chest. He was born at 5:05 pm. I just sat there holding him, crying and talking to him for a while. My midwife later told me that from the time I told them I needed to push till when he came out was literally about 2 minutes. Grant cried for the better part of an hour after he came out. He wanted to make it known that he wasn't happy with the situation. After a few minutes we decided that I should get out of the tub and make my way to my bed. I walked back to my room holding him and got situated on the bed. I still hadn't birthed the placenta but we were waiting for me to feel the need to. I tried to have Grant nurse and he latched for a little while and I tried to push a little bit. After 10 or 15 minutes, I decided to get more serious about getting it out and handed Grant over to Jeff while I kind of squated and it came out. One of the best things about having a baby at home it that you don't have to go anywhere. I just layed there holding him and my midwives cleaned things up. After close to an hour they finally checked him out and weighed him. Then they checked me out and sewed up my small tear. Maybe 30 minutes or so after that, probably around 7:30, my friend brought Jane back home. Jane told my friend on the way home that she didn't want to see Grant but seemed excited when she finally saw him. My midwives left shortly after that and we just nursed and cuddled and then went to sleep.
This was just moments after he was born. He has so much vernix on him and he is very purple.
This is the first picture I took of him just a little while after he was born.
Both of these were when he was a couple of days old.
Some of you may know the story of this picture. If not, notice his pinky finger is sticking out kind of funny. This is a genetic defect that is passed from father to daughter to sons. So my dad had it and I can only pass it to my boys. I have a couple of sisters whose sons have the same defect. The last two knuckles in the hand are fused together. My sister asked a geneticist about it and there are only about a dozen people in the world who have it. Crazy.
This picture cracks me up. I just think it is so funny the way he is laying.
Here is the most recent picture of him. I took this just a couple of days ago. He is losing his hair on just the top like Jane did. At least it doesn't look at weird on him as it did on her. He is growing so fast. He loves to nurse. He is not chunking up but is getting really long. He is a pretty good baby. He is fussy some during the days but he sleeps well at night. He will go at least one 5 hrs stretch, which is so nice. I am sleeping better now than I was when I was pregnant. We are so happy that he is here. Jane loves him, but a little too much sometimes. I will post some pics of them together soon.
