The Birth Of Maisie

***This is kind of lengthy, feel free to not read it, I really needed to get her story down before I forgot all the details, since this blog also serves as my personal record keeper! ***


At 41 weeks I was over being pregnant, way over being pregnant. 41 weeks was October 26th and throughout the day I had experienced some random, but mild contractions, I thought nothing of it since, at this point, I had convinced myself that this baby was never coming out. So I pretty much ignored the contractions and went about my day. They eventually tapered off and disappeared. By that night though, around 7:30pm they started coming back and for kicks Neal started to keep track of their frequency, they were anywhere from 10-15 minutes apart, nothing alarming, but in the back of my mind I was getting a little excited. We continued on with our nightly routine of getting the kids in bed and having chill time together. Around 11pm or so we decided that we should head to bed as the contractions were still happening, but not as frequently and if they did happen to pick back up we would need some sleep to get through the rest of the labor process. Sometime around 2am on October 27th, I was awoken by a rock-your-world contraction and by 2:45 we were rocking a steady pattern of every 3-5 minutes. Neal and I both busily went to work getting what we could ready for the kids to go stay at my parent's house. Again the contractions, tapered and got further apart so we decided to head back to bed around 3:30am. That did not work out so well, at least for me, Neal slept fine while I writhed in pain at the non stop contractions that had me nearly crawling out of my skin. After a really hard, long contraction at 5:30am we decided that it might be time to call my parents and have them head our way to pick up the kids. The kids were up shortly after my phone call to my mom, I finished packing up their stuff and by 7am my parents arrived and you guessed it.......contractions.....not so much. We went ahead with the plan and my parents took the kids back to their house, Jonah couldn't have been more excited! Neal had a doctor's appointment that morning that we decided he should go to since the action was at a standstill. So there I was, sitting. on my couch. in a childless house. with no contractions. at all. SUCK. By 9:30am I was feeling really defeated and to be honest quite silly, like I had jumped the gun on sending the kids to my parent's house and having Neal staying home from work, I was sort of starting to get a little angry. Neal got home from his appointment at 10am we went for a brisk walk, which did nothing but give me cramps in my sides! We then decided to hit up our local health food store for some Castor oil to help really get the party started. Came home took the Castor oil promptly at 12:54pm and and felt a contraction shortly after at 1:06pm. Then for some added oomph I also took alternating doses of Black and Blue Cohosh for 30 minutes (we bowled on the Wii while I took the herbs, even with contractions I am still a better bowler!) followed by a brisk walk for 30 minutes, which this time was not so brisk due to the fact that the contractions were long and steady coming anywhere between 3-5 minutes. After the walk, contractions slowed a bit and it was another round of alternating Black and Blue Cohosh. Things really got going after the herbs were finished up and by 4:30pm it was unbearable and I thought it was time to put a call into the midwife, whom after hearing me on the phone promptly started her journey to our house. She arrived a little before 6pm, my water broke shortly after that and I climbed into the birthing pool, which almost immediately made me feel a lot better. At this point my body was completely ready to birth this baby, I started pushing a little after 6pm and by 7:13pm a beautiful baby girl finally graced us with her presence. From start to finish of the true contractions that never let up at 1:06pm until she was born at 7:13pm it was 6 hours of hard labor, a far cry from the 14.5 hours with Sophie and the 16.5 hours with Jonah! The recovery has been a night and day difference from Jonah's birth, I feel great and don't feel so out of it this time, since I managed to keep most of my blood inside my body this time.

We are now adjusting to having a 3rd little one in our home and so far so good, granted Neal is still on his 2 weeks of paternity leave, so ask me again next week how things are going! Both Sophie and Jonah love Maisie and have taken to having a new little sister very well.

Our midwife came back Saturday, November 5th, for her first follow up visit to check on Maisie and I. Maisie is doing great, she is now 8lbs 12ozs from her birth weight of 8lbs 4ozs!!

Home Birth Hits Early Morning TV!!!

I really can not add anything else to what was said in this piece that aired this morning on ABC's Good Morning America . I did not personally see the original airing of the piece, but my dad did and let me know about it. Thanks Dad! I certainly don't believe that home birthing is for everyone, and I respect other women and their choice to birth in the hospital and maybe this will help others respect and understand my choice TO birth at home and not see it as such a "strange" option.

Hippies Aren't The Only Home Birthers........

I wanted to share this article about Home Birth from a website I frequent, because not only do I think Home Birth is an awesome thing, but also just to show others that is not some crazy choice that only super crunchy or "granola" type families choose. It is a fabulous choice for many and not that my motive for choosing home birth was based on a celebrity endorsement (nor should anyone else's), but funny thing about celebrities....they tend to bring more awareness to certain topics and make things more acceptable to the mainstream public. The article isn't ground-breaking or supremely written, but viewed from the eyes of someone who oft gets gets strange looks or comments about my choice to have my second, much less my third child at home, it is fun to see an article like this that isn't bogged down with negativity.

Celebrities and Homebirth

by Monica Beyer

With the arrival of daughter Maxine on May 1, 2011, 311 frontman Nick Hexum not only witnessed the homebirth of his child; he was actually the person who delivered her. He and his wife, Nikki, had arranged for a homebirth (their second) with a midwife present, but baby Maxine’s arrival took less time than anticipated and she made her presence known before the midwife’s arrival. Even though the delivery wasn’t without a few tense moments, the proud dad reported that the experience was overwhelming and incredible.

While daddy deliveries are still somewhat rare, celebrity homebirth is becoming more prevalent. Here are a few examples:

• Jennifer Connelly’s daughter Agnes Lark was born at home on May 31, 2011
• Gisele Bündchen delivered her son at home in her bathtub in December of 2009
• Nelly Furtado experienced a homebirth in 2003 with her daughter Nevis
• Cindy Crawford had two homebirths — son Presley and daughter Kaia
• Pamela Anderson’s two sons were born at home
• Kelly Preston had a baby boy at home in November of 2010
• Erykah Badu birthed all three of her children at home

Mothers choose homebirth for a number of reasons — a desire to avoid the unnecessary medical interventions that often accompany hospital births, a sense of empowerment and ability, and a wish to be at home, in comfort, surrounded with the ones they love.

Giselle Bündchen has become one of the most outspoken celebrities on homebirth. She has openly talked about blogged about the experience. She said, “It was the most amazing experience of my life, feeling him come through my body. And once he was born, I never felt so empowered as looking at him and thinking, Oh, my God, we did it together!”

If you are considering a homebirth, you are in excellent company. Not only will you join the many celebrities who are keen on keeping the birth experience natural and at home, but the countless couples worldwide who are hopeful to allow their bodies to do what nature intended in the best environment possible.

About Monica: Monica has been writing professionally since 2000 and has two published books — Teach Your Baby to Sign and Baby Talk. Her writing appears in a number of websites. The mother of four children, Monica is a cloth diaper and natural parenting enthusiast. She also sews custom fleece soakers at Mama Bird.

The Story of Jonah

Picking up where I left off with the first post.....around 2pm we made it outside for a walk, I think we made two passes up and down our street before the contractions were coming too hard and strong for me to walk anymore, not to mention the baby was now pushing down on the nerves in my legs making them almost numb. We headed back inside around 2:30pm and decided that it was time to start setting up the birthing pool. It took some time to get the pool blown up and then filled with some nice hot water. At around 4pm the pool was all set and I was very eager to get in as the contractions were pretty intense at this point. I labored in the pool with some really good, long contractions that seemed to come harder and stronger with each new change of position. Neal was a fabulous support, physically and emotionally. 6:30pm rolled around and I started feeling the need to push with my great big contractions. Up until this point everything had been bearable, the contractions were certainly not pleasant and they hurt, a lot, but pushing while having a contraction was a whole new ball game. Since, Sophie was born in the hospital and I had an epidural, my body had never really felt the pain of labor before since the epidural masked it all and it was a pain that was clearly overwhelming. I was sick with the pain that each contraction brought and was throwing up and pushing all in one, I actually missed several good contractions/opportunities to push because I was too busy throwing up. My energy was depleting fast and I ended up dozing off in between contractions only to be awoken by the midwives and Neal reminding my of the work that needed to be done. I can remember feeling so drained and that I really had nothing left to give to get this baby out and I could hear Neal praying in my ear that this baby would come quickly. I changed positions and locations a lot. I started off in the pool changing from sitting to standing to squatting, then moved to the bathroom, because I thought I needed to go, but I was not having my baby on the toilet so we got out of there quickly! Then I moved onto the birthing stool (a U-shaped stool that puts you low to the ground in a supported squatting position) then onto laying down on my side on the floor, where some good progress was made, my hips started hurting so I moved back to a squatting position only this time Neal was my support, he sat on our love seat and I squatted in between his legs. This was the last position change, I have no idea how long I pushed in this position, but that is how and where Jonah Michael Slimick entered the world at 8:59pm surrounded by love and the Glory of God on our living room floor (which was well protected with chux pads which are these awesomely absorbent little plastic backed pads.....think puppy training pads except a lot softer and for humans!) All in all I pushed for 2.5 hours with a grand total of 16 hours in labor.

The midwife stayed overnight and by 7am the next morning she determined everything looked good and gave us some final instructions and was on her way. She will be back on Thursday the 5th and the 12th to check in. Around 1pm Jonah's doctor came by to give him the once over, everything looked great. Sophie came to visit her new baby brother at 6pm and she was over the moon excited she could have cared less to see Neal or I it was all about the baby! She was so ready to get up on the bed and hold and him love on him. It was sad to see her go and she wanted to stay, but I was way too tired and still too weak to be anything but a log in the bed. Neal and I decided that she would stay one more night with my parents to give me just a little more time to recoop and get mobile. She will be back with us tomorrow probably after her nap sometime in the afternoon and we will get our first taste of being a family of four!

It's A Boy!

Jonah Michael Slimick was born at home on November 1, 2009 at 8:59 pm. He weighed in at 8lbs. 7ozs. and is 21 inches long.

His first name was chosen because it means "Dove" which is a symbol of peace. His middle name Michael is in honor of his Uncle Joe whose middle name is Michael as well. Michael is Hebrew for "Who is like God".

Mama and baby are doing well, resting for the day. Sophie is with Gigi and Papa K and will be by later on today to check out her new baby brother. When Meghan is up and about she will post more about Jonah and his birth story.

-Neal

Baby On The Horizon!

Labor has begun! Contractions started around 4:50am this morning no real pattern just some good strong sporadic ones. Things started changing on this past Friday, my body was giving me some signs that labor was around the corner and I had dilated a bit more to about 5cm. The contractions this morning were strong, but bearable and I was able to get a little more sleep until around 6am when Sophie woke up. We continued about our morning routine with contractions still coming but not really regularly, while Neal made waffles, I decided I should call the midwife and let her know what was going on. I called her at around 7 am, left a message and by the time she called back at 7:18am my first bag of water had broken, only a small trickle at this point. Talked to midwife for a bit and we both decided we would give it a little bit more time before she headed out our way. So we continued about the morning, at this point we were still thinking we might try and head to church, however when I got up from the breakfast table there was a huge flood, my second bag of water broke at 7:45am and I could not get to the bathroom fast enough! I called midwife back and let her know what was going on and she said that she was going to get things rolling on her end, get her ducks in a row and head on over. We called Neal's mom to come down and help keep Sophie occupied for a bit while we got our ducks in a row and while we waited for my parents to get out of church to let them know what was happening and so they could take Sophie up to their house. The midwife and her assistant arrived within minutes of each other around 9 or 9:15am, midwife listened to baby's heart beat and said everything was good. They ran out to grab some breakfast, while Neal and I wrapped up a few lose ends around the house, I got a shower, my parent's arrived and we said goodbye to Sophie and headed out to Harris Teeter to do some grocery shopping since we were way low on food and I wanted some specific things while I labored. While walking around the grocery store my contractions were now about 2 minutes apart. That was a very speedy grocery trip, but I/we got what we wanted.

When we got back from the store I had my snack that I was craving (Havarti cheese, Kashi crackers and cherry tomatoes), midwife checked the baby's heart rate again (140 beats per min) and then I had her check me. At around 1pm, maybe a little before, I was around 5-6 cms but she was able to stretch my cervix to 7 and she could clearly feel the baby's head. That is where we stand right about now. We are going to head outside on this overcast, but pretty fall day and take a walk just to keep me moving and help my body do it's thing. I will do my very best to post updates as things happen and progress so check back periodically and see if I have posted anything new! Please keep us in your prayers as we journey through this miraculous event!

Watching my sweet girl walk away was a little sad.

Thank You USA Today

• When my mom told me about this article today (that my dad found...go Dad!) I knew that I had to find it online and put it up on the blog. Both Neal and I have gotten a lot of mixed reviews about our choice to have to have our second child naturally and at home, mostly people are not sure what to say or make of our choice so they just sort of smile and say that's nice or I hear about a lot of people doing that these days. Some commend me for being "so brave", I don't really see it as brave, but more doing what my body was designed to do. Others have been so rude to flat out said, "You're crazy!" Crazy, no.
  
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• I do not judge others for how they brought or will bring their child into the world (lets not forget Sophie was born in a hospital), just as I feel that breastfeeding is hands down the best, not to mention perfect food for babies, but I have not and will not push my breastfeeding views on others, so I don't appreciate others making rude comments or thinking I am "crazy" for my choices regarding birth or breastfeeding. Birth in most cases is not a "condition" that needs treatment or medical attention. I do agree that in some pregnancies there is a need for a doctor and a hospital. For me, I had a very uncomplicated pregnancy and delivery with Sophie and this pregnancy has been nothing but normal, so a home birth is a good safe option for us. However, if God forbid something happens to mother or baby, fatal or otherwise, at anytime during labor or delivery at a home birth others are so quick to blame the mother and the fact that she attempted to have her baby at home with gasp a midwife, but if the very same thing or some entirely different complication arose at the hospital no one would even dare blame the mother or physician. How is that right? Anyway I am just loving the fact that USA Today came out with this article to possibly enlighten and educate the American public a little more.
  
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Study: Home birth with midwife as safe as hospital birth

By Amanda Gardner, HealthDay

Having your baby at home with a registered midwife is just as safe as a conventional hospital birth, a new study says.

In fact, planned home births of this kind may have a lower rate of complications, according to the study published in the Sept. 15 issue of CMAJ.

Even though the study was conducted in Canada, where attitudes toward midwifery are more accepting than in some other countries, the findings may help to calm an ongoing controversy in the United States and elsewhere.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is opposed to home births, as are certain organizations in Australia and New Zealand. More organizations in Great Britain are supportive and Canadian provinces are currently transitioning to midwifery, said study lead author Patricia Janssen, director of the Master of Public Health Program at the University of British Columbia.

Janssen, a registered nurse who has midwife training though not certification, said: "People who function as independent midwives are not necessarily tightly regulated [in the U.S.] depending on which state you're in, so there may not be a guarantee that they have had an adequate level of training or a certified diploma or anything like that. And they may not be monitored and regulated by a particular professional college."

The controversy has resulted in a lack of clear regulation and licensing requirements in the United States, said Dr. Marjorie Greenfield, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland.

According to Greenfield, the National Association of Certified Professional Midwives does have a certification process but many states don't recognize it. "If you're a woman who wants to have a home birth, how do you determine if this person has appropriate qualifications?" she said.

The authors of the new study compared three different groups of planned births in British Columbia from the beginning of 2000 to the end of 2004: home births attended by registered midwives (midwives are registered in Canada), hospital births attended by the same group of registered midwives, and hospital births attended by physicians. In all, the study included almost 13,000 births.

The mortality rate per 1,000 births was 0.35 in the home birth group, 0.57 in hospital births attended by midwives, and 0.64 among those attended by physicians, according to the study.

Women who gave birth at home were less likely to need interventions or to have problems such as vaginal tearing or hemorrhaging. These babies were also less likely to need oxygen therapy or resuscitation, the study found.

The authors acknowledge that "self-selection" could have skewed the study results, in that women who prefer home deliveries tend to be healthier and otherwise more fit to have a home birth.

Janssen said she hoped "this article will have a major impact in the U.S." But there is a definite "establishment" bias against home births. And the issue is an emotionally charged one, she said.

"There is a political and economic issue about controlling where birth happens, but also a deep belief by physicians that it's not safe to have your baby at home," Greenfield said. "Doctors see every home-birth patient who had a complication, but we don't see the ones that have these beautiful, fabulous babies at home who may breast-feed better or have less hospital-acquired infections. There may be medical benefits," she added.

"Midwifery needs to be regulated. It can't be under the radar because then it's dangerous," Greenfield said. "There has to be a regulatory process and a licensure process [to protect] women who are going to choose home birth anyway."